VIII
Commerce and industry--Old methods of communication--Roads and ships--How they have been improved--Railways, post, telegraphs, and telephones--Progress of the financial system--The Satsuma war--The Bank of j.a.pan--The National banks--The monetary system one of the causes of j.a.pan"s success--Further remarks on the military reforms--Evolution of the mode of fighting--All reforms at much cost of blood and money--The cause of the Satsuma war--Saigo the Elder--Social condition of j.a.pan to-day--Evolution of legislation--Chinese jurisprudence--The j.a.panese are not good correspondents--My future--An operatic singer--j.a.panese stages--Danjiuro and Irving--The old school and the new one--Kawakami and Sada Yakko--The opera _Maritana_--The end of the dream
I was still in the same incongruous group of people, and carrying on a conversation on the same lines. Though the subjects were rather technical, they seemed to have interested the people who took part in the discussion, because they relate to the important part of our history, wherein the foundation-stone, so to say, of Modern j.a.pan was laid.
--"I suppose, "said one of the group, "your country had to take much pains in encouraging commerce and industry to attain the stage you have reached."
"Well," I replied, "we could not do anything which resembled a protective system if we wished, because we were bound by the treaties forced upon us, whereby our custom-house duties, all prefixed, could not exceed five per cent. _ad valorem_; but as far as it lay in the competence of our Government and people, we did all in our power. You cannot imagine what money, what time, and what labour we have had to waste in many ways, because there were many things which we tried and in which we failed. What we have achieved is insignificant, but it is the result of all those exertions. By the bye, the question of the revision of the old treaties was a long protracted subject of our diplomacy and politics through which we had to struggle. It wrecked several ministries. One minister for foreign affairs, Count Ok.u.ma, lost one of his legs and only miraculously escaped death, in consequence of having been inclined to accept terms of revision which the people considered insufficient and irreconcilable with national dignity. The aim of the revision was to regain the tariff as well as judicial autonomy. America had shown very early its inclination to accede to our demand. Italy also showed a similar inclination. But on the whole the matter proved very difficult. About ten years ago Great Britain took the lead in recognising the justice of our demand, other powers followed England"s example, and thus the revision was at last effected. That revision restored to us our judicial autonomy completely. You must, however, remember that the tariff autonomy has not yet been entirely restored to us, for we are still bound by one-sided conventional tariffs. But I must now return to the original thread of my discourse. You have already seen that we were hampered by the treaties, but in spite of that we have taken every pains to promote our commerce and industry, without falling into the error of over-interfering or being officious."
--"And you have made wonderful progress in your commerce in a comparatively short time," said another.
--"Well, not wonderful," I answered; "but it is a fact that our commerce has increased from a few million yen to some six hundred million yen. That is something. I will add a word more. It is a mistake to suppose that the stage we have attained is the mere result of natural growth. We must venture to ask for sympathetic appreciation of our endeavour. Some Western people appear to entertain a sort of apprehension in regard to the growth of our commerce and industry, and even show a desire to check our progress. It would be very hard lines for us, for our conviction is that the growth of our commerce and industry can only be beneficial reciprocally to others as well as to ourselves; and, moreover, what is after all our commerce and industry when compared with that of the Western peoples?"
--"I quite sympathise with you on that point," said one.
--"Thank you!" I said, and continued. "Some foreigners speak of our commercial probity very disparagingly. I admit there were some shortcomings, but I deny that the faults were wholly ours. You know that the greater bulk of our j.a.panese commerce is done in j.a.pan itself by the Western merchants who come out there. If we were always cheating them, and they were always blameless, why should they continue to trade with us and make such great increase of commerce in a comparatively short s.p.a.ce of time? It is my opinion that the blame attached to the commercial probity of the j.a.panese merchant has far less foundation than the reality warrants. A good deal of the blame, I think, is a hearsay, originally circulated by interested persons and innocently magnified by others. Time was when our merchants wellnigh revolted against oppressive dealings of foreign merchants out there, and tried to export direct to foreign countries, but then want of capital and experience stood in their way as a barrier. On the whole, I am satisfied with the progress our commerce has made, as well as with the fact that its volume has increased in spite of the war, though we must endeavour to still further it."
--"That your country will have to do," said another; "but will you tell me the condition of the communications of the country at the time of the abolition of the feudal system, and the improvements you have made since then?"
