A Diplomat in Japan
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Title: A Diplomat in Japan
Author: Ernest Mason Satow
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A DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN
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[Illustration: THE LAST OF THE SHOGUNS
Tokugawa Yoshinobu (Keiki)]
A
DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN
THE INNER HISTORY OF THE CRITICAL YEARS IN THE
EVOLUTION OF JAPAN WHEN THE PORTS WERE
OPENED AND THE MONARCHY RESTORED,
RECORDED BY A DIPLOMATIST WHO TOOK
AN ACTIVE PART IN THE EVENTS OF
THE TIME, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF
HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
DURING THAT PERIOD
BY
THE RIGHT HON. SIR ERNEST SATOW
G.C.M.G., LL.D., D.C.L.;
British Minister at Peking 1900-05;
Formerly Secretary of the British
Legation at Tokio
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS
LONDON
SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LIMITED
38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET
1921
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
THE DUNEDIN PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
PREFACE
The first portion of this book was written at intervals between 1885 and
1887, during my tenure of the post of Her Majesty's minister at Bangkok.
I had but recently left Japan after a residence extending, with two
seasons of home leave, from September 1862 to the last days of December
1882, and my recollection of what had occurred during any part of those
twenty years was still quite fresh. A diary kept almost uninterruptedly
from the day I quitted home in November 1861 constituted the foundation,
while my memory enabled me to supply additional details. It had never
been my purpose to relate my diplomatic experiences in different parts
of the world, which came finally to be spread over a period of
altogether forty-five years, and I therefore confined myself to one of
the most interesting episodes in which I have been concerned. This
comprised the series of events that culminated in the restoration of the
direct rule of the ancient line of sovereigns of Japan which had
remained in abeyance for over six hundred years. Such a change involved
the substitution of the comparatively modern city of Yedo, under the
name of Tôkiô, for the more ancient Kiôto, which had already become the
capital long before Japan was heard of in the western world.
When I departed from Siam in 1887 I laid the unfinished manuscript
aside, and did not look at it again until September 1919, when some of
my younger relations, to whom I had shown it, suggested that it ought to
be completed. This second portion is largely a transcript of my
journals, supplemented from papers drawn up by me which were included in
the Confidential Print of the time and by letters to my chief Sir Harry
Parkes which have been published elsewhere. Letters to my mother have
furnished some particulars that were omitted from the diaries.
Part of the volume may read like a repetition of a few pages from my
friend the late Lord Redesdale's "Memories," for when he was engaged on
that work he borrowed some of my journals of the time we had spent
together in Japan. But I have not referred to his volumes while writing
my own.
ERNEST SATOW.
OTTERY ST MARY,
_January 1921_.
* * * * *
_Note._--In pronouncing Japanese words the consonants are to be taken as
in English, the vowels more or less as in Italian. _G_, except at the
beginning of a word, when it is hard, represents _ng_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
APPOINTMENT AS STUDENT INTERPRETER AT YEDO 17
CHAPTER II
YOKOHAMA SOCIETY, OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL 22
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN 33
CHAPTER IV
TREATIES--ANTI-FOREIGN SPIRIT--MURDER OF FOREIGNERS 42
CHAPTER V
RICHARDSON'S MURDER--JAPANESE STUDIES 50
CHAPTER VI
OFFICIAL VISIT TO YEDO 61
CHAPTER VII
DEMANDS FOR REPARATION--JAPANESE PROPOSALS TO CLOSE
THE PORTS--PAYMENT OF THE INDEMNITY 72
CHAPTER VIII
BOMBARDMENT OF KAGOSHIMA 84
CHAPTER IX
SHIMONOSEKI: PRELIMINARY MEASURES 95
CHAPTER X
SHIMONOSEKI--NAVAL OPERATIONS 102
CHAPTER XI
SHIMONOSEKI--PEACE CONCLUDED WITH CHÔSHIÛ 116
CHAPTER XII
THE MURDER OF BIRD AND BALDWIN 134
CHAPTER XIII
RATIFICATION OF THE TREATIES BY THE MIKADO 141
CHAPTER XIV
GREAT FIRE AT YOKOHAMA 156
CHAPTER XV
VISIT TO KAGOSHIMA AND UWAJIMA 167
CHAPTER XVI
FIRST VISIT TO OZAKA 185
CHAPTER XVII
RECEPTION OF FOREIGN MINISTERS BY THE TYCOON 194
CHAPTER XVIII
OVERLAND FROM OZAKA TO YEDO 204
CHAPTER XIX
SOCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH JAPANESE OFFICIALS--VISIT TO
NIIGATA, SADO GOLD MINES, AND NANAO 228
CHAPTER XX
NANAO TO OZAKA OVERLAND 239
CHAPTER XXI
OZAKA AND TOKUSHIMA 252
CHAPTER XXII
TOSA AND NAGASAKI 265
CHAPTER XXIII
DOWNFALL OF THE SHOGUNATE 281
CHAPTER XXIV
OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR (1868) 295
CHAPTER XXV
HOSTILITIES BEGUN AT YEDO AND FUSHIMI 310
CHAPTER XXVI
THE BIZEN AFFAIR 319
CHAPTER XXVII
FIRST VISIT TO KIOTO 332
CHAPTER XXVIII
HARAKIRI--NEGOTIATIONS FOR AUDIENCE OF THE MIKADO
AT KIOTO 343
CHAPTER XXIX
MASSACRE OF FRENCH SAILORS AT SAKAI 351
CHAPTER XXX.
