Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/210

 tached to the latter part of this edict. The Shōgun Iyesada was virtually a witling. He had been married, as already stated, to an adopted daughter of the feudal chief of Satsuma, but there was no issue of the marriage, nor had there ever been any possibility of issue. Two candidates for the heirship offered. They were Keiki, son of the Prince of Mito, a man of matured intellect and high capacities, and Iyemochi, Prince of Kii, a lad of thirteen. Public opinion unanimously indicated the former as the more fitting, and his connection with the house of Mito was accepted as an assurance of anti-foreign bias. Hence, although the Imperial decree did not actually name him, its intention could not be mistaken. But public opinion erred in this instance. Keiki did not advocate national seclusion. Had the choice fallen on him, he would have continued the policy of Hotta and the liberals, while at the same time seeking to soften the hostility of the Mito faction. Hotta, appreciating these things, sought to bring about the nomination; but the Shōgun's household, knowing that Keiki's appointment would be equivalent to their master's abrogation, cast about for means to prevent it, and found them in inducing the Shōgun to summon Ii, feudal chief of Kamon, to the highest post in the Yedo Court, that of Tairo (great elder).

Ii was probably the ablest of the able men thrown to the surface by the seething current of