MOUNSEY'S SATSUMA REBELLION.*
WE are getting to know more and more about Japan. Every year adds something to our knowledge of that interesting country ; but our acquaintance with its history is still very imperfect, notwithstanding the fact that what we do possess proves it to be by no means wanting in attractiveness. From many of the increasing band of travellers who, since the com- pletion of the great trans-American railway, have been induced to undertake the now easy task of circumnavigating the globe, we get accounts of the scenery of the empire and of the manners of its inhabitants, and we are becoming familiar with many of the delicate fabrics produced by Japanese artists. But of the course of events there we know very little, beyond the fact that an extraordinary revolution occurred some eight or nine years ago, which put an end to a system of feudalism till then main- taining a vigorous existence, and introduced Japan into the circle of civilised nations. Occasionally accounts reach us of the progress which has been made in the new path which the rulers of the empire have determined to follow, and we learn how railroads have been made, lighthouses built, and lines of telegraph established, in regions where but a few years ago the very idea of benefiting by Western science seemed re- pulsive to the people. Of the manner in which these great changes have been received by the nation in general, and of their immediate effects, we know scarcely anything. We have reason, therefore to be grateful to Mr. Mouusey, whose official position in the Japanese capital enabled him undoubtedly to acquire much valuable and accurate infor- mation, for telling us the story of one phase of the reaction against the sweeping reforms which the Cabinet of the Mikado saw fit to introduce. The Satsuma rebellion, headed by General Saigo, the elder, was not only an extremely interesting political event ; but it was so full of stirring episodes and so illustrated by deeds of almost romantic bravery that its story eminently deserved to be recounted, and it is fortunate that it has fallen into the hands of one so well qualified to narrate it as the author of the volume before us.
Mr. Mounsey has wisely prefixed to the account which he gives of the Rebellion itself a brief sketch of the Restoration of 1868, by which the Mikado regained the power of which he had been deprived by the Shoguns, and a narrative of the part played by the powerful Satsuma clan in bringing this about. It would be difficult to understand the full meaning of the out- break without a knowledge of these occurrences. The peculiarity of the feudal system, which has so recently been extinguished in Japan, was that it was established after the empire had long enjoyed a settled Government, and was ruled—or at least reigned over—by a member of the dynasty still on the throne.
Of the feudal Baronage, or Daimio, the majority—no mat- ter how great their power and revenues—were admittedly inferior in rank to the Kne, or Court nobles, who gathered
• The Satsuma Rebellion: en Episode of Modern Japanese History. By A. H. Mounsey, Secretary of Legation at Athens. Loudon : John Murray. 1575.
round the Mikado at his ancient capital of Kiote. They were generally the descendants of military adventurers, or of local governors, who had carved out principalities for them- selves, or had transmitted offices to which they had been appointed to their descendants. To many of these power- ful lords, especially to the eighteen Kokushiu—who re- sembled the Peers of the old French Monarchy—the pre- dominance of the Tokugawa Shoguns, whom they regarded as parvenue, was highly obnoxious. The great Daimio of Satsuma, with revenues and territory exceeding that of the most powerful of the three branches of the Tokugawa family, and claiming dominion over colonial possessions beyond the limits of Japan itself, never ceased to resent the good-fortune which had raised above them a house which, after all, was of but modest baronial eminence. It is not surprising, therefore, that, in company with other malcontent chiefs, they took ad- vantage of the agitation caused by the admission of foreigners to the country by the Shogun's Government, to try and dis- place the latter, and restore the Mikado to the full enjoyment of his ancient prerogatives. The fate which awaits every Oriental dynasty seems to have overtaken the petty sovereigns of the provinces of Japan, and the revolution which destroyed the Shogunate was the work not of the Daimio themselves, the nominal heads of the several anti-Tokugawa clans, who had in most cases fallen into the state of faineant voluptuaries, but of certain active-minded councillors, or Kara, who managed the provincial administration. These men were actuated by a strong clan-feeling, and by a consequent hatred of the Tokugawa and jealousy of their pre-eminence, and also by a desire to improve their own position in settling the new order of affairs. It is less surprising, therefore, considering who the real agents were, that they profited by the enthusiasm which the resumption by the Mikado of the power enjoyed by his ancestors occasioned, to bring about the destruction of feudalism ; for it was by them that its weight was felt to be most oppressive. Few of them, however, intended to introduce such sweeping reforms as have since been adopted. They desired to reform Japan, but on a Japanese, not a European, model. Mr. Mounsey, as befitting a Secretary of Legation, is discreetly silent, perhaps he is not aware of the real facts, as to the part played in the complete reconstruction of the institutions of the empire by certain foreign diplomatists at the Japanese capital. These gentlemen became the in- structors of the ardent reformers whom the perturbations of politics had brought to the head of affairs ; and as it is, appar- ently, an ineradicable vice of Western diplomacy in the East to be perpetually interfering in the domestic affairs of the nation to which its representatives are accredited, there was a kind of competition between rival Legations to supply the new Government with the most completely Radical