Chapter XV. The Restored Empire.
The resignation of the shōgun was accepted by the emperor, on the understanding that a conference of the daimyōs was to be called and its opinion taken in reference to the subsequent conduct of affairs. In the meantime the ex-shōgun, under the command of the emperor, was to continue the administration, particularly of those interests which concerned the foreign powers. But the allied western daimyōs feared the effect of leaving the administration in the hands of their enemies. The possession of the person of the emperor was always reckoned an important advantage. Especially was this the case when the emperor was only a boy, whose influence in the affairs of the government could have little weight. They resolved, therefore, to take measures which would definitely ensure the termination of the shōgun's power, and secure for themselves the result for which they had been so long laboring.
On January 3, 1868, by a so-called order of the emperor,[312] but really by the agreement of the allied [pg 368] daimyōs, the troops of the Aizu clan, who were in charge of the palace gates, were dismissed from their duty, and their place assumed by troops of the clans of Satsuma, Tosa, Aki, Owari, and Echizen. The kugés who surrounded the court and who were favorable to the Tokugawa party were discharged and forbidden to enter its precincts. The vacant places were filled by adherents of the new order of things. The offices of kwambaku and shōgun were by imperial edict abolished. A provisional plan of administration was adopted and persons of adequate rank appointed to conduct the several departments. “A decree was issued announcing that the government of the country was henceforth solely in the hands of the imperial court.”[313]
One of the first acts of the new government was to recall the daimyō of Chōshū, who had been expelled from Kyōto, in 1863, and to invite back the kugés who had been exiled and deprived of their revenues and honors. The sentence of confiscation which had been pronounced upon them was abrogated and they were restored to their former privileges. One of them, Sanjo Saneyoshi, as prime minister spent the remainder of his life in reviving the ancient and original form of government. The Chōshū troops who had been driven out of the capital in 1863, were recalled and given a share with the loyal clans in guarding the palace of the emperor.
This powerful clan,[314] which had suffered such a [pg 369] varied experience, was destined to take and maintain a leading position in the future development of the restored empire.
The Aizu and other clans which had been devoted friends of the Tokugawa shōguns were especially outraged by this conciliatory spirit shown to the Chōshū troops. They claimed that this clan by resisting the imperial commands had merited the opprobrious title of rebels (chōtoki), and were no longer fit for the association of loyal clans. But the Chōshū daimyō had been restored to the favor of his emperor, and moreover was allied with the clans whose power was paramount at Kyōto, so that the disapprobation of the Tokugawa adherents had little terror for him.
At the suggestion of his friends the shōgun retired to his castle at Ōsaka, and the troops attached to his cause also retreated and gathered under his standard. The situation of affairs was for a time uncertain. The shōgun had resigned, and his resignation had been accepted, but he had been asked by the emperor to continue his administration. Subsequently, under the pressure of the allied clans, the emperor had abolished the shōgunate and entrusted the administration to a provisional government. This last action the friends of the ex-shōgun resented as the doings of revolutionists. It is believed that he himself was averse to further conflict. Any step which he might take in the vindication of his rights must involve war with the allied clans, and he was not a man of war.
While these critical events were taking place, the [pg 370] representatives of foreign powers came down from Yedo to Hyōgo with an impressive array of men-of-war. By invitation of the ex-shōgun they visited him at Ōsaka. In reply to the representatives he made an address,[315] complaining of the arbitrary conduct of those who now had possession of the imperial person, and notifying them that he was willing and able to protect their rights under the treaties, and asking them to await the action of a conference to be summoned. In consequence of the conflict which was now imminent, the representatives of the treaty powers issued a notice to their citizens that neutrality must be maintained under all circumstances, and arms and ammunition must not be sold to either party.
The first armed conflict between the two parties took place during the closing days of January, 1868. Two of the allied daimyōs, Owari and Echizen, were sent to Ōsaka to confer with the ex-shōgun, in the hope that some terms might be agreed upon, by which further difficulty could be avoided. They were both Tokugawa daimyōs, Owari belonging to one of the go-sanké families, and Echizen being a descendant of Ieyasu's son. They offered to the ex-shōgun an honorable appointment, and if he would come to Kyōto they assured him a ready audience before the emperor. He promised to obey the emperor's command and visit the capital.
