Part 14

In California the mission was very cordially welcomed, and in an eloquent speech delivered at the Lick House, San Francisco, in January 1872, shortly after landing, Ito set forth the objects of the mission. Without reproducing the whole oration, it may suffice to give here some of its salient features, but the occasion was a memorable one, since it could but be regarded as the first time that the empire, newly emancipated from the thraldom of an intensely rigid feudalism, had declared itself through the mouth of an accredited representative. The speaker began by remarking that: “This is perhaps a fitting opportunity to give a brief and reliable outline of many improvements introduced into Japan. Few but native Japanese have any correct knowledge of our country’s internal condition.... Our mission, under special instructions from His Majesty the Emperor, while seeking to protect the rights and interests of our respective nations, will seek to unite them more closely in the future, convinced that we shall appreciate each other more when we know each other better.... To-day it is the earnest wish of both our Government and people to strive for the highest points of civilisation enjoyed by more enlightened countries. Looking to this end we have adopted their Military, Naval, Scientific, and Educational Institutions, and knowledge has flowed to us freely in the wake of foreign commerce. Although our improvement has been rapid in material civilisation, the mental improvement of our people has been far greater.... While held in absolute obedience by despotic Sovereigns through many thousand years, our people knew no freedom nor liberty of thought. With our material improvement they learned to understand their rightful privileges, which for ages had been denied them. Civil war was but a temporary result.... Our _daimios_ magnanimously surrendered their principalities, and their voluntary action was accepted by a general Government. Within a year a feudal system firmly established many centuries ago has been completely abolished. What country in the middle ages broke down its feudal system without war?

“By educating our women we hope to ensure greater intelligence in future generations ... our maidens have already commenced their education. Japan cannot claim originality as yet, but will aim to exercise practical wisdom by adopting the advantages, and avoiding the errors, taught her by the history of those enlightened nations whose experience is their teacher. A year ago, I examined minutely the financial system of the United States, and every detail was reported to my Government. The suggestions then made have been adopted and some of them are already in practical operation.

“In the department of Public Works, now under my administration, the progress has been satisfactory. Railroads are being built, both in the eastern and western portions of the Empire. Telegraph wires are stretching over many hundred miles of our territory, and nearly one thousand miles will be completed within a few months. Lighthouses now line our coasts, and our shipyards are active. All these assist our civilisation, and we fully acknowledge our indebtedness to foreign nations.

“As ambassadors, and as men, our hope is to return from this mission laden with results valuable to our country and calculated to advance permanently her material and intellectual condition. While bound to protect the rights and privileges of our people, we aim to increase our commerce, and by a corresponding increase of our productions, hope to create a healthy basis for their greater activity.

“Time, so burdened with precious opportunities, we can ill afford to waste. Japan is anxious to press forward. The red disc in the centre of our national flag shall no longer appear like a wafer over a sealed empire, but henceforth be in fact, what it is designed to be, the noble emblem of the rising sun, symbolical of the awakening of Japan, and her wish to be found ever moving onward and upward amid the enlightened nations of the world.”

The Iwakura Mission proved in every sense save one an immense success. One of the Secretaries was Mr Tadasu Hayashi, who subsequently in the diplomatic service of his country was accredited to the various capitals and won distinction in all, ultimately to represent Japan, as Viscount Hayashi, at the Court of St James. In the United States Prince Iwakura and his party everywhere were received with genuine enthusiasm, as giving by their visit substantial proof of the desire of Japan to enter at no distant date the comity of nations, and of the close neighbourship that exists between the two countries, their shores washed by the waves of the broad Pacific Ocean. As Prince Iwakura was the head of the Mission, the actual details of the journey will be found recorded in the pages of this volume devoted to a brief review of his share in the making of Modern Japan, and it may suffice here to mention that all returned to Yokohama in January 1873 and that the construction of a Cabinet on Occidental lines was there and then proceeded with.

In describing the mission as having been successful in every sense but one, it becomes necessary to explain that undoubtedly among its members the hope had been cherished that the treaties made twenty years before with the West might, now that Japan had given earnest of her intentions to justify to the uttermost extent her inclusion in the ranks of civilised powers, be revised on a basis of equality, or might at all events be modified in a way to remove from the minds of the Japanese people the impression that the bargains made as exemplified in the earliest agreements with foreign powers were somewhat one-sided. But as yet the powers of the western world were insufficiently cognisant of the scope and sincerity of Japan’s legitimate ambitions to comprehend that her claim to complete equality of treatment could with perfect propriety and security be admitted. The ambassadors accepted the situation with the utmost composure, and proceeded to store their minds with all the information that might serve to fit them for the administration of their country’s affairs on Occidental lines modified to meet its own peculiar needs. Among the first results of the mission were the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, which came into operation with the year 1873, and the removal of all the anti-Christian edicts from the Statute Book. A notable event, moreover, was the reception, some time later in the year, of a number of foreign ladies by the young Empress of Japan, then in her twenty-second year. The members of the Iwakura mission were particularly impressed with the advisability of introducing the system of prefectural assemblies, the working of which they had had opportunities of studying in Europe, and these initial steps in local self-government, it was ultimately ordained by the Emperor, should be inaugurated in 1879.

