Chapter XI: The History of the Empire Continued (3)

“I am told that some men who were formerly in my service, but who were dismissed, have gone this morning to the Sakurada gate and killed Ee Kamong no kami. They appear to have gone to Hossokawa, wishing that he should take them into his employ. A messenger from Hossokawa has brought me this information. I am very sorry for it, and it has caused me much distress. I could not employ so many servants, and therefore was obliged to reduce my establishment, while some men who would not obey me went away of their own accord. On this account I am unable to arrest or punish such men, and must trust to the servants of the Shiogoon doing so, while I must try to find those who have absconded; but the Shiogoon is powerful while I am comparatively powerless; I therefore beg the assistance of the Shiogoon.”

The Shiogoon wrote to Mito on the 4th day of the 3d month:

“Yesterday your servants killed the Gotairo, and now I fear they may attack and kill some of the Gorochiu. It is ordered that your servants from morning to night, all day and all night, are not to move out of the house.”

Otta, Hiobu sho, wrote to the Shiogoon:

“This morning about 8 A.M. the men of my guard informed me that two soldiers had passed them wounded and covered with blood. They, when very near my cross guard, committed suicide. I thereupon sent an Ometski to investigate the case. I asked the men standing near whence they had come. They said from the direction of the Heebiyah gate, and that on account of a severe wound of the shoulder one of them was faint and could not walk. He said to his companion, ‘I cannot kill myself, as I cannot move my right hand’; the other said, ‘If you are weak I will do it for you,’ and cut off his head, and immediately after doing so he cut his own throat. We found that one of the swords of these men was bent round like a bow, and on examining the pockets, one had seven boos [coins], and the other seven boos and a half; and besides the money was a crest similar to that used by the Shiogoon [Mito uses the same crest--the awoyee, or three leaves], which had been cut from his coat; and a receipt from the Yebi ya [_i.e._, lobster inn], a tea-house at the Yosiwarra [the government brothel]--viz., two boos for Tamanyoshi and two for Chittosay, two girls; one boo for a singing-girl; one boo for drink, two boos for fish, and ten tenpos for rice, with half a boo as a present to the servants of the house, with the date, 2d month, 27th day.”

The street governor came and examined the corpses, and took them away on the 4th day of the 3d month.

On the 4th day of the 3d month--_i.e._, the day after the assassination--Satsuma wrote to the Shiogoon:

“A servant of mine, Arimura Yooske, yesterday absconded and has not yet returned. I find that a man who committed suicide yesterday, near the residence of Endo Tajima no kami, was his elder brother. As I am ignorant of what he has been doing, please to order him to be arrested.”

On the 3d day of the 3d month the Ronins in the service of Mito who had assisted in the murder wrote out the following statement and gave it to Hossokawa:

“We left our province of Hitatsi on the 18th day of last month; we did not meet together, but stopped at different parts of the town during our stay in Yedo. This morning we all met at the temple on Atango Hill [in the middle of Yedo], and thence we went to the Cherry gate, and waited between the guard-house of Osumi no kami and the Cherry gate. The Gotairo came along with his retinue. All at once we surrounded the kango on both sides. For some time we argued with the Gotairo. We told him that he was a bad man. We spoke to him about foreigners coming to the country, about the export of gold, about his receiving money as bribes from foreigners. He answered, and his men tried to prevent any attack being made upon him. One of our men fired a pistol into the kango (by which shot he was wounded in the back). He crawled out of the kango, but could not rise off his hands and knees quickly. His servants ran away, and one man cut off his head; six or seven others hacked at his body.”

In the pocket of Arimura, the servant of Satsuma, who had been killed, was found a “sakiburay,” or permit to travel for the Prince of Satsuma, who was at this time a child--“My master to-morrow sets out for Satsuma, and wants at each station coolies and horses.” There was also found a piece of poetry:

“This is my body, which belongs to my master;
I will wait in the ground till my name is made greater.”

The following is given as information with reference apparently to the men who had banded themselves together to free their country from the presence of foreigners:

“There are sixty honorable men in the service of Mito who are very hard and iron-willed. Why are they so iron-willed? To drive away foreigners according to the wish of the Emperor expressed in his letter of the 28th day of the 12th month. Mito has received a letter from the Emperor. Hikonay [_i.e._, the Regent, from the name of his castle] gave it to him to tell him he must go to Miako. We have got the Emperor’s letter and know his wishes [that foreigners should be driven out of Japan], and if we do not obey him we are rebels. The will of the Emperor we are determined to accomplish.”

As further information the following is given: Hotta Bitshiu no kami went to Miako on the part of the Gotairo to speak to the Emperor about the foreign treaties with Japan. The Emperor said to him: “You have made your treaties first, and afterward come to me to tell me of what you have done. I know nothing about it. I know nothing about the business transacted in Kwanto--_i.e._, in Yedo.” Hotta could not answer the Emperor.

