Out of the host of re forward, before and event, to explain the resignation of Baron Tanaka's Cabinet, we may be safe in assuming that the one which clinched matte was the part played by the Japanese army in Manchuria at the time of Chang Tso-lin's assassination and the mysterious permission guard the railway in pi Japanese sentries grievances contributed, but scarcely would have alone brought about the resignation, The hot controversy over the wording of the Kellogg Pact and its apparent violation of the Emperor's constitutional preronatives was really disposed of by the Privy Council at its meeting of June 26 and by Count Uchida's subsequent resignation. And the question of gold export and the Government's domestic policy generally were no novelty. These troubles might have been solved by a reconstruction of the Cabinet, which was generally anticipated on June 28, The next day, however, it became Known that in consequence of the report on "the Mukden incident," that is, the blowing up. of Chang Tsodin, three high Japanese officers in Manchuria were likely to be punished, and that "General Shirakawa, the Minir'-r of War, was protesting stro_.y. What happened exactly during the next two days-we' shall probably never know, any more than we may know what the report on "the Mukden incident" said. But while the three officers first mentioned are apparently spared, the command der of the Japanese garrison in the Kuantung Leased Territory goes, and the Cabinet goes with him.
Baron Tanaka took office on April 21, 1927, succeeding the unpopular Kenseikai administration of Mr. Wakatsuki, whose demise had been confidently predicted, almost weekly, for several months before it fell. The choice of the new Premier was generally well received, He had made a successful Governor-General of Korea and was looked upon as aman who thought clearly, knew his own mind and capable of carrying his decisions into effect, In his inaugural i: festo Baron Tanaka said: The chief aim of my Government is to clear up the atmosphere of unrest prevailing in our ecoramic circles, invigorate our national spirit and, on the basis of fundamental policy of industrialization of the country, tu effect the renovation of administrative methods." Then followed benevolent references to education, agriculture, social reform and the judiciary. Abroad, it was commonly expected that Baron Tanaka would take strong line towards China, But the manifesto' was noticeably mild in this respect. It was and always had been Japan's wish.to help the Chinese to realize thie ambitions. "b order and appropriate m¢ and the new Premier was "convinced that ft is not the true desire of the Chinese people to disregard such considerations and leave commetion in China to grow more intense." It is worth recalling that when these words were written the tide of Nationalism in China had begun visibly to and since the British Foreien aad turn against the Communists;
Office seemed determined to gis away everything that it had to give and had shown, before the then recent Communist outburst in Nanking, that it would accept any provocation unrequited, tt would have been asking too much to expect Japan to stand out alone against the general policy of conciliation. Yet only a few days before he beat Premier, Baron Tanaka had denounced the Wakatsuki Cabine: for its indifference to Soviet doings in this country, in which, he said, the Government "appar: ently took no more interest than they would in a fire blazing across the river." He repeated, early in office, that "Japan cannot remain indifferent to what goes on in China." And by sending troops to Japan in the summer of 1927 and again last year, he showed that he did not hesitate to act where decisive action was necessary. Yet there can be little doubt that the boycott provoked by the secon despatch of troops had much do with the growing unpopularity of the Tanaka Cabinet m recent months. Osaka, we are told, is delighted at its departure business could never have revi To the onlooker it must appear that Baron Tanaka has been to some extent the victim of circumstances, the force of which he and his colleagues had not gauged, and that no other Pre~ mier is likely to be more fortunate, until the present struggle between the old order and the new has resolved itself into something stable. Itisa curious paradox and proof of the Japanese people's intense feeling wards the Throne that the suggestion that the wording of the Kellogg Pact infringed the Bmperor's exclusive right to represent the nation should. hat roused all classes alike. Yet the Emperor exercised this to push the nation into som predicament for w it wae
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.