Part 15

The Emperor is the repository of the supreme power inherited from the glorious spirits of the Imperial Founder of his House, and of a line of Imperial ancestors, and it is by virtue of that inherited power that he promulgates (11th February 1889), the immutable fundamental law of the Constitution. The person of the Emperor is sacred and inviolable. It is with the consent of the Imperial Parliament or Diet that he exercises the legislative power, sanctioning and promulgating laws, and when the Diet is not sitting he issues ordinances with the force of laws, to be confirmed at the next session. He convokes and prorogues the Diet and dissolves the Lower House. He appoints and dismisses all officials, civil and military,—he has absolute command of the army and navy,—he declares war, makes peace, and concludes treaties,—he may declare a state of siege,—and he confers titles of nobility and other marks of honour. The rights of the monarch being thus defined, we come to the rights of the subject. “No Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried, or punished, unless according to law. The rights of property, conditionally on the payment of taxes, are to be inviolable. Liberty of speech and of publication, of public meeting and association, and of petition, so long as the limits of the law are not transgressed, are fully secured.” In the same way religion, “within limits not prejudicial to peace and order,” is free.

The Imperial Diet comprises a House of Peers and a House of Representatives. In the first are five classes,—(_a_) Members of the Imperial Family, (_b_) Princes and Marquises, (_c_) Counts, Viscounts, and Barons, elected as representatives of the several orders, the representatives of each order not exceeding one-fifth of that order, (_d_) persons nominated, for life, by the Emperor on account of meritorious service to the State, or of erudition, (_e_) persons elected for seven years by and from the fifteen highest tax-payers in each city and prefecture, and subsequently nominated by the Emperor. The number of members from the last two classes is not to exceed the number of representatives of the hereditary nobility.

The foregoing are some of the salient features of a Constitution that is the pride and glory of the Japanese nation, but there are others of not less importance, perhaps, in their influence on the future of the nation and which appeal to its sense of order with the more force, it may be believed, in that the enactments so promulgated have not merely all the weight of actual law but form integral parts of the Constitution. They provide for certain fixed expenditures based on the powers appertaining to the Emperor, and are opposed to the rejection or reduction by the Diet without the consent of the Government of such expenditures as may have arisen by the effect of law or that appertain to the legal obligations of the Government. The expenses of the Imperial Household, though defrayed out of the Treasury funds, require no consent of the Diet unless an increase is contemplated. Another significant provision is that when the Diet cannot be convoked, owing to the external or internal condition of the country, in case of urgent need for the maintenance of public safety, the Government may take all necessary financial measures by means of an Imperial ordinance. A still more important clause is to the effect that when the Diet has not voted on the budget, or when the budget has not been brought into actual existence, the government shall carry out the budget of the previous year. It has been found needful on more than one occasion since the year 1890 to take advantage, owing to the tactics of a factious parliamentary majority adverse to the Cabinet, of these provisions. The Cabinet being directly responsible to the Emperor, the opposition in the Diet has been powerless to prevent the policy of the Government being carried out,—on the other hand, the statesmen on whose shoulders has rested from time to time the weight of public affairs have been called upon to sustain a heavier burden than would have fallen to their lot had they been armed with fewer powers. That the nation’s business has been conducted on the whole with undeniable prudence and success is due to the personal characteristics, in great measure, of the surviving Makers of Modern Japan.

[Illustration: JAPANESE SCHOOL AT SEOUL]

To return to the transition period, prior to the promulgation of the Constitution in the preparation of which the subject of this sketch had so conspicuous a share.

In connection with this task of paramount importance and responsibility the future premier again visited England, accompanied by a staff of qualified assistants, to glean all the additional particulars regarding the principles and practical operation of European constitutions and parliamentary institutions, and the mass of detail thus gathered was carefully considered on the return of the mission to Tokio, by a well-staffed bureau presided over in great measure by the statesman with whom it had come to be identified in respect of its deliberations. Of the process by which the committee thus formed arrived at its conclusions, what were the systems deliberated upon, the arguments pro and con employed to ensure their adoption or rejection, little has ever been made public, but that there was no lack of careful consideration of every detail is to be comprehended from the fact that eight years were in all consumed in the work, the proclamation of the Constitution bearing date, as we have already seen, the 11th of February 1889. While the provisions of this Edict gave birth to representative bodies, the utmost anxiety was evinced to safeguard the executive from any encroachments on its legitimate sphere by those bodies, as though the outcome of their profound researches into the principles of representative government in Europe had been a conviction on the part of the examining committee that disadvantages were to be recognised, in relation to the benefits, in a proportion which it was impossible wholly to ignore.

