Emperor being then only fifteen years of age, Imperial edicts were easily obtained by those having friends at Court. Secretly there was issued to Satsuma and Chōshiu the following rescript:—
Inasmuch as Minamoto Keiki, relying on the merits of his ancestors and on the power and dignity bequeathed to him, has grown arrogant and disloyal, doing to death our good and faithful subjects and often refusing to observe our commands; and inasmuch as he did not hesitate to alter and even reverse orders issued by the late Emperor; and inasmuch as without compunction he has led the people to the edge of an awful abyss; and inasmuch as the Divine Nation, because of his crimes, is on the eve of a great disaster; now, therefore, we, who are the father and mother of our people, since we cannot choose but punish this traitor, so that the spirit of the late Emperor may be appeased and vengeance done upon the nation's worst enemy, hereby declare our will that the traitor Keiki be destroyed, and that you, to whom this command is addressed, accomplish the great deed and replace the national affairs on a firm foundation of lasting peace and glory.
The secrecy in which the Shōgun's enemies were able to envelop their proceedings indicates the strength of their position. Not only did the alliance between Satsuma and Chōshiu escape the observation of the Yedo authorities, but even the issue of the above edict remained unknown to the public for several years. It was a document obviously dictated by unreasoning hostility:
240
