alternative suggested in the letter itself, to open the country
temporarily and try the experiment for three years, or five years, or ten
years. In the meantime the defences of the country and new and improved
arms and armaments could be perfected. The government did indeed busy
itself during Perry's absence in hurrying forward defensive preparations.
The line of forts which still are visible in the shallow water of the bay
opposite Shinagawa, the southern suburb of the capital, were hastily
constructed. Bells from monasteries and metal articles of luxury were
melted down and cast into cannon. Lessons were given and became quickly
fashionable in the use of European small-arms and artillery. The military
class from the various clans flocked to Yedo and Kyoto in large numbers,
expecting to be called upon to defend their country against the impudent
intrusion of the barbarians.

During this busy time of perplexity and preparation the Shogun
Ieyoshi,--the twelfth of the Tokugawa dynasty--died August 25, 1853. His son
Iesada succeeded him as the thirteenth shogun. The death of the reigning
shogun did not produce any marked effect upon the policy of the
government. Long before this time the custom of abdication, and the habits
of luxury and effeminacy in which the family of the shogun was reared, had
dragged the house down to the usual impotent level. The government was
conducted by a system of bureaucracy which relieved the titular shoguns
from all responsibility and allowed them to live in profitless
voluptuousness. So that one died and another reigned in his stead without
causing more than a ripple upon the surface of current events.

Shortly after the departure of the American squadron from Yedo bay, the
Russian Admiral Pontiatine appeared in the harbor of Nagasaki, and made
application for a national agreement to open ports for trade, to adjust
the boundary line between the two nations across the island of Saghalien,
and to live in neighborly intimacy. English vessels were also in Chinese
waters watching the Russians, and the war, usually called the Crimean war,
actually broke out in the spring of 1854. A visit from these vessels might
therefore be expected at any time.

Commodore Perry during the interval between his two visits to Japan sailed
to the ports of China where the Taiping rebellion was then in action. The
confusion and insecurity occasioned by this uprising rendered the presence
of the squadron most accepta