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and with his reception as the first foreign prince to visit Japan under the new order of things created by the Restoration Prince Iwakura had all to do. At the time he gracefully said that the Government had given to the reception of the English prince the most anxious consideration, inasmuch as it was of all things wished that the utmost friendship should be shown towards Foreign Powers, and the Government was ready to promote the formation of intimate relations even though in doing so they might have to sacrifice to some degree the ancient usages and ideas, so much so that the Emperor would be compelled to observe an altogether new etiquette in receiving Prince Alfred in a way that would be acceptable to Great Britain, but that it afforded intense gratification to reflect that this compliment would in the first instance be paid to an English prince, and would form some slight acknowledgment of the abundant proofs which Japan had received of the thorough good will of England and of the Government of Queen Victoria.

Interest will always attach to this first meeting of the Japanese Emperor with a member of another ruling house, for it signalised a vast alteration in the views of the Japanese aristocracy as well as the beginning of cordial relations between the two powers which have with the lapse of time grown closer and closer, and promise to be eternal. It is due to the memory of Prince Iwakura to show, as it has here been sought to do, that he most clearly appreciated the benefits which were certain to accrue from the maintenance of a mutual understanding between his country and ours, and did all that it was feasible in that epoch to do to cement the ties which were thus early growing up between nations destined to be one day absolutely allied.

In 1870 Prince Iwakura was despatched on an important mission to the lord of Satsuma province, being the bearer of a request from the Emperor that the daimio Shimadzu Saburo, then dwelling at Kagoshima, should come to Tokio and give his assistance in affairs of State, by taking his seat at the Grand Council. The Emperor wrote a special letter to Shimadzu,--who was virtually all powerful in Satsuma, though nominally the uncle and truly the father of the daimio of the clan,--to the effect that the Dainagon Tomiyoshi was charged to convey the expression of his Majesty's esteem and calling upon him to join in the great work of reforming the national institutions. To Iwakura the Imperial Commission was given in these terms:--

TO IWAKURA DAINAGON:

You will therefore proceed thither and worship in obedience to this desire of his Majesty.

SANJO SANETOMI: TOKUDAIJI SANENORI:

The Satsuma lord found an excuse for non-compliance at the time with the sovereign's command, though he ultimately went up to Tokio with a retinue of armed samurai, at a date when the wearing of two swords in the girdle had become an anachronism, and then made but a brief sojourn there.

The next mission undertaken by Prince Iwakura was that alluded to at the outset,--the visit to America and Europe.

With him, as Vice-ambassadors, were four of the heads of departments of State, and a number of Secretaries and clerks belonging to the several departments represented. The dominant idea seems to have been that the chiefs should form a council of five among themselves, and be able to adequately represent the views of their sovereign. The prince had some months prior to the leadership of this mission being conferred upon him been made Minister for Foreign Affairs, and what was a most exceptional thing at that time, indeed an altogether unprecedented honour, the Emperor paid him a visit at his own residence in Tokio, and thus addressed him:

"I have purposely called on you to thank you for your zeal in my service. Ever since the Reform you have exerted yourself day and night to secure the happiness and tranquillity of the empire, and the present state of prosperity has principally depended on you."

When Prince Iwakura was chosen to lead a mission to the Western Powers it is to be inferred from this commendatory utterance of the sovereign how great was the importance that was attached to its successful fulfilment, and there can be no doubt that much was anticipated from it in the shape of compliance by the Governments to which it was accredited with a desire that the Japanese Government had very much at heart, and that was the revision of the treaties entered into twelve to fifteen years before with foreign powers,--a revision which it took many years to bring about but was at last amicably effected in 1894.

The Embassy left Yokohama by a Pacific Mail Company's steamer in December 1871, and it was absent altogether a year and nine months. Everywhere it was well received, but the results were not quite satisfactory, for when it returned the vexed question of extra territoriality was no nearer a settlement in accordance with Japan's views than when it set out.

