At the time when the Satsuma men were contending at Fushimi, near Kioto, with the adherents of the Shogun the future Count Matsukata was residing in Nagasaki. The Governor of the town happened to be a northern man, one whose sympathies were wholly with the Tokugawa side, to which, indeed, he had been indebted for his appointment to the post he held. At Nagasaki the trend of opinion was of course anti-Shogunate, and the Governor, recognising that his rule must necessarily be somewhat unpopular, decided, it would seem, to take his leave rather abruptly, for he hastily quitted his official residence and sought safety in flight. The administration of the treaty port could not be left unprovided for, and therefore Matsukata and a few other young men who were on the spot at this crisis resolved to take matters into their own control. As soon as the upheaval of 1868 had subsided and affairs were beginning to run their normal course, Matsukata was offered a position under the newly established government at Tokio, but he was for a short time placed in charge of its interests at Nagasaki as Local Governor. In 1871 he was attached to the Department of Finance, for it had been discovered that he possessed exceptional qualifications for dealing with problems of the knotty character which were at that period of transition apt to present themselves. The connection with the national finances thus auspiciously begun in the fourth year of the Meiji era has never ceased, since he is still frequently consulted on points of policy in which it is considered that his matured judgment will be of benefit to the nation.