MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS--MITO POLITICS
ADAMS and I set up housekeeping together in the First Secretary's house
at Yokohama, but I still kept on the Japanese _yashiki_ I had rented at
Yedo, and spent a great deal of time there watching the course of
events. From time to time I returned to Yokohama to report to my chief,
or else reported to him by letter. I was very busily occupied in making
translations from the official gazette that was now being published at
Kiôto and the popular newspapers that had started into existence at
Yedo. One of these contained documents of the highest interest, the
terms communicated to Keiki on April 27, the acceptance of which by him
involved his retirement to Mito on May 8, and the provisional
recognition of Kaménosuké (Tayasu) as the head of the Tokugawa clan. The
castle of Yedo was occupied by the imperialist forces, and the troops of
Satsuma, Chôshiû and other clans moved freely about the city. On June 23
I went up to Yedo for a three days' stay with Adams; I found there in
the local papers interesting communications which were probably
fictitious. Thus one, said to be written by a retainer of the Miya of
Chi-on-in, where the British Legation had been lodged in March, who
though regarding the expulsion of foreigners as perhaps difficult of
achievement, recommended that the organization of the army be diligently
taken in hand, in order that foreigners might be humbled and kept in
subjection. He also deprecated audiences being granted by the Mikado to
foreign diplomatic representatives. Another such paper professed to
represent the views of Chôshiû "irregular troops" and protested against
audiences being granted, because such friendly treatment of foreigners
would prevent the nation from affording hearty support to the Mikado
when the time should arrive for "expelling the barbarian." When I
mentioned these publications to my friend Katsu, he replied that a
council of court and territorial nobles (_kugé_ and _daimiôs_) was held
at Kiôto about the end of May, at which the former expressed the opinion
that a favourable occasion for expelling foreigners from the country had
now presented itself; their attempt to introduce Christianity at
Nagasaki might be alleged as the justifying ground of the measure. That
the _daimiôs_ were silent and that the Mikado, on being referred to,
took no notice of the proposal. Katsu was not very accurately informed,
but it is a fact that on May 14 the principal members of the government
and _daimiôs_ in attendance on the Mikado at Ozaka were summoned before
His Majesty at the Hongwanji, and were informed that Christianity was on
the increase at Urakami, a village near Nagasaki; he asked for their
opinion as to the best way of dealing with the matter, and it was
understood that their replies would be published in the government
gazette. Daté denied to Mitford that part of the story which said that
the meeting was for the purpose of considering whether an anti-foreign
policy might not be resorted to. It was difficult for us to obtain
accurate information, and probably every Japanese in the position of
Katsu or Daté experienced similar difficulty. I do not think however
that these documents ever saw the light, and the suggestion is very
natural that some of them were of such a character that it was
considered advisable to suppress them. The formal appointment of
Kaménosuké, a mere boy of six years of age, took place on June 19, and
the leading men of the Tokugawa clan waited on him the following morning
to present their felicitations. The situation and extent of the
territory to be left to the clan had not then been determined. Katsu
told me that Sanjô, who had arrived in Yedo on the 13th, was waiting for
the reinforcements expected from the south and west before announcing a
decision on these points. He gave me such statistics about the revenue
hitherto accruing to the Tycoon's government as showed, to his
satisfaction at least, that it would not be possible for the Mikado to
derive any income from forfeiture of that revenue, and there was danger
of his government falling to pieces for want of funds. Higashi-Kuzé, who
was then in Yedo, said to me that the revenue to be granted to the
Tokugawa would not be fixed until that part of the clan still in arms
against the Mikado was entirely reduced to submission. The war was being
vigorously prosecuted near Niigata in Echigo and in the neighbourhood of
Aidzu. I myself saw a considerable body of southern troops march into
Yedo on June 25, which effectually contradicted the hopes of the
Tokugawa people that the imperialists were weakening, and that some of
the western clans, in particular Higo, were likely to afford them
sympathy, if not actual support.
M. Roches finally left Yokohama on June 23, having been succeeded by M.
Outrey, with the intention of visiting Ozaka and Nagasaki on his way
home. His policy had proved a complete failure, as far as supporting the
Shôgun against the Mikado was concerned. He had succeeded however in
procuring for French engineers the construction of the arsenal at
Yokosuka and the engagement of a French military mission, which were
continued for several years after the establishment of the new
government.
