Page:The constitutional development of Japan, 1853-1881 (IA constitutionalde00iyenrich).pdf/42

38 2.Let them abandon their titles, and under the name of Kuazoku (persons of honor) receive such small properties as may suffice for their wants.

3.Let the officers of the clans abandoning that title call themselves officers of the Emperor, receiving property equal to that which they have hitherto held. Let these three important measures be adopted forthwith, that the empire may be raised on a basis imperishable for ages 2nd year of Meiji (1869).

(Signed)."

But politics is not an easy game — a game which a pedant or a sentimental scholar or an orator can leisurely play. It has to deal with passions, ambitions, and selfish interests of men, as well as with the moral and intellectual consciousness of the people. Tongue and pen wield, undoubtedly, a great influence in shaping the thought of the nation and impressing them with the importance of any political measure. But the tongue is as sounding brass and the pen as useless steel unless they are backed by force and money. Even in such a country as England, where tongue and pen seem to reign supreme, a prime minister before he forms his cabinet has to be closeted for hours with Mr. Rothschild. Fortunately this important measure of abolishing feudalism, which a few patriots had secretly plotted and which the scholars had noised abroad, was taken up first by the most powerful and wealthy Daimios of the country.

In the following noted memorial, after reviewing the political history of Japan during the past few hundred years, these Daimios said: "Now the great Government has been newly restored and the Emperor himself undertakes the direction of affairs. This is, indeed, a rare and mighty event. We have the name (of an Imperial Government), we must also have the fact. Our first duty is to illustrate our faithfulness and to prove our loyalty. When the line of