Framing of Constitution—New Peerage—Reorganization of Ministry—English
Influence—Financial Reform—Failure of Conferences for Treaty Revision.
With the return of the Itō mission in September, 1883, the task of
framing a Constitution was commenced. By that time the conservative
tendencies in the Ministry had become more marked. They were to increase
still further as a result of the study of Western political systems in
which the mission had been engaged. Most of its time had been spent in
Germany. The rapid progress of that country since its expansion into an
Empire, the bureaucratic basis of its administration, the conservative
bias of its rulers, and the personality of Bismarck, were presumably
reasons that pointed to the adoption of German models in constitutional,
as well as other administrative matters, as those best suited to a
nation which had just emerged from feudalism. For a Government, too,
which wished to retain as much power as possible in the hands of the
Crown, a Constitution, such as those of German States, under which the
Sovereign and his ministers were independent of Parliament, had a
natural attraction. And there may have been a conviction of the
necessity of some counterpoise to the democratic ideas derived from
intercourse with republican countries, and from Western literature of an
advanced type, whose mischievous effects had been shown in the extreme
views, and still more extreme methods, of the political agitators who
clamoured for representative institutions.
In the spring of 1884 Itō became Minister of the Imperial Household, and
a special bureau was formed in that department for the purpose of
drawing up a Constitution under his direction. The choice of the
Household Department for this task was determined by political
considerations. It was desired to emphasize the point that the
constitution was granted of his own accord by the Sovereign, not wrested
from him by his subjects. There was also a wish to impress upon the
nation the fact that the Throne was the source of all authority. The
arrangement had also the advantage of disarming criticism, while the
privacy associated with the proceedings of a department representing the
Court removed all risk of interference from outside.
Soon after Itō’s appointment as Minister of the Household new orders of
nobility were created, the model adopted being that of the continent of
Europe. With the fall of the Shōgunate, and the abolition of the feudal
system, all territorial titles had disappeared. Gone also were the empty
Court, or official, titles, so eagerly sought, the bestowal of which had
been one of the last surviving prerogatives of the Crown.
An account of these ancient titles has already been given. Many of them
had become hereditary in the families which held them, and their
disappearance had been viewed with regret in many quarters. The creation
of the new orders of nobility, therefore, gained much popularity for the
new Minister of the Household. There was indeed a special reason for the
measure. It was the first step towards the establishment of a
constitutional _régime_. A House of Peers was to be a leading feature of
the Constitution now in course of preparation, and it was essential to
create a new nobility before the institution of which it was to form a
part came into operation. Some five hundred peers in all were created,
the number including 12 princes, 24 marquises, 74 counts, 321 viscounts
and 69 barons. The recipients of these new titles were the ex-_Kugé_, or
Court nobles, the ex-daimiōs, who under the feudal system had
constituted the territorial nobility, and ex-_samurai_, still in office,
who had rendered eminent service to the State at the time of the
Restoration. Not unnaturally the lion’s share of the titles received by
commoners fell to Satsuma and Chōshiū men. Assuming the number of
ex-_Kugé_ to be 150, and that of the ex-daimiōs to be 300, it will be
seen that the number of commoners ennobled amounted to only one-tenth of
the whole. The disproportionately large number of viscounts created is
explained by the fact that there was little difference in the positions
of most of the territorial nobility, although each had his fixed place
in the table of official precedence. It was, therefore, difficult to
make any discrimination in these cases when the old system of things was
translated into the new. It would appear, moreover, that this was also
the case with the old Court nobility. Among the ex-_samurai_ to be
ennobled were the Chōshiū statesmen, Itō, Yamagata and Inouyé, and three
Satsuma members of the Government, Kuroda, the younger Saigō, and
Matsugata, all of whom became Counts. The services of other ex-_samurai_
who had distinguished themselves at the time of the Restoration, but
were in opposition when the new nobility was created, were recognized
some years later, Ōkuma, Itagaki and Gotō then receiving the same title
of Count.
In the reorganization of the administrative system which took place in
the following year the hand of the new Minister of the Household could
again be seen. The previous reorganization of the Ministry had occurred
in 1871. The changes then made had been of two kinds: the substitution
in the new Government of the leading spirits of the Restoration in place
of representatives of the feudal aristocracy, thus strengthening the
progressive element in the Ministry; and the separation of the Central
Executive into three branches directed by the three chief Ministers of
State (the _Daijō Daijin_, or Prime Minister, the _Sadaijin_, or
Minister of the Left, and the _Udaijin_, or Minister of the Right).