It had always been the custom in Japan for a man to have two personal names, one being for everyday use, so to speak, and the other one that by which he desired to be known to posterity, and to be employed by his historian, should he ever attain distinction. The Government, in order to abolish this cumbrous system, ordered people to choose a single name, for permanent use, and to make their selection forthwith, and it was in obedience to this decree that Ito chose for himself the name of Hirobumi, instead of Shunsuke, as that by which, in preference, he would for the future be known. In Japan the surname usually precedes the personal name, though of late years the compliment has been often paid to Europe of adopting its method in this respect, and the Marquis writes his name in Roman letters as “Hirobumi Ito,” rather than “Ito Hirobumi,” the form that he would adopt if using a Japanese pen. Ito Hirobumi became Minister of Public Works in the Cabinet of 1873, his friend Inouye Bunda, as he was then, holding the portfolio of Minister of Finance. It was as Minister of Public Works that the remarkable administrative skill of the future Premier was first manifested. Those who, like the writer, were privileged to serve Japan in those days in the department over which he presided will retain vivid impressions of the quick, keen perception that he manifested in everything appertaining to engineering and the rapidity with which he mastered all the details connected with the building of railways, with mining and telegraphs, and with every branch of the huge undertaking then comprised under the head of public works to be carried on by the newly formed Government.

Lighthouses on the Western system had been begun as early as 1870, and a short experimental line of telegraph had been constructed from Yedo to Yokohama in the same year, followed by one joining Osaka with Kobé. And in the ensuing year, prior to the departure of the Iwakura Mission, the postal system had been inaugurated on an American model, and from Hong Kong the entire machinery of a mint had been procured, it having been available for purchase in consequence of the British Government having determined to cease coining in the Colony. Docks were being established in Japan, and newspapers were beginning to make their appearance. Into the whole of these varied fields of enterprise, as Minister of Public Works, Ito Hirobumi now threw his entire energies, with the best possible results, and Japan soon had her own printing establishment (the In-satsu-kiyoku) for the execution of Government work, her own Official Gazette for the promulgation of orders and regulations, her own specially designed coinage, her own State-maintained line of railroad, her own telegraphs to every part with submarine cables connecting the larger islands one to another. In his capacity of Minister the practical knowledge that he had acquired in Europe served the rising statesman in excellent stead, and he was able personally to concern himself with every branch of the important department over which he presided. At that time the number of his countrymen who might lay claim to share his intimate acquaintance with these matters was small indeed. During his stay in Great Britain in the year 1872 arrangements were made for the inauguration of a College of Engineering at Tokio, and a brilliant staff of Professors, headed by Mr Henry Dyer, was shortly afterwards engaged to fill the chairs of Mining and Metallurgy, Geology, Mechanical, Railway, and Electrical Engineering, Architecture, Chemistry, etc., and some hundreds of cadets commenced a six years’ course to fit them for the duties of carrying on the multifarious undertakings on which it had been decided to embark.

The next few years of Marquis Ito’s strenuous life were spent in active preparation for the still more onerous duties that were to fall to his lot when Japan should be in a position to take her place as one of the leading nations of the earth, by right of her advancement in all the arts and sciences that tend to make a people great and powerful. He continued to avail himself of every opportunity of enlarging the field of his own knowledge and experience, making an especial study of the Constitutions of the several European States. For a time he was Minister of the Interior, having been succeeded at the department of Public Works by his friend and fellow-clansman, Inouye Kaoru.

Although he has four times been Prime Minister in the years which have elapsed, the fame of the Marquis Ito will for ever rest on the invaluable work he accomplished for Japan in the framing of a constitution, based to a certain extent on his researches into European history and contemporary politics, but modified to suit the requirements of an Oriental country, deeply immersed in the traditions of autocratic rule, and wedded to a feudal system of which lingering traces yet remained to enter at times into conflict with the principles of representative government and limited monarchy. The years devoted to the task of evolving a constitution that should suffice for the nation’s needs and be acceptable to the ruler who had pledged himself to bestow this inestimable boon on his subjects, an act of spontaneous generosity in the sovereign for which his people have never ceased to record their gratitude, were years to which the Marquis looks back with infinite pride and pleasure. It was not until 1881 that the Emperor announced his intention of fulfilling the promise conveyed in his coronation oath, the details of which have already been given in referring to his Majesty’s personal share in the making of modern Japan, and the eight following years were more or less consumed in deliberations, but at last, on the 11th of February (the anniversary of the ascension of the throne of Japan by Jimmu Tenno, the first Emperor and direct ancestor of the present occupant), in the year 1889, was solemnly proclaimed the Constitution of which the subjoined is a digest, as translated into English.

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.

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.