political machine there was no congress or parlia-
ment to act as a safety-valve. The only way by
which the feelings of those who made public opin-
ion could be made manifest was in blood. It was
"despotism tempered by assassination." In repub-
lics, constitutional monarchies, and representative
governments, such as exist in Christendom, political
parties make and unmake the policy of the presi-
dents, kings, or ministers ; the newspaper press re-
flects public opinion ; but under despotisms, dyna-
mite, bomb-shells, and the various methods of assas-
sination take the place of caucuses, elections, cam-
paigns, polls, votes, and discussions. It is highly
probable that the premier, li Kamon no Kami,
though trained in the ways of a Japanese politician
of the bakufu days, was a sincere patriot, and
wanted to save his country from being invaded by
the Europeans as China had been, or subjugated as
India was. To accomplish his purpose he followed
out the Tokugawa policy of force, using arbitrary
means. Echizen's method was the reverse.
That is the usual fault of a military man even
when made a president of a republic. A soldier
expects to govern a nation just as he commands
an army ; to say, " Do this " and expect instant obe-
dience, or to have the insubordinate shot. The
324 MONDA TEE SAMUKAl.
Premier li also thought that in this case the end
justified the means, and so used " the tyrant's plea "
which, as history shows, is not restricted to any age,
climate, or country. In England when the people
in parliament disagree with the policy of the queen's
ministers, they move a vote of censure and the min-
isters resign. In the United States when the people
are opposed to an administration, they go to the polls
on election day and vote in another platform, and
change the national policy with their servants; or
in congress they rebuke the president by passing
their bill over his veto. In old Japan, the appa-
ratus of parties polls, elections, and congress
was lacking. The assassination of the Premier li
was simply the old samurai way of moving a vote
of censure. It was the swift, barbarous way of
pretending to stand in Heaven's place and so using
the sword. The samurai hated the priests, but they
outdid the priests in claiming to be the vicars of
Heaven.
This state of things could not last long, and li,
little as he or his friends may have then suspected,
was destined to be an instrument of Providence in
guiding the nation toward constitutional and rep-
resentative institutions. The great prince of Cho-
shiu addressed a letter to the bakufu urging that the
Tycoon should proceed to Kyoto and call a congress
of all the daimios in order to get the opinions of the
nation. The Throne and the Camp, Court and
Bakufu ought to act in concert, in which case the
public opinion could be easily known. The imperial
THE BARBARIANS." 325
court was so pleased with the suggestion that it sent
for the writer of the letter. Orders were at once
given to the great daimios of Satsuma and Choshiu
to keep the ronins and lawless characters in order.
Shortly after the Mikado sent an envoy to order
the Yedo government to carry out the idea in the
prince of Choshiu's letter, and call the national as-
sembly of daimios in Kyoto. To enforce the orders
of the imperial court Ke"iki was appointed guardian
of the young Tycoon, and Matsudaira, the prince of
Echizen, was appointed supreme dictator of affairs.
This was a proud day for the men of the Fukui
clan, thus to see their beloved prince, who, for oppo-
sition to arbitrary measures, had once been impris-
oned and dishonored by li, now raised to a position
of authority even higher. Matsudaira's efforts had
always been directed toward the use of argument
and reason rather than the sword in matters of gov-
ernment, and the truest patriots rejoiced when they
saw such a man at the head of affairs.
Among the three hundred or more daimios of
Japan very few were of any great strength of char-
acter, and in general all real power and influence
were wielded by their karo, " family elders " or ad-
visers, who were able men of low rank. But among
the crowd of titled nobodies the daimios of Echizen,
Mito, Hizen, Tosa, Owari, and Uwajima shone con-
spicuous for ability and personal worth. The prince
of Echizen, thus suddenly exalted to be the virtual
administrator of all Japan, had the advantage of
high reputation and popularity.
326 HONDA THE SAMUHAL
Yet the political situation was a very critical one
and profoundly difficult. As a relative of the Toku-
gawa family, and being one who was above all things
desirous of honoring the noble line founded by lye"-
yasu, the prince had to face the problem of being
first of all loyal to the Mikado and the court, and
then of dealing with the daimios and the clans, who
were so hostile as to wish the immediate destruction
of the Yedo government. Further, he must keep
faith with the foreigners who continually and greed-
ily pressed him for more privileges and advantages ;
while on the other hand he was as eagerly pressed
by fanatical patriots to destroy the aliens or to per-
suade them to leave the country.
