JAPAN. 



463 



pointees, together with those in the fifth class, 

 must not exceed the whole number of those hold- 

 ing titles of nobility. The list of nominees was 

 officially promulgated on Sept. 30, and among the 

 56 names are 32 of naval, military, senatorial, or 

 other official persons in Government pay or em- 

 ployment ; 17 of men of erudition, all in Govern- 

 ment positions as senators, judges, educational 

 directors or professors; and 6 of "practical" 

 men, all of them presidents of banks or commer- 

 cial companies. The fifth class consists of mem- 

 bers who may be nobles, gentry, or commoners, 

 one from each of the 45 prefectures chosen by 

 the 15 voters paying the highest taxes. Of the 

 45 elected, 33 are commoners, 11 gentlemen, and 

 1 is a noble ; in occupation 22 were farmers, 16 

 merchants, and 7 miscellaneous. The House of 

 Peers, as now composed some slight changes 

 having taken place since the elections in the 

 Nobles' Club consists of 9 members of the im- 

 perial family, 31 princes and marquises, 105 

 counts, viscounts, and barons elected by mem- 

 bers of their respective orders, 56 members 

 nominated by the Emperor, and 45 persons 

 elected by those paying the largest taxes, mak- 

 ing a total of 246. As the number of members 

 possessing titles of nobility is 136 against 101 

 members of the two latter classes, there are 35 

 seats yet to be filled by the Emperor by nomina- 

 tion as occasion requires. In the House of Rep- 

 resentatives are 109 shizoku, or gentry, and 191 

 heimin, or commoners, the latter making two 

 thirds of the whole. When it is remembered 

 that twenty years ago the common people had 

 no political power and few rights, and that now 

 two thirds of the House of Representatives and 

 one seventh of the final and total number of the 

 Upper House, or " House of Peers," are com- 

 moners, the advance in popular liberty is very 

 notable. In the House of Representatives each 

 member represents an average of 131,278 units 

 of population and 307,560 yen of public revenue. 

 The gun (sub-prefecture or township) is taken 

 as the standard of representation, or average of 

 120,000 persons. The gun has usually from 

 100,000 to 150,000 units of population. When a 

 gun had less than 100,000 population, it was 

 merged with one adjoining it, and two members 

 allowed. Thus it eventuated that 257 election 

 districts (43 sending 2 members each) exactly 

 met the requirements of the general plan. Some 

 of the prefectures sent all shizoku or gentlemen, 

 others sent only commoners. The extremes of 

 wealth are shown in one member paying 15 yen 

 in annual national taxes and another paying 

 2,260 yen. In one gun 52 electors chose 1 mem- 

 ber, in another 1,288 electors chose 1 member. 

 Of the 300 members, 10 are over sixty-two ; 59 

 are between forty-eight and sixty-one; 40 be- 

 tween forty- four and forty-seven ; 99 between 

 thirty-eight and forty-three ; 85 between thirty- 

 two and thirty-seven ; and 7 between thirty and 

 thirty-one years of age ; the classification being 

 based on Japanese chronological periods. 



The buildings of the National Assembly hav- 

 ing been completed chiefly on the model of the 

 American national legislative edifice, with elec- 

 tric lights and modern systems of daylight and 

 ventilation, the Imperial Diet met in Tokio on 

 Nov. 25. The opening ceremonies were held in 

 the chamber of the House of Peers, most of the 



members of the Upper House wearing their full 

 official costume and decorations, the representa- 

 tives appearing in European evening dress. The 

 Mikado opened the proceedings, and the House 

 of Peers at once divided itself by lot into nine 

 sections, each section electing its own chief and 

 director, and then adjourned. Count Ito Hiro- 

 bumi, who had the principal hand in the forma- 

 tion of the Constitution and who wrote a vol- 

 ume of commentaries upon it, is President of the 

 House of Peers. All but 8 of the 300 members 

 of the House of Representatives were in their 

 seats at the opening, and balloting for three can- 

 didates each, for speakership and vice-speaker- 

 ship, proceeded during eleven hours, without 

 even a recess, the Constitution requiring that 

 those names presented to the Emperor as candi- 

 dates for these two office's should receive a ma- 

 jority vote. The Emperor confirmed, or nomi- 

 nated, as Speaker and Vice-Speaker those receiv- 

 ing the highest votes. The Speaker is Nakashi ma 

 Nobuyoki, of the Radical party, a Tosa man of 



great political experience, a member of a Pres- 

 yterian Church, and an active Christian. Next 

 in influence is Shimada Saburo, an editor, and 

 author of a remarkable historical work entitled 

 " Narrative of the Opening of the Country," of 

 the Liberal party, also an active Christian. In 

 politics the Diet is divided into many parties, 

 which may be summarized as Radical, Liberal, 

 and Conservative. A large majority is hostile to 

 " the Government," or the men in power. All 

 parties except the Conservative seem commit- 

 ted to the idea of enlarging the electorate and 

 increasing popular rights. " The Government " 

 as yet controls six sevenths of the revenue, ac- 

 cording to Article LXVII of the Constitution, 

 which reads : " Those already fixed expenditures 

 based by the Constitution upon the powers ap- 

 pertaining to the Emperor, and such expendi- 

 tures as may have existed by the effect of law, 

 or that appertain to the legal obligations of the 

 Government, shall be neither rejected nor re- 

 duced by the Imperial Diet without the concur- 

 rence of the Government." At present the Diet 

 can control absolutely only about 7,000,000 of 

 the 82,000,000 of the budget for 1890-'91. 



Notable Events. The new ministry formed 

 on Christmas day, 1889, still continues in power. 

 .One of the first events following their appoint- 

 ment was the shifting in office of about twenty 

 governors of provinces. A new fishery conven- 

 tion was concluded between Japan and Corea in 

 January. The first anniversary of the promul- 

 gation of the new Constitution was duly cele- 

 brated on Feb. 11. The Government in March 

 granted the Bank of Japan permission to issue 

 an extra 25,000,000 yen of exchangeable notes in 

 consequence of the tightness of the money mar- 

 ket. Military and naval manoeuvres on a large 

 scale were held at Nagoya, being witnessed by 

 the Emperor. For writing disrespectfully of the 

 reputed founder of the imperial dynasty, the 

 mythical Jimmu Tenno, a Japanese editor was 

 fined and sentenced to imprisonment for four 

 years. Early in April the murder by burglars of 

 the Rev. Mr. Large, a Canadian Methodist mis- 

 sionary, the insults to the Rev. James Summers, 

 and the wounding and rough treatment by na- 

 tive lads of the Rev. W. Imbrie, in Tokio, all 

 occurring during the time of general irritation 



