It was a remarkable sequence in successful enterprise that brought to
light and developed the vast gold deposits in Australia within three
years after the great discovery in California. This event "was to
change, if not the entire character, at least the rate, of Australian
progress." The date of Captain James Cook's exploration of the eastern
coast (1770) marks the beginning of a new era in the history of
Australia. Cook took possession of the country for Great Britain. From
the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales, he called
it New South Wales, and this name is still retained by one of the States
of the Commonwealth of Australia (inaugurated January 1, 1901). The
first English settlement (1788) was a convict colony at Port Jackson
(Sydney). From the establishment of this colony the development of
Australia as a British possession was gradual, but progressive, up to
the discovery of the gold-fields, by which it was so greatly
accelerated. At first a few pastoral groups occupied the lands near the
coast. Many of the newcomers were mere squatters, bent on making money
and then returning to England. But gradually small towns and settled
industries grew up. Increasing numbers of farmers immigrated, squatters
were pushed toward the interior, and a state of social organization
began. Up to 1850, however, this nucleus of a new commonwealth had
reached no great development.
As in the case of California, long before the great discovery of gold in
Australia there had been rumors of its existence in that country. Most
of the early stories told by persons said to have found specimens of the
metal were scouted. In 1844 the distinguished geologist, Sir Roderick
Impey Murchison, having compared specimens of Australian rocks brought
to him with other specimens from gold-bearing lands, declared that he
found in the former no trace of gold. Two years later, however, Sir
Roderick declared his belief in the existence of gold in Australia, and
in 1848 he announced that he had seen specimens of gold from New South
Wales, and recommended a government mineral survey there. Little
attention might have been given to the matter then but for the discovery
of gold in California. From the excitement caused by that the "gold
fever" spread over the world. Nothing was done in the way of discovery
of the metal in Australia until many months had elapsed; but finally
results of the utmost importance were obtained.
The story of the great Australian gold discovery is here told in an
authentic and highly interesting manner by the historian of the
Australasian colonies.
In the year 1851 Edmund Hammond Hargraves, an old settler in New South
Wales, returned thither from California, where he had spent about
eighteen months in the search for gold. His efforts in California
resulted in no immediate prosperity, but he gained much useful practical
experience. More than this, as he looked at the natural features of the
California gold-fields, a great idea grew up in his mind. Though not a
geologist, he appears to have had a quick eye for stratiform
resemblances; and the more he studied the peculiarities of rocks and
soil in California, the more he became convinced that he knew, in his
own colony, a district which presented the same features and which,
therefore, might be expected to produce the same results.
Remaining in California only long enough to verify his observations, he
returned to Sydney at the beginning of the year 1851. Seldom has such
absolute confidence in unverified observation proved so completely
justified. According to Hargraves's own account he went without
hesitation to a spot on the banks of a little stream known as Lewes Pond
Creek, a tributary of Summer Hill Creek, itself a tributary of the
Macquarie River, and there at once, on February 12, 1851, found alluvial
gold. In April he had so far advanced as to be able to write to the
Government offering to disclose his treasures for five hundred pounds.
But he subsequently decided to trust to the liberality of the
Government, and offered at once to show his workings to the government
geologist, an official recently sent out from England to report upon
gold prospects. On May 19th Mr. Stutchbury officially reported the
discovery of gold in workable quantities at Summer Hill Creek, and by
the end of the same month the immigration to the diggings had begun.
Hargraves himself took no part in the digging, merely pointing out to
others, without reserve, the places in which his experience led him to
predict discovery, and instructing them in the processes of washing and
cleaning. He was soon made a commissioner of Crown lands, and received a
reward of ten thousand pounds.
Now began a period which can have no complete parallel in earlier
history, save the almost contemporaneous parallel of California.
For in days when news travelled slowly, and travelling for ordinary men
was still slower, in days when governments jealously prohibited the
expatriation of their subjects, and only allowed the immigration of
aliens under strict limitations, nothing like the Australian gold-rush
could have taken place. As it was, everything favored the stampede. The
Australian colonies themselves were anxious for immigrants. The European
disturbances of 1848 had led many Continental rulers to the conclusion
that it was wiser to allow turbulent spirits to go than to attempt to
keep them. The new era of industry had completely unsettled the old
relationships and awakened a spirit of restlessness. Finally, the recent
application of steam to sea-going ships had rendered a rapid decrease in
the length of the voyage from Europe a practical certainty. From the
moment that the genuineness of Hargraves's discoveries was placed beyond
doubt a swarm of pilgrims from all parts of the world set their faces
toward the diggings. Many, perhaps the majority, of the arrivals were
totally unsuited for the actual work of mining. Some of these turned to
other pursuits in the neighborhood, and, in no small number of cases,
did far better than the diggers whose gold they received. But thousands
turned back in despair after a few days' experience of the hardships of
the life; so that, almost from the first, there was an enormous traffic
to and fro, and strong division of parties upon the gold question. An
extreme view of the effect upon population may be obtained from a
comparison of the statistics of Victoria at the close of the years 1850
and 1855 respectively. At the former date the population was under
seventy thousand; at the latter, it was upward of three hundred
thousand. But no other colony increased to anything like this extent
during the gold rush.
The first care of the Government at Sydney, on receiving the official
report of the existence of gold, was to decide upon the attitude to be
assumed toward the diggers. It was abundantly clear that the
establishment of mining industries would mean a great increase of
expense to the Government. It was equally clear that, as the law had
been declared over and over again in the colony, unauthorized digging on
Crown land constituted a trespass, for which the digger was legally
responsible. But the Governor was wise enough to see that no threats of
prosecution would deter men bent on digging in unoccupied lands, even if
it were possible to preserve the lands of private owners from forcible
intrusion. The "squatting" question had demonstrated that, beyond a
certain point, the theory of Crown occupation of waste lands was liable
to break down.
So the government advisers suggested a compromise. Falling back on a
still older feudal doctrine, they asserted the indefeasible right of the
Crown to all gold found either on private or public lands, but
recommended that licenses to dig should be granted on easy terms, which
would have the double effect of providing a revenue and of preserving an
acknowledgment of the Crown's title.
Acting on this advice, Governor Fitzroy, on May 22, 1851, issued a
proclamation forbidding all persons to dig for gold on any lands without
license, but expressing the willingness of the Government to grant
licenses at a fee of thirty shillings a month to diggers on Crown lands.
For the present, the Governor refused to allow digging on private lands
without the owner's consent. The proclamation also announced that no
license would be given to any laborer or servant unless he could produce
a certificate of discharge from his last service. At the same time the
Governor established the practice of appointing special commissioners
for the gold-fields, charged with the administration of the licensing
system and the general maintenance of order in their respective
districts. He also strengthened the police force by every means in his
power, and then awaited developments.
He had not long to wait. Almost immediately after the issue of the
proclamation another gold-field was discovered on the Turon River, also
a feeder of the Macquarie, only a few miles from Lewes Pond; and shortly
afterward a third was opened up on the Abercrombie, a tributary of the
Murrumbidgee, which takes its rise in the Cordillera, south of Bathurst.
By the beginning of June, gold began to pour into Bathurst; but Mr.
Hardy, the chief commissioner, was able to report an almost idyllic
peace and plenty at the diggings.
In the middle of July an event occurred which at once produced a violent
attack of gold fever. This was the discovery of an enormous mass of
virgin gold, weighing upward of one hundred pounds, by Doctor Kerr, a
squatter on the Meroo Creek. Doctor Kerr had been guided to the spot by
an aboriginal who had been in his service several years; and, in his
excitement, he broke the matrix in which the nugget was imbedded, and
thus spoiled what would have been the most magnificent specimen of gold
quartz hitherto discovered. Even as it was, the display in Bathurst of a
single find of gold worth four thousand pounds was enough to excite the
feelings of the inhabitants to a pitch inconsistent with steady
industry.
But Doctor Kerr's find raised a point of some interest to the
Government. In framing the licensing regulations, the advisers of the
Crown had thought only of the possibilities of alluvial mining. Had they
even directed their thoughts toward rock gold, they would probably have
considered it highly improbable that any explorer should be able to
extract the metal without an amount of preparation which he would hardly
undertake upon the security of a bare license. But, as it happened,
Doctor Kerr had not even a license when he discovered the gold, though
he took one out as soon as possible afterward. To strengthen its
position, the Government seized the gold in the hands of a firm of
shippers who were about to send it to England; but, on the firm's
representation, it was released, security being given for the payment of
a royalty of 10 per cent, if the Crown should see fit to demand it.
Early in August, 1851, the Governor announced that, for the future,
licenses would be held to cover only alluvial gold, and that for rock
gold found on Crown land the Government would demand a royalty of 10 per
cent., half that amount if the working was on private land. A fortnight
later the Government undertook the escort of gold from the diggings to
Sydney, thereby adding considerably to the Crown revenue and at the same
time obtaining additional power over the gold districts. By the end of
August, gold to the value of seventy thousand pounds had been exported
from the colony. But these figures were soon eclipsed by those which
followed.
The news of the gold discoveries near Bathurst had soon spread through
the Australian colonies. The more adventurous of the colonists started
at once for the diggings. Others, often encouraged by their governments,
who foresaw a constant drain of population in favor of the gold colony,
endeavored to find gold within their own limits. Rumors of discoveries
were constantly arising. Gold was found at Echuca in South Australia, in
the Fingal district of Tasmania, and in the Curumandel ranges of New
Zealand. But none of these discoveries could compare for a moment with
those which took place within the newly constituted colony of Victoria.
Even so early as August, 1851, gold had been worked at a place called
"Deep Creek" (or "Anderson's Creek"), not far from Melbourne, but this
was soon abandoned in favor of the diggings at Clunes, on the headwaters
of the streams which flow north from the great dividing range to the
Murray River. A month later, these again were temporarily deserted in
favor of the rich Buninyong district, just south of the range, whose
chief centre was Ballarat. Finally, at the beginning of October, 1851,
the wonderful finds at Mount Alexander, a spur of the Macedon range to
the north of Melbourne, were eclipsing all previous discoveries.
