Emperor, who is a god, the fountain of
all virtue, honor, and authority, is now a prisoner at the court of
Kioto, under the iron hand of the Tokugawa Shoguns. This state
of impiety and irreverence can never be tolerated by the devout
Shintoists. The Shogun must be dethroned and the Emperor raised to
power. Here the line of arguments of the Shintoists meets with that
of the scholars we have noted above. Thus both scholars and Shintoists
have converted themselves into politicians who have at heart the
restoration of the Emperor.

III. Another cause which led to the overthrow of the Shogunate was the
jealousy and cupidity of the Southern Daimios. Notably among them were
the Daimios of Satsuma, Choshiu, Tosa, and Hizen. Their ancestors "had
of old held equal rank and power with Iyeyasu, until the fortunes
of war turned against them. They had been overcome by force, or had
sullenly surrendered in face of overwhelming odds. Their adherence
to the Tokugawas was but nominal, and only the strong pressure of
superior power was able to wring from them a haughty semblance of
obedience. They chafed perpetually under the rule of one who was in
reality a vassal like themselves."[1] They now saw in the rising tide
of public sentiment against the Tokugawa Shogunate a rare opportunity
of accomplishing their cherished aim. They lent their arms and money
for the support of the patriots in carrying out their plan. Satsuma
and Choshiu became the rendezvous of eminent scholars and zealous
patriots. And in the council-halls of Satsuma and Choshiu were hatched
the plots which were soon to overthrow the effete Shogunate.

Thus everything was ready for the revolution of 1868 before Perry
came. We saw the Shogun, under the bombastic title of Tycoon, in spite
of the remonstrance of the Emperor and his court, conclude a treaty
with Perry at Kanagawa in 1854. Here at last was found a pretext for
the Imperialists to raise arms against the Shogun. The Shogun or his
ministers had no right to make treaties with foreigners. Such an act
was, in the eyes of the patriots, heinous treason. The cry of "Destroy
the Shogunate and raise the Emperor to his proper throne!" rang from
one end of the empire to the other. The constant disturbance of the
country, the difficulty of foreign intercourse, the sense of necessity
of a single and undoubted authority over the land, and the outcry
of the Samurai thus raised against the Shogun, finally led to his
resignation o