ese entertains this
transcendental opinion nor, indeed, do I find that the Emperor himself
has of late years put forward any such pretensions. For example, in
the Imperial proclamation on the Constitution of the Empire on
February 11, 1889, the Emperor declared that he had "by virtue of the
glories of our ancestors ascended the Throne of a lineal succession
unbroken for _ages eternal_." Whereas in the Imperial Rescript
declaring war against China on August 1, 1894, he contented himself
with asserting that he was "seated on a Throne occupied by the same
dynasty from _time immemorial_." The italics are mine, and the
difference in the pretensions which I desire to emphasise is certainly
remarkable.

When granting a Constitution the Emperor, as has been and probably
will be the custom of all monarchs so acting, declared that the
legislative power belonged to him but that he intended to exercise it
with the consent of the Imperial Diet. The convocation of the Diet
belongs exclusively to the Emperor. It has no power to meet without
his authority, and if it did so meet its acts and its actions would be
null and void. In this respect the Diet is on precisely the same basis
as the English Parliament. According to the Constitution the Emperor,
when the Diet is not sitting, can issue Imperial ordinances which
shall have the effect of law so long as they do not contravene any
existing law. The article authorising these ordinances defines that
they shall only be promulgated in consequence of an urgent necessity
to maintain public safety or to avert public calamities, and all such
ordinances must be laid before the Diet at its next sitting, and in
the event of the same not being approved they become null and void.

To my mind, one of the most interesting portions of the Constitution
is that which lays down succinctly and tersely the rights and duties
of Japanese subjects. In this section there are contained within about
fifty lines the declaration of innumerable rights for which mankind in
various parts of the world during many hundreds of years fought and
bled and endured much suffering. Just let me mention a few of them. No
Japanese subject shall be arrested, detained, tried or punished unless
according to law. Except as provided by law the house of no Japanese
subject shall be entered or searched without his consent. Except in
the cases provided by law, the secrecy of the letters of every
Japanese subject shall remain inviolate.