Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/286

 evident that during their lifetime the principle of parliamentary cabinets will never be openly acknowledged as constitutional. But it is equally evident that that principle has already received practical recognition. When the overshadowing figures of the great Restoration leaders shall have passed from the scene, the logic of facts will become too strong for those that inherit their doctrine.

The most unfortunate result of parliamentary government in Japan during the first ten years of trial was an increase of corrupt practices. Perhaps it would be juster to say that the Japanese, in common with other peoples, did not escape demoralisation by the opportunities incidental to a representative system. Members of the Diet sold their votes to the Government and their influence to promoters of speculative undertakings, and society in general descended to a lower moral plane. One vehement and sanguinary protest against this temporary decadence was made by Iba Sōtaro. He repaired to the office of the Tōkyō municipality and stabbed to death Mr. Hoshi Tōru, the reputed promoter of corrupt practices, as he sat among his fellow-councillors. Iba was fifty years of age. He had achieved a reputable and useful career in various important positions. Leaving a comfortable home, a wife and children whom he loved, and duties which he discharged with credit and profit, he paid farewell visits to his friends, wrote to the press a statement of reasons, and then calmly