Noguchi had an elder and a younger brother, the latter of whom had
joined the followers of the Tokugawa who after the withdrawal of Keiki
to Mito had gathered themselves together in the mausoleum enclosure at
Uyéno. Thence they issued forth at night and assassinated imperialist
soldiers from time to time. At last it was decided to attack them in
their stronghold, and early in the morning of July 4 an advance was made
which led to the destruction by fire of a considerable part of the city
lying between the outer moat and the main gate of Uyéno, and also of the
great temple building which occupied the centre of the enclosure. The
burial places of the Shôguns were not damaged. Rinôji no Miya, the
imperial prince who had always resided there in the character of abbot,
and whom the recalcitrant Tokugawa men talked of raising to the throne
as Mikado, was carried off by the survivors at the end of the day. The
fighting began at eight o'clock in the morning and was over by five
o'clock in the evening. During this affair I was at Yokohama, having
been kept there since my last visit to Yedo at the end of June. At the
beginning of that month Willis and I were in Yedo together for a few
days, while he attended to wounded men of the Satsuma and other clans,
such as Toda, Chôshiû and Bizen. The latter occupied Tôzenji, which had
formerly been the British Legation, and he recorded in his report the
fact of his being received and treated by the Bizen men with great
courtesy, which showed that they entertained no feelings of hostility
against foreigners, and regarded the death of Taki Zenzaburô as a just
retribution for the attack on foreigners at Kôbé in the previous
February. The condition of these wounded men was deplorable, for at that
time Japan had no experienced surgeons, and the treatment of gunshot
wounds was of a very amateurish character. There were but few cases of
sword-cuts. Subsequently some of the more urgent cases were at Willis'
suggestion sent down to Yokohama, and towards the end of July there were
176 patients in the building appropriated as a military hospital. Under
the previous government it had been a school for instruction in the
Chinese classics. Two-thirds of the number were Satsuma men, Chôshiû and
Tosa soldiers together made up a fourth. About 40 had been wounded in
the recent fighting at Uyéno, the others had received their injuries in
the expeditions to the north of Yedo against Aidzu. Willis' services
were so greatly appreciated that the minister was asked in October to
lend them again to the troops which had been fighting in Echigo. This
arrangement was facilitated by the fact that he was now vice-consul at
Yedo, a post which he was unable to take up because the opening of the
city to foreign residence and trade had to be deferred; and he was
relieved at Yokohama by Dr J. B. Siddall who had been appointed medical
officer to the legation early in January.
On the 29th July I went to Yedo with Adams, and spent four days in
visiting Okuma, Katsu and Komatsu, but though I must have reported to my
chief the result of the conversation with these persons of importance, I
have no record, except of voluminous translations from the Japanese of
anti-Christian pamphlets and political documents of all kinds. I went
alone to Yedo again on August 17, and next day called on Okuma, whom I
found in bed looking very ill. From him I learnt that fighting had
commenced on the 13th at Imaichi, near Nikkô. The imperialists were
victorious and were still advancing on Aidzu, 75 miles further. A
messenger who left Echigo on the 8th reported that Niigata was still
held by Aidzu men. Subsequently to the capture of Nagaoka by the
imperial troops more fighting had taken place, in which both sides lost
heavily. The imperialists were holding their ground, and expected
further reinforcements which would enable them to advance on Wakamatsu,
the capital of Aidzu, at the same time as the divisions from Shirakawa
and Akita. The Prince of Hizen, Okuma's own chief, had been urged by his
troops in Shimotsuké, where Imaichi is situated, to lead them against
the enemy, but his councillors (_karô_) had dissuaded him from taking
the field. Since the beginning of the year several constitutions had
been framed and issued one after the other, and about this time I was
engaged in translating the newest edition, which bore the date of June.
It showed marked traces of American political theories, and I have
little doubt that Okuma and his fellow-clansman Soyéjima, pupils of Dr
Verbeck, had had a considerable part in framing it. "The power and
authority of the _Daijôkan_ (_i.e._ government), threefold, legislative,
executive and judicial," was the wording of one article. By another it
was provided that "All officers shall be changed after four years'
service. They shall be appointed by a majority of votes given by ballot.
When the first period for changing the officers of government arrives,
half of the present staff shall be retained for an additional space of
two years, in order that there be no interruption of the public
business." In this we seemed to hear an echo of the "spoils system."
