LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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STATEMENT TO THE JAPANESE PUBLIC. 307 Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, and Russia, and I had opportunity to carefully examine the state of education and the condition of the schools in these countries. The result was that I became more and more convinced that education is the foundation of western civilization, and that, in order to make our Japan a nation worthy to be counted among the en­lightened countries of the world, we must introduce not only the externals of modern civilization, but its essential spirit. Accordingly I was the more strength­ened in my resolution to establish a university after my return to my home, and thus to discharge my duty to my native land. "In the 7th of Meiji (187 4 ), as I was about tore­turn to Japan, and was preseut at the annual meeting of the American Board and made a short address at the request of many friends, I said that my country was in a disorganized condition, that the people were wandering in search of a light which might guide them into the right way, and that true education was the only means by which the people could make pro­gress both in knowledge and morality. In speaking of this I was so much moved that I could not refrain from shedding tears. Taking one step more in my speech, I said that on returning to my native land I should surely devote my life to educational work, and begged my hearers to help me if they approved my purpose. No sooner had I thus spoken than a num­ber of ladies and gentlemen in the audience signified their approval of my request by contributing several thousand dollars on the spot. " In the last part of the 7th year of Mei ji (18 7 4 ), after an absence of ten years, I returned to my home, cherishing in my bosom this one great purpose. In

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