ish officers
to organize the navy; the shogun's brother was sent to the Paris
Exposition, and Occidental fashions were introduced at the ceremonies
of the Bakufu Court.

SATSUMA AND CHOSHU

When Keiki assumed office he had to deal speedily with two problems;
that is to say, the complication with Choshu, and the opening of
Hyogo. The Emperor's reluctant consent to the latter was obtained for
the beginning of 1868, and an edict was also issued for the
punishment of Choshu. The result was two-fold: fresh life was
imparted to the anti-foreign agitation, and the Satsuma and Choshu
feudatories were induced to join hands against the Tokugawa. Alike in
Satsuma and in Choshu, there were a number of clever men who had long
laboured to combine the forces of the two fiefs in order to unite the
whole empire under the sway of the Kyoto Court. Saigo and Okubo on
the Satsuma side, Kido and Sanjo on the Choshu became leading figures
on the stage of their country's new career. Through their influence,
aided by that of Ito, afterwards prince, and Inouye, afterwards
marquis, the two great clans were brought into alliance, and when, in
1867, the shogun, Keiki, sought and obtained Imperial sanction for
the punishment of Choshu, Satsuma agreed to enter the lists on the
latter's side.

TOSA MEMORIAL

An incident of a most striking and unexpected nature now occurred.
Yodo, the Tosa feudatory, addressed to the shogun a memorial exposing
the helpless condition of the Bakufu and strongly urging that the
administration should be restored to the Emperor in order that the
nation might be united to face the dangers of its new career. It is
necessary to note here that, although the feudatories have been
frequently referred to in these pages as prominent figures in this or
that public drama, the feudal chiefs themselves exercised, in
Tokugawa days, very little influence on the current of events. A
modern historian speaks justly when he says:

"In this respect the descendants of the great Tokugawa statesman
found themselves reduced to a position precisely analogous to that of
the emperor in Kyoto. Sovereign and shogun were alike mere
abstractions so far as the practical work of the government was
concerned. With the great mass of the feudal chiefs things fared
similarly. These men who, in the days of Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and
Ieyasu, had directed the policies of their fiefs and led their armies
in the field, were gradually transformed, during the l