After the envoys had gone his friends raised suspicions in his mind concerning his personal safety. The daimyōs of Aizu and Kuwana offered to accompany [pg 371] him in case he determined to go. They organized, therefore, a force of about 10,000 men with which they proposed to escort him. He must have known that a formidable military escort like this would precipitate a conflict. However, he set out. The news of the preparations of the ex-shōgun was brought to Kyōto, and aroused a determination to resist his invasion of the capital. He had been invited to the palace by the emperor, but he was to come as a peaceful visitor. If he had determined to come with a guard composed of the enemies of the empire he must be resisted.
Troops of the Satsuma and Chōshū clans were, therefore, posted to intercept the march of the ex-shōgun's escort. It is believed that they numbered about 1,500[316] men. The fighting took place on the roads leading from Ōsaka to Kyōto, and lasted during the 28th, 29th, and 30th of January. It ended in the complete defeat of the rebel army, although it so far outnumbered its adversaries.
The ex-shōgun being thus disappointed in his plan to enter the capital with a commanding force retired to his castle at Ōsaka, from which he proceeded on a steam corvette to Yedo.[317] The castle at [pg 372] Ōsaka was burnt, and the defeated troops made their way by land to the same rendezvous. The antipathy existing between the Satsuma clan and the Tokugawa adherents showed itself in a very pronounced manner in Yedo. The Satsuma yashiki, which was occupied by troops of that clan and by ronins favorable to them was surrounded by Tokugawa troops and burnt. Collisions between the two parties were of constant occurrence, which continued until the arrival of the imperial troops restored order. In Hyōgo too, which with Ōsaka was opened to foreign trade on the first of January, 1868, there were difficulties between the foreigners and anti-foreign element in the population. But these troubles rapidly disappeared, because the new government took pains at once to make it plain that the treaties with foreign powers were to be kept, and outrages committed against those who were in the country under these treaties were not to be tolerated.
On February 8, 1868, the emperor sent to the foreign representatives a request that they communicate to their governments the fact that hereafter the administration of both internal and external affairs would be conducted by him, and that officers would be appointed to conduct the business which may arise under the foreign treaties.
In token of the sincerity of this communication an invitation was conveyed to the representatives of [pg 373] the powers then at Hyōgo to present themselves before the emperor on March 23d. The significance of this event can scarcely now be conceived. Never before in the history of the empire had its divine head deigned to admit to his presence the despised foreigner, or put himself on an equality with the sovereign of the foreigner. The event created in the ancient capital the utmost excitement. The French and Dutch ministers had each in turn been conducted to the palace and had been received in audience. No serious incident had occurred. But during the progress of Sir Harry Parkes,[318] the British representative, from his lodgings to the palace, two fanatical samurai rushed upon his escort, and before they could be overpowered wounded nine of them. One of the would-be assassins was killed and the other was captured after being desperately wounded. The party returned at once to the lodgings of the envoy who fortunately was uninjured.
The court, by whose invitation the ministers had undertaken to present themselves before the emperor, was overwhelmed with mortification. High officers at once waited upon Sir Harry and tendered their sympathy and profound regret. After making every reparation in their power, arrangements were made to hold the audience on the day following that originally appointed. It was held accordingly without further incident. Warned by this alarming occurrence, the government issued an edict, that as the treaties had now been sanctioned by the emperor, the protection of foreigners was henceforth [pg 374] his particular care; that if therefore any samurai were to be guilty of an outrage against them, he should be degraded from his rank, and denied the honorable privilege of committing hara-kiri; he should suffer the punishment of a common criminal and have his head exposed in token of dishonor. Miyeda Shigeru, the surviving culprit, was thus punished.
The scene of the brief contest was now shifted to the east. The ex-shōgun seemed to vacillate between a complete surrender of his power and a provisional retention of it until the will of the nation could be taken by a conference of the daimyōs. On the arrival of the imperial forces in Yedo the final terms of his future treatment were announced to the ex-shōgun: That he retire to Mito, and there live in seclusion; that the castle in Yedo be evacuated; and that the vessels and armaments now in the possession of the ex-shōgun be surrendered. These terms were accepted, and he took up his residence in his ancestral province of Mito. Subsequently he was permitted to remove to the castle of Sumpu at Shizuoka. With him the dynasty of Tokugawa shōguns vanishes from history.
His adherents, however, still continued to resist the imperial forces. For months the Aizu troops hovered about Yedo, and at last came to blows with the imperial troops at the grounds of the Uyeno temple on July 4, 1868. It was a hard-fought battle, and was at last decided by an Armstrong gun in the hands of the Hizen troops. The fine old temple was destroyed, and the rebel forces withdrew to the north.
