Note 2 — Chapter XLVI · “OUR LITTLE WAR WITH THE HEATHEN.”

There was at this time, all over the far East, a feeling of uncertainty and alarm among foreigners, and many portentious signs seemed to indicate a general uprising, both in China and Japan, against foreigners. The example of Corea in expelling or beheading the French priests acted as powerful leaven in the minds of the fanatical foreigner-haters in the two countries adjoining. The “mikado-reverencers,” who in Japan had overthrown the “Tycoon” and abolished the dual system of government, made these objects only secondary to the expulsion of all aliens. The cry of “honor the mikado” was joined to the savage yell of the Jo-i (alien-haters), “expel the barbarians.” In China the smothered feelings of murderous animosity were almost ready to burst. The air was filled with alarms, even while the American fleet was preparing 2 for Corea.