very little doubt that a peace advantageous to Japan could
not have been made without trickery.

Foreigners unacquainted with Japan, knowing that there is a Diet in
which the Lower House is elected, imagine that Japan is at least as
democratic as pre-war Germany. This is a delusion. It is true that
Marquis Ito, who framed the Constitution, which was promulgated in 1889,
took Germany for his model, as the Japanese have always done in all
their Westernizing efforts, except as regards the Navy, in which Great
Britain has been copied. But there were many points in which the
Japanese Constitution differed from that of the German Empire. To begin
with, the Reichstag was elected by manhood suffrage, whereas in Japan
there is a property qualification which restricts the franchise to about
25 per cent of the adult males. This, however, is a small matter
compared to the fact that the Mikado's power is far less limited than
that of the Kaiser was. It is true that Japan does not differ from
pre-war Germany in the fact that Ministers are not responsible to the
Diet, but to the Emperor, and are responsible severally, not
collectively. The War Minister must be a General, the Minister of Marine
must be an Admiral; they take their orders, not from the Prime Minister,
but from the military and naval authorities respectively, who, of
course, are under the control of the Mikado. But in Germany the
Reichstag had the power of the purse, whereas in Japan, if the Diet
refuses to pass the Budget, the Budget of the previous year can be
applied, and when the Diet is not sitting, laws can be enacted
temporarily by Imperial decree--a provision which had no analogue in the
German Constitution.

The Constitution having been granted by the Emperor of his free grace,
it is considered impious to criticize it or to suggest any change in it,
since this would imply that His Majesty's work was not wholly perfect.
To understand the Constitution, it is necessary to read it in
conjunction with the authoritative commentary of Marquis Ito, which was
issued at the same time. Mr. Coleman very correctly summarizes the
Constitution as follows[51]:--

Article I of the Japanese Constitution provides that "The Empire
of Japan shall be reigned over and governed by a line of Emperors
unbroken for ages eternal."

"By reigned over and governed," wrote Marquis Ito in his
_Commentaries on the Constitution of Japan_, "it is meant that
the Em