1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. Ill 



Taikun's government, Kuroda wa8 secretly ordered by Prince 

 Satsuma to make a tour abroad for the study of military and 

 naval affairs. 



But the first indications of the strug-orle between the ad- 

 herents of the Mikado and Taikun now appeared. The 

 Satsuma clan upheld the Mikado's cause, and Kuroda was 

 appointed a general in the imperial army. He had pointed 

 out to us a few days before, in Tokio, the ground where the 

 last battle was fought on the mainland, and the Taikun's 

 power broken. 



The following j^ear, he, as commander of the army of the 

 north, compelled the surrender of the remnant of the Tai- 

 kun's army at Hakodate. 



Their leader, Admiral Enomoto, together with his princi- 

 pal oflacers, were, as a matter of course, condemned to death 

 by the central authorities. Kuroda, however, protested 

 aflSrming that they had fought bravely and faithfully for 

 their chief; that they would prove equally valiant and 

 patriotic in their rene^ved allegiance to the Mikado ; and, 

 rather than consent that the honor of brave soldiers should 

 thus be sullied, his own head should pay the forfeit. His 

 will prevailed, and their lives were spared. 



Enomoto subsequently became Kuroda's colleague as 

 assistant secretary of the colonial department, and two years 

 later was appointed vice-admiral and minister to Russia. 



Three years afterward he returned overland through Siberia 

 to Sapporo, where I met him as the guest of Kuroda. At a 

 state dinner then given him, Enomoto paid a glowing tribute 

 to the resolute will and courage of his present host, who had 

 ventured his own life, with all its bright promise, to save 

 that of his vanquished foe, the speaker. 



No name in Japan has figured more conspicuously in the 

 crisis of the restoration, been held in greater admiration, or 

 clothed with more tragic interest, than that of Saigo. Two 

 brothers of the name have attained to places in the imperial 

 cabinet, after receiving the highest military honors the nation 

 could bestow. The younger I met in Philadelphia, where 

 he served as commissioner at our centennial exhibition. 



The Saigos also were retainers of Satsuma. Both were 

 adherents of the emperor's cause against the Taikun ; and, 



