18th May. Tue telegram from Japan published by us yesterday morning, announcing the defeat of the government on the ques tion of interference with the recent elections, and the prorogation of the Diet for a week, was not entirely unexpected. The last Diet was dissolved because the government were in a rity. In the elections which followed the government, as we reported at the time, exerted themselves everywhere, and spent, it is alleged, a considerable sum of money, to get a majority returned, but have again been unsuccessful. If government by party had been frankly conceded when the country was given representative institutions, the government would have accepted its defeat, resigned, and recommended the Emperor to form a new Cabinet from the ranks of the Opposition; but the system at present in vogue is that the Ministers are the servants of the Emperor, responsible only to him, and not liable to dismissal by the Diet. The majority in the Diet wants party government and will stop public business until its want gratified: the Diet has accordingly been prorogued for a week to enable the Cabinet to decide what course to adopt. We leam from the Japan papers that it is not impossible that the government, will take the heroic step of dissolving the Diet again, and holding fresh elections
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.