Japan's New Premier General Hayashi has at length been driven
to resign his position as Prime Minister of Japan by his obstintcy in hoping that the two great Parliamentary parties, the Minseito and the Seiyukai, would finally abandon their opposition to his Government, despite their victory in the recent elections. Since the parties were equally persistent in their opposition, General Hayashi had to choose, between dissolving the Diet once more when it reassembled and ignoring it altogether. Even the Army has shrunk from this unnecessary and danger- ous dilemma, and by withdrawing its support has destroyed the basis of the Hayashi administration. Prince Konoe, who on Tuesday undertook to form a Cabinet, is a member of one of Japan's most illustrious families, a Conservative, a civilian, and a protégé of the Elder Statesman, Prince Saionji. He is likely to show more political tact than General Hayashi, but he is still faced with the difficulty of securing a compromise between the Diet and the Army, which is only possible if the Army will surrender, for the moment at least, its adventurous, expensive and provocative policy in China. For the Diet is apparently determined to give a more liberal turn to Japan's policy, especially in foreign affairs, and in this it has the electorate behind it.
