On the 17th of January, the ministers who had resigned sent in a memorial praying for the establishment of a representative assembly in which the popular wish might be discussed. Their request was declined. It was officially declared that Japan was not ready for such institutions. Hizen, the home of one of the great clans of the coalition of 1868, was the chief seat of disaffection. With perhaps no evil intent, Eto, who had been the head of the department of justice, had returned to his home there and was followed by many of his clansmen. Scores of officials and men assembled with traitorous intent, and raised the cry of “On to Corea.” The rebellion was annihilated in ten days. A dozen ringleaders were sent to kneel before the blood pit. The national government was vindicated and sectionalism crushed.
ENTRANCE TO NAGASAKI HARBOR.
The Formosan affair was also brought to a conclusion. Thirteen hundred Japanese soldiers occupied the island for six months, conquering the savages wherever they met, building roads and fortifications. At last the Chinese government in shame began to urge their claims on Formosa and to declare the Japanese intruders. For a time war seemed inevitable. The man for the crisis was Okubo, a leader in the cabinet, the master spirit in crushing the rebellion, and now an ambassador at Peking. The result was that the Chinese paid in solid silver an indemnity of $700,000 and the Japanese disembarked. Japan single-handed, with no foreign sympathy, but with positive opposition, had in the interests of humanity rescued a coast from terror and placed it in a condition of safety. In the face of threatened war a nation having but one-tenth the population, area, or resources of China, had abated not a jot of its just demands nor flinched from battle. The righteousness of her cause was vindicated.
The Corean affair ended happily. In 1875 Kuroda Kiyotaka with men of war entered Corean waters. Patience, skill, and tact were crowned with success. On behalf of Japan a treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce was made between the two countries February 27, 1876. Japan thus peacefully opened this last of the hermit nations to the world.
The rebellions which we have mentioned were of a mild type compared with that which in 1877 shook the government to its foundations. In the limits of our space it is impossible to enter deeply into the causes of the Satsuma rebellion. Its leader, Saigo Takamori, was one of the most powerful members of the reformed government until 1873 when he resigned as some of his predecessors had done, indignant at the peace policy which was pursued. A veritable Cincinnatus, he seems to have won the hearts of all classes around him by the Spartan simplicity of his life and the affability of his manner, and there was none more able or more willing to come to the front when duty to his country called him. It is a thousand pities that such a genuine patriot should have sacrificed himself through a mistaken notion of duty. Ambition to maintain and extend the military fame of his country seems to have blinded him to all other more practical considerations. The policy of Okubo and the rest of the majority in the cabinet, with its regard for peace and material prosperity, was in his eyes unworthy of the warlike traditions of old Japan. But we cannot follow out the story of this famous rebellion—how Saigo established a private school in his native city of Kagoshima for the training of young Shizoku in military tactics, how the reports of the policy of the government more and more dissatisfied him, until a rumor that Okubo had sent policemen to Kagoshima to assassinate him precipitated the storm that had been brewing. This report was not supported by satisfactory evidence, although the Kagoshima authorities extorted a so-called confession from a policeman. Okubo was too noble to be guilty of such an act. It was only after eight months of hard fighting, during which victory swayed from one side to another, and the death of Saigo and his leading generals when surrounded at last like rats in a trap, and the expenditure of over forty million yen, that the much tried government could freely draw breath again. The people of Satsuma believe that Saigo’s spirit has taken up its abode in the planet Mars, and that his figure may be seen there when that star is in the ascendant.
By this time railways, telegraphs, lighthouse service, and a navy were well under construction in native works. Two national exhibitions were held, one in 1877 and the second in 1881; the latter particularly was a pretentious one and a great success. In 1879 Japan annexed the Liu Kiu islands, bringing their king to Tokio, there to live as a vassal, and reducing the islands to the position of a prefecture in spite of the warlike threats of China. In the same year occurred the visit to Japan of General Grant while he was on his tour around the world. The famous American was entertained most enthusiastically by the citizens of Tokio for some two weeks in July. The enthusiasm awakened by his visit among the citizens was remarkable. Arches and illuminations were on every hand for miles. The entertainment provided by the Japanese for their distinguished guests at any time is so unique when seen by western eyes that it is always impressive and delightful.
LIMITS AND POSSESSIONS OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE.
The Islands and their Situation—The Famous Mountain Fuji-yama—Rivers and Canals—Ocean Currents and Their Effect on the Japanese Climate—Japan not a Tropical Country—Flora and Fauna—The Important Cities—Strange History of Yokohama—Commerce—Mining—Agricultural Products—Ceramic Art—Government of the Realm.