Under this system, which, in its main outlines, had continued ever
since, there was no clear division between the different departments of
State, nor had the Prime Minister, in whose name all decrees were
issued, proper control over the ministers in charge of them, who were
all independent of each other. The effect of the change now introduced,
in imitation of the German Cabinet system, was to give increased
importance and authority to the post of Premier who received the new
designation of Minister President of the Cabinet. By the creation of a
new Department of Agriculture and Commerce the number of State
Departments was increased to nine. The Ministers of these Departments,
together with the Minister President, constituted the Cabinet. The
Imperial Household formed a separate department, the Minister of the
Household not being included in the Cabinet. Under the new arrangement
the Premier virtually directed the policy of the State, and was eligible
for a portfolio, if he chose to hold one. Like the German Chancellors
under Hohenzollern rule, he was responsible for the whole
administration, while exercising a general control over all Departments.
The changes involved in this administrative reorganization, which is
still in existence, had also another and deeper signification. They
meant the final triumph of Western ideas, and the open assumption of the
reins of Government by the men who had up to that time been working
behind the scenes.
Other changes effected about this time, and due to the initiative of the
same statesman, were the creation of the office of Lord Keeper of the
Seals (_Naidaijin_) who presided over a body of fifteen Court
Councillors (_Kiūchiū-Komonkwan_), whose duties were to give advice
regarding Court ceremonies and usages; and the establishment of a system
of competitive examinations for employment in the Civil Service. This
reform, which one is tempted to regard as the application of one of the
principles mentioned in the Imperial Oath, though the motive may have
been simply the same that prompted other Western innovations, put an end
to much of the favouritism which had previously influenced official
appointments, and had furnished political agitators with a useful cry. A
further indication of progressive tendencies was furnished by the
adoption of English as a subject of study in primary schools. This step
was an official recognition of the influence it had exercised and was
still exercising upon the modern development of Japan. That influence
has been fully recognized by Japanese writers. In _Fifty Years of New
Japan_, a book to which reference has been made more than once in these
pages, Professor Haga, speaking of the effects of the reopening of Japan
to foreign intercourse, tells us that it has always been through books
in the English language that the Japanese people formed their
conceptions of things European, and obtained glimpses of the general
features of the outside world. Elsewhere in the same work Professor
Nitobé, who studied chiefly in the United States, remarks that “the
effect of the English tongue on the mental habits [? mentality] of the
Japanese people is incalculable”; and he adds that “the moral influence
of some of the simple text-books used in our schools cannot be
overrated.”
The year 1886 is associated with a financial reform of the first
importance—the resumption of specie payments, in other words, the
substitution of convertible for inconvertible paper money. When dwelling
for a moment in a previous chapter on the financial difficulties
confronting the new Government that was formed after the Restoration,
mention was made of the confused state of the monetary system at that
time, and more especially the chaotic condition of the paper money then
in circulation. From a _History of the Currency_ published by the
Government in the above mentioned year we learn that the money in use at
the beginning of the Meiji era (1868) included four kinds of gold coins
(one being a coin not in general use); two kinds of silver coins,
besides bars and balls of silver of fixed weights; six kinds of copper,
brass and iron coins, known by the general term of _zeni_, or “cash”
(one of these being merely a money token, and not an actual coin); and
no less than 1600 different currencies of paper money. Much of the
coinage was debased. The paper currencies emanated partly from the
central Tokugawa Government and partly from the local feudal
authorities. More than two-thirds of the 270 odd clans then in
existence, and eight _hatamoto_ territories, had paper currencies of
their own, and in many cases issues of different dates were in
circulation together. This paper money, too, was of various kinds. There
were gold notes, silver notes, _sen_ notes, notes representing fixed
amounts in copper, brass and iron “cash,” as well as rice notes
representing definite quantities of rice, and used in the payment of
taxes, which were levied chiefly in kind. There were also what were
called “credit notes”—issued in return for money deposited by the
commercial establishments which did duty for banks in those
days—representing gold, silver, cash, or rice, as the case might be. The
mischief was intensified by the erroneous ideas then held as to the
proper ratio between gold and silver, and between these two metals and
copper, which enabled the foreign trader to make illegitimate profits,
and caused great loss to the country. The steps taken by the Government,
after the establishment of a mint, and the abolition of the feudal
system, to remedy this state of things included the withdrawal of
current issues of coin and paper money, and the issue of other currency
in their place. The first effect, therefore, of these measures was to
increase the existing confusion. The issue of the new coinage struck at
the Ōsaka mint also tended to obscure the situation. Though the standard
adopted was nominally a gold one, in its working it became bimetallic;
for in 1878 the Government allowed one-yen silver coins to come into
general and unrestricted circulation, a step which was tantamount to
changing the monometallic standard into a bimetallic one.