Okuma explained that the "executive" represented the executive
department in the United States Constitution, "consisting of the
president and his advisers," but that in fact it was the head of the
Shintô religion, finance, war and foreign departments. It is needless to
say that this state paper has long ago been superseded by the existing
Itô constitution of 1889. Then I went on to Katsu. He said that Sumpu
(now called Shidzuoka) was to have been formally handed over to the
Tokugawa family two days previously, but as a matter of fact it had
always formed part of their possessions. He took down from a shelf a
memorandum in which he had noted down some years before the names of the
ablest men in different clans. Many of them were already dead. Satsuma
and Chôshiû accounted for the largest number; of the Tokugawa clan there
were very few. All our friends of Satsuma, Chôshiû and Tosa were among
the number of those still living. While I was there Tsumagi Nakadzukasa,
who had given me a dinner a couple of months earlier, came in. He had
returned a few days before from Mito, where he had left Keiki, employing
his leisure in the composition of Japanese poetry, and not expecting to
be invited at present to take a share in the government. This was an
absolutely baseless notion on his part, if he in reality entertained it.
He had sent an affectionate message to Katsu, which Tsumagi appeared to
be afraid of delivering in my presence, but it proved to be nothing more
than a warning to care for his personal safety, which was said to have
been threatened by the hot-headed younger Tokugawa men. He said that
about 500 Mito men had gone to join Aidzu. The outcome of their
conversation was that there was nothing in the existing political
situation to cause them anxiety. The Tokugawa people were desirous of
getting Katsu to take office under Kaménosuké, but he was unwilling. I
asked him whether he had heard of a general feeling of dislike towards
the English. That he replied was an old thing, dating from the time when
Sir Harry used to advise the Shôgun's ministers to refrain from
attacking Chôshiû. The idea was no doubt fostered by Roches, who told
them that unless they asked the British Government to lend naval
instructors, the English would back up the _daimiôs'_ party, and the
want of confidence in British friendship was the reason why Dutchmen had
been engaged to bring out the "Kaiyô-maru," a ship of war constructed in
England for the Prince of Higo by Glover & Co. of Nagasaki, which had
come into the possession of the Mikado's adherents. I had heard from
Komatsu and Nakai that imperialist troops landed from the "Kaiyô-maru"
at Hirakata about the 5th or 6th August had gained a victory there over
a mixed force of Sendai men and Tokugawa _rônin_, and this was confirmed
by Tsumagi. On the 19th I walked as far as the Nihom-bashi, the bridge
in the centre of the city from which all distances were measured by
road, and from there to the huge hotel at the foreign settlement
constructed under the supervision of the Tokugawa government for the
accommodation of foreigners. The commercial quarter was very lively, the
streets were crowded, especially by _samurai_ belonging to the
imperialist forces, but the neighbourhood of the _daimiôs' yashikis_
below the castle was like a city of the dead. On the 20th I had a visit
from Kawakatsu Omi, an ex-commissioner for Foreign Affairs. He said that
the Castle of Sumpu was little better than a ruin, and that there were
no houses which could receive the Tokugawa retainers. He would like to
become a retainer of the Mikado (_chô-shin_); his family was not
originally in the service of the Tokugawa family, but was of more
ancient descent. He would be satisfied if he was made a minister of
public instruction. Midzuno Wakasa, a former governor of Yokohama, and
Sugiura Takésaburô, another Tokugawa man, would probably be employed by
the imperialist government to make all the arrangements with regard to
the foreign settlement at Yedo. Mimbu Taiyu, the younger brother of
Keiki, then still in France, was to be fetched home to succeed the late
Prince of Mito, who had died just about the time of Keiki's retreat
thither. About a hundred and thirty _hatamotos_ went up to Kiôto in
February and by surrendering to the Mikado, secured the possession of
their lands. He regretted that he had lost everything through not
following their example. The Tokugawa family were to retain 700,000
_koku_ of lands, which would enable them to keep a good many retainers,
but not all the 30,000 who had hitherto belonged to the clan as
_go-ké-nin_. My own Japanese escort, who belonged to the body of
_betté-gumi_ created several years before to act as guards and escorts
for the foreign legations, 300 of whom were to be kept together for that
purpose, all wanted to become Mikado's men.
On the 21st Komatsu and Nakai came to call on me. They said the troops
sent by way of Hirakata to Tanagura in Oshiû had been completely
victorious, and that more would speedily follow. In fact, while we were
talking, 500 Satsuma men marched past the house along the main-road by
the seashore in order to embark for the north. Kido, who had gone to
Kiôto to report the state of affairs at Yedo, was expected back soon.