Further complications arose—fighting at Utsunomiya, etc.,—but at last they were ended by the surrender of the castle of Wakamatsu, where the daimyō of Aizu had made a stand. With generous fortitude he took the blame upon himself and submitted to the clemency of his sovereign.
It is only necessary now in order to bring to a close the account of this short military contest, to refer to the movements of the fleet lying at Shinagawa. It will be remembered that by the terms accepted by the ex-shōgun these vessels were to be surrendered to the imperial forces. There were seven of them, mounting in all eighty-three guns. They were under the command of Enomoto Izumi-no-kami, who had learned in Holland the science of naval war. He did not approve of his master surrendering these muniments of war. On the morning of the day when the vessels were to be delivered over to the imperial commander, they had disappeared from their anchorage. In the night Enomoto had got up steam, crept out through Yedo bay, and sailed northward to more friendly climes. The imperial fleet followed, and after some manœuvring at Sendai proceeded to Hakodate. Here the warlike operations between the rebels and the imperial troops lasted till July, 1869. Finally, the leaders, Enomoto and Matsudaira Tarō, seeing that it was hopeless to contend longer against a constantly increasing enemy, offered to commit hara-kiri, in order that their followers might be saved by a surrender. Their unselfish purpose was not, however, permitted. Then it was determined that the [pg 376] two leaders should give themselves up to the besiegers, to save the rest. This was done. The prisoners were sent to Yedo, and their gallant conduct and heroic devotion to the cause of their prince were so keenly appreciated that they were all pardoned.
While these events were transpiring in the east and north, the work of establishing a system of administration was proceeded with at Kyōto.
A constitution was drawn up, detailing the various departments of the government, and the duties of the officers in each. These departments were: 1. Of supreme administration; 2. of the Shintō religion; 3. of home affairs; 4. of foreign affairs; 5. of war; 6. of finance; 7. of judicial affairs; 8. of legislative affairs. This scheme underwent several changes, and for a long time was regarded as only tentative.
The ablest men in the movements which were now in progress were afraid of the traditions of indulgence and effeminacy which attached to the court at Kyōto. In order to restore the government to a true and self-respecting basis, it seemed necessary to cut loose from the centuries of seclusion in which the emperor had remained, and enter upon the work of governing the empire as a serious and solemn task. It was in this spirit that Ōkubo Toshimichi of Satsuma, one of the ablest of the statesmen of the new era, made in 1868 a novel and startling proposition. It was in a memorial[319] addressed [pg 377] by him to the emperor. He proposed that the emperor should abandon the traditions which had grown up respecting his person and his court, and rule his empire with personal supervision. To do this successfully, he recommended that the capital be transferred from the place of its degrading superstitions to a new home. He suggested that Ōsaka be the place selected.
If the emperor's court had been under the same influences as had governed it in past years, such a proposition would have been received with horror. Perhaps even the bold proposer would have been deemed fit for the ceremony of hara-kiri. But the men who surrounded the emperor belonged to a different school, and the emperor himself, although he was still an inexperienced youth, had already begun to breathe the freer air of a new life. The proposition was welcomed, and led to the great change which followed. After discussion and consideration it was determined that the emperor should make his residence not in Ōsaka, which would have been a great and impressive change, but in Yedo, where for two hundred and fifty years the family of Ieyasu had wielded the destinies of the empire. By this change more than any other was emphasized the fact that hereafter the executive as well as the ultimate power was to be found in the same imperial hands.
Acting on these principles the emperor followed his victorious army and, November 26, 1869, arrived at Yedo and took up his residence in the castle. Reports were made to him of the complete settlement [pg 378] of all difficulties in the north and the establishment of peace. In token of his arrival the name of Yedo had been changed to Tōkyō[320] (eastern capital), by which name it has since been known. As a compensation to the disappointed and disheartened citizens of Kyōto, their city received the corresponding designation of Saikyō (western capital). The year-period, which from January, 1865, had borne the name of Keiō, had been changed to Meiji[321] (Enlightened Peace), and was fixed to begin from January, 1868. Heretofore the year-periods had been changed whenever it seemed desirable to mark a fortunate epoch. But by the edict establishing the Meiji year-period, it was settled that hereafter an emperor was to make but one change in the year-period during his reign.
