the campaign, and one of them, the Liberals, subsequently gave support to a cabinet under the presidency of Marquis Ito, the purpose of the union being to carry through the diet an extensive scheme of enlarged armaments and public works planned in the sequel of the war. The Progressists, however, remained implacable, continuing their opposition to the thing called bureaucracy quite irrespective of its measures. Fusion of the Two Parties. The next phase (1898) was a fusion of the two parties into one large organization which adopted the name "Constitutional Party" (_kensei-to_). By this union the chief obstacles to parliamentary cabinets were removed. Not only did the Constitutionalists command a large majority in the lower house, but also they possessed a sufficiency of men who, although lacking ministerial experience, might still advance a reasonable title to be entrusted with portfolios. Immediately the emperor, acting on the advice of Marquis Ito, invited Counts Okuma and Itagaki to form a cabinet. It was essentially a trial. The party politicians were required to demonstrate in practice the justice of the claim they had been so long asserting in theory. They had worked in combination for the destructive purpose of pulling down the so-called "clan statesmen"; they had now to show whether they could work in combination for the constructive purposes of administration. Their heads, Counts Okuma and Itagaki, accepted the Imperial mandate, and the nation watched the result. There was no need to wait long. In less than six months these new links snapped under the tension of old enmities, and the coalition split up once more into its original elements. It had demonstrated that the sweets of power, which the "clan statesmen" had been so vehemently accused of coveting, possessed even greater attractions for their accusers. The issue of the experiment was such a palpable fiasco that it effectually rehabilitated the "clan statesmen," and finally proved, what had indeed been long evident to every close observer, that without the assistance of those statesmen no political party could hold office successfully. Enrolment of the Clan Statesmen in Political Associations.