On his return Iwakura found a strong party in the Government in favour of inflicting punishment on Korea for wrongs and insults that it was declared the nation had sustained at the hands of the people of the neighbouring peninsula. As Korea was tributary to China, this meant going to war with the Chinese, and Iwakura was profoundly opposed to an adventure of this character in the then state of the Empire's naval and military forces. A split in the Government followed, and the members of the war party, which included Goto Shojiro, Itagaki Taisuke, Saigo Takamori, Soyeshima, and Yeto Shimpei, all resigned, their places in the administration being taken by Ito Hirobumi, Katsu Awa-no-kami, Okubo, and Terashima.

He died in 1881 deeply mourned by the whole of the Japanese people, who recognised in him perhaps more than in any other statesman of his generation the guide and counsellor of the monarch at critical periods of the nation's history, and he undoubtedly was honoured by his sovereign with a close personal friendship such as rarely falls to the lot of a subject under any conditions, in Japan or elsewhere.

PRINCE SANJO SANETOMI

The Ministry of the Restored Rule was soon after its institution reorganised so as to give equal representation to the four leading clans that had been directly concerned in the revival of direct imperial control--viz. Satsuma, Choshiu, Tosa, and Hizen. Up to the year 1886 the Dai-jo-kwan was a separate body, distinct from the Council of Ministers or heads of departments. But in that year the two Councils were fused into one, and became the Cabinet as it exists at the present day. In Japan, it will be remembered, the Cabinet is appointed directly by the sovereign, and is entirely independent of any political party that may be predominant in the Diet. The Ministry at the outset of the Meiji era included those energetic reformers, Ito Shunsuke and Inouye Bunda both Choshiu Samurai, and in Prince Sanjo they found an able and ardent supporter of their views. His influence was apparent in the tolerant attitude of the Court party towards the policy of the new government, and as the motto of the administration was then, and still is, "a strong Japan, for defence, and if need be, for aggression," it is not easy to see in what respect the Imperialistic conservatism of the Kioto nobles was stultified by the doctrine enunciated in the Council Chamber at the capital. The retention of Japan for the Japanese was the object sought by both sides, but while one would have attempted to realise it by the expulsion of the subjects of the Occidental Powers, the other party in the State was willing to believe that Japan's safety and territorial integrity were best to be preserved by the assimilation of those arts and sciences that had given to the Western peoples their capabilities of waging successful warfare, and of thereby imposing their will upon others. The policy which commended itself to Japan at that epoch was certainly not inspired by a mere love of change, nor by any pronounced preference for foreign ways, nor was it ascribable to a passion for learning, in the abstract, but it was directly prompted by a well-grounded political incentive to action that has never lost its hold on the minds of Government or people, and is indubitably as strong to-day as when its principles were first assented to by the nation at large, close upon forty years ago.

Prince Sanjo was at the head of the government throughout the troublous period when it became necessary, in order to vindicate Japan's rights, to send an expedition to Formosa, led by Marquis Saigo, and at the far more anxious stage when rebellion arose in Satsuma and it was imperative to prosecute the war against Saigo Takamori and his followers with vigour, lest the spread of principles opposed to the Government policy should ultimately render its position insecure. Throughout it was Prince Sanjo who presided over the deliberations of the Cabinet, and who enjoyed the complete confidence of his imperial master. A great demand arose for the revision of the treaties into which Japan had entered with foreign nations, at a time when she practically had no choice but to throw open her ports to over-sea trade. Year after year this momentous problem, how to procure for the country adequate recognition of its paramount rights, while it chafed under the claims of foreigners to enjoy the immunities afforded by extra-territorial jurisdiction, obtruded itself, but it was not until the Dai-jo-kwan had given place to a Cabinet in 1886 that a satisfactory stage leading to revision was entered upon, and then Prince Sanjo had ceased to be Premier.

On being relieved of his office of Dai-jo-dai-jin Prince Sanjo went nominally into retirement, but his services as an adviser to the Crown were not infrequently called for, until his health failed him in 1889.

His decease took place in February 1891, of influenza, and just before his death the Emperor visited him and conferred on him, as an old and faithful servant, the highest rank that it is possible for a Japanese subject to attain, and which had not been bestowed by an Emperor of Japan on anyone since the Eleventh Century.

