428 



JAPAN". 



the nobles, who were compelled by it to give 

 up the rights which they had acquired under the 

 contracts for the transfer of their estates for 

 what was of much less value to them. Europe- 

 ans regarded it in the light of a breach of faith, 

 but admitted the weight of the excuse set up by 

 the Government, that it was a case of necessity, 

 for the country had to be relieved from a burden 

 of taxation far heavier than it was able to bear. 



Several insurrections broke out in the latter 

 part of the year, most of which were provoked 

 mainly by opposition of the nobles to the 

 measures for the commutation of their in- 

 comes. The most formidable of these was one 

 which took place at Higo, in the island of Kiu- 

 shiu, on the 25th of October. It was led by 

 Mayebara, who had been a prominent and val- 

 uable adherent of the imperial cause at the time 

 of the revolution by which the Tycoons were 

 dethroned. He was grieved because he thought 

 the services which he had rendered to the 

 imperial cause had not been sufficiently appre- 

 ciated and rewarded. He was joined by many 

 whose loyalty had been alienated by the meas- 

 ure of capitalization, and by others who were 

 discontented at the course of the Government 

 in breaking away from the old customs and 

 traditions of the country, and adopting West- 

 ern ways. The garrison at Kumamoto was 

 surprised, and a large number of the men com- 

 posing it were killed. At Yamaguchi the 

 number of men in arms ngainst the Govern- 

 ment was reported to be as high as three thou- 

 sand. Several engagements took place in the 

 different kens of the southwest, in some of 

 which the rebels nchieved a few temporary 

 successes. The rising was to have been gen- 

 eral through many widely-separated kens, but 

 the plan:? were not well carried out, and the 

 Government was efficient in action, and 

 promptly suppressed it by the 6th of Novem- 

 ber, and captured Mayebara and other leaders. 

 Mayebara and some of his colleagues were be- 

 headed, others of the leaders were condemned to 

 hard labor, others were deprived of their rank, 

 and many of the rank and file were acquitted. 



Laws imposing rather close restrictions on 

 the native press have gone into operation dur- 

 ing the year, and have been enforced with 

 many prosecutions, and in some cases with 

 fines and imprisonments. Among the provi- 

 sions of these laws was one that no foreigner 

 should be permitted to publish a paper in the 

 Japanese language. In accordance with this 

 rule, the British minister, at the demand of 

 the Government, interfered to stop the publi- 

 cation of a Japanese paper by an Englishman. 

 Notwithstanding the inconveniences occa- 

 sioned by this law. the publication of news- 

 papers has been actively pursued, and the 

 journals have exercised a fair degree of free- 

 dom and vigor in expressing the sentiments 

 of their conductors. During the year ending 

 in June, 1876, seventy-six new newspapers and 

 masjazines appeared in the empire, of which 

 fifty-five were started at Tokio. 



On the 2d of June the Mikado started from 

 the capital on a tour through the northern 

 provinces of the empire, which until recently 

 had been under the rule of the daimios. He 

 was accompanied by several cabinet officers, 

 and a personal suite numbering 136 persons. 

 During the Mikado's absence the business of 

 the state at the capital was left to be managed 

 by the prime-minister Santcho an event 

 which was unprecedented in Japanese history. 

 The imperial party was accompanied by cor- 

 respondents of the Japanese papers, who re- 

 ported that the Mikado was everywhere re- 

 ceived by the rural population with profound 

 reverence, and that the people showed no 

 diminution of loyalty, notwithstanding the 

 strange ideas and customs which had been in- 

 troduced into the capital from abroad. At the 

 villages which the party visited it is said the 

 school-children were drawn up in lines for the 

 Emperor to pass between them, the local 

 authorities believing that they could offer to 

 his Majesty no more agreeable spectacle, and 

 no clearer proof of progress, than an exhibition 

 of their schools. The Mikado was absent on 

 his tour seven weeks, and returned to the cap- 

 ital on the 21st of July. 



Shortly before the departure of the Mikado 

 it was resolved in the ministerial council to 

 appropriate from the imperial treasury a 

 quarter of a million dollars for the restoration 

 of the temple of Mondseki, the headquarters of 

 Buddhism, which had been burned down four 

 years before. This act, together with an ap- 

 propriation which was made for the support of 

 the service in the Buddhist temples, and of the 

 Buddhist priests, was regarded as showing 

 that the Government had given up the plan 

 which it had adopted several years before for re- 

 pressing the Buddhist religion and elevating the 

 Shinto religion into an exclusive state church. 



The Government has adopted Sunday as a 

 holiday, or day of rest, for all persons employed 

 in its offices. Otherwise its attitude toward 

 Christianity and Christians does not seem to 

 have materially changed. It seeks Europeans 

 to fill important civil stations, employs Euro- 

 pean teachers in its schools, and allows them 

 to introduce Christian usages there ; it per- 

 mits Japanese who have been converted to 

 Christianity to hold office, and continue in 

 office, and apparently attaches no disqualifica- 

 tion to them on account of their change of re- 

 ligion ; it grants sites and building-materials to 

 the Christian missionaries wishing to establish 

 village schools, and observes in its acts and 

 intercourse a policy quite courteous, if not 

 friendly, toward Christianity. Yet the edicts 

 against Christianity have never been abolished, 

 and the missionaries, as well as all Europeans, 

 are held rigidly to the observance of the con- 

 ditions under which their presence is allowed, 

 and are not permitted to go beyond the territori- 

 al bounds which have been prescribed for them. 



Certain aspects of affairs in China, such as 

 the hostile feeling shown by the Chinese tow- 