programme. The Satsuma men who had restored the Mikadoate and abol- ished feudalism were not prepared to go so far, at least not all at once. In a published statement of his views, Saigo himself said, " Let us not try to do one hundred things at once, but have patience, and go on by degrees." No one will dispute that the sweeping changes made in the institutions of Japan will ultimately be of immense benefit to her people, but it is equally certain that had they been introduced less hurriedly the country would have been spared much misery. An immediate consequence of the revolutionary proceedings of the Government was that two parties were formed, one the headlong reformers of the Cabinet, and the other those who desired to proceed less precipitately ; or rather, an " opposition " was formed which was opposed to the rapid movement of the Government. Its members were chiefly Satsuma men, but the vast majority of the Samurai, or military retainers of the disestablished Baronage—numbering, with their families, as Mr. Mounsey tells us, nearly 2,000,000 of souls—were friendly to it. It certainly tends to diminish our good opinion of the ability of the Government, whose reforming energy has gained them so much praise from foreigners, that they deliberately converted this powerful class, which would perhaps have continued to be only political opponents, into exasperated enemies. The Samurai " had for centuries enjoyed hereditary pensions of rice, the payment of which had, under the feudal system, been charged to the revenues of their re- spective provinces, but was, on the abolition of the clans, taken over by the central Government." To continue these pensions, and pay the cost of reconstruction, was more than the revenue of the country was thought able to bear ; the Government, there- fore, decided on capitalising all the pensions, and offered to those who desired to commute them interest-bearing bonds. This was followed up in 1876 by a decree making the commuta- tion compulsory, and also considerably reducing the amount that each pensioner was to receive. It is not surprising that the Samurai, who had borne with the attempts of the Govern- ment to break their power, such as rendering liability to mili- tary service universal, and thus putting the peasantry on the same footing with themselves, regarded this as an act of down- right spoliation, and that disturbances ensued. There was no combined action amongst them, and quiet was easily restored. The storm, however, was to come.
Saigo Takanori, born at Kagoshima, the capital of the province of Satsuma, in 1826, of simple Samurai parents, had attained to considerable influence in his clan and with his feudal lord, and it was by his advice that the latter engaged in the attempt which ended in the downfall of the Shogun. In the conflict which preceded that event he greatly distinguished himself, and was afterwards appointed Councillor of State and Commander- in-Chief of the Imperial Army. He was in the Cabinet which abolished the power of the feudal Princes, but was opposed to many of the reforms pressed on by his colleagues. He had gone too far for the real head of the clan, Shimadzu Sabana, as it was, and in the end he quitted office and retired to his native province. He employed his time and a pension granted him for his services in founding and maintaining what he called " private schools," which were in reality military academies, with Samurai students. At the beginning of the outbreak, they numbered no less than 20,000. The Government, apparently alarmed at the preparations which Saigo was believed to be making, decided on removing the arms and ammunition from the arsenal at Kagoshima ; but on January 29th, 1877, the " students " broke into the arsenal, and carried off as many rifles and as much powder as they could remove. A story was shortly afterwards spread abroad that the Government had plotted to assassinate Saig6, and on this the insurrection began in earnest. Sala, placed himself at the head of a force intend- ing to start for the capital. After several engagements with divisions of the Imperial troops, sent hurriedly to arrest his progress, he laid siege to Kumamoto, garrisoned by nearly 3,000 men. In the neighbourhood he was kept until a powerful force, under the Prince of Arisugawa, was collected, and the two main armies came face to face. Though the rebels met with occasional success, as a rule success inclined to the side of the Government army ; but the rebel forces, from superior know- ledge of the country and lightness of equipment, frequently managed to elude their opponents, and in action always in- flicted on them terrible losses. The fighting was throughout most sanguinary. At length, after having been driven from point to point, Saig6 finally posted himself, with only five hundred followers, on a hill near Kagoshima. Here he was attacked by an overwhelming force, and was amongst the first to fall, wounded by a musket shot in the thigh. " Thereupon," says Mr. Mounsey, " one of his lieutenants per- formed what Samurai consider a friendly office. With one blow from his keen, heavy sword he severed his chief's head from his shoulders, in order to spare him the disgrace of falling alive into his enemy's hands." The majority of his companions were slain, and nearly all the remainder wounded. With the fall of this stronghold, the rebellion was crushed; but not till it had lasted nearly eight months, and caused the loss of over 13,000 killed and 21,000 wounded, on both sides. The Govern- ment had to employ nearly 70,000 troops in its suppression, and the money cost of the operations is estimated at £8,400,000. Saigo is regarded by his countrymen, who visit his tomb in thousands, as a martyred hero. The Ministers wisely determined to use their victory with moderation, and it is to be hoped that the miseries from which Japan has so lately suffered will not again be repeated there. Mr. Mounsey has related the history of the conflict clearly and pleasantly, and his book is one of the most interesting which have been written on that interesting land.
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