e help
and alliance of the powerful Kyushu clan were eagerly accepted. Peace was
negotiated between the shogun and the rebels. Thus the Choshu episode was
ended, with no credit to the shogun's party, but with a distinct gain to
the cause of the imperial restoration.(306)

It had long been recognized that the treaties which had been made by the
foreign powers would possess a greatly increased influence on the Japanese
people if they could have the sanction of the emperor. The shogun Iemochi
had been summoned to Kyoto by the emperor to consult upon the concerns of
the nation, and was occupying his castle at Osaka. The representatives of
the foreign powers thereupon concluded that it would be a timely movement
to proceed with their naval armaments to Hyogo, and wait upon the shogun
at Osaka, with the purpose of urging him to obtain the imperial approval
of the treaties. This was accordingly done, and an impressive display of
the allied fleets was made at the town, which has since been opened to
foreign trade.

The shogun was both young and irresolute, and personally had neither
weight nor influence. But his guardian, Hitotsubashi, was a man of mature
years and judgment. He recognized the importance of obtaining the approval
of the emperor to the foreign treaties, and of thus ending the long and
ruinous agitation which prevailed in the country.

A memorial(307) was presented to the emperor in the name of the shogun,
setting forth the embarrassment under which the administration of the
country had been conducted on account of the supposed opposition of the
emperor to the treaties, and begging him to relieve them by signifying his
sanction; and assuring him that if this is not given, the foreign
representatives who are at Hyogo will proceed to the capital and demand it
at his hands.

It ended in the sanction of the treaties being signified October 23, 1865,
by the following laconic decree(308) addressed to the shogun: "The
imperial consent is given to the treaties, and you will therefore
undertake the necessary arrangements therewith."

During this critical time the Shogun Iemochi died September 19, 1866, at
his castle in Osaka at the age of eighteen. He had been chosen in 1858, in
the absence of a regular heir, by the determined influence of Ii
Kamon-no-kami, who was then all-powerful at Yedo. He was too young to have
any predominating influence upon affairs. Until the assassination of the
prime minister Ii Kamon-no-kam