(1.) From ancient times till the present day the question of opening or closing the country has been a frequent theme of debate. Are the barbarians birds or beasts with whom we ought not to associate?—or, seeing that our country is not really rich and strong, should we take of their surplus to supply our deficiencies and then sweep them away? Or shall we change our teaching altogether to the Western fashion, opening schools for the acquisition of Western accomplishments and mastering the arts of gunnery and of shipbuilding, and when we have done this, drive them utterly from the country? Or shall we cut the barbarians down? All sorts of schemes of this nature have been debated down to the present day. If Japan is to be opened, shall we keep our foreign relations as they at present exist, or shall we place them upon a new and different footing? (2.) If it be determined that Japan should be closed, ought the foreigners to be expelled with decision, or shall we cut down and slay the foreigners who are living here? And when they come to fight us (in revenge for this) what will be the proper way for us to meet them? (3.) If, when the foreigners come with their armies to invade us we having no soldiers ready to oppose them, our people and the Emperor’s house fall together to rise no more, what then? (4.) If, when the time comes for us to struggle with the foreigners, there should be persons to raise the extraordinary argument that we ought not to pit our soldiers and our strength against them, how shall we be justified in holding such language? (5.) If it be decided to close the ports, when the time comes for us to fight, in what province shall we place our illustrious Imperial House in safety, and how shall we protect it? What will be the result of our precautions? (6.) If at the present time there are men who violently murder innocent foreigners, or who coin base money, or who borrow excessive sums of money, yearly and monthly piling up iniquity upon iniquity, when the foreigners shall have taken counsel together, and set their forces in motion to attack our Government and demand reparation, they will appropriate the open ports, stop our shipping upon the seas, and take possession of our islands, and then how shall we ward them off; what device shall we invent to suppress them? (7.) It appears that at the present moment the party in favour of opening the ports are the advocates of Western civilization, while the party in favour of closing the ports advocate the Japanese and Chinese civilization. If one or the other policy is to be adopted once for all, which of these two will it be fitting that we should determine and fix upon?