The prerogatives of the Crown had to be secured from excessive interference by the governed,—the government must be absolutely free to employ all the nation’s resources. Without this clear perception of the attributes of sovereignty at the outset, it might have been difficult to have brought all Japan’s strength to bear in the critical situations which have in later years arisen. As matters stand, however, the direct rule of the sovereign, though in some respects the idea of limited monarchy is preserved, remains practically unfettered, and the supreme control rests in the Emperor’s own hands. The Cabinet being responsible to the Ten-shi himself, may continue to conduct the affairs of the nation until it pleases him to signify a wish for its resignation, in spite of adverse votes on its policy that may be passed in both Houses, a provision which places it above the exigencies of party strife, and secures at all times its complete independence of action.

The prefectural assemblies, which were designed to pave the way for organised self-government through representative bodies on the western model, continued to meet in the provinces and to constitute a very useful training for the people in the principles of local administration and the formation of public opinion. The functions of these provincial parliaments were definitely laid down in a special ordinance in the year 1888, a few months before the assembly of the first Diet, so that there should be no conflict in regard to the respective powers of these institutions. A notable step had been taken four years previously in the reorganisation of the aristocracy on a system akin to the Chinese but accommodated to the methods of the Occident. There had been from ancient times in the Chinese Empire certain well-defined grades of the aristocracy, and in a modified form the titles so conferred had had their equivalents in Japan, so that it became necessary merely to revive the system under modern conditions. The degrees of nobility thus reintroduced were Ko = prince, Ko = (with a different symbol) marquis, Haku = count, Shi = viscount, and Dan = baron, corresponding to the Kung, Hou, Po, Tzu, and Nan of the Chinese, the European equivalents for these titles being adopted by imperial ordinance from the year 1884. It has often been supposed that Japan copied the Western forms in reorganising her nobility, but the truth is that she officially recognised the European ranks under their Chinese equivalents, just as her scientific terminology is based upon the ideographs which have been employed in China for tens of centuries to represent substances of which the inhabitants of that land were cognisant though they lacked the enterprise to turn their knowledge to practical account. Chinese, as a language, has been to Japanese what Latin and Greek have been to English, the never-failing fount from which it was feasible to draw as occasion might require a term to suit the needs of scientific advancement. There had been princes, court nobles, and a hereditary aristocracy in Japan from times out of mind, the new feature introduced was the adjustment of mediæval titles of nobility to the requirements of a later age. Under this arrangement it became possible to group the former feudal magnates according to the relative positions that they had occupied while in possession of their estates, and simultaneously to raise to commensurate rank those who had become distinguished by their services to their country. Honours were to be conferred solely by the sovereign, and while he confirmed in this respect in their inherited privileges the members of the older aristocracy the Emperor raised to a status of equal title to respect those who had served him in the reconstitution of his empire on a basis of unexampled prosperity. On Ito Hirobumi his Majesty conferred the rank of Count. A similar honour was bestowed on his colleague and fellow-countryman Inouye Kaoru, and on many more. The former feudal lord of the Hizen province, for example, took his place in the new peerage as Marquis Nabeshima. The court noble Iwakura, who had headed the mission to Europe and America, became a Prince. The great shipbuilder, Iwasaki, who by his enterprise had done yeoman service to the nation in establishing this valuable industry at Nagasaki, became a baron.