Further, since the authority of the Yedo govern-
ment had been loosened, disorders were increasing
in both the cities of Yedo and Kyoto, and assassina-
tions of men whom the ronins marked for death
were of frequent occurrence. Only a few days
before a retainer of the daimios of Tamba mur-
dered an English corporal of marines of the Brit-
ish legation in Yedo for no other reason than
because he hated foreigners. In Kyoto the heads
of two retainers of a Kyoto noble were found stuck
up on a board on the dry bed of the river before
Kyoto. These events took place only a few days
after the prince of Echizen received his appoint-
ment. In addition to the princes of Satsuma and
Choshiu, the daimio of Tosa, being then in Kyoto,
was ordered to assist in policing the capital and
keeping in order the fanatical patriots. Thus arose
"EXPEL THE BARBARIANS." 327
the famous combination, lasting over twenty years,
called Sa-cho-to, and destined to become so famous
in recent history and so powerful in government
even until 1890. The name is made, in common
Japanese style, by uniting in one word the first syl-
lables of Satsuma, Choshiu, and Tosa.
Accepting the responsibility of being for a time
the virtual ruler of all Japan, Matsudaira, lord of
Echizen, summoned Professor Koba to be his chief
adviser, Mr. Rai Goro to be his nearest assistant
executive, and Honda Jiro to be his secretary. He
began his difficult and delicate task by acting on the
advice of the wise and able man and administrator
whom years before he had invited from Higo, and
who had been his counselor in Echizen. He trusted
to the wisdom, the tact, and the courage of these
three who were closest to him during the next two
years of an exciting life in Yedo and Kyoto.
CHAPTER XXVII.
BLACK CLOUDS BEFORE THE TEMPEST.
THE first act of Matsudaira was to establish at
Kyoto an office, or protectorate, over which
the daimio of Aidzu was appointed head. In old
Japanese politics, the master-move in every game
was to hold possession of the Mikado, and to protect
the court and palace from those who would use his
person and name to enforce their views or will. The
emperor, as representative of the gods who made
Japan, being the fountain of all law and authority,
all who obey the commands issued in his name
are " loyal ; " all who disobey him are chotgki, rebels
or traitors. The two names might be applied to
the same man or party, according as he or it pos-
sessed, or were driven away from, the imperial pal-
ace. Matsudaira's first care was that the Mikado
should be guarded in the interests of law and order,
and that neither ronins nor the combination of a
few ambitious clans should seize the imperial person
and government.
The next reform and far-reaching stroke of policy
carried out by Matsudaira was the abolition of the
custom of requiring all the daimios and hatamoto,
or flag-supporters of the Tycoon, to live every alter-
nate year in Yedo. Hitherto the wives and chil-
BLACK CLOUDS. 329
dren of every daimio must remain in Yedo; while
the daimios were allowed to spend only their al-
ternate years in their own dominions away from
their families. This custom had been inaugurated
by the grandson of ly^yasu early in the seventeenth
century. His object was a double one to weaken
the power of the feudal lords, and by dividing the
clans to rule them, and also to add to the glory of
Yedo. It was a policy that enriched the city and
impoverished the country. It had for three centu-
ries cost a vast amount of money, time, and trouble
to the daimios, which was now saved them by the
abolition of the custom. While it helped the prov-
inces, it was a tremendous blow both to the pros-
perity of Yedo and the despotic power of the Tokuga-
was. At the same time, the senseless extravagance,
which was the fruitful cause of theft, dishonesty,
and lying, was rebuked in an order which reformed
the style of dress and discarded empty ornament.
All this, though for the good of the country, scared
the inn-keepers and mercantile people who had fat-
tened on the old state of affairs. Thousands of
merchants and shop-keepers at once closed their
places of business, and returned to their homes in
the provinces.
Kyoto now became amazingly prosperous, for many
of the daimios made their establishments in that city.
The reformatory actions of the dictator, Matsudaira,
suggested in many cases by Professor Koba, greatly
pleased the imperial court, which ordered the Yedo
government to clear away old abuses, reform the
330 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
Constitution, and proclaim pardon to all those who,
since the year 1858, through the Premier li, or other-
wise, had suffered imprisonment for their political
opinions. In addition to this joyful news for many
honorable and upright men, pensions were awarded
to the families of those who, like the brother of
Doctor Sano, had been put to death for their loyal
sentiments. The honorable duty of repairing and
beautifying the tombs of the Mikado's ancestors
was also performed by the bakufu.
