9 
in one motion draws his sword from the scabbard and cuts off the condemned 
man’s head. 
There is no example in the history of Japan of a Samourai showing any sign 
of weakness in these executions. It was related at Yedo three years after the 
Dupleix affair that some of the condemned men, before making the final incision 
had had the energy to bite off part of their tongues and spit them at the feet of 
the French sailors. For two long hours Commander Dupetit-Thouars and the 
Trench detachment witnessed the lugubrious ceremony. Eleven heads had fallen. 
Our European nerves are not equal to such prolonged horrors. The Com¬ 
mander, sick with disgust, yet greatly impressed by so much fortitude and 
fierce energy, intervened, declared that lie was content with a number of heads 
equal to that of the French who had fallen, and demanded the pardon of the sur¬ 
vivors. 
A few days later the British Minister, on proceeding to the Emperor’s palace, 
was attacked, and ten soldiers of his escort were more or less seriously wounded. 
The cup was now full; the European powers became more and more threaten¬ 
ing ; the Mikado’s Court was dazed with fear. The Emperor forthwith published 
a decree whereby any Samourai who should murder a European, should be de¬ 
graded, he and all his family, have his goods confiscated, and be deprived of the 
the honour of the hara-kiri. 
The Imperial Court now abandoned Kioto where for centuries it had occupied 
a somewhat isolated spot, and to give emphasis to the new order of things took 
up its abode at Tokio (Yedo), the ancient capital of the Shoguns, and the real 
political centre of Japan. There were found the government machinery and 
bureaucratic staff which had been formed by the Shoguns. Tokio was also near 
Yokohama where the representatives of foreign powers were all stationed. 
In 1871 the Mikado assembled all the Princes, great and small Daimios, de¬ 
clared to them solemnly that their principalities had now become state property, 
and that henceforth the Mikado would govern alone with his Supreme Council. 
The old principalities would be transformed into departments administered by 
prefects, delegated by the central power. In exchange for their principalities the 
Government would pay the Daimios an annual rent and would undertake the 
maintenance of the 400,000 men of arms which they had hitherto supported. 
A series of political measures completed gradually the destruction of the old 
feudal edifice. On several occasions local opposition was met with, but the Im¬ 
perial Government displayed much tact and cleverness, and reforms were not 
complete until backed by a homogeneous and disciplined army. 
The New Army. 
In 1871 the Government asked of France the sending of a military mission. 
Up to that time there had been Satzuma’s, Nagato’s, Tosa’s battalions, &c., but 
not one soldier directly under the Emperor’s authority. It became a question of 
creating a national army. 
Surprise has often been expressed at the address of this invitation to France 
on the morrow of the events of 1870. Several reasons have been suggested ; the 
most probable one is that the Taicoon had addressed a similar request to Napoleon 
III which was granted. This mission remained in Japan for 18 months when on 
the fall of the Taicoon from power it was recalled home. But it left many friends 
among the Japanese soldiers, of whom a portion, at the time of the revolution, 
rallied to the Mikado’s government. Besides these were Satzuma’s men who, 
as stated above, were being trained by the Comte de Montblanc and his French 
N.C.O.’s. There was also a strong German party at the Court, but Marshal 
Saigo’s influence prevailed in favour of the French. For the first few months the 
mission had to steer very cautiously amid many reefs ; for the opposite party 
