applied themselves to the construction of railroads, docks,
lighthouses, mining, iron, and copper factories, and to the
establishment of telegraphic and postal systems. They also codified
the laws, abolished the use of torture in obtaining testimony,
revoked the edict against Christianity, sanctioned the publication of
newspapers, established by the decree of 1875 the "Genro-in (a kind
of Senate) to enact laws for the Empire, and the Daishin-in to
consolidate the judicial authority of the courts,"[5] and called an
assembly of the prefects, which, however, held but one session in
Tokio.

While the current of thought among the official circles was thus
flowing, there was also a stream, in the lower region of the social
life, soon to swell into a mighty river. Social inequality, that
barrier which prevents the flow of popular feeling, being already
levelled, merchants, agriculturists, tradesmen, artisans and laborers
were now set at liberty to assert their rights and to use their
talents. They were no longer debarred from places of high honor.

The great colleges and schools, both public and private, which were
hitherto established and carried on exclusively for the benefit of the
nobles and the Samurai, were now open to all. And in this democracy
of letters, where there is no rank or honor but that of talent and
industry, a sentiment was fast growing that the son of a Daimio is not
necessarily wiser than the son of a peasant.

Teachers of these institutions were not slow to infuse the spirit of
independence and liberty into their pupils and to instruct the people
in their natural and political rights. Mr. Fukuzawa, a schoolmaster,
an author, and a lecturer, the man who exercised an immense influence