It is unnecessary to say that the last act was no less a blow to Marquis Itō than to the Katsura cabinet. The latter had, moreover, to endure the displeasure of its best friends, the peers, who passed a petition to the government to desist from the highly unwise policy of resorting to a national loan, and a minority of whom even had contemplated proposing an address to the throne deprecating the same policy. The eighteenth diet, which was prorogued on June 5, left the politics of Japan in an even more confused state than before its opening. The humiliation of the cabinet was only matched by the internal injuries which the parties had suffered for their conduct. The former, whose diplomatic duties in Korea and Manchuria were threatening to rise to a hitherto unknown degree of difficulty, had been forced by the merciless diet not only to retreat from the stand it originally took in regard to the most important problem of the nation, but also to bear the burden of the imposed responsibility of reorganizing the financial and administrative machinery on an almost impossible basis. The Progressives could scarcely conceal the inharmony of their leaders in regard to the immediate policy the party should pursue. Far more demoralized was the Association, which had been born under too favorable auspices, and possessed too absorbing a desire for power, to maintain its mental poise when it found itself as an opposition party. It had then appeared to lack the tried perseverance of the Progressives, while its irritation had been greatly intensified by the double position of Marquis Itō, who would on the one hand come to an agreement with the cabinet in his independent capacity as an Elder Statesman, and on the other maintain his disciplinarian leadership of the opposition party. Nor can it be concealed that the marquis, dignified statesman and brilliant counselor as he is, hardly possesses attributes which appeal to the hearts of the people and inspire the enthusiastic loyalty of his followers. It seemed evident that the majority of the party from the beginning respected his prestige and influence, which was considered as a political asset, more than either his constitutional ideals or his personality. Since they saw that the shortest road to power would lie in the direction of unequivocally upholding the proprietary interest of the country, nothing could have seemed more galling to some of them than a compromise which would deprive their parliamentary warfare of these essential tactics. Around this sentiment as a center there seem to have clustered various other motives for disloyalty. Some Associationists resented the autocratic rule of the president, and advocated a more republican form of party organization, and others denounced the marquis for sacrificing the dignity of the party for his position as an Elder. Desertion of several members, including the late lamented president of the lower