The emperor returned to the western capital during the spring of 1869 for a brief visit. The usual etiquette of mourning for his father required his presence at the imperial tomb. He also availed himself of this visit to wed the present empress, who was a princess of the house of Ichijō,[322] one of the ancient families descended from the Fujiwara. He came back again in April, but there was so much opposition on the part of the inhabitants of the ancient [pg 379] capital to the complete loss of their emperor, that it was deemed most prudent for the newly married empress to remain behind. She did not set out for Tōkyō to join her husband until the November following, where she arrived without incident.
A surprising reminiscence of the Christianity which was supposed to have been extinguished in the seventeenth century came to light in 1865. Several Christian communities in the neighborhood of Nagasaki[323] were discovered, who had preserved their faith for more than two hundred years. Without priests, without teachers, almost without any printed instruction, they had kept alive by tradition through successive generations a knowledge of the religion which their ancestors had professed. These communities had no doubt maintained a discreet quiet as to the tenets of their belief. They had a traditional fear of the persecution to which their fathers had been subjected and sought by silence to remain undisturbed. It was the rejoicing at their discovery which directed the attention of the government to the fire which had been so long smouldering.
A new edict of the imperial government, displayed upon the public edict-boards in 1868, first called the notice of the foreign representatives to the measures which were being taken.[324] It was as follows: “The evil sect called Christian is strictly prohibited. Suspicious persons should be reported to the proper officers, and rewards will be given.” Nearly all the [pg 380] ministers of foreign powers remonstrated against this proclamation, as throwing discredit on the religions of their countries. The Japanese officials defended the punishment of Christians by alleging the national prejudice against them, which had come from the preceding centuries. They argued that the question was one of purely domestic concern, of which foreign nations could have no adequate knowledge, and in which they had no right to interfere.
The Christians chiefly lived in Urakami, a village near Nagasaki. They were said to number about four thousand. Orders were sent by the government from Tōkyō in June, 1868, that all the families who would not recant should be deported and put in the charge of daimyōs in different provinces. Only a small part of the Christians were thus exiled. The government probably dealt with greater leniency because they found the treaty powers so deeply interested. Subsequently the measures taken against the native Christians were withdrawn. In March, 1872, those who had been dispersed among the daimyōs were granted permission to return to their homes, and persecution for religious belief was ended forever.
On April 17, 1869, before his court and an assembly of daimyōs, the emperor took what has been called the charter oath[325] in five articles, in substance, as follows:
1. A deliberative assembly shall be formed, and all measures decided by public opinion.
2. The principles of social and political economics should be diligently studied by both the superior and inferior classes of our people.
3. Every one in the community shall be assisted to persevere in carrying out his will for all good purposes.
4. All the absurd usages of former times should be disregarded, and the impartiality and justice displayed in the workings of nature be adopted as the basis of action.
5. Wisdom and ability should be sought after in all quarters of the world for the purpose of firmly establishing the foundations of the empire.
The promise in the first article to establish a deliberative assembly was watched with the greatest solicitude. And when during the same year the kogisho[326] (parliament) was called together, great hopes were entertained of its usefulness. It was composed of persons representing each of the daimiates, who were chosen for the position by the daimyōs. It was a quiet peaceful debating society,[327] whose function was to give advice to the imperial government.
That it was a thoroughly conservative body is apparent from the result of its discussion upon several of the traditional customs of Japan. On the proposition to recommend the abolition of the privilege of hara-kiri the vote stood: Ayes 3, noes 200, and not voting 6. On the proposition to abolish the wearing of swords, which was introduced and [pg 382] advocated by Mori Arinori, the final vote was unanimously against it in a house of 213.[328] After a short and uneventful career the kogisho was dissolved in the autumn of the same year in which it was summoned. It had been a step, but not a very important step, in the direction of parliamentary government.
We must now give an account of the most remarkable event in the modern history of Japan. We refer to the termination of feudalism by the voluntary surrender of their feudal rights on the part of the daimyōs. This action was a logical consequence of the restoration of the executive power into the hands of the emperor. It was felt by the statesmen of this period that in order to secure a government which could grapple successfully with the many questions which would press upon it, there must be a centralization of the powers which were now distributed among the powerful daimyōs of the empire. To bring this about by force was impossible. To discover among the princes a willingness to give up their hereditary privileges and come down to the position of a powerless aristocracy was something for which we have hitherto looked in vain.
Mori Arinori.
