which she develops her mercantile marine, upon which the sea power of a nation depends even more than upon combatant naval strength. Foreign trade and naval enterprise go hand-in-hand. Without merchant shipping a navy only becomes an unproductive incubus to a country. With her incomparable geographical position, magnificent harbours, and immense maritime resources, Japan should have no difficulty in outstripping all rivals in the race for commercial supremacy, and in securing as her lawful heritage the carrying trade of the whole Far Eastern world. The British people will watch her efforts in a spirit of sympathetic encouragement due to the natural bond which links the two Island Empires to the ocean, as well as to the material interests which have united them by a political alliance.

CHAPTER XVI

THE RULERS OF JAPAN

WHO and of what kind are the rulers of Japan, the men who first accomplished, and have since consolidated, the Revolution of 1868, who have guided the country through two great national wars, who in the short space of thirty-five years have raised Japan from the condition of barbarous and disintegrated feudalism to the dignity of a civilized Empire?

The central figure is the Emperor Mutsu-hito, the hundred and twenty-first of his line, who can trace his pedigree in unbroken continuity from the God-descended Jimmu Tennu, the first of the Mikados to establish authority over a united Japan 660 years before the birth of Christ.

Gifted with good ability and sound judgment, cultured, sensible, and hard-working, the Emperor possesses one striking characteristic of priceless value to a monarch-the power of judging other men's characters, and of choosing wise counsellors. A more talented and ambitious ruler-a Nobunaga, a Hideyoshi, or an Ieyasu-would hardly have come

through the throes of revolution with the same unanimity of approval which has marked the political changes introduced into the Government and social life of Japan since the suppression of the Shogunate and the restoration of the Imperial authority. From his earliest days-Mutsu-hito was only sixteen when he was called from his life of gilded seclusion to the real headship of the State— the Emperor has been surrounded by the best men available in Japan, and has placed unlimited trust in their ability to serve him. Some of those who first guided him through the revolutionary daysIwakura, Sanjo, Okubo—are dead; but others still remain - Ito and Okuma, Itagagi and Inouye, Yamagata and Oyama-and although, according to Japanese custom, with advancing years they make way for younger men, they yet continue in their capacity as Elder Statesmen to retain the confidence of the Emperor, who invariably consults them before giving orders to the actual office-holders charged with the duties of executive administration. Fortunately for Japan, the Emperor is only fifty-four years of age, having an advantage of ten to twenty years over the Elder Statesmen, who, as they pass away, will leave him to hand on the traditions of the Revolution to the younger generation of politicians who succeed them as his counsellors.

The Emperor of Japan reigns, but does not govern. True to the oath which he swore in 1868, he allows all things to be determined by public

discussion.' Though parliamentary government in Japan is still only nominal, and party government only in its infancy, power is not exercised by the Emperor, nor even by his Ministers, but by the oligarchy of selected Elder Statesmen who surround the throne. In this way the principle of family control is extended to the government of the State. The Emperor regards himself as the head of the family of Elder Statesmen, without whose advice he comes to no decision and takes no action. Elder Statesmen are the real rulers of Japan, the Emperor being only the titular head, and possessing no more independent authority than he used to have before the abolition of the Shogunate.

The

The most powerful of the Elder Statesmen is Marquis Ito, who has been four times Prime Minister, and is now President of the Privy Council. Sixty-five years of age, but still fresh of mind and vigorous in body, suave of manner yet strong in action, a man of wide sympathies and far-reaching ideas, and a tremendously hard worker, Hirobumi Ito has outstripped all his contemporaries, including political leaders like Counts Inouye, Okuma, and Itagagi, and military chiefs like Marshals Yamagata and Oyama, proving himself to be the survival of the fittest of the revolutionary statesmen. In Tokyo, Marquis Ito holds a position less defined, but not less powerful, than that formerly held by the Tokugawa Shoguns. No Ministry can be formed without Marquis Ito's consent, and no Cabinet can endure without his support. He is at

present Resident-General in Korea, where he keeps a firm grip on the actions of the Emperor Heui, and an equally firm grip on home politics. That he is able to carry on this dual rôle successfully, and still retain the first place near the ear of the Mikado, is a testimony to the remarkable power of this very remarkable man.

A passionate lover of peace, Marquis Ito represents the constitutional side of the revolutionary movement, as opposed to the advocacy of military developments. Himself a member of the powerful Choshu clan, he has used the influence of his high family connection for the benefit of Japan as a whole, and not for that of his own clansmen. It was he who drafted the Constitution of 1889, which sounded the death-knell of reactionary intrigue, and it was through his influence that conscription was established, putting an end to the pretensions of the Samurai to monopolize the privilege of bearing arms and of fighting for their country. The Treaty of Portsmouth was due to Marquis Ito. No one knew better than he did what risks for Japan a continuation of the war involved, and at a critical moment of the negotiations he determined, in the teeth of popular clamour, to set the highest example of patriotic statesmanship which the world has ever seen and throw the deciding weight of his authority into the scale labelled 6 Peace.'

During the course of a private visit to Marquis Ito, when the writer ventured to express his fears