The Political History Of Modern Japan Foreign

Relations And Domestic Politics 1st Edition

Kitaoka Shinichi download

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-political-history-of-modern-
japan-foreign-relations-and-domestic-politics-1st-edition-
kitaoka-shinichi-10582556

Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

The Political History Of Modern Japan Foreign Relations And Domestic

Politics Kitaoka Shinichi

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-political-history-of-modern-japan-
foreign-relations-and-domestic-politics-kitaoka-shinichi-49183738

The Sublime Perversion Of Capital Marxist Theory And The Politics Of

History In Modern Japan Gavin Walker

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-sublime-perversion-of-capital-
marxist-theory-and-the-politics-of-history-in-modern-japan-gavin-
walker-51889314

The Political History Of Modern Iran Ali Rahnema

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-political-history-of-modern-iran-
ali-rahnema-57206750

The Political History Of Modern Iran Revolution Reaction And

Transformation 1905 To The Present Ali Rahnema

https://ebookbell.com/product/the-political-history-of-modern-iran-
revolution-reaction-and-transformation-1905-to-the-present-ali-
rahnema-57231118
Media Nation The Political History Of News In Modern America Bruce J
Schulman Editor Julian E Zelizer Editor

https://ebookbell.com/product/media-nation-the-political-history-of-
news-in-modern-america-bruce-j-schulman-editor-julian-e-zelizer-
editor-51963056

Media Nation The Political History Of News In Modern America Bruce J

Schulman Julian E Zelizer

https://ebookbell.com/product/media-nation-the-political-history-of-
news-in-modern-america-bruce-j-schulman-julian-e-zelizer-22034044

Timelines A Political History Of The Modern World John Rees

https://ebookbell.com/product/timelines-a-political-history-of-the-
modern-world-john-rees-33838406

Punishment And The History Of Political Philosophy From Classical

Republicanism To The Crisis Of Modern Criminal Justice Arthur Shuster

https://ebookbell.com/product/punishment-and-the-history-of-political-
philosophy-from-classical-republicanism-to-the-crisis-of-modern-
criminal-justice-arthur-shuster-10680198

A History Of Modern Political Thought The Question Of Interpretation

1st Edition Browning

https://ebookbell.com/product/a-history-of-modern-political-thought-
the-question-of-interpretation-1st-edition-browning-5892166
The Political History of
Modern Japan

Spanning the 130-year period between the end of the Tokugawa Era and the end
of the Cold War, this book introduces readers to the formation, collapse, and
rebirth of the modern Japanese state. It demonstrates how, faced with foreign
threats, Japan developed a new governing structure to deal with these challenges
and in turn gradually shaped its international environment. Had Japan been a self-
sufficient power, like the United States, it is unlikely that external relations would
have exercised such great control over the nation. And, if it were a smaller country,
it may have been completely pressured from the outside and could not have
influenced the global stage on its own. For better or worse therefore, this book
argues, Japan was neither too large nor too small.
Covering the major events, actors, and institutions of Japan’s modern history,
the key themes discussed include:

• Building the Meiji state and Constitution.

• The establishment of Parliament.
• The First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars.
• Party Politics and International Cooperation.
• The Pacific War.
• Development of LDP politics.
• Changes in the international order and the end of the Cold War.

This book, written by one of Japan’s leading experts on Japan’s political history,
will be an essential resource for students of Japanese modern history and politics.

Kitaoka Shinichi is President of Japan International Cooperation Agency and

Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo and Rikkyo University, Japan.
The Political History
of Modern Japan
Foreign Relations and Domestic Politics

Kitaoka Shinichi
Translated by Robert D. Eldridge
with Graham Leonard
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Kitaoka Shinichi
The right of Kitaoka Shinichi to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
‘Nihon seijishi: gaikō to kenryoku, zōhoban’ by Kitaoka Shinichi
Copyright © Kitaoka Shinichi, 2011, 2017
All rights reserved.
Originally published in Japan by Yuhikaku Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, in
2011 and 2017
English translation arranged with Yuhikaku Publishing Co., Ltd., through
Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture (JPIC)
English translation copyright © Robert D. Eldridge with Graham Leonard, 2018
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-33765-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-33767-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-44223-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Front cover photograph: The Former Prime Minister’s Office. It was built
in 1929, at the peak of prewar party politics, but became the target of the
February 26th Coup D’état in 1936. This building had been the center of
Japanese politics until 2002 when the New Office was completed. It is still
used as the Prime Minister’s Official Residence.
Cover image: © jiji
Contents

Key individuals x
List of figures xi
List of tables xii
Notes on Japanese names and dates xiii
Preface to the English edition xiv
Preface xvi
About the author xx
About the translators xxi

1 The political characteristics of the Tokugawa political system 1

Comparisons of the West and the Tokugawa Japan 1
Sixteenth-century Japan and the West 1
Western pluralism 3
The centralism of the Tokugawa political system 4
The issue of legitimacy 5
Easy collapse, easy unification 7
Legacies of the Tokugawa Japan 7
The peace dividend 7
The samurai ethos 8

2 Responding to the West 11

Open the country or keep it closed? 11
Japanese perception of the outside world 11
Expectations placed on the shogunal leadership 13
The issue of imperial sanction for the treaty and the shogunal
succession 17
The unrest of the Bakumatsu 18
Outbreak of the “Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarian” movement 18
The search for and collapse of a shogunate–domain alliance framework 20
The collapse of the shogunate 22
The conditions necessary for a “low-cost” revolution 22
vi Contents
3 Building the Meiji state 24
Establishing a centralized government 24
Securing wider support 24
Concentrating power 24
Establishing the foundations of power: military affairs 26
Establishing the foundations of power: finances 27
Creating “citizens” 28
Creating a national foundation: introducing Western
civilization 28
Mobilizing human energy 30

4 Rise of opposition 34
Establishing foreign relations and the samurai revolt 34
The international order and modernity 34
Seikanron 36
Rise of the antigovernment groups 37
Appeasement and its limits 37
The Satsuma Rebellion 41
The freedom and people’s rights movement 42
Development of the people’s freedom and rights
movement 42
The 1881 Political Crisis 43
The peak and decline of the people’s rights movement 44

5 Creation of the Meiji constitutional structure 46

Enactment of the Meiji Constitution 46
The road to constitutional enactment 46
A Prussian-style constitution 48
Ancillary systems for the constitution 50
Characteristics of the Meiji Constitution 51
Two views of the emperor 53
Taking on treaty revision 53
The treaty revision issue 53
The Daidō Danketsu movement 55

6 The establishment of parliament 57

Hanbatsu–party relations in the early Diet sessions 57
The launch of parliament 57
Transcendentalism 57
Aspects of the early Diet sessions 59
The transformation of “relief for the people” 60
 Contents vii
Hanbatsu–party relations following the First Sino-Japanese War 62
Postwar expansion 62
The Ōkuma-Itagaki Cabinet 65
The Yamagata Cabinet 67
The establishment of the Seiyūkai 69

7 The First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars 70

The First Sino-Japanese War 70
The line of sovereignty and the line of interest 70
The Sino-Japanese confrontation over Korea 70
Achieving revision of the unequal treaties 73
The First Sino-Japanese War 74
The partition of China 75
The Open Door Note 76
The Russo-Japanese war 77
The Hundred Days Reform and the Boxer
Rebellion 77
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance 77
The Russo-Japanese War 79

8 Imperial expansion 81
The annexation of Korea 81
Japan’s Manchuria policy 83
The Manchurian issue and international relations 83
The development of dollar diplomacy and
Russo-Japanese rapprochement 86
The First World War and Japan 88
The Xinhai Revolution 88
The Twenty-One Demands and the anti-Yuan policy 89
The Terauchi Cabinet and its China policy 90
The Siberian Intervention and the Nishihara Loans 91

9 The development of party government 93

Hanbatsu–party relations following the Russo-Japanese War 93
From Itō to Saionji 93
The Keien era and the hanbatsu 95
The Keien era and the parties 97
Hanbatsu–party relations during the Taishō period 100
The Taishō Political Crisis 100
Hanbatsu and parties during the First World War 102
The failure of the triangular parties theory 103
viii Contents
10 International cooperation and party cabinets 106
The Hara Cabinet 106
Formation of the Hara Cabinet 106
After Hara’s death 108
The Washington system 109
Creation of the Washington system 109
The collapse of the Washington system 113
The era of party cabinets 114

11 The rise of the military 117

The Manchurian incident 117
Disarmament and the modernization of the military 117
The rise of the Shōwa military factions 119
The Manchurian Incident and Japanese withdrawal from the
League of Nations 122
The February 26 incident 124
International relations after the departure from the League of
Nations 124
The Saitō and Okada Cabinets 126
Factional conflict within the army 128

12 The collapse of the empire 131

The Second Sino-Japanese War 131
Formation of the Hirota Cabinet 131
From Ugaki to Konoe 133
The Second Sino-Japanese War and general
mobilization 134
A new order in East Asia 135
The Pacific War 137
The outbreak of the Second World War 137
The road to the Pacific War 138
The collapse of the empire 141

13 Defeat, occupation, and peace treaty 143

Early occupation policies 143
Defeat 143
Occupation 146
Demilitarization and democratization 147
Politics under the occupation 150
The Cold War and peace treaty 153
A shift in occupation policy 153
Toward peace treaty 154
 Contents ix
14 The Development of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) 156
High economic growth 156
The creation of the 1955 system 156
The Kishi Cabinet and the revision of the Japan-U.S. Security
Treaty 158
The Ikeda and Satō Cabinets 161
LDP politics 163
The development of factions 163
The LDP and bureaucracy in policy decisions 165

15 Changes in the international order and the end of the Cold War 167
Japanese politics in the years of turbulence 167
Changes in international relations 167
The Tanaka Cabinet and foreign relations 169
Parity in the number of conservatives and reformists 170
The consolidation of identity as a member of the West 171
A new international responsibility 173

16 Japan’s colonies and their fates 176

Before 1945 176
Taiwan 177
Korea 179
Manchuria 181
After 1945 183
After the defeat 183
Postwar Taiwan 183
Postwar Korea 184
Postwar Japan and its former colonies 186

Bibliography 188
Chronology 207
Index 259
Key individuals

Kawaji Toshiakira (Chapter 2)

Fukuzawa Yukichi (Chapter 3)
Ōkubo Toshimichi (Chapter 4)
Itō Hirobumi (Chapter 5)
Yamagata Aritomo and the House of Peers and Privy Council (Chapter 6)
Mutsu Munemitsu (Chapter 7)
Gotō Shimpei (Chapter 8)
Hara Takashi (Chapter 9)
Shidehara diplomacy and Tanaka diplomacy (Chapter 10)
Ugaki Kazushige (Chapter 11)
Kiyosawa Kiyoshi (Chapter 12)
Yoshida Shigeru (Chapter 13)
Kishi Nobusuke (Chapter 14)
Figures

1.1 Nagasakikō Fukan Saimitsu Ga (Depiction of Nagasaki Harbor) 2

1.2 Major daimyō domains (1664) 6
2.1 Landing of Commodore Perry, officers and men of the
Squadron, to meet the Imperial Commissioners at Yokohama,
Japan, March 8th, 1854 by Wilhelm (William) Heine 12
3.1 The Iwakura Mission in San Francisco in January 1872 25
4.1 Saigō Takamori by Higo Naokuma 35
5.1 Kenpō Happushiki no Zu (Ceremony for the Promulgation
of the Constitution) by Inoue Tankei 47
6.1 Kokkai Gijō no Zu (Picture of the Diet Chamber) by
Tōshū Shōgetsu 58
7.1 U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (center), Komura Jutarō
(to his right), and Sergei Witte (far left) in Portsmouth 71
7.2 Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern Railways 76
8.1 Gotō Shimpei 82
8.2 Russo-Japanese spheres of influence in Manchuria 87
9.1 Hara Takashi 94
9.2 Battleships Satsuma and HMS Dreadnought 96
10.1 Shidehara Kijūrō 107
11.1 Ugaki Kazushige 118
11.2 Manchukuo and autonomy operations in North China 125
12.1 Konoe Fumimaro 132
13.1 Yoshida Shigeru 144
14.1 (a) The signing of the Security Treaty on January 19, 1960,
with Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke (center left) and President
Dwight D. Eisenhower (center right) at the White House
in Washington, D.C. (b) Demonstrations outside the Diet
Building on May 19, 1960 in Tokyo 157
15.1 Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro (right) and U.S. President
Ronald W. Reagan walking at Camp David in April 1983 168
16.1 Headquarters of the Government General of Korea 177
Tables

6.1 Presidents of the Privy Council 68

6.2 Vice presidents of the Privy Council 68
9.1 Major increases in the electorate 98
9.2 Changes in the number of seats in the House of
Representatives by party (%) 104
10.1 Party cabinets and their collapse 114
11.1 Army leaders by their year of graduation from the Imperial
Army Academy 121
11.2 Important imperial palace positions from the 1930s to the end
of the war 128
13.1 Text of the Potsdam Declaration (abbreviated) 145
13.2 The MacArthur Note 150
14.1 Changes in Lower House representation of the Japan Socialist
Party, 1946–1960 159
14.2 Changes in Lower House representation, 1958–1969 163
15.1 Changes in Lower House representation, 1972–1986 172
Notes on Japanese names and dates

Japanese names in this book are written following Japanese custom, that is, sur-
name followed by personal name. Years are in principle written using the Western
calendar, and dates are in principle based on Japanese time except for events that
happened in the United States, such as the signing of the Portsmouth Treaty and
the attacks on Pearl Harbor.
Preface to the English edition

This book is the English version to my Nihon Seijishi: Gaikō to Kenryoku [Politi-
cal History of Modern Japan: Foreign Relations and Domestic Politics]. It was
originally published in 2011, but I subsequently expanded it in 2017 to include a
supplemental chapter on Japan’s colonies and their fate after the Second World
War. This English version includes the additional chapter.
The additional chapter was added based particularly on some scholarly expe-
riences I had over the past decade and a half. For example, I participated in a
Japan–South Korea joint historical research project, financially supported by the
governments of both countries, beginning in 2002 for two years. And for three
years beginning in 2006, I participated in a similar joint research project with
China, supported by the Japanese and Chinese governments as the chairperson
of the Japanese team. I was able to learn quite a deal and felt that it was the
participants’ dialogue on history rather than any particular book or research that
was the most meaningful. Furthermore, in 2015, I served as the deputy chair of
the Advisory Panel on the History of the 20th Century and on Japan’s Role and
World Order in the 21st Century (20 Seiki o Furikaeri 21 Seiki no Sekai Chitsujo
to Nihon no Yakuwari o Kōsō Tame no Yūshikisha Kondankai), otherwise known
as the Commission on a Framework for the 21st Century (21 Seiki Kōsō Kon-
dankai), whose recommendations Prime Minister Abe Shinzō (1954–; in office
2006–2007, 2012–) referred to as he prepared his statement on the 70th anniver-
sary of the end of the Second World War.1
This book was originally written for a Japanese audience. Thus, for the benefit
of readers of the English language edition, published thanks to Routledge, I have
decided to include additional notes and explanations to assist those who may not
be aware of some of the historical information and personalities with which Japa-
nese readers would naturally be familiar.
However, other than these modest additions, I have done nothing to change the
original meaning of the text. This is because I have sought to eliminate, where
unnecessary, cultural explanations and to focus on universal aspects in order to
explain Japanese politics and diplomacy within this book. I have tried not to hide
behind phrases like “Japanese style” or “typically Japanese.”
Many of the events described in the book are already well-known. However,
I believe I have presented some new interpretations amid the historical and
 Preface to the English edition xv
geographic context of the time. With regard to these and other explanations, I have
provided footnotes where interpretations differ, in cases where it is my own idea
or that from another scholarly work. Sections where there is no serious academic
disagreement I have left unfootnoted.
The path Japan has walked for the past 160 years has had a continuous and
important impact on the world. Moreover, Japan’s experiences have been rather
unique and interesting. If the reader becomes more interested in modern Japan as
a result of this book, I would have fulfilled my mission.
Kitaoka Shinichi
Tokyo, Japan

Note
1 Prime Minister Abe’s statement was released on August 14, 2015, and is avail-
able in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean (http://japan.kantei.go.jp/97_abe/
statement/201508/0814statement.html). The video of the prime minister’s statement in
Japanese is subtitled in Chinese as well.
Preface

