Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. Excerpt: ... and urged him to assume his proper status in the empire--" Be a ruler in fact as well as in name. Judge the acts of your vice-gerent, and compel him to obey your infallible decrees." Ignorant of everything connected with the outer world, (as all the Japanese were, but he especially), and prejudiced as all ignorant people are, it is not to be wondered at that he allowed himself to be made an instrument in the hands of the bold and energetic spirits who professed to be maintaining his cause. Yet it must be observed, even with all the influences brought to bear upon him, that he always gave his orders to the Tycoon--to no one else. He said to him--" Do!" and left him to find the means of obeying the command. Even when it was proposed to him to place himself at the head of an army to drive out the strangers, after consenting, he withdrew and left it to the Tycoon. Further, it must be remarked--for it is most remarkable--that notwithstanding all the opposition that was made to the Tycoon and his Government, there was not one who did not yield to his judgment if sentenced to punishment; obey, at least outwardly, his behests, when ordered to fulfil any particular duty; and speak of him with the respect usually only reserved for a sovereign, in any public verbal or written communications. And if any will speak of the Tycoon as a mere puppet, I ask him to observe the importance attached to his personal visit to Kioto; the impossibility of properly carrying on the Government at Yedo without him; and the weight attached by the Mikado to the Apology For Richardson's Murder. 205 personal presence of Iyemochi, boy as he was (17 years of age), at his side at the metropolis. The best proof that if a Tycoon was a mere puppet, it was his own fault, is the...