Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/248

Rh prescribed death as the penalty for such an act. Samurai of the body-guard drew their swords, killed one of the Englishmen (Mr. Richardson), and wounded the two others, the lady alone escaping unhurt, Probably no incident of that troublous era excited more indignation at the time or was more discussed subsequently. But while a custom so inhuman as that obeyed by the Satsuma samurai merits execration, the fact must not be forgotten that to any Japanese behaving as these English people behaved, the same fate would have been meted out in an even more summary manner. For the rest, the outrage differed essentially from those of which foreigners had previously been victims, inasmuch as it was in no sense inspired by the "barbarian expelling" sentiment. Nevertheless, the immediate consequence was that since Satsuma refused to surrender the implicated samurai, and since the Shōgun's arm was not long enough to reach this powerful feudatory, the British Government sent a squadron to bombard his capital, Kagoshima. The remote and most important consequence was that the belligerent operations of the British ships effectually convinced the Satsuma samurai of the hopelessness of resisting foreign intercourse by force, and converted them into advocates of liberal progress towards which their previous attitude had been at best neutral.

Meanwhile the Yedo Court was steadily