JAPAN
assurances the Emperor issued the following rescript:—
Amity and commerce with foreigners brought disgrace on the country in the past. Our ancestors were grieved by the fact. Should such relations be resumed in our reign, we shall be wanting in our duty towards our predecessors. Our will has been repeatedly made known on the subject. Manabe and Sakai have now come to Kyōtō to explain the facts, and it has been made evident that the purpose of the Shōgun and his officials is one with that of the Emperor. It is desirable that Kyōtō and Yedo should join their strength and plan the welfare of the Empire. We comprehend the difficulties of the situation, and sanction a postponement of the expulsion of foreigners.
The two Courts seemed to be now publicly pledged to an anti-foreign policy. Yet the issue of the rescript was regarded as a victory for Yedo. The Tairō himself knew, of course, that his opportunism had placed him in a position which might at any moment become impossible. He had sought to obtain the unconditional consent of the Emperor to the treaties, but finding that to insist would involve a final rupture between the sovereign and the Shōgun, he had accepted a compromise which not only represented him in a false light from the foreigners' point of view, but must also eventuate in serious embarrassment, unless preparations could be made to secure fresh concessions from Kyōtō before the real attitude of the Shogunate towards foreigners and the
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