he Emperor of 20,000,000 yen out of the final
payment of the war indemnity lately received, than the proposal was
taken up with zeal by both of the great and utterly hostile political
parties, and immediately by both houses of the Diet. The two reasons
assigned were, "First, that the victory over China would never have
been won, nor the indemnity obtained, had not the Emperor been the
victorious, sagacious Sovereign that he is, and that, therefore, it is
only right that a portion of the indemnity should be offered to him;
secondly, that His Majesty is in need of money, the allowance granted
by the state for the maintenance of the Imperial Household being
insufficient, in view of the greatly enhanced prices of commodities
and the large donations constantly made by His Majesty for charitable
purposes."[Q] This act of the Diet appeals to the sentiment of the
people as the prosaic, business-like method of the Occident would not
do. The significance of the appropriation made by the Diet will be
better realized if it is borne in mind that the post-bellum programme
for naval and military expansion which was adopted in view of the
large indemnity (being, by the way, 50,000,000 yen), already calls for
an expenditure in excess of the indemnity. Either the grand programme
must be reduced, or new funds be raised, yet the leading political
parties have been absolutely opposed to any substantial increase of
the land tax, which seems to be the only available source of increase
even to meet the current expenses of the government, to say nothing of
the post-bellum programme. So has a burst of sentiment buried all
prudential considerations. This is a species of loyalty that
Westerners find hard to appreciate. To them it would seem that the
first manifestation of loyalty would be to provide the Emperor's
Cabinet and executive officers with the necessary funds for current
expenses; that the second would be to give the Emperor an allowance
sufficient to meet his actual needs, and the third,--if the funds held
out,--to make him a magnificent gift. This sentimental method of
loyalty to the Emperor, however, is matched by many details of common
life. A sentimental parting gift or speech will often be counted as
more friendly than thoroughly business-like relations. The prosaic
Occidental discounts all sentiment that has not first satisfied the
demands of business and justice. Such a standard, however, seems to be
repugnant to the average Japane