KIOTO--AUDIENCE OF THE MIKADO 356
CHAPTER XXXI
RETURN TO YEDO AND PRESENTATION OF THE MINISTER'S
NEW CREDENTIALS AT OZAKA 364
CHAPTER XXXII
MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS--MITO POLITICS 373
CHAPTER XXXIII
CAPTURE OF WAKAMATSU AND ENTRY OF THE MIKADO INTO
YEDO 386
CHAPTER XXXIV
ENOMOTO WITH THE RUNAWAY TOKUGAWA SHIPS SEIZES
YEZO 395
CHAPTER XXXV
1869--AUDIENCE OF THE MIKADO AT YEDO 400
CHAPTER XXXVI
LAST DAYS IN TOKIO AND DEPARTURE FOR HOME 409
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE LAST OF THE SHOGUNS _Frontispiece_
SIR ERNEST SATOW--1869 56
SIR ERNEST SATOW--1903 56
PAYMENT OF THE INDEMNITY FOR THE MURDER OF RICHARDSON 80
KAGOSHIMA HARBOUR: BOMBARDMENT 90-91
THE STRAITS OF SHIMONOSEKI 106-107
INTERIOR OF A JAPANESE BATTERY AFTER THE LANDING OF
THE ALLIED NAVAL FORCES 112
DAIMIO OF CHO-SHIU AND HIS HEIR 184
CHO-SHIU COUNCILLORS 184
GROUP PHOTOGRAPHED DURING A VISIT TO OZAKA 192
NIIRO GIOBU, A SATSUMA COUNCILLOR 272
KATSU AWA NO KAMI 272
_The Design on the Cover of this Book is the Family Crest of
the Tokugawa Shôguns._
A DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN
A DIPLOMAT IN JAPAN
CHAPTER I
APPOINTMENT AS STUDENT INTERPRETER AT YEDO (1861)
MY thoughts were first drawn to Japan by a mere accident. In my
eighteenth year an elder brother brought home from Mudie's Library the
interesting account of Lord Elgin's Mission to China and Japan by
Lawrence Oliphant, and the book having fallen to me in turn, inflamed my
imagination with pictures verbal and coloured of a country where the sky
was always blue, where the sun shone perpetually, and where the whole
duty of man seemed to consist in lying on a matted floor with the
windows open to the ground towards a miniature rockwork garden, in the
company of rosy-lipped black-eyed and attentive damsels--in short, a
realised fairyland. But that I should ever have a chance of seeing these
Isles of the Blest was beyond my wildest dreams. An account of Commodore
Perry's expedition, which had preceded Lord Elgin's Mission, came in my
way shortly afterwards, and though much more sober in its outward
appearance and literary style, only served to confirm the previous
impression. I thought of nothing else from that time onwards. One day,
on entering the library of University College, London, where I was then
studying, I found lying on the table a notice that three nominations to
student-interpreterships in China and Japan had been placed at the
disposition of the Dean. Here was the chance for which I had been
longing. Permission to enter myself for the competition was obtained,
not without difficulty, from my parents, and having gained the first
place in the public examination, I chose Japan. To China I never wished
or intended to go. My age was sufficient by a few hours to enable me to
compete. I was formally appointed in August 1861, and quitted England
full of joyful anticipation in November of that year.
Owing to the prevalence of a belief among those who then had the
direction of our affairs in Japan that a knowledge of Chinese was a
necessary preliminary to the study of Japanese, my fellow-student, R. A.
Jamieson, and myself were at first stationed for a few months at Peking,
where we were joined early in 1862 by Russell Robertson, who also
belonged to the Japan establishment. I pass over our sojourn there,
which, though not without its own interest, was not long enough for me
to gain any useful knowledge of China. But I learnt a few hundred
Chinese characters which were of great help to me afterwards, and I even
began the study of Manchu.
Our stay at the Chinese capital was suddenly cut short by the arrival of
a despatch from Yedo, containing the original text of a Note from the
Japanese Ministers, which it was found no Chinaman could decipher, much
less understand. This was decisive of the question whether the short cut
to Japanese lay through the Chinese language. I thought then, and still
think, that though an acquaintance with Chinese characters may be found
useful by the student of Japanese, it is no more indispensable than that
of Latin is to a person who wishes to acquire Italian or Spanish. We
were consequently bundled off to Japan with the least possible delay.
Of the eight students belonging to the China establishment then at
Peking, three only are still (1885) in the service--H. J. Allen, C. T.
Gardner, and W. G. Stronach, each of whom attained the rank of consul in
1877. They had all passed the examination at the same time as myself.
The man who came out second was "allowed to resign" in 1867, three are
dead, and one, the best man of the whole set, and who oddly enough was
last or last but one in the examination list, passed in 1872 into the
Chinese Customs Service, in which he now holds one of the highest
appointments. So unequal are the results obtained by even limited
competitive examination. When the competition was afterwards thrown open
to the public, the results became even more uncertain, as later
experience has shown, at least in Japan, and perhaps elsewhere.
The great fault of the system is that it takes no account of moral
qualities. Whether a candidate has the manners or feelings of a
gentleman cannot be ascertained from the way in which he will reproduce
a proposition of Euclid or translate a passage from a Greek author. It
does not test the intellectual powers, for a stupid young man who has
been properly coached will almost always beat the real student who has
not got the right "tips." Nowadays, every candidate for a public
examination goes to a crammer, who trains him in a few months for the
contest, and enables him to bring forth forced fruit for a moment. Show
me a successful examinee, and I will show you a well-coached candidate.
In the majority of cases the process disgusts the man who has undergone
it, and takes away any inclination he may previously have had for study.
And without serious study it is not possible to acquire such languages
as Chinese, Siamese or Japanese. The scheme of examination is no test of
the linguistic capabilities of the men, and sometimes sends into the
service those who can no more learn to speak a foreign language than
they can fly. My own success in the examination was due to my having
left school more recently than any of the other competitors.
While I was at Peking the whole body of students was invited to dine one
evening with the Bishop of Victoria, who was stopping at the Legation in
the absence of Mr. Bruce, the Minister. The conversation fell upon the
effects of Chinese studies on the intellectual powers, and the Bishop
inquired of us whether we did not find that the mind was weakened by
close application to such a dry, unproductive form of learning. At
least, his own experience had been to that effect. This was a curious
admission to make, but the matter of his conversation certainly
corroborated it. I do not think any of us was candid enough to confess
to a similar result in his own case.
I should like to dwell longer on our life in Peking--the rides in the
early morning over the plain on the north of the city, excursions to the
ruins of the Summer Palace, beautiful still in its desolation, the
monasteries among the blue mountains west of the city, the magnificent
temples inside and outside the walls, the dirt and dust of the streets
in wet or fine weather, the pink lotus blossoms on the lake of the
marble bridge, the beggars with their cry of _K'olien, k'olien, shang
i-ko ta_, the bazaar outside the Ch'ien Men Gate, with its attractive
shops, the Temple of Heaven, the view of yellow, brown and green-tiled
roofs embosomed in trees as one saw them from the city wall, the carts
bumping over the stone pavements worn into deep ruts, the strange
Eastern life that surrounded a band of boys fresh from school or college
or their mothers' apron-strings, and the splendour of the newly restored
buildings of the Liang Kung Fu, occupied by the British Legation--which
will never be effaced from my memory: but there is no time. Mr,
afterwards Sir Frederick, Bruce was then our Minister there, a tall man
of about fifty, with a noble forehead and brown eyes, grey beard,
whiskers and moustache; altogether a beautiful appearance. The Chinese
Secretary was Mr, afterwards Sir Thomas, Wade, a great Chinese scholar,
to whom we looked up with awe, and who was said to be of an irascible
temper. A story was told of his visiting the Chinese Ministers with the
chief, and waxing very warm in argument. The president of the Ts'ung-li
Ya-mên remarked: "But, Mr. Wade, I do not observe that Mr. Bruce is so
angry." "D'ye hear that, Mr. Bruce, they say you're not angry."