--"The means of communication," I replied, "were not good in those days.
We are surrounded by seas on all sides, but we were unable to make the fullest use of the water, because the building of large ships was prohibited for centuries, and therefore our ships had much difficulty in navigating the eastern coasts, as well as the j.a.pan Sea, especially in winter. They often had to remain several months in some port on their route. On the land, roads were not good, they were often badly made on purpose by the different lords for the defence of their territories.
Thus, even where a straight road could be made on flat land, it was purposely made high up on the hills in a winding way. Rivers were often left bridgeless where bridges could easily have been constructed.
Foreign visitors may think our roads even now bad when compared with those of the Western civilised countries; but in our eyes our present roads are beyond any comparison with those of some thirty or forty years ago. This also means that our central Government, as well as our local governments, had to take much pains and spend much money in the matter.
We had also to encourage the building of large ships, both steam and sailing vessels. We have built many lighthouses round the country for the benefit of the navigation of foreign ships as well as for our own."
--"What of the railways, telegraph, and telephone lines?" asked one.
"Not many years after the restoration we began the construction of the railways. The line between Yokohama and Tokio was the first and most expensive of any of the railways constructed in j.a.pan, for, owing to the lack of experience, we had to pay whatever price we were asked by foreigners for the materials. The next line was one between Kobe and Osaka, and the system has been gradually extended as the finances of the Government have allowed. But finding that the rapid extension to every part of the country was beyond the financial expediency of the Government, private enterprises were encouraged, and many private railway companies were established one after another. Thus we have two kinds of railways, one belonging to the Government, the other belonging to private companies. When I was Minister of Communications eight years ago, the whole length of the railways, state and private, reached three thousand miles. There was some talk of celebrating the occasion, but both Matsumoto, Director of the Board of Railways, and I discountenanced the idea, because three thousand miles of railway were nothing compared with other advanced countries. The extension at present is between four and five thousand miles, I think. The length is not much, but because the country is narrow, every part of it is within easy reach of the train. The telegraph lines belong to the Government entirely, and are managed in conjunction with the general postal system. Soon after the inauguration of the Imperial Government, we began to remodel the postal system which had existed previously, and it has been gradually expanded and improved on the European method. I can say without much diffidence that our postal and telegraph systems may be compared in efficiency with any country, even the most advanced in those matters. The telephone system is comparatively new, but most of the populous towns have it, and large towns are connected by distant telephones. Needless to say that we have managed from the beginning to maintain the system in the hands of the Government."
--"The Imperial Government seems to have required much money," said one, "for winding up the feudal Governments, and for introducing, side by side, many reforms. You also mentioned that the Government had to issue paper money. I should like to know more about how you got through it all."
--"We had to undergo much financial difficulty. Before the Imperial regime gold and silver const.i.tuted practically double standards. At the early stage of the new Government gold was adopted as the standard in theory, but it took a long time before it came into actual operation.
The Government had to issue much paper money, and that, too, inconvertible, hence much depreciation of the paper. The strenuous efforts of the Government had been successful in improving the situation when the Satsuma war broke out in 1877. The expense of that war occasioned more issue of paper money, which caused a further depreciation. At one time the difference between silver, which was practically the legal tender at the time, and the paper rose to 100 : 180.
"There was another cause for the depreciation of paper money. It was the issue of notes by the national banks, which were established in all parts of the country after the abolition of the feudal system, and which numbered at one time more than 150. The Government had to meet with these difficulties, and to place the financial and economical condition of the country on a firmer and more satisfactory basis. This the Government began to undertake a few years after the Satsuma war, without hindering the necessary works for the development of the national resources. The Government decided to apply strict economy in all branches of its administration. The money thus saved was partly used for the redemption of the over-issued paper money, and partly to acc.u.mulate reserve funds for making the paper currency convertible. The Bank of j.a.pan was established with the view of making it the sole central economical organ of the empire. A scheme was provided for redeeming the notes issued by the so-called national banks, and for converting those banks into strictly private banks in due time.
