PROGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL MOVEMENT FROM THE ABOLITION OF
FEUDALISM TO THE PROCLAMATION OF OCTOBER 12, 1881.
The leaders of the Restoration were of an entirely different type from
the court nobles of former days. They were, with a few exceptions,
men of humble origin. They had raised themselves from obscurity to the
highest places of the state by sheer force of native ability. They had
studied much and travelled far. Their experiences were diverse; they
had seen almost every phase of society. If they were now drinking the
cup of glory, most of them had also tasted the bitterness of exile,
imprisonment, and fear of death. Patriotic, sagacious, and daring,
they combined the rare qualities of magnanimity and urbanity. If
they looked with indifference upon private morality, they were keenly
sensitive to the feeling of honor and to public morals. If they made
mistakes and did not escape the charge of inconsistency in their
policy, these venial faults were, for the most part, due to the
rapidly changing conditions of the country. No other set of statesmen
of Japan or of any other country, ancient or modern, have witnessed
within their lifetime so many social and political transformations.
They saw the days when feudalism flourished--the grandeur of its
rulers, its antique chivalry, its stately etiquette, its ceremonial
costumes, its codes of honor, its rigid social order, formal
politeness, and measured courtesies. They also saw the days when
all these were swept away and replaced by the simplicity and stir of
modern life. They accordingly "have had to cast away every tradition,
every habit, and every principle and mode of action with which even
the youngest of them had to begin official life."
The ranks of this noble body of statesmen and reformers are now
gradually diminishing. Saigo and Gesho are no more. Kido and Iwakura
have been borne to their graves. Okubo and Mori have fallen under the
sword of fanatics. But, thanks be to God, many of them yet remain and
bear the burdens of the day.
I have mentioned in Chapter III. the overthrow of feudalism and
its causes. Its immediate effect on the nation, in unifying their
thoughts, customs, and habits, was most remarkable. From this time
we see the marked growth of common sentiment, common manners, common
interest among the people, together with a love of peace and order.
While the government at home was thus tearing down the old framework
of state, the Iwakura Embassy in foreign lands was gathering materials
for the new. This was significant, inasmuch as five of the best
statesmen of the time, with their staff of forty-four able men, came
into association for over a year with western peoples, and beheld in
operation their social, political and religious institutions. These
men became fully convinced that "the wealth, the power, and the
happiness of a people," as President Grant told them, "are advanced
by the encouragement of trade and commercial intercourse with other
powers, by the elevation and dignity of labor, by the practical
adaptation of science to the manufactures and the arts, by increased
facilities of frequent and rapid communication between different parts
of the country, by the encouragement of immigration, which brings with
it the varied habits and diverse genius and industry of other lands,
by a free press, by freedom of thought and of conscience, and a
liberal toleration in matters of religion."[1]
The impressions and opinions of these men on the importance of a free
and liberal policy can be gleaned from the speeches they made during
the western tour, and some of their writings and utterances on other
occasions.
The chief ambassador, Iwakura, in reply to a toast made to him in
England, said: "Having now become more intimately acquainted with her
(England's) many institutions, we have discovered that their success
is due to the _liberal_ and energetic spirit by which they are
animated."[2]
Count Ito, the present President of the Privy Council, in his speech
at San Francisco, said: "While held in absolute obedience by despotic
sovereigns through many thousand years, our people knew no freedom
or liberty of thought. With our material improvement they learned to
understand their rightful privileges, which for ages have been denied
them."[3]
Count Inouye, the ex-Minister of State for Agriculture and Commerce,
in his memorial to the government in 1873, said: "The people of
European and American countries are for the most part rich in
intelligence and knowledge, and they preserve the spirit of
independence. And owing to the nature of their polity they share in
the counsels of their government. Government and people thus mutually
aid and support each other, as hand and foot protect the head and eye.