Whereupon Mr. Bruce, with a benevolent smile and with the most
good-tempered expression in the world, replied: "Oh, tell them I'm in a
deuce of a rage."
We, that is to say Jamieson, Robertson and myself, got away early on the
morning of August 6, arriving that evening at Ho-si-wu, a town on the
way, and reached Tientsin next day. Thence we took boat to Taku, where
we passed some days under the hospitable roof of the Vice-Consul Gibson.
He was later on transferred to a post in Formosa, where he got into
difficulties with the Chinese officials and called on the commander of a
gunboat to bombard the Custom House, for which he was smartly
reprimanded by the Foreign Office. Shortly afterwards he died, it was
said, of a broken heart. This happened in the days when the so-called
"gun-boat" policy was no longer in favour, and poor Gibson fell a victim
to his excess of zeal.
At Shanghai Jamieson left us, to start a newspaper on terms which
promised him a better future than the Consular service could offer.
Robertson and I embarked in the steamer _Lancefield_, and started for
Japan on September 2. The first land we sighted after leaving the coast
of China was Iwô Shima, a volcanic island to the south of Kiû-shiû, and
on the 7th we found ourselves close to Cape Idzu in a fog. Luckily it
lifted for a moment, and the captain, who was new to the coast, ordered
the ship to be put about, and we ran down among the islands. Next
morning early we were steaming over the blue waves east of Vries Island,
passed the serrated wooded range of Nokogiri yama on our right and the
tiny inlet of Uraga to our left, and stood across the broad bay towards
Yokohama. It was one of those brilliant days that are so characteristic
of Japan, and as we made our way up the bay of Yedo, I thought no
scenery in the world could surpass it. Irregular-shaped hills, covered
with dark-green trees, lined the whole southern coast, and above them
rose into the air for 12,000 feet and more the magnificent cone of Fuji,
with scarcely a patch of snow visible. The noble ranges of Oyama and
others bounded the plain on its western side, while by way of contrast,
a low-lying sandy coast trended rapidly away on our right, and speedily
sank below the horizon in the direction of the capital.
Curious duck-shaped boats of pure unpainted wood, carrying a large
four-square sail formed of narrow strips of canvas loosely tacked
together, crowded the surface of the sparkling waters. Now and then we
passed near enough to note the sunburnt, copper-coloured skins of the
fishermen, naked, with the exception of a white cloth round the loins,
and sometimes a blue rag tied across the nose, so that you could just
see his eyes and chin. At last the white cliffs of Mississippi Bay
became closer and more distinct: we rounded Treaty Point and dropped
anchor on the outer edge of the shipping. After the lapse of more than a
year I had at last attained my cherished object.
CHAPTER II
YOKOHAMA SOCIETY, OFFICIAL AND UNOFFICIAL (1862)
THREE years had now elapsed since the opening of the country to foreign
trade in consequence of the Treaties of 1858, and a considerable number
of merchants had settled at the ports of Nagasaki and Yokohama.
Hakodaté, however, offered then, as now, few attractions to mercantile
enterprise, and being far removed from the political centre, shared very
slightly in the uneasy feeling which prevailed elsewhere. At Nagasaki
most of the territorial nobles of Western Japan had establishments
whither they sent for sale the rice and other produce received in
payment of tribute from the peasants, and their retainers came into
frequent contact with foreigners, whose houses they visited for the
purchase of arms, gunpowder and steamers. Some sort of friendly feeling
thus sprang up, which was increased by the American missionaries who
gave instruction in English to younger members of this class, and
imparted to them liberal ideas which had no small influence on the
subsequent course of events. At Yokohama, however, the foreign merchants
had chiefly to do with a class of adventurers, destitute of capital and
ignorant of commerce. Broken contracts and fraud were by no means
uncommon. Foreigners made large advances to men of straw for the
purchase of merchandise which was never delivered, or ordered
manufactures from home on the account of men who, if the market fell,
refused to accept the goods that would now bring them in only a loss.
Raw silk was adulterated with sand or fastened with heavy paper ties,
and every separate skein had to be carefully inspected before payment,
while the tea could not be trusted to be as good as the sample. Now and
then a Japanese dealer would get paid out in kind, but the balance of
wrong-doing was greatly against the native, and the conviction that
Japanese was a synonym for dishonest trader became so firmly seated in
the minds of foreigners that it was impossible for any friendly feeling
to exist.
The Custom House officials were in the highest degree corrupt, and
demanded ever-increasing bribes from the foreigners who sought to elude
the import duties. One of the worst abuses was the importation of large
quantities of wines, beer, spirits and stores, for which exemption from
the payment of duty was claimed as goods intended for "personal use."
The local administration was carried on by a large staff of officials
established at the Custom House. There were two Bugiô, or Governors; two
Kumi-gashira, or Vice-Governors; two Metsuké, whose function was that of
keeping an eye on the doings of the others; a number of Shirabé-yaku, or
Directors; and Jô-yaku, or chief clerks, besides a host of scribes,
interpreters, tidewaiters and policemen, in black or green robes. Dutch
was the common medium of communication both orally and in writing, for
English was as yet scarcely studied by the natives, and the foreigners
who could speak Japanese might be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Yet all knew a little. A sort of bastard language had been invented for
the uses of trade, in which the Malay words _peggi_ and _sarampan_
played a great part, and with the addition of _anata_ and _arimasu_
every one fancied himself competent to settle the terms of a complicated
transaction. In this new tongue all the rich variety of Japanese speech,
by which the relative social position of the speakers is indicated, and
the intricate inflexion of the verbs, were conspicuous by their absence.
Outside the settlements it was of course not understood, and its use by
Europeans must have contributed not a little to the contempt for the
"barbarian" which was characteristic of the native attitude towards
foreigners.
By virtue of the treaties Kanagawa had been at first fixed upon for the
residence of Europeans, but, lying on the Tôkaidô, or principal highway
between Yedo and Kiôto, it was only too well calculated to afford
occasion for collision between the armed followers of the Japanese
nobles and the foreign settlers. Early in the day the Tycoon's
government sought to avoid this difficulty by erecting a Custom House
and rows of wooden bungalows at the fishing village of Yokohama, across
the shallow bay to the south. Some of the foreign representatives, more
intent upon enforcing Treaty provisions than desirous of meeting the
convenience of the native officials and the European merchants, strongly
opposed this arrangement, but the practical advantages of proximity to
the anchorage and personal security won the favour of the merchants, and
Yokohama became recognised as the port. Long after, and perhaps to this
day, the foreign consuls continued to date their official reports from
Kanagawa, though they were safely ensconced at the rival site, where a
town of 100,000 inhabitants now exists, and curious stories are told of
the difference in freight that used to be earned on goods shipped from
Europe to Yokohama or Kanagawa as the case might be.
