When Commodore Perry negotiated his treaty in 1854, he supposed that he was holding relations with the government of the emperor of Japan. He died without knowing his error. The treaties negotiated with the European powers succeeding that of Perry were signed by their representatives under the same delusion. The real conditions of the Japanese system of government had been fully set forth several years before in publications at Canton,[1] but do not seem to have been brought to the attention of Perry and those who immediately followed him. It has been seen that the true relation between the Shogun and the Mikado began to dawn upon Harris in the midst of the tortuous negotiations in which he was involved, and soon thereafter they were fully understood. It is to be noted, however, that no other course was open to those early negotiators than the one pursued by them. The Shogun had in his hands the executive functions of government, and at the time the Mikado did not possess even the semblance of power.
Mr. Pruyn, both separately and in conjunction with his European colleagues, had repeatedly urged upon the Shogunate that it should obtain from the Mikado his approval of the treaties. In 1865 the Shogun and his ministers had taken up their temporary residence at Osaka, in order to be near the Mikado, and from that place they reported to the representatives of the foreign powers at Yokohama that the two heads of government were in friendly accord, and that the Shogun expected
- ↑ 2 Chinese Repository (1833), p. 319; 9 Ib. (1840), p. 500; 10 Ib. (1841), p. 10.