The Political History of Modern Japan is both an historical analysis of modern

Japanese political power and a history of modern times centered on this political
power. Its focus is neither Japanese politics from ancient times nor an overview of
the modern period. Moreover, it does not examine politics at the local or regional
levels but instead addresses the questions of politics and political power at the
central level. This originates, in my view, because modern nations possess the
following certain characteristics.
First, modern states hold overwhelming power over the members of those
states. In the middle of the seventeenth century, Hobbes described the absolutist
state that was emerging as the Leviathan, the monster of the Bible. Today, it is
even worse. The authority of the state reaches to every corner of people’s lives,
and the United States and Soviet Union during the Cold War each possessed the
capability of destroying humanity with their nuclear weapons many times over. In
no such period in the past has such power existed.
However, on the other hand, the authority of modern states cannot exist without
the broad support of the people. With the political principle of power residing with
the people that emerged toward the end of the eighteenth century, it has become
necessary to involve the public proactively for the development of the nation,
even in countries that do not accept that principle. In the modern states of today
where the equal political participation of all citizens is guaranteed as a right and
mass media has greatly developed, it is difficult to adopt policies that go against
the public will.
Moreover, in modern nations, the difference between political pros and ama-
teurs has become clear. As the work of the government dramatically increases,
it is near impossible to handle the issues halfheartedly, and thus a lot of people
have to be devoted full-time to politics. As a result, there is a professional group
involved in politics made up of politicians and bureaucrats and an amateur group
made up of the public that is responsible for monitoring their work.
One more characteristic was the close connection between foreign relations
and domestic politics. For example, the Tang Dynasty (618–907) in China and the
Roman Empire did not possess important diplomatic relations with one another,
but with the Industrial Revolution and the development of trade, transportation,
and communications technology, international relations have become very much
 Preface xvii
intertwined. Today, no country can make important decisions exclusively on
its own. No country can separate its domestic affairs from foreign affairs when
considering matters, and, similarly, no country can make decisions about other
countries without considering their internal dynamics. Modern nations not only
exercise a lot of influence on other countries but are also affected by them as well.
This strength and concurrent weakness are connected with the formation and
development of political power in modern nations. Clarifying this is one of the
basic challenges of political history, within the field of political science. This is
the reason that political history examines modern politics and political power at
the central level.
Political history, interestingly, has not been a popular subject in the field of
history until recently. As seen in the examples of Herodotus and Thucydides,
historical studies began as political history. However, the field of political his-
tory, which focused on persons in authority, increasingly began to be criticized as
behind the times. For example, history, the argument goes, is decided principally
by economic power (according to Marxism, by production capability and pro-
duction relations). From a long-term perspective, this may be correct. However,
economic reasons alone cannot explain certain phenomena like the outbreak of
war, for example. These short-term problems are what are most decisive in the
contemporary age. Economic history itself is important, and it is a necessary to
consider it in political history, but one cannot simply interchange political history
for economic history. Major political decisions must be seen against the backdrop
of important political dynamics. The same could be said for economic history and
social history as well.
Other views place emphasis on the role of the people rather than on the power
of a particular authority figure who wields the power. However, simply examining
people’s movements will not give you the full story when looking at significant
political decisions, such as Japan’s decision to go to war with the United States
in 1941. Of course, it is important to highlight how difficult and often tragic peo-
ple’s lives are during war, but it is probably more important to understand how a
war happened in the first place. Thus, a people’s history cannot replace a political
history.
In other words, while political history may seem to be old-fashioned or overly
specialized, it is meaningful to recognize that the field of history began with
political history. Since politics have an enormous impact on people’s lives today,
political history is even more important now.
The formation of the modern state in Japan begins with its encounter with the
West in the Bakumatsu period. This book covers the 130-plus-year period between
the end of the Tokugawa Era and the end of the Cold War and has as its subtitle,
“Foreign Relations and Domestic Politics” because it examines the response of
Japanese authorities to external problems. Faced with foreign threats in the mid-
1850s, Japan developed a new governing structure to deal with them, and, in turn,
this power ended up gradually influencing the international environment. The
mutual effect on changes to the international environment and the restructuring
of domestic political structures is a constant theme throughout modern Japanese
xviii Preface
political history and is something that continues to this day. If Japan were a major
power that was self-sufficient like the United States, Japan would likely have not
been influenced by its external relations as it in fact was. And, if it were a smaller
country, it would have been completely pressured from outside and could not
have, on its own, influenced things externally. For better or worse, Japan was
neither too large nor too small.
It is difficult to avoid certain dangers on facts and interpretations for much
more recent periods, such as the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, by covering the
years from Bakumatsu until the end of the Cold War as one overall period can pos-
sibly help readers to understand that they are involved in making contemporary
history themselves. In addition, it might grow the ability of the reader to evaluate
the politicians of today. This book was written with these intentions in an attempt
to cover 130-plus years in a limited number of pages.
This book was published in 1989 with the same title as a textbook for the Uni-
versity of the Air, now known as Open University of Japan, a lifelong and distance
education center that had begun accepting students in 1985.
There are probably two ways to go about writing a textbook. The first is to do
so when one is young, relentlessly going about it unafraid, almost in one sitting.
The other is to write it slowly, after many years of experience. With the former,
it is written based on one’s own judgment, and thus it might contain mistakes but
be forceful. The latter might be somewhat profound, but it also could be banal at
the same time. The book, as it was published in 1989, was of the former style, and
I basically wrote it in one sitting.
Fortunately, the reviews were highly favorable, and the book was used not only
in many universities as a textbook but also in some preparatory schools as well.
Because it was a textbook for the University of the Air at the time, when I discon-
tinued being a lecturer there, the book went out of print.
Afterward, I was asked many times by readers and editors to produce a revised
edition. However, I was involved at this point with developing my own lectures
and begged off, saying that I was making a more detailed textbook. However,
after turning 50, I began to feel that it would be difficult to do. The more I studied,
the more I felt I did not understand things. I increasingly lost confidence in the
ability to judge events with conviction and came to think that an update of the
textbook was difficult to produce.
What I thus decided to do was to do both. In other words, I greatly revised the
earlier textbook, adding columns, charts, and other materials, while not changing
the youthful style of writing. In addition, I committed to writing a longer textbook
as well.
This approach was born through discussions with Mr. Seikai Yasushi, a veteran
editor of Yūhikaku Publishing. I am deeply grateful for his patience in waiting for
my ideas to be formulated, and I learned much from his comments. If there are
any errors in the book, they rest with me as author.
As introduced in the preface to the original version, I was strongly influenced
as a student and researcher by classes and seminars on Japanese political history.
While the notes from these classes and discussions did not come from a particular
 Preface xix
book and am thus unable to introduce them in the bibliography, I wish to express
my appreciation once again to the late Professor Satō Seizaburō and Professor
Mitani Taiichirō who led those sessions.
Kitaoka Shinichi
Tokyo, Japan
About the author

Kitaoka Shinichi was born in Nara Prefecture in 1948. He graduated in 1971

from the Law Faculty of the University of Tokyo. He completed his doctoral
course at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo, in
1976, earning his PhD. He has been a professor at the College of Law and Poli-
tics, Rikkyo University, the Graduate School of Law and Politics, University
of Tokyo, and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, in addition to
serving as the president of the International University of Japan before becom-
ing the president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2015.
Between 2004 and 2006, he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipo-
tentiary, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations. In
addition to being a professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo and Rikkyo
University, he is also a recipient of the Japanese government’s Medal with
Purple Ribbons honoring his contributions to academia. His books include
Nihon Rikugun to Tairiku Seisaku, 1906–1918 Nen (The Japanese Army and
Continental Policy, 1906–1918) (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1978);
Kiyosawa Kiyoshi (Biography of Kiyoshi Kiyosawa) (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-
sha, 1987; Expanded Edition, Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 2004, winner of
the Suntory Prize for Liberal Arts); Nichibei Kankei no Riarizumu (Realism in
Japan–U.S. Relations) (Tokyo: Chūō Kōron-sha, 1991, winner of the Yomiuri
Prize for the Opinion Leader of the Year, 1992); Jimintō (The Liberal Demo-
cratic Party of Japan: The 38 Years in Power) (Tokyo: The Yomiuri Shimbun,
1995; Tokyo: Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 2008, winner of the 1995 Yoshino Sakuzō
Prize); Dokuritsu Jison (Independence and Self-Respect: Challenge by Yūkichi
Fukuzawa) (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2002; Chūō Kōron Shinsha, 2011); Kanryōsei
to Shite no Nihon Rikugun (The Japanese Army as Bureaucracy) (Tokyo: Chi-
kuma Shobō, 2012); Monko Kaihō Seisaku to Nihon (The Open Door Policy
and Japan) (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2015), and many others.
About the translators

Robert D. Eldridge is an award-winning author, editor, or translator of and

contributor to approximately 70 books about U.S.–Japan relations, Japanese
political and diplomatic history, Okinawa, and military basing issues. Among
his translations are Miyazawa Kiichi’s Secret Talks between Tokyo and Wash-
ington (Lexington, 2007), Iokibe Makoto’s The Diplomatic History of Post-
war Japan (Routledge, 2010), Watanabe Tsuneo’s Japan’s Backroom Politics:
Factions in a Multiparty Age (Lexington, 2013), and Watanabe Akio’s The
Prime Ministers of Postwar Japan: Their Lives and Times (Lexington, 2016),
among many others. Recent books include The Origins of U.S. Policy in the
East China Sea Islands Dispute: Okinawa’s Reversion and the Senkaku Islands
(Routledge, 2014) and The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force: Search for
Legitimacy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, coedited with Paul Midford). He
earned his doctorate at Kobe University and was a tenured associate professor
at Osaka University. Currently he is affiliated with several universities, think
tanks, and foundations in Japan.
Graham Leonard is an independent translator and researcher in the Seattle,
Washington, area. He holds a MA in Japanese studies from the University of
Washington and received a doctorate from Osaka University’s School of Inter-
national Public Policy as a Monbukagakusho Scholar. His primary research
interests include the history of U.S.-Japan relations and modern Japanese
history, especially as related to defense and alliance issues. He is currently
researching the Fukuryū Maru Incident, and his publications include Changing
Security Policies in Postwar Japan: The Political Biography of Sakata Michita
(Lexington, 2017, cotranslated with Robert D. Eldridge) and “The 1954 Shun-
kotsu Maru Expedition and American Atomic Secrecy,” International Public
Policy Studies, Vol. 15, No. 2 (March 2011).
1 The political characteristics
of the Tokugawa political
system1

Comparisons of the West and the Tokugawa Japan

Sixteenth-century Japan and the West

Japan and the West have encountered each other twice through the course of his-
tory, first in the sixteenth century and again in the nineteenth. The impact of their
first meeting was no less significant than that of their second: the introduction of
firearms completely transformed the nature of contemporary Japanese warfare
and played a decisive role in the country’s unification. Christianity also began to
spread rapidly throughout Japan; within 50 years of its introduction in 1549, there
were more than 700,000 Japanese Christians (or more than 5% of the total popula-
tion), while the current Christian population is under 1 million (or approximately
0.8% of the total population). The Shimabara Rebellion (1637–1638) was the final
barrier to the Tokugawa’s unification of Japan. Christians were the final obstacle
to be overcome.
This Western influence was still limited enough to be controllable, however, as can
be seen from Japan’s ability to successfully implement its policy of sakoku (isolation).2
The nineteenth-century encounter, in which the West sought to bring Japan
into international society, was different, however. The West was prepared to use
force to achieve its goal, and Japan did not have the means to resist. There had
evidently been major changes between their encounters in the intervening period.
What were they?
To begin with, it has only been in the past few centuries that the West has
become an advanced part of the world in various ways. Prior to this period, the
Islamic world had been more advanced than Europe. The forces of Islam invaded
the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century and were only driven out in 1492.
Moreover, the Ottoman Empire that lay to Europe’s east only reached its peak
under Sultan Süleyman I (1494–1566, reigned 1520–1566) and would continue to
expand territorially until the 1680s.
And while the roots of Western society lie in Greek civilization and Christian-
ity, both of these originated outside of Western Europe. The Renaissance – the
starting point of the modern West – provided an opportunity for the European
2 The Tokugawa political system

Figure 1.1 Nagasakikō Fukan Saimitsu Ga (Depiction of Nagasaki Harbor). Dejima is in

the center. (Circa 1818–1830. From the collection of the Nagasaki Museum of
History and Culture.)

rediscovery of Greek civilization, but it had been the Islamic world, not the West,
that had preserved this knowledge. Even as the West began to expand eastward; it
was not carving out utterly new paths for itself as it did so. Rather, it was merely
seeking new ways to the East as worsened relations with Islamic countries sev-
ered its existing routes.
This would serve as the prelude to Western global supremacy, however. The
West would come to dominate the East for 400 years, beginning with the 1498
arrival of Vasco da Gama (c. 1469–1524) in Calicut. What the West sought at this
time, however, was luxury goods like spices, not conquest. Trade took the form of
monopolies held by the crown or trading companies (such as the British East India
Company founded in 1600 and the Dutch East India Company founded in 1602).
Expansion was thus abandoned fairly readily when they encountered strong local
resistance or when trade profits were only meager. It was during this period that
the first meeting between Japan and the West occurred.
Trade ceased to revolve around luxuries with the coming of the Industrial
Revolution, however. Instead, it was believed that if China’s massive population
of four hundred million could be persuaded to purchase British textiles to even
just a limited extent, it would be sufficient to guarantee eternal prosperity for the
 The Tokugawa political system 3
industry. This sort of “myth of the China market” spurred on new Western inroads
into China. As monopolies had come to be regarded as little more than hindrances
by this point, the British East India Company’s monopolization of Indian trade
was abolished in 1813 (followed shortly thereafter by the loss of its Chinese trade
monopoly in 1833). And so the West came seeking to open Asian markets to West-
ern goods, and it was prepared to use force if necessary, as was seen in the First
Opium War (1840–1842). To Japan’s great fortune, it was merely considered a
small country on the periphery of China.

