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State have been appointed to various posts of high responsibility, and a Prime Minister has been appointed to preside over them. In this way the evils of obstruction caused by the circuitous methods of business under which, heretofore, action has been fettered by tedious routine, owing to the subordination of the various public departments to the Council of State, will be removed.

It is Our intention to put an end to the confusion by clearly defining the controlling authority in each department of State; to remove obstruction by abolishing the circuitous methods which have created it; to invite genius by careful selection; to proceed with urgent works by economizing expenditure; to promote efficiency in the public service by the strict enforcement of disciplinary measures, and by these means gradually to reorganize the whole administration. This, Ministers of State, is what We ask of you. The Government of the Restoration cannot be allowed to advance at one moment and to fall back at another. Discard pretence, make reality your aim at all things, both great and small, and thus insure the continued maintenance of the present form of Government.

Ministers, bear in mind these Our wishes in the performance of your duties.

The Founder of Our Imperial House and Our other Imperial ancestors laid the foundations of Our Empire on a grand and everlasting basis, and deeply implanted the virtues to be ever cherished.

The goodness of Our subjects, displayed generation after generation in loyalty and piety, and in harmonious co-operation, contributes to the lasting character of Our country. These form the fundamental principles of education for Our subjects: Be filial to your relations, as husbands and wives, and faithful to your friends; let your conduct be courteous and frugal, and love others as yourselves; attend to your studies and practise your respective callings; cultivate your intellectual faculties and train your moral feelings; foster the public weal and promote the interests of society; ever render strict obedience to the Constitution and to all the laws of Our Empire; display your public spirit and your courage, and thereby give Us your support in promoting and maintaining the honour and the prosperity of Our Empire, which is coeval with the heavens and the earth.

Such conduct on your part will not only be what is fitting in Our good and loyal subjects, but will also suffice to make