'"They are," said Mr. Seppings-Wright, with animation, "the most wonderful people in the world. I make no exception. Neither the statesmen nor the peoples of Europe have yet learned to estimate the Japanese at their true value. They are destined to play a magnificent rôle in the future development of the world. At present people are talking of their courage, their great military qualities. These are, indeed, now sufficiently self-evident. I rate the Japanese army above any other army in the world. As for the navy, I cannot use language too strong to express my admiration for it. Yet what most impressed me was not the personal bravery of the Japanese soldier and sailor, or the splendid organisation of their naval and military forces, it was the character of the people--their unique simplicity, their chivalrous courtesy, their kindness of heart, their sweetness of disposition, their unaggressiveness. They have none of the lust of conquest for conquest's sake. They have never fought save to protect their territory or their vital interests--but they have never been beaten. Chinese, Koreans, and now Russians--they have resisted all, and beaten all in turn; and now that they have proved their right to be regarded as one of the Great Powers of the world, their influence will, I am convinced, be all on the side of peace and peaceful development." '"You make the Japanese out to be a new variety of the human race?" '"No, not a new variety--an old variety--a variety untainted by the commercialism of European civilisation. They have not yet learned the creed of individualism--of every man for himself. They will lay down their lives cheerfully and willingly for their country--for their emperor, who is almost a god in their eyes, since he embodies their fatherland. What new traits they may develop I cannot pretend to say." 'WHAT JAPAN CAN STILL DO. '"It would be strange," I interrupted, "if, after the unbroken series of victories they have won on land and sea, they did not develop some symptom of 'swelled head'?" --'I saw not the slightest sign of that. Very rarely you see even incipient symptoms in an individual. Their great successes have not apparently turned their heads in the least. They began this war in the most absolute confidence of victory. They can, if need be, do much more than they have done. No one knows the number of men Oyama has in Manchuria--no one, that is, outside the Government and the Headquarters' Staff.'"