366 



JAPAN. 



4. Should any member "be appointed to another of- 

 fice or retire, a substitute will immediately be elected. 



5. Any member having a motion to propose will 

 hand in the same in writing to the President. 



6. Should any person, not being a member of Par- 

 liament, wish to introduce any motion in the House, 

 he may intrust it in writing to the President or to 

 any member. 



7. Statements of motions must be brief and plain ; 

 they must have foundation and substance. 



8. The President will receive the various motions 

 and number them, and, having copied them in form, 

 will cause them to be printed. The order in which 

 motions will come before the House will be according 

 to the pleasure of the President, and will in no way 

 depend upon the numbers which they bear. 



9. Six days in every month, the 2d, 7th, 12th, 

 17th, 22d, and 27th, are fixed days of assembly. 



10. On the fixed days of assembly members will 

 take their places at ten in the morning. 



11. The places in the House will be numbered be- 

 forehand, and at the opening of the House members 

 will draw lots for their places, in which they will 

 take their seats accordingly. These numbers will be 

 changed every month. 



12. Every month six officers named Kanji [the 

 functions of these officers are not defined ; they ap- 

 pear, however, to be destined as a medium of com- 

 munication between members of the House and the 

 President, and to assist the latter in conferring with 

 the officers of the Government] will be elected from 

 among the members of Parliament. 



13. At every meeting of the Assembly a printed 

 motion will be handed to each member. 



14. Members, having received a printed motion, 

 will carry it home, and, after mature reflection, will 

 criticise it, and at the next meeting will carry the 

 motion with them and publicly read out their criti- 

 cisms. Should any questions be asked of them as to 

 the reasons for this opinion, they will be prepared to 

 reply. 



15. The order in which members will read out their 

 opinions or address questions will be according to the 

 fixed number of their places. 



16. On the second occasion, when a subject comes 

 up for debate, members are not restricted to speak- 

 ing once. On other occasions they may only speak 

 once. 



17. When a subject has been debated by the mem- 

 bers in conclave, any member returning home and 

 again pondering over the subject, and having arrived 

 at a conclusion as to its merits, may put his opinion 

 in writing, and hand it to the President at the third 

 sitting. 



18. Papers thus handed to the President will, when 

 the original motion is approved, bear the character 

 lea (ay) in red ink on the right-hand corner. When 

 the motion is disapproved, they will bear the charac- 

 ter M (no) in red ink on the left-hand corner. 



19. The President having collected the whole 

 opinions of the members, and having duly arranged 

 them, will, should three-fifths or more of the mem- 

 bers be in favor of the motion, declare it to be car- 

 ried, and will request the Emperor's judgment. 



20. Should three-fifths of the members be against 

 ?i moti n the President will declare it lost, and it 

 will be abandoned accordingly. 



21. When three votes are wanting to make up 

 three-fifths, the President has the power of deciding 

 the question by his vote. 



22. Should the "ayes" and the "noes" together 

 not amount to tnree-fifths of the members of the 

 Jlouse, the debate will be postponed, and resumed at 

 the expiration of one year. 



23. Should three-filths of the whole House decide 

 that the motion should be heard again in the same 

 year, the motion must be heard again forthwith. 



24. At each assembly there will be three matters 

 to be dealt with. First, the scrutiny of the " ayes" 

 ana noes" on the motion of which notice has been 



received at the previous meeting. Secondly, the de- 

 bate upon the motion of which the "ayes" and 

 " noes " have been scrutinized at the previous meet- 

 ing. Thirdly, the receipt of a new motion. These 

 constitute the orders of the day. The President will, 

 however, be competent to introduce variations in the 

 orders of the day. 



25. Should any question before the Parliament 

 have to be referred to the officers of the Government, 

 the debate will be postponed until the next meeting, 

 when the officers of the Government will be invited 

 to attend. 



26. When the officers of the Government attend 

 at the House, the Kanji, or officers of the House, will 

 confer with them. At such conferences the President 

 will attend, and, taking deeply into consideration the 

 arguments of both parties, will see that nothing im- 

 proper occurs. 



27. The various motions, the results of the scru- 

 tinies and the approval and disapproval of the Em- 

 peror, will be printed. 



28. If, in the course of debate, the President should 

 strike the board by his side, the House will be silent. 



29. Should any member be prevented from attend- 

 ing, he may delegate a proxy. 



30. A proxy may give his vote for the member who 

 has delegated him. 



31. No member may hold more than one proxy. 



32. No scrutiny of "ayes" and "noes" can take 

 place when less than two-fifths of the whole House 

 are present. 



33. Should any mistake occur in the course of de- 

 bate, the President will correct it. Should he fail to 

 do so, he may be called upon to exercise his authority 

 by any member. 



34. Newspapers and street reports are not to be 

 quoted to substantiate statements. 



In June the Mikado's forces commenced at- 

 tacking Hakodadi, the capital of Yesso, which 

 was occupied by the rebels under the powerful 

 daimios Aidzu and Ennemato. The greater 

 part of the city, with its ancient temples, was 

 laid in ashes on June 19th. The battle raged 

 with unabated fury from 4A.M. till 8 p. M., 

 after which it subsided into picket-firing, 

 which was kept up during the night, with an 

 occasional shell exchanged between the fleet 

 and forts. While the Mikado's fleet was busily 

 engaged in shelling the enemy's position, Ad- 

 miral Ennemato steamed out with his re- 

 maining vessel, the Emperor, from under the 

 fort, and with Spartan courage boldly attacked 

 the whole fleet of wooden vessels, for the pur- 

 pose of relieving his troops from their harass- 

 ing fire, actually driving them from their 

 positions and exploding the Don Juan with 250 

 men on board, about 50 of whom were saved. 

 He continued to engage them, but they de- 

 clined the combat, or fought at long range. 

 After holding the fleet at bay for upward of 

 an hour, the Stonewall drew off from her posi- 

 tion, where she had been shelling the city fort, 

 and slowly advanced to the attack, when the 

 Emperor as slowly and sullenly retired, ex- 

 changing shots with her the while. Toward 

 nightfall the vessel sank, opposite the city she 

 had defended against the combined attack of 

 the fleet, with flying colors, and every man at 

 his gun. Ennemato had about 3,000 and the 

 Mikado about 8,000 men. 



In the mean while the Parliament continued 

 its sessions at Yeddo. The most important 



