Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/212

 removed the semi-idiotic Shōgun Iyesada, and an unprecedented period elapsed before the coming of an Imperial mandate to his successor. The issue of such a mandate was in truth a mere matter of form. Four or five days should have sufficed for its preparation and transmission to Yedo. Yet it did not reach the latter city until the fifteenth day after the Imperial seal had been affixed to it. The delay is one of the unsolved mysteries of history, since the official responsible for it committed suicide without revealing anything. On the eve of the new Shōgun's proclamation, the heads of the Three Princely houses—Owari, Echizen, and Mito—repaired simultaneously to the hall of audience and demanded an interview with the Tairō. Ii was advised not to meet them; it seemed certain that he would incur deadly risk by doing so. He replied that personal danger was a small matter compared with shirking his duty. A stormy discussion ensued, lasting for several hours. At length the leaders of the opposition showed themselves willing to compromise; they would agree to the treaty provided that Keiki were appointed Shōgun. This is a landmark in the annals of the era. It indicates that domestic politics occupied a larger space than foreign in the eyes of the recusant nobles. The Tairō, however, would not yield a point. Not only was the young Shōgun duly installed on the following day, but the first step he took, by the advice of the Tairō, was to punish