The Regent then sent Manabay to Miako to speak to the Emperor. He had an audience of the Emperor, and advised him to wipe out the treaty made at Yedo, and to make an entirely new and proper one. The Emperor replied: “You have fouled my face, and consider me as of no use. From the beginning there was always an Emperor in Japan; but if now the people do not wish it, I will give up my position. But you are trying to sow divisions between the Emperor and the Shiogoon.”

Manabay said: “It will be better for us to make their interests one [alluding to the proposal that the Shiogoon should marry the sister of the Emperor]. If we do so, we can afterward unite to brush out foreigners.”

The Emperor replied: “Now, at three or four audiences you have brought forward the business of Kwanto, but each time it has been false. Now you speak truth. If you think it right, put out these foreigners now. But my honor has been fouled and broken.”

Manabay said: “At present the government of Japan is difficult and in a critical position, but let us be quiet and delay.”

Manabay had, for the Regent, given large sums of money to the high Koongays, the Kwanbakku, and others, to bring over the Emperor to his side. The Emperor was then standing alone, the Kwanbakku having been bought over. Manabay, on his return, retired from the Gorochiu to his provincial residence in Etsizen, but he got the credit of having saved Japan at this critical period from a civil war. It was only postponed for a little.

The Gorochiu were in great alarm at this time, and issued orders to all the guards around and in Yedo to be on the watch for disturbances.

At the Hio jo sho the following evidence was elicited from one of the guards:

“I am a Gay zammi.[13] In the open space in front of the gate there were eight or nine men standing--some with raincoats on, and some holding umbrellas--and looking at the Sode bookang.[14] I heard a pistol-shot in the open space in front, and several shots were fired at the kango. The bearers ran away. Some men then seized Ee Kamong no kami by the mangay [_i.e._, the stiff tuft of hair on the top of the head], and dragged him out of the kango. After that I heard loud speaking, quarreling and scolding; and soon after they cut off Ee’s head. While the quarreling was going on he was not dead, because I saw him moving his hands. Afterward many of the assassins stamped upon the body, and all kicked it; and they afterward hacked the body all over. They then all ran away.”

The Gorochiu immediately sent a letter to the Emperor: “This morning (3d day of 3d month), on the Soto Sakurada, twenty servants of Mito assassinated Kamong no kami. We fear that Mito may have a design of sending men down to Miako to seize the Emperor, and gain over the Koongays. Therefore his Majesty’s government would do well to keep a strict watch round Miako, and in the six roads leading to the capital.”

Matzdaira Higo no kami wrote to the Gorochiu: “This morning there was a serious disturbance at Soto Sakurada. My soldiers are at your disposal to guard any spot where you may please to order them.”

The Gorochiu answered, by the usual way of attaching a small slip of paper to the letter: “We do not require any more soldiers.”

The Shiogoon ordered Sakkai Sayay mon no jo, who was now, by the death of the Regent, head of the Tay kan no ma, or room of the Fudai Daimios, as follows:

“This morning there was a great disturbance in Soto Sakurada; and afterward there was fighting close to the Shiogoon’s residence. You must keep all the soldiers under your command in readiness within your house.”

The Shiogoon also wrote to Higo no kami: “You say you have your soldiers all ready for any duty they may be called to. Your loyalty has given me much satisfaction.”

On the 4th day of the 3d month, Okamoto and Soma, the two principal officers in the late Regent’s service, went to the Gorochiu with the following letter: “Our master, Kamong no kami, went out yesterday to go to the castle to pay his respects. When about half-way between his house and the gate of the castle, several miscreants fell upon him and killed him. We have certain information that these assassins were servants of Mito and Satsuma. Yesterday all the officers say to us, ‘Wait a little.’ But this business cannot wait. We wish to know for what reason these men killed our master. There are, at the present moment, some of these men secreted in the houses of Wakisaka and Hossokawa--two Daimios. We wish to see them, and ascertain from themselves why they killed our master. We desire that these men may be delivered up to us. All the people of Hikonay [the Regent’s territory] wish this, and we trust you will take pity on them and grant their desire.”

To this letter the Gorochiu affixed as answer: “Cannot do so.”

The following letter was addressed to the Shiogoon by the son and servants of the late Regent on the day of the murder. It was written to ascertain whether the law of Japan would be acted upon in their case, by which the territory of any officer who had been assassinated is confiscated. “3d day, 3d month.--Ee Kamong no kami, when going to the castle to-day, and when near the Sakurada gate, was attacked by a number of villains. At the time, so much snow was falling as to make it impossible to see a yard before one. All the servants of Ee are enraged. There were but few Ronins and many servants, and they ought to have overpowered the Ronins. The servants are deeply shamed when they think of Ee nawo massa (the first of the family in the time of Iyeyas). Whatever is to become of us we care not; but the retainers and friends of Ee wish to know whether the house is, according to the old laws of the empire, to be reduced in rank and impoverished, or if it is to be entirely degraded and removed from the territory. We wish to understand clearly.” This was written in the name of the young Ee; and was probably written with the view of preparing to defend themselves and party by an appeal to arms rather than by submission.

The Shiogoon answered to this: “All your father’s territory I restore to you his son.”

