different laws have obtained in different places; the civil and
criminal codes have been various in the various provinces. The clans
have been called the screen of the country, but in truth they have
caused its division. The internal relations having been confused, the
strength of the country has been disunited and severed. How can our
small country of Japan enter into fellowship with the countries beyond
the sea? How can she hold up an example of a flourishing country? Let
those who wish to show their faith and loyalty act in the following
manner, that they may firmly establish the foundations of the Imperial
Government:

"1. Let them restore the territories which they have received from the
Emperor and return to a constitutional and undivided nation.

"2. Let them abandon their titles, and under the name of Kuazoku
(persons of honor) receive such small properties as may suffice for
their wants.

"3. Let the officers of the clans abandoning that title call themselves
officers of the Emperor, receiving property equal to that which they
have hitherto held.

"Let these three important measures be adopted forthwith, that the
empire may be raised on a basis imperishable for ages ... 2nd year of
Meiji (1869).

(Signed) "AKIDZUKI UKIO NO SUKE."[1]

But politics is not an easy game--a game which a pedant or a
sentimental scholar or an orator can leisurely play. It has to deal