COUNT INOUYE KAORU

The men of Choshiu, some fifty or more in all, who fell in the memorable fight were interred in a special cemetery situated on rising ground in the rear of the town, and the graves are still tended with that loving care which is invariably bestowed everywhere in Japan on the burial-places of relatives and friends. The Frenchmen,--it is said there were three,--who were killed aboard the French warships, were taken ashore on the Moji side for interment, and at a later date the French admiral visited the spot, and, according to report, discovered that the graves had been wilfully desecrated, indeed,--as it was said,--wholly destroyed. That some misapprehension must have existed on this point is certain, since the writer was conducted by a farmer, who dwelt near Moji point, to the spot where the three sailors had been buried, and to all appearances the graves, though surrounded by dense vegetation, were intact. This was in the year 1873, when a submarine cable was being laid across the Straits to form part of the Japanese telegraph system. The farmer knew that those who fell on the side of the allies lay in that secluded spot, and expressed his regret that being a poor man he could do nothing to show his respect for those who had perished at the post of duty. The undergrowth was cleared away, and the soil had been purposely left untouched by rake or hoe. This was more than thirty years ago, and it is impossible for the writer to say whether or not some suitable memorial to the French victims of the battle has since been set up at the place indicated, but in any case there must still be people dwelling near it who know where the interments took place, as the story of the combined attack on the forts and the incidents of the struggle is told with zest by father to son, and on the Shimonoseki side the festival of the dead is regularly held at the tiny graveyard at the back of the main street.

Only a little while before the date of the Shimonoseki bombardment the Choshiu retainers at the baronial mansion in Kioto had engaged in hostilities with the Shogun's supporters at the capital, and so close to the imperial palace were the combatants that the walls were repeatedly struck by bullets. This was during the lifetime of the Emperor Komei, and the now reigning sovereign was then only ten years of age, this early experience of hearing shots fired in anger, and particularly in the immediate vicinity of the imperial palace, though indicative of the pitch to which clan jealousy and animosity had at that period attained, being such as his Majesty was not likely to forget.

As to Choshiu, the sequel to the attack made by the clansmen on the Shogun's troops was that the Emperor Komei issued an edict deposing the lord Mori and directing the Shogun, as Commander-in-chief of the forces, to punish him for his rebellious behaviour. The Choshiu clan thus found itself in a position of antagonism to the imperial house, as well as to the Bakufu, and as at the same moment it was assailed by the combined foreign fleets at the Straits of Shimonoseki, in consequence of its attacks on passing vessels, the head of the clan was driven to the necessity of defending both flanks as best he could. He contrived to stall off the assault of the Shogun's troops for the few days that he was engaged at Shimonoseki, where his forts were demolished by the fire of Admiral Kuper's men-of-war and their allies, and when that trouble was past he raised the standard of rebellion in real earnest and defied the Shogun openly. Discipline and drill served the men of Choshiu well, and they succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on the forces of Iyemochi, who led his men in person. In this encounter between the forces of Choshiu and the Shogun the Satsuma clan stood aloof, possibly as the result of private negotiations between the clan leaders, for there were at this time several persons making their way to the front who were destined at no very remote date to play the most important parts in the affairs of the nation. On the Choshiu side were Ito and Inouye, on the Satsuma side were Saigo and Okubo, all men whose names will never fade in the history of their country's emancipation from feudalism. The leaders of the two clans were united, moreover, by a bond of common interest, inasmuch as all desired to bring about the abolition of the Shogunate and secure the revival of direct imperial rule by the Emperor himself. The future Marquis Ito and Count Inouye had at this time only just returned from their first visit to Europe, as already recorded, and they lost no time in impressing upon their fellow-clansmen of Choshiu the advantages of military preparation for the coming struggle. The spirit of loyalty to the clan with which they were animated prompted them to ensure, as far as was practicable, that it should be in a position to do itself justice in the final effort which was then about to be made to restore the personal authority of the Ten-shi.