Before the end of the year the export of gold from Victoria alone had
very nearly reached half a million in value. In two years the population
of the Victorian gold-fields almost equalled the whole population of the
colony at the close of 1850. Most of the diggers lived in tents, and had
absolutely no interest in the colony beyond the mere hope of profit from
the diggings. If a more profitable field had opened elsewhere, they
would have left at once. By the end of the year 1851 the probable area
of future discoveries was pretty well recognized. The gold-fields, with
few exceptions, were found to lie on one side or the other of the
eastern Cordillera or chain of mountains which, beginning with Mount
Elliot in Northern Queensland, follows the coast with remarkable
precision till it reaches Port Phillip Bay. But all the more northerly
part of this chain was unexplored in 1851, and of course there was room
for almost any development within such wide limits.
Warned by events in New South Wales, the governments of the other
Australian colonies had made preparations for the crisis. Western
Australia was too remote to be much affected; and her newly arrived
supply of convict labor rendered her contented. But South Australia and
Tasmania suffered severely from the drain of population, which set in
toward the diggings.
In South Australia, the effect was in some districts almost as if a
pestilence had swept away the men, leaving the women and children
untouched. Some of the emigrants really deserted their families, but the
bulk were honorable men, and remittances of gold soon began to find
their way to Adelaide for distribution among relatives in the colony.
After the comparative failure of the gold-diggings in South Australia,
the Government had wisely set itself to secure some part of the
prosperity of the gold discoveries for its colony by establishing both
land and river traffic routes. In these efforts it was highly
successful. Many South Australians made handsome fortunes by sending
provisions to the Buninyong and Mount Alexander districts, and the new
steamers on the Murray proved a source of profit to the colony which
lasted until the development of the railroad system. Unfortunately, this
prosperity could hardly be realized at the time, owing to the great
scarcity of coined money in the colony. In 1851 the privilege of coining
was still jealously monopolized by the mint in London; while the rapid
expansion of business in the latter part of that year had rendered the
supply of coin in Australia totally inadequate to the demand.
Very soon after the discoveries, Governor Fitzroy had sent home a
memorial from the Legislative Council at Sydney, praying for the
establishment of a branch mint in that city, and similar applications
soon followed from the other colonies. On March 22, 1853, a Treasury
minute sanctioned the applications, and colonial mints were shortly
afterward established by order in council. But in the mean while the
South Australians had got over their difficulty by passing a colonial
act authorizing the issue by the Colonial Government of gold ingots, of
slightly higher intrinsic value than the coins they were supposed to
represent, stamped with an authentic mark. These ingots were not made
legal tender, and the only object of the government mark was to
guarantee quality and weight. But they were generally accepted in
official and commercial transactions, they tided over the crisis of
scarcity, and the Home Government, though with due official caution,
approved the action of Governor Young.
In Tasmania, the main difficulty arose from the drain of emigrants. In
August, 1851, Sir William Denison wrote home urging the transportation
of more convicts or "probationers," on the ground that there would be a
great demand for foodstuffs by the neighboring colonies, while the
supply of agricultural laborers would be shorter than ever. Both
Tasmania and South Australia united in deciding upon the continuance of
the system by which free emigrants were sent out at the expense of the
land fund of each colony, notwithstanding that such emigrants would
probably leave for Victoria immediately after their arrival. Of the
existence of this contingency there could be little doubt. On January
16, 1852, the Governor of Tasmania wrote: "I have a number of men who
have come back from Mount Alexander after an absence from this colony of
not more than eight weeks, with gold to the value of one hundred twenty
pounds to one thousand pounds." During the five months which followed
the writing of this letter, four thousand persons (most of them
wage-earners in the prime of life) left Tasmania for Victoria. As the
whole population of Tasmania was at this time only about fifty thousand,
the matter was serious. Nevertheless, Tasmania tided safely over the
difficulties of the gold period, and even was able to help her sorely
tried sister.
For it was upon the newly established Government at Melbourne that the
strain of the new era most severely fell. The Government at Sydney was
an old and tried institution, with traditions of more than half a
century, and a staff of experienced officials under an exceptionally
able chief. When Hargraves made his discoveries in 1851, the population
of the mother-colony was nearly a quarter of a million, exclusive of the
Port Phillip district, and such a population meant a government
organization of corresponding magnitude. Moreover, the people of New
South Wales had always, from circumstances, been accustomed to much
governmental control, and did not resent it; while Victoria had been
started as a colony whose people were too prosperous and contented to
require more than a minimum of guidance. When the gold discoveries
suddenly drew into the colony, not merely the most turbulent characters
of Australia, but the crews of deserted ships and the general
offscourings of the civilized world, and when, overcome by the
contagion, the government officials threw up their posts, one and all,
and started for the diggings, it became evident that the
Lieutenant-Governor had his hands full. Even so early as November, 1851,
he began to anticipate trouble from the preemptive clauses of the Crown
Lands Leasing Act of 1847, by which the squatters had a right to
purchase land in the neighborhood of the gold-fields. The claims of the
squatters barred the way, and the squatters themselves looked with small
favor upon a class of men whom they regarded as troublesome intruders,
and whose proceedings rendered it almost impossible for the pastoralists
to procure sufficient labor to carry on their operations. The squatters
chose to overlook two important facts; viz., that they had themselves
originally acquired their position precisely as the digger acquired his,
and that the presence of the digger, if it raised the price of labor,
also enormously increased the prices of the squatter's produce.
But more immediate financial troubles began to press upon the
Government. It had been necessary, not merely to add largely to the
number of the official staff--to provide additional police,
commissioners, magistrates, customs officers, etc.--but also to increase
their pay in some proportion to the greatly increased cost of living.
Even with an increase in their salaries of 50 or 100 per cent, the
subordinate officials would not stay. The sight of the reckless and
prosperous diggers who came down to Melbourne to spend the Christmas of
1851, and who flung their gold about recklessly, was too much for the
feelings of the civilians. They deserted in troops.
On January 12, 1852, Lieutenant-Governor Latrobe wrote: "The police in
town and country have almost entirely abandoned duty," and he begged of
the Secretary of State to send military aid. In May, 1852, Sir John
Pakington replied, promising six companies of the Fifty-ninth Regiment
from China, but subsequently decided to send a whole regiment direct
from England. A man-of-war was also to be stationed in Australian
waters. A still more welcome assistance came in the early part of the
year from the Governor of Tasmania, who sent, at Latrobe's earnest
request, a body of two hundred pensioners, who had been serving as
convict guards, and who might be expected to resist those temptations
which, if yielded to, would result in the loss of their pensions. But
all this assistance meant money, and the Government soon fell into sore
straits.
It is true that at first the revenue rose substantially. Comparing the
income for the quarters ending December 31, 1850, and December 31, 1851,
respectively, we find, on general account, an increase of eleven
thousand pounds, or about 30 per cent., and, on the Territorial account,
or Land Fund, an increase of seventy-three thousand pounds, about 100
per cent. Three months later the increase was about 200 per cent. on the
general revenue, while the Territorial revenue was about the same. But
the latter fact may be accounted for by the transferrence of the fees
for gold licenses to the general revenue. It is more important, however,
to notice that, though the revenue was rising, expenses were increasing
still faster. Not only had the staff to be doubled, or trebled, at a
very large increase of pay, but government contracts for public
buildings, printing, stores, fittings, and other necessaries could be
placed, if at all, only at extravagantly high prices. "No tenders can be
obtained for supplies of boots and shoes; orders have been sent to
neighboring colonies for them. Old furniture sells at about 75 per cent.
advance on the former prices of new; scarcely any mechanics will work."
Latrobe estimated the deficit in the revenue of the year 1853 as nearly
four hundred thousand pounds, notwithstanding that he reckoned the whole
gold revenue of six hundred thousand pounds as available for general
expenses.
In his anxiety the Lieutenant-Governor had at first (December, 1851)
proposed to double the license fee of thirty shillings a month; but the
proposal had provoked such a storm of opposition that he withdrew it.
The revenue from licenses was the source of much contention. The
Government alleged that it was not taxation, but rent, of Crown lands,
and at first devoted it exclusively to the service of the gold-fields.
The diggers denounced it as taxation without representation; and the
Legislative Council, almost necessarily in opposition to the Government
while the latter was administered by nominees of the Colonial Office,
refused to make up deficiencies out of the general revenue. Thus the
Lieutenant-Governor was placed between two fires. If he enforced the
license fees he angered what was rapidly becoming the largest part of
the population; if he relinquished them, he left himself without means
to carry on the government of the gold-fields.
From this dilemma he was saved by the receipt of a general permission
from the Colonial Office, toward the close of 1852, to deal with the
gold revenue in the same manner as ordinary revenue. By placing this
fund at the disposal of the Colonial Legislature, the Home Government
not only removed a great grievance and relieved the hands of the
Lieutenant-Governor from the shackles previously laid upon them by the
Colonial Office, but it took a substantial step toward the end that was
now acknowledged on all sides to be the ultimate outcome of the new
discoveries; viz., the introduction of responsible government. The same
despatch contained a still more important concession, authorizing the
Lieutenant-Governor to devote the remaining part of the land
revenue--viz., that arising from sales and pastoral licenses--"to the
purposes rendered urgent by the present crisis." As this fund was
jealously reserved by the existing constitutions of the Australian
colonies, and devoted, under the provisions of the Crown Land Sales Act,
exclusively to the purposes of emigration and public works, it will be
seen that the Colonial Office took a strong step in sanctioning its
diversion. But it must be observed that the expenditure of this
additional fund was placed exclusively in the hands of the
Lieutenant-Governor and his Executive Council, acting independently of
the Colonial Legislature.
With this assistance, the Lieutenant-Governor struggled on amid
increasing difficulties till the spring of the year 1853. By this time
the agitation against the license fee had reached an alarming height,
for the first successes of the new discoveries had passed away, and,
although the export of gold continued to increase, it was by no means at
its former rate nor in proportion to the increase of population. At the
beginning of September, 1853, there were said to be nearly seventy
thousand persons living at the Victorian gold-fields, and many of these,
in all probability, earned very little more than mechanics employed in
settled work. Hence there was a fair ground for an orderly agitation
against the amount of the fee; but, unfortunately, the diggers preferred
violent measures. There was some excuse for them. They were not
represented in the Legislative Council, for they had sprung into
existence as a body since the passing of the Act of 1850, and, though a
measure had been introduced with a view to giving them the franchise, it
had not yet received the assent of the Home Government. In the mean
time, therefore, they could not, through their representatives in the
Council, effectively criticise either the existing law or its
administration. With regard to the latter, there was obviously room for
complaint, for the immense increase of business had compelled the
Government to appoint an inferior class of officials, and some of these,
at least, succumbed to the strong temptations of their positions.
