Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-09
HER
They Are Now the Real
Rulers Of Japan.
ARE FIVE IN NUMBER
EVEN THE PREMIER COMES TO
THEM FOR ORDERS.
Have No Recognized Official Position
How These Men Rose
to Fame.
ARE FIVE IN NUMBER

Written for The Evening Star by Bassett Staines
Japan plays at being a modern constitu-
tionaI state, but her cabinets, her parlia-
ments, her political discords are all on the
surface. In time of crisis, such as the pres
ent. all real power reposes in the emperor.
supported by his "Genro''-which is freely
translated as ''elder statesmen but really
means the wisest and most thoroughly
tested statesmen. These men have no rec
ognized official position, but they simply
push the official ministry aside and take
charge OF matters whenever the situation
becomes really serious.
Imagine that the American common
wealth had its national existence staked
upon war, and that it was ruled by an
unofficial committee composed of Abraham
Lincoln, Gen. Grant, Admiral Farragut,
Grover Cleveland and Gen. Mcclellan. This
which give some faint idea of the manner
in which Japan is ruled today. The ''elder
statesmen are men OF different political
parties who have engaged in bitter rival
ries in parliament and turned one another
out of power not once or twice, but many
times. Most of them have held the position
of prime minister and attained the highest
dignities which the mikado can bestow.
Now. their rivalries over, their partisan la
bors ended, they confer together in perfect
ton without regard to the cabinet and par
lament they once swayed. 1t is unique
kind of government, which has not its like
anywhere else in the world.
Are Now but Five.
The "elder statesmen" vary in number
according to the will of the mikado, who
calls into council whom he chooses. At
present there are only five men who can
really claim the title-Marquis Ito, Count
Matsukata, Field Marshal Marquis Yama-
gaia, Count Inouye and Field Marshal
oyama. Other men are sometimes called
into conference with them, such as Baron
komura, the foreign minister: Field Mar
shat katsura, the premier. and prominent
omcers OF the army and navy, like Admiral
Ioso. Admiral kabayama and Gen. Kodra-
ma. But these great personages are simply
called in to make their reports, upon which
the elder statesmen confer and decide.
imagine the premier seated in the highest
position subject can fill under the con-
stitution, weekly making his report to an
unohcial body and taking his Instructions
Yet that is what happens
The elder statesmen are all of samurai
descent. 1t has been well said that sit is
sun the samuIai who rules in japan from
the premier down to the little policeman
VINO stands on the street corner" The
mikado is careful to give representation to
all the four great clans. Marquis Ito and
Count Inouye belong to the Choshiu clan,
Count Matsakata to the Satsuma and Mar
gus 1amagit a and Field Marshal Oyama
to- the Tosa and Hizen respectively. They
an played leading part in breaking down
the old feuda1 system of Japan. The En-
peror Mutsuhito ought to be grateful to
them. for they helped to make him a great
monarch instead of an effeminate, powe.-
less recluse, like preceding mikados.
Remarkable Careers. %
The five ''genro" have all had remarkable
careers, but the strangest are those of Mar
quis Ito and Count Inouye-the David AMI
Jonathan of japanese politics.
They were boys together, and when they
were old enough they entered the service
Of the Prince OF Choshiu. and the head Of
their clan, as samurai. Soon afterward
Japan was oonvulsed by The entry of for
eigners. consequent upon Commodor, Per-
rvs expedition. Ito and Inouye, hot-hea5eI
youngsters that they were, joined in The
cry of Japan for the Japanese Nobody
was more bitter against the foreigners than
they were. Inouye admits that he led a
band of young samurai who burned down
the house set apart for the first British
minister the night before the latter was to
occupy it. He had no special grudge
against the minister, but he wanted to en-
broil his government with the foreigners
and prevent them from settling in the
country
But even at that early age Ito and Inouye
had the makings of statesmen in them.
They soon saw that nothing worth while
could be accomplished along those lines.
Let US learn what the foreigners know.
they reasoned with each other. THAT is
the only way to beat him at mis- own game
and preserve the independence of our cuun-
try
How They Left Japan.
At that time the edict forbidding Japa-
nese to leave their country was in full
force, but the young samurai sold their
property and got together all the money
they possessed or could borrow from their
friends. With this they bribed some En-
glshmen to smuggle them aboard one of
Jardine and Matheson's famous clipper
ships. bound for London. They had paid
about ten times the proper price for their
passage, but the people who got the money
cheated them. They had nothing to do with
the ship, and simply struggled the young
japanese aboard as stowaways
When they were dragged to light, two
days after leaving port, the captain natu-
rally regarded them as such. In vain they
protested that they were gentlemen Of
Japan who had paid for their passage. They
were set to work scrubbing dishes and
swabbing the decks, and in the dog
watches the sailors taught them to play
cards-by winning all the money they had
left except ST. with which they landed in
London.
Count Inouye-a genial, good-humored
man who enjoys nothing better than joke
at his own EXPENSES fond of talking
about those early experiences. Not so the
sober stately Marquis Ito.
A Rough Experience.
Inouye tells how they landed, cold and
desperately hungry, knowing nobody in the
vast metropolis, utterly ignorant of western
ways and with only about dozen English
words In their vocabulary. They saw O
bakers shop with beautiful crisp brown
loaves inside. Inouye rushed In picked up
one Of the loaves and gave the baker n
dollar. The man pocketed the dollar and
gave him no change. although the proper
price was only cents. Thus their first
meal in England cost them half their cap
ital.
They stayed in London for year, and
probably they could not themselves tell
how they managed to live during that time.
Scanty remittances arrived from home and
they eked out a bare subsistence by per-
forming all kinds Of mental tasks when they
were lucky enough to get work. 1t must
have been terrible life for the young
samurai who had always been used to
having the best Of everything. and had been