As already stated, Prince Konoye is jot heart a liberal. Tt is a curious thing that nearly all of the descen-Jdants of the old Court nobility possess this liberal outlook and view. point in Japan. The Kuge, as the [Court nobility of pre-Meiji Japan were known, were a small group pablo families directly surrounding Jand serving the emperor in his secluded Court at Kyoto, With the fil of the Tokugawa Shogunate and ithe restoration of the Emperor to temporal sovereignty in 1867-68, the HKuge sought to become the guiding Jpower in the State under the Throne. They failed in this, the chief in-Jtuence passing Into the hands of the Jyoung samurai who had actually brought about the restoration, they being such men as Prince Ito, Prince }Yamagata, Marquis Inouye and others who were later made Genro or near~
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.