It is impossible to sy what the policy of the House will be in view of this. Much twaddle has been written about it,' particularly in the foreign proas of the country, but to some extent that was to be expected. One or two of the vernacular journals have alrendy had outepokan articles reger the message, and one Tokio writer goes far aa to remind his readers that it will not do to receive it with feelings of awe alone.
The reply requires careful consideration and study in the light of present difficulties, which demand attention and must be st mounted none the less because the peror himself has spoken. It is a pity the efforts of the many to gain for themselves and their fellows deliverance from the domination of two or three particular clans should not receive help instead of discouragement from men of the race which has again and again fought the world's
There is, I think, no doubt that the reply is battles for individual rights and liberty. a triumph for the Government, and the whole, unnumbered, army of officials; but it does not necessarily follow that the troubled waters will now subside as though touched by some magician's wand, That of course is the hope and desire of Count Ito and his colleagues, who by themselves, and through the medium of servants in the vernacular and foreign press, harp constantly and all too efficaciously on the utter unfitness of the country for party guvernment, It is not party government they fear, 80 much as THE ACTION OF THE MILITARY PARTY, which would be driven to recklessness by the loss of power. It is not that party government as party government would invite disorder and chaos, but that the leaders know that by their side and associated with them in the work of ruling the realm are resolute men who would not hesitate to attempt to regain by force what they lost by the Constitution. The men who in therselv thole clansmen accomplished the work of 1868, and gave substance and power to the Throne, did not by odd concourse ut fortuitous circumstance confine the executive control of the belligerent forces of the State to men of special clans, This the country. clearly perceives, and it is this which gives bitterness and vitality to the obvious wi ingness of the Lower House to fasten discredit upon the Navy. There has been, so far as I have been able to observe, no attempt made to conceal the fact that the supplies for the construction of more men-of-war were refused, not because the need of additional warships was ridiculed, but because neither the House nor the count trusts the present Navy. That the tion of the government in regard to Navy has been an unenviable one in many ways, the case of the Ravenna-Chishima Kan collision may show to those who have eyes to see and are free to use them, But unfortunately, there are few now-a-days who believe with Sir Rutherford Alcock that truth is far lest dangerous, to those who have the courage to utter it, than misapprehension or misrepresentation,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.