JAPAN. 



417 



rial prerogative, in 1890. On the 6th of June, 

 1884, the Mikado's rescript, creating five orders 

 of nobility, was issued, with a view to have 

 ready the material for an Upper House of 

 Lords or Notables. Article II declares that 

 " the peerage shall consist of princes, mar- 

 quises, counts, viscounts, and barons." The 

 nobles are created according to the age and 

 standing of their family, and in accordance 

 with their services to the country. After the 

 restoration of the Mikado to his ancient powers, 

 the abolition of the feudal system, and the re- 

 tirement of the daimios, or territorial nobles, to 

 private life, with one tenth of their former 

 revenues, and the commutation of the life and 

 hereditary pensions of the samurai or feudal 

 retainers, the three classes of society regulated 

 by law were nobles, gentry, and commons. 

 In the new five noble orders are to be many 

 of the able men of humble birth who have 

 achieved distinction, while at the same time 

 the hereditary Emperor will be surrounded 

 with the bulwark of an hereditary aristocracy. 

 In this way the old houses are recognized, and 

 those who have rendered meritorious services 

 are rewarded. Among the latter are a number 

 of military and civil officers. 



The Japanese Minister at "Washington is 



Kuki, and the Consul at New York, Taka- 



hashi Shiukichi. 



The United States Envoy Extraordinary and 

 Minister Plenipotentiary to Japan is Hon. 

 John A. Bingham, and the American Consul- 

 General at Yokohama is T. P. Van Buren. 



Army. For statistics, see " Annual Cyclo- 

 pedia" of last year. New conscript regula- 

 tions were promulgated Dec. 28, 1883, requir- 

 ing all males to hold themselves in readiness 

 for military service from the age of seventeen. 

 These very distasteful laws temporarily de- 

 ranged educational affairs, and caused many 

 premature marriages, under a mistaken im- 

 pression that married men were partially ex- 

 empt. The transient inconvenience being past, 

 Japan finds herself one of the best organized 

 military nations in Asia. The superiority of 

 her equipment has been shown in her power 

 to mobilize troops in expectation of war with 

 Corea; and in S6oulthe quality of her infantry 

 was seen in the attack by the Chinese regulars 

 and Corean military, when, after several hours 

 of fighting, it was found that the Japanese, 

 after effecting an orderly retirement in the 

 face of greatly superior numbers, inflicted four 

 times the damage done to themselves. The 

 navy is to be further strengthened by new iron- 

 clads ordered in England. 



Finance. The financial condition of the em- 

 pire is shown by the estimates for the seven- 

 teenth year of Meiji (1884-'85), in the notifi- 

 cation of May 13. The figures are in yen (dol- 

 lars) and rin (mills) : 



DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN DEBT. 



April30,1883 835,366,186-80 



April 30, 1834 824,709,01 3 "80 



Total decrease 10,657,172-50 



VOL. xxiv. 27 A 



STATE OF THE RESERVE FUND. 



April 80, 1883 53,415,490-442 



April80,1884 47,403, 156 "048 



LOAN ACCOUNT. 



April 30, 1883, advances 19,061,559 297 



April 30, 1884 23,696,128 '400 



Increase over preceding year 4,634,569 103 



FUND FOR RELIEF OF AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS. 



April 30, 18S3 1,897,695-238 



April 30, 1884 2.230,554 743 



Increase . . 



832,859-505 



The national debt amounts to 324,709,013'- 

 800, of which 8,476,072-000 is foreign, at 7 

 per cent. The domestic debt bearing interest 

 amounts to 214,479,310-000, and that without 

 interest to 8,339,271*000; the paper money in 

 circulation to 93,414,360-800. Total domestic 

 debt, 316,232,941-800. Among the items are 

 the following : 



New debt at 4 per cent 10,752,450-000 



Kin satsu exchequer bonds 6,070,350 000 



Unregistered exchequer bonds 1,250,000 000 



Hereditary pension bonds 171,835,835-000 



(Interest at from 5 to 10 per cent.) 



Pension bonds for ex-Shinto priests 147,125' 000 



Loans for public works, at 6 per cent. 11,331,950 000 



Nakasendo Railway bonds, at 7 per cent. ... 3,091.600-000 



Loan for suppressing S. W. rebellion in 1877. 10,000,000 '000 



Old domestic debt without interest ... 8,339,271 000 



Paper money in circulation 93,414,360 800 



The chief problems in Japanese finance are, 

 to redeem (1) the bonds created on the with- 

 drawal of the old Kin satsu (gold notes) cur- 

 rency, made of card-board, and issued during 

 the first year of the Restoration ; (2) the 

 hereditary pension bonds used to commute or 

 extinguish the claims, formerly payable in rice, 

 of the feudal military-literati or samurai class ; 

 (3) the loan made on account of "the Satsuma 

 rebellion " ; (4) to carry on internal improve- 

 ments and public works, including railways and 

 telegraphs; and (5) to call in enough of the out- 

 standing paper money to maintain the credit 

 of the Government. Owing to stagnation of 

 trade, the visitation of severe storms, agricult- 

 ural distress, and heavy taxes, causing riots 

 instigated in some cases by gamblers with whom 

 the Government has begun to deal rigorously 

 the past year has been declared by native edi- 

 tors " one of the blackest in our history." 



Polities. The political ferment of the period 

 tince 1868 has produced several rival and 

 two hostile parties, the Constitutional or Con- 

 servative, and the Liberal or Radical. The 

 latter, led by Mr. Itagaki, has had great influ- 

 ence during the past three years in shaping 

 public opinion and influencing government 

 measures. Unfortunately, on the 23d of Sep- 

 tember, 1884, political riots broke out in the 

 Ibaraki prefecture, in which a prominent 

 liberal and sixteen others were concerned ; 

 dynamite was used, several policemen were 

 killed or wounded, and the existence of a 

 widely ramified plot was revealed, or at least 

 suspected by the Government. Ten days later 

 the chief members of the Liberal party met at 

 Osaka, and formally dissolved their organiza- 

 tion. The alarm of honest men on the one 



