large
cities and towns, and their number increased constantly. Missionaries
and Christian schools had no inconsiderable influence in changing the
ideas of the people.

Such, in brief, have been the changes in the industrial, social and
religious condition of Japan from 1868 to 1881. After this study we
shall not much wonder at the remarkable political change of Japan
during the same period, which I shall endeavor to describe in the next
chapter.

[Footnote 1: The American Commonwealth, Bryce, Vol. I., p. 7.]

[Footnote 2: A Survey of Financial Policy during Thirteen Years
(1868-1880), by Count Okuma.]

[Footnotes 3, 4, 5: Count Okuma's pamphlet.]

[Footnote 6: Consular Report of the U.S., No. 25, p. 182.]

CHAPTER V.

PROGRESS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL MOVEMENT FROM THE ABOLITION OF
FEUDALISM TO THE PROCLAMATION OF OCTOBER 12, 1881.

The leaders of the Restoration were of an entirely different type from
the court nobles of former days. They were, with a few exceptions,
men of humble origin. They had raised themselves from obscurity to the
highest places of the state by sheer force of native ability. They had
studied much and travelled far. Their experiences were diverse; they
had seen almost every phase of society. If they were now drinking the
cup of glory, most of them had also tasted the bitterness of exile,
imprisonment, and fear of death. Patriotic, sagacious, and daring,
they combined the rare qualities of magnanimity and urbanity. If
they looked with indifference upon private morality, they were keenly
sensitive to the feeling of honor and to public morals. If they made
mistakes and did not escape the charge of inconsistency in their
policy, these venial faults were, for the most part, due to the
rapidly changing conditions of the country. No other set of statesmen
of Japan or of any other country, ancient or modern, have witnessed
within their lifetime so many social and political transformations.
They saw the days when feudalism flourished--the grandeur of its
rulers, its antique chivalry, its stately etiquette, its ceremonial
costumes, its codes of honor, its rigid social order, formal
politeness, and measured courtesies. They also saw the days when
all these were swept away and replaced by the simplicity and stir of
modern life. They accordingly "have had to cast away every tradition,
every habit, and every principle and mode of action with which even
the youngest of them had to begin officia