to the detriment of ministerial unity. Such a lack of unity had frequently caused many difficulties in administering the government. Shortly before the resignation of the dissatisfied statesmen, a coterie of cabinet members, whom I have called Internal Reformists, visited the western countries and learned that the ministries of representative countries were composed of those who maintain the same political views. Hence the withdrawal of the Imperialists proved to be a good opportunity for the Internal Reformists to form a new Cabinet taking advantage of what they had learned from their western trip. The event, therefore, may be regarded as an advancement towards the cabinet system under parliamentary govern

ment.

When a memorial urging the convoking of a representative legislature was sent to the Council of State by the dissatisfied statesmen, great excitement and enthusiasm for liberty were caused throughout the length and breadth of the country. Before that time equality and liberty had been simply preached. No actual movement had been inaugurated for the realization of the ideal. With the event I have just mentioned the state of things began to change, and a practical propaganda was begun. Thus, at the beginning of our democratic movement we may observe a very peculiar phenomenon, we see that Imperialism or Militarism proceeds hand in hand with Democracy. The statesmen who had resigned from the Cabinet and whose opinion was unmistakably Imperialistic, were received by the people with great enthusiasm, since immediately after their resignation they proclaimed that they would fight for the cause of liberty.

The political agitation, which was set on foot almost immediately after the presentation of the said memorial, was not altogether healthful. It was in a sense harmful. Insurrections broke out, assassinations occurred, political fanatics driven to despair by the conservative attitude of the government killed themselves, and many treasonable plots were formed among the democratic agitators. On the other hand, the radical conservatives who were decidedly opposed to

western civilization, no matter whether material or moral, were no less restless. Some of them conspired against the government, though they were instantly suppressed. A still greater insurrection was conducted by a leader of the dissatisfied Imperialists, causing a great convulsion throughout the Empire. From 1875 to 1883 the whole country was in a state of agitation. It would be needless to dwell upon the events which took place during this era of great political upheaval.

There is one thing, however, that we ought not to overlook, viz., the inauguration of political parties. It was in this period of turmoil that two great political parties, the Liberal and the Progressive-Conservative, sprang into being. Over against the two parties, a coterie of persons on the side of the government organized a third party under the name of the Constitutional-Imperial Party. The former were opposition parties, while the latter stood by the government. While a constant agitation was disturbing the country, the members of the ministry were not necessarily the advocates of absolutism; but they considered it too early to adopt the representative system of legislation. Openly or secretly they recognized the necessity of establishing the advanced method of legislation sooner or later. They insisted, however, that before its inauguration, the people must be more thoroughly fitted to adapt themselves to the new regime. Under the cloak of such a view, they struggled against the democratic movement. But the time finally arrived when the conservative government could no longer stem the tide of liberalism. The resul was the promulgation of the Imperial Rescript of 1880, which promised to grant to the people a constitution in ten years. Had the Emperor postponed the promulgation of the promise a few years longer, our nation would surely have witnessed more violent uprisings, more fearful agitations, and more revolutionary actions, in spite of their unparalleled loyalty to Royal family.

$62. We have seen that our constitution, like the consti

tutions of western countries, is the result of popular agitation and of extortion. As the eminent German jurist Kluber said, "the act of framing a constitution is by its very nature reciprocal, it is, an act between parties both of which alternately give and receive." I do not believe that there is, strictly speaking, such a thing as the granting of a constitution by the sovereign. It is a conspicuous characteristic of constitutions belonging to the German branch that when the princes recognized the necessity of a fundamental written law, their first idea was to grant it themselves, by virtue of their supreme authority which they assume they possess by themselves. But if it may be said that the princes grant certain rights to the people by the constitution, it may also be said that the people grant no smaller privileges to the princes by the same constitution. It may be said that as the King assents to the constitution it is established through the forms of existing law; but this would be a very extreme use of legal fiction. The only legal form of consent which exists or can exist when the King is sovereign is his free consent, and the only kind of limitation which he can suffer is self-limitation, which might at pleasure be thrown off. Neither Magna Charta, nor the Constitutions of any other Monarchy, was framed in such a manner. However anxious the conservative statesmen may be to disguise the truth, the plain facts of history can not be concealed.

1 Borgeaud, op. cit., p. 47.

2 Burgess, Political Science, Vol. I., pp. 91–97.

CHAPTER XI

SOURCES OF THE POLITICAL IDEAS OF THE LIBERAL PARTY

$63. In the foregoing chapter I have mentioned the fact that three political parties were inaugurated during the turbulent period of political agitation, namely: the Liberal, the Progressive-Conservative, and the Constitutional-Imperial Parties. It will be the aim of the present and the chapters next following to discuss the characteristics of these three parties, especially as to the sources of their political ideas.

1

It need hardly be said that a political party is composed of men of like views and like principles. One will make a great mistake, however, if he supposes that political principles are the sole bond which unites the members of a political party. "The real bond is the consciousness of kind in its entirety, including sympathies, instincts, agreements in beliefs, and other forms of emotion and prejudice that unite men in political action." Man often maintains political principles markedly different from the principles of a party to which he belongs; yet he dare not withdraw from the association simply because he feels more sympathy for it than for other organizations. Differences of parties are no less in matters of sympathy than in matters of principle. That is why we frequently encounter much difficulty in undertaking to ascertain the causes which separate one political party from another.

Nevertheless, we must admit that political principles are a main factor in the composition of any political party. "No political party is as homogeneous as it would be if the sympathetic and sentimental elements of the consciousness of kind were its sole animating power." 2 Hence, we can perceive

1 Giddings, Elements of Sociology, ch. XVIII. Giddings, op. cit., ch. XVIII.

essential differences between the Liberal Party and the Progressive-Conservative Party, in spite of their apparently similar manifestoes, if we trace their political ideas to their respective sources. 1 As to the Constitutional-Imperial Party, its characteristics are so conspicuous that we find no difficulty in perceiving the points of difference which separate it from the remaining two parties.

In a previous chapter it was shown that three schools of thought, not formally organized, however, into political parties, had considerable influence during several years succeeding the restoration. These I called the economic, the liberal, and the paternalistic.

In the present and in the chapters next following, we are dealing with actual political parties which are strikingly different from those schools of thought which we discussed in the previous chapter. 'Not only does each of these complete political organizations possess a definite programme, but their political views in contrast to those of the earlier schools of thought have become greatly widened through the influence of western literature on politics which has incessantly poured into Japan. It is rather difficult to state the relation of the later political parties to the earlier schools of thought in a summary manner, because the political ideas of the people have undergone a remarkable change, or, more properly, a wonderful progress, during the several years of great political agitation which I have described in the previous chapter. The Liberal Party, under view, is not simply a formal organization of an unorganized party of an earlier time which has been called the liberal school; but it appeared with new political ideas considerably different from and perhaps more

1 Mr. Bushby made a great mistake when he said that the Japanese political parties are the outcome of the mere feeling of jealousy among the socalled clan-statesmen. He ignores the potent fact that the political parties of Japan were inaugurated by those freedom-loving men, who, inspired by writings of modern European thinkers, aspired to realize a constitutional government. Cf. Bushby's Parliamentary Government in Japan, in the Nineteenth Century Review, July, 1899.

2 Cf. Supra, ch. IX.