Part 21

Se di mia stirpe l'ultimo, Rampollo in me sen'va, Degli avi degno il povero Don Cesare morrà. Se freddo avel marmoreo Non si concede a me, Mi basta sol che dicano: "Da prode morto egli è."'

'Ah! spare, oh spare my ancient name From such foul disgrace--one boon, It is the last I shall ask thee, 'Tis to die, e'en like a soldier.

Yes! let me like a soldier fall, Upon some open plain, This breast expanding for the ball To blot out ev'ry stain. Brave manly hearts confer my doom, That gentler ones may tell, Howe'er forgot, unknown my tomb, I like a soldier fell, Howe'er forgot, unknown my tomb, I like a soldier fell, I like a soldier fell.

I only ask of that proud race, Which ends its blaze in me, To die the last, and not disgrace Its ancient chivalry. Tho' o'er my clay no banner wave, Nor trumpet requiem swell, Enough, they murmur o'er my grave, "He like a soldier fell."'

The curtain fell: my companion asked me if I would like to see the stage room of the singer. I assented, we passed through the Green Room, and entered her room, where she was sitting on a chair, her mother with her. After an exchange of a few words, she plucked a few blossoms from a branch of orchids in a vase on the table near her, and put them into my button-hole, saying, 'Allow me,' and then, plucking some more, similarly favoured my companion. At that moment the stage-bell rang, and as I thought we were dashing out of the room and down the stairs, I awoke, and saw my young secretary standing before me. He said: 'The dinner-bell has rung; you have slept very long.'

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APPENDIX

I

POLITICAL ORGANISM OF JAPAN

This article is intended to explain the salient points of the political organism of the Japanese Empire, a subject on which many people have expressed to me their wishes to be informed. The chief sources of my authority are, of course, the Imperial Constitution and the Imperial House Law promulgated February 11, 1889, but I have also made use of several other important laws and known facts bearing on the subject.

THE EMPEROR

The emperor is sacred and inviolable according to the constitution. His majesty is the sole depository of sovereignty. Legislative power is given to the Imperial Diet, but the theory of our constitution is that the emperor himself exercises that power with the _concurrence_ of the Diet. Other attributes of the emperor, such as the authority for convoking or dissolving the Diet, sanctioning or vetoing laws, promulgating the same, declaring war or making peace, ordering amnesty or pardon, or conferring honours, such as titles of nobility, etc., are much the same as those of the most of the Western monarchical countries. One important feature which is without a parallel in the constitution of almost all other countries (except perhaps some resemblance in the Austrian constitution) is that in Japan the emperor has the power to issue 'Urgency Ordinances' which have the same force as the law when urgency requires such enactments in order to maintain public safety or to avert public calamity, and it happens that the Diet is not sitting, though such ordinances have to be submitted to the Diet and its _ex-post-facto_ consent obtained in the next session, and they lose their force in case such consent is withheld by the Diet. Another important feature is that in Japan, unlike several constitutional countries, all matters relating to the organisation of the army or navy or the determination of the number of the standing army are entirely within the sphere of the Imperial prerogative and beyond interference by the diet though the latter has an indirect voice by reason of its participation in matters of 'supply.'

THE IMPERIAL SUCCESSION

The established usage in respect of the Imperial succession of Japan has always been in the main that of primogeniture on male lines. There had been, however, no hard-and-fast restriction similar to the Salic Law before the promulgation of the Imperial House Law of 1889, and, accordingly, we have had several empresses on the throne of Japan, though there was never an instance of a reigning empress having a consort. The Imperial House Law has prevented for ever any female succeeding to the throne. We can therefore sum up the order of succession to the Japanese throne as that of the male primogeniture, viz., from the father to the eldest son, then to the eldest grandson and so on, in the direct line, in default of which, to the collateral line. The order of all these is similar to that which appertains to European primogeniture. The ceremony of coronation is always to take place at Kioto, the old capital, so also is the Daijo-Sai, the grand festivity, which is celebrated but once in a reign. The full age of the emperor, the crown prince, and the eldest son of the crown prince, who has become direct heir to the throne owing to the early death of the crown prince, is fixed at full eighteen years, whilst with all the other members of the Imperial family it is full twenty years, like ordinary subjects of the emperor. When the emperor is a minor, a regency is to be instituted. When the emperor is incapacitated by grave causes from discharging his functions, the same thing also takes place. The order in which the regency may devolve upon members of the Imperial family is as under:

(1) The crown prince.

