ABSTRACT
IT is unfortunate that members of the military profession, instead of being exemplars of a courage that nothing can disturb, live in a state of perpetual panic. The citizens of Tokyo, on the 26th of February, as on other days, had their living to earn and went about their work as usual, in spite of the tramp of armed men, the efflorescence of barbed wire, the rumbling of tanks and gun-carriages, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. In three days the affair was at an end, but the army did not recover its nerve for months, but kept the capital under martial law. It may be that there was reason for this. When General Mazaki was manœuvred out of the Military Triumvirate, a number of senior officers were shelved with him. These the insurgents would have acclaimed as their leaders if their coup had been successful, and the more moderate party in the army were not easily reassured of their loyalty. The free pardon extended to the rank and file prevented discontent from manifesting itself in the ranks; but the heads of the army, moderates or extremists, did not breathe freely again until the young leaders of the insurgents were all shot. Only then could they pretend to themselves to show a united front.