Western pluralism
Now, as previously mentioned, Western civilization was neither remarkably
old nor remarkably original. It was instead its pluralistic nature, the way it
incorporated diverse elements despite the tensions that might lie among them,
that was its most distinctive feature. It was this diversity that allowed the
West to achieve such rapid development over the course of the sixteenth to
nineteenth centuries.
In the first place, Europe, an area roughly equivalent in size to China, has
long been divided geographically into a number of countries such as Eng-
land, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy. It’s actually a bit strange, when you
think about it, that, despite the many years that this situation has persisted,
Europe has never been completely unified, nor has it become extremely
fragmented.
This European pluralism extended from geography to its political structures
as well. Feudal assemblies based on the estates of the realm existed in medi-
eval Europe that limited the authority of the monarch. England’s Magna Carta
(1215) is a prominent example of such a limit. And although royal authority
would later expand, especially beginning in the seventeenth century, strong
resistance from the nobility remained. Before long, these feudal assemblies
developed into modern legislatures. Institutions equivalent to these assem-
blies were a rarity in other world civilizations. The concept of the right of
resistance, one of the major characteristics of Western civilization, originated
with these bodies.
Another example of this pluralism was the relationship between religious and
temporal authority. While it was common in most civilizations for one of these to
absorb the other, the tense relationship between the authority of the Pope and that
of kings served as a major characteristic of the West.
Yet another example would be the strained relationship between Christianity
and Greek civilization. Despite being seemingly fundamentally incompatible
with one another, neither was able to completely overcome the other; both played
major roles in the formation of the Western world.
Simply put, this pluralism became the driving force behind the Western world’s
remarkably dynamic character. And this character is responsible in turn for the
aggressive nature of Western civilization, the way it seeks to reshape the rest of
the world in its own image.
4 The Tokugawa political system
The centralism of the Tokugawa political system
How did the characteristics of the Japanese society of the Edo period (1603–1868)
differ from this? At first glance, Tokugawa society would seem to possess a num-
ber of qualities reminiscent of the feudal system of medieval Europe. Certainly,
many foreigners thought so at the time. But despite these seeming similarities,
the concept of feudalism doesn’t particularly suit Edo Japan well in a number
of ways.
Under feudalism, a lord provides a reward, such as territory, to his vassals in
exchange for their loyalty. The relationship, in other words, is a mutual one under
which both parties are obligated to carry out contractual duties. A vassal has no
obligation to obey a lord who fails to reward his loyalty. Because of this nature,
vassals are independent; the instruments of a vassal’s power, such as his weapons,
belong to and are paid for by him. These characteristics, while quite applicable
to the Kamakura period (1185–1333), do not suit the Edo period. The lord–vassal
relationship needs to be distinguished from the control structure known as patri-
monialism, a system under which an entire country is controlled as if it were a
single family. Under that system, the lord–vassal relationship is absolute; the lord
is not bound by anything resembling a contract, and vassals are dependent. Patri-
monialism is a generally an older system than feudalism and was commonly seen
in ancient empires and the like. The modern bureaucracies found under absolute
monarchies do have characteristics reminiscent of patrimonialism, however, in
that the bureaucrats are absolutely subordinate to their monarch and do not pos-
sess the means of their own control. Although the Tokugawa political system, or
bakuhan system, contained elements of both feudalism and patrimonialism, it was
clearly closer to the latter.
The defining characteristic of the bakuhan system, when simply contrasted with
the West, was its remarkable concentration of power. The long existing regional
powers had been swept away, as had any local warrior clans who could poten-
tially resist the authority of the daimyō, or regional landholding feudal lords. The
samurai (bushi) class was reorganized into patrimonial bureaucratic vassal bands
(kashindan), completely severed from any ties to the land, and required to live in
the vicinity of their lord’s castle. This practice is the reason why, when the modern
municipal system was established in the Meiji period (1868–1912), most of the
newly created cities were former castle towns.
The shogunate-daimyō relationship was another characteristic of the system.
Because Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616), the first shogun, had, like other daimyō,
once been a vassal of the Oda and Toyotomi clans theoretically, the shogunate-
daimyō relationship was almost one of “first among equals” when the shogunate
was first established. An overwhelming gulf soon formed between the two posi-
tions, however.
A third characteristic was the relationship between the shogunate and religion.
Although Kamakura Buddhism had once served as a source for the creative ener-
gies of the masses, most of these sects had become largely powerless by the end
of the Sengoku (Warring States) period (c. 1467–c. 1603).3 The only sect to main-
tain its strength, the Ikkō-shū, had been the greatest obstacle to Oda Nobunaga’s
 The Tokugawa political system 5
(1534–1582) national conquest. Christianity was also powerful but was restricted
by the new shogunate’s isolationist policies as the Sengoku period ended and the
Edo period began. Other religions were placed under the strict control of the temple
and shrine commissioners (jisha-bugyō) through mechanisms such as the temple
registration system (terauke) and religious census registers (shūmon ninbetsu chō).
Finally, the imperial court and nobility, which had frequently served as a nucleus
for power struggles in the past, was strictly controlled by the Regulations for the
Court and Nobility (Kinchū Narabi ni Kuge Shohatto) of 1615. Their power was
drastically reduced, and they also became greatly impoverished.
The Tokugawa political system was thus a centralized one in which domestic
forces potentially capable of acting independently of the authority of the shogun
and shogunate were minimized to the greatest extent possible.
The shogunate also lacked any external threats. Japanese relations with China
had become tense after the Ming dynasty fell and the Qing came to power in
1644; control of the great Chinese empire by a non-Han ethnic group caused fear
in Japan that something like the Mongol invasions (1274, 1281) would occur. But
while the Qing were initially expansionistic and would ultimately build them-
selves an empire that could rival the Yuan’s as the greatest in Chinese history, their
relations with Japan soon became stable. Japanese relations with Korea, which
had been poor after the invasions of Korea (1592–1593, 1597–1598) by Toy-
otomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), became calm as well. As relations with the West
were tightly controlled through the shogunate’s policy of isolation, the Tokugawa
political system was thus essentially free from foreign threats.
As a result of the absence of internal and external threats, the factors that drove
Japan to continue to increase its strength disappeared. In the West, the continued
development of firearms brought about changes in military tactics and required
the maintenance of great standing armies. These armies in turn brought about
the large bureaucratic and financial systems necessary to support them. Similar
changes had initially occurred in Japan as well, but they came to a halt following
the Summer Siege of Ōsaka (1615). Japan had been one of the world’s greatest
military superpowers at the end of the Sengoku period and had possessed more
firearms than any other country. But by the time of the final years of the Toku-
gawa shogunate, known as the Bakumatsu (1853–1868), the foundations of the
shogunate’s power, despite appearing overwhelming at first glance, had actually
become extremely obsolete and fragile. The weapons that were carried by some
of the vassals of the shogunate in the campaign against Chōshū in 1864 were not
much different from those that were used 250 years before that. The Bakufu’s
military supremacy went to nil when new military technology was introduced
from the West. In the early seventeenth century, the Tokugawa military govern-
ment had the power to stop all domestic challenges, but paradoxically this led to
the failure in ability to reform themselves from within.

The issue of legitimacy

But authority cannot be measured solely in terms of force. Another aspect, legit-
imacy, is also important. Legitimacy, simply put, is the moral justification for
6 The Tokugawa political system
rule. Rulers will always be greatly outnumbered by those they rule; their rule will
therefore not be long-lived if a large number of the ruled come to believe the ruler
to be unjust. It will be unstable unless a large number of the ruled accept, either
actively or passively, that it has a legitimate basis. So how did the bakuhan system
justify its rule?
First, there were significant differences between the hanshu (lords of the
domain) of the Edo period and the medieval lords who preceded them. The latter
had ruled over territory on the basis of their personal power. But outside of a few
domains (han), such as Satsuma and Chōshū, that had existed since the medieval
period, many of the Edo period hanshu had the mindset of patrimonial bureaucrats
appointed by the shogunate. There was a sense that their domain didn’t actually
belong to them; rather, it belonged to the shogunate. This lack of ownership is
apparent in other aspects of the system as well, such as the right of the shogu-
nate to control successions. Had the domains been independent political units,
the questions of how the hanshu was determined and who the successor would be
would have been left to them. Also, when a hanshu was dismissed from his posi-
tion or transferred to a different domain, he left behind his arms. Leaving behind
the most central instruments a hanshu had for wielding power symbolizes just
how weak their sense of ruling on the basis of their own strength was. In short,
the basis for a hanshu’s rule was that he had been entrusted with it by the shogun.
(See Figure 1.2.)
The basis for the shogun’s rule, however, took the form of the title seii taishōgun
(Great General to Subjugate the Barbarians), an honor that had been granted to
him by the imperial court that stretched back to antiquity. He also received the
court ranks of junior first rank (jūichii) or senior second rank (shōnii) from the
court. In a sense, receiving these ranks meant that the position of the shogun was

Bakufu
Shimpan
Fudai
Tozama

Chōshū
Echizen
Saga
Nakatsu
Nagasaki
Aizu

Kyoto

Tosa Osaka

Satsuma
Tokugawa T okug aw a Mito
Kyūsyū Owari
Shikoku Edo

T okug aw a Kii
Uraga
Honshū Shimoda

Figure 1.2 Major daimyō domains (1664).

 The Tokugawa political system 7
not absolute in relation to the other daimyō, as they received court ranks as well.
Prominent intellectuals of the shogunate such as Arai Hakuseki (1657–1725) and
Ogyū Sorai (1666–1728) believed that it was necessary for the shogunate to estab-
lish an independent framework for its legitimacy.

Easy collapse, easy unification

As previously mentioned, the Tokugawa political system was surprisingly fragile
in terms of both actual power and legitimacy. The conditions that would later be
responsible for the system’s unexpected collapse and the rapid reunification of
the country afterward can be seen in how the system was realized and stabilized.
The weakness of each domain’s independence contributed to making unifica-
tion easier. By way of comparison, the extremely strong sense of independence
of the German states made German unification very difficult; it would only be
during the Nazi regime that Germany managed to achieve a level of unification
comparable to that of the Meiji government.
The lack of strong religious authorities made it possible for social problems to
be viewed from a secular viewpoint rather than a religious one. As Max Weber
(1864–1920) made clear in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, a
certain type of religion could serve as a major force in the development of capital-
ism. But at the same time, because religion views the world through the lens of a
particular, intense doctrine, it can often impede a realistic perception of matters.
Unhindered by religion, Japan was able to react flexibly to external stimuli.

Legacies of the Tokugawa Japan

The peace dividend

The bakuhan political system provided a lengthy period of peace, which in turn
furnished important basic conditions for Japan’s unification and modernization.
The population of Japan in 1600 is estimated at 12 million and rose 258 percent
to 31 million by 1721. Meanwhile, the population had already reached 5 million
by the year 800, which means 800 years was needed for the population to become
12 million (a growth by 240%). In other words, while it took 900 years for the
population to not quite double between the Nara and Edo periods, it more than
doubled in just a little over a century in the first half of the Edo period.4 While
the population would stagnate in the late Edo period (especially in eastern Japan,
which suffered a stretch of poor weather), it reached a size in the first half of the
period the likes of which were rarely seen in the early modern world. The impres-
sion many have of the Edo period as some kind of dark age is a mistake derived
from focusing on the state of eastern Japan in the late Edo period and from trying
to directly compare their living standards with those we enjoy today.
How was this population growth achieved? First, the size of the area under culti-
vation was greatly expanded. Plains were opened up for farming as controlling the
flow of large rivers became technologically possible and each domain made efforts
8 The Tokugawa political system
toward developing its land, whereas agricultural land in ancient times had been
centered on basins such as the Yamato Basin. The wide dissemination of steel farm
tools, made possible by the end of warfare and the drastically reduced demand for
weapons, was also a technologically significant development as it made it easier
for farmers to cultivate deeply. Steel tools are considered one of the three great
agricultural innovations in Japanese history, along with the introduction of rice in
antiquity and of chemical fertilizers following the Second World War.
In terms of commercial development, the establishment of a national market
due to the development of coastal routes can also be mentioned. Rice and other
goods from around the country were sent to Osaka to be converted to money or to
Edo; this was only possible due to these routes. Incidentally, the establishment of
this great national market is one reason why the arrival of Commodore Matthew
C. Perry (1794–1858) and his black ships was considered a crisis that affected
not just the shogunate but the country as a whole. The black ships, which could
appear without warning, were a threat to these coastal routes and thus a danger to
the entire national economy.
Even more important was the spread of education. While it couldn’t be assumed
during the early Edo period that any given member of the samurai warrior class
was literate, by the end of the period an illiterate samurai would be exceptional.
The Japanese literacy rate is estimated to have reached 40–60 percent for adult
males and 10–20 percent for adult females by the Bakumatsu, an extraordinarily
high level for a preindustrial society; there are a number of countries in the world
today that have not yet achieved it. The spread of education had numerous effects
on the country. One was that it made document-based administration possible as it
becomes possible to effectively communicate complicated instructions via docu-
ments once the literacy rate surpasses 10 percent.5

The samurai ethos

Another important change brought about by the protracted period of peace was in
the mindset of the leadership class, something that plays an extremely important
role in politics. Humans interpret their environment through the filter of their per-
ceptions and then project this understanding into the political process.
The leaders of Japan at this time were, of course, the samurai. The ethos of
samurai, known as bushidō, originally linked the ambition of a warrior with his
loyalty to his lord. The premise of bushidō was that a samurai would be diligent
in his devotion to his lord, earn glory on the battlefield, be rewarded, and thus be
even more devoted to his lord. The problem was that the opportunity for a warrior
to show his devotion to his lord had been lost with the end of warfare.
Many samurai lived in peace with this development and enjoyed their privi-
leges. But there were also those who sought to reexamine what, exactly, it meant
to be a samurai. What did it mean to be a warrior who received his lord’s favor
one-sidedly, in the absence of any battlefield on which it could be repaid? Wasn’t
such a relationship contradictory to his very existence? These warriors’ perception
 The Tokugawa political system 9
of the one-sided nature of these rewards led to an increased emphasis on one-
sided loyalty. The mutual, contractual lord–vassal relationship was transformed
into a one-way, unconditional one.
So what exactly should a samurai do? What were a warrior’s responsibilities
and obligations during peace? It was Confucianism, and Neo-Confucianism in
particular, that provided the answer to this dilemma: a ruler must be virtuous and
guide the ruled. It was a philosophy under which it was a ruler’s duty to achieve
“benevolent rule and a tranquil people (jinsei anmin).”
This change also brought about a shift in the nature of a samurai’s loyalty.
While loyalty had originally been directed at an individual, the samurai’s lord,
loyalty to the house (o-ie) now became dominant. The practice of junshi (sui-
cide following the death of one’s lord), something that had once been consid-
ered a virtue, was now prohibited because having a capable vassal die with
his lord endangered the security of the house. With this change, the samurai’s
loyalty became directed toward an abstract principle. While that may have
reduced the strength of the loyalty, it also increased the possibility of a warrior
independently choosing what to be loyal to. It was this shift in the nature of
loyalty that made it possible for samurai to rapidly change their loyalty from
their domain to the emperor or to the state as the Bakumatsu gave way to the
Meiji period.
But even with this change, the samurai were still samurai. They didn’t lose
all their warrior qualities. The most basic rule of war is to accurately perceive
the current situation and gauge the capabilities of one’s friends and enemies
(“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles”). It is the actions taken themselves that are important in war,
not theory or the significance assigned to them (“Speed is the essence of war”).
Because of this realistic and action-centered philosophy, the samurai interpreted
the arrival of the black ships first and foremost in military terms and responded
rapidly.
In comparison, no ethos of actively taking on the crisis arose among the non-
samurai classes. Unlike the Western bourgeoisie, the Japanese merchant class
had never been able to transcend their parasitic/passive state despite dwarfing the
samurai in terms of power. Conversely, many nonsamurai strove to be faithful
to the ideals of bushidō (literally, way of the warrior), often compared to West-
ern ideas of chivalry. Shibusawa Eiichi (1840–1931) is a representative example.
A farmer, he left home to participate in the movement against the shogunate but
ended becoming an aide to Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837–1913), who later became
the final shogun. After serving as a government official in the Meiji period, he
became a leader of the financial world. It is stated in Bushido, written by Nitobe
Inazō (1862–1933), that bushidō originated with the samurai but then spread out
to the other classes. In that sense, it’s symbolic that in the Meiji Constitution the
people were referred to as shinmin. The people were thus vassals of the emperor
as well. In other words, a goal of the Meiji government was to instill the samurai
ethos in the general public.
10 The Tokugawa political system
Notes
1 Here I use the phrase “Tokugawa political system” to describe what is known in Japan
as the Bakuhan Taisei, which combines the words bakufu (feudal military government,
exercised through the shōgun) and han (domains, of which there were 280–290 during
the Edo period). This system was in place from 1192 until 1867. Some scholars call the
bakuhan system as “centralized feudalism” because bakufu was stronger than the central
governments in other feudal systems. The han were led by a daimyō). There were three
kinds of such feudal lords. The first was fudai, who had been the vassals of Tokugawa
since before the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 when Tokugawa established their rule over
Japan. The fudai were relatively small and located near Edo or other strategically impor-
tant places to defend Edo because they were believed to be more loyal to Tokugawa
than other daimyō. The second group was tozama who accepted the rule of Tokugawa
after Sekigahara but were considered outsiders. They were relatively big and located far
away from Edo. The third was Shimpan who were relatives of the Tokugawa family. The
most important of these were Kii, Owari, and Mito. Shimpan were large and located in
strategically important places.
2 Varying theories about the concept of sakoku have been raised in recent years. What is
referred to here as sakoku is the shogunate’s policy of maintaining strict control over
external relations, not some complete closure of the country. It goes without saying that
trade continued with foreign countries such as Korea, the Qing Dynasty in China, and
Holland even while this system of control was in force.
3 Kamakura Buddhism refers to those sects that originated during the Kamakura period,
including Sōtō and Rinzai Zen, Pure Land (Jōdo-shū) and True Pure Land (Jōdo Shinshū)
Buddhism, and Nichiren Buddhism (Hokke-shū).
4 Although there are several important works, I based my description on Kitō Hiroshi,
Jinkō de Yomu Nihon no Rekishi (Understanding Japanese History Through Its Popula-
tion) (Tokyo: Kōdansha Gakujutsu Bunko, 1990).
5 Ronald P. Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1972); Ronald P. Dore, The Diploma Disease: Education, Qualification and Develop-
ment (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976); and Herbert Passin, Society and
Education in Japan (Tokyo: Kōdansha Gakujutsu Bunko International, 1983). However,
Richard Rubinger, Popular Literacy in Early Modern Japan (Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press, 2007) estimates the literacy of Japan to be much lower than both Dore’s
and Passin’s figures, particularly among the girls and women and local rural areas. The
main reason for those differences is that, while Dore and Passin estimate from the num-
ber of temple schools (terakoya) in the Edo period, Rubinger tries to discover the actual
literacy from the data in the Meiji period.
2 Responding to the West

Open the country or keep it closed?

