Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/284

 and the opposition under Count Ōkuma there remained a group of men who preserved their antipathy to political parties in any form, and resented Marquis Itō's apparent desertion of his former comrades. At the head of these malcontents stood Field Marshal Marquis Yamagata, who as a statesman possessed the nation's respect, and as the Commander of Japan's forces in the war with China had established a title to his country's gratitude. Yet, even under such a leader, this middle party could scarcely have exercised much influence had it not possessed the sympathy of the House of Peers. The Upper Chamber having steadily supported the "Clan Statesmen" in their long struggle with the Lower, and now seeing the leader of those statesmen enter the camp of his old opponents, considered itself slighted, and longed for an opportunity to assert the power which Marquis Itō apparently did not credit it with possessing. It is certain, too, that Mr. Hoshi Tōru's prominent position in the Seiyu-kai added to the animosity of the Peers. They regarded the man and his methods with aversion neither wholly just nor wholly unjustifiable. The desired opportunity soon came. Marquis Itō's Cabinet, having introduced an important financial measure in the Lower House and secured its passage, found the path suddenly blocked by the Peers. Recourse to the Emperor's intervention removed the obstruction for the moment, but it became at once