"The process began in earnest in 1881; it made far quicker progress than was contemplated; thus in 1885 the difference between the silver and the paper money disappeared. From January 1886 the total redemption of the paper money was begun. In 1899 the circulation of the Government paper money and the notes of the national banks altogether ceased to exist, the convertible notes of the Bank of j.a.pan having taken their place. In the same year all national banks ceased to exist, most of them having become private banks, and a few having wound up their business. Two years previously gold had been at last effectively adopted as the j.a.panese national standard of currency, which was the realisation of the idea cherished by the Imperial Government from the beginning."
--"What was the nature of the national banks?" asked one; "and have they proved quite meaningless?"
--"The law for the establishment of those banks was promulgated soon after the abolition of the feudal system. It was modelled after the national banks of America. In the course of time a large number of them came into existence in different parts of the Empire. They were private undertakings, except that they enjoyed the privilege of issuing their own notes, and were subject to Government superintendence. At first the notes were to be convertible into specie, but a modification was introduced in the law by which they could issue notes with Government bonds as security and convertible in Government paper money. Therefore the notes were in reality incontrovertible ones from the point of view of hard money. Previous to that, the Government loan bonds, amounting to one hundred and seventy million yen, were issued for the capitalisation of the feudal lords and their retainers in consideration of their feudal incomes, after the feudal system had been abolished. These bonds were used widely for establishing the banks. The banks enjoyed special privileges of issuing paper money, but in lieu of it they did good service in encouraging and stimulating local industry and commerce, so that we do not regret that those banks were once inst.i.tuted. Besides, they led to the foundation of the modern monetary system of j.a.pan. You must have observed the efficiency of the monetary system of j.a.pan during the Sino-j.a.panese war. The success of j.a.pan in great wars is due a great deal to that system. I mean to say that because we have that system, the money possessed by the public could easily be made to serve public purposes in time of emergency. Look at China: as far as individuals are concerned, there is a far greater number of people who are richer than the j.a.panese, and yet they have no sound banking system in close connection with the state. When the Chinese deposit their money, they prefer to do so with foreign banks. The consequence is that the Government cannot fall back upon the wealth of private individuals.
Neither is there much likelihood of home loans being popular in China.
Of course there may be some other reasons for this. In j.a.pan nothing but regular taxes and dues regulated by law are levied. No illegal exaction is or could be made. In that respect there exists a perfect understanding between the Government and the people, who know that if they respond to the Government call for loans their dues would be made good in future. No such confidence and usage exist in China, still less in any other part of the East."
--"You told us that in the beginning of the Imperial Government, the Imperial troops were supported at the expense of the clan governments,"
said one. "Will you tell us a little more about it?"
--"Under the Shogunate," I answered, "the feudal lords had to support their own troops, even when they were ordered to send them out somewhere. This was the duty they had to render in return for the tenure of land. Just before the battle of Fushimi, Satsuma and some other clans had their troops stationed in Kioto. Chosiu, which on all sides had come triumphantly out of the war against the attacking forces of the Shogunate, also sent some troops to Kioto; not indeed by order of the Shogun, but rather against it. These troops were all supported by their clan governments. After the battle of Fushimi, the troops of the Satcho and other clans which had become Imperialists, were ordered to the front in the North-Eastern provinces. They now fought as Imperial troops under the "brocade banners," which was the emblematic banner used solely by the Imperial forces, and much reverenced by the j.a.panese in general, because with us those who fought against those banners had been, and were at all times, universally stigmatised as disloyal subjects. The leaders of those troops were generally commissioned by the Imperial Government. The cohesion of the troops of different clans in one direction was maintained by a generalissimo, who was a high court n.o.ble, a.s.sisted by a certain number of staff officers, specially appointed by the Imperial Government. In that manner, troops of different clans fought for the cause of the Imperial Government. After the war, the troops of some of the clans were still used for the Imperial purposes, whilst others of them were all sent home. The future of the military system was, however, a great problem. Immediately after the war, the present Marshal, Marquis Yamagata, who was the leader of the Chosiu troops in the province of Echigo, visited Europe, together with Saigo the younger. On his return to j.a.pan, he advocated the adoption of the European system of universal service. He succeeded in his advocacy, and in 1870 regulations were promulgated relating to the subject, by which the system was experimentally put in force in five provinces in the vicinity of Kioto; and the system was made universal and more complete soon after the total abolition of the feudal system. It has undergone further improvement from time to time, until we have come into possession of the army which the world has come to see during the present war. I may add, that in the earlier parts of the new organisation, many French officers were engaged to instruct our men and officers in different ways, and afterwards some German officers were similarly engaged, as you know."