At the beginning of August, 1853, a petition had been presented by the
Bendigo diggers, in which they urged the reduction of the license fee
and the grant of representation to the diggers. The Lieutenant-Governor
returned a pacific reply, but the delegates in charge of the petition
were evidently bent on arousing strong feelings, and they held meetings
in Melbourne which went the extreme length permissible to loyal
subjects. Still, the Lieutenant-Governor shrank from strong measures,
and endeavored to remove one ground of complaint by appointing, as a
nominee member of the Legislative Council, a gentleman who was believed
to possess the confidence of the diggers. The nomination was at once
repudiated by the delegates of the latter, and at the end of August an
organized attempt was made to resist the renewal of licenses on the old
terms. Hundreds of diggers pledged themselves to pay no more than a
third of the sum previously demanded, and those who were inclined to
yield to the Government's demands were warned that the agitators would
not "be responsible for their safety" if they remained at the diggings.
The license system had by this time extended, beyond the diggers, to the
storekeepers and other tradesmen at the gold-fields, who were making
enormous profits out of the diggers, and these, for the most part,
unhesitatingly complied with the demands of the agitators, willing
rather to pay the fines for breach of the government regulations than to
offend their customers. A daring attack on a private escort of gold near
Bendigo, which occurred about this time, showed that the colony was on
the verge of civil war.
Just at this moment an event occurred which rendered it impossible for
the Government to maintain its position unimpaired with the scanty
forces at its disposal. In the middle of September, 1853, the total
abolition of the license fee was seriously proposed in the Legislative
Council of New South Wales. The news flew like wildfire to Victoria,
where the diggers had hitherto looked upon the colonial legislatures--in
which, it will be remembered, they were not yet represented--as their
natural enemies. It seemed to them now that they had everything in their
own hands, and it became clearly impossible for the Government, in the
existing temper of the diggers, to exact the full amount of the license
fee. A proclamation, hastily published with a view to allay excitement,
by an unfortunate omission in the printed copies led the public to
believe that the total abolition of the license system was contemplated
by the Victorian Government. A select committee of the Legislative
Council reported unfavorably upon the system. The Government made the
best of a bad bargain, and accepted a fee of forty shillings for the
three months ending November 30, 1853; and, on the following day, the
Legislative Council passed a new Gold-fields Act, which greatly reduced
the fees for diggers' licenses, while it substantially increased those
demanded for permission to open stores at the gold-fields. It also
provided for the grant of leases of auriferous lands, at a royalty of
not less than 5 per cent., and gave legal sanction to the customs
regarding the "claims" of diggers, which had gradually grown up to
regulate the rival interests of neighboring miners. Offences against the
act were to be decided upon by the magistrates; but the accused might
demand a court of at least two members, and there was to be an appeal to
General Sessions.
These measures were partly successful in restoring order, but it was
obvious that the gold-fields contained men who were averse to a
peaceable settlement. Notwithstanding that the number of the elective
members of the Legislative Council was more than once increased; that,
with the full consent of the Home Government, a bill was being prepared
for the introduction of responsible government; and that the material
condition of the diggers was being rapidly improved, the
Lieutenant-Governor had, in January, 1854, to report the formation of a
"diggers' congress," which obviously had for its object the supersession
of the ordinary government.
Latrobe retired from office in May of the same year, and one of the
first points noticed by his successor, Sir Charles Hotham, was the
existence of an agitation against the Chinese at the Bendigo diggings.
Notwithstanding the enthusiastic character of his reception in his
progress through the gold-fields in September, the new Governor soon had
to face serious disturbances.
The events of the next few months formed a crisis in the history, not
only of Victoria, but of Australia. Naturally there is much dispute
concerning them, and, as the following account is taken chiefly from Sir
Charles Hotham's reports, it is possible that the acts of his opponents
may not obtain strict justice. But it is admitted on all sides that Sir
Charles acted with the most perfect good faith; and the accounts given
by the insurgents are far too contradictory and prejudiced to receive
much credit.
On the night of October 16, 1854, a miner named Scobie was murdered, or
at least killed, at the Eureka Hotel, near Ballarat. The Eureka Hotel
was a place of no good repute, kept by a man named Bentley, who, as well
as his wife, was (it is said) an ex-convict from Tasmania. Suspicion
fell upon the couple, and they, with a second man (named Farrell), were
arrested by the magistrates, but almost immediately released for alleged
default of evidence. The dismissal of the charge excited a storm of
indignation in the camp, and a body of diggers at once proceeded to
wreck the hotel and lynch the accused. In the latter object they,
fortunately, did not succeed, and so rendered themselves liable only to
charges of riot and arson, instead of the more serious charge of murder.
Four of the ringleaders were, through the prompt measures of Sir Charles
Hotham, shortly afterward arrested, and committed for trial. But the
accusations of partiality against the officials were too strong to be
resisted, and a board of inquiry hastily instituted by the Governor
disclosed the ugly facts that Dewes, the magistrate who presided at the
hearing of the charge against the Bentleys, had been in the habit of
borrowing money from residents, and that Sergeant-Major Milne, of the
police force, had been guilty of receiving bribes. The officials
implicated were at once dismissed, and the Bentleys and Farrell
rearrested and convicted. But the Governor very properly declined to
release the arrested rioters, who, shortly before Christmas, 1854, were
convicted and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment.
Meanwhile, more disturbances had occurred. Though a commission upon the
general condition of the gold-fields was holding its inquiries, in
November many diggers again refused to pay the reduced license fees,
and, on the 30th of the month, a serious riot took place. The military
were called out, the Riot Act was read, and there was some shooting.
Eight captures were made, but the lesson had not been severe enough, and
a state of open war ensued. The diggers intrenched themselves in a
fortified camp known as the "Eureka Stockade," openly drilled their
forces in the presence of the authorities, and levied horses and rations
from unwilling miners in the name of a "commander-in-chief." At the same
time they issued a long political manifesto, which, while it did not
avowedly disclaim allegiance to the Crown, contained proposals to which
no regularly constituted government could ever have assented.
The Governor at once ordered all the available military force to
Ballarat; but, before reinforcements arrived, the coolness and
promptitude of Captain Thomas--the officer in command of the troops on
the Ballarat gold-field when the riot of November 30th took place--had
nipped the insurrection in the bud. Captain Thomas saw that, while the
Eureka Stockade threatened to become a serious obstacle to the
Government if its completion were allowed, in its uncompleted state it
was really a source of weakness to the insurgents. By collecting their
forces in one spot, and thus rendering them more exposed to a crushing
attack, and by drawing off the men who threatened the government camp,
it really left the commander of the troops free to act with decision.
Accordingly, Captain Thomas at once determined to attack the position.
Assembling his forces (somewhat fewer than two hundred men) at three
o'clock on the morning of December 3d, he moved toward the stockade.
At about one hundred fifty yards from the intrenchments he was perceived
by the scouts of the insurgents, who promptly fired on the advancing
troops. Thomas himself, Pasley (his aide-de-camp), Rede (the resident
commissioner), and Racket (the stipendiary magistrate), all of whom were
present at the attack, positively assert that the insurgents fired
before a shot was discharged by the troops. Upon this reception Captain
Thomas gave the order to fire, and the intrenchments were carried with a
rush after about ten minutes of sharp fighting. Captain Wise was fatally
wounded, and three privates were killed outright; one officer and eleven
privates were wounded. Of the insurgents, about thirty were known to
have been killed, and many more wounded. Nearly one hundred twenty
prisoners were taken. The effect of the victory was, so far as local
disturbances were concerned, instantaneous. Even before the
reinforcements under General Nickle appeared, all resistance to the
authorities had died away; and, though the Governor at once proclaimed a
state of martial law, he was able to recall the proclamation in less
than a week.
In other districts of the colony the effect was, for a while, doubtful.
The extreme reluctance of Englishmen to admit the necessity for military
interference by the Government told strongly in favor of the rioters.
There was some danger that Melbourne and Geelong, left almost entirely
unprotected by the concentration of troops and police at Ballarat, would
be taken possession of by rioters from the country districts, and Sir
Charles Hotham made hasty application to Sir William Denison, the
Governor of Tasmania, for military assistance. Very soon, however, the
feelings of orderly citizens asserted themselves. Special constables
were sworn in at Melbourne and Geelong, marines from two men-of-war
stationed at Port Phillip guarded the prisons and the powder stores,
wealthy men volunteered to serve as mounted police, and the arrival of
the Ninety-ninth Regiment from Tasmania on December 10th dealt a final
blow to the hopes of the insurgents. Even before this event, all the
respectable classes in the community had rallied round the Governor, and
he felt himself in a position to defy further outbreaks.
But the ugliest feature of the whole affair was yet to be revealed. Out
of the large number of prisoners taken at the capture of the stockade,
only thirteen were committed for trial, the magistrates being instructed
to commit only when the evidence was of the clearest nature. It being
considered impossible to obtain an impartial trial by a local jury, the
prisoners were brought down to Melbourne, and, after various delays, the
charges were proceeded with on February 20, 1855. A Boston negro, named
John Joseph, and a reporter for the Ballarat _Times_, named Manning,
were first tried. The latter may have been merely led away by
professional ardor in the pursuit of "copy," though the fact that he had
been openly drilled and instructed in the use of a pike by the
insurgents would seem to show that his zeal was somewhat excessive.
In the case of Joseph, the evidence was overwhelming; he had actually
been seen to fire upon the troops, and he was captured in a tent which
had been used as a guard-room by the insurgents. No counter-evidence was
offered, the prisoners' counsel relying entirely on the alleged absence
of treasonable intention. Nevertheless both prisoners were speedily
acquitted, and, although the Government wisely withdrew the remaining
cases for the time, subsequent trials produced similar results.
Ultimately, however, the difficulties of the situation were allayed by
the reforms introduced on the recommendation of the commission appointed
to consider the whole subject of the gold-fields. This body presented,
on March 27, 1855, an extremely able report, in which it recommended the
abolition of the license fee and the substitution therefor of a "miners'
right" or Crown permission, lasting for a year, and granted for a
nominal fee of one pound, to occupy for mining purposes a specific piece
of Crown land. The deficiency in revenue anticipated from the abolition
of license fees was to be met by the imposition of an export duty upon
gold at the rate of a half-crown an ounce.