Inouye Bunda was invested with the control of the Choshiu forces in the field, and many engagements took place in the region bordering the Inland Sea. After the death of the Shogun Iyemochi in 1866, however, the encounters between the Bakufu troops and those of Choshiu became less frequent, and there was practically a truce during the later months of the year 1867, the situation in October being such as to prompt the Shogun Keiki, whose tenure of the office had been but brief, to prefer a request to be relieved of duties which circumstances had made it all but impossible for him to fulfil. The lord Mori made his submission to the Court, at Kioto, but the hostility of the clan to the Bakufu remained latent, notwithstanding its temporary suppression, and when, at the close of December 1867, the supremacy of the southern clans was established at the capital, followed by the departure, on the 3rd of January, of the Shogun Keiki for Osaka, the Choshiu clan was prepared to play a very active part in the restoration of direct imperial rule in substitution for that delegated authority which the Tokugawa house had so long wielded.

But Inouye Bunda had shown capacity of a different kind to that which had so far been demanded of him as a military leader, and he at once took his place as one of the most well-informed members of the new administration, particularly on matters of finance, which he had made his especial study.

"It is our purpose to persist in our efforts to increase the Reserve Fund and bring it up to an amount which may one day prove to be of great service to the financial administration of the country. It is, therefore, our earnest prayer that not only during the time that we are in office, but down to a hundred years yet to come, in pursuance of the plan here laid out, efforts shall be made year after year to augment the fund, thus protecting and advancing the prosperity of the nation, in order to establish the foundation of popular confidence in the national currency, and furthermore that the fund shall positively never be spent for expenditures under the General Account.

Should the Cabinet find our scheme acceptable, we would most humbly beg for the immediate sanction of his August Majesty, with the counter signatures of all the Ministers of State. With these prayers we hereby submit this memorandum to the careful consideration of the Government."

From that time forward the Government never neglected any opportunity of augmenting the Reserve Fund, and when at a later date the change to the adoption of a gold standard was in preparation the fund which had been so wisely initiated in 1872 was of the greatest help in partly paving the way for the resumption of specie payments by Count Matsukata.

It would be very difficult to set forth in detail the many services rendered to his country by Count Inouye in the domain of finance, but enough has been adduced already in the way of proof that his guiding hand was of immense value to the nation in the critical period which followed on the Restoration of Imperial Rule, and for many years after while the national finances were being gradually established on the substantial footing they have in later years been shown to possess. It was as Foreign Minister in several administrations that Count Inouye also distinguished himself, having held that portfolio at various times during the existence of the Dai-jo-kwan, which only gave place to the Cabinet in 1886. It was while he was Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1882 that a systematic attempt was made to bring about an amicable adjustment of the outstanding questions relative to the position of foreigners in Japan, a conference of representatives of the treaty powers meeting at Tokio to seriously consider revision in all its bearings. Minister Inouye, who had some time previously changed his name from Bunda to Kaoru, had throughout held it to be impossible for the nation to preserve the attitude which the advocates of an exclusive policy had sought to maintain towards the Occidental powers, and at the conference he boldly stood up for the wholesale opening of the ports to foreign trade, with a corresponding abandonment of consular jurisdiction on the part of the Western nations, in recognition of the Emperor of Japan's sovereign rights over every foot of Japanese soil. The agreements to be entered into on this give-and-take basis were to be valid for twelve years, though there was a suggestion that the tariff, and the regulations in general as to foreign commerce, should be subject to alteration at the end of eight years. Some of the foreign delegates were dissatisfied with this proposal, while on the side of the Japanese there was no little repugnance evinced even in high quarters to the idea of throwing the whole country open to trade. There were other difficulties, too, in regard to the period that should elapse before the provisions respecting the admission of foreigners to the interior should come into force, and the suggested appointment of foreign judges to the Japanese Courts after the style of the Mixed Courts in China. Finally the conference broke up without reaching any conclusions on these knotty questions, though it was something to reflect upon that a genuine effort had been made on both sides to remove the obstacles to a better understanding. In 1884 there were clear indications that the Foreign Minister's policy was gaining ground, symptoms of a disposition to welcome foreigners being manifested where previously there had been violent antagonism to the project.