"Can you roughly explain," said one, "the evolution of your modes of fighting before it reached the efficiency of the present day?"
--"It has been pretty much the same as yours," I answered. "Putting aside the remote antiquity, I will briefly tell you how it has been since the commencement of the chivalric period. The sword was always our chief weapon of honour, that you know very well. Then bows and arrows were also regarded as honourable weapons, so much so, that the families which made military affairs their constant occupation were called "the houses of bows and arrows," The phrase "bow-handlers" came to signify "leaders." Thus when the famous Takeda Shingen, towards the end of the sixteenth century, spoke of Iyeyasu, his junior contemporary, as "the first bow-handler of the Tokai provinces," he meant by the phrase "first bow-handler" a general of great ability. The spear which was used by the leaders was also held in high esteem. Thus "distinction at the point of the spear" was a phrase commonly used to denote distinguished deeds of warriors. "The seven spears of Shizugatake" is a phrase constantly used by people at large. It refers to the gallant fighting of the seven famous captains of Hideyoshi at the battle of Shizugatake. They all used spears. The Naginata was a weapon with a long curved blade, with a handle a little shorter than that of a spear: it was considered a proper weapon for women and monks, and was not, therefore, looked upon as being so honourable as a spear for ordinary warriors to use. The decisive battles were necessarily hand-to-hand combats. There was even time-honoured heraldic etiquette, that when two combatants were about to fight they announced their names and positions, etc., to each other. I believe a somewhat similar custom existed in Europe also. Warriors of position considered it a disgrace to be killed or captured by "nameless common soldiers," as they were called. The hand-to-hand combat, being the chief feature of battle, it was natural that a person who had overcome an enemy of greater distinction or of higher rank was regarded as having done a correspondingly greater action; hence the custom of bringing back the enemies" heads by the combatants, and submitting them to the inspection of their leaders, came into existence, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the modes of such inspections had become an elaborate part of the heraldic ceremonies. The measure of the boxes in which the heads were put, the manner in which to place them and how to take them out, what att.i.tude to be a.s.sumed by the one who submitted the heads for inspection, and what composure the one who inspected should a.s.sume, and what glance he should give to the head--all these matters had fine and minute rules, though when taking place on the actual spot at a hasty hour, much of the formality was necessarily simplified."
--"How was it with the firearms?" asked one.
--"The use of firearms in j.a.pan," I answered, "dates back only about three and a half centuries. A Portuguese trading-vessel which arrived in 1543 at the islands of Tanegashima, off the southern coasts of Kiusiu, is reputed to have brought a few firearms, and it is said they were the first firearms introduced into j.a.pan, and that they served as a model to us for making others. Hence the name "Tanegashima" had come to signify sometimes "firearms" even down to our own time. A few years afterwards more Portuguese ships arrived at the province of Bungo, in Kiusiu, and brought with them more firearms. At the time a great deal of foreign trade was carried on in that province by Chinese and Portuguese trading-ships. Otomo, the prince of the province, even became a Christian convert, and it is said that he was one of the converted feudal lords who sent missions to Rome. Repute gives it that those firearms were brought by the missionaries, and the prince took his first fancy to them on account of their bringing such useful weapons. In no time the manufacture and use of firearms made their way into many parts of the country. It is said that at the war of Nagasino, which was fought in 1575 between Takeda on one side and Oda and Tokugawa on the other, there were three thousand firearms on the latter side, which seems to have been the war in which the largest number of firearms was used. Of course, the firearms of those days were all matchlocks, and, moreover, they were not considered arms of honour. Firearm companies were formed of the commonest soldiers, and generally used for skirmishes before the commencement of regular fighting. Cannon were also known soon after the introduction of ordinary firearms, but they do not seem to have been much in use. As a matter of fact, before much improvement had been made in the use of firearms, peace returned, and lasted over two hundred years, so that we had little more than matchlocks, which were chiefly used for shooting game. Since the latter part of the eighteenth century, when the Western ships began to appear on the Far Eastern seas, the "coast defence question" had aroused public attention, and the necessity for having strong firearms presented itself. Cannon began to be cast and ordinary guns also, by the different feudal lords. It was then that the bells in most of the temples in most provinces were confiscated, to be thrown into the furnace and recast as, cannon. Perhaps you know that the j.a.panese temple bells