(2) The Imperial grandson, being already direct heir-apparent.

(3) Other princes.

(4) The empress.

(5) The empress-dowager.

(6) The grand empress-dowager.

(7) Princesses who have actually no consorts. Precedence amongst the princes is determined by the order in which they stand for succession to the throne, and that of princesses is determined in a similar way.

During the minority of the emperor, a grand guardian (Taifu) is appointed. In case no person for that office be named by the will of the departed emperor, he is to be appointed by the regent after having consulted the Imperial family council and the Privy Council. He cannot be removed unless the matter first be submitted to the consideration of the above-named councils. When a prince or princess is appointed regent, he or she shall not, during the tenure, abdicate in favour of any one except in the case where the crown prince or his eldest son, who had already become direct heir to the throne, has become qualified for the function on account of his attaining full age.

THE GOVERNMENT

The administrative affairs of the empire are discharged by a minister-president of state, and a number of the ministers of state. The ministers of state as they stand at present are: (1) The Interior. (2) The Foreign. (3) Finance. (4) War. (5) Navy. (6) Justice. (7) Communications. (8) Education. (9) Commerce and Agriculture. The chiefs of these ministries, viz., the ministers of state, form the cabinet under the presidency of the minister-president. The system and actual working of the cabinet is similar to those of the advanced Western nations. A cabinet meeting is held usually once a week, and important affairs of state are discussed therein. The cabinet as a body is responsible to the emperor for those affairs, though each minister has great latitude of action in matters which fall exclusively within the sphere of his ministry. There are many matters which do not require personal discussion. These are circulated among the ministers in the form of documents for their signature. Matters discussed or considered in document by the ministers, and which require Imperial sanction are submitted to the emperor by documents, or personally explained to his majesty by the minister-president or other ministers as the case may be; but when very important matters are discussed in the cabinet, it is always in the actual presence of the emperor. There is a minister for the Imperial household, but neither he nor his ministry have anything to do with state affairs, _i.e._ politics; consequently, the minister of the Imperial household is not a member of the cabinet.

There is a Privy Council, which consists of a president, vice-president, and about two dozen councillors, and these form the supreme consultative council of the emperor. It discusses and considers important state affairs when it is commanded by the emperor to present its views on any given matter.

The Ministry of Justice has control of the administrative sections of judicial affairs, but law courts have their distinctive organisation, and the judges are quite independent of administrative interference. They are appointed for life and can be dismissed only for grave causes indicated by law.

Besides the War Ministry, there is a General Staff Office, and in addition to the Naval Ministry there is the Naval General Staff Office. The demarcation of the spheres of their competency is that administrative affairs relating to the army and navy are controlled by the ministries, and those relating to technical and strategic matters, or such like, are controlled by the staff office. Both staff offices have a chief and a vice-chief. They are naturally not members of the cabinet. In time of war a special Imperial headquarters under the direct control of the emperor is constituted.

All officials in Government service have before their appointments to undergo a requisite examination, except when the appointment is for the position of the Ministership of State.

THE DIET

The Imperial Diet consists of two houses: the House of Peers and the House of Representatives. There is no difference of privilege between the two houses, except that the annual budget is to be first submitted to the House of Representatives, and that the latter may be dissolved, while no law exists for the dissolution of the former; further, that the president and vice-president of the Upper House are appointed by the emperor from amongst the members, whilst those of the Lower House are appointed by the emperor out of three candidates for each elected by the House.

