Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

BRYAN, WILLIAM JENNINGS • 57
BROTHERHOOD OF THE NEW LIFE. A Christian utopian community
founded by Thomas Lake Harris in 1860 in New York and
lasting until his death in 1906. Several Japanese samurai students in
England in the mid-1860s were influenced by Laurence Oliphant, a
British diplomat, to travel to the United States and join the Brotherhood
of the New Life. Among the young Japanese who joined were
Arinori Mori, Kiyonari Yoshida, Kanaye Nagasawa, and Junzo
Matsumura. In 1875, Harris moved the Brotherhood of the New
Life to Fountaingrove, near Santa Rosa, California. By then, only
two Japanese remained as devoted members of this utopian community.
See also CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN.
BROWN, SAMUEL ROBBINS (1810–1880). Christian missionary
and educator. After missionary and education work in China, Samuel
Brown spent two decades in Japan (1859–1879) as an educator and
missionary for the Dutch Reformed Church of America. Many Japanese
officials in both the Tokugawa shogunate and the succeeding
Meiji government were wary of Christianity, but Brown gained their
trust and was allowed to teach and engage in missionary work despite
the political and social turbulence in Japan during the 1860s and
1870s. See also CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN.
BRYAN, WILLIAM JENNINGS (1860–1925). An Illinois lawyer,
William Jennings Bryan ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic party
candidate for president in 1896, 1900, and 1908. He subsequently
served as President Woodrow Wilson’s secretary of state from 1913
until 1915. He brought to the position little knowledge of international
affairs, and contented himself with judging foreign politics
from a moral point of view.
When, on 19 August 1914, Japan declared war against Germany—
thereby entering World War I—Bryan almost immediately reminded
Tokyo of the American pledge to support “the independence and integrity
of China and the principle of equal opportunity for the commerce
and industry of all nations.” Japan, however, was not listening.
Early in 1915, it secretly presented China with the infamous Twenty-
One Demands, which, if accepted in their entirety, would have made
of China a virtual Japanese protectorate. When Washington learned
of Japan’s move, Bryan responded by warning Tokyo that the U.S.