ENLIGHTENED GOVERNMENT
marked change until, under circumstances which will presently be described, the country became engaged in war with China (1894–1895), when domestic squabbles were forgotten in the presence of foreign danger. An era of coalition then commenced. Both of the great political parties united to vote funds for the prosecution of the campaign, and one of them, the Liberals, subsequently supported a Cabinet under Marquis Itō, and assisted materially to carry through the Diet an extensive programme, conceived in the sequel of the war, for expanding the national armaments and carrying out various public works. The Progressists, however, remained implacable. They continued their opposition frankly for the sake of opposition and without any pretence of consideration for the nature of the measures they opposed, their steadfast contention being that the clan Government was unworthy of confidence. The Liberals, too, ultimately found themselves unable to support the Itō Ministry in certain taxation measures which, though a logical consequence of the post-bellum programme voted by them in 1896, might have injured their popularity with the Constituencies.
It now became obvious that the only hope for the political parties consisted in union. A fusion was therefore effected in 1898, the new organisation adopting the name "Constitutional Party" (Kensei-tō). By this reconstruction, effected with great difficulty and presenting few features of
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