The Mikado's Ratification of the Treaties
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the imperialists suspecting the powers which had been so closely associated with the Shogunate, and some of the powers believing that the new imperial government might be anti-foreign as the old Kyoto court had been.
From every point of view, therefore, the ratification of the treaties of 1858 by the Mikado becomes a subject well worth careful study. Every event in the relations between Japan and the foreign powers from 1858 until 1865 was affected by this question. Once it is understood and appreciated, much that seemed unintelligible to the diplomats of that troubled period now seems measurably clear.
