A correspondent in the Times writing from Yokohama explains the
suppressed insurrection in Japan which broke out on the 25th October. The Government had recently proposed to commute the pensions hitherto paid to the gentry who sup- port retainers, and these classes (samurai), already irritated by recent reforms, rose in insurrection. They were careful to declare that they did not rise against the Mikado, but only against his evil counsellors, but still they attacked his troops. The soldiery stood faithful, the armed retainers in the south- western estates were defeated with some slaughter, and the leaders in the movement will be put to death. Their leader was one Mayebara, who greatly assisted in the revolution which abolished the Tycoons, but had not been sufficiently rewarded by the Mikado's Government. The notable fact of the insurrection is that the Mikado remains far too sacred to be threatened.
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