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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: transformation of Japan; even now there must be Englishmen
acquainted with the subject, and perhaps the appearance of
this sketch may elicit something more complete and exact. I
wish to say that I am not, rightly speaking, the author of
the present paper: I tell the story on the authority of an
intelligent Japanese gentleman, Mr. Taiso Masaki, who told it
me with an emotion that does honour to his heart; and though
I have taken some pains, and sent my notes to him to be
corrected, this can be no more than an imperfect outline.
Yoshida-Torajiro was son to the hereditary military
instructor of the house of Choshu. The name you are to
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