are many times bigger than those ordinarily used in the Western churches and temples. They have no tongues, but are sounded by a large wooden pendulum suspended close to them. The sound, therefore, is deep and sonorous, quite different from the tinkling noise of the Western bells. Those bells used to report certain hours of the day, and it was a charm, especially in country parts, in the midst of nature, to listen to their soft clang. Those chimes were favourite themes in poetry, but most localities are now deprived of that charm for the reason I have just given. As time went on, the Western guns of modern type began to make their way into the country. They were commonly known as the "bayoneted guns." They were a rude kind of gun compared with the modern ones, and, of course, not breach-loaders. In those days the making of guns was not much advanced, even in Europe itself. When the English squadron bombarded Kagoshima, the English ships fared rather badly. They had anch.o.r.ed too near the fortress, in defiance of our cannon, and one ship left behind her anchor in trying to escape the firing from the land. Our skill in casting guns and cannon was not much advanced then, and yet, as one may perceive, we were on the road to success. Looking back in general at the changes in the mode of fighting, the latter days of the Tokugawa regime was the great epoch. It was then that war recommenced, after more than two centuries of peace, and its mode had entirely changed from that of times gone by, and the notion of single combat was totally discarded. At present no one remembers bows and arrows, except perhaps for sporty and still less spears. Swords, indeed, we still value, but rather as a reminiscence of old times, and not as an effective weapon. We have made many new guns and cannon, improved on the Western models, and they are our weapons of to-day."
--"And all those reforms," said one, "in polity, in finance, in the army and navy, were effected with the perfect concord of the whole nation, without a hitch?"
"Not exactly. On broad lines the bulk of the people was with the Government and followed its lead. But we reaped all these fruits at much expense of blood and money. You could not but expect to see among the people at large some who did not exactly approve the methods pursued by the Government. To them the policy of the Government sometimes appeared too radical and hazardous, and thus one group or another showed from time to time their dissent. In those days when people were determined to a.s.sume a dissenting att.i.tude, it generally took the shape of physical force, in other word, "revolt." Chosiu itself had had two such revolts, but they had been easily crushed. Chosiu had had a civil strife before the restoration, and in consequence the elements of political differences within the clan had been almost thoroughly unified. Most of its able men devoted their services to the Imperial Government. The old territory of the clan was one of the prefectures which thoroughly submitted to the Imperial administration with perfect confidence, from the very moment when the feudal system was abolished, so much so, that the first governor despatched there by the Imperial Government was originally a retainer of the Shogunate and had fought against the Imperialists. The revolters had therefore not much sympathy from the people, nor had they any means, guns, or ammunition, to turn to their advantage against the Imperialists, and yet it shows that even the Chosiu men themselves were unable to get on altogether harmoniously. The saddest and the gravest case, however, was that of the Satsuma war, which took place in 1877. It was only after that war that the progressive administration of the new Government was placed on a firm and solid basis, and the surviving influence of the old feudal time disappeared altogether."
--"Since your explanation has reached as far as that stage," said one, "I am anxious to know something about the real cause and circ.u.mstances which occasioned that war."
--"It requires some explanation," I replied. "You already know that Satsuma was one of the few most powerful clans. Its history and organisation were different from other clans. And also, unlike Chosiu, it had not had an outbreak of civil strife within the clan before the Restoration period. Its clansmen fought many battles, but it never had any occasion to form voluntary bands as did Chosiu, and therefore it had had no opportunity of observing that the troops recruited from all cla.s.ses were equal, if not superior, to the Samurai troops. The two greatest statesmen of the clan were Saigo the elder, and Okubo, but as I have indicated already, they differed in the course of their career, as well as in their natural propensity. Saigo had been a devout Imperialist from the beginning, and there were several romantic episodes about his life. Once, in despair, he, together with an Imperialist monk, jumped into the sea. He was rescued, and had to spend years on an island in banishment. Okubo always played the part of a politician. His imperialism had not become quite marked and decisive until almost within the last few years preceding the Restoration. Naturally, therefore, there were in Satsuma some men who were more partial to Saigo and others more inclined to Okubo. There was another group of men, differing from both, namely, the partisans of the real father of the Prince of Satsuma.
