ABSTRACT
THE SHOGUNATE WAR WITH THE CHOSHU CLAN.-By the co-operation of the two influential clans of Satsuma and Aizu order in Kyoto was maintained, and the political combination between the Imperial Court and the Shogunate, as planned by the Lord of Satsuma and the leaders of the Shogunate, was realized. But the combination was built upon lies, and neither party was faithful to the other, despite the fact that they were politically combined nominally. For instance, the Imperial Court knew very well it was impossible, in the political circumstances then existing in the world, to expel the foreigners out of Japan and to keep the country isolated from the rest of the world, as before, but it persistently urged the Tokugawa Shogunate to do so. On the part of the Shogunate, its leaders had no intention at all of taking such a drastic step as to expel foreigners out of Japan, nevertheless they accepted the order from the Imperial Court so to do, and some officials of the Shogunate were so honest and simple-minded as to propose to dispatch an official Japanese commission to the Western countries with a view of negotiating with their Governments regarding the order from the Imperial Court. Previous to this the Shogunate had dispatched Lord Ikeda and Lord Kawada to Europe to try to postpone the opening of the port of Yokohama to foreign trade. These delegates travelled to Shanghai on a French warship, and then took a French mail-boat to France. In their negotiations in Paris they attempted first to acquire French consent to Japan's isolation from the rest of the world, as before; but as the Japanese themselves were dubious about their proposal, naturally they could not persuade the French Government to accept it, and the outcome of the negotiations was in many respects contrary to their expectations. Not only that, but they were informed by the French Government that England, France, and America intended to combine their forces in an attack upon the clan of Choshu for having fired on their ships, but that if the Japanese Government itself punished the clan and insured the safety of Shimonoseki channel, the planned dispatch of the combined fleet might be stopped. If the Japanese Government wished it, France would give military aid in an expedition against Choshu to punish the clan for their attacks on the foreign warships at Shimono-
seki. By this time, however, Matsudaira Yamatono-kami had been appointed by the Japanese Government to negotiate with the representatives of the foreign countries in Japan on the general closing of Japanese ports to foreign trade, and the delegates in Europe, in view of the policy of their Government at home, concluded it would be useless for them to waste more time in Europe, and that the best thing they could do for their country was to avert the punitive expedition from Europe against Choshu. With this object in view they concluded a treaty of alliance with France, whereby the Japanese Government was to receive military aid from France in its expedition against the clan.
