Copy of letter addressed by Saigô Takamori to Okubo Toshimichi.
Yesterday morning at 6 I arrived at Ozaka, and on inquiring where was the lodging of the English, I learnt that it was at the temple where they were in the spring; so I at once sent to Satow to inquire at what time to-day it would be convenient for me to call. The answer was that I should come at 7 o'clock. I went at that hour, and found he had just woke, and I was shown upstairs. I said that hearing of the minister's arrival at Ozaka, I had been, as you know, sent as a special messenger to inquire after his health. The ordinary compliments having been offered, he said the mail to England was being despatched about ten o'clock, and that at half-past eleven the minister was going to the Castle. I said that I had no particular business, but had only come to call in order to congratulate him on his arrival at Ozaka. As he must be very busy, I would not trouble him with a personal interview, and begged him to say so to the Minister. He replied that the Minister particularly wished to meet me, but as he was so much occupied he would ask to be excused that day. He said the Minister would remain two or three days at Ozaka, and particularly desired to meet me, and he thought he would be able to give me an interview in two or three days. He said he would sail from here on the 2nd of next month in order to return to Yokohama (or probably Yedo).
When I saw Satow, he said things were exactly as before and that there had been no change of any importance, and the position being just as before, it was entirely different from what Shibayama had suspected; therefore I told him that the Ozaka Commercial Co. has, as I said to you the other day, agreed with the French, and is planning to make great profits. [An obscure passage follows.]
I said I should like to try to discuss the settlement of Japanese affairs by the French, on which Satow replied that he would very much like to argue it. I told him the French said Japan must have a single concentrated government like all western countries, and the daimiôs must be deprived of their power. Above all it was desirable to destroy the two provinces of Chôshiû and Satsuma, and that it would be well to join in subduing them. I asked what he thought of this. Satow then answered that it might be seen from the two previous attempts at subjugation, that a government which had not been able to beat Chôshiû alone would certainly not be able to deprive all the daimiôs of their powers. I said: How could such weak people be helped. He replied that not a word could be said to that, and the argument was impossible. If such an argument were publicly brought forward, there was no doubt that they would help the government to destroy the daimiôs. It was heard that the idea was that in two or three years' time money would be collected, machinery be provided, French assistance be invoked and war be begun. As the French would then send troops to give assistance, it would be dangerous unless an opposite great Power were got to assist. If a report were then spread that England would also send out troops to protect, it would be impossible for French auxiliary troops to be set in motion; he said that therefore it was necessary to come to a thorough agreement beforehand. In the first place the English idea was that the sovereign of Japan should wield the governing power, and under him the daimiôs should be placed, and so the establishment of the constitution (or national polity) would be similar to the system of all other countries. This was the first (word omitted here) thing of all. The sovereign of England had lately sent to the Bakufu a letter addressed to the sovereign of Japan. This was a letter of condolence on hearing of the death of the late Emperor. This was to be delivered to the Emperor by the Bakufu. It would be improper if no reply were made to it, but up to the present no reply had been received.
Although that was what they had declared with respect to the Emperor of Japan, at Kiôto H.M. did not take that view at all. It was maintained that the admission of aliens into the capital would be a defilement. As that sort of thing was undesirable, it would be necessary that a definite form of government vis-a-vis all countries carried on ordinary relations. If it was desired to consult with England, he would like to be informed, and as he was disposed to undertake the assistance asked for I replied that we would exert ourselves for the transformation of the Japanese government and we had no justification (?) vis-a-vis foreigners.
The French grabbed profit at Yokohama and entered into agreements for their own pleasure. England was a country based on commerce, and would strenuously oppose any attempt to hinder commerce, and was therefore extremely indignant.
The culprits who had killed two English sailors at Nagasaki were not yet known. We had heard it was rumoured to be the act of Nagasaki [3] men. He heard that Nagasaki was very badly spoken of. When Satow and others travelled overland from Echizen, Nagasaki men lay in wait for them at Fushimi. It was also said by many that they committed acts of violence at Kiôto, and gathered gamblers together. If it was Nagasaki men who had killed aliens at Nagasaki, it was to be much regretted as doing a great injury.
[ [3] Substituted by Saigô for Tosa.
When they came to Echizen no one came to meet them. Though local governors came to meet them in the country, no one came to see them at the castle-town, but they were entertained hospitably with saké and sakana. Satow said he could not understand this.
The above is a summary of the important points. Satow says he will come here to-morrow at ten o'clock, and I think there will be more conversation. I propose to stay two or three days longer, so please understand that. Satow's language about the Bakufu is very insulting. I will tell you all in detail. Good-bye. 27th of 7th moon.
Saigo Kichinosuke.
Okubo Ichizô sama.
P.S. note by penman.—This copy of the letter contains obscurities, and some incorrect transcriptions.
Next day I went to see Saigô at the Satsuma agency, in order to learn from him how things were going on at Kiôto. He talked a good deal of a parliament of the whole nation, to be established as a substitute for the existing government of the Tycoon, which I found from my young friend Matsuné was a very general idea among the anti-Tycoon party. To me it seemed a mad idea. Saigô also revealed to me a plan conceived by the government for monopolizing all the trade of Ozaka and Hiôgo by placing it in the hands of a guild of twenty rich native merchants, which was no doubt copied from the old arrangement at Canton before the opium war of 1840.