The Representatives are elected by direct votes of electors. Until recent years the country was divided into many small electoral districts (nearly three hundred, in fact). Each district elected one representative, and a few elected two representatives, the difference having arisen from the difficulty of demarking the Sphere uniformly, on account of the local peculiarities and the number of the population. The total number of the representatives amounted to just three hundred. A great change was introduced in recent years in the system of election. Each prefecture now forms one large electoral district, except that all the cities, although they are all situated within the prefecture, form separate districts, each independently. Each district elects a certain number of representatives allotted to it by law, based upon the number of the population of such district. (In cases of extremely small cities the allotment is only one representative.) Each elector may vote for only one candidate whatever may be the number of representatives allotted to that district. Men who have polled the largest number of votes are picked out to the allotted number, and they are regarded as elected, but in all cases the elected must have polled one-fifth of the number obtained by dividing the whole number of the registered electors by the number of the representatives allotted to the district. This mode of election is called the 'large-district single-vote-system.' It easily enables the minority of the district to have themselves represented in the Diet. When any vacancy occurs within a year from the election, the one who has polled the largest number next to the elected takes his seat, provided that he had also polled the requisite quorum of votes as above mentioned. The voting is by ballot (anonymous). There are, of course, some disqualifications for being an elector or a candidate, including the disability of titled noblemen for taking part in the matter. The actual number of the representatives is three hundred and seventy-six. The qualifications of the electors are that they shall be male subjects of twenty-five years old or above, paying ten yen (M 20) of direct taxes and having a year's residence in the district. The qualifications of the candidates are that they shall be male subjects thirty years old or above, and their terms are four years.

The composition of the House of Peers is somewhat complicated. The Japanese name for it is 'Kizoku-in.' 'Kizoku' is generally translated as peers, and it certainly means noble or high families, but not in the strict sense of titled people in the West. For the strict equivalent of peers or nobility, in the Western sense, we have another term 'Kwazoku.' Our House of Peers consists of the following members, who must always be males:

(1) Male members of the Imperial family who have attained their full age.

(2) Princes (dukes) and marquises who have attained the age of twenty-five years.

Both these classes (one and two) sit in the House by their inherent right.

(3) Representatives elected by counts, viscounts, and barons from amongst themselves, each grade separately.

The numbers of such representatives is previously determined, always not exceeding one-fifth of the total number of each grade. They must be twenty-five years old, and their terms are seven years.

(4) Life members appointed by the emperor by virtue of distinguished services rendered to the state, or of intellectual distinction. They all of them must be fully thirty years old; nearly all of those who are thus nominated do not belong to the nobility in the strict sense of the term.

(5) Members elected, one for each prefecture, by mutual election of fifteen highest direct-tax payers of each of the respective prefectures. Such tax payers must be thirty years old, and their paying the taxes must be on account of the lands they hold or of industry or commerce. Therefore, one who simply lives on an income derived from state-bonds would hardly be entitled to claim this privilege. The terms of these members are also seven years. The total number in classes four and five may not exceed the total number in classes two and three, viz., members belonging purely to the nobility.

The Diet is to be convoked once a year for an ordinary session, the length of which is three months, and can be prolonged when necessary. Special sessions may be instituted when necessary. All members of both Houses, except those belonging to classes number one and number two of the Upper House, or those who are in the government service, receive two thousand yen (M 4000) a year, whilst presidents and vice-presidents receive five thousand yen and three thousand yen respectively.

ARMY AND NAVY

The recruiting and organisation of the Japanese army are very much like those of the European continental powers, especially those of Germany, from whom we have learned much. Those of the Japanese navy are like those of England, except that our sailors are taken not only from volunteers, but also by obligatory service; in other words, youths who have to serve as soldiers by the universal service system may be taken for sailors, considerations of course being given to their personal inclination. These latter, _i.e._ obligatory ones, form about half the total number in the navy.