The commission strongly recommended the granting of the political
franchise to holders of "miners' rights," and the provision of liberal
facilities for the acquisition of land by the miners. It also advocated
the simplification of the existing complex system of government in the
mining districts, whereby commissioners, police authorities,
commissariat officials, and magistrates all worked independently of each
other, and suggested the substitution therefor of experienced "wardens"
at the head of elective boards, who should not only dispose, with the
aid of skilled assessors, of disputes specially connected with mining
operations, but who should have power to issue by-laws adapted to the
special requirements of each district.
These recommendations were for the most part carried out by legislation
of the same year (1855), and, before his lamented death in December,
1855, Sir Charles Hotham had the happiness being able to report to the
Home Government the almost perfect tranquillity of the gold-fields.
Moreover, the revenue had not suffered by the substitution of the export
duty for the license fees; but the collector of customs was of opinion
that the result of the change had been to throw the entire burden of the
tax upon the importers of the colony instead of upon the mining
population. The Government was not, however, disposed to concern itself
with considerations of abstract justice so long as it could collect a
sufficient revenue without serious opposition.
(1854) THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, Abraham Lincoln
The election of 1852 virtually destroyed the Whig party, and Franklin
Pierce, the candidate of the Democratic party, was elected by great
majorities. If the Whig party had perished because it had no distinct
position upon the one overshadowing question of the day, so neither did
the new President comprehend the nature and condition of that issue. In
his first message he complacently congratulated the country that the
slavery question had been settled peacefully and forever by the
compromise measures of 1850. He little knew how ineffective were those
compromises; he never dreamed that it was a question that no compromise
could settle permanently, and probably had no conception of the new
force that was to be given to it during his own term of office. Stephen
A. Douglas, an acknowledged aspirant to the Presidency, being Chairman
of the Senate Committee on Territories, introduced and carried through
Congress a measure called the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which, in providing
for the admission of those Territories as States, embodied his doctrine
of "Popular Sovereignty" in that it permitted the inhabitants to
determine by popular vote whether they should come into the Union as
free States or as slave States, and abolished the Missouri Compromise,
which for thirty-four years had forbidden the acquisition of any slave
territory north of the parallel of 36° 30'.
The abrogation of this compromise, which had been looked upon as a
sacred compact, convinced a majority of the Northern people that the
system of slavery was filled with the spirit of aggressiveness and
determined to spread itself into all the Territories. Consequently there
arose for the first time a powerful anti-slavery party, which, while
denying that it had any purpose of meddling with that institution in the
States where it already existed, declared that it should never be
extended into any more of the national domain. At the same time this was
a stronger party in favor of the protective tariff than had ever before
existed. This organization, which gave itself the name "Republican
party," came into existence in 1854, the same year in which Senator
Douglas's bill abrogated the Missouri Compromise. There are several
claimants for the honor of first proposing it; but as a fact, it sprang
into existence with virtual simultaneousness in several of the Northern
States. If there was a priority, it was in Massachusetts, where Robert
Carter acted as Secretary of the Convention and wrote the resolutions.
Two years later this party entered the Presidential contest with John C.
Frémont as its candidate. It cast an enormous vote, but was not
successful, mainly for the reason that the short-lived American (or
Know-Nothing) party was then at its best, and had its own ticket, headed
by Millard Fillmore. Four years later still, it nominated and elected
Abraham Lincoln as President, and the clearest argument for its
existence that ever has been put forth is in Lincoln's first speech in
his famous debate with Senator Douglas, which was delivered in
Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858. The full text of that speech
follows herewith.
If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we
could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the
fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and
confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the
operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but
has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a
crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against
itself cannot stand." I believe this Government cannot endure
permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will
cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it,
and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is
in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it
forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well
as new, North as well as South.
Have we no tendency to the latter condition? Let anyone who doubts,
carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination--piece
of machinery, so to speak--compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the
Dred Scott decision. Let him consider, not only what work the machinery
is adapted to do, and how well adapted, but also let him study the
history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he
can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its
chief architects, from the beginning.
The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the
States by State constitutions, and from most of the national territory
by Congressional prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle
which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all
the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. But,
so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement by the people, real
or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained, and
give chance for more.
This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as
well as might be, in the notable argument of "squatter sovereignty,"
otherwise called "sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase,
though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so
perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if
any _one_ man choose to enslave _another_, no _third_ man shall be
allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill
itself, in the language which follows: "It being the true intent and
meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or
State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof
perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their
own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States." Then
opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of "squatter sovereignty"
and "sacred right of self-government." "But," said opposition members,
"let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the
Territory may exclude slavery." "Not we," said the friends of the
measure; and down they voted the amendment.
While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a _law case,_
involving the question of a negro's freedom, by reason of his owner
having voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a
Territory covered by the Congressional prohibition, and held him as a
slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States
Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska Bill and
lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The
negro's name was "Dred Scott," which name now designates the decision
finally made in the case. Before the then next Presidential election,
the law case came to and was argued in the Supreme Court of the United
States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election.
Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the
Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska Bill to state
_his opinion_ whether the people of a Territory can constitutionally
exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers, "That is a
question for the Supreme Court."
The election came. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it
was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement,
however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred
thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and
satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as
impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and
authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again, did not
announce their decision, but ordered a reargument. The Presidential
inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming
President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to
abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few
days, came the decision.
The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make
a speech at this capital indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and
vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too,
seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly
construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any
different view had ever been entertained!
At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of
the Nebraska Bill, on the mere question of _fact_, whether the Lecompton
Constitution was or was not in any just sense made by the people of
Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a
fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted
_down_ or voted _up_. I do not understand his declaration, that he cares
not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him
other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the
public mind--the principle for which he declares he has suffered so
much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that
principle! If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That
principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine.
Under the Dred Scott decision "squatter sovereignty" squatted out of
existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding; like the mould at
the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose sand;
helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late
joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution,
involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was
made on a point--the right of a people to make their own
constitution--upon which he and the Republicans have never differed.
The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with
Senator Douglas's "care not" policy, constitute the piece of machinery,
in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained.
The points of that machinery are:
Firstly. That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no
descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State, in the
sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States.
This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible
event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States
Constitution which declares that "The citizens of each State shall be
entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several
States."
Secondly. That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States,"
neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from
any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual
men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing
them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the
institution through all the future.
Thirdly. That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free
State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts
will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave
State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made,
not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and
apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the
logical conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with
Dred Scott in the free State of Illinois, every other master may
lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or
in any other free State.
Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska
doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion,
at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted
down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially,
also, whither we are tending.
It will throw additional light on the latter to go back and run the mind
over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will
now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they were
transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," "subject only
to the Constitution." What the Constitution had to do with it outsiders
could not then see. Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche
for the Dred Scott decision to come in afterward, and declare the
perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at all. Why was the
amendment, expressly declaring the right of the people, voted down?
Plainly enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the niche for
the Dred Scott decision. Why was the court decision held up? Why even a
Senator's individual opinion withheld, till after the Presidential
election? Plainly enough now, the speaking out then would have damaged
the perfectly free argument upon which the election was to be carried.
Why the outgoing President's felicitation on the indorsement? Why the
delay of a reargument? Why the incoming President's advance exhortation
in favor of the decision? These things look like the cautious patting
and petting of a spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it is
dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And why the hasty
after-indorsement of the decision by the President and others?
We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the
result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different
portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and
places and by different workmen--Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James,
for instance--and when we see these timbers joined together, and see
they exactly make the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and
mortises exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the
different pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a
piece too many or too few--not omitting even scaffolding--or, if a
single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted
and prepared yet to bring such piece in--in such a case we find it
impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James
all understood one another from the beginning, and all worked upon a
common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck.
It should not be overlooked that by the Nebraska Bill the people of a
_State_ as well as Territory were to be left "perfectly free," "subject
only to the Constitution." Why mention a State? They were legislating
for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly the people of a
State are and ought to be subject to the Constitution of the United
States; but why is mention of this lugged into this merely Territorial
law? Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a State therein
lumped together, and their relation to the Constitution therein treated
as being precisely the same? While the opinion of the court, by Chief
Justice Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opinions of all
the concurring judges expressly declare that the Constitution of the
United States neither permits Congress nor a Territorial Legislature to
exclude slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit to
declare whether or not the same Constitution permits a State, or the
people of a State, to exclude it. _Possibly_, this is a mere omission;
but who can be quite sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into
the opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people of a State to
exclude slavery from their limits, just as Chase and Mace sought to get
such declaration, in behalf of the people of a Territory, into the
Nebraska Bill--I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not have been
voted down in the one case as it had been in the other?
The nearest approach to the point of declaring the power of a State over
slavery, is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using
the precise idea, and almost the language, too, of the Nebraska Act. On
one occasion, his exact language is, "Except in cases where the power is
restrained by the Constitution of the United States, the law of the
State is supreme over the subject of slavery within its jurisdiction."
In what cases the power of the States is so restrained by the United
States Constitution is left an open question, precisely as the same
question, as to the restraint on the power of the Territories, was left
open in the Nebraska Act. Put this and that together, and we have
another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with
another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the
United States does not permit a _State_ to exclude slavery from its
limits. And this may especially be expected if the doctrine of "care not
whether slavery be voted down or voted up" shall gain upon the public
mind sufficiently to give promise that such a decision can be maintained
when made.
Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in
all the States. Welcome or unwelcome, such decision is probably coming,
and will soon be upon us, unless the power of the present political
dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie down pleasantly
dreaming that the people of Missouri are on the verge of making their
State free, and we shall awake to the reality instead that the Supreme
Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and overthrow the power
of that dynasty is the work now before all who would prevent that
consummation. That is what we have to do. How can we best do it?
There are those who denounce us openly to their own friends, and yet
whisper us softly that Senator Douglas is the aptest instrument there is
with which to effect that object. They wish us to _infer_ all, from the
fact that he now has a little quarrel with the present head of the
dynasty, and that he has regularly voted with us on a single point, upon
which he and we have never differed. They remind us that he is a great
man, and that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be
granted. But "a living dog is better than a dead lion." Judge Douglas,
if not a dead lion, for this work is at least a caged and toothless one.
