It has already been explained in a previous chapter, in connection with the mission of Iwakura to Europe and America in 1872 for the ostensible purpose of obtaining a revision of the treaties with foreign Powers, how soon after the reopening of foreign intercourse, and how strongly, the Japanese nation resented the exemption of foreigners from Japanese jurisdiction under the treaties of 1858; what importance was attached by the Japanese Government to a revision of those treaties which would do away with extra-territorial privileges; and what disappointment and ill-feeling, as well as other unwelcome results, were caused by the failure of the mission to persuade the foreign Governments concerned to enter into negotiations on the subject. It will be more convenient to give this important question a place to itself later on, when the course of our narrative has reached the point at which the object of the long-continued negotiations was at length successfully accomplished. For the present it will be sufficient to mention that the question was not allowed to drop because of the ill-success of the Iwakura Mission: that negotiations were reopened by the Japanese Government in 1882, when a Preliminary Conference was held in Tōkiō; that a further and more formal Conference took place in the same Capital four years later; and that on neither of these occasions was a definite result reached.

Such was the position of affairs when in the course of the revival of political agitation this question, so embarrassing to the Government, and so irritating to the susceptibilities of the nation, came to play a more prominent part in public controversies. A national grievance of this kind felt by all educated persons was naturally shared by politicians. It was rendered more acute by the recognition of the fact, now become common knowledge, that the absence of any fixed term for the duration of existing treaties constituted a serious obstacle to their revision. Treaty revision, therefore, became a chief feature in the programme of political agitators, and increased importance was given to it by the failure of the second Conference to achieve any definite results, and by the resignation, as a result of this failure, of the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count (afterwards Marquis) Inouyé, who, as chief Japanese delegate, had presided over its meetings.

Some increase of confusion in the country, and a general sense of instability, were caused too at this time by the pro-foreign tendencies which for some years had characterized the policy of the Government. Associated in its origin with a desire for the revision of the treaties which should relieve Japanese susceptibilities, and with the well-grounded conviction that the adoption of Western institutions, laws and customs would enlist the sympathies of foreign countries, and thus assist the attainment of the end desired, the movement assumed such proportions in official and Court circles in the Capital as to lead to the supposition that nothing less than the Europeanization of Japan was intended. More serious than some in its character, and in its effects more lasting, it ran its course like other similar movements, the recurrence of which is a testimony to the impulsive character of the people; and when it died out the process was so silent and gradual that no reactionary wave came to swell the normal tide of anti-foreign sentiment.

The failure in 1887 of the second Conference, which had lasted more than a year, furnished a welcome opportunity to political agitators. The moment was favourable for the stirring up of trouble. The renewal of political activity was signalized by the formation of a confederation of men of all parties, including even a sprinkling of conservatives, under the name of General Agreement Union (Daidō-Shō-i Danketsu), a title which was intended to convey the meaning that it was an association of persons whose opinions agreed in the main and differed only in non-essentials. It was not a political party in the strict sense of the term, but a loose conglomeration of persons united only by dissatisfaction with the Government. Encouraged by the birth of this new and powerful association, the class of political rowdies increased in numbers; the law which imposed restrictions on the organization of political parties was evaded by the formation of secret societies; and eventually the condition of affairs became so serious that the Government took the strongest step adopted since the Restoration and issued what are known as the Peace Preservation Regulations (Hō-an Jōrei). These regulations prohibited under severe penalties the holding of secret meetings, the formation of secret societies, and the publication of books or pamphlets of any kind of a nature to disturb the public peace. They also armed the authorities with power to arrest and banish for three years from the district in which he lived any person suspected of disturbing the public peace who resided within a radius of seven miles from the Imperial Palace in the Capital.

The regulations were put into force on the date of their promulgation, the 25th December, 1887. More than five hundred persons were arrested and banished at twenty-four hours’ notice from the Capital and its neighbourhood, the number including several prominent men, who afterwards filled high positions as Cabinet Ministers or Presidents of the Lower House. The precautions taken by the authorities did not end here. The garrison of Tōkiō was increased, the departments of State and the official residences of Ministers were guarded by police patrols, and the Ministers themselves never ventured out without an escort of two or three armed detectives. The nature of the precautionary measures taken indicates that it was not popular disorders so much as dangerous political trouble that was feared. That they were needed is proved by the fact that during the year 1889 one Cabinet Minister was murdered, while another was dangerously wounded by political malcontents.

As before, conciliation went hand in hand with repression. Three days after the Peace Preservation Regulations were promulgated the issue of a new and more lenient Press law encouraged the freer expression of popular views. And in February of the following year (1888) public opinion was further conciliated by the inclusion in the Cabinet of Ōkuma, whose views on constitutional questions had always been in advance of those of the Ministry which he rejoined. His return to the Cabinet was of great service to the country at a critical time, helping the Government to tide over an uncomfortable interval which still remained before the promulgation of the Constitution.