Yet though Kyoto was so prosperous, the means
of the imperial court were limited, the Mikado hav-
ing very little revenue. One day, however, a pro-
cession of two hundred and fifty ox-carts entered the
city, bearing fifty-five thousand bushels of rice done
up in twenty thousand straw bags, a gift to the
Mikado from the prince of Satsuma. This prece-
dent was soon followed by the prince of Choshiu,
who made a like gift. Having no longer large
yashikis to support in Yedo, the loyal daimios were
well able to be thus generous. The kuge", or im-
perial court nobles, even went so far as to rebuke
a daimio for going up to Yedo instead of Kyoto;
whereupon the daimio turned back and came to the
true kio, or capital, where eighty daimios and their
retainers now dwelt, crowding the city beyond what
had ever been known.
Meanwhile in Yedo the good work of the prince
of Echizen went on. The memory of Sakuma Ei
was vindicated in his proposal, made ten years be-
fore, by the Yedo government's sending an order
SLACK CLOUDS. 331
to Holland to build a man-of-war, while Enomoto,
Akamatsu, Uchida, and others, then promising men,
whose names are now renowned in Japanese naval
annals, were sent to Holland to study western civil-
ization and the art of naval warfare, and after five
years' study to bring out the ship to Japan. As for
Sakuma Ei, he had long before been released from
prison, and was pronounced in his opinion that the
country should be opened to foreign intercourse and
adopt western civilization. He always rode a horse
equipped with an English saddle and bridle, and, by
his strong opinions, irritated the fanatical foreigner-
haters.
In addition to naval reorganization the foun-
dations of a national army were laid in a daring
social innovation. Three battalions were organized
in European style, to be drilled according to mod-
ern infantry tactics. The cavalry and artillery arms
were formed of the class of samurai known as hata-
moto, or the Tycoon's flag-supporters ; but the infan-
try were recruited from the trading and farming
classes. This was the sign of a new day for Japan,
that the common people were admitted to military
honors. One could easily see Koba's hand in this
move.
It was difficult, and in some cases impossible, to
restrain the violence and fanaticism of clansmen who
were so anxious to hasten the fall of the Tokugawas
that they were constantly playing the assassin and
incendiary, knowing no other means of bringing
things to a crisis than the use of the sword and the
332 HONDA THE SAMUBAL
torch. They had a far larger and nobler purpose
in view, even a united empire, a restored emperor,
a government founded on public opinion, and Japan
made strong before the world ; but first they must
destroy the bakufu. Early in the year 1864 the
British legation near Shinagawa was set on fire and
burned. Near the inn of the Big Gold-fish at the
Kudan, Mr. Hanawa Jiro, who had collected, for the
Premier li, precedents for the deposing of the Mi-
kado by the Tycoon, was assassinated. In Kyoto the
same sort of work went on. No sooner had Ke'iki,
the guardian and advance-officer of the Tycoon,
arrived in that city, than the two-sworded men
pressed upon him the question of driving out the
aliens. He replied that as soon as the Tycoon
should arrive, the matter would be settled. This
evasive answer so disgusted the fire-eating patriots
that they at once assassinated Mr. Kagawa, a former
agent of the Yedo government, and sent his head to
Ke'iki as a hint to hurry up the expelling of foreign-
ers, while the arms of the headless trunk were sent
to the nobleman, master of -the unfortunate man.
Neither Aidzu, protector of Kyoto, nor the prince
of Echizen, both of whom nobly strove to uphold
the honor of Tokugawa, as well as to honor the em-
peror, could restrain these apparently savage acts
which were indicative of the stern purpose of the
patriots.