In 1885 the war party in Japan conceived the notion of an alliance between their country and France against China, there being at the time extreme bitterness of feeling between the French and the Government of Peking, which culminated in the bombardment of Foochow. The reversal of Japan's traditional policy towards the neighbouring empire which an alliance of the kind at that moment would have entailed was fully appreciated by Japan's Foreign Minister, who had by this time been raised to the peerage as Count Inouye. It was by his tact that Japan was enabled to steer clear of complications at this juncture, and to retain her influence in affairs at the Chinese capital.

In 1890 Count Inouye became a Lord-in-waiting, which office had never previously been filled by other than a member of the old Court nobility, and in bestowing this unusual honour on one of the Elder Statesmen the Emperor gave signal proof of his appreciation of Count Inouye's matured judgment and ability.

During the subsequent war with China Count Inouye continued to be a leading member of the Government, but in 1897 he was in opposition to the Coalition Cabinet of Counts Okuma and Itagaki, and when that was succeeded by the Administration of Marquis Yamagata he still remained out of office. But towards the close of the year 1900 a ministerial crisis arose which resulted in the overthrow of the Yamagata Cabinet and its place was taken for a brief space of time, scarcely seven months in all, by a Ministry of which Ito was the Premier. Contrary to expectation, the post of Finance Minister in this was allotted to Viscount Watanabe, who had previously served as Vice-minister with both Count Inouye and Count Matsukata, though it was commonly believed that Count Inouye had been invited to accept the post. Whatever may have been the real situation at this time, it is a fact that there had been eleven different Cabinets between December 1886 and the end of 1900, the collapse in every case having been due to internal dissension rather than to external pressure, and this may be accepted as an indication of the difficulty which was experienced by statesmen of even the front rank to unite on a general scheme of domestic as distinguished from foreign policy. In relation to foreign affairs the patriotism of the nation has ensured a reasonable continuity, but on home questions there has frequently been wide divergence of opinion. It was generally expected that in May 1901, when the last Ito Cabinet went out of office, Count Inouye would be successful in forming a Ministry, or that he would join a Ministry with Marquis Saionji as Premier, on the basis of the Ito party. But in the end the Cabinet of Count Katsura was established, and it continued until January 1906 to hold office, having guided the destinies of the nation with conspicuous success through the long and anxious period of the war against Russia.

Although he has not held a portfolio, therefore, in any recent administration, the influence of Count Inouye is always felt and his wise and sure guidance sought for in times when the financial outlook in Japan is more than ordinarily complicated, as was the case shortly before the formation of the existing Government in 1901. There seems to be a consensus of opinion in the country that among the "Elder Statesmen" three in particular are most conversant with financial matters,--Counts Inouye, Okuma, and Matsukata,--and to one or other of them it always turns in the hope of being extricated from its difficulties and relieved of its anxieties in a monetary crisis. In business circles the prestige which Count Inouye enjoys has never waned, from the period of his earliest assumption of the duties appertaining to the office of Finance Minister, and his views on those matters with which he has been more particularly connected during his long and diversified career, as soldier financier, and diplomatist will never cease to command the highest respect and attention of the nation.

VISCOUNT OKUBO TOSHIMICHI

One of the most trusted of his Majesty's advisers, Okubo Toshimichi was the Minister who was mainly responsible for the vast administrative reform symbolised by the public appearance of the Emperor Mutsuhito and the removal of the imperial court from Kioto to Yedo, renamed Tokio. Okubo held firmly to the conviction that the distinction which had for three centuries been recognised, in pursuance of the Shogunal policy, between the feudal chieftains and the court nobility must forthwith be abolished, as a first step towards the re-establishment of that direct personal rule which had existed prior to the usurpation of the imperial prerogative by the Ashikaga house, and by the Tokugawa family which followed it at Yedo. Okubo Toshimichi was a Satsuma samurai of good family, and though the Kagoshima clan has many a name inscribed on its roll of honour there is none that possesses for his countrymen a greater power to stir the emotions or awaken grateful memories than that of the subject of this memoir. Twenty-eight years ago, on a lovely summer morning, as he was on his way to attend a meeting at the imperial palace, in an unfrequented part of the highway at Kojimachi adjoining the castle moat, his carriage was stopped by some students, as they seemed to be, who a moment before had been sportively thrusting at one another with branches of the flowering cherry , the better, as the sequel showed, to lull the suspicions, if he entertained any, of the coachman on the box. The Minister, unarmed, finding his carriage stopped, descended and faced his assailants, who thereupon stabbed him to death, and at the same time slew the coachman who loyally sought to aid his master.