How can he oppose the advances of slavery? He don't care anything about
it. His avowed mission is impressing the "public heart" to _care nothing
about it_. A leading Douglas Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas's
superior talent will be needed to resist the revival of the African
slave-trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that trade is
approaching? He has not said so. Does he really think so? But if it is,
how can he resist it? For years he has labored to prove it a sacred
right of white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. Can he
possibly show that it is less a sacred right to buy them where they can
be bought cheapest? And unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in
Africa than in Virginia. He has done all in his power to reduce the
whole question of slavery to one of a mere right of property; and, as
such, how can he oppose the foreign slave-trade--how can he refuse that
trade in that "property" shall be "perfectly free"--unless he does it as
a protection to the home production? And as the home producers will
probably not ask the protection, he will be wholly without a ground of
opposition.
Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser
to-day than he was yesterday; that he may rightfully change when he
finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer
that he will make any particular change, of which he himself has given
no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague
inference? Now, as ever, I wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas's
position, question his motives, or do aught that can be personally
offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can come together on
principle so that our cause may have assistance from his great ability,
I hope to have interposed no adventitious obstacle. But clearly he is
not now with us; he does not pretend to be--he does not promise ever to
be.
Our cause, then, must be intrusted to and conducted by its own undoubted
friends--those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work, who
_do care_ for the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation
mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this under the
single impulse of resistance to a common danger, with every external
circumstance against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile
elements we gathered from the four winds, and formed and fought the
battle through, under the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and
pampered enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now---now, when that
same enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The result is not
doubtful. We shall not fail; if we stand firm, we _shall not fail_. Wise
counsels may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later the
victory is sure to come.
(1854) THE OPENING OF JAPAN, Matthew C. Perry
In view of the events that have followed, the ending of Japan's
self-isolation and the opening of that country, first to American
commerce, and later to world-wide intercourse, must now be regarded as
an achievement of momentous consequence, far exceeding in importance all
that even the most prophetic statesmanship of the time could foresee.
Under the shoguns (or military chiefs) who after the seventh century
overshadowed the hereditary rulers, the Mikados, there grew up in Japan
a feudal system whereby the generals, recognized as overlords, increased
and perpetuated their power. The attempts in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries to introduce Christianity were met with resistance
and persecution, and ended in failure. In the same centuries Japan
traded with the Portuguese, but excluded them in 1638. After this the
Japanese isolation was complete, except for restricted trade with the
Dutch, until the conclusion of Commodore Perry's treaty.
About the middle of the nineteenth century a large amount of American
capital was invested in the whaling industry in Japanese and Chinese
waters, and one motive for the sending of Perry's expedition to Japan
was the protection of the whalers. Other things leading to that step
were: the discovery of gold in California; the growth of industrial and
commercial centres on the Pacific Coast of the United States; increasing
trade with China; and the development of steam-navigation, necessitating
coaling-stations and ports for shelter in the Orient. At the same time
progressive minds in Japan were advancing in knowledge of Western
science and political affairs; thus the East and the West were almost
prepared for a change in their mutual relations.
In 1851 the United States Government empowered Commodore John H. Aulick
to negotiate and sign commercial treaties with Japan. On the eve of his
intended departure he was prevented from sailing, and in the following
year Commodore Matthew C. Perry, brother of Oliver Hazard Perry, the
hero of Lake Erie, succeeded to his mission. He was invested with
extraordinary naval and diplomatic powers, his immediate object being to
establish a coaling-station in Japan. On November 24, 1852, he sailed
from Norfolk with the Mississippi, leaving other ships to follow as soon
as ready. With his squadron he entered the Bay of Tokio (then called
Yedo) in July, 1853, causing great commotion among the inhabitants of
the Japanese capital, who mistook his appearance for a hostile approach.
It required both firmness and tact on Perry's part to open friendly
communication and present his proposals; but he succeeded in doing so
much, and then, saying that in the following spring he would come for an
answer, he withdrew to China. In February, 1854, he returned to Tokio
with a fleet of eight vessels. After some parley, the Japanese
authorities agreed to a conference at Kanagawa, a seaport adjoining
Yokohama. Of the negotiations that followed and the treaty in which they
resulted, the following pages tell, and Commodore Perry's own account is
the best record of his distinguished service not only to his own country
and Japan, but likewise to the civilized world.
After concessions made by the Japanese, the greatest good feeling
prevailed on both sides, and there seemed every prospect of establishing
those national relations which had been the purpose of Commodore Perry's
mission. In accordance with the harmony and friendship that existed,
there was an interchange of those courtesies by which mutual good
feeling seeks an outward expression. The Japanese had acknowledged with
courtly thanks the presents that had been bestowed in behalf of the
Government, and now, on March 24th, invited the Commodore to receive the
various gifts that had been ordered by the Emperor in return, as a
public recognition of the courtesy of the United States.
The Commodore, accordingly, landed at Yokohama, with a suite of officers
and his interpreters, and was received at the treaty-house with the
usual ceremonies by the high commissioners. The large reception-room was
crowded with the presents. The objects were of Japanese manufacture, and
consisted of specimens of rich brocades and silks; of their famous
lacquered ware, such as _chow-chow_ boxes, tables, trays, and goblets,
all skilfully wrought and finished with an exquisite polish; of
porcelain cups of wonderful lightness and transparency, adorned with
figures and flowers in gold and variegated colors, and exhibiting a
workmanship that surpassed even that of the ware for which the Chinese
are remarkable. Fans, pipe-cases, and articles of apparel in ordinary
use, of no great value but of exceeding interest, were scattered among
the more luxurious and costly objects.
With the usual order and neatness that seem almost instinctive with the
Japanese, the various presents had been arranged in lots, and classified
in accordance with the rank of those for whom they were respectively
intended. The commissioners took their positions at the farther end of
the room, and when the Commodore and his suite entered, the ordinary
compliments having been interchanged, the Prince Hayashi read aloud, in
Japanese, the list of presents and the names of the persons to whom they
were to be given. This was then translated by Yenoske into Dutch, and by
Mr. Portman into English. This ceremony being over, the Commodore was
invited by the commissioners into the inner room, where he was presented
with two complete sets of Japanese coins, three matchlocks, and two
swords. These gifts, though of no great intrinsic value, were
significant evidences of the desire of the Japanese to express their
respect for the representative of the United States. The mere bestowal
of the coins, in direct opposition to the Japanese laws which absolutely
forbid all issue of their money beyond the Kingdom, was an act of marked
favor.
As the Commodore prepared to depart, the commissioners said there was
one article intended for the President, which had not yet been
exhibited. They accordingly conducted the Commodore and his officers to
the beach, where one or two hundred sacks of rice were pointed out,
heaped up in readiness to be sent on board the ships. As that immense
supply of substantial food seemed to excite some wonder on the part of
the Americans, Yenoske the interpreter remarked that it was always
customary with the Japanese, when bestowing royal presents, to include a
certain quantity of rice, although he did not say whether the quantity
always amounted, as on the present occasion, to hundreds of sacks.
While contemplating these substantial evidences of Japanese generosity,
the attention of all was suddenly riveted upon twenty-five monstrous
fellows who tramped down the beach like so many huge elephants. They
were professional wrestlers and formed part of the retinue of the
princes, who kept them for their private amusement and for public
entertainment. They were enormously tall, and tremendously heavy. Their
scant costume, which was merely a colored cloth about the loins, adorned
with fringes and emblazoned with the armorial bearings of the prince to
whom each belonged, revealed their gigantic proportions in all the
bloated fulness of fat and extent of muscle.
Two or three of these huge monsters were the most famous wrestlers in
Japan and ranked as the champion Tom Cribbs and Sayers of the country.
Koyanagi, the reputed bully of the capital, was one of them, and paraded
himself with the conscious pride of superior size and strength. He was
especially brought to the Commodore that he might examine his massive
form. The commissioners insisted that the monstrous fellow should be
minutely inspected, that the hardness of his well-rounded muscle should
be felt, and that the fatness of his cushioned frame should be tested by
the touch. The Commodore accordingly attempted to grasp his arm, which
he found as solid as it was huge, and then passed his hand over the
monstrous neck, which fell in folds of massive flesh, like the dewlap of
a prize ox. As some surprise was naturally expressed at this wondrous
exhibition of animal development the monster himself gave a grunt
expressive of his flattered vanity.
They were so enormously big that they appeared to have lost their
distinctive features, and seemed to be only twenty-five masses of fat.
Their eyes were barely visible through a long perspective of socket, the
prominence of their noses was lost in the puffiness of their bloated
cheeks, and their heads were set almost directly on their bodies with
merely folds of flesh where the neck and chin are usually found. Their
great size, however, was more owing to development of muscle than to
deposition of fat; for, although they were evidently well fed, they were
not less well exercised, and capable of great feats of strength.
As a preliminary exhibition of the power of these men, the princes set
them to removing the sacks of rice to a convenient place on the shore
for shipping. Each of the sacks weighed not less than one hundred
twenty-five pounds, and there were only two of the wrestlers who did not
carry each two sacks at a time. They bore the sacks on the right
shoulder, lifting the first from the ground and adjusting it without
help, but obtaining aid for the raising of the second. One man carried a
sack suspended by his teeth, and another, taking one in his arms, turned
repeated somersaults as he held it, apparently with as much ease as if
his weight of flesh had been only so much gossamer and his load a
feather.
After this preliminary display, the commissioners proposed that the
Commodore and his party should retire to the treaty-house, where they
would have an opportunity of seeing the wrestlers exhibit their
professional feats. From the brutal performance of these wrestlers, the
Americans turned with pride to the exhibition--to which the Japanese
commissioners were now in their turn invited--of the telegraph and the
railroad. It was a happy contrast, which a higher civilization
presented, to the disgusting display on the part of the Japanese
officials. In place of the show of brute animal force there was a
triumphant revelation, to a partially enlightened people, of the success
of science and enterprise.
The Japanese took great delight in seeing the rapid movement of the
Liliputian locomotive; and one of the scribes of the commissioners took
his seat upon the car, while the engineer stood upon the tender, feeding
the furnace with one hand, and directing the diminutive engine with the
other. Crowds of the Japanese gathered round and looked on the repeated
circlings of the train with unabated pleasure and surprise, unable to
repress a shout of delight at each blast of the steam-whistle. The
telegraph, with its wonders, though before witnessed, still created
renewed interest, and all the beholders were unceasing in their
expressions of curiosity and astonishment. The agricultural instruments
having been explained to the commissioners by Doctor Morrow, a formal
delivery of the telegraph, the railway, and other articles, which made
up the list of American presents, ensued.
The Prince of Mamasaki had been delegated by his coadjutors
ceremoniously to accept, and Captain Adams was appointed by the
Commodore to deliver, the gifts; and each performed his functions by an
interchange of compliments and a half-dozen stately bows.