The late Prince of Satsuma, the predecessor and uncle of the prince in question, had been an able and enlightened man, almost unparalleled by any of the contemporary feudal lords. He had had much leaning towards Western enlightenment. An incident is told of his strength of character in regard to the visit of a Dutchman whom he had invited to Kagoshima, the capital of Satsuma. He went to the port and rode with him side by side back to his residence. At the time an anti-foreign spirit was still strong among the Samurai, and by his riding side by side with the Dutchman he intimated that if the Satsuma Samurai were determined to attack the foreigner, they must also at the same time attack him."
--"But stop," said one, "was not the time you are speaking of before the bombardment of Kagoshima and Simonoseki? I have always understood that Satsuma and Chosiu were fierce anti-foreign clans."
--"Yes, it was before those bombardments. The Prince of Satsuma, whom I have just spoken of, died somewhere about 1860. I do not remember the exact date. It is true those two clans were anti-foreign towards the latter days of the Tokugawa regime, but it does not follow that they had always been the same. The acceleration of the idea was much due to the circ.u.mstances of the time, which require explanation. At the time of that prince, he and his government had shown much inclination towards Western intercourse. As a matter of fact, it is even said some trade was secretly carried on between Satsuma and the Dutchmen at an island in the Southern Sea. The old bottles marked Soy, which one sometimes finds in Holland, are said to have been the bottles which contained our Shoyu and to have been imported into Holland at that time. Even Chosiu was not at first so fierce an anti-foreign clan as it became later on. The Prince of Chosiu had a few medical retainers who were well versed in the Dutch language. He used to collect information about Europe from them. They even translated for him some European extracts, and compiled them into the form of a periodical pamphlet, which may be said to have been the very beginning of the j.a.panese newspapers. He was one of the few feudal lords who first introduced the system of vaccination in their territory.
He established a gla.s.s factory in his province. He also made experiments in the art of photography. All this took place before the bombardment of Simonoseki. It is, therefore, wrong to suppose that either Satsuma or Chosiu knew nothing of the West before they were bombarded. Besides, the fault which had originated the bombardment of Kagoshima lay in reality in the miscalculation which had been shown by an Anglo-Saxon.
Nevertheless, we had to pay the indemnity all the same, in addition to having been bombarded. But to return to my subject. The Prince of Satsuma, who died somewhere about 1860, as I have just told you, had no heir of his own, and was succeeded by the young son of his brother, whom he had adopted. That brother was the famous Shimazu-Saburo, who acted as regent for the young prince. For that reason, he also exercised much influence in the clan, and at one time played the part of the real ruler of Satsuma. His character, however, differed very much from that of his deceased brother. He was also a man of ability, but rather conservative, and his sympathy was not much with the sweeping reforms of j.a.pan on European lines. He sometimes held office in the new Imperial Government, but spent more of his time in retirement in Satsuma. Saigo the elder, also was not a man who cared to toil in ordinary administrative affairs, and after the cabinet crisis in 1873 on the Corean question, he retired to Kagoshima. From all this you can see that there remained in Satsuma strong conservative element, which could not be looked upon as a negligible quant.i.ty. As a matter of fact, Satsuma was the only locality where the Imperial Government found it not expedient to enforce rigorously all the new progressive measures, which it did in all other localities. Unlike Chosiu, the governor and his subordinates, though officially nominated by the central Government, were men belonging to the province and sharing those conservative sentiments, and therefore at heart not the faithful executors of the will of the central Government.
At last the province rose in revolt against the central Government in 1877.
--"To detail the matter a little further," I continued, "when Saigo retired to Kagoshima in 1873, many of his admirers and followers, especially those in the army, also resigned their offices, and retired to Satsuma, whilst many others, including Saigo the younger, namely the brother of the elder Saigo, remained in the service of the Government with Okubo. Thus Satsuma men were practically divided into two parties, many near relatives and friends having taken different sides. As time went on the distance between them became greater and greater. In Satsuma the so-called private schools were organised in different parts of the province by the chief followers of Saigo the elder, though he himself mostly indulged in hunting. Those schools in reality were utilised for gathering together young men to serve latent designs of the organisers.
