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ever, was not given, and the date of ratification had to be postponed.

In June, 1860, two American men-of-war entered Shimoda, followed by a Russian man-of-war, and announced that the English and French would also be on the scene before long. The Shogun Government was hard-pressed, and ratified the treaty with the United States without the Imperial permission on the 20th of June, 1860. Similar treaties with England, France, Holland, Prussia, and Russia, were also signed not long after. This exasperated the anti-foreign party, and years of bitter contest followed between it and the Shogun party. In 1861 the Shogun had to send a mission to the treaty Powers asking the postponement of the opening of the ports for five years after the 1st of January, 1863. At last some of the nobles in the Imperial Court formed an alliance with the most powerful Daimyos, like those of Mito, Satsuma, Nagato (Choshiu), Echizen, Tosa, and Hijen, and obtained a decree from the Emperor, ordering the Shogun to cancel the treaties and drive away the foreigners. As it was impossible to carry out this order, the Shogun, Keiki Tokugawa, petitioned the Emperor on the 14th of October, 1867, to hand back the governing power entrusted to his family already for 250 years. This was granted, and after much study and discussion amongst the makers of the New Era—like the Lords Sanjo and Iwakura—and the Daimyos on the Imperial side, with their prominent retainers like Saigo, Okubo, Kido, and many others, the direct government of the Emperor (Tenno) was announced on the 9th of December of the same year.

But the events that followed soon showed that the opposition against foreign intercourse was only a pretext for compelling the Shogun to resign, and that even the most inveterate of the decriers of the new treaties were persuaded of the necessity for opening up the country. Already on the 18th of December Lord Iwakura informed the members of the new Government that, though since 1853 the policy of the Imperial Court was that of seclusion and driving away of foreigners, and though the Western nations were regarded as barbarous, yet the fact is undeniable that the opening of Hyogo (and other ports) was finally granted to the late Tokugawa Government, and the policy of peaceful intercourse with foreign Powers adopted, so that the Imperial Government will henceforth place the States of Europe and America on the same footing as China. It is said that many of the Imperialist statesmen were ‘astonished’ at this proclamation, as they well might have been.

Meanwhile the formation of the new Imperial Government