the treaty if it seemed best, furnishes an explanation of many of the events of the next seven years. A treaty had been signed without the imperial approval, and in violation of the imperial instructions. This involved the whole question of foreign affairs in the turmoil of internal politics; it gave a rallying cry to the supporters of the Mikado and the opponents of the Shogunate—"Honor the Emperor and expel the Barbarians"; and it placed the Shogunate at once on the defensive.
Yet there was little else for Lord Ii to do.[1] He believed that the treaty should be signed, and he hoped to the day of his death to secure an ex post facto ratification by the Mikado. The tense situation at Yedo must also be recognized. On August 14, the Shogun died, but not until punishments had been meted out to the great lords who had opposed the appointment of Iemochi as heir. The new Shogun entered upon his administration with divided counsels instead of a strong Shogunate organization to oppose the rising influence of the Mikado. In August the Russian and British envoys arrived from Tientsin, as expected. The Dutch agent came up from Nagasaki, and in October the French envoy arrived. With all of them treaties were negotiated, based upon the Harris treaty and with slight modifications. And these treaties also were signed without the Mikado's approval.
It now became necessary for Lord Ii not only to secure the Mikado's sanction for the treaties, but also to curb the open opposition of the anti-Shogunate factions in Yedo and Kyoto. The court, encouraged by the division of counsels in Yedo, had secured an imperial decree ordering the tairo or one of the princes of the Three Houses to present himself in Kyoto with an explanation of the foreign situation.[2] Lord Ii could not go himself, and two of the three princes were undergoing domiciliary confinement for their opposition to the designated heir, while the third was a minor. His failure to obey the summons further embittered the hostile party. Finally, in October, he sent up Lord Manabe, of the roju (cabinet), to appease the court, and stamp out the opposition there. Soon after his arrival in Kyoto a number of samurai and townspeople who had taken part in the hostile propaganda were arrested and sent to Yedo, where they were imprisoned with a number arrested there. These were punished by a special court, some beheaded, and others banished. At Kyoto some of the kuge were confined and others
