Japanese imperial rule or British influence at court?

When British diplomats supported imperial rule, did they mean Japanese imperial authority or British imperial control?

Formally Japanese imperial authority; a more tentative interpretation is that the British representative may have hoped to wield power behind the throne.

Supporting a Japanese emperor differed from imposing direct British imperial rule. Formally, British diplomats backed a unified Japanese government and opposed the competing French relationship with the shogunate. The British representative may have imagined exercising influence at court as a new power behind the throne, although this remains an interpretation rather than a documented declaration of policy. Informal diplomatic leverage should therefore be considered without confusing it with a plan for outright British colonization.