to sacrifice their own lives or the lives of other people in the cause of "patriotism" as they interpreted it. As for the Imperial Court, it reflected at any given time the convictions of the coterie of nobles that happened to be then paramount. Had the Emperor Kōmei lived a few years longer, it is possible that the views to which he had been committed by various edicts issued in his name while the "alien-expelling" party dominated the situation in Kyōtō, might have hampered any departure in a liberal direction. But he died early in 1867, and was succeeded by a youth of fourteen, who neither owed obligation to continuity of record nor took direct part in the management of State affairs. Seven noblemen, representing the Imperial nucleus of the anti-foreign element, had fled to Chōshiu in the immediate sequel of the intrigue of the forged rescript mentioned above, and had been effectually converted to liberalism by the events that occurred during their sojourn in the south. These men,[1] on their return to Kyōto in 1867, supported the moderate policy of their former opponents, and it resulted that the Court fell completely under the sway of liberal views.
Another reason for conciliating foreigners was found in the difficulties and embarrassments that faced the organisers of the new Japanese polity. They had to unravel such troublesome domestic
- ↑ See Appendix, note 46.
243
