Then there is H.E. the Viceroy, Admiral Alexeiev, raised to a dizzy height of power and living up to his position. For him no more hilarious nights, wild gambles, boisterous exploits; no more storming and raving on the quarter decks of ships where work has been left undone, but a monotonous round of high society functions and wearisome entertainments, broken by an occasional holiday in an obscure treaty port of China. Admiral Alexeiev made the common mistake of supposing dignity to be a virtue, whereas it is only a grace. The Japanese official promoted to higher rank knows that the post will need a greater expenditure of energy, and he does what is required and expected of him. The Russian may be an inveterate liar, a drunkard leading a dissolute life, may know that he is the slave of besetting sins, but never forgets that he is a man. He will not pay to virtue the tribute of hypocrisy she extorts from vice. He is an open and only a superficial sinner, appraising himself higher than do those who observe him, surrounding himself with temptations and indulging unashamed. The Japanese will run no risks, that drink shop may cause harm--it is straightway closed. Those people may tempt heroes from the business of war to the pleasures of peace--they are sent beyond the military lines. The Japanese are pagans who have adopted the ethical code of the West; there is nothing in their conduct to which the most strait-laced puritan could take exception; missionaries bow to them, for even missionaries do not need to shut their eyes to the behaviour of these conquerors. They are as correct as the rule of three, and have its limitations. Some Russian officials, with tears in their eyes, asked me why it was the British hated them so intensely. There, in Newchwang, they had done everything they could think of to appease the English residents. They gave them business, the Government spent money freely, they themselves entertained lavishly; they offered always the hand of friendship, but it was not clasped. And Newchwang was but typical of other ports, everywhere it was the same, what more could Russians do? The difference is just this: in the game of life Russia disregards all the rules Western civilization has decreed to be right. In politics, in commerce, in law, in the big things and the little things of life Russia is a law to herself. The Japanese, on the contrary, have accepted the Western standard of ethics, and in their international relations attempt to conform to Western conventions.