The promulgation of the Constitution took place in the throne room of the Tōkyō palace, the princes of the blood, ministers of state, peers, governors of cities and prefectures, presidents of city and prefecture assemblies, the foreign representatives, and all officials of and above _chokunin_ rank being present. The Constitution consisted of seventy-six articles contained in seven chapters. It provided for the perpetuity of the imperial succession; defined the imperial prerogatives and the privileges granted to the people; declared the latter's obligation to pay taxes and serve as soldiers, but guaranteed them against being arrested, imprisoned, tried, or punished except by the process of law; decreed the inviolability of person and property; granted freedom of residence and conscience, and declared that no man's house could be officially entered without a legal warrant. The law of the houses, promulgated simultaneously, created a bicameral diet--a house of peers and a house of representatives--to be convened every year, and in this diet was vested legislative power without recourse to which no law could be enacted or altered, and financial authority without the exercise of which the annual budget could not become existent. The law of election, which also formed one of the appended statutes of the Constitution, provided for all affairs relating to the franchise and its exercise; the law of finance regulated fiscal matters; and the imperial house law determined affairs connected with the succession, the household, the princes of the blood, and the like. The day of the promulgation of the Constitution was observed as a grand national fête, amnesty was proclaimed in the case of all political offenders, and largess was freely distributed to the aged and indigent. It was certainly a subject for national rejoicing and congratulation that this advanced stage of governmental progress was reached in Japan without any of the scenes of bloodshed and violence which had disfigured such changes in many other countries.