JAPAN
will no longer be a question of trade but of tribute. Meanwhile we will require them to observe our laws strictly, so that we can govern them at will." There is here an audible note of sinister intention. But experience had shown that to set forth the real strength of foreign countries was only to rouse the indignation of the ignorant and haughty nobles in Kyōtō. From correspondence between the Tairō Ii and his friends in the Imperial capital, it appears that he was advised to simulate the policy of bringing foreigners under Japanese influence, and of employing for military purposes the wealth that would accrue from trade with them. In short, the despatches composed by him for the perusal of the Imperial Court must be read, not as indicating the genuine policy of the Yedo officials, but as presenting it in such a light as might placate the conservative element in Kyōtō. This deception was carried so far that an envoy subsequently sent to Kyōtō from Yedo depicted the Shōgun as actually hostile to foreigners, but disposed to tolerate them momentarily from considerations of expediency. The Foreign Representatives could scarcely have been expected to arrive at a correct interpretation of the situation through this maze of simulations and dissimulations, or to credit the Shōgun with intentions which his own ministers seemed anxious to disavow on his behalf.[1] In Europe, at the foreign
- ↑ See Appendix, note 29.
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