Here terminates the native account of the assassination. It gives some insight into the working of the government, and the unscrupulous means to which the highest magnates of the land will resort to attain their ends. From the general tenor of the statements, the extreme hatred of one party in Japan to foreign intercourse is brought out, and the slight which the Emperor considered to have been put upon him by the conclusion of the treaty without his consent and against his expressed opinion.

Assassination is the _ultima ratio_ of the desperation of party weakness. The act implies that the party which has sanctioned it has no one competent to cope with the individual removed, or to fill the place which it has made vacant.

The position of the government upon the death of the Regent was that of helpless inactivity. The sudden removal of the foremost man of the empire was as the removal of the fly-wheel from a piece of complicated machinery. The whole empire stood aghast, expecting and fearing some great political convulsion. The whole country knew who had been the active agents in the deed; and perhaps there were at heart very few who did not feel more or less satisfaction at the blow given to the party which was responsible for, and instrumental in, bringing foreigners into the country; and a civil war or revolution would certainly have followed, had not every one felt that they were, for the first time in their history, face to face with an enemy, fear of whom concentrated all minor feelings, and consolidated them into one great national determination to rid the land of the hated foreigners. This was the one policy which the Emperor demanded of the Shiogoon, which the people looked to the government to effect, and which the lords and military classes burned to carry into execution. Were the foreigners not a mere handful of men, and were such to be allowed to beard and insult the highest personages in the land with perfect impunity? Now, when the head of the party, who was or pretended to be in favor of such a change of the laws, is struck down, if some representative of the national feelings would only arise and lead them on, they would follow to the death in such a glorious cause. But no such leader appeared. Where was Mito, the rival of the late Regent? and why did he not come forward to carry out his own policy at this juncture? The son of the late Regent was too young and inexperienced to claim his father’s office, or to assume the leadership of the party. It was the personal hatred of the two men which had been the moving spring in the daring action of the Regent, and in the underhand plotting of Mito. In all probability the feelings of hostility with which each regarded the foreigner were equally strong. Mito said you must admit foreigners, because you cannot keep them out. He thought we can admit foreigners, and, if we see fit, afterward turn them out. But Mito was disliked by the other Daimios, and his name was not sufficient to rally a strong party, while he[15] and the lately degraded Daimios were now in arrest in their own houses, in territories which had been transferred to the hands of infants. They had thus no opportunity for intriguing, having no common place of meeting out of Yedo, as by law they were prohibited from going to Miako, and could only come to Yedo as Daimios, when called there on duty by the government.

In this crisis the only course for the Cabinet to pursue was to go on quietly, managing the routine of affairs until time should open up some line of action. The Gorochiu, therefore, with Neito at its head, and nominally under Tayass as Regent, continued to carry on the ordinary duties of government.

Events have shown that the Regent was right in his judgment of the men whom he sought to remove from his path as obstacles--Mito, Etsizen, Satsuma, Owarri--as these have all since his death reappeared as leaders of the party opposed to his policy in the Obiroma or council of the Kokushu. Etsizen, afterward known by his retired title Shoongaku, was the first among these magnates who attempted to take a lead in the government of Yedo. He had been removed from his position as Daimio and placed in arrest; but, having subsequently been released, was able to move about and obtain an influence in high places. He obtained from the Emperor a letter [afterward considered a forgery], appointing him and Awa to fill the place of co-regents, under the name of Sosai Shoku or Sodangeite. But the fermentation of revolution had already begun to work, and at such a time the first actors upon the stage seldom play the prominent parts they deem themselves fitted to fill. They generally fail to see the causes of the boiling going on around. Such a man is like an atom in a pot of boiling water, and knows and sees nothing of the fire which is causing all the upturning around him. To even a superficial looker-on at the state of things in Japan, it was evident that such a dual condition of government as that then existing could not long continue to carry on foreign relations. The discord and weakness arising from the permission of an _imperium in imperio_ by the exterritoriality clause was greatly increased by the government attempting to carry on foreign relations without the consent or against the will of the higher power in Miako. The two powers must work harmoniously; and so long as the internal affairs of the empire are the only possible cause of rupture, the weaker, though more exalted, will find it to be its interest to be on good terms with the lower but more powerful, the executive. So soon as the latter begins to act as supreme power toward other nations, it places itself in a wrong position, and foreign nations will not treat with such a pretense. The opposition finds a head in the Emperor, and the only way to avert a rupture is for the lower power to give way and to act only as the representative of the head of the empire. If he fails to see this, he sets himself against the Emperor, who is then supported, not only by his own nobility, but also by those powers with whom he has entered into relations. The party of the Shiogoon deserts him, and his only _rôle_ is to work with and under the Emperor; or, if he refuses to do this, civil war ensues, and he falls.

