gun's territories), many irregularities may exist which may dissatisfy the people, and which I therefore greatly deplore. Hence I intend to establish a Kogijio and to accept the opinion of the majority. Any one, therefore, who has an opinion to express may do so at that place and be free of apprehension."[1]
But this attempt of the Shogun to establish a sort of Parliament came to an end with his fall. This idea, however, was transmitted through the Shogunate officials to the government of the Restoration. In fact, this idea of consulting public opinion was, as I have repeatedly said, in the air. The leaders of the new government all felt, as one of them said to Messrs. F. O. Adams and Ernest Satow, that "the only way to allay the jealousies hitherto existing between several of the most powerful clans, and to ensure a solid and lasting union of conflicting interests, was to search for the nearest approach to an ideal constitution among those of Western countries . . . that the opinion of the majority was the only criterion of a public measure."[2]
Sir Harry Parkes was right when he told the Earl of Clarendon that "the establishment of such an institution (the Kogisho) formed one of the first objects of the promoters of the recent revolution."[3]
The Kogisho was opened on the 18th of April, 1869,[4] and the following message[5] from the throne was then delivered:
"Being on the point of visiting our eastern capital, we have convened the nobles of our court and the various princes in order to consult them upon the means of establishing the foundations of peaceful government. The laws and institutions are the basis of government. The petitions
- ↑ American Executive Document, Diplomatic Correspondence, Vol. I., 1868–69, p. 687, 3d Sess. 40th Cong.
- ↑ F. O. Adams' History of Japan, Vol. II., p. 128.
- ↑ English State Papers, Vol. LXX., 1870, p. 9.
- ↑ 29th of the 2d month in the second year of Meiji, according to the old calendar.
- ↑ Translation is given in English State Papers, Vol. LXX., 1871, p. 12.