[Illustration:
PRINCE ITŌ.
Took an active part in the Government formed after the Restoration; he
was the chief framer of the Japanese Constitution and parliamentary
institutions, and founder of the Seiyūkai. His last post was that of
Governor General of Korea.
]
Meanwhile, by the establishment in 1872 of National Banks, empowered to
issue notes in a certain proportion to their capital, it was sought to
facilitate the withdrawal of the old paper money, encourage banking
enterprise on a modern system, and place matters generally on a more
satisfactory footing. At the end of four years only four National Banks,
the pioneers in Japan of modern banking, having come into existence, it
was found necessary to revise the National Bank regulations. The
revision had immediate effect. Within five years the number of National
Banks had increased from four to one hundred and fifty-one, many of
which, however, as Baron Shibusawa, the well-known banker, explains in
his chapter on banking in _Fifty Years of New Japan_, were local
undertakings of limited importance. One of the objects of the
establishment of National Banks, the encouragement of banking
enterprise, had thus been achieved. Progress had also been made in the
attainment of another object, the redemption of previous paper
currencies by the issue of Paper Money (_Kinsatsu_) Exchange Bonds and
Pension Bonds, which the National Banks were allowed to hold as security
for their note issue. But the permission given to the National Banks to
issue notes had been made use of too freely, with the result that paper
money depreciated considerably in value; and when during the Satsuma
rebellion the Government had recourse to a further large issue of notes
in order to meet increased expenditure, a further fall in value
occurred. The lowest level in the price of paper money was reached in
the spring of 1881, when it stood at a discount of over 70 per cent. The
creation of the Bank of Japan in the following year furnished the
country with a banking centre independent of the National Banks, in a
position to exercise a check on their operations, and empowered to issue
convertible notes on the basis of a specie reserve which the National
Banks were required to deposit with it; and a year later the then
Minister of Finance, Mr. (afterwards Marquis) Matsugata, introduced a
scheme for the cessation of the privilege of issuing notes given to
these banks, the gradual withdrawal of their note issue in circulation,
and the alteration of their status to that of private banks. The
adoption of these and other steps, into the details of which it is
unnecessary to enter, rendered it at last possible to effect specie
resumption on a silver basis. A Notification to this effect was issued
in June, 1885, and the measure came into force on the 1st January, 1886.
The gold standard now in existence was not established until eleven
years later.
The same year (1886) witnessed a revival of political agitation. This
had, as we have seen, died down after the failure of the first attempt
to organize political parties in preparation for the promised
parliament, and the extremist members of the now numerous party of
advanced reformers had been tempted to employ more violent methods to
attain their ends, with results already described. In September of that
year a meeting of politicians of all shades of liberal and radical
opinion was held in the Capital to concert measures for the taking of
united action. Simultaneously with this renewed activity the field of
operations was extended. Ever since the agitation had assumed a more or
less organized form the politicians conducting it had confined their
attention almost exclusively to domestic affairs. Now, however, an
important foreign question came before the public in a shape more
definite than before. This was the question of Treaty Revision.
It has already been explained in a previous chapter, in connection with
the mission of Iwakura to Europe and America in 1872 for the ostensible
purpose of obtaining a revision of the treaties with foreign Powers, how
soon after the reopening of foreign intercourse, and how strongly, the
Japanese nation resented the exemption of foreigners from Japanese
jurisdiction under the treaties of 1858; what importance was attached by
the Japanese Government to a revision of those treaties which would do
away with extra-territorial privileges; and what disappointment and
ill-feeling, as well as other unwelcome results, were caused by the
failure of the mission to persuade the foreign Governments concerned to
enter into negotiations on the subject. It will be more convenient to
give this important question a place to itself later on, when the course
of our narrative has reached the point at which the object of the
long-continued negotiations was at length successfully accomplished. For
the present it will be sufficient to mention that the question was not
allowed to drop because of the ill-success of the Iwakura Mission: that
negotiations were reopened by the Japanese Government in 1882, when a
Preliminary Conference was held in Tōkiō; that a further and more formal
Conference took place in the same Capital four years later; and that on
neither of these occasions was a definite result reached.