After the removal of the Gotairo, the Cabinet was able or permitted to carry on the affairs of State. But while everything seemed smooth, smoldering powers were at work preparing for volcanic action. The Kokushu, and especially those who came to Yedo from the west, were becoming very much irritated about the question of foreigners in the country, and foreign ministers in Yedo. The latter assumed a position of superiority to which these lords were quite unaccustomed. They were occupying temples belonging to great families, situated in cemeteries consecrated by the burial of their ancestors and relatives, but now polluted by intruders hateful to the spirits of the country. The foreign merchants were able to beard these princes on the highroad, and to treat with nonchalance dignitaries who looked for the utmost deference, and who were authorized by law to punish at their own hands any real or supposed insolence or insult. On the other hand, they saw trade pushing its way in the country; silk which had been sold for 100 dollars was now bringing 1,000, and Emperor and lord longed to share in such advantages and participate in the profits. The first object which the more powerful of the Kokushu set themselves to accomplish was to break down this intolerable subjection to the Yedo government. This was not difficult to do, as the power of the empire was in the hands of a delicate lad, and the Emperor, through whom the end was brought about, was promised and hoped that the power would revert to him. The agents in this act were Shoongaku, Shimadzu saburo, Choshiu, and a Koongay Ohara--a distant relative and the unexpected successor of a Koongay, and who had spent his early life hanging about the offices of Yedo. After the boy-Shiogoon had been married to Kadsu mia, sister of the Emperor, Shoongaku, who was always full of the most economical if not parsimonious views, reduced the retinue and court of the Shiogoon till it was brought into contempt with the populace. In October, 1862, these potentates produced a letter (forged, as is generally believed) from the Emperor, putting an end to the routine of the Yedo court; and having the power in their own hands, they immediately proclaimed the edict and carried it into execution. The order was to the effect that the higher Daimios were to visit Yedo only once in seven years, and that the wives and families of all the Daimios were to live at their own provincial seats. This removed from Yedo all the luster of the court. At the same time these lords filled up the complement of their design by inducing the Emperor to call most of the higher Daimios who were of their own views to Miako. The Mikado was swayed hither and thither as the one party or the other gained the power in the capital; and so at one time Kanso, the retired lord of Hizen, had the ear of the Emperor in the interest of the Shiogoon, while Choshiu appeared to have taken up arms against his sovereign. But he seems all along to have acted loyally and patriotically in showing an intense hatred to the foreigners who were by force of arms thrusting themselves and their regiments into the country. This act was the great blow which broke up the power and brought to a termination the dynasty of Iyeyas. He had foreseen and made provision for intestine war and revolution, but had not been able to provide for a treaty with foreign nations and an exterritoriality clause.

In 1861 the foreign ministers, up to that time resident in Yedo, retired to Yokohama, and pressed one demand after another upon the Japanese government, already sufficiently occupied with complications arising from intestine difficulties. The Cabinet was worried by requests for interviews upon questions of land, of residences, of money exchanges, of matters of etiquette in interviews with the Shiogoon, and other matters which might seem trivial in comparison with the crisis through which the country was passing in the face of an internal revolution. These foreign ministers were now, somewhat unreasonably, all demanding that residences should be built for them by the Japanese government, and insisting that these residences should (in the face of an article of the treaty to the contrary) be fortified and furnished with guns. The recreation ground of the people of Yedo, Go teng yama, was demanded and given up for this purpose by Ando, then Prime Minister, and a large building was erected by the Japanese government upon this site; but the feelings of the people at this unjust appropriation of a piece of ground which had been set apart for their use were so much excited that another local _émeute_ was threatened at Yedo. This was allayed by the burning of the new building, and by the attempted assassination of the Prime Minister, who narrowly escaped with the loss of an ear.

By these annoyances occurring in the neighborhood of Yedo, and through the presence of foreigners, a strong party was drawn over to the views of the Emperor, and the nation began to see that he had all along been in the right in opposing the admission of foreigners as detrimental to the quiet of the country. Satsuma and Choshiu built each a large new residence in Miako. The Emperor called on twelve of the wealthiest among the Daimios to keep each a sufficient body of troops in the city for his protection. The young Shiogoon was invited or called upon to pay a visit to Miako when Stotsbashi was intriguing against him. He accordingly went with Kanso, the retired prince of Hizen, while Higo was appointed Shugo shoku, or guardian of the palace. This meeting of the Emperor and the Shiogoon seems to have opened the eyes of both to the power and intelligence of foreigners, of which the Emperor and his court seem to have been ignorant. Some of the Miako nobility went out on a trip with the Shiogoon in his steamer, and were astonished and converted; and Anega Koji was assassinated for expressing too plainly and openly his opinions as to the power and energy of foreigners.

