rogramme without disturbance. They resolved to
preserve, at the outset, the semblance of the old system, and to that
end the ex-feudatories were nominated to the post of governor in the
districts where they had formerly exercised autonomic power. The
samurai, however, were left in possession of their incomes and
official positions. It was enacted that each governor should receive
yearly one-tenth of the revenue of his former fief; that the
emoluments of the samurai should be taken in full from the same
source, and that the surplus, if any, should go to the Central
Government.

The latter was organized with seven departments, namely, Religion,
Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Army and Navy, Finance, Justice, and
Law. This Cabinet was presided over by a premier--necessarily an
Imperial prince--and by a vice-premier. Moreover, it was assisted by
a body of eighteen councillors, who comprised the leaders of reform.
Evidently, however, all this was only partial. It is true that the
fiefs (hari) had been converted into prefectures (ken), and it is
also true that the daimyo had become mere governors. But, on the
other hand, the local revenues continued to pass through the hands of
the governors, and in the same hands remained the control of the
samurai and the right of appointing and dismissing prefectural
officials. A substantial beginning had been made, however, and
presently another appeal being addressed to the ex-daimyo, they were
induced to petition for the surrender of their local autonomy. The
same plan was pursued in the case of the samurai. It was essential
that these should cease to be hereditary soldiers and officials and
should be reabsorbed into the mass of the people from whom they had
sprung originally. Following the course which had proved so
successful with the feudatories, a number of samurai were induced to
memorialize for permission to lay aside their swords and revert to
agriculture. But neither in the case of the feudatories nor in that
of the samurai were these self-sacrificing petitions carried into
immediate practice. They merely served as models.

CLAN REPRESENTATION

It may well be supposed that the ambitions of the great clans by
which this revolution has been effected proved somewhat difficult
to reconcile. The Satsuma feudatory was the first to take umbrage.
He contended that, in selecting the high officials of the new
organization, sufficient account had not been taken of the services
of his f