ut
it is very noticeable that the momentary question evoked no protests.
It was to the loss of their swords that a number of samurai objected
strenuously. Some scores of them, wearing old-fashioned armour and
equipped with hereditary weapons, attacked a castle, killed or
wounded three hundred of the garrison, and then died by their own
hands. Here and there throughout the empire a few equally vain
protests were raised, and finally the Satsuma samurai took the field.

THE SATSUMA REBELLION

This insurrection in the south severely taxed the resources of the
Central Government. The Satsuma samurai were led by Saigo Takamori,
but it has always been claimed for him that he undertook the command,
not for the purpose of overthrowing the Meiji Government, but in the
hope of restraining his followers. Ultimately, however, he seems to
have been swept away by the tide of their enthusiasm. The insurgents
numbered some forty thousand; they all belonged to the samurai class,
were fully trained in Occidental tactics, and were equipped with
rifles and field-guns. Their avowed purpose was to restore the
military class to its old position, and to insure to it all the posts
in the army and the navy.

Fighting began on January 29, 1877, and ended on September 24th of
the same year. All the rebel leaders fell in battle or died by their
own hands. During these eight months of warfare, the Government put
sixty-six thousand men into the field, and the casualties on both
sides totalled thirty-five thousand, or thirty-three per cent, of the
whole. Apart from the great issue directly at stake, namely, whether
Japan should have a permanent military class, a secondary problem of
much interest found a solution in the result. It was the problem
whether an army of conscripts, supposed to be lacking in the fighting
instinct and believed to be incapable of standing up to do battle
with the samurai, could hold its own against the flower of the bushi,
as the Satsuma men undoubtedly were. There really never was any
substantial reason for doubt about such a subject. The samurai were
not racially distinct from the bulk of the nation. They had
originally been mere farmers, possessing no special military
aptitude. Nevertheless, among all the reforms introduced during the
Meiji era, none was counted so hazardous as the substitution of a
conscript army for the nation's traditional soldiers. The Satsuma
rebellion disposed finally of the question.

ENGRAVING