Doubtless the fainéant condition of nearly all the daimyōs at this time made the accomplishment of this event more easy. With only a few exceptions, the hereditary princes of the provinces had come to be merely the formal chiefs of their daimiates. The real power was in the hands of the energetic and [pg 383] capable samurai, who were employed to manage the affairs. They saw that any scheme for transferring the political authority of the daimyōs to the central government would render more important their services. They would become not merely the formal administrative functionaries, but the real officers to whom responsible duties and trusts would be confided. Some of this class of subordinates had already [pg 384] in the new imperial government tasted the savoriness of this kind of service, and they were ready to carry out a plan which seemed to have patriotism and practicability in its favor.
The most notable circumstance in this series of events was the presentation to the emperor of an elaborate memorial signed by the daimyōs of Chōshū, Satsuma, Tosa, Hizen, Kaga, and others, offering him the lists of their possessions and men. This memorial[329] appeared in the official gazette March 5, 1869. Its preparation is attributed to Kido Takayoshi, and bears supreme evidence to his learning and statesmanship. With lofty eloquence the memorial exclaims: “The place where we live is the emperor's land, and the food which we eat is grown by the emperor's men. How can we make it our own? We now reverently offer up the lists of our possessions and men, with the prayer that the emperor will take good measures for rewarding those to whom reward is due and taking from those to whom punishment is due. Let the imperial orders be issued for altering and remodelling the territories of the various classes.... This is now the most urgent duty of the emperor, as it is that of his servants and children.”
The example thus set by the most powerful and influential daimyōs was followed rapidly by others. Two hundred and forty-one[330] of the daimyōs united [pg 385] in asking the emperor to take back their hereditary territories. And in the end only a small number remained who had not so petitioned. Prince Azuki in his memorial says: “1. Let them restore the territories which they have received from the emperor and return to a constitutional and undivided country. 2. Let them abandon their titles and under the name of kwazoku (persons of honor) receive such properties as may serve for their wants. 3. Let the officers of the clans abandoning that title, call themselves officers of the emperor, receiving property equal to that which they have hitherto held.”
In response to these memorials a decree[331] was issued by the emperor August 7, 1869, announcing the abolition of the daimiates, and the restoration of their revenues to the imperial treasury. It was also decreed that the ranks of court nobles (kugés) and of daimyōs be abolished and the single rank of kwazoku be substituted.
Thus at one stroke the whole institution of feudalism which had flourished from the time of Yoritomo was cut away. The government made provision for the administration by creating prefectures (ken) to take the place of daimiates. This was done in 1871. At first the daimyōs were appointed governors of the prefectures. But it was soon found that these hereditary princes were as a class utterly unfit for the chief executive offices of their old provinces. Hence, one by one other competent persons were appointed to vacancies, until it came to be understood [pg 386] that competence and fitness were to be the requisite qualifications for such appointments.
The financial questions involved in the suppression of the feudal system were serious and difficult. When the daimyōs surrendered their fiefs, they did so with the understanding that they themselves should “receive such properties as may serve their wants,”[332] and that the emperor should take “measures for rewarding those to whom reward is due.”[333] It was decided that each ex-daimyō, and each of the suzerains that were dependent on him, should receive one tenth of the amount of their income from their fiefs. The ex-daimyōs received this amount free of any claims upon them for the support of the non-productive samurai, who formed the standing armies of each clan. The central government assumed all the payments to the samurai for services of whatever kind. This heavy charge of the government was met by borrowing $165,000,000,[334] which was added to the national debt. With this sum they undertook to capitalize the pensions, which was finally accomplished by a compulsory enactment. Each claimant received from the government interest-bearing bonds for the amount of his income reckoned at from five to fourteen years' purchase according to its sum. Thus to the great relief of the country the matter of pensions was disposed of.
To many of the samurai this summary settlement had unfortunate results. The lump sums which [pg 387] they received were often soon consumed, and they were left penniless and helpless. The traditions under which they had been trained led them to look down upon labor and trade with disdain, and rendered them unfit to enter successfully on the careers of modern life. In many cases worry and disappointment, and in others poverty and want, have been the sequels which have closely followed the poor and obsolete samurai.
Several minor but noteworthy steps in reform were taken. The ancient disqualifications of the eta and heimin were removed in 1871, and these pariahs placed on the same legal footing as the rest of the population. The first railway in Japan was opened between Yokohama and Tōkyō in 1872. The European calendar, so far as it regarded the beginning of the year and the beginning of the months, was adopted in 1873. The year was still counted from Jimmu Tennō, 1873 of the Christian era corresponding to 2533 of the Japanese era, and also by the Meiji year-period, the commencement of which was from 1868.