The intercourse between the two heads of the empire seems to have consolidated the power of the government, and promised to bring forth fruit in a mutual good understanding and co-operation. Stotsbashi sneaked away to Yedo in disgrace, and had to run the gantlet of an attack on his way back, when his chief secretary was assassinated on the highroad at Saka no shta. Shimadzu and Choshiu retired from Miako in disgrace to their respective provincial residences, where they brooded over their own position and that of the empire. They could not but feel that it was the loyalty of their views which had entailed on them their present disgrace, and the prime cause of this was the foreigners. They knew well that the feeling of every one of their countrymen was with them, and they seem to have at last determined to throw themselves into the breach by bringing about a quarrel between the government and some foreign nation. Shimadzu, the father of the Daimio, then a minor, determined to carry out the laws of the country irrespective of any exterritoriality clauses. On leaving Yedo, on September 14, 1862, he gave out that he would cut down any foreigners he might chance to meet upon the road; when, as he approached Kanagawa, meeting three gentlemen and a lady, he ordered his retainers to cut them down, and Mr. Richardson, wounded and unable to ride away more than two hundred yards, was set upon, fainting from loss of blood, and brutally murdered. Justice was asked from the Shiogoon’s government and the punishment of the offender, who was well known to all Japan. The murder of a merchant by a lord like Satsuma was treated with contempt, and the matter was referred by the British Minister to H.M. government. The subsequent necessary delay of many months, before instructions came out to demand an indemnity and the punishment of the offender, raised the courage of the party opposed to foreigners, and Choshiu determined on his part to carry out the laws of the country according to his instructions. He held a commission from the Emperor as guardian of the Straits of Simo no seki, the narrow western entrance to the “inner sea.” He had thereby a right to overhaul all vessels passing through this strait. There is no other sea quite analogous: it resembles, but is much narrower than, the Dardanelles, the Sound, the Straits of Dover, or Tarifa, at all of which places some recognition of the power of the nation to defend a vulnerable point of her territories has been allowed in the exercise of certain surveillance over passing vessels. Choshiu fired upon some foreign vessels passing through this strait. The consequence of this was a combined attack by English, French and Dutch, by which he or one of his relatives (by error) suffered severely in men, ammunition and prestige. The Shiogoon disavowed his proceedings, and to satisfy foreign demands proposed to punish the rebel This, however, he found to be no easy matter, as the whole troops and populace were in favor of Choshiu and his patriotic attempt, and the Shiogoon was at last obliged to make terms with the Daimio.

Choshiu had presented the following memorial to the government upon the position of Japan in its internal and external relations at this juncture:

“Allow me, notwithstanding your political discussions [with the Mikado’s envoys], to give you my opinion respecting the troubles which foreigners have given us of late years in asking all kinds of concessions, in addition to the unexpected troubles which exist in our own country. This combination of difficulties within and without, occurring at the same time, and bringing us to a point when our prosperity or misfortune is decided, keeps my heart day and night in anxiety, and induces me to give you in confidence my own feelings upon these subjects.

“I have long thought that union and concord between the Shiogoon and Mikado, and obedience to the Mikado’s orders, are highly necessary in keeping up an intercourse with foreign nations, as I have already said very often.

“But every one knows that since the great council of officers, the Shiogoon and Mikado are disunited, which has occasioned a conflict of parties, and brought with it discord and trouble.

“I think the reason of this is, that although the signing of the treaties was forced upon us by urgent circumstances and pressing events, there are some who maintain that the reopening of relations with foreigners has occasioned a degradation of the people, who were so brave and constant ten years ago, to the state of quiescence and cowardice to which they are now reduced by their fear of war and of the foreign powers. These persons who are of this opinion are therefore in opposition to the acts of the Shiogoon, and say that they will themselves undertake to set aside the treaties and prepare the country for war, declaring that the Mikado still maintains the old laws of our country, which direct the expulsion of foreigners.

“Other persons accept, on the contrary, the reopening of the country, and praise the foreigners, and thus destroy all confidence in ourselves. They say that the foreigners have large forces, and that they have great knowledge of arts and sciences.

“These conflicting opinions trouble the minds of the people. Unity is force and strength, and discord is weakness; therefore it would be imprudent to go to war against powerful and brave enemies with discord in our minds.

“The closing or opening of Japan is a matter of the greatest moment. That which cannot be shut again should not have been opened, and that which cannot be opened should not have been shut.

“The closing of Japan will never be a real closing, and the opening will never be a real opening, so long as our country is not restored to its independence, and as long as it is menaced and despised by foreign countries. Therefore the opening or closing of Japan is dependent upon the restoration of our own powers; if that is effected, then war or peace can be declared.

“The condition upon which this power can be restored to us is the enlightening of the people, and their union.

“I think the only way to bring about national union is by solid union between the Shiogoon and Mikado, acting together as in one body. Should there be war, it can be brought to an end very easily.

“A time is now come very different from the barbarous ages, and arising out of the long peace which has prevailed. Every little child knows the respect it owes to its parents and masters.

“It will therefore rejoice everybody in this advanced age to see the Shiogoon hold the Mikado in great respect; and the whole nation would honor the Shiogoon, and all troubles would cease, and then only we can be restored to our independence and power.

“After our independence is restored, it is urgent and pressing that we reform our military institutions, the naval sciences, as well as all branches of industry. We should find out the great advancements and developments of arts and sciences in other countries. The whole nation must devote life and soul to the benefit of our state, and we must learn and study the interior arrangements of foreign lands, in order that the commerce of our country may flourish in this important age. I think all this ought to have been done long since; but nothing of the kind is to be found in the edicts which have appeared so often during the last seven years.

