INFLUENCES THAT SHAPED THE GROWTH OF THE REPRESENTATIVE IDEA OF
GOVERNMENT.
We have seen in the last two chapters how the Shogunate and feudalism
fell, and how the Meiji government was inaugurated. We have also
observed in the memorials of leading statesmen abundant proof of
their willingness and zeal to introduce a representative system of
government. We have also seen the Kogisho convened and dissolved.
John Stuart Mill has pointed out, in his Representative Government,
several social conditions when representative government is
inapplicable or unsuitable:
1. When the people are not willing to receive it.
2. When the people are not willing and able to do what is necessary
for its preservation.
"Representative institutions necessarily depend for permanence upon
the readiness of the people to fight for them in case of their being
endangered."
3. When the people are not willing and able to fulfil the duties and
discharge the functions which it imposes on them.
4. When the people have not learned the first lesson of obedience.
5. When the people are too passive; when they are ready to submit to
tyranny.
Now when we look at the Japan of 1871, even her greatest admirers must
admit that she was far from being able to fulfil the social conditions
necessary for the success of representative government. Japan was
obedient, but too submissive. She had not yet learned the first
lesson of freedom, that is, when and how to resist, in the faith that
resistance to tyrants is obedience to truth; that the irrepressible
kicker against tyranny, as Dr. Wilson observes, is the only true
freeman. In her conservative, almost abject submission, Japan was
yet unfit for free government. The Japanese people were willing to
do almost anything suggested by their Emperor, but they had first to
learn what was meant by representative government, "to understand
its processes and requirements." The Japanese had to discard many old
habits and prejudices, reform many defects of national character, and
undergo many stages of moral and mental discipline before they could
acclimatize themselves to the free atmosphere of representative
institutions. This preparation required a period of little over two
decades, and was effected not only through political discipline, but
by corresponding development in the moral, intellectual, social, and
industrial life of the nation.
I remarked in the beginning that the political activity of a nation is
not isolated from other spheres of its activities, but that there is a
mutual interchange of action and reaction among the different factors
of social life, so that to trace the political life of a nation it is
not only necessary to describe the organ through which it acts, the
governmental machinery, and the methods by which it is worked, but
to know "the forces which move it and direct its course." Now these
forces are political as well as non-political. This truth is now
generally acknowledged by constitutional writers. Thus, the English
author of "The American Commonwealth" devotes over one-third of his
second volume to the account of non-political institutions, and says
"there are certain non-political institutions, certain aspects of
society, certain intellectual or spiritual forces which count for
so much in the total life of the country, in the total impression it
makes and the hopes for the future which it raises, that they cannot
be left unnoticed."[1]
If this be the case in the study of the American commonwealth, it is
more so in that of Japanese politics. For nowhere else in the history
of nations do we see "non-political institutions" exerting such a
powerful influence upon the body politic as in New Japan. In this
chapter we shall therefore note briefly the growth of so-called
"non-political institutions" during a period of about a decade and
a half, between 1868 and 1881, and mark their influence upon the
development of representative ideas.
I.--MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.
1. Telegraph. At the time of the Restoration there was no telegraph
in operation, and "for expresses the only available means were men and
horses." In 1868 the government began to construct telegraphs, and
the report of the Bureau of Statistics in 1881 shows the following
increase in each successive year:
Telegraph Number
Year. Offices. Miles. of Telegrams.
Ri Cho.
1869-1871 8 26.04 19,448
1872 29 33.11 80,639
1873 40 1,099.00 186,448
1874 57 1,333.20 356,539
1875 94 1,904.32 611,866
1876 100 2,214.07 680,939
1877 122 2,827.08 1,045,442
1878 147 3,380.05 1,272,756
1879 195 3,842.31 1,935,320
1880 195 4,484.30 2,168,201
All the more important towns in the country were thus made able to
communicate with one another as early as 1880.
In 1879 Japan joined the International Telegraph Convention, and since
then she can communicate easily with the great powers of the world
through the great submarine cable system. "Compared with the state of
ten years ago, when the ignorant people cut down the telegraph poles
and severed the wires," exclaims Count Okuma, "we seem rather to have
made a century's advance."
2. Postal System. "Previous to the Restoration," to quote further
from Count Okuma, "with the exception of the posts sent by the Daimios
from their residences at the capital to their territories, there
was no regularly established post for the general public and private
convenience. Letters had to be sent by any opportunity that occurred,
and a single letter cost over 25 sen for a distance of 150 ri. But
since the Restoration the government for the first time established
a general postal service, and in 1879 the length of postal lines was
15,700 ri (nearly 40,000 English miles), and a letter can at any time
be sent for two sen to any part of the country. In 1874 we entered
the International Postal Convention, and have thus obtained great
facilities for communicating with foreign countries."[2]
3. Railroad. The first railway Japan ever saw was the model railway
constructed by Commodore Perry to excite the curiosity of the people.
