At that time the Imperial Court had not declared to the foreign countries the handover of political power from the TOKUGAWA bakufu to the Meiji Government, and Shunsuke ITO (later Hirobumi ITO) held talks with them but the negotiation broke down.
この時点では、朝廷は諸外国に対して徳川幕府から明治政府への政権移譲を宣言しておらず、伊藤俊輔（後の伊藤博文）が折衝に当たるも決裂するに至る。