Chap. XV. ITS DIFFICULTIES. 255 
gator of the attack on H. M. Legation, and yet 
was afraid or unable to punish him. 
With these difficulties to contend with, particu- 
larly in their relations with foreign powers and 
their subjects, the task of the Ministers of the 
Tycoon is not exactly an agreeable one. I believe 
they are sincere in their endeavours to protect 
foreigners from the dangers which surround them 
on every side, owing to the hatred and fanaticism 
of unfriendly Daimios and their retainers. Doubt- 
less their suggestion to Mr. Alcock to have a 
guard inside the Legation was well meant; and 
their plan of surrounding the new settlement of 
Yokuhama, and placing guards on the different 
approaches — which some people found so much 
fault with — was intended for our protection. They 
knew the dangers to which we were exposed much 
better than we did ourselves, and took their own 
mode of averting them. 
But in the present state of Japan, with the 
feudal system in full operation, with jealousies 
existing amongst the nobles, with bands of idle 
retainers roaming about the streets, always armed 
and not over-friendly to foreigners, the task of 
protecting us is no easy one. Those Ministers 
who agreed to make treaties with foreign nations 
did not foresee the difficulties and dangers they 
had to encounter in opening up a country which 
had been sealed to the rest of the world for nearly 
three hundred years. The future is now enveloped 
in thick darkness ,- but it is much to be feared that 
