7 
When 18,000 of his men had fallen, having accounted for at least an equal num¬ 
ber of the Imperial troops, Saigo, wounded in the thigh in the last fight, had his 
head cut off on the field of battle by one of his faithful Samourais. This one 
and a hundred other of the principal Samourais were unwilling to survive their 
chief and killed themselves forthwith. 
A short time before this event one of his old companions-in-arms, who was also 
liis brother-in-law and commanded the Imperial Fleet, wrote begging him to make 
his submission, guaranteeing him the Emperor’s clemency. Saigo refused, and 
his reply was in the following noble strain : — 
“ You say that in the event of our surrender you would ask the Government to 
extend to us its clemency. That is absurd. We are fighting in the name of 
justice and in a just cause, we are not concerned in the fate which is in store for 
us. Your Excellency pretends that we can recover our honour, we no longer 
understand you. How can we have lost honour, since the cause of justice is 
honorable.” 
According to the old traditions of Japanese honour, a defeated soldier like 
Saigo could not end his days otherwise than by killing himself on his last field of 
battle, since death had not come to meet him. Saigo is the most popular figure 
in modern Japan. In the smallest village there is to be found an image of him 
whom they call the Great Saigo. Six months later his death was revenged by 
six of his Samourais, who assassinated close to the Imperial Palace at Yedo the 
minister of the interior Okubo, who had been accused of the- desire to compass 
Saigo’s death. The murderers gave themselves up forthwith to the Palace guard. 
And as if the drama of life of Japan were always destined to assume a startling 
form, Okubo’s body was recognised and picked up by another minister who was 
going to the Palace. This minister was none other than General Saigo, a younger 
brother of the Marshal. 
After this digression on Marshal Saigo, we come to the events which followed 
the arrival of foreigners in Japan. For 12 years, from 1857 to 1869, a series of 
assassinations were committed upon the persons of Europeans. The authors of 
them were Samourais indignant at the violation of the Imperial soil, and covertly 
encouraged by the Princes of the South who had resolved on the fall of the 
Taicoon and who sought to create for him every form of embarrassment. In fact 
after every crime the European powers, still believing in the Taicoon’s sovereignty, 
sought to obtain from him that satisfaction which he was powerless to afford. 
The powers then resorted to measures of coercion, and France and England 
landed marines to protect their countrymen. These remained there till 1874. 
The cry “ Death to the Barbarians ” became the watchword of the Samourais. 
England then sent a squadron to bombard the capital of Satzuma to avenge the 
Englishmen whose murderers remained unpunished. 
The Prince of Nagato, from his batteries at Simonoseki, fired on the European 
ships which were entering the interior sea of Japan, and as the powers obtained 
no satisfaction, the British, French and Dutch squadrons united to bombard the 
town. 
The town of Simonoseki is now well known, having given its name two years 
ago to the treaty of peace between Japan and China. It is a fine military posi¬ 
tion ; it commands the very narrow channel which unites the China Sea with the 
interior sea of Japan. The batteries which fired on our squadrons thirty years 
ago were commanded by a man, since become famous, Marshal Y r amagata, the 
Commander-in-chief of the Japanese Army during the war with China. 
marshal yamagata. —At the time just alluded to he was the Karo of the 
Prince of Satzouma. In 1872 he became war minister. The reverse of Saigo, 
24 
5. VOL. XXV. 