After this, a detachment of marines from the squadron were put through
their various evolutions, while the bands furnished martial music. The
Japanese commissioners seemed to take a very great interest in this
military display, and expressed themselves much gratified at the
soldierly air and excellent discipline of the men. This closed the
performances of the day.
The next day (March 25th), Yenoske, accompanied by Kenzeiro, his
fellow-interpreter, came on board the Powhatan to acknowledge formally,
in behalf of the commissioners, their gratitude for the exhibition of
the marines, the locomotive, and the telegraph, with all which they
declared themselves highly delighted. Yenoske and his coadjutor were
invited to seat themselves in the cabin of the Commodore, and, after
some expressions of courtesy which the Japanese officials were careful
never to intermit, proposed to talk over some points in connection with
the projected treaty. The Commodore said he had no objections to the
discussion of the matters informally; but he protested against
considering the interpreters as the official representatives of the
commissioners, with the latter of whom only, he declared, could he treat
authoritatively.
Monday, March 27th, was the day appointed for the entertainment to which
the Commodore had invited the commissioners and their attendants.
Accordingly, great arrangements were made in the flagship preparatory to
the occasion. The quarterdeck was adorned with a great variety of flags,
and all parts of the steamer were in perfect order, while the officers,
marines, and men dressed themselves in their uniforms and prepared to do
honor in every respect to their expected visitors. As it was known that
the strictness of Japanese etiquette would not allow the high
commissioners to sit at the same table with their subordinates, the
Commodore ordered two banquets, one to be spread in his cabin for the
chief dignitaries, and another on the quarter-deck.
Previous to coming on board the Powhatan, the commissioners visited the
sloop-of-war Macedonian, being saluted as they stepped on her deck by
seventeen guns from the Mississippi lying near. The great guns and
boarders having been exercised for their entertainment, the
commissioners, with their numerous attendants, left for the Powhatan,
the Macedonian firing a salvo in their honor as they took their
departure. On arriving on board the flagship, they were first conducted
through the different departments of the steamer, and examined with
minute interest the guns and the machinery. A boat was lowered, with a
howitzer in its bows, and this was repeatedly discharged, much to their
amusement, for they evidently had a great fondness for martial exercise
and display. The engines were next put in motion, and they evinced the
usual intelligence of the higher class of Japanese in their inquiries
and remarks.
The Commodore had invited the four captains of the squadron, his
interpreter, Mr. Williams, and his secretary, to join the commissioners
at his table. Yenoske, the Japanese interpreter, was allowed the
privilege, as a special condescension on the part of his superiors, to
sit at a side-table in the cabin, where his humble position did not seem
to disturb either his equanimity or his appetite. Hayashi, who always
preserved his grave and dignified bearing, ate and drank sparingly, but
tasted of every dish, and sipped of every kind of wine. He was the only
one, in fact, whose sobriety was proof against the unrestrained
conviviality that prevailed among his bacchanalian coadjutors.
The Japanese party upon deck, who were entertained by a large body of
officers from the various ships, became quite uproarious under the
influence of overflowing supplies of champagne, Madeira, and punch,
which they seemed greatly to relish. The Japanese took the lead in
proposing healths and toasts, and were by no means the most backward in
drinking them. They kept shouting at the top of their voices, and were
heard far above the music of the bands that enlivened the entertainment
by a succession of brisk and cheerful tunes. In the eagerness of the
Japanese appetite there was but little discrimination in the choice of
dishes and in the order of courses, and the most startling heterodoxy
was exhibited in the confused commingling of fish, flesh, and fowl,
soups and syrups, fruits, fricassees, roast and boiled, pickles and
preserves. As a most generous supply had been provided, there were still
some remnants of the feast left after the guests had satisfied their
voracity, which most of these Japanese, in accordance with their custom,
stowed away about their persons to carry off. The Japanese always have
an abundant supply of paper within the left bosom of their loose robes,
in a capacious pocket. This is used for various purposes; one species,
as soft as our cotton cloth, and withal exceedingly tough, is used for a
handkerchief; another furnishes the material for taking notes, or for
wrapping up what is left after a feast. On the present occasion, when
the dinner was over, all the Japanese guests simultaneously spread out
their long folds of paper, and gathering what scraps they could lay
their hands on, without regard to the kind of food, made up an envelope
of conglomerate eatables in which there was such a confusion of the sour
and sweet, the albuminous, oleaginous, and saccharine, that the
chemistry of Liebig or the practised taste of the Commodore's Parisian
cook would never have reached a satisfactory analysis. They not only
always followed this practice themselves, but insisted that their
American guests, when entertained at a Japanese feast, should adopt it
also.
Whenever the Commodore and his officers were feasted on shore, paper
parcels of the remnants were thrust into their hands on leaving. After
the banquet the Japanese were entertained by an exhibition of negro
minstrelsy, got up by some of the sailors. The gravity of the saturnine
Hayashi was not proof against the grotesque exhibition, and even he
joined in the general hilarity. It was now sunset and the Japanese
prepared to depart, with quite as much wine in them as they could well
bear. The jovial Matsusaki threw his arms about the Commodore's neck,
crushing in his tipsy embrace a pair of new epaulettes, and repeating,
in Japanese, with maudlin affection, these words, as interpreted into
English: "Nippon and America, all the same heart." He then went toddling
into his boat, supported by some of his more steady companions, and soon
all the happy party had left the ships and were making rapidly for the
shore. The Saratoga fired the salute of seventeen guns as the last boat
pulled off from the Powhatan, and the squadron was once more left in the
usual quiet of ordinary ship's duty.
The following day the Commodore landed to have a conference in regard to
the remaining points of the treaty, previous to signing. He was met at
the treaty-house by the commissioners. As soon as the Commodore had
taken his seat, a letter was handed to him, which the Japanese said they
had just received from Simoda. It was from Commander Pope, and had been
transmitted through the authorities overland. Its contents gave a
satisfactory report of Simoda, and the Commodore at once said he
accepted that port, but declared that it must be opened without delay.
Hakodate, he added, would do for the other, and Napha, in Riu Kiu [Loo
Choo Islands], could be retained for the third. In regard to the other
two he was willing, he said, to postpone their consideration to some
other time.
The Commodore now proposed to sign the agreement in regard to the three
ports, and directed his interpreter to read it in Dutch. When the
document had been thus read and afterward carefully perused by the
Japanese, they said they were prepared to concur in everything except as
to the _immediate_ opening of Simoda. After discussion, it was finally
settled that, though the port might be opened, the Japanese would
address a note to the Commodore, saying that not everything which might
be wanting by ships would be furnished there before the expiration of
ten months, but that wood and water and whatever else the place
possessed would be supplied immediately; and to this note the Commodore
promised to reply and express his satisfaction with such an arrangement.
The question now came up with respect to the extent of privileges to be
granted to Americans who might visit Simoda, in the discussion of which
it was plain that the Japanese meant to be distinctly understood as
prohibiting absolutely, at least for the present, the permanent
residence of Americans, with their families, in Japan. The distance,
also, to which Americans might extend their excursions into the country
around the ports of Simoda and Hakodate was settled; and it is
observable that, at the special request of the Japanese, the Commodore
named the distance, they assenting at once to that which he mentioned.
The proposition to have consular agents residing in Japan evidently gave
great anxiety to the commissioners. The Commodore was firm in saying
there must be such agents, for the sake of the Japanese themselves as
well as for that of his own countrymen, and it was finally conceded that
there should be one, to live at Simoda, and that he should not be
appointed until a year and eighteen months from the date of the treaty.
Two more articles, including the new points that had been discussed,
were now added to the transcript of the proposed treaty; the Japanese
promised to bring on board the Powhatan next day a copy in Dutch of
their understanding of the agreement as far as concurred in, and the
Commodore departed.
In the next two days several notes passed between the Commodore and the
Japanese commissioners, in the course of which various questions that
had been already considered were definitely settled; and the American
interpreters were occupied, in cooperation with the Japanese, in drawing
up the treaty in the Chinese, Dutch, and Japanese languages. On the 29th
the ships Vandalia and Southampton arrived from Simoda with the
confirmation of what Commander Pope had already said in his
despatch--which had been transmitted by the Japanese authorities,
overland, to the Commodore--namely, that the harbor and town of Simoda
had been found, on examination, suitable in every respect for the
purposes of the Americans. All was now in readiness for the final
signing of the treaty.
Accordingly, on Friday, March 31, 1854, the Commodore went to the
treaty-house with his usual attendants, and immediately on his arrival
signed three several drafts of the treaty written in the English
language, and delivered them to the commissioners, together with three
copies of the same in the Dutch and Chinese languages, certified by the
interpreters, Messrs. Williams and Portman, for the United States. At
the same time the Japanese commissioners, in behalf of their Government,
handed to the Commodore three drafts of the treaty written respectively
in the Japanese, Chinese, and Dutch languages, and signed by the four of
their body delegated by the Emperor for that purpose.
Immediately on the signing and exchange of the copies of the treaty, the
Commodore presented the first commissioner, Prince Hayashi, with an
American flag, remarking that he considered it the highest expression of
national courtesy and friendship he could offer. The Prince was
evidently deeply impressed with this significant mark of amity, and
returned his thanks for it with indications of great feeling. The
Commodore then presented the other dignitaries with the various gifts he
had especially reserved for them. All formal business being now
concluded, to the satisfaction of both parties, the Japanese
commissioners invited the Commodore and his officers to partake of an
entertainment prepared for the occasion.
The tables were spread in the large reception hall. These were wide
divans, such as were used for seats, and of the same height. They were
covered with a red-colored crape, and arranged in order according to the
rank of the guests and their hosts, an upper table raised somewhat above
the rest being appropriated to the Commodore, his superior officers, and
the commissioners. When all were seated the servitors brought in a rapid
succession of courses, consisting chiefly of thick soups, or rather
stews, in most of which fresh fish was a component part. These were
served in small earthen bowls or cups, and were brought in upon
lacquered stands, about fourteen inches square and ten inches high, and
placed, one before each guest, upon the tables. Together with each dish
was a supply of soy or some other condiment, while throughout there was
an abundant quantity, served in peculiar vessels, of the Japanese
national liquor, the _sake_, a sort of whiskey distilled from rice.