It was in 1885 that Count Ito, as he had now become, by the favour of the sovereign, under the provisions of the law creating a Peerage, formed his first Cabinet, in accordance with the resolution arrived at, by the Emperor in Council, to introduce this vital change of system in respect of the political organisation of the Empire. The Supreme Council of the nation thenceforward became composed of the heads of the various departments of State, with a Minister-president at its head. The Count, as in duty bound, took his place as the first to occupy the presidential office, and around him were grouped the foremost men of his party, in which the Sat-Cho element as it was termed, predominated. Sat-Cho is a compound word evolved from the names of the two great clans of the south, Satsuma and Choshiu. The first syllables are seen to be united in the compound, a term which has for many years been employed in Japan to signify the ascendency enjoyed in the political affairs of the New Japan by the representatives of the two clans indicated. Satsuma and Choshiu have always, under the later regime, shone conspicuously in the annals of the navy and the army having been the pioneers in the introduction of modern naval and military science. The Ministers who formed the First Cabinet of Japan were:—

Count Ito Hirobumi: Minister-President. Count Inouye Kaoru: Foreign Minister. Marshal Yamagata: Home do. Count Matsukata: Finance do. Marshal Oyama: War do. Marquis Saigo (late): Navy do. Viscount Mori (late): Education do. Admiral Enomoto: Communications do.

The Privy Council, of which the special function is to advise the sovereign whenever it may be his pleasure to consult it, was established in 1888, and Count Ito became its first president, having resigned his post of Minister-president of State to take up this more important office. The expression is used advisedly, because in Japan, where the prerogatives of the sovereign place him nearly on a level with those rulers whose sway is absolute and autocratic, the Privy Council occupies a position of responsibility that is not shared even by the Cabinet, in those crises that must at times occur in the life of a nation. To the Privy Council in Japan belong all those surviving Elder Statesmen, as they are with fitting respect designated, who have helped to make of Japan the marvellous success as a world power that she has become. In the formation of the Japanese Privy Council we may trace a close resemblance to that body which discharges somewhat similar functions in Great Britain. The original idea was not improbably imbibed by Count Ito during his study of European systems of Government, but in Japan the plan is extended to admit of the adoption of an ever-widening field of selection. The Emperor may summon whom he may think fit among his people to aid him in his deliberations, and in his wise choice of counsellors he has been guided by the evidence afforded of sterling ability or rare virtue rather than by affluence or the world’s esteem. The Privy Council may boast a membership exclusively of patriots, proved in the fire, men who have in reality sought above all things their country’s welfare, the advancement of their ruler’s legitimate interests and the maintenance of his rights and prerogatives unimpaired. He is able as a result to invest them with his complete confidence in the hour of trial. It was to the Privy Council that was entrusted the solemn duty of finally deliberating upon the draft to be submitted to the Emperor of the new Constitution, prior to its adoption in February 1889, and it is obvious from the character of its members that in this body his Majesty has been able to repose the utmost confidence at critical periods in the life of the nation.

The first Ito Cabinet remained in office until 1888, and when it was replaced by a Ministry of which Count Kuroda was the President, Count Ito at the express command of the sovereign, continued to retain office as a Cabinet Minister, but without holding any portfolio. In 1892 he again formed a Cabinet of which he was the Premier, and this lasted four years, through all the storm and stress of the war with China, in 1894-5, only in the year following going out of office on the conclusion of peace. In April 1895, occurred the famous meeting at Shimonoseki to arrange the terms for a cessation of hostilities, when Japan was represented by Count Ito Hirobumi and China by Earl Li Hung-chang. The document as eventually drawn up is too long for quotation in its entirety, but in its main provisions it covered a wide field, the opportunity being seized by Japan to insist on the opening of additional ports in China to foreign trade, a service to the rest of the world which has perhaps been less appreciated than Japan had a right to expect at the time. Under this treaty of peace China definitely recognised the full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea and agreed to the cessation of ceremonies and formalities and the payment of tribute derogatory to such independence. China ceded to Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty the following territories, together with all fortifications, arsenals, and public property thereon:—

(_a_) That part of the province of Feng-tien (Southern Manchuria), south of a line drawn from the mouth of the Yalu upstream to the mouth of the An-ping, thence to Feng-hwang-cheng and on to Hai-cheng, thence to Ying-kow (Newchwang) including the towns and places named.

(_b_) The island of Formosa, and adjacent islets appertaining thereto.

(_c_) The Pescadores group, that is to say all islands between longitude 119° and 120° E. and between 23° and 24° N. latitude.