“Inventions and improvements pass on with rapidity, and the time is now come to make all these changes and improvements; but if our attachment to old customs causes us to postpone these measures of such great importance, if these changes are later suddenly forced by circumstances upon the inhabitants, a very bad impression will be produced, creating disorder and confusion. These are reasons why they should be effected now calmly and gradually. I think that the Mikado will not be disinclined to this, and therefore I wish that the Shiogoon should act under the orders of the Mikado, and not conclude matters by his own authority. He ought to let these designs be known to all the Daimios in the name of the Mikado; then there will be a general quiet restored; then the dormant soul of the whole nation will awake, and will be united in power and in independence; and then it will display its force and strength to the other five portions of the universe without anxiety and fear for our own country.

“I do not write these my sentiments to aid you in your negotiations, as they may be of little or no use to you, and only like a drop of water falling into the ocean; but to show my gratitude for the favors of the Shiogoon, which my ancestors have enjoyed during centuries.”

The aim of the party opposed to the policy of the Shiogoon and the admission of foreigners seems to have been to poison the mind of the Emperor against the young Shiogoon, and to embroil the country in a war, by setting the one against the other. The letters from the Emperor which have been obtained prove this.

The following letter was conveyed by Shimadzu Saburo from the Emperor to the Shiogoon about October, 1862:

“I think that the power of the foreigners [Ee jin, wild men] at the present time in the country is improper; and the officers of the Kwanto seem to have lost all knowledge of the right way, and of all plans of action, causing disturbance all over the empire. All my people [Ban nin, 10,000 men] seem about to fall down into mud as black as charcoal. On this account I, standing between Ten sho go dai jin and my people, am very deeply distressed. The Bakuri [Shiogoon’s officers] have spoken to me, saying, ‘All our people are agitated, and the Shiogoon has no power to hold up his arm. Therefore please give us your sister in marriage [to the Shiogoon]. If you can do this, Miako and Yedo will be at concord, and the whole power of Japan can join together, and we can then brush away the Yee teki’ [_i.e._, foreigners, wild enemies].

“In answer, I said, ‘This is right, and I will give my sister.’

“At that time the Bakuri said to me, ‘In ten years the foreigners must be brushed away.’ This gave me great pleasure; and I pray to the spirits every day to help Japan.

“I have now been waiting for a long time for your brushing away. Why are you so slow?

“With my sister Kadsumia I sent Tchikusa shosho and Iwakura chiujo, and at the same time granted a general amnesty;[16] and all the business of the government I gave, as in former times, to the Shiogoon. But this business about foreigners [Gway-Ee] is of the first importance to the country. Therefore I said, ‘Let all this foreign business come under my care, and I will settle it.’ At the time, all the Yedo officials answered to me that the Emperor’s proposal was very important and serious, but a speedy answer cannot be given, and that we must wait a little.

“After this time, several Daimios proposed several different stratagems for driving away foreigners. But of all the Daimios only two--viz., Satsuma and Choshiu--came in person to speak to me; and all the loyal people from San yodo [west of Miako], Nan kaido [island of Sikok], and Sai kaido [island of Kiusiu], came to Miako like bees, and addressed me secretly. All these tell me that the officers of Yedo are all bad, and that they are becoming worse from day to day; and that justice and truth are fallen to the ground; and that they do not hold the Emperor in respect; and they are friends of the foreigners, giving them everything they want--silk, tea, and other things--while the whole country loses. All the people are much vexed about this; and they feel that they are becoming the same as servants of the foreigners, and now their habits cannot change. On this account, these people of San yodo, Nan kaido, and Sai kaido, and Satsuma and Mowori [Choshiu], wish to raise the Emperor’s flag. And they say, that if the Emperor with the flag goes to Hakonay, the Bakufu [Shiogoon’s office] officers, if bad, must all be punished.

“Some men say that, Japan having been at peace for a long time, the spirits of the people are very lazy and slow; therefore they suggest that a letter should be given to the Daimios and people of the Go ki stchi do [_i.e._, the districts lying upon the seven roads], ordering that foreigners must be brushed out of the country.

“The Emperor says: ‘Throughout the empire there are many loyal and patriotic men, therefore I will speak to Satsuma and Nagato to desire the people to have patience.’

“I gave a letter to Koozay Yamato no kami, requesting an answer, and yet none ever came; and last year I wrote and proclaimed an amnesty, and to this I received no answer. Why has the Shiogoon thus lost the way? I believe it is not he, but his officers. All the Gorochiu do not care. The Ty jiu [great tree] is but young; but I fear that if I delay but an instant [till I can stand up], all the empire will be broken up. Therefore I am every day troubled and weeping. All the officers of the Kwanto [the Shiogoon, Daimios, etc.] think only of the happiness of a day, and forget the misery of a hundred years. The holy books thus speak, and you ought to study them. You ought to keep these virtuous ideas in your minds, and be ready with your military preparations, and then you will clearly see your way out, and brush away the power of the foreign enemies. But while all Japan is in a state of excitement, I will hold to the medium course [_i.e._, between brushing away immediately and waiting indefinitely]. Since the Tokungawa family began [_i.e._, since Iyeyas], there has not arisen a question of so much difficulty. I have three plans to propose: The first is, that I will gradually bring the Shiogoon and Daimios and Hattamoto to Miako, and will hold a council about the government of the country and the brushing away of foreigners. If we can do this, the anger of heaven and the gods will be averted. They will rejoice, and the good minds of the lower classes will return. Then all people will stand on a strong foundation, and the empire be as strong as a large mountain.

