Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/232

 with a country embracing Western civilisation, and refused even to receive a Japanese embassy.

Naturally such conduct roused deep umbrage in Japan. It constituted a verdict that whereas the old Japan had been entitled to the respect and homage of neighbouring Powers, the new might be treated with contumely.

At the time when this defiance was flung in Japan's teeth, some friction had been developed among the leaders of national reform. Of the fifty-five men whose united efforts had compassed the fall of the Shogunate, five stood conspicuous above their colleagues. They were Iwakura and Sanjo, Court nobles; Saigo and Okubo, samurai, of Satsuma; and Kido, a samurai of Chōshiu. In the second rank came many men of great gifts, whose youth alone disqualified them for prominence,—Ito, the constructive statesman of the Meiji era, who inspired nearly all the important measures of the time, though he did not at first openly figure as their originator; Inouye, who never lacked a resource, was never dismayed by an obstacle, nor ever swerved from the dictates of loyalty; Okuma, a politician of the most subtle, versatile, and vigorous intellect; Itagaki, the Rousseau of his era, and a score of others called to the surface by the extraordinary circumstances with which they had to deal. But the five first mentioned were the captains; the rest, only lieutenants. Among the five, four were sincere reformers; not free,