The indemnity was fixed at 200,000,000 taels, payable in eight instalments. Wei-hai-wei was to remain in the occupation of the Japanese forces as a guarantee of the faithful performance of the stipulations of the agreement.

In the Liao-tung Convention signed at Peking on behalf of their respective countries by Baron Hayashi Tadasu and Earl Li on the 8th November 1895, the Third article of the Shimonoseki Treaty was abrogated, and a sum of 30,000,000 taels added to the monetary indemnity.

Mention has here been made of the boundaries in Liaotung province of the region which was to have become part of the Japanese Emperor’s dominions. Had that bargain been carried out Russia, who had long before fixed her gaze upon the fortress of Port Arthur, would have had to abandon the hope of ever acquiring the coveted spot, and accordingly with the view of preventing its transfer to Japan she thought fit to address to the Government of Tokio, with the consent and approval of France and Germany, the subjoined remonstrance:—

“The Government of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, in examining the conditions of peace which Japan has imposed on China, finds that the possession of the peninsula of Liao-tung, claimed by Japan, would be a constant menace to the capital of China, would at the same time render illusory the independence of Korea, and would henceforth be a perpetual obstacle to the permanent peace of the Far East. Consequently, the Government of his Majesty the Emperor would give a new proof of their sincere friendship for the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Japan by advising them to renounce the definitive possession of the peninsula of Liao-tung.”

As Minister-President of State it fell to the lot of Count Ito, on the receipt of this historic document, to advise his Japanese Majesty to comply with the recommendation therein set forth, and to incur all the odium that attached in Japan itself to what was looked upon by the less thoughtful of the population as an abject surrender to the aggressive European Powers which were leagued in an unholy intrigue to deprive Japan of the legitimate fruits of her victory over China. For a time Count Ito went in danger of his life, for there are not rarely to be found those in Japan who are willing to regard themselves as the appointed agents of the gods for the punishment of what they deem to be an indignity brought upon the nation, no matter what the circumstances may have been. But that the Minister went well guarded at the express command of his sovereign in these days of uncommon excitement he might have shared the fate of other true patriots whose history is briefly recorded in this volume.

By his imperial master the Minister-president of the day, however, was throughout praised for the part which he took in respect of the war and of the settlement reached on its conclusion, and a signal mark of his Majesty’s favour was given in the statesman’s elevation to the rank of Marquis in connection with these notable events.

In 1897 Marquis Ito visited Great Britain for the fourth time, the occasion being the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The representative of the Ten-shi was Admiral his Royal Highness the Prince Arisugawa, so well known in the British Navy, he having served his apprenticeship to the sea in H.M.S. _Iron Duke_, after a course of education at Greenwich Naval College. Marquis Ito was for some weeks in London in the summer of that year, and paid a fifth visit to this country in 1900, to which reference will be made later on.

In the year 1898 the Marquis headed a ministry which included:—

Count Inouye: Finance Minister. Baron Nishi: Foreign do. Viscount Yoshikawa: Home do. General Katsura: War do. Marquis Saionji: Education do. and the late Marquis Saigo: Minister for the Navy.

In 1900 he took office for the fourth time as Minister-president, with Baron Suyematsu, so well known in Europe of recent years for his contributions to the literature of the day and for his reasoned and fearless championship of his country’s cause on the lecture platform and elsewhere, as the Minister of the Interior. In this Cabinet was Mr Takaaki Kato, formerly Japan’s representative at the Court of St James, who held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, General Viscount Katsura, now Premier, was Minister for War, and Admiral Baron Yamamoto was Minister for the Navy, a position which he occupied under successive administrations, from 1899 until January 1906.

In 1900 Marquis Ito associated himself with the doctrines of party government, and an immense step was taken in that direction by the formation of a political body named the Sei-Yu-kai, pledged to the adoption and support of Constitutional methods. His views on the duty of a political party were set forth in a manifesto at the time and may with advantage be introduced here:—

“If a political party aims, as it should aim, at being a guide to the people, it must first commence with the maintenance of strict discipline and order in its own ranks, and above all must shape its own conduct in accordance with an absolute and sincere devotion to the public interests of the nation. It must, moreover, avoid falling into the fatal mistake of conferring posts on persons of doubtful qualifications merely because they happen to be members of its own political organisation.”