Several international events deserve notice here. A number of Ryūkyū islanders (vassals of Japan) had been shipwrecked on Formosa and some killed by the semi-savage inhabitants. To punish this cruelty, and to insure a more humane treatment in the future, the Japanese government sent an expedition under General Saigō Tsugumichi. They made short work of the inhuman tribes and enforced upon them the lesson of civility. China, who claimed a sovereignty over this island, acknowledged the service [pg 388] Japan had rendered, and agreed to pay an indemnity for the expenses of the expedition.
The long-pending dispute between Russia and Japan concerning the boundary in Saghalien was settled in 1875 by a treaty[335] which exchanged the Japanese claims in Saghalien for the Kurile islands (Chishima).
An unexpected attack by the Koreans upon a Japanese steamer asking coal and provisions awakened an intense excitement in Japan. An expedition after the pattern of Commodore Perry's, under the command of General Kuroda Kiyotaka, was despatched in January, 1876, to come to an understanding with the Koreans. The negotiations were entirely successful, and a treaty[336] of amity and commerce was concluded, and thus another of the secluded kingdoms of the East had been brought into the comity of nations. Then outbreaks of this kind in Saga, in Higo, in Akizuki, and in Chōshū occurred, but they were all put down without difficulty or delay. The promptness with which the government dealt with these factions boded no good to the reactionary movements that were ready to break out in other places.
Although the Satsuma clan had taken the most prominent part in the destruction of the shōgunate and in the restoration of an imperial government, there was in it a greater amount of conservatism and opposition to modern innovations than was to be [pg 389] found elsewhere. Indeed, the clan had split into two distinct parties, the one aiding in all the reforms and changes which the government was attempting to carry out, the other holding resolutely to the old feudal traditions which they saw endangered by the present attitude of the emperor's counsellors. The latter party had for its leaders Shimazu Saburō and Saigō Takamori, both of whom had played conspicuous parts in the recent history of their country. The government had tried to conciliate these two influential men and to secure their co-operation in the administration. But both had retired from Tōkyō, and declined longer to share the responsibility of a course which they could not approve.
Saigō, who was the idol of the samurai, after his retirement established near Kagoshima a military school, where the young men of that class were drilled in the duties of the army. Branch schools on the same model were also carried on in several other places in the province. In all it was said that not less than 20,000 young samurai were receiving a training in these dangerous schools. They were filled with the most violent antipathy to the government and were with difficulty restrained, even by their leaders, from outbreaks in sympathy with the uprisings which elsewhere were taking place.
The government was naturally solicitous concerning these collections of inflammable material. A collision with the students over the removal of some stores of arms and ammunition, revealed their readiness to break into rebellion. It is not improbable that designing conspirators took advantage of the [pg 390] open and chivalric character of Saigō to push him into the initiation of hostilities. Admiral Kawamura, himself a Satsuma man and a connection of Saigō, was sent down to hold an interview with him and if possible to make a peaceful settlement. But the interview was declined. The rebellious elements were at once gathered together, and Saigō, at the head of a force of 14,000 men, started about the middle of February, 1877, on his march up the west coast of Kyūshū, on his way to Tōkyō. The conspirators estimated that a force of 30,000 troops could be counted on to take part in the expedition.
The first impediment in their march was the castle of Kumamoto,[337] where the government had a garrison of 2,000 to 3,000 men under General Tani. Saigō determined to reduce it before making further progress. He spent several weeks in this vain attempt. This was a precious delay for the government, which it spent in organizing and sending forward troops for opposing the advance of the rebels. All available forces were collected and put in motion to the seat of war. Prince Arisugawa-no-miya was appointed commander-in-chief and established his headquarters at Fukuoka.
The equipment of troops at the seat of government was under the supervision of General Saigō Tsugumichi, a younger brother of the rebel leader. Loyal as he was to his emperor, it was a painful task for him to organize war against his brother. [pg 391] With native delicacy he left to others the duty of fighting on the field, and confined himself to the less conspicuous part of gathering and sending troops as they were needed.
The rebels had besieged Kumamoto and had already reduced it to great straits. But the imperial forces came in time to its relief. There was desperate fighting, but at last the besiegers were compelled to withdraw.