The foreign settlement, for greater security, was surrounded on the land
side by wide canals, across which bridges were thrown, while ingress and
egress were controlled by strong guards of soldiers placed there with
the double object of excluding dangerous characters and levying a tax on
the supplies introduced from the surrounding country. At first land was
given away freely to all applicants, some of whom were employés of the
different consulates. These latter afterwards sold their lots to new
arrivals bent upon commercial pursuits, and thus pocketed gains to which
they had no shadow of a right. When further additions were afterwards
made to the "settlement," precautions were taken which effectually
prevented any one, whether merchant or official, from obtaining land
without paying an adequate price. Later on, title-deeds were made out,
by which the ground was conveyed to the holders, their heirs,
administrators, executors and assigns, thus creating a form of property
new to English experience, which purported to be at once real and
personal. Streets were laid out with but little thought of the general
convenience, and slight provision for the future. The day of wheeled
carriages had not dawned upon Japan. It was sufficient if space were
left for handcarts, and the most important Japanese commercial town of
the future was thus condemned in perpetuity to inconveniences of
traffic, the like of which can be best appreciated by those who knew the
central parts of business London fifty years ago, or the successive
capitals of the Italian kingdom when they were raised to that rank.
Architectural ambition at first was contented with simple wooden
bungalows, and in the latter part of 1862 there were not more than half
a dozen two-storied buildings in the foreign portion of the town.
Behind the settlement lay a newly filled-in tract of ground known as the
"swamp," still unoccupied except by a racecourse track, and in the rear
of this again, across a foul marsh, were conspicuous the flimsy
buildings of the Yoshiwara, euphemistically described by a noble Duke
from his place in Parliament as an "establishment for the education of
young ladies," and where a colonial bishop, to the intense amusement of
the younger and more irreverent of the foreign community, had innocently
left his visiting-card upon the elderly female who presided over the
pleasures of the place. But in those days all the residents were young.
Two churches, however, had already been erected, by Catholics and
Protestants respectively, and a foreign cemetery had been set apart on
the outside of the settlement. The health enjoyed by the European and
American inhabitants was such that the only occupants of the
burial-ground were some Russian officers and two Dutch merchant
captains, who had fallen victims to the deadly and mistaken patriotism
of Japanese _samurai_ (two-sworded men). No one had yet succumbed to
disease in that beautiful sunny climate.
The foreign community of Yokohama of that day was somewhat extravagantly
described by an English diplomat as "the scum of Europe." No doubt there
was a fair sprinkling of men who, suddenly relieved from the restraints
which social opinion places upon their class at home, and exposed to the
temptations of Eastern life, did not conduct themselves with the strict
propriety of students at a theological college. That they were really
worse than their co-equals elsewhere is unlikely. But in a small
community, where the actions of everyone are semi-public and concealment
is not regarded as an object of first-rate importance, the vices that
elsewhere pass unnoticed become prominent to the eyes of those who are
not exposed to the same temptations. There were also not a few who came
there without much capital to make a livelihood, or, if possible,
something more, and hastened to the attainment of their object without
being troubled with much scruple. And the difficulty which soon
presented itself of obtaining a sufficiency of native coin in exchange
for the silver dollar of Eastern commerce was the cause of extravagant
demands being presented to the Japanese Treasury. But the compromise
eventually arrived at, by which the merchant had to buy his _ichibus_ in
the open market, while the official obtained the equivalent of his
salary, and often much more, in native coin nearly weight for weight of
his "Mexicans," was to the minds of all unprejudiced persons a far
greater scandal. Detractors said that the advantages thus given to
Ministers, Consuls, sailors and soldiers was a bribe to induce their
compliance with violation of treaty stipulations to the prejudice of
their non-official countrymen; but this is unfair. It was the result of
false theories as to the nature and function of money, and personal
interest worked against a conversion to views more in accordance with
the principles of political economy.
The fact, however, remains, that in September 1862 the current rate of
exchange was 214 _ichibus_ for 100 dollars, though the latter were
really exchangeable for 311 _ichibus_ according to the Treaty. Each
diplomatic or consular establishment was allowed to exchange monthly a
certain number of dollars, supposed to represent the total salaries of
the staff, and other government charges, thirteen _ichibus_ per $100
being deducted for coinage. An official whose salary was $100 received
298 _ichibus_, the surplus of which over his bazaar expenses he
proceeded to change back into dollars; but practically he received
$139.25, or a profit of nearly 40 per cent. The gains of a Minister
whose salary was £3000 a year it may easily be seen were very large.
This was not all. The balance of the monthly quota of _ichibus_ was then
reconverted into dollars, the amount due to the official chest was
deducted, and the profit then divided among the staff in proportion to
their salaries. On a nominally small income it was consequently possible
to live well, keep a pony and drink champagne. As time went on, the
number of _ichibus_ thus put into circulation increased, and the rate of
exchange eventually declined to par. Then and only then the system was
abandoned. Where the money came from that was thus transferred to the
pockets of officials can be best explained by those who are versed in
economical questions. For my own part, I cannot look back on that period
without shame, and my only excuse, which is perhaps of little worth in
the court of history, is that I was at the bottom of the ladder, and
received the proportion paid to me by those who were in charge of the
business.
A few words may be devoted to describing the Yokohama society of those
days. There were few ladies in the settlement. Japan was a long way from
Europe, with no regular steam communication, and the lives of foreigners
were supposed to be not very safe at the hands of the arm-bearing
classes. The two great China firms of Jardine, Matheson & Co. and Dent &
Co. were of course represented. The latter came down with a crash a year
or two after my arrival. Fletcher & Co., another important Shanghai
firm, had a branch, and so had Barnet & Co., both now long forgotten.