Japanese perception of the outside world

While Japan was not the only East Asian country to be confronted by the West
at this time, its response to the challenge was remarkably different from that of
China and Korea. The primary reason for this was the difference in how the Japa-
nese perceived the outside world.
The first distinctive characteristic of this perception was the deep-rooted Japa-
nese awareness that they were a smaller and more peripheral country than China.
The Japanese had thus long recognized their position relative to others and felt no
difficulty in acknowledging the existence of something superior.
But to the Chinese, China was the center of the world. Zhonghua (a Chinese word
that means “central glory”) was the flower of civilization that bloomed in the center
of the world. The more removed a country was from China, the more barbarous it
was. The existence of a civilization superior to that of China was unthinkable.
Second, while the Japanese were located on the periphery of Chinese civiliza-
tion, they were not completely overwhelmed by it. Indeed, they rebelled against
its influence and had an intellectual tradition of searching for their own unique-
ness. This backlash was especially strong during the Edo period in which Con-
fucianism served as the regime’s legitimizing ideology, as was the pursuit of a
uniquely Japanese identity. The continuity of the imperial bloodline and a tradi-
tion of being undefeated thus came to be emphasized. The former made the rapid
spread of the sonnō (reverence for the emperor) ideology possible, and the latter
became a way of stoking the pride of the samurai.
In the case of Korea, which was also in the Chinese cultural sphere, the influ-
ence of Chinese civilization was more unrelenting. The attitude developed in
Korea, where acceptance of Confucianism had long permeated society, that Korea
was second only to the Ming dynasty and that they, rather than the non-Chinese
Qing dynasty, were the legitimate successor to Confucian civilization. This sort of
“miniature” Chinese ideology made Korea respond to the West in much the same
way as China.
12 Responding to the West

Figure 2.1 Landing of Commodore Perry, officers and men of the Squadron, to meet the
Imperial Commissioners at Yokohama, Japan, March 8th, 1854 by Wilhelm
(William) Heine. (From the collection of the Yokohama Archives of History.)

Third, the framework of the Japanese view of the outside world strongly
emphasized military aspects. It was thus possible for them to gauge the outsiders
using the universal yardstick of military power. Indeed, many among the shogunal
bureaucrats who met Perry and Yevfimiy V. Putyatin (1803–1883) felt that the
foreigners, while enemies, were still admirable for their mastery of warfare. But
in the cases of China and Korea, these outsiders were, above all else, cultural bar-
barians. When barbarians wished to visit China, they were expected to follow the
appropriate procedure; it was unethical to accept them otherwise. Procedure – the
sangui-jiukou ritual (repeatedly kneeling three times and kowtowing nine times
altogether) performed when entering the presence of the emperor, for example –
was thus not something that was open to compromise. It took two wars – the
First and Second Opium Wars (1856–1860) – and having its capital sacked before
China finally opened its doors to the West.
In the case of Japan, sakoku, the policy of closing the doors of the nation to the
rest of the world, had been intended as a system to prevent external danger. It was
therefore meaningless to continue the policy after acknowledging the black ships
as a major military threat if doing so actually increased that danger. Even so, there
were naturally strong cultural, racial, and visceral responses to any change. Isola-
tion had been in place for centuries and was one of the fundamental laws that the
 Responding to the West 13
Tokugawa political system had been built upon. The shogunate placed great empha-
sis on tradition, and the policy was not something that could be easily revised. The
shogunate thus had no choice but to attempt a compromise policy under which war
was avoided, but this policy of self-imposed isolation remained in place.
Western ships had begun to visit Japan in the late eighteenth century seeking to
return Japanese castaways or to open trade with the country. Adam K. Laksman
(1766–c. 1806) came to Nemuro in Hokkaido from Russia in 1792, and Nikolai
P. Rezanov (1764–1807) visited Nagasaki in 1804 seeking to open trade. The
British frigate HMS Phaeton came to Nagasaki in 1808 for the purpose of captur-
ing Dutch ships. In response to these incidents, the shogunate issued the Edict
to Repel Foreign Vessels (Muninen Uchiharai Rei) in 1825. When the Morri-
son, an American merchant ship, appeared in Uraga Bay and Satsuma in 1837, it
was fired upon. Criticism of the repulsion edict heightened when it was learned
that the Morrison had been attempting to return Japanese castaways. When Japan
learned of the Chinese defeat in the First Opium War, it repealed the edict and
replaced it with the Edict to Supply Fuel and Water (Shinsui Kyūyo Rei), adopting
a policy of responding to emergency requests.
Commodore James Biddle (1783–1848), commander of the American East
India Squadron, sailed into Uraga Bay in 1846 but was ordered to go to Nagasaki,
and his requests for trade and diplomatic relations between America and Japan
were ultimately rejected. In July 1853, seven years later, Commodore Perry, who
had studied Biddle’s failure, came to Uraga to negotiate directly with the shogu-
nate. He returned in February of the following year and concluded the Treaty of
Kanagawa (Convention of Peace and Amity), successfully opening the two ports
of Shimoda and Hakodate. Despite this, it was still possible to view this treaty
as merely stipulating exceptions to the closed-door policy rather than directly
contradicting it.
However, this was followed by the arrival of Townsend Harris (1804–1878),
who emphatically sought to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce, to serve as
U.S. consul general in 1856. The Second Opium War had broken out in China by
this time, making the international environment even more turbulent. The issue
of this treaty became a serious problem for the shogunate as it became pressed to
choose either to open up the country (kaikoku) or to keep it closed off.

Expectations placed on the shogunal leadership

Perry’s visit was followed by the rapid spread of a sense of crisis throughout
Japan. This was by no means a self-evident phenomenon, however. There are
always those in many societies who welcome the arrival of external enemies
because it may cause difficulties for those in power; indeed, imperialism has fre-
quently made use of this response by those who oppose central government. It is
therefore rather worthwhile to focus on the rise of this sense of national crisis in
Bakumatsu Japan.
The ripening of a sense of national unity provided the historical and cultural
conditions for the sense of crisis. And because of the establishment of a national
14 Responding to the West
market through the development of coastal routes, the arrival of the black ships
immediately meant danger for the entire country.
A great majority of the domains were suffering financial collapse, however,
and had lost the ability to cope with this danger. There were therefore heightened
national expectations toward the response of the powerful shogunate. The arrival
of the black ships did not immediately lower the shogunate’s credibility; rather, it
strengthened expectations of shogunal leadership. It was only when those expec-
tations weren’t met that the shogunate’s prestige crashed.
It was self-evident to the shogunate that drastic reforms were unavoidable if
the danger was to be addressed. More specifically, reforms in the following three
areas became political issues.
First was administrative-level reform of the military and foreign affairs. On
the initiative of rōjū (senior councilor) Abe Masahiro (1819–1857), the position
of coastal defense officer (kaibō-goyōgakari) was established in 1845. Many tal-
ented individuals would be appointed to this office in the coming years, includ-
ing Tsutsui Masanori (1778–1859), Kawaji Toshiakira (1801–1868), and Iwase
Tadanari (1818–1861).

Kawaji Toshiakira (1801–1868)

Kawaji Toshiakira was born the eldest son of Naitō Kichibei, a low-­ranking
official in the magistrate’s office (daikansho) of Hita, Bungo Province,
Kyūshū. Kichibei had wandered the country as a ronin (masterless sam-
urai) from the Takeda clan prior to serving at the office, but he had a
strong desire to serve the shogunate and traveled to Edo in 1808, where
he received the rank of gokenin (low-level vassal) and joined a unit of
foot soldiers (kachigumi). Toshiakira was adopted into the Kawaji family
in 1812 and in 1817 passed the arithmetic examination (hissan ginmi)
to become a low-ranking official in the financial commissioners’ office
(kanjō-bugyosho). As a result of actively seeking to make connections
wherever possible, he was promoted to managing accounting officer
(shihai kanjō shutsuyaku) in 1818. The recruitment system of Edo Japan
was surprisingly flexible and made use of adoption, examinations, and
the sale of the rank of gokenin.
Kawaji advanced exceptionally quickly due to his talents and diligence
and was appointed financial surveillance officer (kanjō ginmiyaku) in
1835. It was around this time that he began to associate with Watanabe
Kazan, Egawa Hidetatsu, and Mamiya Rinzō. Because of these connec-
tions and through his work, he came to have an interest in the West. He
only narrowly avoided falling victim to the “purge of barbarian scholars”
 Responding to the West 15

(bansha no goku) in 1839 that targeted Watanabe and others. He was

appointed commissioner of Sado (Sado bugyō) in 1840 and returned
to Edo in 1841 to serve as commissioner of lesser public works (kob-
ushin bugyō) and later commissioner of public works (fushin bugyō). He
was appointed commissioner of Nara (Nara bugyō) in 1846 and east-
ern commissioner of Osaka (ōsaka Higashimachi bugyō) in 1851. These
experiences serving as a commissioner stationed away from the capital
(ongoku bugyō) fostered an awareness of the responsibilities of govern-
ing that surpassed that of a bureaucrat. He had been exposed to the
narrow-minded views of the local people while living away from Edo and
had come to realize that Japan’s views might be similarly narrow-minded
within the world.
He received the important position of commissioner of finance (kanjō
bugyō) in 1852, simultaneously serving as coastal defense officer (kaibō
gakari) as increased pressure from the West became tangible. He was
involved in numerous negotiations with foreign countries; he was granted
full authority in dealing with Putyatin (as we will see), was the officer
in charge of supervising the American consulate in Shimoda (Shimoda
torishimarigakari), and dealt with Townsend Harris. He also succes-
sively held the positions of military reform officer (gunsei kaikakugakari),
Military Training Institute construction officer (Kōbusho kensetsugakari),
inland sea gun batteries repair officer (uchiumi daiba shurigakari), offi-
cial in charge of the Investigation of the Barbarian Books (Bansho Tor-
ishirabegakari), coinage reminting officer (tsūka kaichūgakari), trade
investigation officer (boeki torishirabegakari), and supervisor of the
Naval Academy (Gunkan Sōrenjo kantoku). During this period, Kawaji
came to feel that Perry and Putyatin, who had traveled to Japan from so
far away, were true warriors worthy of admiration despite being enemies.
Kawaji hurried to Kyoto with Hotta Masayoshi in 1858 to receive impe-
rial sanction for the treaty of amity and commerce with the United States
but returned empty-handed. He was placed under arrest during the
Ansei Purge and retired from the shogunal administration. He would later
be appointed commissioner of foreign affairs (gaikoku bugyō) in 1863 but
accomplished little in this position.
Kawaji was raised in extreme poverty and received an extremely strict
education from his parents. His younger brother Inoue Kiyonao would
also serve as commissioner of foreign affairs and commissioner of
finance; the two were said to have been brought to tears by memories
of the love and hardships of their parents. Kawaji remained strict and
16 Responding to the West

industrious even after he had been elevated to important positions; he

continued to learn all he could outside of work and to train his body,
making thousands of spear thrusts every day. Although a man of letters,
Kawaji was quite fixated on military affairs. He was also extremely loyal
to the Tokugawa clan because of his extraordinary rise in its service and
took Ieyasu as the focus for that loyalty. He committed suicide the day
after he learned of the surrender of Edo Castle.
As a Bakumatsu administrative officer of the enlightenment faction (kaimei-
ha), the personal history and thoughts of Kawaji are extremely interesting.

Gun batteries were constructed in Edo and Nagasaki to help defend against
foreign ships, and the Naval Training Institute (Kaigun Denshūjo) was estab-
lished in Nagasaki in 1855 for the purpose of introducing Western naval technol-
ogy. The school had a Western ship that had been provided by the Dutch, as well
as a Dutch instructor. Katsu Rintarō (1823–1899) (more commonly known as
Kaishū), Enomoto Takeaki (1836–1908), and Godai Tomoatsu (1835–1885) were
among this school’s students. Turning to the army, the Military Training Institute
(Kōbusho) was opened in 1855 and taught Western gunnery as well as traditional
martial skills. The school’s gunnery instructors included Egawa Tarōzaemon (son
of Hidetatsu), Takashima Shirōdayu (son of Shūhan), and Katsu Rintarō.
Collecting more information about foreign countries was urgently needed for
Japan to pursue diplomacy in a broad sense. The government thus expanded the
Office for the Translation of Barbarian Books (Bansho Wage Goyō), which had
been created under the auspices of the Office of the Official Astronomer (Ten-
monkata) in 1811. It also opened the Institute of Western Learning (Yōgakusho)
in 1855, which was renamed the Office for the Investigation of Barbarian Books
(Bansho Shirabesho) the following year. This office taught Dutch and English to
retainers of the shogun and daimyō, produced translations, and conducted negoti-
ations with foreign countries. It was accorded status equal to the shogunate’s high
institution of Confucian learning known as the Shōheikō, a school for shogunal
officials in 1862, and renamed the Office for the Study of Western Books (Yōsho
Shirabesho). It would become the Kaiseisho in 1863 and later form part of the
University of Tokyo.
The second area of reform was the expansion of participation in the govern-
ment. Participation in the shogunal administration had originally been limited to
the fudai daimyō, those who had been Tokugawa hereditary vassals before the
Tokugawa established its hold on power in 1600. Abe Masahiro, however, now
put forward a plan arguing that, given the national crisis caused by Perry’s arrival,
the opinion of all the domains should be sought, that powerful daimyō such as
Tokugawa Nariaki (1800–1860) of Mito, Matsudaira Yoshinaga (1828–1890) of
 Responding to the West 17
Echizen, and Shimazu Nariakira (1809–1858) of Satsuma should be allowed to
participate in the government. Abe’s plan was an attempt to achieve national unity
and to justify changing the Sohō (ancestral laws) through Kōgi (public debate).
Loosening the requirements of sankin kōtai, the policy requiring daimyō to alter-
nate their residences between Edo and their domains as a way to monitor them
and ensure their loyalty, was also considered. This alternate attendance system
was designed to make them waste their resources by traveling and living in two
places. The wives and heirs of the daimyo had to live in Edo as hostages of a
sort. While the policy had its disadvantages, it did contribute to the development
of a communication and transportation network and to the dissemination of Edo
culture across the nation.
The third target of reforms was the need to put forward a powerful shogun.
The twelfth shogun, Ieyoshi (1793–1853) had died in the midst of Perry’s visit in
1853, and his successor Iesada (1824–1858) was extremely sickly. It was there-
fore necessary to determine who would be his heir. The two candidates were
Tokugawa Yoshitomi (1846–1866, who later ruled as Iemochi as the fourteenth
shogun) of Kii and Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu (1837–1913, the son of Tokugawa
Nariakira). Yoshitomi had the better claim of the two in terms of lineage but was
only eleven years old in 1857. In comparison, Yoshinobu was twenty and known
to be genius of rarely seen caliber. Those who supported Yoshinobu (the Hitotsub-
ashi faction) expanded their efforts against the faction of Nanki (another name for
the Kii region) that backed their relative and lord, Yoshitomi.
All of these changes met strong resistance. The administrative reforms natu-
rally meant individuals would be recruited on the basis of ability rather than social
standing and met opposition for that reason. And allowing the powerful domains
to participate in the government was strongly opposed by many of the fudai
daimyō. It was especially hard for the shogunate to enact changes to the sankin
kōtai policy as it was both a symbol of the shogunate’s authority over the daimyō
and a long-standing tradition. There was hostility from those who emphasized the
importance of tradition in the succession dispute as well. Reform was no easy task
for a political system like the shogunate, which had placed such emphasis on the
authority of tradition.
The confrontation between the so-called enlightenment (kaimei-ha) and
conservative (hoshu-ha) factions is apparent in all of these issues. Of the two
groups, the enlightenment faction headed by Abe Masahiro and his succes-
sor Hotta Masayoshi (1810–1864) had the upper hand, but the confrontation
between the two groups had not yet become fierce; that would only happen
when the issue of gaining imperial sanction for a treaty with America was added
to the existing issues.

The issue of imperial sanction for the treaty and

the shogunal succession
Having decided to sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce at the end of 1857,
the shogunate dispatched Hotta, a rōjū (one of several elders in the Tokugawa
18 Responding to the West
government appointed from the fudai daimyō) to Kyoto in March 1858 to receive
imperial consent for the treaty. They did not foresee any particular difficulty in
obtaining this. Numerous political forces were making efforts aimed at the impe-
rial court at the time, however. The Hitotsubashi faction was actively attempting
to obtain an imperial edict that would aid Yoshinobu in being named successor,
and the antitreaty faction was also active at court. As a result of these efforts as
well as the antiforeign character of the imperial court itself, the court refused to
give its sanction to the treaty.
The shogunate was stunned by this result. The conservative faction, to which
most of the fudai daimyō belonged, and the Nanki faction believed that the schem-
ing of the Hitotsubashi faction was responsible for the failure, and it stiffened
their resolve to force their way through the opposition. Ii Naosuke (1815–1860)
was appointed tairō (great elder) in June. As the Ii clan was the largest of the fudai
daimyō and the position of great elder was appointed only during emergencies,
this shows that the conservative faction was attempting to establish the strongest
support structure for itself that it could. Hotta was dismissed, Yoshitomi’s desig-
nation as heir was announced, and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed
without imperial sanction on July 29.
These moves were followed by harsh suppression of the opposing factions:
many of the Hitotsubashi faction daimyō were forced to step down or were sub-
jected to house arrest, and numerous shogunal vassals belonging to the enlight-
enment faction were demoted. A number of politically active figures such as
Hashimoto Sanai (1834–1859) and Yoshida Shōin (1830–1859) were also put to
death. These actions are known as the Ansei Purge (Ansei no Taigoku). The sud-
den death of Shimazu Nariakira, an influential member of the Hitotsubashi fac-
tion, also dealt a great blow to them.
This concept of emphasizing the importance of tradition in order to success-
fully change the traditional policy of isolation was filled with contradictions, how-
ever, and going too far trying to strengthen tradition can in fact make it easier
to destroy. Additionally, the conservative faction was never actually particularly
passionate about the idea of opening Japan to the outside world. This extreme sup-
pression sparked a backlash; rōshi (masterless samurai) from Mito assassinated Ii
Naosuke in March 1860 outside the Sakurada gate of Edo Castle in what would
be known as the Sakuradamon Incident.

