ion.

THE SAMURAI'S POSITION

The above edict was promulgated on August 29, 1871; that is to say,
nearly four years after the fall of the Tokugawa. The samurai,
however, remained to be dealt with. Feudalism could not be said to
have been abolished so long as the samurai continued to be a class
apart. These men numbered four hundred thousand and with their
families represented a total of about two million souls. They were
the empire's soldiers, and in return for devoting their lives to
military service they held incomes, some for life, others hereditary,
and these emoluments aggregated two millions sterling annually. No
reformer, however radical, would have suggested the sudden
disestablishment of the samurai system or advocated the wholesale
deprivation of incomes won by their forefathers as a reward for loyal
service to the State or to the fiefs.

The Government dealt with this problem much as it had done with the
problem of the feudatories. In 1873, an Imperial decree announced
that the treasury was ready to commute the samurai's incomes on the
basis of six-years' purchase in the place of hereditary pensions and
four years for life-pensions, half of the money to be paid in cash
and the remainder in bonds carrying eight per cent, interest. This
measure was in no sense compulsory; the samurai were free to accept
or reject it. Not a few chose the former course, but a large majority
continued to wear their swords and draw their pensions as of old. The
Government, however, felt that there could be no paltering with the
situation. Shortly after the issue of the above edict a conscription
law was enacted, by which every adult male became liable for military
service, whatever his social status. Naturally, this law shocked the
samurai. The heavy diminution of their incomes hurt them less,
perhaps, than the necessity of laying aside their swords and of
giving up their traditional title to represent their country in arms.
They had imagined that service in the army and navy would be reserved
exclusively for them and their sons, whereas by the conscription law
the commonest unit of the people became equally eligible.

ENGRAVING: KIDO KOIN

FRICTION AMONG THE LEADERS OF REFORM

It could not have: been expected that this manner of treating the
samurai would obtain universal approval. Already, too, the strain of
constructive statesmanship had developed friction among the
progressist leaders who had easily marched abreast for