However, in November, given the urgency of the situation, the shogun, no longer thinking of catching up, abandoned his shogunal function in favor of the young Emperor Meiji with the hope of installing a government composed of local lords (the daimyo) ; but this collegial power can not prevent the coup d'état of the "reformist" partisans who, on 3 January 1868, restore the model of the "old monarchy". Yoshinobu Tokugawa is driven to take up arms by his samurai, anxious to lose their prerogatives forever. Begins the war known as the Boshin war, which sees, on January 27, the armies of the shogun dispersed despite their numerical superiority by an imperial force already fully modernized by the competitors. Yoshinobu Tokugawa, after this first defeat, takes refuge in Edo. Pushing back the plan of revenge of Leon Roches, it capitulates on April 27 to Edo which is conquered and withdraws to Mito. France, unhappy, recalls its ambassador, is forced to proclaim its neutrality and the mission Canon which is now undesirable and summoned to leave the territory, withdraws to Yokohama to be repatriated in November.
For his part, Brunet, stamped with an all-military ethic, refuses to return to continue to "serve the French cause in this country" 1, because he feels it his honor not to abandon the shogun and his faithful samurai, brothers in arms whom he had instructed. "[...] I decided that in view of the generous hospitality of the Shogunal government, it was necessary to respond in the same spirit" 2. But Chanoine refuses his resignation and Brunet finds himself in a false situation. The Ministry of War will finally place him on leave of one year without pay on February 6, 1869, implicitly regularizing his situation, but stating that in Japan where he is however allowed to stay, he will now only have the status of 'a simple particular. Brunet has, it seems, benefited from a spirit of solidarity of body. Moreover, Roches continues to plead with the Emperor the cause of the shogun and eight comrade officers Brunet will join him. The imperial forces, in excess, have now, thanks to their heavy artillery, the stranglehold on the island of Honshu. The Shogun's troops, in order to resist better, retrench in Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaido, and on December 25, 1868, founded the short-lived Republic of Ezo, of which Takeaki Enamoto was elected president. Brunet, military adviser of the Ministry of War, organizes the defense and resumes the instruction of the soldiers, until the arrival of the army of the emperor which begins, June 30, the assault of the island on the ground and by sea. The about eight hundred besieged with irremediable inferiority must surrender. Brunet and the French officers are recovered just in time by a warning sent to avoid the reprisals of the victors (torture is customary in the Land of the rising sun).
Officially, France congratulates the Mikado for restoring order in the country but will not accept to return the officer who helped the rebels on the pretext that he is in the hands of an independent military authority. Returned to Paris, Brunet receives a regulatory censure for interference in the political affairs of a foreign country and his ministry removes him from active officers by "suspension of employment". Napoleon III approved this sanction on October 15th. France is making the rumor that Brunet, who has been a council of war, has been dismissed. In reality, Brunet has not been formally disapproved, but he is somehow condemned to absolute discretion. Thus, from February 26, 1870, five months before Japan feels officially satisfied with the punishment, Brunet is the deputy director of the manufacture of weapons of Châtellerault, appointment which was not inserted in the Official Journal. At the same time, he contracts a beautiful marriage that brings him a dowry of one hundred thousand francs and his former superior, Captain Chanoine, is his witness. At no time will his Japanese equipment be blamed on him.
War of 1870
Brunet will still participate in the Franco-German war, captain at the 8th artillery regiment in Metz, where he will be taken prisoner. He is made Officer of the Legion of Honor3. After the fall of the Empire, he is at the service of the legitimate government for the repression of the Paris Commune. Then came an honorable and more tranquil military course: military attache in Austria and Italy, commander of the Legion of Honor, chief of staff, in 1898, of Chanoine, now general and minister of war. Brunet will finish division general.
On March 11, 1895, Japan, which has just emerged from a grueling "modern" war with China, will remember this former "samurai" by elevating him to the rank of grand officer of the sacred treasury of the Mikado.
Jules Brunet died on August 12, 1911 in Fontenay-sous-Bois and was buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery (68th Division).
General Jules Brunet, center, kepi in hand (1898).
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