The unrest of the Bakumatsu

Outbreak of the “Revere the Emperor, Expel

the Barbarian” movement
High shogunal officials, led by Andō Nobumasa (1819–1871) and Kuze Hirochika
(1819–1864), changed course following the Sakuradamon Incident, rescinding
the punishments levied during the purge and rehabilitating the honor of those who
had been executed. They compromised with the imperial court and loosened the
 Responding to the West 19
burdens of sankin kōtai of having the lords spend part of their time in Edo. These
actions meant that the shogunate was acknowledging that it had made mistakes in
the past; the assassination of the great elder had already greatly damaged the sho-
gunate’s authority by itself, but this change of course only exacerbated this loss.
The shogunate now poured its efforts into kōbu gattai (unity of the court and
the shogunate), a policy designed to strengthen the shogunate by using the sym-
bol of the emperor to its advantage and showing the country that the court stood
with them. The marriage of Princess Kazu (1846–1877), the younger sister of the
emperor, to the shogun was at the heart of this policy. But the shogunate encoun-
tered strong opposition to this as it had already lost the ability to ensure that its
interpretations prevailed. As rumors circulated that the shogunate was going to
take Princess Kazu hostage, suppress the imperial court, and then appoint the sho-
gun’s son as emperor, Andō Nobumasa was injured in an assassination attempt in
February 1862, known as the Sakashitamon Incident.
For their part, the powerful domains had begun to consider a policy of “involve-
ment in state affairs” (kokuji shūsen) at this time. Nagai Uta (1819–1863) of
Chōshū put forward his “sea voyage policy” (kōkai enryaku saku) in 1861, which
advocated overcoming the West by opening the country and actively expanding
through trade (he was soon brought down by the antiforeign jōi (expel the barbar-
ian) faction within the domain). Shimazu Hisamitsu (1817–1887), who had effec-
tively succeeded Shimazu Nariakira after his sudden death (although Hisamitsu’s
son Tadayoshi [1840–1897], was the actual hanshu), raised troops and departed
for Kyoto in 1862, where he advocated for reform of the shogunal government.
The imperial court agreed, and Hisamitsu then departed for Edo accompanied by
an imperial envoy.
Hisamitsu’s proposals resulted in what is known as the “Yoshinobu-Yoshinaga
government”: the appointment of Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu as the shogun’s guard-
ian (kōken) and of Matsudaira Yoshinaga as seiji sōsai (supreme councilor) in
August 1862. Although the domains’ “involvement in state affairs” had been
intended at least in part to bolster the strength of the shogunate, it seemed to have,
objectively speaking, weakened it. The shogunate suspected the domains of acting
against it, and this mutual distrust resulted in a situation where it became impos-
sible for decisions to be made.
It was important at this time for the shogunate to do all it could to accommo-
date the imperial court and gain its favor; it therefore made concessions to the jōi
position. This greatly enhanced the prestige of the court, and public opinion (kōgi
yoron) began to greatly favor the advocates of those desiring a hard-line against
the West.
But what, exactly, jōi meant was rather ambiguous. No one – neither the sho-
gunate, the imperial court, nor the powerful domains – had the authority to assign
it a clear definition. The situation was being propelled forward by radical fac-
tions who defined jōi for themselves and acted accordingly. With violent outbursts
from the sonnō jōi movement occurring from 1860 on, the shogunate decided in
December 1862 to obey an imperial order to expel the foreigners. It promised on
June 6, 1863, that this would be implemented on June 25. Despite this promise,
20 Responding to the West
the shogunate had no actual intention of attempting to drive out the foreigners,
however; it merely ordered its subordinates to defend themselves if attacked, a
reiteration of the policy already been in place. Chōshū, however, used the shogu-
nate’s deadline as grounds to begin opening fire on foreign ships traversing the
Shimonoseki Straits.
It was here, at the height of “revere the emperor, expel the barbarians” activity,
that the movement came crashing into harsh realities. The first of these was the
actual capabilities of the great Western powers. America and France immediately
launched a severe retaliatory attack on Chōshū; the Shimonoseki gun emplace-
ments were destroyed, and the town was occupied in July 1863 (Shimonoseki
Incident). The Anglo-Satsuma War then broke out in August as Britain dispatched
warships to Satsuma to force it to take responsibility for the 1862 Namamugi
Incident in which British nationals had been attacked. Satsuma performed well
and caused a fair amount of damage to the British, but this merely reflected a lack
of British preparations; Satsuma came to realize that Japan could not match the
strength of the Western powers.
The powerful domains were another obstacle for the movement. Shimazu
Hisamitsu had many Satsuma radicals put to death in the 1862 Teradaya Incident and
joined with Aizu (the domain charged with Kyoto’s protection by order of the shogu-
nate) to wipe out the city’s antiforeign radicals on September 30, 1862. The powerful
domains sought to increase their influence in national politics, and the radical expel
the barbarian factions were a hindrance to this.

The search for and collapse of a shogunate–domain

alliance framework
With the radical factions thus in retreat by late 1863 and the shogunate’s policy of
unity with the court compatible with the powerful domains’ desire for increased
involvement in national affairs, attempts began to create an alliance between the
shogunate and the domains.
The establishment of a conference of councilors (sanyo kaigi) symbolized this
effort. Created in late 1863, this body consisted of Hitotsubashi Yoshinobu (the
shogun’s guardian), Matsudaira Yoshinaga (supreme councilor), Yamanouchi
Toyoshige (1827–1872, of Tosa), Shimazu Hisamitsu, Date Munenari (1818–
1892, Uwajima in Iyo), and Matsudaira Katamori (1835–1893, Aizu, protector of
Kyoto). This arrangement lasted only three months, however.
The first point of contention between the two sides was a political one. The
shogunate wanted to limit the power of the powerful domains as much as possi-
ble, and the domains lashed out against this. The conflict between Yoshinobu and
Hisamitsu was especially overt. Economic issues were another source of discord.
The shogunate wanted to monopolize the profits from trade, while the domains
wanted to make trade freer. This issue would also come to involve the foreign
countries interested in trading with Japan. That is to say, Britain desired freedom
of trade; having become aware of Satsuma’s capabilities during the Anglo-Satsuma
War, it began favoring it.
 Responding to the West 21
The loose cooperation between the shogunate and strong domains would still
briefly continue, however. When Chōshū marched on Kyoto in August 1864 (the
Kinmon Incident), Satsuma and the shogunate cooperated to drive it away; this
cooperation was repeated in the First Chōshū Expedition launched the following
month to force Chōshū to take responsibility for its actions. Forced into a diffi-
cult corner as Shimonoseki was also being bombarded in September by a British,
American, French, and Dutch joint fleet, Chōshū had no choice but to surrender
and make a number of concessions to the shogunate in December 1864.
Both the shogunate and the domains took steps to strengthen themselves
following the collapse of the conference of councilors. The adoption of a pro-
French policy by the shogunate at this time is an especially noteworthy devel-
opment. French envoy Léon Roches (1809–1901) had, since his appointment in
April 1864, actively worked to become close to the shogunate. France, under the
rule of Emperor Napoléon III (1808–1873, reigned 1852–1870), was in the final
stage of its industrial revolution at the time and was increasingly interested in
trading with Japan. Napoléon III’s policies, collectively known as Bonapartism,
were characterized by the state acting as a mediator in the intensifying conflict
between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and actively pursuing foreign expan-
sion to enhance national prestige and direct that domestic discord outward. The
French intervention in Mexico (1862–1867) is an example of Bonapartist policies.
Pro-French bureaucrats who responded positively to Roches’s overtures became
influential within the shogunate and sought to use French support to restore the
shogunate’s strength. Commissioner of Finance Oguri Tadamasa (1827–1868)
and Commissioner of Foreign Affairs Kurimoto Kon (1822–1897), who gained
power within the shogunate in late 1864, were central players in this effort.
The plans of Roches and the pro-France bureaucrats involved the following.
One of their ultimate goals was the dissolution of the feudal system and the estab-
lishment of centralized government under the shogunate. They planned to restore
and strengthen the system, requiring the presence of the lords in Edo as a first
step toward this. The shogunate’s policy had been loosened in 1862 to require
the daimyō to reside in Edo for only one year or for one hundred days every three
years; restoring the prior requirements would strengthen the shogunate’s control
over the daimyō. They also considered making the shogun the de facto sovereign
by having him assume the title of regent (sesshō) or chancellor (kanpaku) and
thereby render the imperial court powerless.
In terms of reform of the shogunate, they sought the establishment of a special-
ized bureaucracy and the creation of a responsible cabinet system. They envi-
sioned reform of the ambiguous authority of the elders council of state as the first
stage. They wanted to create an organization similar to a five-minister cabinet
under a prime minister by making the head rōjū (elder) an official without port-
folio and dividing responsibility for foreign affairs, domestic affairs, the army,
the navy, and finance among the other elders. They also wanted to create a mod-
ern, standing army for the shogunate. To that end, the troops of the fudai daimyō
would be gathered in Edo where they would be made direct vassals of the shogun
and their training, arms, and equipment standardized.
22 Responding to the West
The collapse of the shogunate
These types of proposed reforms sparked a strong backlash from the powerful
domains. A Satsuma-Chōshū (Sacchō) alliance was formed in March 1866, shortly
before the dispatch of the Second Chōshū Expedition. If Chōshū, one of the two
strongest forces opposing the shogunate, fell, it might well serve as the trigger for
reunification of the country by the shogunate. As is well-known, it was Britain
who brokered the alliance between the two domains, as the rivalry between the
shogunate and the two domains paralleled that between Britain, who sought open
trade, and France, who sought to use the shogunate to make inroads into Japan.
The situation from 1866 on was thus a convoluted one involving three groups:
the French-backed shogunate under Yoshinobu, which sought to establish itself
as an absolute authority; Satsuma and Chōshū, who sought to defeat the shogu-
nate through the use of force; and a “return the prerogative [i.e., all his power
as national leader] to the throne” faction (taisei hōkan-ha) led by the domain of
Tosa. This third group sought to eliminate the shogunate and establish a new order
centered on a “domain conference” (reppan kaigi), in which the Tokugawa would
participate with status equal to that of the other daimyō.
At first glance, there would appear to be little separating the latter two groups,
as those who sought to defeat the shogunate didn’t seek to completely eliminate
the Tokugawa clan’s as feudal lords, either. The problem was that if a domain
conference was established, the Tokugawa clan, with its 8 million koku of income,
Yoshinobu’s capable leadership, and the support of France, would naturally
assume a position of leadership.
It was for that reason that Yoshinobu decided to return power to the throne,
submitting his decision to the emperor on November 9, 1867. Driven into a corner
by this decision, Satsuma and Chōshū, who had been busily concentrating their
troops in Kyoto at the time, proposed on January 3, 1868, that an imperial pro-
nouncement (daigōrei) be issued, announcing the restoration of imperial rule and
the personal rule of the emperor. Yoshinobu was ordered to return all his ranks and
land to the throne at a meeting held later that day at the Kogosho, a building on
the imperial palace grounds.
The two domains also sought to create a situation in which an armed confronta-
tion with the shogunate was unavoidable through harassment techniques such as
setting fires in Edo. The enraged shogunate had the Satsuma manor in Edo burned
on January 19. The Battle of Toba-Fushimi that began a week later on the 27th
resulted in an imperial victory, albeit one that was at least partially due to chance.

The conditions necessary for a “low-cost” revolution

What’s fascinating about this battle is that the course of the war against the shogu-
nate was decided in a single day; following the imperial victory, all of the domains
outside the Hokuriku and Ōu regions in northeastern Japan rushed to join the vic-
tors. Why did this happen?
First, there was great opposition throughout the country to continuing the war.
The people had become acclimated to the sustained period of peace and didn’t
 Responding to the West 23
want the disturbances of war; a long, large-scale war would cause considerable
disorder. There was also strong cultural resistance to utterly destroying one’s
enemy. Tokugawa Iesato (1863–1940), Yoshinobu’s adopted son and successor,
would be active in public life for many years. Later granted the title of prince, the
same rank bestowed upon the heads of the Mōri and Shimazu clans (the rulers of
Chōshū and Satsuma domains), he served for many years in the House of Peers,
was once asked to form a government (although he declined) and represented
Japan at the Washington Naval Conference. This was an uncommon path for the
loser of a revolution.
Second, there was a powerful intermediary force. Britain, with its eye on
expanding trade with Japan, didn’t want the war to grow larger. Due partly to a
request from Katsu, British envoy Sir Harry Smith Parkes (1828–1885) strongly
opposed any attack on Edo by Saigō Takamori (1827–1877). The desires of the
great naval power played an important role in achieving a bloodless surrender of
Edo Castle, the shogunal stronghold.
Third, there was comparatively strong leadership on both sides. Successful nego-
tiations between Katsu and Saigō were still necessary even with Parke’s intervention.
Looking at a situation that played out under other circumstances, the fighting
in the Hokuriku and Tohoku regions that followed wasn’t unavoidable. Aizu and
the other domains weren’t determined to give sustained resistance; they merely
wanted to surrender on the most favorable terms possible. But there was no one
to play the role of mediator. Britain considered the war already over, and it was
difficult to restrain Tōhoku from Yokohama. Additionally, the imperial army’s
lines were overstretched, and it was under leadership that was both second-rate
and hungry for fame.
Finally, the presence of a sense of national unity shouldn’t be ignored. There
was no small awareness that Japan might well be destroyed if the imperial court
and the shogunate fought to the bitter end. This was one reason that the pro-
French policy did not achieve adequate success within the shogunate.
There may be questions about how, exactly, those who had supported sonnō jōi
rapidly moved toward opening up the country during the Meiji Restoration. But
sonnō jōi should be understood as a slogan that incorporated two aspects of Japa-
nese nationalism: sonnō stood for “a unified government” and jōi for “independ-
ence from outsiders.” The question of exactly what kind of revolution the Meiji
Restoration was is a long-standing issue. Some say that it was the establishment
of absolutist government, while others point out its similarities to bourgeoisie
revolutions. As the use of the sonnō jōi slogan shows, however, it was a national-
ist revolution.
3 Building the Meiji state

Establishing a centralized government

Securing wider support

One of the largest tasks facing the new Meiji state was establishing a centralized
governmental structure.
The new government had to first strive to secure the support of as many domains
as possible in order to ensure its own stability, however. The basic policies of the
Meiji government were made clear in the Charter Oath (Gokajō no Goseimon)
presented by the Meiji Emperor (1852–1912, reigned 1867–1912) to the court
nobility and daimyō on April 6, 1868. The first article welcomed the participation
of the domains in the government by stating that “deliberative assemblies shall be
widely established and all matters decided by open discussion.” The new structure
of the government was revealed in the Seitaisho (“Document on Governmental
Structure,” June 1868). Article Five of this document stated that “each fu, han,
and ken shall furnish representatives [kōshi] to serve as delegates.1 A delibera-
tive body shall be created so that public opinion can be openly discussed.” Seven
bodies known as kan were created within the Dajōkan, the central government.
One of these, the Giseikan, which served as the system’s legislative body, was
composed of the decision-making Jōkyoku (upper house) and the deliberating
Gekyoku (lower house). The Gekyoku was composed of one to three representa-
tives from each fu, ken, and domain.2

Concentrating power
But as the new government’s position became increasingly secure, the poli-
cies aimed at securing popular support were deemphasized and the government
instead focused on its initial goal of centralizing power. The Giseikan had ensured
each domain’s participation in the government; its dissolution in June 1869 imme-
diately following the fall of the Goryōkaku in Hakodate and the end of the Boshin
War (the war against the new government) symbolizes this shift in focus.
Dismantling the power of the domains was a necessary first step toward cen-
tralizing power. The hanshu of Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen petitioned the
throne to allow them to return their domains to the emperor (hanseki hōkan). This
 Building the Meiji state 25

Figure 3.1 The Iwakura Mission in San Francisco in January 1872. From left, Kido
Takayoshi, Yamaguchi Naoyoshi, Iwakura Tomomi, Itō Hirobumi, Ōkubo
Toshimichi. (From the collection of the Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives.)

decision reflected their understanding that Japan could not become a modern state
without a centralized governmental structure, as can be seen in the petition’s state-
ments that “[e]very matter great and small ought to be made one. Only then will
we be true to our name and capable of standing equally with foreign countries.”
The government accepted the petition in July and other domains followed suit
afterward. Each lord was appointed governor of his former domain. The titles
of the court nobility and daimyō were abolished and replaced with titles from
a newly created peerage. And the specifics of the Dajōkan system, which had
been ambiguous up to that point, were made clear in August. Looking at those
appointed at the vice-ministerial level or higher within the newly created minis-
tries, with the lone exception of Matsudaira Yoshinaga, former lord of Echizen,
all were either court nobles or originated from Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, or Hizen.
In the next step toward centralization, 10,000 soldiers from Satsuma, Chōshū,
and Tosa assembled in Edo in April 1871. This was the first military force to
be directly under the control of the new government; prior to this point, all sol-
diers, with the exception of the roughly 500 members of the imperial guard, had
belonged to various domains. The forthcoming imperial rescript on the abolish-
ment of the domains and the establishment of prefectures (haihan chiken) in
26 Building the Meiji state
August were made possible by this newly created military. Unlike in the case of
hanseki hōkan, this abolishment of domains was carried out by a small number of
Satsuma and Chōshū officials backed by the authority of the emperor. The wishes
of the former daimyō class had not been taken into account, and even Shimazu
Tadayoshi, the hanshu of Satsuma, his father Hisamitsu, and Tosa Councilor Ita-
gaki Taisuke (1837–1919) were kept in the dark. The officials responsible were
Ōkubo Toshimichi (1830–1878), Saigō Takamori, Kido Takayoshi (1833–1877),
and a few officials from Satsuma and Chōshū.
It is truly surprising that the government had been able to move from the
decentralized daimyō-bunkoku system to an entirely centralized system of gov-
ernment in a mere three and a half years from the Restoration. The foreigners
who witnessed this marveled at the miracle. The reasons that this change was pos-
sible have already been repeatedly touched upon. First, the domains had already
reached the point of financial collapse, and many desired to give up their respon-
sibilities. Second, the daimyō-bunkoku system was weak in terms of legitimacy:
many of the hanshu were aware that they had merely been vassal-bureaucrats
of the shogunate. Finally, there was a sense of national crisis and a widespread
understanding that Japan could not become a modern state without centralization.
All of these factors can be given as reasons for the change.
In any case, the hanbatsu bureaucrats of Satsuma, Chōshū, Tosa, and Hizen
embarked on the unification of state power, making use of the emperor’s authority
rather than that of the old domains. With the domains dismantled, the next job was
naturally strengthening the new government’s power.

