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CHAPTER IX

CONSTITUTIONAL IMPERIALISM

Outline of Topics: The "Charter Oath" of Japan; popular agitation; promise of a national assembly; a red-letter year; the "Magna Charta" of Japan; Imperial prerogatives; personality of Emperor and Empress; Crown Prince and Princess; Imperial grandchildren; Privy Council; Imperial Cabinet; Departments of State; sundry comments; House of Peers; House of Commons; some "firsts"; rights and duties of subjects; criticisms of Japanese politics; popular rights; personnel of two Houses; cabinet responsibility; political parties; persons and principles; constitutional system satisfactory.—Bibliography.

When the Revolution, or Restoration, of 1868 ended the usurpation, and overthrew the despotism of the Shōgun, the young Emperor, Mutsuhito, restored to his ancestral rights as the actual sole ruler of the empire, took solemn oath that "a deliberative assembly should be formed; all measures be decided by public opinion; the uncivilized customs of former times should be broken through; the impartiality and justice displayed in the workings of nature be adopted as a basis of action; and that intellect and learning should be sought for throughout the world, in order to establish the foundations of the empire." In that same year an assembly of representatives of the clans was called to meet in the capital, and was given the title

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