Such was the position of affairs when in the course of the revival of
political agitation this question, so embarrassing to the Government,
and so irritating to the susceptibilities of the nation, came to play a
more prominent part in public controversies. A national grievance of
this kind felt by all educated persons was naturally shared by
politicians. It was rendered more acute by the recognition of the fact,
now become common knowledge, that the absence of any fixed term for the
duration of existing treaties constituted a serious obstacle to their
revision. Treaty revision, therefore, became a chief feature in the
programme of political agitators, and increased importance was given to
it by the failure of the second Conference to achieve any definite
results, and by the resignation, as a result of this failure, of the
then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count (afterwards Marquis) Inouyé,
who, as chief Japanese delegate, had presided over its meetings.
Some increase of confusion in the country, and a general sense of
instability, were caused too at this time by the pro-foreign tendencies
which for some years had characterized the policy of the Government.
Associated in its origin with a desire for the revision of the treaties
which should relieve Japanese susceptibilities, and with the
well-grounded conviction that the adoption of Western institutions, laws
and customs would enlist the sympathies of foreign countries, and thus
assist the attainment of the end desired, the movement assumed such
proportions in official and Court circles in the Capital as to lead to
the supposition that nothing less than the Europeanization of Japan was
intended. More serious than some in its character, and in its effects
more lasting, it ran its course like other similar movements, the
recurrence of which is a testimony to the impulsive character of the
people; and when it died out the process was so silent and gradual that
no reactionary wave came to swell the normal tide of anti-foreign
sentiment.
The failure in 1887 of the second Conference, which had lasted more than
a year, furnished a welcome opportunity to political agitators. The
moment was favourable for the stirring up of trouble. The renewal of
political activity was signalized by the formation of a confederation of
men of all parties, including even a sprinkling of conservatives, under
the name of General Agreement Union (_Daidō-Shō-i Danketsu_), a title
which was intended to convey the meaning that it was an association of
persons whose opinions agreed in the main and differed only in
non-essentials. It was not a political party in the strict sense of the
term, but a loose conglomeration of persons united only by
dissatisfaction with the Government. Encouraged by the birth of this new
and powerful association, the class of political rowdies increased in
numbers; the law which imposed restrictions on the organization of
political parties was evaded by the formation of secret societies; and
eventually the condition of affairs became so serious that the
Government took the strongest step adopted since the Restoration and
issued what are known as the Peace Preservation Regulations (_Hō-an
Jōrei_). These regulations prohibited under severe penalties the holding
of secret meetings, the formation of secret societies, and the
publication of books or pamphlets of any kind of a nature to disturb the
public peace. They also armed the authorities with power to arrest and
banish for three years from the district in which he lived any person
suspected of disturbing the public peace who resided within a radius of
seven miles from the Imperial Palace in the Capital.
The regulations were put into force on the date of their promulgation,
the 25th December, 1887. More than five hundred persons were arrested
and banished at twenty-four hours’ notice from the Capital and its
neighbourhood, the number including several prominent men, who
afterwards filled high positions as Cabinet Ministers or Presidents of
the Lower House. The precautions taken by the authorities did not end
here. The garrison of Tōkiō was increased, the departments of State and
the official residences of Ministers were guarded by police patrols, and
the Ministers themselves never ventured out without an escort of two or
three armed detectives. The nature of the precautionary measures taken
indicates that it was not popular disorders so much as dangerous
political trouble that was feared. That they were needed is proved by
the fact that during the year 1889 one Cabinet Minister was murdered,
while another was dangerously wounded by political malcontents.
As before, conciliation went hand in hand with repression. Three days
after the Peace Preservation Regulations were promulgated the issue of a
new and more lenient Press law encouraged the freer expression of
popular views. And in February of the following year (1888) public
opinion was further conciliated by the inclusion in the Cabinet of
Ōkuma, whose views on constitutional questions had always been in
advance of those of the Ministry which he rejoined. His return to the
Cabinet was of great service to the country at a critical time, helping
the Government to tide over an uncomfortable interval which still
remained before the promulgation of the Constitution.