It is a doubtful point of history how far Saigo himself was cognisant of those matters, but one thing is certain, that he did not exactly discourage them. When some time back Yamagata mooted the proposal for the universal service system, Saigo, who was then fulfilling an important position in the army, was persuaded to agree. Again, when the final abolition of the feudal system was decided upon, he joined the cabinet almost for that special purpose, and his weight went a long way in achieving that aim. It has always remained doubtful whether Shimazu Saburo was in accord with the scheme, but the matter was carried out by Okubo and Saigo in conjunction with influential statesmen of other clans. Hence we can see that Saigo was also in the main on the lines of progressive policy. It may, however, be presumed that, intelligent and well educated as he was in the Oriental sense, he had not any deep insight into the European civilisation. Besides, his personal character and proclivity were not exactly fit to appreciate radical changes, which to him must have appeared somewhat frivolous. Then, too, after his retirement to Kagoshima, many governmental measures were often misrepresented to him as the result of thoughtless actions of Okubo and others, and it was also possible that many personal scandalous misrepresentations were made about those in power. Hence it is to be presumed that Saigo also felt some desirability of modifying the trend of the national policy. When, therefore, his followers committed an act which was irreconcilable with the peaceful observation of the laws of the land and which soon a.s.sumed att.i.tudes of revolt, Saigo became their head without any overt action and almost as a result of the natural course of events. The revolters numbered forty-five thousand.
Individually, Saigo was the most popular man in the whole empire. The Imperial army at the time did not number much more than the revolters.
It was a most critical time for the Government, which only succeeded in suppressing the rebels after many sanguinary battles. It is well worth remembering that in the case of the Satsuma men, many near relatives and close friends had to fight one against the other, because a large number of them was on the side of the Government as well. Casual observers of the outside world may say it was barbarous that such people should fight one against the other, but such is often the case when a nation undergoes a great change. I may reiterate that it was a very critical time for j.a.pan, for if the rebels had been victorious, there was a grave fear that the progressive policy would have been seriously hindered and a military despotism would have reigned in the country. It was absolutely necessary to crush the rebels at the point of the bayonet, however great and popular Saigo might have been and however meritorious his antecedents. I for one have some consolation in saying that I have done some little service to my country by being the first to formulate and publish the views of the situation I have just spoken of, and to lead the public opinion in that direction, before any other dared to do so. I received several threatening letters at the time, but suffered no actual attack. Towards the latter part of that war I was on the battlefield, and was one of the few who a.s.sisted at the last hour in washing Saigo"s head, which had been found and dug up. The head had been buried hastily in a small ditch by one of his captains, who, when Saigo had been fatally wounded in the last battle, cut it off at his own request, while the fray was still raging, to prevent it falling into the hands of the enemy. I remember there were present Marshal Yamagata, Marshal Oyama, and General Nozu."
--"What had become of Shimazu Saburo at the time of the war?" asked another.
--"He was in Kagoshima," I answered, "but he kept aloof together with some devoted followers: the rebels also seem to have preferred to leave him alone. In the course of years he died a natural and honourable death, to the great regret of the emperor and the nation. Okubo was a.s.sa.s.sinated a few years after the war by a small group of young men who had been zealous supporters of Saigo. Taking into consideration all that I have related, you will clearly see that the present-day j.a.pan has by no means been built upon a bed of roses."
--"How does the social condition of j.a.pan stand at present?" asked another; "from the political point of view, for instance, who is the ruling cla.s.s?"
--"The social condition of j.a.pan," I answered, "is satisfactory. We have aristocracy and commons, as you know, but no cla.s.s animosity. The distance between them is not great. The commercial cla.s.s also is making its influence felt: many people who formerly belonged to a cla.s.s which despised business occupation are now engaged in business. The official positions are occupied almost all by men of ability belonging mostly to the middle cla.s.s. Almost none of the old n.o.bles occupy any official positions. You must have heard many statesmen and generals called by some t.i.tles of n.o.bility, but they are only new n.o.bility, given by the emperor for meritorious services rendered to the new Imperial Government, and therefore their modes of thought and their inclinations are not far different from that of the ordinary people at large. All the Government officials and officers of the army and navy are taken by examination without any distinction of cla.s.s or locality, and therefore young men belonging to any cla.s.s of society or to any province have equal chance. It is true that immediately after the restoration some powerful clans, especially that of Satcho, exercised more influence in political circles, but it was only natural as the results of the great change. Even at this moment there are several statesmen, who originally belonged to those clans, who exercise great influence: it is because their services to the country have been great, and consequently they enjoy greater prestige. In the army and navy, also, the majority of the generals of the higher cla.s.s are in a similar manner men who have risen from those clans. With the rest, the clannish landmarks are already almost indistinguishable; even amongst those of the highest positions the disappearance of the clannish traces must be only a question of time, for most of the personages occupying those positions are already far advanced in age. It is not, therefore, fair for some foreigners to say that the Satcho men placed themselves in the place of the Shogunate.
