Page:Constitutional imperialism in Japan (IA constitutionalim00clemrich).pdf/33
The following persons held the offices of president and vice-president of the House of Representatives during the session of the period under review:
| Session. | President. | Vice-President. |
| 1, 2 | Nakashima | Tsuda |
| 3, 4 | Hoshi | Sone |
| 5 | Kusumoto | Abe |
| 6 | Kusumoto | Kataoka |
| 7–9 | Kusumoto | Shimada |
| 10, 11 | Hatoyama | Shimada |
| 12–17 | Kataoka | Motoda |
| 18 | Kataoka | Sugita |
| 19 | Kono | Sugita |
| 20, 21 | Matsuda | Minoura |
| 22–24 | Sugita | Minoura |
| 25–28 | Haseba | Koedzuka |
| 29, 30 | O-oka | Seki |
| 31 | O-oka, Haseba, Oku | Seki |
| 32–35 | Oku | Seki |
| 36 | Shimada | Hanai |
It was feared by many that the first session would develop such antagonism between the Government and the legislature as to lead to a serious rupture; but such an unfortunate outcome was averted by tact on both sides. The House of Peers was composed of 252 members, as follows: 10 imperial princes, 10 princes and 21 marquises, having a hereditary tenure of office; 16 counts, 70 viscounts and 22 barons, elected by “the members of their respective orders”; forty-four persons chosen from among and by the highest taxpayers in each imperial city (fu) and prefecture (ken); and fifty-nine persons, nominated by the Emperor on account of meritorious services. Some of these members were incapables, possessing no merit save their rank; some were merchants, whose wealth was their only qualification; some among those appointed for erudition were mere book-worms without knowledge of political science. A curious paragraph, occurring now and then in the newspapers of that time, informed the public that a certain number of men, members of the House of Peers, “had formed an organization for the purpose of investigating the manner of
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