ountry, one finds men
belonging to this class who are well educated and have risen to
positions of much responsibility and power, and are able to hold their
own, and think for themselves and for their brethren. From an article in
the "T[=o]ky[=o] Mail," entitled "A Memorialist of the Latter Days of the
Tokugawa Government," I quote passages which show the thoughts of one of
the heimin upon the condition of his own class about the year 1850. It
is from a petition sent to the Sh[=o]gun by the head-man of the village of
Ogushi.

[39] The laws against the _eta_ and _hinin_, making of them a distinct,
unclean class, and forbidding their intermarriage with any of the higher
classes, have recently been abolished. There is now no rank distinction
of any practical value, except that between noble and common people.
Heimin and samurai are now indiscriminately mingled.

The first point in the petition is, that there is a growing tendency to
luxury among the military and official classes. "It is useless to issue
orders commanding peasants and others to be frugal and industrious, when
those in power, whose duty it is to show a good example to the people,
are themselves steeped in luxury and idleness." He ventures to reproach
the Sh[=o]guns themselves by pointing to the extravagance with which they
have decorated the mausoleums at Nikk[=o] and elsewhere. "Is this," he
asks, "in keeping with the intentions of the glorious founder of your
dynasty? Look at the shrines in Ise and elsewhere, and at the sepulchres
of the Emperors of successive ages. Is gold or silver used in decorating
them?" He then turns to the vassals of the Sh[=o]gun, and charges them
with being tyrannical, rapacious, and low-minded. "Samurai," he
continues,--"samurai are finely attired, but how contemptible they look
in the eyes of those peasants who know how to be contented with what
they have!"

Further on in the same memorial, he points out what he regards as a
grave mistake in the policy of the Sh[=o]gun. A decree had just been
issued prohibiting the peasantry from exercising themselves with
sword-play, and from wearing swords. Of this he says: "Perhaps this
decree may have been issued on the supposition that Japan is naturally
impregnable and defended on all sides. But when she receives insult from
a foreign country, it may become necessary to call on the militia. And
who knows that men of extraordinary military genius, like Toyotomi,[40]
will not again appear