But it was not until 1870 that the railroad was really introduced into
Japan. The first rail was laid on the road between Tokio and Yokohama.
This road was opened in 1872. It is 18 miles long. The second line was
constructed in 1876, and runs between Hiogo and Kioto via Osako. And
the year 1880 saw the opening of the railroad between Kioto and Otsu.
This line between Hiogo and Otsu is 58 miles long. So at the end of
the period which we are surveying Japan had a railway system of 31 ri
and 5 cho (about 78 English miles).
This was nothing but a child-play compared with the railroad activity
which the later years brought forth, for now we have a railway system
extending over one thousand two hundred miles. But this concerns the
later period, so we shall not dwell upon it at present.
4. Steamers and the coasting trade. In 1871 the number of ships
of foreign build was only 74, but by 1878 they had reached 377. The
number of vessels of native build in 1876 was 450,000, and in 1878 had
reached 460,000.[3]
"Since the Restoration the use of steamers has daily increased,
and the inland sea, the lakes and large rivers are now constantly
navigated by small steamers employed in the carrying trade."
With the increased facility of communication, commerce and trade
were stimulated. In 1869 the total amount of imports and exports was
33,680,000 yen, and in 1879 64,120,000 yen. Imports had grown from
20,780,000 yen to 36,290,000 yen, and exports from 12,909,000 yen to
27,830,000 yen; in the one case showing an advance from 2 to 3-1/2, in
the other from 2 to 5.[4]
II.--EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
Previous to the Restoration, the schools supported by Daimios and
the private schools were few in number; but since that epoch the
educational system has been vastly improved, with a resulting increase
in the number of schools and pupils. In 1878, of high, middle, and
primary schools there were altogether 27,600, with 68,000 teachers and
2,319,000 pupils.[5] The following table shows the comparative history
of educational institutions within three years, 1878-1880 (inclusive):
Teachers. Pupils.
Year. Institutions. Male. Female. Male. Female.
1878 27,672 66,309 2,374 1,715,425 610,214
1879 29,362 71,757 2,803 1,771,641 608,205
1880 30,799 74,747 2,923 1,844,564 605,781
Furthermore, hundreds of students went abroad yearly, and returning,
powerfully influenced the destiny of their country.
III.--NEWSPAPERS.
It was in 1869 that the Emperor sanctioned the publication of
newspapers. Magazines, journals, periodicals and newspapers sprung up
in a night. The number of newspapers published in 1882 was about 113,
and of miscellaneous publications about 133. It is to be noted that
the newspapers defied the old censorship of prohibition under very
sanguinary pains and penalties. Their circulation increased every
year. The total newspaper circulation in 1874 was but 8,470,269,
while in 1877 it was 33,449,529. In his consular report of 1882,
Consul-General Van Buren makes an approximate estimate of the annual
aggregate circulation of a dozen noted papers of Tokio to be not less
than 29,000,000 copies.[6]
The publication of books and translations kept pace with the growth
of newspapers. Observing the effects of these literary activities, Mr.
Griffis well says: "It is the writer's firm belief, after nearly four
years of life in Japan, mingling among the progressive men of the
empire, that the reading and study of books printed in the Japanese
language have done more to transform the Japanese mind and to develop
an impulse in the direction of modern civilization than any other
cause or series of causes."
Meanwhile, great changes were affecting law and religion. Here it
is sufficient to observe that the old law which had been hitherto
altogether arbitrary--either the will of the Emperor or of the
Shogun--was revised on the model of the Napoleonic code and soon
published throughout the land. The use of torture to obtain testimony
was wholly and forever abolished.
With the incoming of Western science and Christianity, old faiths
began to lose their hold upon the people. The new religion spread
yearly. Missionary schools were instituted in several parts of the
country. Christian churches were built in almost all of the large
cities and towns, and their number increased constantly. Missionaries
and Christian schools had no inconsiderable influence in changing the
ideas of the people.
Such, in brief, have been the changes in the industrial, social and
religious condition of Japan from 1868 to 1881. After this study we
shall not much wonder at the remarkable political change of Japan
during the same period, which I shall endeavor to describe in the next
chapter.
[Footnote 1: The American Commonwealth, Bryce, Vol. I., p. 7.]
[Footnote 2: A Survey of Financial Policy during Thirteen Years
(1868-1880), by Count Okuma.]
[Footnotes 3, 4, 5: Count Okuma's pamphlet.]
[Footnote 6: Consular Report of the U.S., No. 25, p. 182.]