Early on the morning of the 6th Satsuma troops came over from Nishinomiya in large boats, and were landed at Hiôgo, in accordance with our agreement of the previous day.
Some retainers of Omura in Hizen, Watanabé Noboru and Fukuzaka Kôzô, came to inquire about our intentions with regard to their steamer which had been seized, and was now held by the French. The steamer belonged to Uwajima, and was only borrowed by Omura for this trip. So I gave them copies of our manifesto against Bizen, and another one explaining why the steamers were seized, and they declared themselves quite convinced that we had acted rightly. Our bluejackets however and the Americans and French also, were getting us a bad name by committing all sorts of petty pilfering.
I went to call on Katano, commander of the Chôshiû troops, who said that the two Bizen karô had gone to Ozaka or Kiôto, he did not know which, after the affray on the 4th, the rank and file remaining behind.
It was on February 7th that the Mikado's messenger, Higashi-Kuzé, accompanied by Iwashita, Terashima and Itô, with a small retinue, arrived at Hiôgo in a little steamer belonging to Geishiû. As soon as I received the note informing me of this, I went over to the chief, on whom devolved the task of seeing his colleagues, and arranging with them the place and hour of meeting. Apparently they were greatly annoyed, especially the French Minister, at finding themselves as it were ignored, and that their English colleague had thus become the channel of communication between the Mikado and themselves. They tried to pump him about the contents of the imperial message, but he did not tell them even the little he knew. It having been decided that the interview should take place at the custom-house at noon on the following day, I went over to Hiôgo and informed Iwashita. There had been a report that 300 Bizen men had entered the town, but I could not find a trace of them. All our marines had been withdrawn on account of the difficulty experienced in forming mixed posts, and the Americans now had charge of the gate in the middle of the town, so that they would henceforth be responsible for all the petty pilfering that went on. I found them most unpleasantly strict, and because I had no pass they obliged me to go a long way round in order to reach my destination and get back again.
So on the 8th of February the fateful communication was made by Higashi-Kuzé at the place and hour previously fixed. Higashi-Kuzé was a small man even for a Japanese, with sparkling eyes, irregular teeth, which were not yet completely freed from the black dye (o-haguro) worn by court nobles, and with a stutter in his speech. The document was drawn up in classical Chinese, and might be thus translated:—
The Emperor of Japan announces to the sovereigns of all foreign countries and to their subjects that permission has been granted to the Shôgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu [7] to return the governing power in accordance with his own request. We shall henceforward exercise supreme authority in all the internal and external affairs of the country. Consequently the title of Emperor must be substituted for that of Tycoon, in which the treaties have been made. Officers are being appointed by us to the conduct of foreign affairs. It is desirable that the representatives of the treaty powers recognize this announcement.
February 3, 1868. Mutsushito (L.S.).
[ [7] Keiki, by which he was usually spoken of, is the pronunciation of the two Chinese characters with which his name Yoshinobu was written.
This document was very ingeniously framed. It assumed as a matter of course that the treaties were binding on the Mikado, and therefore only mentioned them incidentally, in saying that the Mikado's title must be substituted for that of Tycoon. After the translation had been made and shown to all the ministers, a fire of questions was directed against the envoy, who answered them well. Roches asked whether the Mikado's authority extended throughout the whole of Japan, to which he replied coolly that the rebellion of Tokugawa prevented that from being the case at present; but it would gradually extend all over the empire. Roches' interpreter (who was a Tokugawa man) then made a wilful mistake by representing the envoy to say that "if all the people submitted to the Mikado, he would be able to govern the country," whereas he really said, "the people will all submit to the Mikado as a natural consequence of his taking the reins," as we ascertained on repeating the question. With regard to the Bizen affray, the Mikado's government undertook to protect the lives and property of foreigners at Kôbé for the future, and to satisfy the demands of the Foreign Representatives for the punishment of Bizen. On these conditions, it was agreed that the marines and bluejackets should be withdrawn to the ships, and the steamers released. Ozaka was not as yet perfectly quiet, but normal conditions would soon be restored, and foreigners would be formally invited to return there. On the part of the Mikado's government the envoy desired to know whether the Foreign Representatives would report the announcement to their governments and proclaim it to their people. This was tantamount to asking for "recognition." Roches became very angry, and said: "We must not throw ourselves upon the necks of these people," whereupon the Italian Comte de la Tour and the German von Brandt raised their voices against him, and replied that so far from doing anything of the sort we had waited till they came to seek us (not knowing, of course, of our secret negotiations at the Satsuma yashiki in Ozaka). On this, everyone said he would report to his government, and that satisfied the envoy. A great deal of desultory conversation went on while he was waiting for the gunboat to convey him back to Hiôgo, but on no particularly important topic. Itô said to me that it was all right about our going to Kiôto, that there would be no difficulty. I pretended to be indifferent, though in truth I was very eager to get a view of the city and its famous buildings, from which foreigners had been so jealously excluded for over two centuries.
Next day Higashi-Kuzé, at his own request, went to visit H.M.S. "Ocean."