Not discouraged by this refusal, the advocates of a parliamentary system continued their agitation, and spared no pains to injure the credit of the cabinet with the nation. The sovereign, therefore, judging it expedient to announce publicly the intentions entertained by him, issued with the advice of his ministers, in October, 1881, a rescript declaring that in the 23d year of Meiji (1890) a constitutional government should be established. Ōkuma Shigenobu, together with Kōno Hironaka and others, now resigned their official positions and organized a political party, the _Kaishin-tō_ (Progressives), which, though occupying a common platform with the _Jiyū-tō_ in respect of a national assembly, worked in general opposition to the latter. At a much later date a third party, hostile to both of the above, was formed, namely, the _Kokumin Kyōkai_, or National Unionists. Immediately after the issue of the rescript fixing the date for opening the diet, the government set about drafting the constitution, the utmost care and research being brought to bear on this important work. In the spring of 1882 Itō Hirobumi was dispatched on a special mission to Europe for the purpose of investigating the constitutional law of the various states and its practical applications, and on his return a legislative bureau, charged with the functions of drafting the constitution, revising the laws, and remodeling the official organization, was established. In 1884 titles of nobility--prince, marquis, count, viscount, and baron--were created, patents being granted to over five hundred of the former territorial and court nobles, as well as to officials distinguished for services rendered to the state. In February of the following year great changes were effected in the administrative organization. The offices of _daijō daijin_, _sadaijin_, _udaijin_, _sangi_, and ministers of departments were abolished, and in their stead were created ministers of state for home affairs, foreign affairs, finance, war, the navy, education, justice, agriculture and commerce, and communications, these ministers constituting a cabinet under the leadership of the minister president and the presidency of the emperor himself. Outside the cabinet were the minister of the imperial household, the lord keeper of the privy seal, and a number of court councilors, while in each department there was a vice minister, as well as a director and vice directors of each of its bureaus, together with councilors and secretaries. These changes were much more radical than anything previously effected during the Meiji era, all other reforms having been mere modifications of the old system prescribed in the Taihō Code of 701 A. D. At the same time regulations providing for the appointment of civil officials by competitive examination were promulgated, and various new laws and ordinances were issued. One of the most important effects of this great reform was that it put an end