Most of the remainder were Japan firms, amongst whom Aspinall, Cornes &
Co., Macpherson, Marshall & Co., were the foremost English, and Walsh,
Hall & Co., the leading American firms. Germans, French and Dutch were
considered of "no account." Money was abundant, or seemed to be, every
one kept a pony or two, and champagne flowed freely at frequent
convivial entertainments. Races were held in the spring and autumn, and
"real" horses competed in some of the events. A favourite Sunday's
excursion was the ride along the Tôkaidô to Kawasaki for tiffin, and
back again toward evening. Longer outings were to Kanazawa, Kamakura and
Enoshima; but anyone who had ventured as far as Hachiôji or Hakoné,
which were beyond the Treaty limits, was regarded as a bold, adventurous
spirit. The privilege of travelling beyond a distance of 25 miles from
Yokohama was reserved to the diplomatic representatives of foreign
powers, and Yedo could be visited only in the disguise of a member of
one of the legations, with the permission of its head. Such favours were
regarded with extreme jealousy by those who were debarred by
circumstances from obtaining them, and loud murmurs were heard that it
was the Minister's duty to invite his countrymen to the capital, and
give them board and lodging, irrespective of the shape which their
private relations with him might have assumed. Then, and perhaps even
yet, there existed a theory that public servants were practically the
servants of the extremely small section of the public that inhabited
Yokohama, and when the servants failed to comply with the wishes of
their employers they were naturally and rightly abused--behind their
backs.
So strong was the hostility excited in the breasts of the
English-Scotch-Irish portion of the community by the unlucky phrase,
"scum of Europe," that no member of either legation or consulate of
their country was allowed admittance into the Yokohama Club, composed
chiefly of British merchants; and this feeling lasted until the year
1865 brought about a permanent change in the representation of Great
Britain. The excuse for such relations between the British residents and
one who ought to have been the leader of the small society, is to be
found in the comparative youthfulness and ignorance of the world which
characterised the former. The experience of men and manners which saves
the dwellers in Little Peddlington from believing that others are
deliberately plotting to inflict insults on them is seldom attained
before middle life, especially when Little Peddlington happens to be
located in an Eastern land where the mind's growth comes to a
standstill, and a man's age is virtually to be reckoned by the years
actually spent in the mother country. For all purposes of mental and
moral development the time passed on the opposite side of the world must
be left out of the calculation.
It was agreed in the Treaties that Yedo should be the residence of the
foreign diplomatic representatives, and four Buddhist monasteries had,
in accordance with Japanese custom, been assigned to the representatives
of the four chief powers--Great Britain, France, Holland and the United
States. Sir R. Alcock[1] occupied Tô-zen-ji, in the suburb of Takanawa;
M. de Graef van Polsbrock lived in Chô-ô-ji, a little nearer the city;
then came Sai-kai-ji, the residence of M. Duchesne de Bellecourt; and
Mr. Harris had settled down at Zem-puku-ji in Azabu. But a series of
alarming occurrences had caused the European portion of the diplomatic
body to transfer their quarters to Yokohama, and the American Minister
alone held out, declaring his confidence in the good faith of the
Japanese Government and their ability to protect him. In September of
1862 he had already been replaced by General Pruyn, who followed the
example of his predecessor, until eventually driven out of the capital
by a fire which destroyed his house, whether purely accidental or
maliciously contrived. The English legation in 1861 had been the object
of a murderous attack in which the Secretary, Mr. Laurence Oliphant, and
Mr. G. C. Morrison were wounded. The assailants were principally
retainers of the Daimiô of Mito, but others belonging to various clans
were concerned in the affair, and some of these are still living. Sir R.
Alcock had consequently removed to Yokohama, where the strong guard
placed by the Japanese government at the entrances to the town and the
foreign men-of-war in the harbour offered sufficient guarantees for
safety. On his quitting Japan for a term of leave early in 1862, his
locum-tenens, Colonel Neale, not believing in a danger of which he had
no experience, brought the legation back to Tô-zen-ji. But he had no
sooner installed himself there than an event occurred which led him to
change his opinion. This was nothing less than the murder of the sentry
who stood at his bedroom door and of a corporal on his rounds, at the
hands of one of the Japanese guard, in revenge for an insult offered to
him, it is said, by the youngest member of the staff, a heedless boy of
fifteen or sixteen. So the British Legation packed up their archives and
hastened back to Yokohama, where they installed themselves in a house
that stood on the site of the present Grand Hotel. This building
belonged to an Englishman named Hoey, who was murdered in his bed in
1870, apparently from motives of private revenge. The foreign consuls
were all stationed at Yokohama with the exception of the American
consul, Colonel Fisher, who remained at Kanagawa. Mr. Harris, it is
said, would never admit that Yokohama could be rightfully substituted
for Kanagawa, the town mentioned in the Treaty, and would not permit his
consul to reside there. He even carried his opposition so far as to
declare that he never would countenance the change of settlement, and
carried out his vow by leaving Japan without having set foot in
Yokohama.
[1] It would be inconvenient to observe chronological exactness
in matters of official rank or title, which in the case of
most individuals are subject to progression. I shall speak
therefore of persons by the titles they bore at the latest
portion of the period covered by these reminiscences.
At the time of my arrival there, Colonel Neale, an old warrior who had
seen service with the Spanish Legion commanded by Sir de Lacy Evans, and
who, gossip said, regarded Sir R. Alcock, formerly attached to the
Marine Brigade of Portugal in the quality of surgeon, with no friendly
feelings, was Secretary of Legation, and consequently chargé d'affaires
in the absence of his chief. He had great command of his pen, and
composed most drastic Notes to the Japanese Government, some of which
have been printed by my friend, Mr. F. O. Adams in his _History of
Japan_. He had previously been consul at Varna and Belgrade, and
consequently had a sufficient experience of the system known as
"extra-territoriality," which in most non-Christian countries of the
East exempts Europeans from the operations of the local law. In stature
considerably less than the average Englishman, he wore a heavy grey
moustache, and thin wisps of grizzled hair wandered about his forehead.
His temper was sour and suspicious. Of his political capacity there is
not much to be said, except that he did not understand the circumstances
amongst which he was thrown, as his despatches sufficiently indicate,
well-written and incisive as they are. But this is only an example of
the fact that power of speech with tongue or pen is not a measure of a
man's fitness for the conduct of affairs. In his jovial moments he
easily unbent, and would entertain his companions with snatches of
operas of which he carried a large assortment in his memory.
At this period he was about fifty-five, and probably already affected
with the beginnings of the disease which carried him off a few years
later at Quito.
The second in rank was the so-called Japanese Secretary. He was neither
a native of Japan nor had he any knowledge of the language, so that the
title must be understood as signifying "secretary in charge of
correspondence with the Japanese Government." At our mission in China
there is always an official who bears the corresponding title of Chinese
Secretary, but there the post has always been held by a scholar. Dutch
was the only European language of which the Japanese knew anything, and
therefore when the Foreign Office came to provide a staff of officials
for the consular establishment, they sought high and low for Englishmen
acquainted with that recondite tongue. Four were at last discovered, one
of whom was first appointed interpreter to the legation and afterwards
accorded the higher title. Part of his salary was expressly granted by
way of remuneration for instructing the student-interpreters in the
language of the country, and consequently could not be said to be
earned. He retained his office for eight years, when a consulate became
vacant, and the opportunity was at once seized of "kicking him up the
ladder." All the domestic virtues were his, and of actively bad
qualities he showed no trace.
