Page:Political Condition of Japan.djvu/11

 being informed of the affair sent soldiers trained in European discipline and provided with the best European arms. They amounted to about sixty thousand men. It must be said, considering all the disadvantages against which Saigo and his followers had to contend, that they proved themselves men of military genius. Again and again the government army was defeated, but at last Saigo’s ammunition was exhausted; he fought his last battle in Siroyama, in his native province, and died on the field. This was in the tenth year of Meiji or A. D. 1877. Okubo had now undisputed power in the government of Japan, but he did not enjoy his supreme position much longer. In 1878 he was assassinated by Simada Ichiro in Tokio. This threw the Japanese Cabinet in a state of chaos. While Okubo lived, he had unlimited sway over his colleagues; that is, there was a wide gulf between him and other Ministers both in personal authority and in strength of will. All the other Ministers were mere secretaries, or they might be better described as servants of his will. Now this absolute and central head was suddenly cut off. There was no leader who could give united action to the schemes of the government. This weak government was carried on by conferences and negotiations between different Ministers. The result was that there were no settled principles in its policy. Everything was done by a temporary compromise between the different Ministers. Such was and still is the state of government of Japan.

Meanwhile the popular movement was going on side by side with the political changes in the government. About the year 1874, several newspapers sprang up and began to discuss political and social questions in Japan. Students returned from Europe and America and began to form societies. I may mention one society in particular which gave many social and scientific benefits to Japan, until reduced to nothing through government interference. It was called Kioson Doshu, or “the society for social intercourse.” It was originally formed by some Japanese who were studying in London in 1873. Some of the members of this society, having returned to Japan in 1874, formed a society similar to that which was established in