As a matter of fact, the Satcho statesmen themselves have introduced many important regulations for giving equal chances to every cla.s.s and province. Then, again, what is most worth noticing is perhaps the fact that all public affairs are governed by laws and regulations, and not by any arbitrary will; so much so, that in some instances people think that there are too many laws and regulations. On the whole, I approve the present system, as every one must, because it leaves no room for cla.s.s or bureaucratic oppression."
--"Can you explain," said one, "how all those psychological changes have been brought about? People in the West have always thought that the Orientals little cared for laws and regulations, their modes of government being based upon customs and traditions."
--"You may think so," I answered; "if you take the generality of the Orientals, but it is not the case with Modern j.a.pan. Even in China the matter was never exactly as you have just said. China has always been wanting in the matter of civil law. But there is one particular feature worth noticing. In the same way as the Romans were rich in the notions of civil law, the Chinese were rich in the ideas of criminal law. I do not, of course, say their system was good from the Western point of view, but in its way it had very good jurisprudence and codes, which were handed down with some necessary modifications from dynasty to dynasty. They knew the importance of separating ethics from jurisprudence for more than a dozen centuries, namely, from the Tang dynasty, when a very good criminal code, which was an improvement and enlargement upon that o the preceding dynasty, was enacted. Thus, for instance, torture is looked upon by the Occidentals simply as barbarous, but it has its _raison d"etre_ in the Chinese jurisprudence. According to that jurisprudence, no person is to be punished on mere circ.u.mstantial evidence, or on the words of witnesses, unless the prisoner himself makes confession of his guilt. The act of confession is technically called the "completion of self-acknowledgment." The object of this is to make sure that no innocent person shall ever be punished.
In some cases, if punishments be inflicted, despite the prisoner"s strong protest of innocence, on mere circ.u.mstantial evidence, or on the evidence of witnesses, great injustice may be done, as was well ill.u.s.trated in the Beck incident, which recently created so great a sensation in England. Torture is resorted to only in the case where, although the evidence is conclusive, yet the prisoner obstinately refuses to acknowledge his guilt. In other words, the application of torture is only to be resorted to in order that a prisoner whose guilt is quite evident might not be allowed to escape unpunished merely because he obstinately refuses to confess. The _raison d"etre_ of the torture, therefore, is not so bad as casual observers imagine. The blame of the method lies in its abuse. We j.a.panese once followed that jurisprudence, but have given it up because it is liable to misapplication, and we have adopted the European system of judgment by evidence, not because we believed in the infallibility of that system, but because we believed that less injustice would be committed by that system than the other. China has also been very rich in codes of governmental organisation, not indeed in the Western style of const.i.tutional laws; but still, from a literary point of view, they are all very good. Now to return to our subject. If j.a.pan were a country which had not known the usefulness of laws and regulations, and yet had begun to imitate the methods of European legislation with success as she has done, such a result might indeed be a matter of some amazement. She had, however, had much experience in making laws and regulations during the ancient Imperial regime when we had frequent intercourse with the Tang dynasty of China, and therefore, when we began to formulate new legislation on Western lines, it was only necessary to grasp the spirit as to the method, and to make some modification in form of what we had done previously. And besides, scholars well acquainted with the Chinese codes were not wanting, and their ability was ready to be utilised for new legislation."
--"It would be very interesting," said one, "if we could obtain a new book which would scientifically treat of the history of the evolution of all those great changes which have taken place. Really, we know little concerning j.a.pan."
--"That may be," I answered, "but there are several books, especially in English, from which one can gather a good deal of information on j.a.pan, though they are not always correct to our eyes. The French are the people who interest themselves the least in such matters, and yet complain that they are without any information."
--"I do not care," he replied, "for those unscientific books. I am anxious that a good, scientific, and authentic book on those points should be written at first hand by some competent j.a.panese."