Next to this gentleman came a First Assistant, sociable and
accomplished, musical, artistic and speaking many languages beside his
own, but no lover of hard work. In his hands the accounts fell eighteen
months in arrear, and the registers of correspondence were a couple of
years behind hand. It was his function to preside over the chancery, and
he left it to his successor in a condition which the latter aptly
compared to that of an "Aegean stable." He was the sort of man who is
always known among his friends by his Christian name, and no higher
tribute to personal qualities is possible. In the course of time he
became a consul, and retired from the service at an early age, carrying
with him the regrets and good wishes of everybody who knew him.
In the legation staff there were also included two doctors, who at the
same time discharged the functions of Assistants in the chancery. One of
them shortly quitted the service, and set up in Yokohama as a general
practitioner, to retire with a competent fortune after but a few years.
The other merits more extended notice, on account both of his character
and public services of every kind. I mean my life-long friend, William
Willis. Perhaps no other man ever exhibited in a greater measure the
quality which we are wont to call conscientiousness, whether in his
private relations or in the discharge of his duties. Those who have had
the fortune to profit by his medical or surgical aid, feel that no man
could be more tender or sympathetic towards a patient. He was devoted to
his profession, and lost no opportunity of extending his experience. In
those days a doctor had frequently to encounter personal risks such as
fall to the lot of few civilians; he exposed himself freely, in order to
succour the wounded. In the chancery his services were indispensable. He
it was who "swept the 'Aegean stable,'" arranged the archives in order,
and brought the register up to date. Always on the spot when he was
wanted, an indefatigable worker, and unswervingly loyal to his chief.
After nine years service he was promoted to be a vice-consul, but by
this time the Japanese had become so impressed with his value as a
surgeon and physician that they begged him to accept a salary more than
four times what he received from the Foreign Office, and he went where
his great qualities were likely to be of more use than in trying petty
police cases and drawing up trade reports of a city which never had any
foreign commerce. His gigantic stature made him conspicuous among all
the Europeans who have resided in Japan since the ports were opened, and
when I first knew him he was hardly five and twenty years of age. A man
endowed with an untiring power of application, accurate memory for words
and things, and brimful of good stories from the three kingdoms. Big men
are big-hearted, and he was no exception. We shall come across him again
repeatedly in the course of these reminiscences, and for the present
these few words must suffice.
Besides these, the legation staff included Russell Brooke Robertson and
myself, as student-interpreters.
Last, but not least, were the officers of the mounted escort and
infantry guard. The latter was commanded by Lieut. Price of the 67th
Regiment, and was soon replaced by fifty marines under the command of a
man widely known in the service to which he belonged as
"Public-spirited" Smith. I shall say more of him later on. The cavalry
escort consisted of a dozen men from the Military Train, a corps which
went by the honorary title of "Pig-drivers," and at their head was a
lieutenant, a good, harmless sort of fellow, whose only weakness was for
fine uniforms and showy horses. Not being learned in the extremely
complicated subject of military costume, full dress, half dress, and
undress, I cannot say what it was that he had adopted for himself, but
it was whispered about that he had been audacious enough to assume the
insignia of a field-officer, which is undoubtedly a serious offence
against discipline. However that may be, the blaze of gold which
decorated his person was wonderful to behold, and on at least one
occasion, when we were going in solemn procession to an audience of the
Tycoon, caused him to be mistaken for the Envoy by the Japanese
officials, who gave him the salutes that rightfully belonged to his less
conspicuously adorned diplomatic chief. To determine whether the
pleasure derived from this confusion of persons by the one outweighed
the mortification which might not unnaturally have been felt by the
other would have required a delicate moral balance, which was not
available at the moment; but judging from the relative scale of the two
men in other points of character, I am inclined to infer that the good
preponderated largely over the evil, and that applying consequently the
criterion so unfairly attributed to the utilitarians by their opponents,
we must arrive at the provisional conclusion that the lieutenant's
uniform was highly virtuous and worthy of the applause of mankind.
But it is time to quit this gossiping tone and speak of more serious
matters.
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN JAPAN
AT this period the movement had already commenced that finally
culminated in what may fitly be called the Revolution of 1868, by which
the feudal system was destroyed and the old monarchical government
revived. The tendency of the times was as yet scarcely perceived by
foreigners, with but one or two exceptions. They generally supposed that
political strife had broken out between the sovereign and a few unruly
vassals dissatisfied with the treaties that permitted the sacred soil of
Japan to be defiled by the footsteps of "barbarians," and secured all
the profits of trade to the head of the State, the vassals being enabled
to defy their suzerain owing to his own feebleness and the incapacity of
his Ministers. It was still believed that the potentate in whose name
the Treaties had been concluded was the Temporal Sovereign, and that the
Mikado was little more than the head of the priesthood, or Spiritual
Emperor. This theory of the Japanese Constitution was almost as old as
the earliest knowledge of the country possessed by Europeans. Marco
Polo, indeed, says nothing of its system of government in the two short
chapters which he devotes to Zipangu, but the Jesuit missionaries who
laboured in Japan during the 16th and 17th centuries uniformly held the
Mikado to be a spiritual dignitary, and spoke of the Shôgun as the real
ruler of the country, the temporal king, and even Emperor. Kaempfer, the
best known and most often quoted of the authorities on Japan, writing at
the beginning of the 18th century, calls the two potentates
Ecclesiastical and Secular Emperors, and his example had, up to the time
I am writing of, been followed by all his successors without exception.
The truth is that the polity of the Japanese State had assumed already
in the 12th century the form which it was still displaying at the
beginning of the latter half of the 19th, and institutions which could
boast of such a highly respectable antiquity might well be supposed to
have taken a deep enough hold to be part and parcel of the national
life.
The history of Japan has still to be written. Native chronicles of the
Mikados and annals of leading families exist in abundance, but the
Japanese mind is only just now beginning to emancipate itself from the
thraldom of Chinese literary forms, while no European has yet attempted
a task which requires a training different from that of most men who
pursue an Eastern career. Until within the last two decades, the
literature of Japan was almost entirely unknown to Europeans, and the
existing keys to the language were ridiculously inadequate. The only
historical works accessible to foreigners were the scanty _Annales des
Dairi_, translated by Titsingh with the aid of native Dutch interpreters
and edited by Klaproth with a degree of bold confidence that nothing but
the position of a one-eyed man amongst the blind can give; and a set of
chronological tables, translated by Hoffman for Siebold's _Nippon_. It
is no wonder, therefore, if at the outset of Treaty relations, the
foreign representatives were at a loss to appreciate the exact nature of
the political questions that confronted them, and were unable to
diagnose the condition of the patient whose previous history was unknown
to them.
