If their value were in any respect such as
we have reason to expect from the man's character, this would
be a loss not easy to exaggerate. It is still wonderful to
the Japanese how far he contrived to push these explorations;
a cultured gentleman of that land and period would leave a
complimentary poem wherever he had been hospitably
entertained; and a friend of Mr. Masaki, who was likewise a
great wanderer, has found such traces of Yoshida's passage in
very remote regions of Japan.
Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no
preparation is thought necessary; but Yoshida considered
otherwise, and he studied the miseries of his fellow-
countrymen with as much attention and research as though he
had been going to write a book instead of merely to propose a
remedy. To a man of his intensity and singleness, there is
no question but that this survey was melancholy in the
extreme. His dissatisfaction is proved by the eagerness with
which he threw himself into the cause of reform; and what
would have discouraged another braced Yoshida for his task.
As he professed the theory of arms, it was firstly the
defences of Japan that occupied his mind. The external
feebleness of that country was then illustrated by the
manners of overriding barbarians, and the visit of big
barbarian war ships: she was a country beleaguered.
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