The Tokugawas, as individual gentlemen, were
noble patriots, but they were victims of a bad sys-
tem and of the times, for no personal worth of pri-
BLACK CLOUDS. 333
vate character could save the dual system which was
now tottering to its fall. On the ninth of April a
party of ronins perpetrated so gross an insult to the
Tokugawas that the wrath, both of the protector
and the dictator, was so strongly roused that, in
spite of the intercession of the prince of Choshiu
and a tremendous commotion in the city, the per-
petrators were imprisoned. The Buddhist temple
of To-ji-in was founded by Ashikaga Takauji, the
rival and opponent of Nitta, and the first sho-gun
of the dynasty which at Kamakura overawed the
Mikado from 1333 to 1573. This temple contained
in its reception-room five carved images of these
Ashikaga rulers. A party of ronins, intending a
direct insult to the Tycoon, went at night and cut
off the heads of three of these images ; and carrying
them to the execution ground where the worst crim-
inals were decapitated stuck them in clay on a pil-
lory. When the people of the city who were first
astir saw these heads in such a disgraceful place the
news ran like wildfire through Kyoto, and the pro-
tector and Echizen at once arrested those concerned
in the insulting act. It was a plain and defiant in-
dication that the ronins considered both the Toku-
gawa and the Ashikaga families equally traitors to
the country.
Nevertheless step by step the country advanced
toward institutions before which even feudalism
must fall, and the constitution and representative
government of the future approach. Both the lord
of Echizen and his faithful counselor, Koba, rejoiced
334 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
when the imperial court opened a hall wherein all
samurai might freely express their opinions on polit-
ical affairs. This was mightily different from the
old days of repression of speech and thought, when
hara-kiri was the penalty of discussion or innova-
tion. Nevertheless there were fanatics who could
not discern the signs of the times ; and a few months
later, in this same year, they shed the blood of Sa-
kuma Ei in the streets of Kyoto, because he used a
European saddle and bridle and advocated opening
Japan to foreign civilization.
The Tycoon and his gorgeous train arrived in the
capital late in April. Before the imperial throne
and the Mikado, who sat behind a screen, his face
being invisible, he made his obeisance on his knees
as vassal of the emperor. He stayed in the castle
of Nijo, while the prince of Satsuma left the city.
The one burning question which was now on all
lips in Kyoto was that of driving out the foreigners
and shutting up Yokohama and the ports. The
court sent the prince of Mito to Yedo to superin-
tend the ugly job, which the most ignorant Japanese,
like hermits or children, supposed they could accom-
plish ; and all the daimios whose dominions bordered
the sea were ordered home to prepare for war.
The ronins and samurai came frequently to wait
upon the prince of Echizen on the subject, and
urged him to name a day when the foreigners should
be swept away like vermin ; but this enlightened
prince knew only too well the difficulties in the way,
the power of the nations of Christendom, the weak-
BLACK CLOUDS. 335
ness of Japan, and the impossibility of breaking
treaties when once made. He saw clearly that these
men were as frogs in a well that know not the great
ocean; while the foreigners were masters of the sea
and of the forces of nature. In a few years these
narrow and ignorant patriots would have their vis-
ion enlarged, but now they were as unreasonable as
crying children.
Since matters had arrived at a crisis and nothing
seemed to interest the samurai the one class which
formed public opinions except the mad scheme of
war with the aliens, the prince of Echizen saw that
his work was done. He resigned his position as
dictator. He left Kyoto quietly and came to Fukui,
while his trusty counselor, Professor Koba, went
back to Higo to set in motion that train of young
students, who have since, in Europe and America,
won the secrets of science, and the moral and social
forces born of Christianity.
About the first of June the Tycoon and his high
officers again visited the Mikado at court, and the
date for commencing war against the foreigners and
sweeping them out of Japan was fixed for June 25.
The disagreeable duty was imposed upon the bakufu
of notifying all the clans of this solemn act of tom-
foolery, and this was accordingly carried out on
paper, though the Yedo government knew that the
contract could not be fulfilled. The next step in
the absurd program was that the Mikado should go
in triumphal procession to the shrine of Hachiman,
fifteen miles from Kyoto, and there present a sword
336 ZOfrDA THE SAMURAI.
to the Tycoon as a symbol of the bloody work to be
done, and as an emblem of his authority, as general
of the camp, to drive out the barbarians.
Such a proposal of course made the Tycoon sick,
and he kept himself at home, sending Ke*iki as his
proxy, who also was seized with the kind of ill-
ness which it was especially fashionable in Japan to
have when duty was disagreeable. Kelki publicly
descended from the shrine, and the ronins snorted
with rage. They denounced him in caustic and
obscene terms, and demanded that the Mikado in
person should take the field while they marched
in the van. The court had the utmost difficulty in
quieting their wrath.