Various sweetened confections and a multiplicity of cakes were liberally
interspersed among the other articles on the tables. Toward the close of
the feast, a plate containing a broiled crawfish, a piece of fried fish
of some kind, two or three boiled shrimps, and a small square pudding
with something of the consistence of blancmange, was placed before each,
with a hint that they were to follow the guests on their return to the
ships, and they were accordingly sent and duly received afterward.
After the feast, which passed pleasantly and convivially, compliments
being freely exchanged, and healths drunk in Liliputian cups of sake,
the commissioners expressed great anxiety about the proposed visit of
the Commodore to Yedo. They earnestly urged him not to take his ships
any farther up the bay, as they said it would lead to trouble by which
the populace might be disturbed and their own lives perhaps jeoparded.
The Commodore argued the matter with them for some time, and, as they
still pertinaciously urged their objections to his visit to the capital,
it was agreed that the subject should be further discussed by an
interchange of notes. The meeting then broke up.
When it was determined by our Government to send an expedition to Japan,
those in authority were not unmindful of the peculiar characteristics of
that singular nation. Unlike all other civilized peoples, it was in a
state of voluntary, long-continued, and determined isolation. It neither
desired nor sought communication with the rest of the world, but, on the
contrary, strove to the uttermost to prevent it. It was comparatively an
easy task to propose, to any Power the ports of which were freely
visited by ships from every part of the world, the terms of a commercial
treaty. But not so when, by any Power, commerce itself was interdicted.
Before general conditions of commerce could be proposed to such a Power,
it was necessary to settle the great preliminary that commerce would be
allowed at all. Again, if that preliminary was settled affirmatively, a
second point of great moment remained to be discussed, viz., to what
degree shall intercourse for trading be extended? Among nations
accustomed to the usages of Christendom, the principles and extent of
national comity in the interchanges of commercial transactions have been
so long and so well defined and understood that, as between them, the
term "commercial treaty" needs no explanation; its meaning is
comprehended alike by all, and in its stipulations it may cover the very
broad extent that includes everything involved in the operations of
commerce between two maritime nations. But in a kingdom which, in its
polity, expressly ignored commerce and repudiated it as an evil instead
of a good, it was necessary to lay the very foundation as well as to
adjust the terms.
Hence the instructions to Commodore Perry covered broad ground, and his
letters of credence conformed to his instructions. If he found the
Japanese disposed to abandon, at once and forever, their deliberately
adopted plan of non-intercourse with foreigners (an event most
unlikely), his powers were ample to make with them a commercial treaty
as wide and general as any we have with the nations of Europe. If they
were disposed to relax but in part their jealous and suspicious system,
formally to profess relations of friendship, and, opening some only of
their ports to our vessels, to allow a trade in those ports between
their people and ours, he was authorized to negotiate for this purpose,
and secure for his country such privileges as he could, not inconsistent
with the self-respect which, as a nation, we owed to ourselves. It must
not be forgotten, in the contemplation of what was accomplished, that
our representative went to a people who, at the time of his arrival
among them, had, both by positive law and usage of more than two hundred
years, allowed but one of their harbors, Nagasaki, to be opened to
foreigners at all; had permitted no trade with such foreigners when they
did come, except, under stringent regulations, with the Dutch and the
Chinese; were in the habit of communicating with the world outside of
them at second-hand only, through the medium of the Dutch who were
imprisoned at Dezima; and a people who, as far as we know, never made a
formal treaty with a civilized nation in the whole course of their
history.
There were but two points on which the Commodore's instructions did not
allow him a large discretion to be exercised according to circumstances.
These were, first, that if happily any arrangements for trade, either
general or special, were made, it was to be distinctly stipulated that,
under no circumstances and in no degree, would the Americans submit to
the humiliating treatment so long borne by the Dutch in carrying on
their trade. The citizens of our country must be dealt with as freemen,
or there should be no dealings at all. The second point was that, in the
event of any of our countrymen being cast, in God's providence, as
shipwrecked men on the coast of Japan, they should not be treated as
prisoners, confined in cages, or subjected to inhuman treatment, but
should be received with kindness and hospitably cared for until they
could leave the country.
The nearest approach to a precedent was to be found in our treaty with
China, made in 1844. This therefore was carefully studied by the
Commodore. Its purport was "a treaty or general convention of peace,
amity, and commerce," and to settle the rules to "be mutually observed
in the intercourse of the respective countries." So far as "commerce" is
concerned, it permitted "the citizens of the United States to frequent"
five ports in China "and to reside with their families and trade there,
and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise to or from
any foreign port, and from either of the said five ports to enter any
other of them." As to duties on articles imported, they were to pay
according to a tariff that was made part of the treaty, and in no case
were to be subjected to higher duties than those paid, under similar
circumstances, by the people of other nations. Consuls were provided
for, to reside at the five open ports, and those trading there were
"permitted to import from their own or any other ports into China, and
sell there and purchase therein, and export to their own or any other
ports, all manner of merchandise of which the importation or exportation
was not prohibited by the treaty." In short, so far as the five ports
were concerned, there existed between us and China a general treaty of
commerce.
The Commodore caused to be prepared, in the Chinese characters, a
transcript of the treaty, with such verbal alterations as would make it
applicable to Japan, with the view of exhibiting it to the Imperial
commissioners of that country should he be so successful as to open
negotiations. He was not sanguine enough to hope that he could procure
an entire adoption of the Chinese treaty by the Japanese. He was not
ignorant of the difference in national characteristics between the
inhabitants of China and the more independent, self-reliant, and sturdy
natives of the Japanese islands. He knew that the latter held the former
in some degree of contempt and treated them in the matter of trade very
much as they treated the Dutch. He was also aware that the Chinese, when
they made their treaty, did know something of the advantages that might
result from intercourse with the rest of the world; while as to the
Japanese, in their long-continued isolation, either they neither knew
nor desired such advantages, or, if they knew them, feared they might be
purchased at too high a price in the introduction of foreigners, who, as
in the case of the Portuguese, centuries before, might seek to overturn
the empire. It was too much, therefore, to expect that the Japanese
would in all the particulars of a treaty imitate the Chinese.
Of the difficulties encountered, even after the Japanese had consented
to negotiate, the best account may be given from the conferences and
discussions between the negotiators, of all which most accurate reports
were kept on both sides, in the form of dialogue. At the first meeting
of the Commodore with the Imperial commissioners, on March 8th, he acted
on the plan he had proposed to himself with respect to the treaty with
China, and thus addressed them:
_Commodore Perry_. I think it would be better for the two nations that a
treaty similar to the one between my country and the Chinese should be
made between us. I have prepared the draft of one almost identical with
our treaty with China. I have been sent here by my Government to make a
treaty with yours; if I do not succeed now, my Government will probably
send more ships here; but I hope we shall soon settle matters amicably.
_Japanese_. We wish for time to have the document translated into the
Japanese language.
This was but one among a hundred proofs of their extreme suspicion and
caution; for there was not one of the Imperial commissioners, probably,
who could not have read, without the least difficulty, the document as
furnished by the Commodore; and certain it is that their interpreters
could have read it off into Japanese at once.
The Commodore, who wished to do as far as possible everything that might
conciliate, of course made no objection to a request so seemingly
reasonable, though he knew it to be needless, and was content to wait
patiently for their reply. In one week that reply came in writing, and
was very explicit: "As to opening a trade, such as is now carried on by
China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it about. The
feelings and manners of our people are very unlike those of other
nations, and it will be exceedingly difficult, even if you wish it, to
change immediately the old regulations for those of other countries.
Moreover, the Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations,
while we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland
and China."
This answer was not entirely unexpected, and put an end to all prospect
of negotiating a "commercial treaty" in the European sense of that
phrase. It only remained therefore to secure, for the present, admission
into the kingdom, and so much of trade as Japanese jealousy could be
brought to concede. At length, after much and oft-repeated discussion,
the point was yielded that certain ports might be opened to our vessels;
and then, in the interview of March 25th, came up the subject of
consuls.
_Japanese_. About the appointment of consuls or agents, the
commissioners desire a delay of four or five years, to see how the
intercourse works. The governor of the town and the official interpreter
will be able to carry on all the business of supplying provisions, coal,
and needed articles, with the captain, without the intervention of a
consul.
_Perry_. The duties of a consul are to report all difficulties that
arise between American citizens and Japanese to his Government in an
authentic manner, assist the Japanese in carrying out their laws and the
provisions of the treaty and recovering debts made by the Americans; and
also communicating to the Government at Washington whatever the Japanese
wish, as no letters can be received after this through the Dutch; and if
no consuls are received, then a ship-of-war must remain in Japan
constantly, and her captain must do the duties of a consul.
_Japanese_. If we had not felt great confidence in you, we should not
have consented to open our ports at all. Consuls may be accepted by and
by, after experience has shown their need; and we hope that all American
citizens obey the laws of their country and behave properly.
_Perry_. True, and I hope no difficulty will arise; and this appointment
of consuls in Japan, as they are in China, Hawaii, and everywhere else,
is to prevent and provide for difficulties. No American will report his
own misdeeds to his own Government, nor can the Japanese bring them to
our notice except through a government agent. This provision must be in
the treaty, though I will stipulate for only one, to reside at Simoda,
and he will not be sent probably for a year or two from this time.
And thus it was that the Commodore had to explain everything and feel
his way, step by step, in the progress of the whole negotiation.
_Japanese_. The commissioners wish every point desired by the Admiral to
be stated clearly, for the Japanese are not equal to the Americans, and
have not much to give in exchange.
_Perry_. I have already stated all my views as regards our intercourse,
in the draft of the treaty you have. [This was one prepared by the
Commodore after the rejection of the transcript of the Chinese treaty.]
Let the commissioners state their objections to it. This treaty now to
be made is only a beginning; and as the nations know each other, the
Japanese will permit Americans to go anywhere, to Fujiyama--all over the
country.
_Japanese_. We have found restrictions necessary against the Portuguese
and the English.
Then followed observations by the Japanese on Pellew's entry into
Nagasaki harbor, which showed how much dislike of the English that event
had occasioned. A strong proof of their remarkable caution was furnished
by the Japanese at the conference held on March 28th when most of the
terms of the treaty had been agreed upon.
_Perry_. I am prepared now to sign the treaty about these three harbors.
Mr. Portman, interpreter, then read in Dutch that portion of the treaty
which contained such points as had been already agreed upon.
_Japanese_. It is all correct except that we have objection to opening
the port of Simoda immediately; if any vessels were to go there in
distress, we should be glad to furnish them with provisions, wood, and
water.