They thought that a good deal of pressure would be necessary to induce
the very conservative Kiôto Court to bring the Mikado there. That
afternoon I called on Okuma, who was still very unwell, and, like most
of the Hizen people, not disposed to be communicative. From him I went
to Nakai, who showed me the draft of the state paper by which Gotô
overturned the late government in the previous October. It differed
slightly from the published copies, in that it contained proposals for
the engagement of French and English teachers of language, to get
military instructors from England, and to abolish the Tycoon and reduce
the Tokugawa clan to the same level as the others. These were all struck
out on reconsideration in order to avoid exciting a suspicion that Gotô
and his political allies were too partial to foreigners, and provoking
the hostility of the _fudai_ and _hatamotos_. He had also the drafts of
a letter from Higashi-Kuzé to Sanjô, in which, among other things which
strengthened the Aidzu resistance to the imperial troops, he reported
that foreign vessels anchored at Niigata and supplied the rebels with
arms and ammunition; and Higashi-Kuzé said that on his informing the
foreign representatives of this, they replied that they would put a stop
to the practice. I pointed out to Nakai that this must be a mistake. The
Ministers having issued proclamations of neutrality had nothing to do
with their enforcement, and that if the Japanese authorities wished to
put an end to this traffic, they had merely to notify to the foreign
representatives the blockade of the port of Niigata, and that a
vessel-of-war was stationed there to prevent communication with the
shore. This must have appeared a very strange doctrine to him, but
international law was a complete novelty in Japan in those days. He also
showed me the draft of Komatsu's letter to Kiôto about the treatment of
the Nagasaki Japanese Christians, embodying the arguments recently used
to him by Sir Harry, and advocating the adoption of milder measures.
Next day I went again to see Nakai, and found with him a very attractive
Satsuma man named Inouyé Iwami, who was greatly interested in the
development of the resources of the island of Yezo. He was full of
schemes for its colonization from Japan, and for the introduction of the
European system of farming under the supervision of a German named
Gaertner. He said that Shimidzudani, a young Court noble of about 25,
was to be governor of Hakodaté, and that he intended to make him learn
English. We discussed various leading personalities with considerable
freedom--I hinted that Higashi-Kuzé, in spite of his rank, was not the
best representative man to send to Europe as Ambassador. I thought Daté
or Iwakura or even Kansô of Hizen would do better. He replied that
Iwakura could not be spared. The most important and interesting
suggestion he made was that the Mikado must move to Yedo, and make it
his Capital, as otherwise it would not be possible to keep in order the
rebellious clans of the north. Both he and Komatsu, who joined us later
on at a restaurant on the river, approved of what I had suggested about
the blockade of Niigata.
On the 23rd I dined with Komatsu and Nakai to meet Okubo, the Satsuma
statesman who had suggested the removal of the Capital from Kiôto to
Ozaka earlier in the year. I have no doubt that the final decision to
make Yedo the centre of government, and to change its name to Tôkiô or
Eastern Capital was largely his work. He was very taciturn by
disposition, and the only information he vouchsafed was that Daté was to
go to Sendai to endeavour to persuade the _daimiô_, who was the head of
the Daté family and all its branches, to abandon the cause of Aidzu.
Komatsu talked a good deal about the English naval instructors who had
been engaged by the previous government, whom he evidently wished to get
rid of, and I encouraged him to dismiss them, for I felt it would not be
fair to insist on their keeping these officers in their service during a
period of civil war, when the British neutrality proclamation prevented
their making use of them. Komatsu told me that their plan was to retain
the services of the commissioned officers, but to send the petty
officers and seamen back to England.
About two months before this time some Higo men had called on me, and
said they were going north to Tsugaru. They argued that any other system
than feudalism was impossible in Japan. Now I heard that the Higo clan
had privately sent messengers to Wakamatsu to endeavour to effect a
reconciliation between Aidzu and the _daimiôs_ of the west and south,
but Aidzu replied that matters had gone too far, and the questions at
issue must be decided by the sword. I thought it likely that these
envoys from Higo were the men who had been to see me, as the ideas which
they entertained seemed to be similar.
The translation of the June Constitution, which superseded one that had
been promulgated in March, had given me a great deal of trouble. I was
unable to decide upon the best name in English for the second
department. It might be Imperial Council, Privy Council, or Cabinet. It
appeared that the officials of this department were merely secretaries
to the two prime ministers, and had no real executive authority; and
that the administration was divided into this nameless department and
the other four which followed it. This was Okubo's explanation. It was,
however, pretty evident that this constitution was not to be the final
one, and it seemed to me to contain in itself the elements of change.
