Changes in the Form of the Government. 197 
her recent history. The one stands to the other in the relation 
of cause to effect, and what the future may have in store for 
Japan depends not a little upon the harmonious development of 
the governmental system which was adopted when the empire 
emerged from its seclusion. 
On-March 14, 1868, the Emperor, in the presence of the court 
nobles and feudal lords, made solemn oath that from that time 
forth the government and the people should unite in the develop- 
ment of the national power, and that the administrative affairs 
of the nation should be decided by public deliberation; that 
encouragement should be given to all the pursuits of life; that 
all abuses and evil practices should be abolished and the equi- 
table principles of nature should be the guiding star of the nation ; 
that wisdom should be sought in all the countries of the world, 
and whatever was good and right should be adopted to strengthen 
the basis of the national and the imperial power. 
The solemn obligation thus voluntarily assumed by the ruler 
of a country whose predecessors had exercised despotic power 
furnishes the keynote to all that Japan has since accomplished, 
It clearly foreshadowed not alone the changes which immediately 
followed, but the consummation of all those changes which took 
place when in 1890 the Emperor established a constitutional 
form of government. It will thus be seen that this final result 
was achieved not on the impulse of the moment or in conse- 
quence of any political exigency, but in conformity with a plan 
adopted from the beginning. That plan was consistently held 
in view and systematically followed from the outset. The states- 
men who under the imperial will guided Japan’s destinies then, 
some of whom are still the trpsted advisers of the emperor, wisely 
decided that the immediate establishment of parliamentary in- 
stitutions was not practicable; but steps were taken to pave the 
way for such institutions by extending the rights and privileges 
of the people, most notably by the creation of the prefectural 
and other local assemblies, which exercise a certain degree of 
control over local affairs. These and other similar institutions 
were designed to educate the people in the practice of self-govern- 
ment, and they were in active operation a number of years before 
the first imperial diet was opened. 
After the resignation of the Shogun in 1868 that office was 
abolished and a council of state was created, to which the Em- 
-peror confided the direction of public affairs. Several changes 
