Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/251

Rh accordance with any definite policy. Even the course to be pursued on arrival there had not been mapped out. The Shōgun's ministers consoled themselves with vague hopes: they trusted to the chapter of accidents. Very different was the conduct of the extremists. By methods little short of intimidation, they extorted from Prince Keiki, the Shōgun's guardian, who was then in Kyōtō, a promise that immediately on the Shōgun's return to Yedo, measures to terminate foreign intercourse should be commenced. They even required a pledge as to the number of days to be spent by the Shōgun in Kyōtō and on his journey back to Yedo. These engagements confronted the Shōgun when he reached the Imperial capital. From the position of an autocrat, he had fallen to that of a mere subordinate. Instead of issuing orders, it had become his duty to receive and obey them. For the moment the extremists, under the leadership of Mori, chief of Chōshiu, had command of the situation. Though headed by such men as Princes Konoye (the Regent), Iwakura, and Chigusa, and the feudal chiefs of Echizen, Aizu, and Tosa, the moderates could not make head against the tide in the absence of Shimazu of Satsuma, whom the Tokaidō assassination (described above) had compelled to return to his fief. Slights and even insults were conspicuous in the treatment accorded to the Shōgun at the Imperial Court. From Yedo, at the same