They retreated toward the east coast with the apparent purpose of seeking a way to the north by Hyūga and Bungo. Promptly they were followed and confined to a defensive attitude. The most desperate battles were fought in this part of the campaign. Though disappointed and outnumbered, the rebels fought with consummate bravery. They were almost in the shadow of the mountains where their celestial ancestor was fabled to have descended upon the Japanese islands.[338] Their last stand was at Nobeoka in the northeast corner of Hyūga. Their leaders realized that to continue the contest would only cause unnecessary and hopeless slaughter.
Under these circumstances Saigō saw that to end the fighting and save his followers he must leave them. Accordingly with about two hundred of those who were personally devoted to him, he broke through the imperial line and escaped to Kagoshima. The army, finding they were forsaken, surrendered, August 19, 1877. Saigō, with his little band, entrenched himself on the summit of the hill Shiroyama overlooking Kagoshima. Here he was surrounded [pg 392] by the imperial forces and bombarded night and day. The veteran leader was at last wounded in the thigh, and seeing that all hope of escape was gone, he requested one of his lieutenants to perform for him the friendly office of severing his head from his body. After the capture of the stronghold, the bodies of Saigō and his comrades were discovered. Admiral Kawamura himself with tender hands washed the bloody head of his dead friend, and saw that the bodies of all were decently buried. Thus, on September 24, 1877, the last and most serious of the attempts which have been made to disturb the empire in its new career came to an end.
There was, however, one mournful sequel to this rebellion. Ōkubo Toshimichi, a statesman and patriot of the purest type, had from the beginning resisted the reactionary movements of his clan. At the time of the rebellion he was minister of Home Affairs and put forth all his exertions to suppress it. A baseless slander that he had sent to Satsuma hired assassins to take Saigō's life, had been used by the reckless conspirators to force the rebel leader to an outbreak. This was believed by many of the samurai, not only in Satsuma but in other provinces. On May 14, 1878, Tōkyō was startled by the news that Ōkubo, while driving through a secluded spot in the old castle grounds, on his way to the emperor's palace, had been murdered. The assassins were from the province of Kaga, and gave as the reason for their crime their desire to avenge the death of Saigō. Japan could ill afford to spare at this time her most clear-headed statesman and her noblest and most unflinching patriot.
Okubo Toshimichi.
What followed these important events must be told in a summary manner. There was a powerful and growing party in the empire, who looked forward to a modification of the absolute form of government to which they had returned in 1868. This party was particularly aggressive in the province of Tosa. They recalled to themselves and others the solemn pledge which the emperor had [pg 394] given to his people in his charter oath,[339] when he announced that “a deliberative assembly shall be formed, and all measures decided by public opinion.”
The ruling minds in the government feared that the people were too inexperienced and too unaccustomed to deciding and acting for themselves to be entrusted with the grave duty of constitutional government. As a preparation for so important a step local assemblies were authorized and established in 1878. Matters referring to the government of each fu and ken were to be discussed, and to a certain extent decided in these assemblies. It was believed that the experience gained in such bodies would go far towards preparing men for service in an imperial legislative body. The expectations founded on these local assemblies were realized and in a fair degree they continued to fulfil their purpose.
In further pursuance of the plan of constitutional government, the emperor, on February 11, 1889, at his palace, promulgated a constitution[340] for his people. In the presence of his cabinet and court he took a solemn oath to govern under its limitations and powers. This constitution contains seven chapters consisting of one hundred and eleven articles: Chapter I. The Emperor; II. Rights and Duties of Subjects; III. The Imperial Diet; IV. The Ministers of State and Privy Council; V. The Judicature; VI. Finance; VII. Supplementary Rules. The emperor also announced that the imperial diet [pg 396] would be convoked in the twenty-third year of Meiji (1890), and that the constitution would go into effect at the date of its assembling.
Ito Hirobumi.
It would seem that no great advance can be secured in Japan without the sacrifice of a valuable life. As Ii Kamon-no-kami was murdered in 1860, and as Ōkubo fell by the assassin's hand at the close of the Satsuma rebellion, so now on the very day when the emperor was to promulgate this liberal constitution, Viscount Mori Arinori fell a victim to the fanatical hatred of one who looked with distrust upon the progress which his country was making. No one could look, or did look, on this progress with more interest than Mori. He had so long and so earnestly advocated a liberal and tolerant policy in the councils of his country, and had been a leader in all that was high and noble, that we cannot regard, except with profound regret, his untimely death.