inspired by a treacherous purpose on the part of the Kyōtō officials who had endorsed it, and on the part of the Satsuma chief whose troops formed a large part of the expeditionary force. Preparations were therefore made for a second attack upon Chōshiu, the Shōgun himself leading his army. It was confidently believed that the rebellious clan would submit without a struggle, and that the expedition would be nothing more than a pleasant picnic. Possibly that forecast would have proved correct had a semblance of earnestness been imparted to the operations. But the army of invasion halted at Osaka and envoys were sent to pronounce sentence upon Chōshiu. These proceedings soon assumed a farcical aspect. On the one side, penal proclamations were solemnly addressed to the offending clan; on the other, the clan paid not the smallest attention to them. A swift, strong blow was essential. The Shōgun could have delivered it and the Chōshiu men could not then have resisted it in the immediate sequel of their defeat by a foreign squadron. But the Shōgun hesitated, and in the meanwhile the proximate cause of all his troubles became again active.
Great Britain happened to be represented at that time in Japan by Sir Harry Parkes, a man of exceptional perspicacity and of military methods. He foresaw that the days of the Yedo Court were numbered; he believed that the interests of his own country as well as those of
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