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330 HONDA THE SAMURAI.
Constitution, and proclaim pardon to all those who,
since the year 1858, through the Premier li, or otherwise,
had suffered imprisonment for their political
opinions. In addition to this joyful news for many
honorable and upright men, pensions were awarded
to the families of those who, like the brother of
Doctor Sano, had been put to death for their loyal
sentiments. The honorable duty of repairing and
beautifying the tombs of the Mikado's ancestors
was also performed by the bakufu.
Yet though Kyoto was so prosperous, the means
of the imperial court were limited, the Mikado having
very little revenue. One day, however, a procession
of two hundred and fifty ox-carts entered the
city, bearing fifty-five
thousand bushels of rice done
up in twenty thousand straw bags, a gift to the
Mikado from the prince of Satsuma. This precedent
was soon followed by the prince of Choshiu,
who made a like gift. Having no longer large
yashikis to support in Yedo, the loyal daimios were
well able to be thus generous. The kuge", or imperial
court nobles, even went so far as to rebuke
a daimio for going up to Yedo instead of Kyoto;
whereupon the daimio turned back and came to the
true kio, or capital, where eighty daimios and their
retainers now dwelt, crowding the city beyond what
had ever been known.
Meanwhile in Yedo the good work of the prince
of Echizen went on. The memory of Sakuma Ei
was vindicated in his proposal, made ten years before,
by the Yedo government's sending an order