CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES IN JAPAN.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 394, 16 September 1875, Page 3

CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES IN JAPAN.

A Yokahama correspondent of the Times , writing on April 30th, gives the following account of the changes which have been taking place in the Government of Japan : A great deal of speculation has been afloat for some time regarding a meeting, held at Osaka six weeks back, of several of the present and of the ex-members of the Council of State. It was well known that a strong desire existed among certain members of the Cabinet to procure the recall to office of two at least of the members who had resigned their portfolios while the discussions were pending which ultimately led to the Formosa Expedition. The meeting at Osaka had this for its chief object, and on the return of the Ministers who attended it, it was announced that Kido and Itagaki had been prevailed on to rejoin their former colleagues. Both had been opposed to the steps which led to the quarrel with China. Both were strong and trusted men ; and it was hoped that not only would the equilibrium in the Cabinet be restored, but that certain measures would be passed calculated to enlarge the basis on which the Government of the country reposed. Itagaki was known to be in favor of some such measure, for the principal cause of his resignation was a proposal to assemble all the Provincial Governors —men elected and paid by the State—and to constitute of them a House of Assembly, as a response to the demands of the people for representative institutions, or something equivalent to them. It is said, and I think with reason, that Itagaki has of late somewhat modified the views he held in regard to a really popular form of Government; and, if so, it is well, for the Japanese are in no sense fit for what we understand by the expression popular institutions. But, like all the reformers here, he is partly affected by the undoubted pressure caused by the expansion of the national mind, and is partly desirous of conforming as far as may be practicable, to those forms of government under which the’ civilization of the Western nations has been developed. There is just at present a tendency to imagine that a modification of the old form of government will produce that spirit which in Europe was the cause, not the result, of such modification, and hence we see the native newspapers teeming with articles the refrain of which is that “ a House of Commons is an excellent thing.” Be the views of the lesser or leading men, however, what they may, a proclamation from the Mikado to the nation was issued on the 14th inst., which runs as follows ; On ascending the Imperial Throne we assembled the nobles and high officials of our realm, and took oath before the gods to maintain the five principles, to govern in harmony with public opinion, and to protect the rights of our people. “ Assisted by the sacred memory of the glorious line of our holy ancestors and by the union of our subjects, we have attained a slight measure of peace and tranquility.

“ So short a time, however, has elapsed since the late Restoration, that many essential reforms still remain to be effected in the administration of the affairs of the Empire. “It is our desius not to restrict ourselves to the maintenance, of the five principles which we swore to preserve, but to go still further and enlarge the circle of domestic reforms. “With this view we now establish the Gen-ro in to enact laws for the Empire, and the Dai shin in to consolidate the judicial authority of the Courts. By also assembling representatives from the various provinces of the Empire, the public mind will best he known and the public interest best consulted, and in this manner the wisest system of administration will be determined.

We hope by these means to secure the happiness of our subjects and our own. And while they must necessarily abandon many of their former customs, yet must they not, on the other hand, yield too impulsively to a rash desire for reform.

“ We desire to make you acquainted with our wishes, and to obtain your hearty cooperation in giving effect to them.”

At the foot of this proclamation was a notification from the Prime Minister to the effect that the Sa-in and Ya-in were abolished, and the two Chambers named in the proclamation were founded. The Ka-in and Ya-in were special departments of the Government, the functions of which have never been thoroughly understood by foreigners. But speaking generally, all new suggestions touching the advancement or the welfare of the Government were submitted to them, and pronounced upon before being sent on to the Council of Slate, or rejected at once without further reference. Their working was very mysterious, and, on the whole, unsatisfactory, and their abolition after a comparatively short existence proves them to have been uusuited to the exigencies they were instituted to meet.

The new institutions are explained by intelligent Japanese officials as constituting an appioach to constitutional government, the nearest equivalent for which in their language is “ the founding'of laws,” The Gen-ro-in will consist of a body of men of mature age and official experience, including some who may be remarkable outside the official circle for general acquirement and political knowledge. These will constitute a deliberative Assembly, and discuss matters affecting the welfare of the btate, sending their resolutions up to the Council of State, whence, if approved, they will be sent down to the Dai-shin-iii, to be by them thrown into the forms of law. This is the best explanation at present obtainable of the new institutions, though I give it under the fullest reserve, and may have to modify it after further investigation. As the members of both the Chambers—and it is important not to allow the idea of representative institutions to cling to our use of these words in this ease—are elected by the Government, it is difficult to see with what propriety the expression “constitutional form of government” is used by Japanese in explaining the new creations. But I am still inclined to believe that they are something more than mere forms, though your readers must be careful not to infer the establishment in Japan of anything answering to representative institutions. I should deem it necessary to offer an apology for so meagre and unsatisfactory an explanation of what will probably prove an important and organic change in the form of government of this country, but I am confident that, at this moment, there is not a foreigner in Japan who could explain them satisfactorily. The lapse of another fortnight may enable me to pronounce more definitely on this subject.