The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-09-23
J,p,y-A BRIEF RESUME OF THE s1rU.

JAPAN-A BRIEF hESuhE OF THE SlTU-
AT1oN.-We may be excused if We ap-
proach the subject of Japanese politics
with reluctance, and treat topic so con-
fused somewhat gingerly. We have had later
dates from Japan than those received by
the last mail steamer from Yokohama, but
the full details furnished by the ocean mail
were necessary to explain the situation as
reported by the kilograms from China and
japan uia the Mediterranean.
The previous arrival from Yokohama
brought us intelligence that the Tycoon, or
the Stotsbashi, as he is sometimes called,
had finally, to sll intents and purposes, ab-
dicated, and had been publicly disgraced
for the opposition which he at first set up
against the Mikado. It further appeared
that party Of powerful Princes-Daimios-
in the south had formed confederacy to
take possession of the person and influence
of the Mikado, or spiritual emperor. These
men, with Satsuma and Choisu, two power
full Daimois, at their head, are opposed to
foreign influence, and are japanese "con-
servatives." They do not believe in the
Mikado's being anything more than NOR
tai man, though the common people believe
him to be sent to earth by the gods, and
that at his so-called death he returns to
them. This superstition Of the mass of the
people is the reason why the Mikado is 30
desirable prize to the ambitious Princes
Satsuma & Co.
Against this combination are the north
ern Daimios, who espouse the cause of the
ton of the Office which the Mikado's party
has pretended to abolish. The northern
party has been continually growing in
power and strength, and, as we hear by
telegraph Uia London and Marseilles, has
now obtained possession of Yeddo. This
success was probably partly due to the fact
that Choisu, one of the most influential Of
the southern confederated Daimios, had
withdrawn from the compact, and had gone
back to his own feudal possessions, declaring
himself a neutral in the contest. This served
to weaken the cause of the Mikado, who has
no party of his own except SO far as the
southern Daimios are his adherents and de-
tenders. 1t also now transpires that the
Mikado has no revenues in his own right
whatever, and that all the revenues Of the
Government throughout the country, with
all their machinery for collection, apper-
| tain to the Tycoon, and that the southern
| party have not been able to possess them
selves of these except in few isolated in
stances. Money furnishes the sinews of
war in Japan as well as elsewhere, and
hence the Mikado, who had consented to
| the reestablishment of the Tycoonate, and
had Intellectually endeavored to have Six
year old boy set up in that Office, has finally
been compelled, as we have learned by telc-
graph, to retire before the hostile forces of
the northern party, who support the ex-
| Tycoon.
To an outsider it appears likely that the
ex-Tycoon, or some other member of his
family-the Tokugawa family-so long the
| reigning temporal power in Japan, will be
restored to the rights and dignities of the
Tycoonate. Certainly the military sue
cesses that have followed his party, and the
haste into which several other Princes be-
sides Choisu have proclaimed themselves
neutral or in favor of the Tycoon, would in
dicate that his star was in the ascendant.
The sympathies Of foreigners desirous of
opening trade with Japan, and of seeing an
enlightened and liberal generation in that
country, are all with the Tycoon or north
ern party, whatever it may be called. The
inhuman persecution of Christians referred
to by our correspondent, the continual re-
strictions on trade, and snubbing of the
foreigners in Japan, are all the work of the
Mikado, or the people who use him as a
political puppet. The crisis of political
affairs in the country has probably passed
by this time.-Alta California.