Finally, a reference should be made to the privy council, whose members, twenty-five more or less in number, are appointed by the emperor, in order to deliberate upon important matters of state. The ministers are _ex officio_ privy councilors, but the cabinet is an administrative body, while the privy council is a deliberative one. To the latter is assigned the "task of planning far-sighted schemes of statecraft and of effectuating new enactments, by leisurely meditation and calm reflection, by thorough investigation into ancient and modern history, and by consulting scientific principles" according to Itō's "Commentaries." The councilors, therefore, must be men above party and of wide experience and knowledge, and so conservative and impartial as to be "the palladium of the Constitution and the law." Its opinions are not given publicity, but when they are embodied in an imperial ordinance, the latter states the fact in its preamble. The emperor in theory may accept or reject at will the recommendations of the council, but in practice has in no case overridden them, nor even shown his personal preferences. Those who are at all familiar with the political conditions of Japan cannot fail to see through this institution of the privy council a group of men who have in a large measure molded the destiny of new Japan. They are collectively termed _Genrō_, or Elder Statesmen, and include those who were prominent about the time of the revolution of 1868, and also those who have since rendered eminent services to the state. At one time they numbered among them the great Katsu, the most heroic and dramatic figure of the revolution and the most sage-like statesman of modern Japan. Marquis Itō now stands head and shoulders above the rest of the veteran statesmen, and beside him are found Field Marshal Yamagata, Count Matsukata, and others of equal note. It is highly significant that the Constitution has created an institution by means of which those very men whose wisdom and energy have tended to make Japan what she is were attracted together around the person of the emperor. The ship of the state is piloted by their far-sighted loyalty and patriotism, and the influence these statesmen exercise over the fundamental policy of the empire cannot easily be overestimated. The latest example of this influence was the advice of the council to the throne to instruct the peace envoys at Portsmouth to make large concessions in order successfully to conclude a treaty with Russia. These concessions, which made the restoration of peace possible, were radically opposed to the wishes of the majority of the people, but were boldly counseled by the Elder Statesmen regardless of personal consequences upon themselves. Neither the diet nor the political parties could, however, effectively assail the position of the council as such, for it was no executive institution, but a purely deliberative organ closely in touch with the throne.