The merits of each question that arises are distinctly comprehended
by the nation at home, and the government is merely its outward
representative. But our people are different. Accustomed for ages to
despotic rule, they have remained content with their prejudices and
ignorance. Their knowledge and intelligence are undeveloped and their
spirit is feeble. In every movement of their being they submit to the
will of the government, and have not the shadow of an idea of what 'a
right' is. If the government makes an order, the whole country obeys
it as one man. If the government takes a certain view, the whole
nation adopts it unanimously.... The people must be recalled to life,
and the Empire be made to comprehend with clearness that the objects
which the government has in view are widely different from those of
former times."[4]
If the passages quoted illustrate statesmen's zeal to introduce
western civilization, and to educate the people gradually to political
freedom and privileges, their actions speak more eloquently than their
words. In order to crush that social evil, the class system, which
for ages had been a curse, the government declared all classes of men
equal before the law, delivered the _eta_--the class of outcasts--from
its position of contempt, abolished the marriage limitations existing
between different classes of society, prohibited the wearing of
swords, which was the peculiar privilege of the nobles and the
Samurai; while to facilitate means of communication and to open the
eyes of the people to the wonders of mechanical art, they incessantly
applied themselves to the construction of railroads, docks,
lighthouses, mining, iron, and copper factories, and to the
establishment of telegraphic and postal systems. They also codified
the laws, abolished the use of torture in obtaining testimony,
revoked the edict against Christianity, sanctioned the publication of
newspapers, established by the decree of 1875 the "Genro-in (a kind
of Senate) to enact laws for the Empire, and the Daishin-in to
consolidate the judicial authority of the courts,"[5] and called an
assembly of the prefects, which, however, held but one session in
Tokio.
While the current of thought among the official circles was thus
flowing, there was also a stream, in the lower region of the social
life, soon to swell into a mighty river. Social inequality, that
barrier which prevents the flow of popular feeling, being already
levelled, merchants, agriculturists, tradesmen, artisans and laborers
were now set at liberty to assert their rights and to use their
talents. They were no longer debarred from places of high honor.
The great colleges and schools, both public and private, which were
hitherto established and carried on exclusively for the benefit of the
nobles and the Samurai, were now open to all. And in this democracy
of letters, where there is no rank or honor but that of talent and
industry, a sentiment was fast growing that the son of a Daimio is not
necessarily wiser than the son of a peasant.
Teachers of these institutions were not slow to infuse the spirit of
independence and liberty into their pupils and to instruct the people
in their natural and political rights. Mr. Fukuzawa, a schoolmaster,
an author, and a lecturer, the man who exercised an immense influence
in shaping the mind of young Japan, gave a deathblow to the old ideas
of despotic government, and of the blind obedience of the people, when
he declared that _government exists for the people and not the people
for the government_, that the government officials are the servants of
the people, and the people their employer. He also struck a heavy blow
at the arrogance and extreme love of military glory of the Samurai
class, with whom to die for the cause of his sovereign, whatever that
cause might be, was the highest act of patriotism, by advocating that
"Death is a democrat, and that the Samurai who died fighting for his
country, and the servant who was slain while caught stealing from his
master, were alike dead and useless."
In a letter to one of his disciples, Mr. Fukuzawa said: "The liberty
of which I have spoken is of such great importance that everything
should be done to secure its blessings in the family and in the
nation, without any respect to persons. When every individual, every
family and every province shall obtain this liberty, then, and not
till then, can we expect to witness the true independence of the
nation; then the military, the farming, the mechanical, and mercantile
classes will not live in hostility to each other; then peace will
reign throughout the land, and all men will be respected according to
their conduct and real character."[6]
The extent of the influence exercised with pen and tongue by these
teachers upon the nation showed that the reign of sword and brutal
force was over and the day of peace and reason had dawned. The
press has at last become a power. The increase during that period of
publications, both original and translations, and of newspapers,
both in their number and circulation, is marvellous. To give an
illustration, the number of newspapers transmitted in the mails
increased from 514,610 in the year 1873 to 2,629,648 in the year
1874--an increase of 411 per cent in one year--"a fact which speaks
volumes for the progress of civilization."[7]
These newspapers were soon to become the organs of political parties
which were in the process of formation. The most prominent among these
political societies was the _Ri-shi-sha_, which finally developed
into the present Liberal party. At the head of this party was Count
Itagaki, a man of noble character and of marked ability, who had
rendered many useful services to the country in the time of the
Restoration and had for some years been a member of the cabinet, but
who in 1875 resigned his office and became "the man of the people." He
and his party contributed greatly to the development of constitutional
ideas. Whatever may be said as to the extreme radicalism and childish
freaks of the rude elements of this party, the presence of its sober
members, who sincerely longed to see the adoption of a constitutional
form of government and used only proper and peaceful means for the
furtherance of their aim, and boldly and frankly told what they deemed
the defects of the government; the presence of such a party in the
country, whose masses knew nothing but slavish obedience to every
act of the government, was certainly a source of great benefit to the
nation at large.