When brought to trial the culprits declared, however, that they killed the Minister because he was a traitor to his clan. How utterly unfounded and altogether preposterous was the accusation will be evident from the brief story of his meritorious career which follows. He left a record of unswerving patriotism, of bold and energetic administration of national affairs, of far-seeing and well-judged advocacy of all that could be deemed beneficial to his country in the political and economical systems of other lands, which he had made from the first his especial study. Okubo Ichi-o, or Toshimichi, was born in 1836, and from a comparatively early age acquired no little fame as a student of Chinese literature. He sought and obtained from the beginning sound knowledge of the affairs of the outside world that to most of his countrymen was in those days a sealed book. Foreigners, with Okubo, were never the enemies of Japan, but people with whom, on the other hand, it should be to the national interest to cultivate a permanent friendship. That their good will should be secured for the reformed system of government which he foresaw would ultimately have to replace that of the oppressive Baku-fu,--an administration based upon an anachronic feudalism,--was always with him a matter of real concern, and to obtain it he devoted his whole energies. His zeal and daring led him to urge on the sovereign the desirability of his assuming the reins of active government, and to put forward in the first instance a definite proposal to the effect that the seat of government should be transferred to Osaka, the seaport only twenty-seven miles distant, where the magnificent castle built by Hideyoshi on the banks of the river Yodo might be made a fitting residence for the monarch.

In his truly remarkable Memorial to the Emperor he pointed out that no such revolution as that which had just taken place had ever previously occurred since the creation of Japan. The Memorial was dated March 1868, and in alluding to it here my endeavour is to give precedence to the Minister's first great effort in the direction of progress, and with which it is inevitable that his name should be for ever associated. Okubo proceeded in his Memorial to argue that the time was peculiarly opportune for the fulfilment of the great undertaking of restoring the ancient constitution of the Ten-shi's realms, a task which he held had only been half accomplished by the defeat at Fushimi of the Bakufu's forces. "If," he wrote, "the Imperial Court should seek only a temporary advantage, instead of insuring permanent tranquillity, we shall have a repetition of the old thing, like the rise of the Ashikaga after the destruction of the Hojo. We shall be rid of one traitor only to have another arise. The most pressing of your Majesty's pressing duties at the present moment is not to look at the Empire only, and judge solely by appearances, but to consider carefully the actual state of the whole world,--to reform the inveterate and slothful habits induced during hundreds of years,--to give union to the nation,--so that the whole Empire shall be moved to tears of gratitude, and both high and low appreciate the blessing of having a Sovereign in whom they can place their trust."

The memorialist went on to recommend very strongly a transfer of the Capital to Osaka, as being the fittest place for the conduct of foreign relations, for enriching the country and strengthening its military powers, for adopting successful means of offence and defence, and for establishing an army and navy. He was anxious that the young Emperor, then only in his sixteenth year, should set out on the journey to Osaka without loss of time. But there were cogent reasons why the new organisation should be centred in the city that had for centuries been the recognised headquarters of the executive, and Tokio, the present capital, was ultimately fixed upon as the future seat of the Central Administration.