There were so many appointments that were held by dummies of high birth,
while the real work was done by their underlings. The ancient ranks and
precedence had been practically done away with, and I could not help
thinking that the court and territorial nobles (_kugé_ and _daimiôs_)
would have to be struck out of the list of officials. There was hardly
one of them fit to occupy the place of head of a department, and yet
these appointments were confined to them, no commoner being eligible.
The 25th August was chiefly occupied with arrangements made with Nakai
for the opening of Yedo on October 1, by instructions from the chief,
the abolition of the absurd existing rules about passports for
foreigners proceeding to Yedo, and for ordering one of the naval
instructors there to buoy the channel. The ex-Tycoon's government had
arranged to have a huge hotel built for the accommodation of foreign
visitors, and the owners would have liked to let it, but it seemed
unlikely that any foreigner would undertake to run such an establishment
on his own account, and I advised that they should engage a man from
Yokohama to act as steward for the proprietors, make out the visitors'
bills and purchase the necessary wines and provisions.
It was evident that the imperialists were gathering their forces for a
combined attack on Aidzu, and as Nakai said, if they could not crush him
with their troops they now had in the field, they never would succeed.
An American sailing barque named the "Despatch" was hired for $3000 to
carry men to Hirakata. On August 25 I saw 200 men march through
Shinagawa to embark for the north; on the 22nd a large body of Chô-shiû
men arrived, and were billetted in Sengakuji, the temple in which the 47
Faithful Rônins were buried. And Nakahara Naosuké, a Satsuma man,
usually believed to be their admiral, but in reality an artillery
officer, had been sent to Echigo with four companies of artillery, and
great things were expected of him.
August 26 I went to see Katsu, and found him greatly relieved in his
mind as the result of a visit paid to him on the previous day by
Komatsu. He said that the Castle of Sumpu had been handed over to the
head of the Tokugawa clan on the 18th, but that the territories assigned
to him had not yet been vacated by their previous possessors, who were
very difficult to move, so that the lands at present available did not
exceed 80,000 _koku_ in extent. He hoped Kaménosuké, by which he, of
course, meant the guardians of the six-year-old child, would not go to
any great expense in building or in engaging crowds of retainers. He
said that the "Kaiyô-maru," flagship of Enomoto Idzumi, who commanded
the Tokugawa fleet, was supplied with provisions by that clan. Enomoto,
otherwise known as E. Kamajirô, was a naval officer who had been trained
in Holland.
I asked him whether the son of the late Prince of Mito was dead, or
whether he was to be set aside in favour of Mimbu Taiyu. On this he gave
me the following account of Mito politics, which had been a puzzle for
many years to foreign observers.
Noriakira, commonly called "the old prince of Mito," was the younger son
of Harutoshi, and his childhood's name (_zoku-miô_) was Keisaburô. His
elder brother Narinobu was the heir, and his portion as a younger
brother was only 200 _koku_. Being averse to society on account of his
deafness, he spent his time in wandering about the country and
acquainting himself with its actual condition, and no doubt then formed
the habits of simplicity and frugality which distinguished him in after
life. On the death of Harutoshi, Keisaburô's elder brother succeeded
him, but dying shortly afterwards, left the prince-dom vacant. By that
time two parties had gradually formed themselves in the Mito clan, one
which supported the ancient Kiôto policy of the author of the
Dainihonshi, the other which, fearing Keisaburô, had formed an alliance
with the Court of Yedo, at that time ably directed by Midzuno Echizen no
Kami, father of Idzumi no Kami until lately a member of the Go-rôjiû
(Council of State). The latter party schemed to set aside the claims of
Keisaburô in favour of an adopted heir from the then Shôgun's family. A
will of the late prince was however discovered, in which he declared his
desire that the claims of blood should be respected, and his brother
Keisaburô be appointed as his successor. The will was backed up by a
strong party known as the _Tengu-ren_, and Keisaburô became prince of
Mito. This was in 1834 when he was about 30 years of age.