_Perry_. You have already consented, in one of your letters to me, to
open that port immediately. I am very desirous of settling that matter
now, as I wish to despatch the Saratoga home to inform the Government,
before Congress adjourns, how matters are advancing; that will take some
time, and there is no probability that any ships will come here before
ten or twelve months have expired; so that it will make no difference to
you whether you put it in the treaty to be opened now or in ten months.
_Japanese_. We are willing to put it in the treaty "to be opened now,"
if you will give us a letter or promise that no ships will come here
before the President gives his permission.
_Perry_. I cannot do that very well, but I am willing to put it off
ninety days; that will be about the time I shall return from Hakodate;
it was your own proposition, yesterday, to open that port immediately. I
consent to this, however, to show you how desirous I am to do what I can
to please you. I cannot consent to a longer time.
_Japanese_. If we put it in the treaty to be opened now, we would like
you to give us an order that no ships shall enter that port before ten
months.
_Perry_. I cannot do that. But there is no probability that any ships
will come here before that time, as I shall not leave here for three
months, and they will not hear of it before that time; and when they do
hear of it, it will take several months for ships to make the voyage
here. If you choose I will keep one of the ships at Simoda for several
months.
_Japanese_. If ships go there before that time we shall not be able to
give them other than provisions, wood, and water.
_Perry_. The ships that may go there will want such things only as you
may have; if you have them not, of course you cannot and will not be
expected to furnish them; but, as I said before, there is no probability
that ships will go there before the expiration of ten months.
_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai, we shall have plenty of
provisions at Simoda for the whole squadron; but to other ships we
cannot furnish more than wood, water, etc.
_Perry_. When we return from Matsumai we shall not want many provisions,
as we shall be going to a place where we shall get plenty. It is only
the principle I wish settled now. I have come here as a peacemaker, and
I desire to settle everything now, and thus prevent trouble hereafter; I
wish to write home to my Government that the Japanese are friends.
_Japanese_. We will write you a letter stating that we cannot furnish
you anything before ten months, but that we can furnish wood and water
immediately, and that we will furnish such other things as we possibly
can. This letter we should like you to answer.
_Perry_. Very well; I will.
_Japanese_. [Entering on another part of the terms agreed on.] We will
not confine Americans, or prevent them from walking around; but we
should like to place a limit to the distance they may walk.
_Perry_. I am prepared to settle that matter now, but they must not be
confined to any particular house or street. Suppose we make the distance
they may walk, the same distance that a man can go and come in a day.
Or, if you choose, the number of _lis_ or _ris_ may be agreed upon.
_Japanese_. We are willing that they shall walk as far as they can go
and come in a day.
_Perry_. There is no probability that sailors would wish to go on shore
more than once from curiosity; besides, they will have their daily
duties to attend to on board ship and will not be able to go on shore.
_Japanese_. We do not wish any women to come and remain at Simoda.
_Perry_. The probability is that few women will go there, and they only
the wives of the officers of the ships.
_Japanese_. When you come back from Matsumai we should like _you_ to
settle the distance that Americans are to walk. It is difficult for _us_
to settle the distance.
_Perry_. Say the distance of seven Japanese miles in any direction from
the centre of the city of Simoda.
_Japanese_. Very well. A few miles will make no difference. You are
requested not to leave agents until after you have experienced that it
is necessary.
_Perry_. I am willing to defer the appointment of a consul or an agent
one year or eighteen months from the date of the signing the treaty; and
then, if my Government think it necessary, it will send one.
In fact, not an article of the treaty was made without the most serious
deliberation by the Japanese. In answer to a question from Captain
Adams, in the very first stages of the negotiation, they replied: "The
Japanese are unlike the Chinese; they are adverse to change; and when
they make a compact of any kind they intend that it shall endure for a
thousand years. For this reason it will be best to deliberate and
examine well the facilities for trade and the suitableness of the port
before any one is determined on." Probably nothing but the exercise of
the most perfect truthfulness and patience would ever have succeeded in
making a treaty with them at all; and from the language of one of their
communications, it is obvious that, with characteristic caution, they
meant that their present action should be but a beginning of
intercourse, which might or might not be afterward made more extensive,
according to the results of what they deemed the experiment.
This, it must be remembered, was the first formal treaty they ever made
on the subject of foreign trade, at least since the expulsion of the
Portuguese, and they evidently meant to proceed cautiously by single
steps.
There is observable throughout the negotiations the predominating
influence of the national prejudice against the permanent introduction
of foreigners among them. The word "reside" is but once used in the
whole treaty, and that in the article relative to consuls. The details
of conferences, already given, show how anxiously they sought to avoid
having consuls at all. Indeed, Commodore Perry says, "I could only
induce the commissioners to agree to this article, by endeavoring to
convince them that it would save the Japanese Government much trouble if
an American agent were to reside at one or both of the ports opened by
the treaty, to whom complaints might be made of any malpractice of the
United States citizens who might visit the Japanese dominions." They
wanted no permanent foreign residents among them, official or
unofficial. This was shown most unequivocally in the remark already
recorded in one of the conferences--"We do not wish any women to come
and remain at Simoda."
Simoda was one of the ports open for trade with us; they knew that our
people had wives and daughters, and that a man's family were ordinarily
resident with him in his permanent abode, and that if the head of the
family lived in Simoda as a Japanese would live, there would certainly
be women who would "come and remain at Simoda." But more than this. It
will be remembered that the Commodore had submitted to them our treaty
with China, and they had held it under consideration for a week, at the
end of which time they said: "As to opening a trade, such as is now
carried on by China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it
about. The Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, while
we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland and
China." Now what was "such a trade" as we carried on with China? The
Japanese read in our treaty that five ports were open to us, that
permission was given "to the citizens of the United States to frequent"
them; and further, "to reside with their families and trade there." This
they deliberately declined assenting to when they refused to make a
treaty similar to that with China. They surely would not afterward
knowingly insert it in any treaty they might make with us.
The only permanent residence to which they gave assent, and that most
reluctantly, was the residence of a consul. Temporary residence was
allowed to our shipwrecked citizens, as well as to those who went to
Simoda or Hakodate on commercial business. They are allowed to land, to
walk where they please within certain limits, to enter shops and temples
without restriction, to purchase in the shops, and have the articles
sent to the proper public office duly marked, where they will pay for
them, to resort to public-houses or inns that are to be built for their
refreshment "when on shore" at Simoda and Hakodate; and until built, a
temple, at each place, is assigned "as a resting-place for persons in
their walks." They may accept invitations to partake of the hospitality
of any of the Japanese; but they are not permitted to enter "military
establishments or private houses without leave." Without leave, our
citizens cannot enter them within the territories of any nation with
which we have a treaty. In short, the whole treaty shows that the
purpose of the Japanese was to make the experiment of intercourse with
us before they made it as extensive or as intimate as it was between us
and the Chinese. It was all they could do at the time, and much, very
much, was obtained on the part of our negotiator in procuring a
concession even to this extent.
But, as he knew that our success would be but the forerunner of that of
other powers, and as he believed that new relations of trade once
commenced, not only with ourselves, but with England, France, Holland,
and Russia, could not fail, in the progress of events, to break up the
old restrictive policy, effectually and forever, and open Japan to the
world; and must also lead gradually to liberal commercial treaties, he
wisely, in the ninth article, secured to the United States and their
citizens, without "consultation or delay," all privileges and advantages
which Japan might hereafter "grant to any other nation or nations." And
the Commodore's comments on this article conclusively show that _he_, at
least, did not suppose he had made a "commercial treaty":
"Article IX. This is a most important article, as there can be little
doubt that, on hearing of the success of this mission, the English,
French, and Russians will follow our example; and it may be reasonable
to suppose that each will gain some additional advantage, until a
commercial treaty is accomplished. Article IX will give to Americans,
without further consultation, all these advantages."
All other powers were forced to be content in obtaining just what we, as
pioneers, obtained. Their treaties were like ours. That of Russia was
copied from ours, with no change but that of the substitution of the
port of Nagasaki for Napha in Riu Kiu. We respectfully submit,
therefore, that all, and indeed more than all, under the circumstances,
that could have been reasonably expected has been accomplished.
(1855) THE CAPTURE OF SEBASTOPOL, Sir Edward B. Hamely and Sir Evelyn
Wood
This is the most famous event of the Crimean War, in which Russian power
was pitted against the allied forces of Turkey, France, Great Britain,
and Sardinia. The war grew out of rival demands concerning a
protectorate in Turkey. In 1852 Napoleon III asked for the restoration
of the protectorate of the Holy Places in the Ottoman Empire to the
Latin Church. Supported by Russia, the Greek Church had virtually
supplanted the Latin Church in Turkish dominions, and Russia now put
forward a demand for a protectorate over the Greek subjects of the
Sultan. Turkey had no interest in the religious questions at issue, and
she pursued a wavering course between the disputing powers, fearing to
offend either of them. Russia at last began openly to threaten Turkey,
and, finding vacillation and diplomacy no longer availing for a
postponement of the conflict, the Sultan declared war, October 4, 1853.
In the early engagements of the war the Turks gained some successes over
Russian troops, but the first important event was the destruction of a
part of the Turkish fleet at Sinope, November 30, 1853. This, being
regarded by England as an act of treachery on the part of Russia,
brought Great Britain into the conflict. The Russians occupied the
Danubian principalities, and the Battle of the Alma, in which the allies
first confronted Russia, was won by the former, with greatly superior
numbers, September 20, 1854.
The siege of Sebastopol began in October, and during its progress
important battles occurred--that of Balaklava, that of Inkerman,
November 5th, in which the Russians were defeated by the English and the
French; that of Tchernaya, August 16, 1855, a victory for the Russians;
and the storming of the Malakoff, described below. The capture of
Sebastopol was followed by the taking of Kars by the Russians, November
28, 1855, and the war ended. In accordance with the Treaty of Paris,
March 30, 1856, Russia abandoned her claim to a protectorate over
Christians in Turkey, and the Sultan agreed to grant them more favorable
terms.
Sir Edward Bruce Hamley and Sir Henry Evelyn Wood, British generals who
served in the Crimean War, give us the best accounts of the siege and
capture of Sebastopol, in which they were active participants. The siege
had continued through many weeks without decisive developments, when on
June 18, 1855, the French made a strong but unsuccessful assault on the
Malakoff, which, like the Redan, formed one of the main defences. The
following narratives describe the British assault on the Redan and the
final storming of the Malakoff by the French.