Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/229

 did so, though from time immemorial they had cherished the sword as the mark, of a gentleman, the most precious possession of a warrior, and the one outward evidence that distinguished their order from common bread-earners. Deprived of their military employment, invited to surrender more than one-half of the income attached to it, and knowing themselves unprepared alike by education and by tradition to win a livelihood in any calling save that of arms, they nevertheless bowed their heads quietly to these sharp reverses of fortune at the invitation of a government which they had helped to establish. It was assuredly a striking example of the fortitude and resignation which the creed of the samurai required him to display in the presence of adversity. But the problem was only partially solved. Those that rejected the Government's commutation scheme and continued to wear their swords greatly outnumbered those that accepted the former and laid aside the latter.

Differences of opinion had in the mean while begun to impair the collective competence of the leaders of progress themselves. Coalitions formed for destructive purposes often prove unable to support the strain of constructive effort. Some lack of cohesion could scarcely fail to develop itself among the Japanese reformers. Young men without any experience of State affairs or any special education to fit them for responsible posts, they were suddenly required to undertake the duty not only