capture and punishment of the assassin of Mr.
Richardson, and for the payment of an indemnity of L100,000, by the
shogun's government and an additional sum by the daimyo of Satsuma.

Neither the surrender of the assassin nor the payment of this indemnity
was willingly undertaken by Satsuma. It ended therefore in Admiral Kuper
being despatched with a squadron of seven vessels to Kagoshima in order to
enforce on the recalcitrant daimyo the terms agreed upon with the
government at Yedo. He arrived on the 11th of August, 1863, and was
received with frowning batteries and a terrible typhoon of wind and rain.
Negotiation failed to effect a settlement and the naval force was called
upon to play its part. Three valuable new steamers, which the daimyo had
recently purchased, were captured and burned. The batteries which lined
the shore were dismantled by the guns of the ships. The city of Kagoshima,
said to have had at this time a population of 180,000 and to have been one
of the most prosperous towns in Japan, was almost completely destroyed by
fire. After this drastic lesson the money demanded was paid, but the
murderer of Richardson was not and probably could not be surrendered, and
never has been publicly known.

The most important result which followed this severe experience was its
moral effect on the Satsuma leaders. They had become convinced that
western skill and western equipments of war were not to be encountered by
the antiquated methods of Japan. To contend with the foreigner on anything
like equal terms it would be necessary to acquire his culture and
dexterity, and avail themselves of his ships and armaments. It was not
long after this therefore, that the first company of Japanese
students(291) were sent to London under the late Count Terashima by the
daimyo of Satsuma, and the purchase of cannon and ships of war was
authorized.

In the meantime another collision still more serious had occurred with the
treaty powers. The daimyo of Choshu had, as we have seen, taken sides with
the court of Kyoto against the more liberal policy of the shogun's
government. He had placed men-of-war as guards and had erected batteries
within his territory on the shores of the Shimonoseki straits through
which ships usually passed on their way to and from the western ports. It
is claimed, and is not improbable, that he was encouraged by the Kyoto
statesmen to attack foreign ships on their way through these narrow
straits, in order to