Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/257

Rh of the feudal system; and the traditional antipathy to foreigners beginning to be exchanged tor a desire to study their civilisation and to adopt its best features.

As for the Shogunate, evil fortune continued to attend all its doings. It began to be a house divided against itself. Its Yedo officials conceived a strong distrust of their Kyōtō colleagues, and even of the Satsuma chief, Shimazu Samuro, whose influence had hitherto been loyally exerted in the Shōgun's cause. The consequences of this discord were speedily apparent. When the Chōshiu batteries began to fire upon foreign vessels navigating the Shimo-no-seki Strait, a commissioner was sent from Yedo to remonstrate against such lawless action. The Chōshiu folk replied that they were obeying the sovereign's orders, which did not concern the Shōgun, and they capped their contumacy by killing the commissioner. A military expedition then became inevitable. Thirty-six feudatories furnished contingents, and an overwhelming force moved against the rebellious noble. The Chōshiu chief made no resistance. He took steps to prove his contrition, and then appealed to the clemency of the invading generals, who justified his confidence by leaving him in undisturbed possession of his fief and withdrawing their forces unconditionally. Intelligence of these doings provoked much indignation among the Yedo statesmen. They concluded that such leniency must have been