Inouye clapped his hands. When his attendant appeared, he told him to go to the castle, and request the kuge to honor him with a call. Ito, who had been charged with the command of the army, rose and said: “Shall we march in the morning?”
“Yes,” was the reply, “that will be best.”
The two friends had so often considered what they would do when this time should arrive, that no further consultation was necessary. Ito went first to the most active Councillor, and explained to him what had happened; he then proceeded to the barracks, and gave orders that the army was to march at six in the morning. When he returned, he found the kuge, highly pleased at the prospect of their speedy return. They knew that, with Arisugawa as adviser, Tenshi Sama would restore them to honor, and Mori would be exculpated. Indeed, at four o’clock in the morning a messenger arrived bringing the official papers.
The two Councillors breakfasted with the kuge. During the meal, Ito said:
“We must make hurried marches, gentlemen. Tokugawa will not submit peaceably. If our friends prevail, it means the ruin of the Tokugawa men; hence I expect we shall have trouble.”
The army marched out, leaving only a sufficient number of men to guard the territory of the clan. It was now that the difference between samurai and an army on the march could be best observed. The men stepped out evenly in close ranks, and easily, and without apparent fatigue performed a two days’ journey. The kuge were surprised. Ito and Inouye explained what had been done, and the reason for it. Whereas the daimiyo had never traveled to Kyoto in less than seven days, the Choshiu men arrived at their yashiki within four days from the time they left Nagato.
The kuge were escorted to the Palace. Here they found that an entirely new order prevailed. The allied clans guarded the gates, but permitted free ingress and egress to all samurai except such as bore the Tokugawa crest. An imperial decree had been issued abolishing the office of Shogun, and declaring that the government would be conducted by the imperial court. Negotiations were being conducted with Keiki to arrive at an equitable settlement.
Brought up as he had been as the son of Mito, Keiki had always trusted to his councillors, and was quite as ignorant of affairs as Mori. He has been accused of vacillation, but personally he was not consulted at all. Answers, of which he knew nothing, were given in his name and under his seal. It was quite natural that among his councillors there should be two parties, the one advocating submission, the other resistance. The answer depended upon the majority among his councillors.
At last it was decided by his advisers that he should leave Kyoto and withdraw to Osaka. He was escorted by the two clans of Aidzu and Kuwana, both intensely attached to the house of Iyeyasu, and unspoiled. Their leaders urged, and almost compelled Keiki to fight. Himself possessed of patriotic impulses, he refused.
The new government at Kyoto dreaded war; not from fear, but on account of the probable consequences. Sanjo and Iwakura had been reinstated and were often in conference with Ito, Inouye, Goto, OKubo, and Saigo. It was plainly evident that the government could not be carried on without revenue, and the Court possessed nothing but a pittance allotted to it from Tokugawa’s superfluity. If war should follow, Tokugawa had resources, while the court had none. Even at present the Court depended entirely upon the generosity of the clans which had been instrumental in effecting the revolution.