Establishing the foundations of power: military affairs

Military strength is always central to establishing and maintaining power. The
legal monopoly on the use of force is one of the greatest characteristics of the
modern state.
Garrisons formed from men assembled from neighboring domains were first
placed in the four cities of Tokyo, Sendai, Osaka, and Kumamoto in October 1871.
These were then placed under the direct control of the emperor/the Ministry of the
Military in December. A little over a year later, in January 1873, the new govern-
ment made clear its policy of creating a broadly based military force assembled
from the public rather than from the traditional samurai class by issuing a conscrip-
tion ordinance. This policy was first initiated by Ōmura Masujirō (1824–1869)
and completed by Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922) following Ōmura’s death in
1869. Both men were critical of the samurai elite; Ōmura wasn’t a member of the
class but a scholar and medical doctor, and Yamagata had been low ranked. They
had also experienced numerous tough battles in Chōshū and other areas during the
Bakumatsu and seen for themselves that nonsamurai troops could be brave and the
samurai surprisingly ineffective. The Franco-Prussian War that broke out in 1870
was also a decisive influence as Prussia’s total victory in the war was attributed to
its force based on general conscription of the population and its large number of
reserves. The Japanese army had modeled itself on the French since the time of
 Building the Meiji state 27
the shogunate, but it now moved to a German-style system of conscription. Fol-
lowing the hiring of German Major Klemens Wilhelm Jakob Meckel (1842–1906)
in 1885, the entire military system was changed to the German model.
The imperial edict (chōhei kokuyu) that announced the conscription policy
invoked an ancient tradition of the Japanese to farm in peacetime and then become
soldiers and fight during war. It also contained vehement criticism of the samurai,
referring to them as “the so-called samurai with twin swords on their belt, the
arrogant and idle, those who killed flagrantly yet had the authorities treat it as if it
were not a crime.” With the Restoration only a mere five years gone, this was the
kind of harsh language it took to deny the importance of the samurai.
With a universal conscription system in place, the continued existence of
the samurai was now only harmful to the new nation. They were expensive
(more than 30 percent of government expenditures at the time went toward
stipends to the class), inconsistent with the implementation of conscription,
and dangerous; the government could not just ignore them. It thus embarked
on the elimination of the class itself. In 1876, it issued the Sword Prohibition
Edict (Haitōrei), distributed severance bonds (kinroku kōsai) to the samurai,
and eliminated their stipends (chitsuroku shobun). The progress of inflation
(currency expansion) soon made these bonds worthless. The Meiji Restoration,
which had been driven forward by low-ranked samurai, had thus brought the
unexpected result of abolishing the class.

Establishing the foundations of power: finances

A second power base to establish was a financial one. Public finances are, along
with military strength, one of the most important aspects of power. For that rea-
son, land tax reform regulations establishing a land tax of 3 percent of the land
price were distributed in July 1873. The government’s efforts focused on a land
tax because other revenue streams were impossible. A modern income tax was
naturally out of the question, as the state was still no way near capable of deter-
mining the income of the people. Customs duties, which frequently play a role in
the finances of late developing countries (see Chapter 5) were kept low and could
not be easily increased as Japan did not have the right to set its own tariffs. Japan
was not well trusted, making foreign loans difficult to obtain; even if loans had
been available, they would have likely carried high rates of interest. The govern-
ment also feared that taking on foreign loans could lead to Japan’s colonization.
The Suez Canal had opened in 1869, and memories of the shogunate’s loans from
France were still fresh. When former American President Ulysses Simpson Grant
(1822–1885, in office 1869–1877) visited Japan and met with the Meiji Emperor in
1879, the danger of foreign loans was the subject he placed the most emphasis on.
To summarize all this, at the time Japan had no method available to it other than
levying taxes on agricultural income. The government decided to determine land
value based on productivity and take 3 percent as a land tax (it would take seven
years, until 1880, for land values to be completely determined). Annual revenue
had been unstable under the nengu method that had been used previously, as it
Other documents randomly have
different content
Jenifer had gone to bed, and had risen again, oppressed by a feeling
that something was, as she expressed it, "going on--something
doing somewhere--'something up,' as folks say, sir. I can't account
for it. I fancied I heard something--that I was wanted. And I thought
at first that some one was in my room. Then I went into mistress's
room, without my shoes, not to wake her. She was all right, sleeping
like a tender babe. Then I went to Peggy's room. The girl was
asleep. I sniffed up and down the passage, just to find if anything
wrong in the way of smoke or fire was about. No; all was pure and
pleasant; and then I went down stairs to make sure of the doors
being locked. Everything was right, sir"--such was Jenifer's account
to Mr. Brewer; who, when she paused at this point, asked: "What
next did you do? Did you go upstairs again to bed?" "I went
upstairs," the woman answered, "but not to bed. I sat at the
window, and looked out over the garden, and over the meadows
beyond the old bridge, and on to Beremouth. And the night was the
brightest, fairest, loveliest night I ever beheld. And so, sir, I said my
prayers once more, and went again to bed; and slept in bits and
snatches, for still I was always thinking that somebody wanted me,
till the clock struck six; and then I got up." "You don't usually get up
at six, or before the girl gets up, do you?" "No, sir; never, I may say.
But I got up to ease my mind of its burthens. And when Peggy had
got up, and was down stairs, I started off for the alms-house; I
thought Mr. Dawson might be up to say mass there, for it was St.
Lawrence's Day." "Well?" "But there had been no message about
mass, and no priest was expected. And as I got back to our door
there was Mrs. Fell, the milk-woman. She had brought the milk
herself. I asked how that should be. She said they had had a cow
like to die in the night, and that their man had been up all night, and
that she was sparing him, for he had gone to lie down. Then I said,
'Why, I could never have heard any of you busy about the cattle in
the night'--you see they rent the meadows. But she said they were
not in the meadows; the beasts were all in the shed at the farm.
'But,' she said, it's odd if you were disturbed, for a man came to our
place just before twelve o'clock, and asked for you.' 'For me!' I cried-
-'a man at your place in the middle of the night, asking for me!' She
said, 'Yes; and a decent-spoken body, too. But tired, and wet
through and through. He said he had fallen into the Beremouth deer
pond, up in the park. That is, he described the place clear enough,
and we knew it was the deer pond, for it could not be anywhere
else!'" "And did you ask where the man went to?" "No, sir. I lifted my
eyes, and I saw him." "And who was he?" "Oh, Mr. Brewer, it must
all be suffered as he gives it to me to suffer; but I am not clear
about telling his name."

Mr. Brewer took out his watch and looked at it. "It is nearly ten
o'clock," he said. "Where's your mistress?"

"Settled to her work, sir."

Mr. Brewer held this long talk with Jenifer in that right-hand parlor
down stairs where he had paid that money to Mrs. Morier, when the
reader first made his acquaintance. He had great confidence in
Jenifer. He knew her goodness, and her patience, and her trust. He
knew something, too, of her trials, and also of her prayer; but he
had come there to investigate a very serious matter, and he was
going steadily through with it.

"Listen, Jenifer."

"Yes, sir."

"Last night, just after our night prayers, Father Daniels being in the
house, my friend, Mr. Erskine, who escorted my step-daughter, Mary
Lorimer, home, went out into the park, just, as was supposed, to
have a cigar before going to bed. Mrs. Brewer and I were in Mary's
room when we heard Mr. Erskine leave the house. He certainly
lighted his cigar. Mary's window was open, and we smelt the
tobacco. Jenifer, he never returned."

They were both standing and looking at each other. "My life, and all
that is in it!" Up went Jenifer's prayer, but voicelessly, to heaven. "My
life, and all that is in it!" But a strong faith that the one terrible evil
that her imagination pictured would not be in it, was strong within
her.

"He never returned. My man-servant woke me in my first sleep by

knocking at the bed-room door, and saying that Mr. Erskine had not
returned. I rose up and dressed myself. I collected the men and
went out into the park. We went to the south lodge, to ask if any
one had seen him. 'No,' they said. 'But the west lodge-keeper had
been there as late as near to ten o'clock, and he had said that a man
had been in their house asking a good many questions about
Beremouth, and who we had staying there, and if a Mr. Erskine was
there, or ever had been there, and inquiring what sort of looking
man he was, whether he wore a beard, or had any peculiarity? how
he dressed, and if there had ever been any report of his going to be
married? They had answered his questions, because they suspected
nothing worse than a gossiping curiosity; and they had given him a
rest, and a cup of tea. He said that a friend, a cousin of his, had
lived as servant with Mr. Erskine; and he also asked if Mr. Erskine
would be likely to pass through that lodge the next day, for that he
had a great curiosity to see him. He said that he had known him well
once, and wanted greatly to see him once more. He, after all this
talking, asked the nearest way to Marston. He was directed through
the park, and he left them. Our inquiries about Horace Erskine
having been answered by this history told by one lodge-keeper to
the other, we could not help suspecting that some one had been on
the watch for the young man, and taking Jones from the lodge, and
his elder boy with us, we dispersed ourselves over the park to seek
for him, a good deal troubled by what we had heard. We got to the
deer pond, but we had sought many places before we got there; it
did not seem a likely place for a man to go to in the summer night.
We looked about--we went back to get lanterns--they were
necessary in the darkness made by the thick foliage; one side was
bright enough, and the pool was like a looking-glass where it was
open to the sloping turf, and the short fern, which the deer trample
down when they get there to drink; but the side where the thorns,
hollies, and yew-trees grow was as black as night; and yet we
thought we could see where the wild climbing plants had been
pulled away, and where some sort of struggle might have taken
place. As we searched, when we came back, we found strong
evidence of a desperate encounter; the branches of the great thorn-
tree were hanging split from the stem, and, holding the lantern, we
saw the marks of broken ground by the margin of the pond, as if
some one had been struggling at the very edge of it. Then, all at
once, and I shall never understand why we did not see it before--the
moonbeams grew brighter, I suppose--but there in the pond was the
figure of a man; not altogether in the water, but having struggled so
far out as to get his head against the bank, hid as it was with the
grass and low brush-wood, the ferns and large-leaved water-weeds;
we laid bold of the poor fellow--it was Horace Erskine, Jenifer!"

"My life, and all that is in it." But the hope, the faith, rather, was
still alive, that that worst grief should not be in it--so she prayed--so
she felt--for Jenifer! "Master," she gasped, "not dead--not dead--Mr.
Brewer."

"Not dead!" he said gravely; "he would have been dead if we had
not found him when we did. He was bruised and wounded; such a
sight of ill-treatment as no eyes ever before beheld, I think. He must
have been more brutally used than I could have believed possible, if
I had not seen it. His clothes were torn; his face so disfigured that
he will scarcely ever recover the likeness of a man, and one arm is
broken." "But not dead?" "No; but he may die; the doctor is in the
house, and the police are out after the man whom we suspect of
this horrible barbarity. Now, Jenifer, hearing some talk of a stranger
who seemed to know yon, I came here to ask you to tell me, in your
own honest way, your honest story."

But Jenifer seemed to have no desire to make confidences.

"Who told you of a stranger?"

"Have you not told me yourself, in answer to my first questions,
before giving you my reasons for inquiring?"

"No, sir; that won't do. I judge from what you said that you had
heard something of this stranger before you came here."

"I had, Jenifer." And Mr. Brewer looked steadily at her.

"Well, sir?"

"Jenifer, I have really come out of tenderness to you, and to those

who may belong to you."

"No one doubts your tenderness, sir; least of any could I doubt it.
Tell me who mentioned a stranger to you, so as to send you here to
me?"

"Lady Greystock's groom, coming to Beremouth early, and finding us

in great trouble, made a declaration as to a stranger who had
appeared and stopped his mistress as she was driving through the
park last night. He says this man asked if they could tell where Mrs.
Evelyn lived, and Mrs. Evelyn, immediately answering, said that she
lived somewhere in the neighborhood, and that he could learn by
inquiring for you. The groom says that the man evidently knew Mrs.
Morier's name, as well as year name; and that after speaking to him,
Mrs. Evelyn asked Lady Greystock to drive on, and that she drove
rapidly, and never spoke till they had almost got back to Blagden."

"It is quite true," said Jenifer. "He told me the same story this day."

"Can you say where this man is? He will be found first or last; and it
is for the sake of justice that you should speak, Jenifer. The police
are on his track. Let me entreat you to give me every information.
Concealment is the worst thing that can be practised in such a case
as this--have you any idea where he is? I do not ask you who he is;
you will have to tell all, I fear, before a more powerful person than I
am. I only come as a friend, that you may not be induced to conceal
the evil-doer."

"The evil-doer," said Jenifer; "who says he did it?"

"I say he will be tried for doing it; and that a trial is good for the
innocent in such a case of terrible suspicion as this."

"May be," said Jenifer, "may be!"

Then, once more, that prayer, said, from her very heart, though
unspoken by her lips; and then these quiet words--"And as to the
man himself. He is my brother. My mother's child by her second
husband." "Your brother--he with whom Eleanor lived in Ireland?"
"Yes, Mr. Brewer; he of whom I told you when you saved Eleanor so
many years ago. And as to where he is--step into the kitchen, sir,
and you may see him sleeping in a chair by the fire--any way, I left
him there, when I came to open the door to you."

Mr. Brewer had really come to Jenifer in a perfectly friendly way;

exactly as he had said--out of tenderness. He had known enough to
send him there, and to have those within call who would secure this
stranger, whoever he was, and wherever he was found. Now, known,
he walked straight into the kitchen, and there stopped to take a full
view of a man in a leathern easy chair, his arm resting on Jenifer's
tea-table, and sound asleep. A finer man eyes never saw. Strong in
figure, and in face of a remarkable beauty. He was sunburnt; having
pulled his neckcloth off, the skin of his neck showed in fair contrast,
and the chest heaved and fell as the strong breath of the sleeper
was drawn regularly and with healthy ease. It was a picture of calm
rest; it seemed like a pity to disturb it. There stood Mr. Brewer safely
contemplating one who was evidently in a state of blissful
unconsciousness as to danger to others or himself.

"Your brother?" repeated Mr. Brewer to Jenifer, who stood stiff and
upright by his side.
"My half-brother, James O'Keefe."

"There is some one at the front door; will you open it?"

