JAPAN. 



JEWS. 



423 



one-tenth of their former revenue, while nine- 

 tenths will be transferred to the Central Gov- 

 ernment. The Government will appoint new 

 provincial governors, who will be merely 

 officers of the Central Government. All the 

 Samurai (the class of those bearing two 

 swords), who thus far had to be supported by 

 the princes, will be dismissed within the next 

 five years. In future, every one will be able 

 to attain the dignity of a Ydkonin (public of- 

 ficer), and military service will be made ob- 

 ligatory. Other reports from Yeddo, however, 

 represent the Government of the Mikado as 

 being now in truth a combination of a few 

 powerful southern Daimios, acting in the name 

 of the sovereign only for their own interests; 

 every Daimio being aware that in relinquish- 

 ing his rights he gives them in fact up to a 

 ring of ambitious confederates, at the head of 

 which is the crafty Satsuma, the Prince of 

 Kagosima. According to these reports, several 

 of the most prominent Daimios, among them 

 the Daimio of Kanga, the wealthiest of the 

 empire, have refused to recognize the revolu- 

 tionary decree of the court. In December, 

 1871, orders were issued by the war depart- 

 ment to the former Daimios to transfer all 

 arms and munitions of war to the Central 

 Government. 



General Capron, late Commissioner of Ag- 

 riculture of the United States, received, in 

 1871, and accepted a call from the Japanese 

 Government to take charge of measures for 

 the development of the large northern island 

 ofYesso. This island is reported to be rich 

 both in soil and minerals, but is less known, 

 even to the Japanese, than any other portion 

 of the empire. General Oapron, who with a 

 small staff of scientific men arrived in Yeddo 

 in August, was received with signal honors by 

 the Japanese Government. 



The most important commission which has 

 ever left Japan, for America or Europe, started 

 from Yeddo, on December 23, 1871. The fol- 

 lowing is the list of the members of the embas- 

 sy and their attaches and attendants : T. Iwa- 

 knra, ambassador extraordinary (vice-president 

 of his Imperial Majesty's ministry) ; T. Kido, 

 assistant ambassador (member of his Imperial 

 Majesty's Privy Council) ; T. Okubo, assistant 

 ambassador (Minister of Finance) ; H. Ito, as- 

 sistant ambassador (Assistant Minister of In- 

 dustry) ; Y. Yamakuchi, assistant ambassador 

 (Second Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs) ; 

 T. Tanabe, First Secretary to Embassy; S. 

 Siwota, First Secretary; R. Ga, First Secre- 

 tary; G. Fukuchi, First Secretary; 0. Wata- 

 mabe, Second Secretary; J. Komatz, Second 

 Secretary; T. Hayachi, Second Secretary; K. 

 Nagano, Second Secretary ; K. Kawadi, Third 

 Secretary; K. Ikeda, Fourth Secretary; T. 

 Ands, Fourth Secretary; Nakayama, attache" 

 to embassy (Vice-Governor of Hiogo) ; Yasube, 

 attache" to embassy (Second Commissioner In- 

 ternal Revenue Department) ; Wutermi, at- 

 tach6 to embassy (first assistant to Governor 



of Yokahama) ; Itatuge, attache" to embassy 

 (assistant in Ceremony Department) ; Nomura, 

 attache" to embassy (Chief Clerk of Foreign 

 Office) ; Kume, attach^ to embassy (Clerk of 

 the Assembly) ; attendants. 



Besides the embassy proper, there are a 

 number of commissioners from the several de- 

 partments of the Japanese Government, whose 

 duty it will be to collect information in respect 

 to the conduct of similar departments of this 

 and other governments. It will be seen by ref- 

 erence to their titles and the offices they hold 

 at home, that this is a more truly national com- 

 mission than was ever before sent out from one 

 nation of the world to the other nations. The 

 following are the names of the commissioners 

 and their attaches: Sasaki, Assistant Minister 

 of the Judiciary, and four attache's ; Hyacikuze, 

 chief of imperial court, and one attach^ ; Ya- 

 meda, one of the generals of the army, and 

 one attach^; Tanaka, Commissioner of the 

 Census, and five attaches; Tanaka, Assistant 

 Commissioner of Education, and five attaches ; 

 Hida, Commissioner of Ship-building Depart- 

 ment, and two attache's; Takasaki, commis- 

 sioner from the Assembly, and one attache". 



JELF, Rev. RICHARD WILLIAM, D. D., an 

 English clergyman and author, late Principal 

 of King's College, London, and Canon of 

 Christ Church, Oxford, born in London, in 

 1798; died in Oxford, September 19, 1871. 

 He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, 

 graduating thence in 1820 with high honors, 

 and was elected to a fellowship at Oriel, of 

 which college he became tutor. In 1826 he 

 was appointed preceptor to H. R. H. Prince 

 George of Cumberland (afterward King of 

 Hanover). In 1831 came a canonry at Christ 

 Church, and in 1844 the Bampton lecture- 

 ship, and the principalship of King's College, 

 London. Dr. Jelf, although standing aloof 

 from party politics, was ^in university matters 

 a pronounced Conservative. He occupied a 

 canon's house in Christ Church, and voted 

 with the majority at meetings of the Christ 

 Church Chapter. He was the author of 

 " Means of Grace " (the Bampton Lecture for 

 1844); of a pleasant little pamphlet, called 

 " Evidence of Unsoundness in Essays and Re- 

 views ; " and of " Sermons Doctrinal and Prac- 

 tical, preached abroad ; " and also of a pam- 

 phlet, entitled " Grounds for laying before the 

 Council of King's College Certain Statements 

 contained in the Theological Essays of the 

 Rev. F. D. Maurice." In private life he was 

 deservedly popular. With his death the last 

 of the sinecure canonries of Christ Church, 

 Oxford, was relinquished. 



JEWS. At the meeting of the Board of Dele- 

 gates of American Israelites, which was held 

 in New York on the 16th and 17th of May, 

 twenty-eight congregations were represented, 

 each by two delegates. The report of the ex- 

 ecutive committee gives a full account of the 

 efforts to improve the condition of their Jew- 

 ish brethren in the various countries where 



