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reign trade at the open ports of Nagasaki,Tsushima, and Satsuma, and for fixing the maximum number of foreignvessels visiting those places. Itraised him at once to a level with the greatest provincial barons inthe empire, and placed him in the foremost rank of the aspirants foran Imperial commission. Accordingly, Itagaki organized an association calledJiyu-to (Liberals), the first political party in Japan. *See the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition; article Japan, byBrinkley.

tter were supplemented by five protectedcruisers which ranked far above anything of the same class on theJapanese side. The new Empress was dowered with an estate much larger thanthat of the Emperor himself, although the latter's allowance wasincreased by ten thousand koku. The sovereign acquiesced; he had nochoice. nforcement of the open door and equal opportunity co-existedwith legacies from an entirely different past.