“My second plan is, you must lean upon the old laws of Ho taiko [_i.e._, Taikosama], and give the laws of the country and the settlement of the question into the hands of the Tai hang [_i.e._, large fence, or the Kokushiu] and the Gotairo [_i.e._, five elders]. If we do this, the country can keep out or push back the pressure of foreigners. All round the coasts military preparations must be made; and so the country will be strong, and foreigners can be brushed away.

“My third plan is, to order Stotsbashi to assist the Ty jiu on all internal business, and to give the office of Regent to Shoongaku, to take charge of the outer relations of the office at Yedo. In that case both the internal and external business will be well conducted, and we shall not blush to think that we are servants to foreigners, and that they have obliged us to cross our coats the right over the left side.[17] For all men fear that in a very little time these foreigners will seize all Japan.

“I think that these three plans should now be considered and settled, and to that end I send an envoy to Kwanto; but if they cannot all three be carried out, I wish the officers of the Shiogoon to examine them and determine on one that can be carried out. All my servants must be very busy going round and round, and there is to be no secrecy about it; but every one is to be diligent, and all must give me a faithful report.”

At the time this letter was written both Stotsbashi and Shoongaku were in Miako, whither they had hurried down before the arrival of the Shiogoon. The letter bears some internal evidence of being written at their dictation, especially from the proposal made to appoint the two as Lieutenants and Regent to or over the Shiogoon; and corroborates the advice which Kanso had given the young Shiogoon; viz., that he should repair at once to Miako, where the enemies of his power were trying to subvert him.

Not long after this, four Koongays of Miako having been discovered plotting against the Emperor were degraded and obliged to shave their heads and retire to monasteries. Koonga and his son, and the Empress herself, with two concubines, were said to be implicated in these intrigues. The following reasons of punishment were published: “During the last five years intrigues have been carrying on against the Emperor by the late Gotairo and Sakkye Wakasa no kami. The object of these intrigues has been to get possession of the Emperor’s person and banish him to one of the islands (as formerly several were sent by Ashikanga and Hojio). Sakkye was very false, and tarnished the bright name of the Emperor, which is a very foul crime. Now their devices have been discovered, and the Emperor has ordered the Sisshay [another name of the Kwanbakku] thus to punish them.”

The punishment inflicted by the British government upon Satsuma at Kagosima, on account of the murder of Mr. Richardson, was severe but deserved, and, in a political view, was completely successful. The two most powerful lords in the empire had each tried a fall with foreigners and been worsted. They could no longer press on the government to brush out these intruders, as they knew now by experience how far behind the country was in military and naval tactics and means of warfare. The natural result now followed--they began to quarrel among themselves. Seeing their own weakness, however, they instantly began to take what steps they could to bring themselves up to a higher standing by the education of their people, and they began by seeking to acquire a knowledge of steam and steam-vessels. Choshiu and Satsuma sent young men to England, arms and ammunition were purchased, steam-factories were erected for working in iron, military tactics were studied, professors were appointed in their colleges, and officers were obtained to drill their young men and teach the use of the rifle.

The fruit expected from the intercourse of the Emperor and Shiogoon unfortunately did not ripen. The latter returned to Yedo despoiled of much of the former splendor of his position. His court was broken up. The greater lords paid now no deference to him, and the lesser Daimios began to side with the greater. His party consisted chiefly of the Kamong Daimios, the relatives of the family of Tokungawa. Yedo itself was falling into the position of a fading capital, and, as a place of commercial importance, was dwindling with the departure of its political greatness. A feeble attempt was made to recall the edict and re-establish the old order of things in Yedo; but events rolled on, and things are shaping themselves in totally different order from that proposed by the ruling powers.

The defeat of Satsuma by the English navy at Kagosima separated that Daimio from the party of Choshiu and others, and his counsels to the Emperor were those of peace. Shimadzu Saburo paid the indemnity demanded of him, and gave assurances that the offender should be given up when discovered, which was perhaps as much as could be expected from one who, while a murder was being committed by his orders, was quietly sitting within ten feet of his victim.

The Shiogoon Iyay mutchi had found nothing but trouble and anxiety from his elevation to the seat of power in the year 1859. In 1866 his health began to give way, and he shortly after died, leaving no children, and the way became open to his rival, Stotsbashi. The period was critical, and the ablest man would have found difficulty in steering through the dangers surrounding the vessel of state. The Daimios would now have little hesitation in withholding their allegiance to another Kubosama until it should be settled who was to be the _de facto_ ruler of the empire--the Emperor or the Shiogoon. Many would see that some change must take place in the internal constitution of the empire now when the government must deal as one body with foreign nations. The necessity for dual government was at an end. The mouthpiece of the nation must be one, and give no uncertain sound. The internal resources must be gathered into one treasury. The police, the taxes, must be recognized as national, and not as belonging to one petty chief here and there. The army and navy required reconstruction; and the power of the feudal lords would have to be broken down in order to be reconstituted into one strong state under one head.

