As to Parkes, although his sympathies were elsewhere than with the Shogunate from the beginning, officially speaking he was a minister accredited to the court of the Shogunate. Nevertheless, he had sufficient foresight how to protect English interests, and, moreover, several other causes made him incline towards the Imperial court. A year or two before, Ito and Inouyé returned from England to Chosiu. They were thoroughly changed from fierce anti-foreign partisans to pro-foreign propagandists. On account of this visit to and return from England, they became acquainted with several Englishmen who were then in Japan, such as Lowder, Glover, and Satow. When they, together with Takasugi and Yamagata and others, revolted against the then government of Chosiu, which temporarily had gained the power and favoured more conciliatory policy with the Shogunate, and established a new one in defiance of the Shogunate, Takasugi held an opinion that the time would soon come when the question of Chosiu _versus_ the Shogunate would become one of Japan _versus_ Western nations, and that it would be better for him to prepare himself for the future eventuality, leaving domestic affairs in the hands of his friends. He communicated this idea to his intimate friends, Ito and Inouyé, who agreed with him. He asked Ito to accompany him. Together they left their homeland of Chosiu and went to Nagasaki with the full intention of going to Europe, which would be the second voyage for Ito and the first for Takasugi, though the latter had once been abroad as far as Shanghai a few years before. This was just the time when Parkes was appointed English minister and expected to arrive at Japan from Shanghai before long. At Nagasaki, Takasugi and Ito met with Glover and Lowder. They were told by them that Parkes was a person of interesting character, and that by effecting communication with him some great work might be done. Besides, they were told, it was not time for them to leave their home for Europe. Time was important, and it would be far more interesting if they were, for instance, to take up a plan for opening Shimonoseki to foreign trade. They agreed and returned to Chosiu. In no time the government of the Shogun despatched the second expedition to Chosiu, and war commenced, the result of which was a total repulse of the Shogunate troops.