JAPAN. 



427 



rm I assy were taken to Tokio, where they were 

 .(1 l.y tln< imperial court with due cere- 

 mony, anil excited great inteivM among the 

 populace. A few weeks afterward the ex- 

 minister, Minumoto, was appointed embassa- 

 dor to Coroa, nnd went to his mission with a 

 suitable retinue of secretaries and attaches. 



The provisions of the treaty between Russia 

 and Japan for the exchange of the Kurile Isl- 

 ands formerly belonging to Russia, for the 

 southern half of Saghalien, formerly belonging 

 to Japan, have been executed, and the terri- 

 tories have been finally transferred. Among 

 the provisions of the treaty were stipulations 

 that the aborigines of the respective terri- 

 tories who did not emigrate, and also Russians 

 remaining in the Kurile Islands and Japanese 

 remaining in Southern Saghalien, should have 

 full rights of property, and should enjoy com- 

 plete religious liberty, in the respective terri- 

 tories ; Japanese, however, were prohibited 

 from remaining permanently in Russian terri- 

 tory, and Russians from remaining perma- 

 nently in Japanese territory, without chang- 

 ing their nationality; and aborigines were 

 allowed a period of three years to elect the 

 nationality to which they would belong. Under 

 these provisions, at the beginning of April 840 

 natives of Saghalien had removed to Japanese 

 territory, and 580 inhabitants of the Kurile Isl- 

 ands had gone to Russian territory. On the 

 1st of July it appeared that Japan had been 

 the gainer to a considerable degree by the ex- 

 change of subjects, since nearly all the Russian 

 Ainos of the Kurile Islands had elected to re- 

 main in their fishing-villages, while only forty 

 Japanese families had remained in Saghalien. 

 The result was not, however, of any great dis- 

 advantage to Russia, as, it being the intention 

 of the Government to make of the Kurile Isl- 

 ands a grand depot for the deportation of 

 offenders against her laws, it was to Russian 

 interest to receive the territory ns free as pos- 

 sible from inhabitants and incumbrances. 



The Japanese Government has during the 

 year carried into effect a measure for capital- 

 izing and extinguishing the hereditary and life 

 pensions of the Kadzoker and Shidzoker, or 

 nobles and gentry. The rights which were 

 compromised by this measure arose in 1868, 

 when the Government dispossessed the landed 

 classes of their domains, and assumed the prop- 

 erties, with all the responsibilities attaching to 

 them. For compensation to the former pro- 

 prietors the Government agreed to pay kMO 

 one-tenth of their former annual revenues, and 

 relieved them from the duty and responsibility 

 of maintaining those armies of retainers which 

 under the old feudal system had been a very 

 heavy burden upon them. This arrangement 

 was an advantageous one for the daimios, for, 

 although the income afforded them by it was 

 much smaller than they had previously en- 

 joyed, their expenses were reduced by the 

 abolition of their feudal courts and responsi- 

 bilities in still greater proportion. But the 



Government found the obligation of paying out 



so large a proportion of it rev. -mi,-, i.,i the 

 support of the duimioH more than it could con- 

 \i-nh-ntly bear, in the embarrassed conclitioo 

 of its finances. The measure lor capitalization 

 was enacted for the purpose of extinguidiiji^ 

 all of these rights for fixed HUIIIS, to be paid 

 within a few years. Under it the incomes to 

 be extinguished are arranged in a regular scale, 

 from the largest down to the .smallest, and the 

 number of years' purchase is proportioned in- 

 versely to the amount of income to be extin- 

 guished. Incomes of 70,OUO yens, or dollars, 

 and upward, will be extinguished in five years' 

 purchase; those of from 70,000 yens to 1,000 

 yens, in from five years' to seven and a hulf 

 years' purchase ; those of from 1,000 yens to 25 

 yens, in from seven and one-half years' to four- 

 teen years' purchase. Bonds for the total 

 principal that is, for the yearly income, mul- 

 tiplied by the number of years of purchase 

 will be given by the Government, and life- 



JAPANESE BONZE:*. 



pensions will be added to the hereditary in- 

 comes, but amortized in the same manner as 

 they are amortized. Interest will meanwhile 

 be allowed at rates varying from five to seven 

 per cent, per annum, according to the amount 

 of the total sum, the lower rate being ap- 

 plicable to larger sums, and the higher rate 

 to smaller suras. Until permission is given to 

 do so, it is forbidden to mortgage, pledge, or 

 sell these Government obligations. It is esti- 

 mated that the measure will effect an imme- 

 diate saving to the country of from 8,000,000 

 to 10,000,000 yens annually, or about one-sixth 

 of the whole revenue. Of course, the measure 

 was greatly to the financial advantage of the 

 Government, and it was received with great 

 favor by the press and by the people generally. 

 It was, however, a very unprofitable one for 