The new prince was bent on carrying out certain reforms which the
luxurious habits of the age appeared to him to render necessary. With
this object he obtained a relaxation of the ancient rule which required
the head of the house of Mito to be a resident in Yedo, the more easily
because he had rendered himself obnoxious to the Go-rôjiû by the
ostentatious manner in which he seemed to reprove their pomp and luxury
by the simplicity of his own dress and manner of life, and retiring to
his province on the pretext that it was necessary for him to superintend
personally the government of the clan, he devoted his time to drilling
troops in the only fashion then known in Japan. Openly advocating the
supremacy of the Mikado, and non-intercourse with the western world
(_Kin-ô, jô-i_), he secretly introduced into the province every Dutch
scholar he could find, and made himself acquainted as far as was then
possible with the resources of European science. With incredible labour
he constructed from drawings contained in old Dutch books a frigate,
which long lay at Yokohama for the protection of foreigners, but had he
believed been since broken up. The report of his doings having been
brought to Yedo, it was represented to the Go-rôjiû that the drilling of
men and building of warships were merely preparations for carrying out
the traditional Mito policy, and that the prince was plotting rebellion.
In 1844 he was compelled to retire into seclusion, and he was succeeded
by his son, the late prince, then a mere boy.
In 1851 a Dutch man-of-war made its appearance at Nagasaki, and caused
no slight consternation at Yedo. It was said that the Nagasaki Dutchmen
were becoming restive, and that the ship was merely a precursor of the
English, who at that time bore the detestable reputation of being a
nation of pirates ready for any violence. Succeeding events proved to
the Shôgun's government that Japan was in danger of being forced into
relations with European Powers; the advent of Admiral Perry and his
squadron heightened their alarm to such a degree that they yielded to
the voice of public opinion, and inviting the old prince of Mito to Yedo
admitted him again into their councils.
In 1858 the Shôgun Iyésada died, and the old prince of Mito wished to
secure the succession to his seventh son, who having been adopted as
heir to the house of Shitotsubashi was in a legitimate position to
become the Shôgun's heir. It was at this moment that Ii Kamon no Kami
came into power, and though it is uncertain whether he had a previous
understanding with the Ki-shiû family that they should furnish an heir,
it is certain that he found them ready to comply; and his influence was
strong enough to force old Mito to retire a second time into private
life, and to order Echizen, Tosa and Uwajima, who had supported the Mito
claims, to resign their _daimiates_ to their sons. The assassination of
Ii Kamon no Kami a couple of years later by Mito men was the
consequence.
Other influences were then at work in the west. The Kiôto policy and the
expulsion of foreigners had been warmly espoused by Satsuma and
Chô-shiû. Hence the bond of union between them and the _Tengu-ren_
section of the Mito men, who on hearing that civil war had broken out at
Kiôto, made their appearance before the castle of the prince, and
demanded that he should carry out the clan policy. This action proving
unsuccessful they raised the standard of rebellion on Mount Tsukuba in
Hitachi, whence they were expelled by the forces of the Shôgun after
some hard fighting. Their fate among the mountains of Kaga was a
well-known tale. Takéda Kô-un-sai, who had been driven by the force of
circumstances to join them, and several hundred of his comrades were
beheaded at Tsuruga. The remainder of the _Tengu-ren_ fled to Kiôto,
where the ex-Tycoon, at that time still bearing the name of
Shitotsubashi, took them into his pay. Now that the revolution of the
previous January had so completely changed the face of affairs, these
men had returned to their native province, headed by Takéda Kinjirô, a
grandson of Kô-un-sai, and their political opponents, whom they styled
_Kan-tô_ (traitors), finding themselves on the losing side, and likely
to be in a perilous minority, since the _Tengu-ren_ were backed up by
the imperialists, had gone off to Echigo, to the number of some five
hundred. The _Tengu-ren_, out of gratitude to their former protector,
had determined to set aside the heir in favour of Mimbu Taiyu,
Shitotsubashi's younger brother, and had despatched agents to bring the
latter back from Paris.
That day Nagaoka, younger brother of Higo, arrived by sea with a large
number of retainers, and on the 29th the Prince of Awa marched in in
great pomp with about 600 men. On the 28th I had a great feast with
Komatsu, Inouyé Iwami and young Matsuné of Uwajima. One of the party
drank so much _saké_ that he lay down on the floor and went to sleep. In
half an hour's time he woke up quite sober, and was able to repeat the
process.
From September 8 to October 17 Adams and I were absent on a wild-goose
chase after the Russians who were reported to be occupying the northern
coast of Yezo, in the course of which H.M.S. "Rattler," in which we had
embarked, was wrecked in Sôya Bay. But as this was not concerned with
the progress of political events in Japan, it seems unnecessary to
occupy space in narrating our experiences. We were rescued by the French
corvette "Dupleix," Captain du Petit Thouars.