Jenifer guessed at the personage to be found there. But she went

steadily through the front passage, and, opening the door, let the
policeman who had been waiting enter, and then she came back to
the kitchen without uttering a word. As the man entered Mr. Brewer
laid his hand on the sleeper's shoulder, and woke him. He opened
his fine grey eyes, and looked round surprised. "On suspicion of
having committed an assault on Mr. Horace Erskine last night, in the
park at Beremouth," said the policeman, and the stranger stood up a
prisoner. He began to speak; but the policeman stopped him. "It is a
serious case," he said. "It may turn out murder. You are warned that
anything you say will be used against you at your trial." "Are you a
magistrate, sir?" asked O'Keefe as he turned to Mr. Brewer. "Yea; I
am. I hope you will take the man's advice, and say nothing."

"But I may say I am innocent?" "Every word you say is at your own
risk." "I ran no risk in saying that I am innocent--that I never saw
this Horace Erskine last night--though if I had seen him--"

"I entreat you to be silent; you must have a legal adviser"--"I! Who
do I know?"' "You shall be well looked to, and well advised," said
Jenifer. "There are those in this town, in the office where Lansdowne
Lorimer worked, who will work for me."

It was very hard for Mr. Brewer not to promise on the spot that he
would pay all possible expenses. But the recollection of the
disfigured and perhaps dying guest in his own house rose to his
mind, and he had a painful feeling that he was retained on the other
side. However, he said to Jenifer that perfect truth and sober justice
anybody might labor for in any way. And with this sort of broad hint
he left the house, and Jenifer saw the stranger taken off in safe
custody, and, mounting his horse, rode toward Blagden. He asked
for his daughter; and he was instantly admitted, and shown upstairs
into her sitting-room--there he found Claudia, looking well and
happy, engaged in some busy work, in which Eleanor was helping
her.

"Oh, my dear father!" and Lady Greystock threw the work aside, and
jumped up, and into the arms that waited for her.

It was always a sort of high holiday when Mr. Brewer come by

himself to visit his daughter. When the sound of the brown-topped
boots was heard on the stairs, like a voice of music to Claudia's
heart, all human things gave way, for that gladness that her father's
great heart brought and gave away, all round him, to everybody,
everywhere--but there, there, where his daughter lived--there,
among the friends with whom she had recovered from a great illness
and got the better of a threatened, life-long woe--there Mr. Brewer
felt some strong influence making him that, which people
excellently expressed when they said of him--"he was more than
ever himself that day."

Now Mr. Brewer's influence was to make those to whom he

addressed himself honest, open, and good. He was loved and
trusted. It did not generally enter into people's minds to deceive Mr.
Brewer. Candor grew and gained strength in his presence. Candor
took to herself the teachings of wisdom; candor listened to the
advice of humility; candor threw aside all vain-glorious garments
when Mr. Brewer called for her company, and candor put on,
forthwith, the crown of truth. "My darling!" said Mr. Brewer, as he
kissed Claudia; "my darling!"

"Oh, my dear father--my father, my dear father!" so answered

Claudia.

Then she pushed forward a chair; and then Eleanor made ready to
leave the room. "Yes, go; go for half an hour, Mrs. Evelyn. But don't
be out of the way; I have a fancy for a little chat with you, too, to-
day." A grave smile spread itself over Eleanor's placid face as she
said she should come back when Lady Greystock sent for her, and
then she went away. Once more, when she was gone, Mr. Brewer
stood up and taking Claudia's hand, kissed her. "My darling," he said,
"I have something to say, and I can only say it to you--I have some
help to ask for, and only you can help me. But are you strong
enough to help me; are you loving enough to trust me?"

"I will try to be all you want, father; I am strong; I can trust--but if
you want to know how much I love you--why, you know I can't tell
you that--it is more than I can measure, I am afraid. Don't look
grave at me. It can't be anything very solemn, if I can help you; or
anything of much importance, if my help is worth your having."

"Your help is absolutely necessary; at least necessary to my own

comfort--now, Claudia. Tell your father why you broke off your
engagement with Horace Erskine."

"He did it"--she trembled. Her father took her little hand into the
grasp of his strong one, and held it with an eloquent pressure.

"He wanted more money, father. It came as a test. He was in debt. I

had loved him, as if--as if he had been what you must have been in
your youth. You were my one idea of man. I had had no heart to
study but yours. I learnt that Horace Erskine was unworthy. He was
a coward. The pressure of his debts had crushed him into meanness.
He asked me to bear the trial, and to save him. I did. I did, father!"

"Yes, my darling."

He never looked at her. Only the strong fingers closed with powerful
love on the little hand within their grasp. "But you were fond of Sir
Geoffrey?"

"Yes; and glad, and grateful. I should have been very happy--but--"

"But he died," said her father, helping her.

"But Horace sent to Sir Geoffrey the miniature I had given him--
letters--and a lock of my poor curling hair--" How tight the pressure
of the strong hand grew. "I found the open packet on the table"--
she could not say another word. Then a grave, deep voice told the
rest for her--"And your honored husband's soul went up to God and
found the truth"--and the head of the poor memory-stricken
daughter found a refuge on her father's breast, and she wept there
silently.

"And that made you ill, my darling; my dear darling Claudia--my own
dear daughter! Thank you, my precious one. And you don't like
Beremouth now?"

"I love Beremouth, and everything about it," cried Lady Greystock,
raising her head, and gathering all her strength together for the
effort; "but I dare not see this man--and I would rather never look
again on the deer-pond in the park, because there he spoke: there
he promised--there I thought all life was to be as that still pool,
deep, and overflowing with the waters of happiness and their never-
ceasing music. We used to go there every day. I have not looked on
it since--I could not bear to listen to the rush of the stream where it
falls over the stones between the roots of the old trees, between
whose branches the tame deer would watch us, and where old
Dapple--the dear old beauty whose name I have never mentioned in
all these years---used to take biscuits from our hands. Does old
Dapple live, father? Dapple, who was called 'old' nine years ago?"
And Lady Greystock looked up, and took her hand from her father's
grasp, and wiped her eyes, and wetted her fair forehead from a bowl
of water, and tried by this question to get away from the misery that
this sudden return to the long past had brought to mind.

"Dapple lives," said Mr. Brewer. And then he kissed her again, and
thanked her, and said "they should love each other all the better for
the confidence he had asked and she had given."

"But why did you ask?"

"I want to have my luncheon at your early dinner," said Mr. Brewer,
not choosing to answer her. "You do dine early, don't you?"

"Yes, and to-day Eleanor was going to dine with me."

"Quite right. And I want to speak to her. Claudia, something has

happened. You most know all before long. Everybody will know. You
had better be in the room while I speak to Eleanor. Let us get it over.
But you had better take your choice. It is still about Horace that I
want to speak--to speak to Eleanor, I mean."

"I should wish to be present," said Claudia. And she rose and rang
the bell.

"Will you ask Mrs. Evelyn to come to us?" she said, when her servant
appeared. In a very few minutes in walked Eleanor.

"Mrs. Evelyn," said Mr. Brewer, "last night you directed a man to
seek Jenifer at Mrs. Morier's house. That man was James O'Keefe,
Jenifer's half-brother. You knew him?" "Yes, Mr. Brewer, I knew him."
"But he did not know you?" "No." "He asked about you. Why did you
send him to Marston?" "Because he could there learn all he wanted
to know. I am not going to bring the shadow of my troubles into this
kind house." "That was your motive?" "Yes. But I might have had
more motives than one. I think that was uppermost; and on that
motive I believe that I acted."

"That man was in the park. At the lodge-gate he had made inquiries
after my guest, Mr. Erskine. That man was at Mrs. Fell's, the dairy-
woman, at midnight. He was not through; he had, he said, fallen
into the water--he described the place, and they knew it to be the
deer-pond."

As Mr. Brewer went on in his plain, straightforward way, both women

listened to him with the most earnest interest; but as he proceeded
Eleanor Evelyn fixed her eye on him with an anxiety and a mingled
terror that had a visible effect on Mr. Brewer, who hesitated in his
story, and who seemed to be quite distracted by the manner of one
usually so very calm and so unfailingly self-processed.

"Now Mr. Erskine had gone out into the park late. Mr. Erskine, my
dear friends,--Mr. Erskine never came back." He paused, and
collected his thoughts once more, in order to go on with his story.

"We went to seek for him. He was found at last, at the deer-pond,
surrounded by the evidences of a hard struggle having taken place
there, a struggle in which he had only just escaped with his life. He
has been ill-treated in a way that it is horrible to contemplate. He is
lying now in danger of death. And this morning I have assisted in
the capture of James O'Keefe, whom I found by Mrs. Morier's
kitchen fire, for this possible murder. I should tell you that Mr.
Erskine is just as likely to die as to live."

"Mr. Brewer," said Eleanor, rising up and taking no notice of Lady

Greystock's deathlike face,--"Mr. Brewer, is there any truth in a
report that has reached me from a man who was in the elder Mr.
Erskine's service in Scotland--a report to the effect that Mr. Horace
Erskine wished to propose marriage, or had proposed marriage, to
Miss Lorimer?"

"There is truth in that report," said Mr. Brewer.

"Then I must see that man," said Mrs. Evelyn. "Before this terrible
affair can proceed, I must see Horace Erskine. If indeed it be true
that he has received this terrible punishment, I can supply a motive
for James O'Keefe's conduct that any jury ought to take into
consideration."

"But O'Keefe denies having ever seen him," said Mr. Brewer. "He
does not deny having inquired about him. He even said words before
me that would make me suppose that he had come into this
neighborhood on purpose to see him, and to take some vengeance
upon him. Mr. Erskine is found with the marks of the severest ill-
usage about him, and you say you can supply a motive for such a
deed. O'Keefe, however, denies all but the will to work evil; he
confesses to the will to do the deed, but denies having done it."

"I must see Mr. Erskine," was all that Eleanor answered. "I must see
Mr. Erskine. Whether he sees me or not, I must see him."

The young woman was standing up--her face quite changed by the
expression of anxious earnestness that animated it.

"I must see Mr. Erskine. Mr. Brewer, you must so manage it that I
must see Mr. Erskine without delay."

"But you would do no good," said Mr. Brewer, in a very stern tone
and with an utter absence of all his natural sympathy. "The man is
so injured that his own mother could not identify him."

"Then may God have mercy on us!" cried Eleanor, sinking into a
chair. "If I could only have seen that man before this woe came
upon us!"

And then that woman burst into one of those uncontrollable fits of
tears that are the offspring of despair. Lady Greystock looked at her
for a moment, and then rose from her chair. "Victories half won are
neither useful nor honorable," she said. "Wait, Eleanor, I will show
you what that man was."

She opened a large metal-bound desk, curiously inlaid, and with a

look of wondrous workmanship. She said, looking at her father, "I
left this at Beremouth, never intending to see it again, But it got
sent here a few years ago. It has never been opened since I locked
it before my wedding day." She opened it, and took out several
packets and small parcels. Then she opened one--it was a miniature
case which matched that one of herself which had been so cruelly
sent to good, kind Sir Geoffrey--she opened it "Who is that,
Eleanor?" It was curious to see how the eyes, blinded by tears,
fastened on it "My husband--my husband--Henry Evelyn. My
husband, Mr. Brewer. Oh, Lady Greystock, thank God that at any
cost he did not run his soul still farther into sin by bringing on you
and on himself the misery of a marriage unrecognized by God."

"And because your unde, James O'Keefe, heard the report that got
about concerning that man and Miss Lorimer, he ran his own soul
into a guilt that may by this time have deepened into the crime of
murder. Oh, Eleanor! when shall we remember that 'vengeance is
mine, saith the Lord?'"

"My life, and all that is in it!" The words came forth softly, and
Mr. Brewer, turning round, saw Jenifer.

"He has been before the magistrates at Marston, Mr. Brewer. He has
denied all knowledge of everything about it. He is remanded on the
charge--waiting for more evidence--waiting to see whether Mr.
Erskine lives or dies. I hired a gig, and came off here to you as fast
as I could be driven. Mr. May, in the old office, says that if Mr.
Erskine dies, it will be hard to save him. But the doctor's man tells
me Mr. Erskine has neither had voice nor sight since he was found--I
saw Father Daniels in the street, and he, too, is evidence against the
poor creature. He knows of Corny Nugent's letter; and Corny wrote
to Jem also, so Jem told me, and he came off here to make sure
that Horace Erskine and Henry Evelyn were the same people. And he
walked from the Northend railway station, and asked his way to
Beremouth, and got a gossip with the gate-keeper, and settled to
come on to Marston. And he met Lady Greys took in the carriage,
and asked where Eleanor lived, and inquired his way. Did you know
him, Eleanor?"

"Yes, I knew him directly; and it was partly because I knew him that
I directed him on to you."

"Then he lost his way, and took to getting out of the park by walking
straight away in the direction he knew Marston to be lying in. And he
got by what we call 'the threshetts,' sir--the water for keeping the
fishponds from shallowing--and there he must have fallen in, for he
says he climbed the hedge just after, and walked straight away
through the grass fields and meadows, and seeing the lights where
the Fells were tending the sick cow last night, he got in there, all
dripping wet, as the town-clock struck twelve. He does not deny to
the magistrates that if he had found Horace Erskine and Henry
Evelyn to be one and the same man, that he might have been
tempted to evil; he does not deny that. He says he felt sore tempted
to go straight to Beremouth House and have him out from sleep and
bed, if to do so could have been possible, and to have given him his
punishment on the spot. He says he wished as he wandered through
the park that something might send the man who had injured us all
so sorely out to him, to meet him in the way, that they might have
come hand to hand, and face to face. He says he has had more
temptations since Corny Nugent's letter to him, and more heart-
stirrings in the long silent time before it came, than he can reckon
up; and that he has felt as if a dark spirit goaded him to go round
the world after that man, and never cease following him till he had
made his own false tongue declare to all the earth his own false
deeds--but something, he says, kept him back. Always kept him
back till now; till now, when Corny's last letter said that Erskine was
surely gone to Beremouth to be married. Then, he said, it was as if
something sent him--ah yes; and sent him here to see the man, to
make sure who he was. To tell you, as a brother Catholic, the whole
truth--to keep from the dear convert mother the bitter grief of
seeing her child bound to a man whom she could never call that
child's husband. So he came, Mr. Brewer. He came, and he was
found here--but he knows no more of the punishment of that poor
man, that poor girl's husband"--pointing to Eleanor--"than an unborn
babe. As I hear him speak, I trace the power of the prayer that I
took up long ago in my helplessness--when I could not manage my
own troubles, my own life, my own responsibilities, it came into my
heart to offer all to him. 'My life and all that is in it.' You and
yours have been in it, Mr. Brewer. Your wife has been in it, her life,
and her child's--you, too, my dear," turning to Claudia,--"you whom I
have loved like one belonging to me--you have been in it; and that
woman, my sister's legacy to my poor helplessness. There were so
many to care for, to fear for, to suffer for, and to love--how could I
put things right, or keep off dangers? I could only give up all to the
Father of us all--'My life, and all that is in it.' And I tell you this,
Mr. Brewer--I tell it [to] you because my very soul seems to know it,
and my lips must utter it: In that life there will be no red-handed
punishment--no evil vengeance--no vile murder, nor death without
repentance. I cannot tell you, I cannot even guess, how that bad
man got into this trouble--I have no knowledge of whose hands he
fell into--but not into the hands of any one who belongs to me, or to
that life which has been so long given into God's keeping."

Jenifer stopped speaking. She had been listened to with a mute

attention. Her hearers could not help feeling convinced by her
earnestness. She had spoken gently, calmly, sensibly. The infection
of her entire faith in the providence of God seized them. They, too,
believed. Lady Greystock, the only one not a Catholic, said afterward
that she felt quite overpowered by the simple trust that Jenifer
showed, and the calm strength with which it endowed her. And Lady
Greystock was the first to answer her.

"It is no time for self-indulgence," she said. "Father, Eleanor and I

must both go to Beremouth. And we must stay there. We must be
there on the spot, to see how these things are accounted for--to
know how matters end--to help, as far as we may, to bring them
right."

And so, before two hours were over, Jenifer was back in Mrs.
Morier's parlor, and Mary Lorimer was with her; sent there to stay;
and Lady Greystock and Mrs. Evelyn were at Beremouth.

There was silence in the house, that sort of woful silence that
belongs to the anxiety of a dreadful suspense. Toward evening there
were whispered hopes--Mr. Erskine was better, people thought. But
the severest injuries were about the neck and throat, the chest and
shoulders. His hair had been cut off in large patches where the head
wounds were--his face was disfigured with the bandages that the
treatment made necessary. He lay alive, and groaning. He was
better. When more was known about the injuries done to the throat
and chest, something less doubtful would be said as to his recovery.
"If he can't swallow, he'll die," said one nurse. "He can live long
enough without swallowing," said another. And still they waited.

At night, Eleanor and Lady Greystock stood in the room, with Mr.
Brewer, far off by the door, looking at him. There was no love in
either heart. The poor wife shrank away, almost wishing that the
period of desertion might last for ever.