The Choshiu clansmen, believing that the orders
of the Mikado could be and should be obeyed when
the date was definitely fixed, had left Kyoto. Re-
turning to their province they began the erection of
batteries on the heights overlooking the narrow
straits of Shimonose'ki, where the naval battle of
the Genji and He*ikd was fought in 1184. The
water is less than a mile wide, but commanding
the channel which runs like a mill-race in front of
the town itself, the new batteries swept a space
only a half-mile in width. In formidable redoubts
they mounted twenty-four and thirty-two pounders
and eight-inch American Dahlgren guns. They also
bought at Shanghai, pretending they were acting
for the Yedo government, a strong steamer, a brig,
and a bark, and armed them with brass cannon,
raising the red sun-flag of Japan at the peak, and
BLACK CLOUDS. 337
the Choshiu flag (three balls under a white bar) at
the fore. On the pennants in the redoubt was read
the legend, " In obedience to imperial orders." All
eager and thirsting for blood they worked night
and day to be ready to open fire on the first foreign
ship that passed into the straits on the date of the
twenty-fifth of June, as fixed by the Mikado's order.
As for Honda Jiro, having tasted to the full the
excitement and turmoil of politics and impending
war, and having seen enough of the bloody work
of fanatics to disgust him, and full of a new thirst,
he made his way, with his wife, to Yokohama to seek
knowledge of the "barbarians." He resolved to go
at once to the houses of the missionaries, to become,
if necessary, a servant in order to learn. Heartily
appreciating the noble patriots who, under the pre-
text of "driving out the aliens," were in reality
working for a united and regenerated country with
one ruler and one capital, he was yet heartily sick
of the narrow bigotry and brutal bloodthirstiness
of ignorant fanatics.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
LIKE THE BREATH OF A CLAM.
AS happy as a clam at high water " is the fisher-
man's account of himself when his fancy is
tickled for the moment by something pleasant and
he is filled with delight. But to the far Orientals
the idea seems to be reversed. The clams, which
are called " chestnuts of the shore," enter into rapt-
ure and day-dreams when the tide recedes. Then
from the open mouth of the giant clam rises a vapor
which creates a mirage of wonders. The clam's
breath forms all the gorgeous things which to human
imagination appear in dreams. Palaces of delight
are thus built in the air in unsubstantial majesty.
Until Perry and the American ships appeared off
the obscure village of Yokohama, or " cross strand,"
it lay on the bay of Yedo scarcely better known
than a chestnut dropped by chance into the forest,
or a clam living in the sandy mud of the sea-shore.
But if a farmer from the Echizen rice-fields had
looked upon the scene that revealed itself on the
first day of July, 1859, he would surely have thought
he was looking upon the deceptive mirage of the
clam's breath. Instead of the little hamlet of
thatch, wattle, and mud, with a few fishermen's
nets spread out to dry, and brown children wading
338
LIKE THE BREATH OF A CLAM. 339
in the water, there was a bustling town full of
quickly moving foreigners, busy merchants, carpen-
ters sawing and pounding as if for dear life or
double wages, porters carrying bundles, and muscu-
lar fellows pushing with guttural shouts their loaded
carts. Out in the bay a fleet of war and merchant
ships, flying a variety of flags, steam launches and
lighters, sail and row and scull boats by the hun-
dreds, made almost a floating city.
For days and weeks beforehand the government
of Yedo had been busy building a causeway run-
ning from Kanagawa over to the " cross strand,"
and in laying out streets and places for the consu-
lates and other buildings. Large jetties had been
built out into the water from which the ships could
unload their cargoes. Hundreds of merchants were
already on the ground. To build the grand new
houses hundreds of carpenters had been summoned
from Yedo and other cities. The phenomenon was
more like a growth of one of the American cities
on the prairies, for it required but a few days and
weeks for this wonderful treaty port to spring up
as by the touch of a wand.
On this day, July 1, 1859, there were Americans,
Englishmen, Frenchmen, and several other kinds of
Europeans, who were bargaining with and buying
from the Japanese, changing round dollars for square
coins, and each one endeavoring to get the best of
the other in mercantile exchange. The lacquered
cabinets, the choice silks, the carved ivories, the tea,
and all the varied produce of Japan were being
340 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
exchanged for what men brought from the United
States and Europe in their ships. Hundreds of
Japanese merchants were already in a high state
of glee because they thought they would now in-