| Count Ito Hirobumi: | Minister-President. |
| Count Inouye Kaoru: | Foreign Minister. |
| Marshal Yamagata: | Home do. |
| Count Matsukata: | Finance do. |
| Marshal Oyama: | War do. |
| Marquis Saigo (late): | Navy do. |
| Viscount Mori (late): | Education do. |
| Admiral Enomoto: | Communications do. |
The Privy Council, of which the special function is to advise the sovereign whenever it may be his pleasure to consult it, was established in 1888, and Count Ito became its first president, having resigned his post of Minister-president of State to take up this more important office. The expression is used advisedly, because in Japan, where the prerogatives of the sovereign place him nearly on a level with those rulers whose sway is absolute and autocratic, the Privy Council occupies a position of responsibility that is not shared even by the Cabinet, in those crises that must at times occur in the life of a nation. To the Privy Council in Japan belong all those surviving Elder Statesmen, as they are with fitting respect designated, who have helped to make of Japan the marvellous success as a world power that she has become. In the formation of the Japanese Privy Council we may trace a close resemblance to that body which discharges somewhat similar functions in Great Britain. The original idea was not improbably imbibed by Count Ito during his study of European systems of Government, but in Japan the plan is extended to admit of the adoption of an ever-widening field of selection. The Emperor may summon whom he may think fit among his people to aid him in his deliberations, and in his wise choice of counsellors he has been guided by the evidence afforded of sterling ability or rare virtue rather than by affluence or the world’s esteem. The Privy Council may boast a membership exclusively of patriots, proved in the fire, men who have in reality sought above all things their country’s welfare, the advancement of their ruler’s legitimate interests and the maintenance of his rights and prerogatives unimpaired. He is able as a result to invest them with his complete confidence in the hour of trial. It was to the Privy Council that was entrusted the solemn duty of finally deliberating upon the draft to be submitted to the Emperor of the new Constitution, prior to its adoption in February 1889, and it is obvious from the character of its members that in this body his Majesty has been able to repose the utmost confidence at critical periods in the life of the nation.
The first Ito Cabinet remained in office until 1888, and when it was replaced by a Ministry of which Count Kuroda was the President, Count Ito at the express command of the sovereign, continued to retain office as a Cabinet Minister, but without holding any portfolio. In 1892 he again formed a Cabinet of which he was the Premier, and this lasted four years, through all the storm and stress of the war with China, in 1894-5, only in the year following going out of office on the conclusion of peace. In April 1895, occurred the famous meeting at Shimonoseki to arrange the terms for a cessation of hostilities, when Japan was represented by Count Ito Hirobumi and China by Earl Li Hung-chang. The document as eventually drawn up is too long for quotation in its entirety, but in its main provisions it covered a wide field, the opportunity being seized by Japan to insist on the opening of additional ports in China to foreign trade, a service to the rest of the world which has perhaps been less appreciated than Japan had a right to expect at the time. Under this treaty of peace China definitely recognised the full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea and agreed to the cessation of ceremonies and formalities and the payment of tribute derogatory to such independence. China ceded to Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty the following territories, together with all fortifications, arsenals, and public property thereon:—
(a) That part of the province of Feng-tien (Southern Manchuria), south of a line drawn from the mouth of the Yalu upstream to the mouth of the An-ping, thence to Feng-hwang-cheng and on to Hai-cheng, thence to Ying-kow (Newchwang) including the towns and places named.
(b) The island of Formosa, and adjacent islets appertaining thereto.
(c) The Pescadores group, that is to say all islands between longitude 119° and 120° E. and between 23° and 24° N. latitude.
The indemnity was fixed at 200,000,000 taels, payable in eight instalments. Wei-hai-wei was to remain in the occupation of the Japanese forces as a guarantee of the faithful performance of the stipulations of the agreement.
In the Liao-tung Convention signed at Peking on behalf of their respective countries by Baron Hayashi Tadasu and Earl Li on the 8th November 1895, the Third article of the Shimonoseki Treaty was abrogated, and a sum of 30,000,000 taels added to the monetary indemnity.
Mention has here been made of the boundaries in Liaotung province of the region which was to have become part of the Japanese Emperor’s dominions. Had that bargain been carried out Russia, who had long before fixed her gaze upon the fortress of Port Arthur, would have had to abandon the hope of ever acquiring the coveted spot, and accordingly with the view of preventing its transfer to Japan she thought fit to address to the Government of Tokio, with the consent and approval of France and Germany, the subjoined remonstrance:—
“The Government of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, in examining the conditions of peace which Japan has imposed on China, finds that the possession of the peninsula of Liao-tung, claimed by Japan, would be a constant menace to the capital of China, would at the same time render illusory the independence of Korea, and would henceforth be a perpetual obstacle to the permanent peace of the Far East. Consequently, the Government of his Majesty the Emperor would give a new proof of their sincere friendship for the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Japan by advising them to renounce the definitive possession of the peninsula of Liao-tung.”