I40 
Japan and the Japanese, 
number of soldiers under the ancient regime^ a conscription 
law was adopted, by virtue of which, every male between 
the ages of seventeen and forty has to serve a certain num- 
ber of years either in the army, or reserve force. A navy 
has been developed after the pattern of the English one, 
and large naval establishments have been created at Yoko- 
suka, and Nagasaki. The present Government consists of 
the Mikado as its head, a Supreme Council or Parliament, 
and an Assembly of Local Officials. All males above 
twenty years of age, who pay land-tax amounting to 
annually, are entitled to a vote, bankrupts and criminals only 
excepted. They have adopted the system of vote by ballot. 
The chief departments of State, over which ministers preside, 
as in England, are Foreign Affairs, Finance, Marine Educa- 
tion, Public Works, War, Justice, the Imperial Household, 
Colonisation, and Rehgion, this latter having been changed 