To trace in detail the development of the Japanese monarchy, from its
beginnings as a pure theocracy of foreign invaders, attracting to itself
the allegiance of a number of small tribal chieftains, the fusion of
these tribes with their conquerors into one seemingly homogeneous race,
the remodelling of the administration which followed upon the
introduction of Chinese laws and philosophy, the supplanting of the
native hero and native worship by the creed of Gautama, the rise of a
military caste brought about by the constant warfare with the barbarous
tribes in the east and north of the country, the rivalry of the Taira
and Minamoto clans, both sprung from base-born younger sons of the
Mikados, and the final suppression of the civil administration in the
provinces by the distribution of the country amongst the followers of
the Minamoto and their allies, would require a profound study of
documents which no one has yet undertaken. With the appointment of
Yoritomo to be Commander-in-Chief the feudal system was fully
established. The ancient official hierarchy still existed at Kiôto, but
in name only, exercising no influence whatever over the conduct of
affairs, and in the 14th century its functions were already so far
forgotten as to become the subject of antiquarian research. The civil
and penal codes borrowed from the great Empire of Eastern Asia fell into
disuse, and in part even the very traces of them perished. Martial law
reigned throughout the land, half the people were converted into a huge
garrison, which the other half toiled to feed and clothe. Reading and
writing were the exclusive accomplishments of the Buddhist priesthood
and of the impoverished nobles who formed the court of a Mikado shorn of
all the usual attributes of a sovereign, and a deep sleep fell upon the
literary genius of the nation. The absence of danger from foreign
invasion rendered the necessity of a strong central administration
unfelt, and Japan under the Shôguns assumed the aspect of Germany in the
middle ages, the soil being divided between a multitude of petty
potentates, independent in all but name, while their nominal head was
little better than a puppet.
This state of things lasted till the second quarter of the 14th century,
when an attempt was made under the Mikado Go-Daigo to re-establish the
pristine rule of the legitimate sovereigns. A civil war ensued that
lasted for over fifty years, until the Ashikaga family finally
established themselves in the office of hereditary Shôguns. Before long
they split up into two branches which quarrelled among themselves and
gave opportunity for local chiefs to re-establish their independence. In
the middle of the 16th century a soldier of fortune, Ota Nobunaga by
name, profited by the central position of the provinces he had acquired
with his sword to arrogate to himself the right of arbitrating between
the warlike leaders who had risen in every direction. After his
assassination a still greater warrior, known most commonly by the title
of Taicosama, carried on the work of pacification: every princelet who
opposed his authority was in turn subdued, and he might have become the
founder of a new line of "_maires du palais_." He died, however, before
time had sufficiently consolidated his position, leaving an
inexperienced youth heir to his power, under the tutelage of guardians
who speedily quarrelled. The most distinguished of these was Iyéyasu,
who, besides the vast domains which he had acquired in the neighbourhood
of Yedo, the modern Tôkiô, possessed all the qualities which fit a man
to lead armies and rule kingdoms. He had been Taicosama's sole remaining
competitor for power, and at the death of the latter naturally assumed
the most prominent position in the country. A couple of years sufficed
for the transference to him of all, and more than all, the authority
wielded by his two predecessors. No combination against him had any
chance of success. The decisive battle of Sekigahara in 1600 brought the
whole nation to his feet, and he made full use of this opportunity to
create checks upon the _Daimiôs_ of whose fidelity he was not
sufficiently assured, by grants of territories to his own friends and
followers, a few of the older families alone being allowed to retain
their ancient fiefs. Among these were Shimadzu in the south of Kiû-shiû,
Môri in the extreme west, and Daté, Nambu and Tsugaru in the northern
provinces of the main island. His own sons received portions in Owari,
Ki-shiû, Mito and elsewhere. In 1616, at Iyéyasu's death 19-20ths of the
whole country was held by his adherents. Thus there arose five or six
classes of barons, as they may best be called, to render their position
intelligible to the English reader. Firstly, there were the Three
Families descended from his most favoured sons, from whom according to
the constitution established by him in case of a default of direct
heirs, the successor to the Shôgunate was to be chosen (as a matter of
fact resort was had only to Ki-shiû when a break in the line occurred).
Next came the Related Families (_Kamon_) sprung from his younger sons,
and in the third place were ranked the Lords of Provinces (_Koku-shi_).
The members of these three classes enjoyed the revenue of fiefs
comprising one or more provinces, or lands of equivalent extent. Below
them in importance were the Hereditary Servants (_fu-dai_) and
Banner-men (_hatamoto_) composed as has been said before of the
immediate retainers of the Tokugawa family, and the Stranger Lords
(_tozama_), relics of the former barons, who had submitted to his
supremacy and followed his banner in his last wars. The qualification of
a _daimiô_ was the possession of lands assessed at a production of
10,000 _koku_ (=about 5 bushels) of rice and upwards. The _hatamotos_
were retainers of the Tokugawa family whose assessment was below 10,000
_koku_ and above 1000. Below them came the ordinary vassals
(_go-ke-nin_).
The fiefs of all classes of the _daimiôs_ were in their turn at first
partitioned out among their retainers, and called _Ke-rai_ in their
relation to their immediate lords, and _bai-shin_ (arrière vassals) as
being vassals of those who acknowledged the suzerainty of the Shôgun.
_Samurai_ and _ashigaru_ denoted the two ranks of sword-bearing
gentlemen and common soldiers among the retainers of the _daimiôs_. In
the end every retainer, except the _samurai_ of Satsuma, received an
annual allowance of so much rice, in return for which he was bound to
perform military service and appear in the field or discharge the
ordinary military duties required in time of peace, accompanied by
followers proportioned in number to his income. In Satsuma the feudal
sub-division of the land was carried out to the fullest extent, so that
the vassal of lowest rank held the sword in one hand and the hoe in the
other. No taxes were paid by any feudal proprietor. The _koku-shi_ and
other barons of equal rank ruled their provinces absolutely, levying
land-tax on the farmers and imposts on internal trade as they chose.
They had further the power of life and death, subject only to the
nominal condition of reporting once a year the capital sentences
inflicted by their officers. The other nobles were less independent.
Every _daimiô_ had to maintain an establishment at the capital, where
his wife and children resided permanently, while the lord passed
alternate years in Yedo and in his territories.