A week passed, a terribly long week. He could swallow. He could

speak. He could see out of one eye. He had his senses. He had said
something about his arm. He would be ready in another week to
give some account of all he had gone through. He would be able,
perhaps, to identify the man. In the meantime, James O'Keefe was
safe in custody. And Jenifer was saying her prayer--"My life, and all
that is in it;" still quite sure, with a strong, simple, never-failing
faith, that the great evil of a human and remorseless vengeance was
not in it. And yet, as time passed on, and, notwithstanding every
effort made by the police, backed by the influence of all that
neighborhood, and by Mr. Brewer himself, not a mark of suspicion
was found against any one else, it seemed to come home to every
one's mind with the force of certainty that James O'Keefe had tried
to murder Horace Erskine--that James O'Keefe had done this thing,
and no one else.

Very slowly did Horace seem to mend--very slowly. When questions

were put to him in his speechless state, he seemed to grow so
utterly confused as to alarm his medical attendants. It was made a
law at Beremouth that he was to be kept in perfect quietness. James
O'Keefe was again brought before the magistrates, and again
remanded; and still this time of trial went on, and still, when it was
thought possible to speak to Horace on the subject of his injuries, he
grew so utterly confused that it was impossible to go on with the
matter.
Was there to be no end to this misery? The waiting was almost
intolerable. The knowledge that now existed in that house of Horace
Erskine's life made it very easy to understand his confusion and
incoherency when spoken to of his injuries. But the lingering--the
weight of hope deferred--the long contemplation of the miserable
sufferer--the slowness of the passage of time, was an inexpressible
burthen to the inhabitants of Beremouth.

One sad evening, Lady Greystock and her father, on the terrace,
talked together. "Come with me to the deer-pond, Claudia." She
shrank from the proposal "Nay," he said, "come! You said at Blagden
that half victories were powerless things. You must not be less than
your own words. Come to the deer-pond--now." So she took his arm
and they walked away. It was the beginning of a sweet, soft night--
the evening breezes played about them, and they talked together in
love and confidence, as they crossed the open turf, and were lost in
the thickets that gathered round the gnarled oak and stunted yew
that marked the way to the pond.

It had been many years since Claudia had seen its peaceful waters;
terrible in dreams once; and now saddened by a history that would
belong to it for ever. They reached the spot, and stood there talking.

Suddenly they heard a sound, they started--a tearing aside of the

turning boughs--a sound, strong, positive, angry--then a gentle
rustling of the leaves, a soft movement of the feathery fern--and
Lady Greystock had let go her father's arm, and was standing with
her hand on the head, between the antlers, of a huge old deer--
Dapple--"Don Dapple," as the children had called him--and speaking
to him tenderly--"Oh, Dapple, do you know me? Oh, Dapple--alas!
poor beast--did you do it--that awful thing? Are you so fierce, poor
beast--were you the terrible avenger?" How her tears fell! How her
whole frame trembled! How the truth came on her as she looked
into the large, tearful eyes of the once tame buck, that had grown
fanciful and fierce in its age, and of whom even some of the keepers
had declared themselves afraid. Mr. Brewer took biscuit from his
coat-pocket, chance scraps from lunches, secreted from days before,
when he had been out on long rounds through the farms. These old
Dapple nibbled, and made royal gestures of satisfaction and
approval--and there, viewing his stately head in the water, where his
spreading antlers were mirrored, they left him to walk home, with
one wonder out of their hearts, and another--wondering awe at the
thing that had happened among them--to by their for ever.

They came back, they called the doctors, they examined the torn
clothes. They wondered they had never thought of the truth before.

Time went on. And at last, when Horace could speak, and they
asked him about the old deer at the pond, he said that it was so--it
was as they had thought. It had been an almost deadly struggle
between man and beast; and Horace was to bear the marks upon
the face and form that had been loved so well to his life's end. A
broken-featured man, lame, with a stiff arm, and a sightless eye--
and the story of his ruined life no longer a secret--known to all.

Lady Greystock and Mrs. Evelyn remained at Beremouth. Mary

Lorimer was left at her grandmother's under the care of the trusty
Jenifer. James O'Keefe had returned to Ireland, leaving his niece and
her history in good guardianship with Father Daniels and Mr. Brewer;
and Freddy, being at school, had been happily kept out of the
knowledge of all but the surface facts, which were no secrets from
anybody, that a man who had been seen in the park and was a
stranger in the neighborhood had been suspected of being the
perpetrator of the injuries of which the old deer had been guilty.
Poor old deer--poor aged Dapple! It was with a firm hand and an
unflinching determination that the kindest man living met the beast
once more at the deer-pond, and shot him dead. Mr. Brewer would
trust his death to no hand but his own--and there in the thicket
where he loved to hide a grave was dug, and the monarch of the
place was buried in it.
Lady Greystock and Eleanor kept their own rooms, and lived
together much as they had done latterly at Blagden. When Horace
Erskine was fit to leave his bed-room, he used to sit in a room that
had been called "Mr. Brewer's." It was, in fact, a sort of writing-
room, fitted up with a small useful library and opening at the end
into a bright conservatory. He had seen Lady Greystock. He knew of
Eleanor being in the house. He knew also that his former relations
with her were known, and he never denied, or sought to deny, the
fact of their Catholic marriage.

No one ever spoke to him on the subject. The subject that was first
in all hearts was to see him well and strong, and able to act for
himself. One thing it was impossible to keep from him; and that was
the anger of Mr. Erskine, his unde, an anger which Lucia his wife did
not try to modify. Mrs. Brewer wrote to her sister; Mr. Brewer
pleaded with his brother-in-law. Not a thing could they do to pacify
them. Horace was everything that was evil in their eyes; his worst
crime in the past was his having made a Catholic marriage with a
beautiful Irish girl, and their great dread for the future was that he
would make this marriage valid by the English law. They blamed Mr.
Brewer for keeping Eleanor in the house; they were thankless to Mr.
Brewer for still giving to Horace care, kindness, and a home. Finally,
the one great dread that included all other dreads, and represented
the overpowering woe, was that contained in the thought that
Horace might repent, and become a Papist.

Mr. Brewer, when it came to that, set his all-conquering kindness

aside for the time, or, to adopt his wife's words when describing
these seeming changes in her husbands's character, "he clothed his
kindness in temporary armor, and went out to fight." He replied to
Mr. and Mrs. Erskine that for such a grace to fall on Horace would be
the answer of mercy to the prayer of a poor woman's faith--that he
and all his household joined in that prayer; that priests at the altar,
and nuns in their holy homes, were all praying for that great result;
and that for himself he would only say that for such a mercy to fall
upon his house would make him glad for ever.
There was no disputing with a man who could so openly take his
stand on such a broad ground of hope and prayer in such direct
opposition to the wishes of his neighbors. The Erskines became
silent, and Mr. Brewer had gained all he hoped for; peace, peace at
least for the time.

At last Horace was well enough to move, and Freddy's holidays were
approaching, and there was an unexpressed feeling that Horace was
not to be at Beremouth when the boy came back. Mr. Brewer
proposed that Horace should go for change of air to the same house
in which Father Dawson was lodging, just beyond Clayton, where the
sea air might refresh him, and the changed scene amuse his mind;
and where, too, he could have the benefit of all those baths, and
that superior attendance, described in the great painted
advertisement that covered the end of the lodging-houses in so
promising a manner. Horace accepted the proposal gladly. He grew
almost bright under the expectation of the change, and when the
day came he appeared to revive, even under the fatigue of a drive
so much longer than any that he had been before allowed to venture
upon.

Mr. Dawson was to be kind, and to watch over him a little; and
Father Daniels was to visit him, and write letters for him, and be his,
adviser and his friend. Before he left Beremouth he had asked to see
Lady Greystock. She went with her father to his room quite with the
old Claudia Brewer cheerfulness prettily mingling with woman's
strength and woman's experience. He rose up, and said, "I wished to
ask you to forgive me, Lady Greystock--to forgive me my many sins
toward you!" She trembled a little, and said, "Mr. Erskine, may God
forgive me my pride, my anger, my evil thoughts, which have made
me say so often I could never see nor pardon you." It seemed to
require all her strength to carry out the resolution with which she
had entered that room. "Of course," she went on, "the personal trial
that you brought upon me, here, in my young days, I know now to
have been a great blessing in a grief's disguise. Though not--not
yet--a Catholic, I know you were then, as now, a married man."
Horace Erskine never moved; he was still standing, holding by the
heavy writing-table, and his eyes were fastened on the carpet. She
went on: "Since then your wife, a beautiful and even an
accomplished woman, has become my own dear friend. We are
living together, and until she has a home of her own, we shall
probably go on living together. I have nothing, therefore, to say
more, except--except--" Here her voice trembled, and changed, and
she was only just able to articulate her last words so as to be
understood by her hearers, "Except about my dear husband's death-
-better death than life under misapprehension. That too was a
blessing perhaps. Let us leave it to the Almighty Judge. I forgive
you; if you wish to hear those words from my poor erring lips, you
may remember that I have said them honestly, submitting to the will
of him who loves us, and from whom I seek mercy for myself."

She turned round to leave the room. "Stop, Lady Greystock; stop!"
cried Horace. "In this solemn moment of sincerity, tell me--do you
think Eleanor loves me now?" "I would rather not give any opinion."
"If you have ever formed an opinion, give it. I entreat you to tell me
what is, as far as you know, the truth. Does Eleanor love me?" "Must
I speak, father?" "So solemnly entreated, I should say, yes." "Does
Eleanor love me?" groaned Horace. "No," said Lady Greystock; and
turning round quickly, she left her father alone with Horace, and
went out of the room.

Five years passed by. Freddy was growing into manhood, enjoying
home by his bright sister Lady Greystock's side, and paying visits to
his other sister, the happy bride, Mrs. Harrington, of Harrington-
leigh, the master of which place, "a recent convert," as the
newspapers said, "had lately married the convert step-daughter of
Mr. Brewer, of Beremouth." Lady Greystock always lived with her
father now, united to him in faith, and joining him in such a flood of
good works that all criticism, all wonderment, all lamentation and
argument at "such a step!" was simply run down, overpowered,
deluged, drowned. The strong flowing stream of charity was
irresistible. The solemn music of its deep waters swallowed up all
the surrounding cackle of inharmonious talk. Nothing was heard at
Beremouth but prayer and praise--evil tongues passed by that great
good house to exercise themselves elsewhere. Evil people found no
fitting habitation for their wandering spirits in that home of holy
peace. And all his life Mr. Brewer walked humbly, looking at Claudia,
and calling her "my crown!" She knew why. He had repented with a
great sorrow of those early days when he had left her to others'
teaching. He had prayed secretly, with strong resolutions, to be
blessed with forgiveness. And at last the mercy came--"crowned at
last. All the mercies of my life crowned by the great gift of Claudia's
soul." So the good man went on his way a penitent. Always in his
own sight a penitent. Always recommending himself to God in that
one character--as a penitent.

Five years were passed, and Lady Greystock had been at Mary's
wedding, and was herself at Beremouth, still in youth and beauty,
once more the petted daughter of the house--but Eleanor was there
no longer. Full three years had passed since Eleanor had gone to
London with Lady Greystock, and elected not to return. They heard
from her however, frequently; and knew where she was. When these
letters came Claudia would drive off to Marston to see Grandmamma
Morier, still enjoying life under Jenifer's care. The letters would be
read aloud upstairs in the pretty drawing-room where the fine old
china looked as gay and bright as ever, and where not a single cup
and saucer had changed its place. Jenifer would listen. Taking
careful note of every expression, and whispering--sometimes in the
voice of humble prayer, sometimes in soft tones of triumphant
thanksgiving--"My life, and all that is in it!"

But now this five years' close had been marked by a great fact; the
death of Horace Erskine's uncle, and his great estate passing to his
nephew, whom he had never seen since their quarrel with him, but
whom he had so far forgiven as not to alter his will.

Horace Erskine was in London; and his Beremouth friends were

going up to town to welcome him home after four years of life on
the continent.

London was at its fullest and gayest. Mr. Erskine had been well
known there, making his yearly visits, taking a great house, and
attracting round him all the talent of the day. A very rich man,
thoroughly well educated, with a fine place in Scotland, and his
beautiful wife Lucia by his side, he found himself welcome, and
made others in their turn welcome too. Now all this was past. For
two seasons London had missed Mr. Erskine, and he had been
regretted and lamented over, as a confirmed invalid. Now he was
dead. And after a little brief wonder and sorrow the attention of the
world was fixed upon his heir, and people of fashion, pleasure, and
literature got ready their best smiles for his approval.

Horace had been well enough known once. Never exactly sought
after by heads of homes, for he was too much of a speculation. He
was known to be in debt; and all inquiries as to his uncle's property
had been quenched again and again by those telling words, "no
entail." But Horace had had his own world; and had been only too
much of a hero in it. That world, however, had lost him; and as the
wheels of fashion's chariot fly fast, the dust of the light road rises as
a cloud and hides the past, and the people that belonged to Horace
Erskine had been left behind and forgotten. Now, however, Memory
was alive, and brushing up her recollections; and Memory had found
a tongue, and was hoping and prophesying to the fullest extent of
friend Gossip's requirements, when the news came that Horace
Erskine had arrived. "He has taken that charming house looking on
to the park. Mr. Tudor had seen him. Nobody would know him.
Broken nose, my dear! And he was so handsome. He is lame, too--or
if not lame, he has a stiff shoulder. I forget which it is. He was nearly
killed by some mad animal in the park at Beremouth. He behaved
with the most wonderful courage, actually fought and conquered!
But he was gored and trampled on--nearly trampled to death. I
heard all the particulars at the time. His chest was injured, and he
was sent to a warmer climate. And there he turned Papist. He did,
indeed! and his uncle never forgave him. But I suspect it was a love
affair. You know he has brought his wife home. And she is lovely,
everybody who has seen her says. She is so very still--too quiet--too
statuesque--that is her only fault in fact. But all the world is talking
of her, and if you have not yet seen her lose no time in getting
introduced; she is the wonder of the day."

And so ran the talk--and such was Eleanor's welcome as Horace

Erskine's wife. Her husband had really repented, and had sought her,
and won her heart all over again, and married her once more.

To have these great triumphs of joy and justice in her life was
granted to Jenifer's Prayer.
 [THE END]

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JENIFER'S PRAYER

***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S.

copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in
these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it
in the United States without permission and without paying
copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of
Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything
for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research.
Project Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given
away—you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with
eBooks not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject
to the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
 PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free

distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and

Redistributing Project Gutenberg™
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree
to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be
bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund
from the person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in
paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be

used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people
who agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a
few things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic
works even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.
See paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with
Project Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the
collection of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the
individual works in the collection are in the public domain in the
United States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law
in the United States and you are located in the United States, we do
not claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing,
performing, displaying or creating derivative works based on the
work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of
course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg™
mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely
sharing Project Gutenberg™ works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg™ name associated
with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this
agreement by keeping this work in the same format with its attached
full Project Gutenberg™ License when you share it without charge
with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also
govern what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most
countries are in a constant state of change. If you are outside the
United States, check the laws of your country in addition to the
terms of this agreement before downloading, copying, displaying,
performing, distributing or creating derivative works based on this
work or any other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes
no representations concerning the copyright status of any work in
any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must
appear prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™
work (any work on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears,
or with which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is
accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is derived

from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a
notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright
holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the
United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must
comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through
1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted

with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works posted
with the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning
of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project

Gutenberg™ License terms from this work, or any files containing a
part of this work or any other work associated with Project
Gutenberg™.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1
with active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg™ License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form,
including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you
provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work
in a format other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in
the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or
expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or
a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original
“Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must
include the full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in
paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive
from the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the
method you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The
fee is owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark,
but he has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty
payments must be paid within 60 days following each date on
which you prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your
periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked
as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information
 about donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who

notifies you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt
that s/he does not agree to the terms of the full Project
Gutenberg™ License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in
the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90
days of receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™

electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend

considerable effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe
and proofread works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating
the Project Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works, and the medium on which they may
be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to,
incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription errors, a
copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for

the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3,
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the
Project Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a
Project Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim
all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR
NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR
BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH
1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK
OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL
NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT,
CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF
YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you

discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving
it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by
sending a written explanation to the person you received the work
from. If you received the work on a physical medium, you must
return the medium with your written explanation. The person or
entity that provided you with the defective work may elect to provide
a replacement copy in lieu of a refund. If you received the work
electronically, the person or entity providing it to you may choose to
give you a second opportunity to receive the work electronically in
lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you may
demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the
problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted
by the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation,

the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation,
anyone providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with
the production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or
any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission

of Project Gutenberg™
Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.
It exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and
donations from people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will
Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.

More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge

connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and

personal growth every day!

ebookbell.com