“Yesterday morning some men came to my guards at the main gate, and said they were servants of Mito and had killed the Regent, and it was right that they should go to the Gorochiu; but as it is the first time they have come to Yedo, and do not know where the Gorochiu live, they requested me to go with them. I asked them who they were and what they wanted. They answered, that they had been this morning fighting with the Regent at the Sakurada gate; and having first wounded him with a pistol, they pulled him by the right hand out of the kango and cut off his head. There came at first only nine men, but these were followed by a number of others: whence they came I do not know.” Hossokawa accompanied these men to the Hio jo sho, where the judges on duty asked them to give in writing their reasons for killing the Regent. The answer was: “We have good reasons. From the time of Zin mu tenwo to the present day the Japanese nation has never received any insult from a foreign nation; now five foreign nations have made treaties, and all through the empire the people are angry and sorry and vexed, and the Regent did not care. If he does not care for this, he makes himself an enemy to the nation, and therefore we killed him. We have no other reason.” The officers at the Hio jo sho were afraid to ask any more questions. Mito sent the following letter to the Shiogoon: “I am told that some men who were formerly in my service, but who were dismissed, have gone this morning to the Sakurada gate and killed Ee Kamong no kami. They appear to have gone to Hossokawa, wishing that he should take them into his employ. A messenger from Hossokawa has brought me this information. I am very sorry for it, and it has caused me much distress. I could not employ so many servants, and therefore was obliged to reduce my establishment, while some men who would not obey me went away of their own accord. On this account I am unable to arrest or punish such men, and must trust to the servants of the Shiogoon doing so, while I must try to find those who have absconded; but the Shiogoon is powerful while I am comparatively powerless; I therefore beg the assistance of the Shiogoon.” The Shiogoon wrote to Mito on the 4th day of the 3d month: “Yesterday your servants killed the Gotairo, and now I fear they may attack and kill some of the Gorochiu. It is ordered that your servants from morning to night, all day and all night, are not to move out of the house.” Otta, Hiobu sho, wrote to the Shiogoon: