DEMANDS FOR REPARATION--JAPANESE PROPOSAL TO CLOSE
THE PORTS--PAYMENT OF THE INDEMNITY (1863)
A VERY complete account of the murder of Richardson, and the failure of
the Japanese Government to afford satisfactory redress either for that
injury or for the attack on the Legation in June, had been sent home to
the Foreign Office, and in March 1863 Colonel Neale received
instructions to demand ample reparation from both the Tycoon and the
Prince of Satsuma. On the 6th April he sent Eusden up to Yedo on board
the gunboat "Havoc" to deliver a Note, demanding the payment of £10,000
in gold for the wives and families of Sweet and Crimp, an ample apology
for the other affair, and the payment of £100,000 as a penalty on the
Tycoon for allowing an Englishman to be murdered in his territory in
open daylight without making any effort to arrest the murderers. He
warned the Council that refusal would be attended with very deplorable
consequences to their country, and gave them twenty days to consider
their reply. This lengthened period was allowed on account of the
absence of the Tycoon and his chief advisers, who had left for Kiôto on
the 3rd. If at the conclusion of the term allotted no answer was
returned, or an unsatisfactory one was given, coercive measures would
immediately be taken. It was also intended that on the return of the
"Havoc" from Yedo, the "Pearl" should be despatched to Kagoshima to
demand of the Prince of Satsuma the trial and execution of the murderers
of Richardson in the presence of one or more English officers, and the
payment of £25,000 to be distributed to the relatives of Richardson, to
Marshall, Clarke and Mrs Borradaile.
On the 10th Eusden came back from Yedo, bringing a receipt for the note
and a refusal on the part of the Council to send an officer down to
Kagoshima to advise the Prince of Satsuma to admit the demands to be
made upon him. So the idea of despatching the "Pearl" was abandoned for
the moment, as it was impossible to foretell whether the Council would
give in. If they were obstinate, reprisals would at once, it was
thought, be commenced, and all our available force would be required to
coerce the Tycoon's people. Satsuma must be left to be dealt with
afterwards. So the Colonel waited until the 26th. By the 24th April we
had in the harbour the "Euryalus," 35 guns, bearing the flag of Admiral
Küper, the "Pearl," 21 guns, "Encounter," 14 (commanded by the brave
Roderick Dew), "Rattler," 17, "Argus," 6, "Centaur," 6, and 3 gunboats.
The despatch boats "Racehorse" and "Ringdove" were employed in
travelling backwards and forwards between Yokohama and Shanghai with the
mails, and the "Coquette" was daily expected from Hongkong.
But as was to be anticipated, the Council begged for further delay. They
asked for thirty days, and Colonel Neale gave them fifteen.
My teacher Takaoka, who had private relations with the _yashiki_ of the
Prince of Ki-shiû, said they had never expected to get more than a
fortnight, and as they felt certain the English Chargé d' Affaires would
cut down their demands, they asked for double. He believed that the only
motive for the delay was to gain time for preparation, and that war was
certain. In the native quarter it was rumoured that the English had
asked for the delay, which had been graciously granted by the Council;
otherwise we should have been attacked the very day after the term
elapsed. The inhabitants of Yedo expected war, and began to remove their
valuables into the country. Young Kotarô had been carried off by his
mama about the 20th. At Uraga, the little junk-port just outside the
entrance to the bay of Yedo, there was a panic, and the people were said
to have decamped with all their movable property to Hodogaya on the
Tôkaidô. On the other hand, there was some alarm felt in the foreign
settlement. Meetings were held at which resolutions were passed to the
effect that it was the duty of the executive to provide for the safety
of the European residents. At the same time the merchants declared their
intention of not leaving the settlement unless specially called on to do
so by Colonel Neale, as they believed that if they deserted their
property without such an order, they would not be able to recover its
value afterwards in the event of its being destroyed. The precedent of
the opium surrendered to Captain Elliot, the British Superintendent of
Trade at Canton in 1839, was of course in their minds, and they acted
prudently in throwing the responsibility on the authorities.
On the 1st May the Council asked for another delay of fifteen days.
Eusden was sent up to Yedo with a message to the Council that before the
Colonel could grant their request they must send down to Yokohama one of
their number to receive an important communication which he had to make
to them. The native population now began to be seriously alarmed, and
the shopkeepers of Kanagawa removed their effects to Hodogaya so as to
be out of reach of a bombardment, and to secure a further retreat into
the interior, if necessary, by the cross-country paths. The 2nd of May
was the last day on which the Yokohama people were permitted by the
native authorities to send away their property to Yedo. The government
circulated a sensible proclamation from door to door telling them not to
be alarmed as there would be no war. At the same time notice was served
on the peasants within two miles of Yokohama to be prepared to give up
their houses to the troops, but as yet no soldiers had appeared on the
scene.
On the 4th and 5th May long conferences took place between the English
and French representatives and Admirals and two Commissioners for
Foreign Affairs, Takémoto Kai no Kami and Takémoto Hayato no Shô, who
had been deputed by the Council to explain the reasons why a further
delay was necessary. They probably represented that the difficulty in
acceding to the English demands arose from the opposition of the
_daimiôs_, for it seems that an offer was made to them that the English
and French forces should assist the Tycoon to quell the resistance of
the anti-foreign party, in order to enable him to carry out the promises
to which he was bound by treaty. They offered, it was reported, to pay
the money indemnity, disguising it under the ingenious fiction of
payment for a man-of-war ordered in England, and wrecked on its way out.
Finally an extension of time was accorded until the 23rd of May, in
order that the personal consent of the Tycoon, who was expected to
return by that date, might be obtained to the English ultimatum.
I rode out to Hodogaya on the afternoon of the 5th and met the train of
the wife of a _daimiô_ going westwards, but saw very few armed men other
than those who accompanied her. A rumour had got about that 10,000 men
were in the village and its neighbourhood, but the report was obviously
without foundation.
During the night of the 5th May there was a general exodus of all the
native servants employed in the foreign settlement. Many of them took
advantage of the occasion to "spoil the Egyptians." When Willis and I
rose in the morning and called for "boy" to bring breakfast, there was a
dead silence. I descended to the pantry and found it empty. Servants and
cook had gone off, carrying with them a revolver, a Japanese sword,
several spoons and forks which they doubtless imagined to be silver, and
the remains of last night's dinner wrapped in a table-cloth. This theft
was the more curious, as I had the day before entrusted my servant with
a considerable sum of native money to change into Mexican dollars, which
he had faithfully delivered to me. But we ought to have suspected their
intentions, as they had asked for an advance of half a month's wages,
and had contentedly received wages up to date. Takaoka and my groom were
faithful, so was also the messenger who went off into fits of
congratulation on learning that the petty cash-box, of which I had
charge, had not disappeared. It is much to the credit of the latter
class that they have often stuck by their masters on occasions of
trouble and even danger, when every one else has deserted the foreigner.
With some difficulty we procured some eggs and sponge cake, and I went
off to the customhouse to report the robbery. The officials, of course,
promised to find the thieves, but we never heard anything more of them
or of our property. All day long the townspeople continued to depart at
a great rate. I went down to the native town, where I found many of the
houses shut up, and at others everything ready packed for removal. Among
the rest my friend the bookseller, at the corner of Benten-dôri, had
taken to his heels. But during the afternoon a proclamation was issued
by the customhouse to tell the people that there would be no fighting,
and many of them returned. The excitement was great throughout the town,
both among foreigners and natives, and a lamentable instance of
hastiness occurred on the part of a Frenchman. A native merchant,
accompanied by two others, went to ask payment of a small debt that he
claimed, and on its being refused, tried to obtain the money by force.
Thereupon the Frenchman shot him, and two others, including the
vice-consul, also fired their revolvers. Four bullets passed through the
body of the unfortunate man, but without killing him. The French Admiral
was excessively angry. He at once arrested the merchant and had him
conveyed on board the flagship. Two Americans were likewise attacked,
and one of them was carried off halfway across the swamp by eight men,
who frightened him with a spear and an iron hook which they held over
his head. He was rescued by the tall sergeant of our legation guard, or
else he would probably have been severely beaten, if not killed, for the
Japanese were unable to distinguish between foreigners of different
nationalities.
On the 11th my teacher told me that a messenger had come to him from
Yedo, sent by a personage of high rank, who desired to learn
confidentially the intentions of the English Chargé d'Affaires, and
whether he was disposed to await the return of the Tycoon, which would
not be for three or four months, before taking hostile measures. In that
case the high personage, who was superior in rank to the Council, would
agree to issue a proclamation that a delay of a thousand days had been
agreed upon, which would have the effect of restoring tranquillity at
Yokohama. That if Colonel Neale, getting tired of these repeated delays,
should change the seat of the negotiations to Ozaka, the high personage
would have to perform _hara-kiri_, which he rather wished to avoid, as a
penalty for failing to induce the foreigner to listen to his
representations. I communicated this to Colonel Neale, and the reply
sent was that he could not consent to wait so long as three months.
The Council had announced the return of the Tycoon for the 24th May, and
Colonel Neale had replied that under the circumstances he would give
time for "His Majesty's" settling down again at home, but on the 16th a
note was received from them stating that circumstances had arisen which
prevented their fixing any date whatever for his arrival at Yedo. This
seemed to point to an indefinite postponement of a settlement, but the
Colonel's patience was not even yet exhausted. This accorded with what
my teacher had told me. The high personage turned out to be the Prince
of Owari. Takaoka now said that having transmitted Colonel Neale's
answer to Kiôto, he would no longer be under the necessity of committing
suicide, as he had been able to show that he was not responsible for the
foreigner's obstinacy.
Up to the 16th the general feeling was that the Council would give way,
but the demand for a further postponement of the Japanese answer did not
tend to encourage the hope of a peaceful settlement. A Japanese friend
told me that the Tycoon could not by any means accept the assistance of
foreign powers against the _daimiôs_, and that the abolition of the
Mikado's dignity was impracticable. If we attacked Satsuma the Tycoon
and _daimiôs_ would be bound to make common cause with him. I suppose
the idea of the foreign diplomatic representatives at that time was to
support the Tycoon, whose claim to be considered the sovereign of Japan
had already been called in question by Rudolph Lindau in his "Open
Letter" of 1862, against the anti-foreign party consisting of the Mikado
and _daimiôs_, and if necessary to convert him into something more than
a mere feudal ruler. For we had as yet no idea of the immense potency
that lay in the mere name of the sovereign _de jure_, and our studies in
Japanese history had not yet enabled us to realize the truth that in the
civil wars of Japan the victory had as a rule rested with the party that
had managed to obtain possession of the person of the Mikado and the
regalia. There has probably never been any sovereign in the world whose
title has rested upon so secure a basis as that of the ancient emperors
of Japan.
On the 25th another conference took place between the English and French
diplomatic and naval authorities on the one side, and Takémoto Kai no
Kami and a new man named Shibata Sadatarô on the other. The latter began
by thanking the foreign representatives in the name of the Tycoon for
their offer of material assistance, which he was, however, compelled to
decline, as he must endeavour to settle the differences between the
_daimiôs_ and himself by his own unaided forces and authority. As to
the indemnity, the Tycoon's government recognized that the demand was
just, but they were afraid to pay immediately, as their yielding would
bring the _daimiôs_ down upon them. But they offered to pay the money by
instalments in such a manner as not to attract public notice, and the
further discussion of the details was put off to a future occasion.
Probably Colonel Neale did not care very much how the matter was
arranged, provided he could show to Her Majesty's Government that he had
carried out his instructions. So the basis of an understanding was
arrived at, and it was further conceded that the foreign
representatives, that is those of England and France, should take
measures to defend Yokohama from attack by the anti-foreign party.
Colonel Neale had written to Major-General Brown, who was in command at
Shanghai, applying for a force of two thousand men, but a despatch now
arrived from the general stating his inability and objections to
furnishing any troops. It was said that he had ridiculed the idea of a
military expedition against Japan long before Colonel Neale proposed it
to him. Nevertheless the establishment of a garrison of English troops
at Yokohama was merely delayed by this refusal, and after Sir Rutherford
Alcock's return to Japan in the spring of 1864 good reasons were given
to the same general why he should change his mind.
All this time there existed considerable alarm with respect to the aims
and intentions of a somewhat mysterious class of Japanese called
_rônin_. These were men of the two-sworded class, who had thrown up the
service of their _daimiôs_, and plunged into the political agitations of
the time, which had a two-fold object, firstly, to restore the Mikado to
his ancient position, or rather to pull down the Tycoon to the same
level as the great _daimiôs_, and secondly, the expulsion of "the
barbarians" from the sacred soil of Japan. They came principally from
the south and west of the country, but there were many from Mito in the
east, and a sprinkling from all the other clans. About the end of May
there was a rumour that they designed to attack Kanagawa, and the
Americans still living there were compelled to transfer their residence
to Yokohama, not, however, without "compensation for disturbance."
The Tycoon's people were naturally desirous of doing all that was
practicable to conciliate their domestic enemies, and turned such
rumours to account in the hope of being able to confine the foreigners
at Yokohama within a limited space, such as had formed the
prison-residence of the Dutch at Nagasaki in former times. Incidents,
too, were not wanting of a character to enforce their arguments. One of
the assistants of the English consulate was threatened with personal
violence by a couple of two-sworded men as he was entering a tea-house
on the hill at Kanagawa. He pulled out his pistol, and pointed it at
them, on which they drew back. Taking advantage of the opportunity he
ran down to the landing-place, where he got a boat and so returned in
safety to Yokohama. It was reported that the officials at the guardhouse
tried to prevent the boatmen from taking him across the bay, but however
this may be, they pacified his assailants, one of whom had half-drawn
his sword; and in those days we were always told that a _samurai_ might
not return his sword to the scabbard without shedding blood, so that the
affair was entitled to be ranked as very alarming.
At the beginning of June, in consequence of a report that half-a-dozen
_rônins_ were concealed in the place, the _betté-gumi_ (a body from
which the legation guards at Yedo were supplied), together with some
drilled troops, came down to Yokohama, and took up their quarters at
some newly erected buildings under Nogé hill, and from that date until
long after the revolution of 1868 we had constantly a native garrison. I
recognized among the former several men with whom I had become friends
during the visit to Yedo already narrated. Fresh additions were made to
the British squadron in the shape of two sloops, the "Leopard" and the
"Perseus." The rumours of warlike operations had died away, and it was
given out that the intention of directly enforcing our demands on
Satsuma had been abandoned, as the Tycoon had undertaken to see to that
part of the business, and it was believed also that to insist upon them
at present would give rise to a civil war.
On the 14th June there arrived at the legation in Yokohama Kikuchi Iyo
no Kami and Shibata Sadatarô, Commissioners for Foreign Affairs, to
complete arrangements for paying $440,000 (representing £110,000) in
seven instalments extending over six weeks, the first to be delivered on
the 18th. But on that day came a note of excuse from one of the Council
stating that unavoidable circumstances had arisen which prevented the
agreement being carried out, and that he himself would in a day or two
arrive at Yokohama to discuss matters with the English Chargé d'
Affaires. Colonel Neale very properly refused to hold any more
communications with the Tycoon's ministers, and after a couple of days'
consideration, finally placed the solution in the hands of Admiral
Küper. The latter, it was said, did not know what to do. He had never
seen a gun fired in action, and hardly appreciated the Colonel's
suggestion that he should at once proceed to seize the steamers lately
purchased in such numbers by the Japanese. The Council at Yedo now
became thoroughly frightened; they had temporized as long as possible,
and had worn out the patience of the English authorities. But they left
no stone unturned to avoid openly giving way, and Ogasawara himself came
down to Yokohama to bring the French Chargé d'Affaires and Admiral to
intercede. The latter, however, refused; insisted on the demands of
Great Britain being satisfied, and claimed that the defence of Yokohama
should be entrusted to them. Ogasawara had just returned from Kiôto with
an order from the Tycoon, dictated to him by the Mikado and the
anti-foreign element in the ancient capital, to make arrangements with
the foreign representatives for closing all the ports! For himself he
seemed to dislike his instructions, and even gave hints to the French
Chargé d'Affaires as to the nature of the reply which had best be given.
A pageful of notes of exclamation would not be sufficient to express the
astonishment of the foreign public of Yokohama when this extraordinary
announcement was made, but the presence of the combined squadrons in the
harbour relieved them from any anxiety as to the manner in which the
diplomatic representatives would reply to it.
The Japanese Government, having completely failed to persuade the French
authorities to intervene on their behalf, which would have indeed been
impossible when the request was accompanied by the preposterous demand
that foreigners should forthwith clear out of Yokohama, sent a message
to Colonel Neale at one a.m. on the morning of the 24th June to say that
the money should be paid, and requesting to be informed at what hour he
would receive it. The reply was that the original agreement to pay in
instalments, having been broken by the Japanese Government, was now null
and void, and that the whole must be delivered in the course of the day.
This was accordingly done; at an early hour carts laden with boxes
containing each a couple of thousand dollars began to arrive at the
legation. All the Chinese shroffs (men employed by merchants and bankers
in the Far East to examine coin to see whether it is genuine) were
borrowed to do the shroffing and counting. The chancery was crowded with
the intelligent Chinamen busily employed in clinking one coin against
another, and putting them up into parcels, to be replaced in the boxes
and carried off on board the squadron. The process occupied three days.
But already on the 24th Colonel Neale had addressed a letter to the
Admiral relieving him of the unwelcome task of undertaking coercive
operations.
[Illustration: PAYMENT OF THE INDEMNITY FOR THE MURDER OF RICHARDSON]
The note, dated on the very day on which the indemnity was paid, in
which Ogasawara Dzusho no Kami (to give him his full title) had conveyed
to Colonel Neale the orders of the Tycoon to close the ports and expel
all foreigners from the country, was the first on which I was called to
exercise my capacity as a translator. Of course I had to get the help of
my teacher to read it, but my previous practice in the epistolary style
enabled me to understand the construction, and to give a closer version
perhaps than either of the others which were prepared in the legation.
This, to me supremely important, document ran as follows:--
I communicate with you by a despatch.
The orders of the Tycoon, received from Kiôto, are to the effect
that the ports are to be closed and the foreigners driven out,
because the people of the country do not desire intercourse with
foreign countries. The discussion of this has been entirely
entrusted to me by His Majesty. I therefore send you this
communication first, before holding a Conference as to the
details.
Respectful and humble communication.
It is perhaps a little too literal. The opening phrase is simply
equivalent to the "Monsieur le Chargé d'Affaires," and the sentence with
which the note concludes is about the same thing as the "assurance of
high consideration," which we have borrowed from the French. But the
rest of it is accurate, and the allusion to the Mikado which appears in
the version made from the Dutch translation furnished by the Japanese
(_vide_ the Bluebook) had nothing to support it in the original text. I
cannot forbear from quoting the reply of Colonel Neale, though as far as
possible I intend in these "Reminiscences" not to rely on published
sources of information. It ran thus:--
Lieutenant-Colonel Neale to the Japanese Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
Yokohama, June 24, 1863.
The undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, has
received, in common with his colleagues, and with extreme
amazement, the extraordinary announcement which, under
instructions from the Tycoon, His Excellency has addressed to
him.
Apart from the audacious nature of this announcement, which is
unaccompanied by any explanations whatever, the Undersigned is
bound to believe that both the Spiritual and Temporal sovereigns
of this country are totally ignorant of the disastrous
consequences which must arise to Japan by their determinations
thus conveyed through you to close the opened ports, and to
remove therefrom the subjects of the Treaty Powers.
For himself, as Representative of Her Britannic Majesty, the
Undersigned has to observe, in the first instance, that the
Rulers of this country may perhaps still have it in their power
to modify and soften the severe and irresistible measures which
will, without the least doubt, be adopted by Great Britain most
effectually to maintain and enforce its Treaty obligations with
this country, and, more than this, to place them on a far more
satisfactory and solid footing than heretofore, by speedily
making known and developing any rational and acceptable plans
directed to this end, which may be at present concealed by His
Majesty the Tycoon or the Mikado, or by both, to the great and
imminent peril of Japan.
It is therefore the duty of the Undersigned solemnly to warn the
Rulers of this country that when the decision of Her Majesty's
Government, consequent upon the receipt of Your Excellency's
announcement, shall have in due course been taken, the
development of all ulterior determinations now kept back will be
of no avail.
The Undersigned has in the meantime to inform Your Excellency,
with a view that you may bring the same to the knowledge of His
Majesty the Tycoon, who will doubtless make the same known to
the Mikado, that the indiscreet communication now made through
Your Excellency is unparalleled in the history of all nations,
civilized or uncivilized; that it is, in fact, a declaration of
war by Japan itself against the whole of the Treaty Powers, and
the consequences of which, if not at once arrested, it will have
to expiate by the severest and most merited chastisement.
With Respect and Consideration.
EDWD. ST. JOHN NEALE.
With the exception of the lapse from the third person to the second, in
the second, third and fourth paragraphs, this note is well constructed,
and its periods nicely balanced. The language is perhaps rather stronger
than more modern taste would approve, but with a powerful, almost
overwhelming squadron of men-of-war at one's back, the temptation to
express one's feelings with frankness is not easy to resist.
What the writer meant by "rational and acceptable means" directed to the
end of placing the treaty obligations of Great Britain with Japan on a
more "satisfactory and solid footing than heretofore" can only be
conjectured. I think it is an allusion to the plan that had been mooted
of our affording material assistance to the Tycoon in suppressing the
opposition of the _daimiôs_ of the west and south to the pro-foreign
policy of the Japanese Government, and perhaps to a formal agreement
between the Tycoon and the Mikado that the latter should ratify the
treaties. Certainly the successful execution of such a plan would have
placed the Tycoon firmly in the seat of his ancestors, and have
forestalled the revolution of 1868 by which his successor was upset, but
it would not have been effected without enormous bloodshed, and the
Japanese people would have hated the ruler who had called in foreign aid
to strengthen his position. He could then only have maintained himself
there by the adoption of the severest measures of repression, and the
nation would have been subjected to a terrible and lasting despotism. It
is certainly a thing to rejoice at that the Tycoon's council had
sufficient patriotism to reject such an offer. The Japanese were left to
work out their own salvation, and when the revolution did at last break
out, the loss of life and property was restricted within narrow limits,
while the resulting benefits to the Japanese nation in the establishment
of civilized and comparatively free institutions have been such as would
have been for ever precluded had the suggestions of certain Europeans
been listened to.