this idea of consulting public opinion was, as I have repeatedly said,
in the air. The leaders of the new government all felt, as one of them
said to Messrs. F.O. Adams and Ernest Satow, that "the only way to
allay the jealousies hitherto existing between several of the most
powerful clans, and to ensure a solid and lasting union of conflicting
interests, was to search for the nearest approach to an ideal
constitution among those of Western countries ... that the opinion of
the majority was the only criterion of a public measure."[9]

Sir Harry Parkes was right when he told the Earl of Clarendon that
"the establishment of such an institution (the Kogisho) formed one of
the first objects of the promoters of the recent revolution."[10]

The Kogisho was opened on the 18th of April, 1869,[11] and the
following message[12] from the throne was then delivered:

"Being on the point of visiting our eastern capital, we have convened
the nobles of our court and the various princes in order to consult
them upon the means of establishing the foundations of peaceful
government. The laws and institutions are the basis of government.
The petitions of the people at large cannot be lightly decided. It has
been reported to us that brief rules and regulations have been fixed
upon for the Parliament, and it seems good to us that the House should
be opened at once. We exhort you to respect the laws of the House,
to lay aside all private and selfish considerations, to conduct your
debates with minuteness and firmness; above all things, to take the
laws of our ancestors as 'basis,' and adapt yourselves to the feelings
of men and to the spirit of the times. Distinguish clearly between
those matters which are of immediate importance and those which may
be delayed; between things which are less urgent and those which are