This piece of news, when it was brought to him, inflamed the chief's wrath, who immediately got hold of the prime minister and insisted upon the scheme being abandoned. A new proclamation was issued, annulling the previous one establishing the guild, but as it was extorted by dint of great diplomatic pressure, I had very little belief in its being acted on. It was, and always has been, a Japanese idea to regulate commerce, both domestic and foreign, by means of the guilds, who pay for their monopoly, and make the most of it. Whatever may be the abstract merits of such a system, it is not altogether in accordance with western ideas, and we have never ceased to make war upon it whenever it crossed our path in eastern countries.
Another matter about which we had to speak very strongly was the wording of the Tycoon's reply to the Queen's letter, conveying the usual expressions of condolence on the death of the late Mikado. The ministers apologized very humbly for having made use of discourteous forms, and promised to take great care for the future. The style of official documents addressed to the British Minister was also a subject upon which we had never-ending disputes with the Japanese officials, and it was only after the revolution that I succeeded in getting these things done in proper form. Their object was always by the use of particular forms and turns of phraseology to convey to their own people the belief that the foreign representatives were the inferiors of the Tycoon's ministers; doubtless they did not in their own country hold a rank at all approaching that of the high functionaries they had to deal with, most of whom were daimiôs, and it was a difficult matter, as it always has been in every eastern country, to induce them to recognize the official position of a diplomatist representing his sovereign.
I have said in an earlier chapter that one of my teachers at Yokohama had been a retainer of the daimiô of Awa. During the spring, when we were first at Ozaka, there had been some talk about my going to pay the daimiô a visit at his capital, which lay not far from that city, but owing to a misunderstanding it came to nothing. On the present occasion the Awa people had sought me out again, and renewed the invitation, which I however persuaded them to transfer to Sir Harry and the Admiral. It had been already agreed that the British Legation should proceed to the province of Tosa in company with some special Commissioners of the Tycoon, in order to discover, if possible, the murderers of the two sailors belonging to H.M.S. "Icarus." Our wily old friend Hirayama was selected, along with a couple of other officials, for this business, and they wished to precede us by a few days in order to make a preliminary inquiry. So when the projected visit to Awa came to the ears of the ministers, they pressed Sir Harry to accept it, as Tokushima lay in the direct route to Tosa, and also because they believed that the daimiô was not a dangerous opponent, but rather inclined to be a partisan of the Tycoon, if he took any side at all. Sir Harry was pleased, because he liked these entertainments, and so the matter was settled to every one's satisfaction. I took care to keep to myself the fact that the invitation had really been intended for myself alone, the daimiô having heard about me from my teacher, and being curious to see the writer of the pamphlet on "English policy."
Sir Harry and Mitford went off in the "Basilisk" with Hewett, the "Salamis" remaining behind to pick me up on the following morning. She was to leave at eleven, so I had to pack up overnight, and start very early. I hurried off with the Legation writer Ono, leaving Noguchi in charge of the baggage, and as usual he was late. I waited some time, but still he delayed. I became impatient, and desperately started in a boat with only the writer. Just as we were passing the proposed site of the foreign settlement, Noguchi came alongside in a tiny skiff, without the baggage. Further down, near the mouth of the river, we changed into a larger boat, built to cross the bar, and got on board half-an-hour late. Two Awa officials had joined just before me, and to my great joy and relief the baggage boat came alongside a quarter of an hour afterwards. We weighed anchor precisely at noon, and steaming southward through the Yura straits, got to the little harbour of Nei in Awa about six o'clock in the evening. The "Basilisk" was there already. Apparently no one awaited our arrival. Sir Harry therefore despatched me to Tokushima to find out what sort of reception he might expect. I got into a big native sailing boat with one of the Awa officials, while the other man hastened on ahead in another.
There was a fresh breeze, and we rushed along under the cliffs at a good pace until we found ourselves approaching the bar at the mouth of the river on which Tokushima is situated. It was already dark, and the breakers extended right across the entrance. The other boat, which had preceded me, now turned back, and as she passed the people on board shouted out that the passage was no longer safe. My pilot however disregarded the warning, and pushed boldly on. The passage was extremely narrow, between widely extended sandbanks on either side; the huge waves tossed about the boat, big as it was, like a child's toy. At last after some anxious minutes we got inside, and were now in comparatively smooth water, without having shipped a drop. A great deal of apparently unmeaning shouting and hallooing took place, and our boat was allowed to surge hither and thither, till we drifted back again to the sandbank, where we found the other Japanese; they had run their boat ashore in the most reckless way, narrowly escaping a drowning in the surf.
After mutual congratulations, we got into a houseboat and proceeded up the river to the landing-place, where I had to wait some time till a guard of soldiers could be brought down. This gave time for a crowd of spectators to collect, in spite of the advanced hour. At last the guard arrived; it consisted of cavalry, in long boots and conical hats, with white plumes of horsehair, commanded by a grizzled old warrior named Hachisuka Mimasaka, a descendant of the robber chieftain who founded the House of Awa, but a retainer for all that. They escorted me in solemn procession to a temple that had been prepared for our accommodation, by laying down red felt carpets and furnishing it with hastily constructed tables, chairs and bedsteads. It was evident that they had expected only a small party of three or four Europeans, but I explained to them that Sir Harry would not land without the Admiral, and neither of them could come on shore without the whole of his staff. So they had to make the best of it, and greatly extend their preparations before I would acknowledge myself satisfied. They had written up our official titles over the doors of the rooms intended for us, and mine had been rendered by "tongue-officer," a euphemism for interpreter; this I immediately had done away with, and my name substituted, for in Japan the office of interpreter at that time was looked upon as only fit for the lowest class of domestic servants, and no one of samurai rank would ever condescend to speak a foreign language. I had often to fight pretty hard with Japanese of rank in order to ensure being treated as something better than a valet or an orderly.