cannot but be proportionately great.  As to the other Ministers of State, they are severally held responsible for the matters within their respective competency; there is no joint responsibility among them in regard to such matters.  For, the Minister President and the other Ministers of State, being alike personally appointed by the Emperor, the proceedings of each one of them are, in every respect, controlled by the will of the Emperor, and the Minister President himself has no power of control over the posts occupied by other Ministers, while the latter ought not to be dependent upon the former.  In some countries, the Cabinet is regarded as constituting a corporate body, and the Ministers are not held to take part in the conduct of the Government each one in an individual capacity, but joint responsibility is the rule.  The evil of such a system is that the power of party combination will ultimately overrule the supreme power of the Sovereign.  Such a state of things can never be approved of according to our Constitution.”

In spite of the small powers of the Diet, it succeeded, in the first four years of its existence (1890-94), in causing some annoyance to the Government.  Until 1894, the policy of Japan was largely controlled by Marquis Ito, who was opposed to militarism and Chauvinism.  The statesmen of the first half of the Meiji era were concerned mainly with introducing modern education and modern social organization; they wished to preserve Japanese independence vis-a-vis the Western Powers, but did not aim, for the time being, at imperialist expansion on their own account.  Ito represented this older school of Restoration statesmen.  Their ideas of statecraft were in the main derived from the Germany of the ’eighties, which was kept by Bismarck from undue adventurousness.  But when the Diet proved difficult to manage, they reverted to an earlier phase of Bismarck’s career for an example to imitate.  The Prussian Landtag (incredible as it may seem) was vigorously obstreperous at the time when Bismarck first rose to power, but he tamed it by glutting the nation with military glory in the wars against Austria and France.  Similarly, in 1894, the Japanese Government embarked on war against China, and instantly secured the enthusiastic support of the hitherto rebellious Diet.  From that day to this, the Japanese Government has never been vigorously opposed except for its good deeds (such as the Treaty of Portsmouth); and it has atoned for these by abundant international crimes, which the nation has always applauded to the echo.  Marquis Ito was responsible for the outbreak of war in 1894.  He was afterwards again opposed to the new policy of predatory war, but was powerless to prevent it.[52] His opposition, however, was tiresome, until at last he was murdered in Korea.