Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/119

 the shoulders of the samurai to those of the commoner was one of the features of the Tokugawa epoch.

It is not to be inferred, however, that an official force of police did not exist. There were duly organised bands of police in every city and fief. Constables had their regular beats, and in each ward there stood a small wooden building for confining turbulent characters, pending instructions from an inspector who made tours at set intervals. The system pursued in the case of a person found lying drunk or sick on the road was to leave him undisturbed, treating him however with due care, unless he could indicate his place of residence, when the police had to send for assistance to remove him. When he had lain for a day and a night without recovering, the fact must be reported. To be "drunk and incapable" did not constitute an offence in those days.

The Government evinced its sense of duty towards the people by periodically sending officials from Yedo to the provinces to see whether the inhabitants suffered from impositions, whether merchants arbitrarily raised the price of goods, whether any form of punishment not sanctioned by law was in force, and, in general, whether the condition of the commoners was satisfactory. Many abuses escaped these inspectors, and their eyes were closed to others by bribes, but they did some good. Nor can it be truly said of the samurai, as several critics have said, that the lower