The new Shiogoon, Yoshi hisa, attempted to assume the power with the position held by his ancestors, but he was too late. His only true policy was to stand beside and support the Emperor while the lower chiefs impoverished themselves by fighting. He attempted to take a side against the Emperor, but not being aided by a strong party, he was forced in 1867 to give way, and by abdicating retire into temporary obscurity.

To add still more to the critical position of affairs in Japan at this time, the Emperor died, being about thirty-eight years of age, and leaving a young boy as his heir and successor. It does not clearly appear who has been pulling the strings of political action on the part of the boy-Emperor; but there can be little doubt but that the two Daimios to whom Yedo was the most grievous offense, and whose ancestors had smarted from the rise of the Tokungawa family under Iyeyas, Satsuma and Choshiu, have not been idle. On the other hand, the wealthy Daimios from the north--Sendai, and other Kamong or relatives of that family--seemed determined to uphold the position of the family, and carry out the principles of Iyeyas at all hazards. Between these parties the Shiogoon, who is said to be an able man, tried to steer a neutral course until he saw what would turn up. At length he came to think that submission to the Emperor was the true policy for himself and for the empire, and he humbly placed himself at the disposal of the Emperor rather than involve the country in another civil war. His submission was accepted by the Emperor in the following terms:

“The conduct of Tokungawa Yoshi hisa having proceeded to such an extreme as to be properly called an insult to the whole empire, and having caused the deepest pain to the mind of the Emperor, both sea and land forces were sent to punish him. Hearing, however, that he is sincerely penitent, and lives in retirement, the excess of the imperial compassion shall be exhausted, and the following commands be enjoined upon him. Let him be respectfully obedient to them. A period of eleven days is granted him in which to comply with all these orders.

“1st, Yoshi hisa having, on the 12th month of the last year, and afterward, insulted the Emperor, attacked the imperial city, and fired upon the imperial flag, was guilty of a most heinous crime. The army was accordingly sent out to pursue and punish him. But as he has manifested sincere contrition and obedience, has shut himself up in retirement, and begs that his crime may be pardoned: in consideration of the no small merit of his family, which, since the time of his ancestors, for more than two hundred years has administered the affairs of government, and more especially of the accumulated meritorious services of Mito zo Dainagoon [the father of Yoshi hisa, and rival of the Regent]; for these various considerations, of which we are most profoundly sensible, we give him the following commands, which if he obeys we will deal leniently with him, grant that the house of Tokungawa be established [_i.e._, not destroyed from the list of Daimios], remit the capital punishment his crimes deserve, but command him to go to the castle of Mito, and there live shut up in retirement.

“2d, The castle [of the Shiogoon in Yedo] to be vacated, and delivered over to the Prince of Owarri.

“3d, All the ships of war, cannon and small arms to be delivered up; when a proper proportion shall be returned [to the head of the house of Tokungawa, which is reduced to the rank of an ordinary Daimio].

“4th, The retainers living in the castle shall move out and go into retirement.

“5th, To all those who have aided Yoshi hisa, although their crimes are worthy of the severest punishment, the sentence of death shall be remitted, but they are to receive such other punishment as you shall decide on. Let this be reported to the imperial government. This, however, does not include those persons who have an income of more than 10,000 koku--_i.e._, Daimios; the imperial government alone will punish such.”

An important political step has been taken within the last few months, during the present year 1869. The Daimios appear to have become aware of the weakness which inevitably accompanies division, and of the strength which would be gained to the country by consolidation and unification under one head. The threatening position taken up by some or all of the foreign nations with whom treaties of friendship had been concluded brought up the subject at some of the recent great councils. The crushing defeats which had fallen upon Satsuma and Choshiu warned individual Daimios of their weakness as units in carrying on operations of war; the enormous expense entailed upon them in procuring munitions of war, and in exercise, and in the purchase of steamers, alarmed these lords in the prospect of annihilation from exhaustion, and they came to the conclusion that such expenses could only be borne by the empire as a whole, and that to gain such an advantage the privileges of the class must in some degree be given up. The removal of the Shiogoon presented a favorable opportunity for carrying out the proposal, and they agreed heartily to restore all their fiefs into the hands of the Emperor, and to give up the exclusive privileges which each held in his own state, that these might all be thrown into one government, with one exchequer, one army, and one navy. The latest accounts confirm this cession of their independent rights--in which cession Satsuma, the most powerful, but the Daimio who suffered most from the independent system in the very severe punishment which he received in loss of men, destruction of steamers, and payment of indemnity, with total loss of prestige and position as a military power, has been foremost. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that henceforth there will be only one responsible ruling power in Japan.