I did not know what the question would bring forth, yet I ought to have been wise. The first question that a Japanese on the railway asks an Englishman is: "Have you got the English translation of our Constitution?" All the book-stalls sell it in English and Japanese, and all the papers discuss it. The child is not yet three months old. "Our Constitution?--That was promised to us--promised twenty years ago. Fourteen years ago the provinces they have been allowed to elect their big men--their heads. Three years ago they have been allowed to have assemblies, and thus Civil Liberty was assured." I was baffled here for some time. In the end I thought I made out that the municipalities had been given certain control over police funds and the appointment of district officials. I may have been entirely wrong, but the editor bore me along on a torrent of words, his body rocking and his arms waving with the double agony of twisting a foreign tongue to his service and explaining the to-be-taken-seriouslyness of Japan. Whack come the little hand on the little table, and the little tea-cups jumped again. "Truly, and indeed, this Constitution of ours has _not_ come too soon. It proceeded step-by. You understand that? Now your Constitution, the Constitutions of the foreign nations, are all bloody--bloody Constitutions. Ours has come step-by. We did not fight as the barons fought with King John at Runnymede." This was a quotation from a speech delivered at Otsu, a few days previously, by a member of the Government. I grinned at the brotherhood of editors all the world over. Up went the hand anew. "We shall be happy with this Constitution and a people civilised among civilisations." "Of course. But what will you actually do with it? A Constitution is rather a monotonous thing to work after the fun of sending members to Parliament has died out. You have a Parliament, have you not?" "Oh yes, _with_ parties--Liberal and Radical." "Then they will both tell lies to you and to each other. Then they will pass bills, and spend their time fighting each other. Then all the foreign governments will discover that you have no fixed policy." "Ah, yes. But the Constitution." The little hands were crossed in his lap. The cigarette hung limply from his mouth. "No fixed policy. Then, when you have sufficiently disgusted the foreign Powers, they will wait until the Liberals and Radicals are fighting very hard, and then they will blow you out of the water." "You are not making fun? I do not quite understand," said he. "Your Constitutions are all so bloody." "Yes. That is exactly what they are. You are very much in earnest about yours, are you not?" "Oh yes, we all talk politics now." "And write politics, of course. By the way, under what--h'm, arrangements with the Government is a Japanese paper published? I mean, must you pay anything before starting a press?"