LOCAL ADMINISTRATION

The whole of Japan proper is divided into forty-five prefectures. The prefectures of Tokio, Kioto, and Osaka are called Fu, whilst all others are called Ken. The difference is more a matter of sentiment than anything else, for there is no difference whatever for any practical purposes. The administrative systems of Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Formosa each diverge from those of Japan proper to some extent, though they are gradually being made similar to those of the main islands. I therefore put those three Islands, Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Formosa, outside the scope of the present paper for the sake of convenience. Each prefecture is presided over by a governor appointed by the central Government. It is partly an administrative district of the state and partly a communal district having its communal administration supported by local taxes. For this latter aspect each prefecture has a local assembly, members of which are elected by direct votes of electors of the prefecture. Each prefecture is divided into counties, and the counties (Kreis) into rural and urban village communities (Gemeinde). Larger urban communities are incorporated as cities and are made independent of counties. Counties are prefectures on a small scale. Each of them is presided over by a _Gun-cho_, whose office is very similar to that of a French sub-prefect. But counties also have their communal sides like prefectures and have representative assemblages. The communal side of counties, however, is not very important, because communal affairs on a large scale are discharged by prefectures, and ordinary communal affairs are mostly discharged by village communities. Cities and village communities are the real 'self-governments' of the people. Each of them has a representative assemblage, and elects its own executive officials. The composition of these officials differs in cities and village communities; that in the cities is, of course, more complicated. Even amongst the cities there is a great difference in the degree of importance, because there are many cities which are extremely small, inasmuch as a town having a population over twenty-five thousand could as a rule be incorporated as a city. The existing ordinances for the constitution of these local governments are very much like those of Prussia--in fact, the ordinances for those of the cities and village communities are in a great measure founded upon those of Prussia. The chief points of difference are that, unlike Prussia, our prefectural governments subordinate direct to the central Government, with no intermediary which represents the latter and superintends the former, and that, unlike Prussia, there is in Japan no 'Gutsbezirk' (signorial community) side by side with ordinary communities.

THE CONCLUSION

Such is the political organism of Japan. My description, however, is only the merest skeleton of it. That such a skeleton should be endowed with the proper spirit requires that the whole nation from the sovereign down to the lowest member of the community should be animated by sincerity and loyalty and supported by a liberal and tolerant régime. That Japan is doing her best in those respects, I can only ask my readers to infer from their own observation of the admitted progress that she has been fortunate enough to accomplish so far.

I may, however, explain some of the more important points bearing on the question. The emperor is extremely popular amongst his people at large. I may say that it is not mere popularity in the ordinary sense of the word, but a popularity which is more of the nature of reverence. This reverence for the emperor on the part of the people is manifested in their extreme loyalty. On the other hand, the emperor has not the least inclination to take advantage of it and abuse it for selfish purposes. His majesty entertains the keenest sense of duty in regard to his position, not as a person privileged to do whatever he may choose, but rather as a person to whom is intrusted the great task of taking care of the people over whom he reigns. Thus there exist between the sovereign and his subjects mutual confidence and love, which cannot fail to prove the greatest blessing to the country in any hour of national emergency.

As to the position of the Diet versus the Government, party landmarks are not so strong in Japan as among most of the Western nations. True it is that in Japan also there are several political parties, but the Government is not 'a party government' as it is in England or America. In that respect the Government of Japan most resembles that of Germany. According to the constitution, the Ministers of State are responsible only to the Emperor, but every practical statesman knows that no government can be satisfactorily carried on without concurrence of the Diet so long as there is such a body, and therefore in Japan, also, every Ministry has to do its best to count on such good relations with the parties as it can secure; but, nevertheless, party feeling does not run so high, and party struggles are not so severe as to make the formation of a Cabinet depend on party issues.

The cause of all this is plain so far as we are concerned. The emperor does not interfere with politics, but when at the hour of supreme necessity he manifests his will, his subjects, one and all, instantaneously obey it, and rally around the throne, forgetting for the time being any differences of personal opinion. It was so at the time of the Sino-Japanese war, and again in the Russo-Japanese war. This state of things is due, amongst others, to the liberal administration of the Imperial régime. The press, speech, and right of meeting are for all practical purposes entirely free. Personal freedom is guaranteed by the constitution. Taxes are levied, but no abuse of authority is known. The people at large have no real grounds of complaint or grievance against the Government as such, and have absolutely none against the Emperor. Moreover, Japan knows no difficulty in matters of religion, and consequently no party based upon religious notions exists to give trouble to Government. If this or that section of the people has any disputes with the Government or between themselves, those are essentially questions of some temporary and passing character. Hence in Japan it is not a difficult matter for the people at large to unite themselves under a common national policy in a time of national emergency.

II

JAPANESE EDUCATION[1]