Few of the most important events in the history of civilization were appreciated at their full value at the time they took place. And the men that had the most important part in them have almost always had to wait for a later day, if not for a later generation, to give them the recognition which their works deserved. The opening of Japan to the civilizing influences and to the commerce of the West was an event whose importance in the world's history is just beginning to be recognized, now that her achievements in war have indicated the leading position she is to take among the nations of the orient. An interesting addition to the knowledge of the early days of Japan's new life is given in Dr. W. E. Griffis's biographical sketch of Townsend Harris, the first American envoy to Japan. Townsend Harris was undoubtedly the greatest of the foreign diplomats sent to Japan, and his influence in the development of representative institutions there is recognized by none more than by the Japanese themselves. Dr. Griffis's book not only contains many interesting extracts from Harris's jounal, telling of his life in Japan and of the progress of his diplomatic labors, but also gives an excellent idea of the political situation in Japan from Harris's time to the present day.

[Townsend Harris, First American Envoy to Japan. By W. E. Griffis, D.D. Houghton and Mifflin, Boston, 1895.]