ion. It is earnestly
to be hoped that these sources of irritation between Japan and the treaty
powers may speedily be removed, and that the efforts of this progressive
race to fall into line in the march of civilization may be appreciated and
encouraged.

Any one who reads the diplomatic correspondence covering this period will
see how serious were the troubles with which the country was called upon
to deal. He will realize also how almost impossible it was for the
diplomatic representatives of the western powers to comprehend the
difficulties of the situation or know how to conduct the affairs of their
legations with justice and consideration.

A succession of murders and outrages occurred, which awakened the fears of
the foreign residents. It is plain enough now that this state of things
was not so much due to the want of effort on the part of the government to
carry out its agreements with foreign nations, as to the bitter and
irreconcilable party hatred which had sprung up in consequence of these
efforts. The feudal organization of the government, by which the first
allegiance was due to the daimyo, rendered the condition of things more
demoralized. It was an old feudal custom, whenever the retainers of a
daimyo wished to avenge any act without committing their lord, they
withdrew from his service and became _ronins_. Most of the outrages which
occurred during the years intervening between the formation of the
treaties and the restoration were committed by these masterless men.
Responsibility for them was disclaimed by the daimyos, and the government
of Yedo was unable to extend its control over these wandering
swash-bucklers. There was no course for the foreign ministers to pursue
but to hold the shogun's government responsible for the protection of
foreigners and foreign trade. This government, which was called the
_bakufu_,(279) had made the treaties with the foreign powers, as many
claimed, without having adequate authority, and had thus assumed to be
supreme in matters of foreign intercourse. It was natural therefore that
the representatives of the treaty powers should look to the _bakufu_ for
the security of those who had come hither under the sanction of these
treaties.

It was in consequence a bloody time through which the country was called
to pass. The prime minister and the head of the _bakufu_ party was Ii
Kamon-no-kami,(280) the daimyo of Hikone in the province of Mino. On
account of the youth of the