Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/220

 they did not find the question conclusive. Their duty was to devote all their strength to the attempt and trust the rest to the gods. A long and closely reasoned document compiled by a leader of the Mito samurai set forth these considerations in language that could not fail to appeal to the loyalty and patriotism of his clansmen. It ended by declaring that a man's life is never in such danger as when he fears to lose it. The records show that nearly a score of samurai sealed their belief in these ideas by committing suicide.

At this stage the Mito chief himself issued to his vassals an instruction to surrender the edict. He had never been a believer in absolute international isolation, and he now severed his connection with its advocates. Thereupon the rebellious samurai dispersed quietly, with the exception of about a hundred desperate men who declared that they would die rather than yield. The Yedo Government gave orders for the seizure of these rebels, but before the mandate could be obeyed, the Tairō, Ii Kamon, fell under the swords of a party of assassins who had detached themselves from the rebels and made their way to Yedo for the purpose of killing him. He had been warned of his danger and urged to increase the strength of his escort. But he replied that no force of guards could control the hand of fate or baffle the ingenuity of resolute assassins, and, further, that the number of the