lawful society where there was feudal class discrimination and the difference between the rich and poor. Ninomiya Sontoku insisted that people must repay the virtues, which supported their existence, with their own virtue. Late Modern thought While the early modern Japanese thought developed in Confucianism and Buddhism, English Enlightenment and French human rights were prevalent after the Meiji Restoration had become rapidly affected by Western thought. From the time of Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars, Japanese capitalism highly developed. Christianity and socialism also developed and became tied to various social movements. In addition, nationalistic thought and study were formed while being opposed to foreign study. The Enlightenment and people's rights In the Meiji Restoration, English and French civil society was introduced, in particular, utilitarianism and social Darwinism from England, and popular sovereignty of Jean-Jacques Rousseau from France. The thinkers of the early Meiji period advocated the British Enlightenment values derived from Western civil society. They attempted to criticise Japanese traditional authority and feudalism. However they were finally in harmony with the government and accepted the modernization from the above without the radicalness. In 1873, Mori Arinori formed Meirokusha. The people who gathered in this cultural association had much in common with points such as regarding practical learning as important, catching human characteristics practically and assuming the form of government that accepted the conditions of a country an ideal. Mori Arinori promoted national education as Minister of Education. Nishi Amane affirmed a human behaviour based on interest. Katō Hiroyuki threw away natural rights under influence of social Darwinism, and instead advocated the survival of the fittest. Fukuzawa Yukichi, who introduced British utilitarianism to Japan and advocated natural rights, assumed that human rights were given by Heaven. He considered the development of the civilization to be the development of the human spirit, and it was assumed that one's independence led to independence of one country. Fukuzawa thought that government is for the "sake of convenience", and its appearance should be suitable to the culture. He said that there is no single ideal form of government. In addition, he insisted that Japan should have gone into the continent externally against the Great Powers. While members of Meirokusha finally advocated harmonization of the government and people, democratic thinkers absorbed radical people's rights from France and they supported national resistance and revolution verbally against the Meiji oligarchy after the Satsuma Rebellion. In 1874, Itagaki Taisuke introduced