Okubo was one of the Iwakura Embassy which set out from Tokio at the close of 1871 and visited the United States of America, Great Britain, and the various countries of Europe, ostensibly to announce to the powers what sweeping changes had been effected in Japan from the date of the present ruler's accession in 1867. The Embassy was headed by Prince Iwakura, and associated with him in addition to Okubo Toshimichi were Ito Hirobumi, Kido Takakoto, and Yamaguchi Naoyoshi. Only one leading member of that mission, the Marquis Ito, now survives. The especial aim of the ambassadors was to procure revision of the treaties with the Western nations which had been entered into by the Government of the Shogun, and under which compacts the position of Japan was considered to be that of a country under the tutelage of America and the European States. There was, however, a duty imposed upon the Mission that was of far greater importance to the future of the Japanese nation even than those already specified, for it was entrusted with the task of collecting information in all quarters regarding foreign institutions, methods of government, laws and their enforcement, and of gathering at first hand every detail needful to the adaptation of the systems of the Occident to the requirements of the Far East. Although at that time a revision of the treaties proved to be impossible of attainment, the mission was in other respects of immense service to Japan, and Okubo, for one, became as fully convinced by what he saw in the West of the advantages of representative government as were those among his colleagues who had previously seen something of its results. Ito, for example, had been to this country before, and so had Hayashi Tadasu, as he then was, the Secretary to the Mission, who had studied for some time in a private college in England. The work of the embassy was most conscientiously carried out, and its members journeyed here and there in search of opportunities to add to their stock of knowledge on every point that conceivably might be of value to the departments of State with which they were for the most part individually as well as collectively identified. In the new administration at Tokio, immediately on the mission's return, Kido was entrusted with the portfolio of Home Affairs, Ito Hirobumi became Minister of Public Works, and Okubo received the appointment of Gaimukiyo, or Minister for Foreign Affairs. One effect of the visit of the Japanese Ambassadors to the European capitals was speedily visible in the withdrawal of the garrison of British troops which had for years been maintained at Yokohama, the ability of the Imperial Government to protect the foreign residents at the ports opened by treaty to foreign trade having been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the British Government, and the last of the guard of marines which had been quartered on the Bluff in Yokohama took their departure early in 1873.

It is especially noteworthy that the Iwakura Embassy had, even at that early period, been quick to discover traces of the deeply aggressive designs of Russia, and in a memorandum drawn up by Okubo appear the memorable words:--"Russia, always pressing southward, is the chief peril" for Japan. The aim of Japanese statesmanship, from that time forward, became of necessity the safeguarding of the national interests in the adjacent peninsula, and there was a strong party in the Government in favour of going to war there and then in defence of the rights of Japan. But in their travels in Europe the ambassadors had learned enough to convince them that to enter at that stage on a contest with the Colossus of the North would only be disastrous for their country, and the peace advocates, foremost among whom were Prince Iwakura and Okubo Toshimichi, carried the day. Unhappily the stealthy advance of Russia and the question of how to counteract it produced such a divergence of opinion that the newly formed government was torn asunder and the split had consequences for the nation at large which could never have been expected at the time. Among the ministerial advocates of a forward policy at that date were Saigo Takamori and Itagaki Taisuke, who are elsewhere referred to in this volume, and they, in company with Yeto Shimpei and others, resigned office.

On the evening of the sixth month of the fifth year of An-sei era when I went to see the Tairo, Baron Ii, to inform him of my departure to Kioto on the following day, I told him that as to the appointment of the Shogun's heir, I had heard it directly from the Shogun himself; but as to the question of foreign affairs, I said that I had embodied my opinion in a poem, and asked him if that were his view. I had the poem written on my pocket paper, and presented it to his consideration. He carefully perused it and said that he approved of it, instructing me at the same time to act up to the spirit of that poem. Now I have the pleasure of appending that poem here as an evidence that the Baron was in favour of opening the country to intercourse with foreign nations. The poem reads:

"However numerous and diversified the nations of the earth may be, the GOD who reigns over them all can never be more than one.

OKUBO ICHI-O."

The Regent himself, like Okubo, with whose poetry he was in sympathy, fell a victim to the assassin's dagger, as is elsewhere related in detail, and at the time alluded to in the foregoing note the country was so torn by clan dissensions and was so agitated by the continued rivalry of the Jo-I and Kai-koku factions that Ii Kamon-no-kami was prompted to express himself in verse which is elsewhere translated as:--

Rent as the wave-beat rocks on Omi's strand My broken heart, for our beloved land!