In 1873, Count Itagaki with his friends had sent in a memorial to the
government praying for the establishment of a representative assembly,
but they had not been heeded by the government. In July, 1877, Count
Itagaki with his Ri-shi-sha again addressed a memorial to the Emperor,
"praying for a change in the form of government, and setting forth the
reasons which, in the opinion of the members of the society, rendered
such a change necessary."
These reasons were nine in number and were developed at great length.
Eight of them formed a direct impeachment of the present government,
and the ninth was a reminder that the solemn promise of 1868 had never
been fulfilled. "Nothing," they conclude, "could more tend to the
well-being of the country than for your Majesty to put an end to all
despotic and oppressive measures, and to consult public opinion in
the conduct of the government. To this end a representative
assembly should be established, so that the government may become
constitutional in form. The people would then become more interested
and zealous in looking after the affairs of the country; public
opinion would find expression, and despotism and confusion cease. The
nation would advance in civilization; wealth would accumulate in the
country; troubles from within and contempt from without would cease,
and the happiness of your Imperial Majesty and of your Majesty's
subjects would be secured."
But again the government heeded not, its attention at the time being
fully occupied with the suppression of the Satsuma Rebellion. The
civil war being ended, in 1878, the year which marked a decade from
the establishment of the new regime, the government, persuaded that
the time for popular institutions was fast approaching, not alone
through representations of the Tosa memorialists, but through many
other signs of the times, decided to take a step in the direction of
establishing a national assembly. But the government acted cautiously.
Thinking that to bring together hundreds of members unaccustomed to
parliamentary debate and its excitement, and to allow them a hand in
the administration of affairs of the state, might be attended with
serious dangers, as a preparation for the national assembly the
government established first local assemblies. Certainly this was a
wise course.
These local assemblies have not only been good training schools for
popular government, but also proved reasonably successful. They hold
their sessions every year, in the month of March, in their respective
electoral districts, and there discuss all questions of local
taxation. They may also petition the central government on other
matters of local interest. The members must be males of the full age
of twenty-five years, who have been resident for three years in the
district and pay the sum of $10 as a land tax within their district.
The qualifications for electors (males only) are: an age of twenty
years, registration, and payment of a land tax of $5. Voting is by
ballot, but the names of the voters are to be written by themselves on
the voting papers. There are now 2172 members who sit in these local
assemblies, and it was from the more experienced members of
these assemblies that the majority of the members of the House of
Representatives of the Imperial Diet, convened for the first time last
year, were chosen.
The gulf between absolute government and popular government was thus
widened more and more by the institution of local government. The
popular tide raised by these local assemblies was swelling in volume
year by year. New waves were set in motion by the younger generation
of thinkers. Toward the close of the year 1881 the flood rose so high
that the government thought it wise not to resist longer. His Imperial
Majesty hearing the petitions of the people, graciously confirmed and
expanded his promise of 1868 by the famous proclamation of October 12,
1881:
"We have long had it in view to gradually establish a constitutional
form of government.... It was with this object in view that in the
eighth year of Meiji (1875) we established the Senate, and in the
eleventh year of Meiji (1878) authorized the formation of local
assemblies.... We therefore hereby declare that we shall, in the
twenty-third year of Meiji (1890) establish a parliament, in order
to carry into full effect the determination we have announced; and we
charge our faithful subjects bearing our commissions to make, in the
meantime, all necessary preparations to that end."
[Footnote 1: C. Lanman, The Japanese in America, p. 38.]
[Footnote 2: Mossman's New Japan, p. 442.]
[Footnote 3: C. Lanman, The Japanese in America, p. 14.]
[Footnote 4: The translation of the whole memorial is given in C.
Lanman's Leading Men of Japan, p. 87.]
[Footnote 5: The Imperial decree of 1875.]
[Footnote 6: The translation given in C. Lanman, Leading Men of Japan.
p. 47.]
[Footnote 7: See the Appendix of Griffis' The Mikado's Empire.]