other.
Notwithstanding Commodore Perry's protestations of friendliness, they were
afraid of his great ships and their powerful armaments. Should they, as
they might easily do, make their way up the bay till they were within
gunshot of the capital, what resistance could the government show, or how
could it prevent them from battering down the castle and all the daimyos'
residences.

The sentiment of loyalty to the emperor and opposition to the shogun,
which had been growing up so insidiously and had now become really
formidable, was a source of the greatest perplexity to the Yedo
government. Should they proceed with their negotiations and make a treaty
with the Americans, this anti-shogun sentiment was ready to manifest
itself against them with terrible effect. If they refused to negotiate,
then they must be ready to meet the invaders of their soil with their
miserable obsolete armor and with hearts that two hundred years of peace
had rendered more obsolete than their armor.

The first thing to be done was to consult the daimyos and learn to what
extent they could rely on their co-operation. The daimyo of Mito,(269) a
descendant of the famous Mitsukuni, seemed to have inherited one at least
of the opinions of his ancestor. He advocated the observance of a greater
reverence for the emperor at Kyoto, and criticised the assumption of
imperial powers by the shogun. At the same time he was an ardent
foreign-hater, and in 1841 had been placed in confinement because he had
melted down the bells of the Buddhist temples of his domains, and cast
cannon for their protection. But now he was pardoned and appointed to take
measures for the defence of the country. On the 15th of July--the American
squadron was still in the bay, for it left on the 17th--the daimyo of Mito
sent in to the government a memorial(270) setting forth his decisive views
on the subject. He gave ten reasons against a treaty and in favor of war.
We give them here in Mr. Nitobe's translation:

"1. The annals of our history speak of the exploits of the great, who
planted our banners on alien soil; but never was the clash of foreign arms
heard within the precincts of our holy ground. Let not our generation be
the first to see the disgrace of a barbarian army treading on the land
where our fathers rest.

"2. Notwithstanding the strict interdiction of Christianity, there are
those guilty of the heinous crime of professing the doctrines of this evil
sect. If now Ame