ry province shall obtain this liberty, then, and not
till then, can we expect to witness the true independence of the
nation; then the military, the farming, the mechanical, and mercantile
classes will not live in hostility to each other; then peace will
reign throughout the land, and all men will be respected according to
their conduct and real character."[6]

The extent of the influence exercised with pen and tongue by these
teachers upon the nation showed that the reign of sword and brutal
force was over and the day of peace and reason had dawned. The
press has at last become a power. The increase during that period of
publications, both original and translations, and of newspapers,
both in their number and circulation, is marvellous. To give an
illustration, the number of newspapers transmitted in the mails
increased from 514,610 in the year 1873 to 2,629,648 in the year
1874--an increase of 411 per cent in one year--"a fact which speaks
volumes for the progress of civilization."[7]

These newspapers were soon to become the organs of political parties
which were in the process of formation. The most prominent among these
political societies was the _Ri-shi-sha_, which finally developed
into the present Liberal party. At the head of this party was Count
Itagaki, a man of noble character and of marked ability, who had
rendered many useful services to the country in the time of the
Restoration and had for some years been a member of the cabinet, but
who in 1875 resigned his office and became "the man of the people." He
and his party contributed greatly to the development of constitutional
ideas. Whatever may be said as to the extreme radicalism and childish
freaks of the rude elements of this party, the presence of its sober
members, who sincerely longed to see the adoption of a constitutional
form of government and used only proper and peaceful means for the
furtherance of their aim, and boldly and frankly told what they deemed
the defects of the government; the presence of such a party in the
country, whose masses knew nothing but slavish obedience to every
act of the government, was certainly a source of great benefit to the
nation at large.

In 1873, Count Itagaki with his friends had sent in a memorial to the
government praying for the establishment of a representative assembly,
but they had not been heeded by the government. In July, 1877, Count
Itagaki with his Ri-shi-sha again addressed a memorial to the Emp