It is always believed in Japan that it was on Okubo's advice that the sovereign, then only sixteen years of age, resolved to appear in public, a departure from established custom which foreshadowed the vast changes that his subjects were to witness within the ensuing few years. Okubo strenuously urged the advisability of assembling the territorial lords to hear from the monarch's own lips the plans that had been formed in council for the future administration of the empire, and at the memorable meeting which took place in April 1869, with this object in view the Emperor declared himself in favour of the establishment of a deliberative representative body empowered to discuss the management of national affairs, and he also pronounced his intention of providing adequately for the defence of the country by land and sea, and of doing away with all pernicious customs while securing to the individual perfect freedom and liberty of conscience. The hand of Okubo was seen in the regulations for the conduct of debates in the Kogisho, or first deliberative assembly, and he was ever a trusted adviser of the sovereign on matters of both internal and external policy. In the Ko-mon, or advisers of the So-Sai, whose office was almost identical with that in later years of Prime Minister, Okubo found able and willing coadjutors, and it was in no slight measure due to his personal capabilities that the new administration was firmly established at Tokio in 1868.

A memorable mission was that undertaken by Okubo to Peking in 1874. The savages of Formosa had been guilty of most inhuman conduct to some shipwrecked Japanese fishermen, and China, at that time claiming the island as part of her empire, had been appealed to in vain with regard to their punishment or as regards the needful security against cruel practices in the future. Failing redress in any other shape, Japan had despatched an expedition on her own account to the island, and though the Japanese troops had encountered many and great difficulties, owing to the savages retreating to their mountain fastnesses whither it was extraordinarily hard work to pursue them, in the end they had been severely handled by General Saigo Tsukumichi,--afterwards Marquis--and some sort of guarantee exacted for their better behaviour towards shipwrecked persons of whatever nationality in the days to come. China, however, had become not a little alarmed at the progress that the Japanese forces were making with the subjugation of the barbarians, a task that she had not herself thought it worth while to essay, and made proposals for the prompt withdrawal of the invading army. Okubo went to Peking armed with plenary powers to arrange terms, and he arrived there in September 1874. The Chinese wanted to treat with him on the basis of reimbursing Japan for the outlay she had incurred in the expedition, which was what Japan herself desired, and of guaranteeing that there should be sufficient control instituted over the savages in future to ensure that no repetition of the inhuman acts should occur. But the negotiators at Peking sought to cut down the sum-total of the indemnity, and to avoid giving any written pledge as regards the time to come. Okubo, however, was very firm on these points, and told the other side plainly that Japan would not place confidence in his assurances unless they were supported by documentary evidence that the settlement was of the character which he might describe it to have been. "Of course I do not covet the indemnity," he declared, "but if I cannot explain the steps to be taken and the amount of compensation for expenditure to be paid, with written proof to support my statements, how can I in honour report my mission to the Emperor as having been completed?"

Finding the Chinese to be still reluctant to comply with these terms, he prepared to return to Japan, but at that juncture Prince Kung hurried to the British Legation and besought Sir Thomas Wade to intercede. In the end a treaty was drawn up and signed, between Okubo and Kung, acting on behalf of their respective sovereigns, whereby it was agreed:--

Article I: that the enterprise of Japan was a just and rightful proceeding to protect her own subjects, and China did not designate it as a wrong action,--

Article II: that a sum of money should be given by China for relief of the families of the shipwrecked Japanese subjects maltreated. Japan having constructed roads and built houses, etc.: in that place, and China wishing to have the use of these for herself, she agreed to make payment for them, the amount to be fixed by special agreement.

Under a special clause it was agreed that 100,000 taels should be paid to the families of the murdered men, and that in respect of the roads and buildings the sum paid should be 400,000 taels. Japan was to withdraw all her troops, and China was to pay the half-million taels agreed upon by the 20th December following, in that thirteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tung-Chi.

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