CHAPTER XVIII
Imperial Authority—Privy Council—Local Self-Government—Promulgation of Constitution—Imperial Prerogatives—The Two Houses of Parliament—Features of Constitution and First Parliamentary Elections.

The Peace Preservation Regulations provided, as we have seen, amongst other things, for the removal of persons suspected of designs to disturb the public peace from areas in the Capital, and its suburbs, within a radius of seven miles from the Imperial Palace. This mention of the Imperial Palace shows how strong the force of habit was, and still is, in Japan. The maintenance of “the security of the Throne,” a phrase borrowed from the Chinese classics, was for centuries a leading idea in Japanese administration. The expression, usually to be found in association with another classical phrase, “the tranquillity of the people,” recurs from an early date in all official literature, in Decrees, Memorials and Manifestos. As remarkable as the continuity of the dynasty, of which the nation is not unnaturally proud, this constant solicitude for the Imperial welfare, this manifestation of what to foreign eyes may seem a somewhat excessive degree of reverence for the Throne, was often in inverse ratio to the authority it wielded. We have seen, for instance, how the policy of the founder of the Tokugawa line of Shōguns was to increase the outward respect paid to the Court by surrounding it with an enhanced semblance of dignity, while at the same time its authority was sensibly diminished. At no time was the ceremonial governing relations between what was left of the Court and the Shōgunate more elaborate than under the rule of the Shōguns of this line; never, perhaps, was the authority of the Throne less effective. This was, however, the effect of deliberate policy, in which may be traced a desire to hoodwink the nation, and conceal the ambitious designs of its rulers. When in the closing years of Shōgunate rule its prestige declined, the reassertion of Imperial authority was accompanied by a tendency to lay additional emphasis on the immemorial respect due to the Throne. It was this feeling which led the Court party before the Restoration to insist on no “treaty port” being opened in the five “home provinces” because of the vicinity of Kiōto, where the Emperor resided. When the opening of the port of Hiogo could no longer be withstood, the same feeling inspired the narrowing of “treaty limits”—the name given to the area in the neighbourhood of a “treaty port” in which foreigners were allowed under the treaties to make excursions—in the direction of the old Capital; now, several years later, after the personal rule of the Sovereign had, in name at least, been re-established, we notice the same anxiety for the security of the Throne still closely connected with the maintenance of public tranquillity. And evidence of the same exalted respect for the Throne will be seen in the Constitution which was shortly to be promulgated, and in the official “Commentaries” which accompanied its promulgation. But the unusual context in which the indirect allusion to the Throne appeared in the Peace Preservation Regulations showed that a further reason lay behind this mention of the Imperial Palace. It was customary then, as now, for the official measurement of all distances from the new Capital to be taken from a central point in the city. This was the Nihonbashi, or Bridge of Japan, situated in the centre of the old town. It being generally understood, however, that all distances were measured from this centre, it was considered unnecessary to mention the point. The fact that in the present instance the point from which distances were to be measured was mentioned at all, coupled with the substitution of the Imperial Palace for the bridge in question, could not fail to attract attention. The public was thereby reminded both of its duty in the matter of solicitude for the security of the Throne, and of the Imperial authority that supported the course adopted by the Government. Throughout the stormy times which followed the establishment of parliamentary institutions in Japan, the invocation of the Imperial authority, either directly or indirectly, served as a political barometer by which the seriousness of a political crisis might be definitely gauged.

In April, 1888, two months after the return of Ōkuma to the Ministry with the title of Count, the Privy Council (Sūmitsu-in) was established. The decree announcing its creation stated that the Emperor found it expedient “to consult personages who had rendered signal service to the State” in regard to important matters, thus making it clear that the functions of the Council would be of a purely advisory nature—a point confirmed later on by the Constitution—and that its members would be chosen from officials of wide experience. The scope of its duties, as defined in the rules governing its organization, covered a wide field, including, amongst other matters, the drafting and consideration of new administrative measures, the revision of existing laws, amendments to the Constitution, the presentation of its views on treaties with foreign countries and financial questions.

With functions in some few respects similar to those of the corresponding body in Great Britain, the Japanese Privy Council fills a larger place in the political machinery of the State and takes a more active part in legislation, though it has no judicial functions. Even more so than with us is it the final goal to which all public servants aspire, and where their services are still available for the State. But it is something else, too. It has a political influence which does not exist in the case of our own institution of the same name; its members are eligible for re-entry into the Ministry or for other State employment; and they are in constant and close touch with public affairs.