On his journeys to and fro he was accompanied by a little army of
retainers, for whose accommodation inns were built at every town on the
main roads throughout the country, and the expense involved was a heavy
tax on his resources. A strict system of etiquette regulated the
audiences with which the _daimiôs_ were favoured on their arrival and
departure, and prescribed the presents they were to offer as a symbol of
their inferiority. There was little social intercourse among them, and
they lived for the most part a life of extreme seclusion surrounded by
vast numbers of women and servants. A fixed number of hereditary
councillors (_karô_ and _yônin_) checked all initiative in the
administration of their fiefs. They were brought up in complete
ignorance of the outer world, and the strings of government were pulled
by the unseen hands of obscure functionaries who obtained their
appointments by force of their personal qualities. After a few
generations had passed the descendants of the active warriors and
statesmen of Iyéyasu's time were reduced to the state of imbecile
puppets, while the hereditary principle produced a similar effect on
their councillors. Thus arose in each daimiate a condition of things
which may be compared to that of a Highland clan, where the ultimate
power was based upon the feelings and opinions of a poor but
aristocratic oligarchy. This led to the surprising results of the
revolution of 1868, when the power nominally exercised by the chief
_daimiôs_ came to be wielded by the more energetic and intelligent of
their retainers, most of whom were _samurai_ of no rank or position.
These men it was who really ruled the clan, determined the policy of its
head and dictated to him the language he should use on public occasions.
The _daimiô_, it cannot be too often repeated, was a nobody; he
possessed not even as much power as a constitutional sovereign of the
modern type, and his intellect, owing to his education, was nearly
always far below par. This strange political system was enabled to hold
together solely by the isolation of the country from the outer world. As
soon as the fresh air of European thought impinged upon this framework
it crumbled to ashes like an Egyptian mummy brought out of its
sarcophagus.
The decline of the Mikado's power dates from the middle of the 9th
century, when for the first time a boy of nine years ascended the throne
of his ancestors. During his minority the country was governed by his
father-in-law, the chief of the ancient Fujiwara family, who contrived
for a long period to secure to themselves the power of setting up and
removing their own nominees just as suited their convenience. A similar
fate befel the institution of the Shôgunate. After the murder of
Yoritomo's last surviving son, the country was nominally ruled by a
succession of young princes, none of whom had emerged from the stage of
boyhood when appointed, and who were deposed in turn after a few years
of complete nullity, while the real heads of the government were the
descendants of Hôjô Tokimasa, Yoritomo's father-in-law. The vices of the
hereditary principle in their case had again full sway, and the later
Hôjô were mere puppets in the hands of their principal advisers. A
revolution in favour of the Mikado overthrew this system for a short
interval, until the Shôgunate was restored for a time to reality by the
founder of the Ashikaga family. But after the lapse of a few years its
power was divided between Kiôto and Kamakura, and the two heads of the
family fell under the dominating influence of their agents the
_Kwan-rei_ Uyésugi and Hosokawa.
Towards the end of the Ashikaga period the Shôgun had become as much an
empty name as the Mikado himself, and the country was split up among the
local chieftains. The bad condition of the internal communications
between the provinces and the capital probably contributed to this state
of things. Iyéyasu was the first to render consolidation possible by the
construction of good military roads. The governmental system erected by
him seemed calculated to ensure the lasting tranquillity of the country.
But the hereditary principle again reasserted its influence. The third
Shôgun, Iyémitsu, was a real man. Born four years after the battle of
Sekigahara and already twelve years of age when his grandfather died in
the year succeeding his final appearance in the battlefield, he had the
education of a soldier, and to his energy was owing the final
establishment of the Tokugawa supremacy on a solid basis. Iyéyasu and
his successor had always been in the habit of meeting the _daimiôs_ on
their visits to Yedo outside the city. Iyémitsu received them in his
palace. He gave those who would not submit to their changed position the
option of returning home, and offered them three years for preparation
to try the ordeal of war. Not a single one ventured to resist. But he
was succeeded by his son Iyétsuna, a boy of ten. During Iyétsuna's
minority the government was carried on in his name by his Council of
State, composed of Hereditary Servants (_fu-dai daimiôs_), and the
personal authority of the head of the Tokugawa family thus received its
first serious blow. But worse than that, the office of chief councillor
was from the first confined to four baronial families, Ii, Honda,
Sakakibara and Sakai, and the rôjiû or ordinary councillors were
likewise _daimiôs_.
On them the hereditary principle had, in the interval between the close
of the civil wars and the accession of the fourth Shôgun, produced its
usual result. Nominally the heads of the administration they were
without any will of their own, and were guided by their own hereditary
councillors, whose strings were pulled by someone else. The real power
then fell into the hands of ministers or _bu-giô_, chosen from the
_hatamoto_ or lesser vassals, and many of these were men of influence
and real weight. Still with them the habit of delegating authority into
the hands of anyone of sufficient industry and energy to prefer work to
idleness, was invincible, and in the end the dominions of the Tokugawa
family came to be ruled by the _Oku go-yû-hitsu_ or private secretaries.
The machine in fact had been so skilfully constructed that a child could
keep it turning. Political stagnation was mistaken for stability.
Apart from one or two unsuccessful conspiracies against the government,
Japan experienced during 238 years the profoundest tranquillity. She
resembled the sleeping beauty in the wood, and the guardians of the
public safety had a task not more onerous than that of waving a fan to
keep the flies from disturbing the princess's slumbers. When her dreams
were interrupted by the eager and vigorous West the ancient, decrepit
and wrinkled watchers were found unfit for their posts, and had to give
way to men more fit to cope with the altered circumstances which
surrounded them.
Socially the nation was divided into two sections by a wide gulf which
it was impossible to pass. On the one hand the sword-bearing families or
gentry, whose frequent poverty was compensated for by their privileges
of rank, on the other the agricultural, labouring and commercial
classes; intermarriage was forbidden between the orders. The former were
ruled by the code of honour, offences against which were permitted to be
expiated by self-destruction, the famous _harakiri_ or disembowelment,
while the latter were subject to a severe unwritten law enforced by
cruel and frequent capital punishment. They were the obedient humble
servants of the two-sworded class.
Japan had already made the experiment of free intercourse with European
states in the middle of the 16th century, when the merchants and
missionaries of Portugal were welcomed in the chief ports of Kiû-shiû,
and Christianity bade fair to replace the ancient native religions. They
were succeeded by the Spaniards, Dutch and English, the two latter
nations confining themselves however to commerce. The gigantic
missionary undertakings of the two great English-speaking communities of
the far West were the creation of a much later time. It will be
recollected that in 1580 Spain for a time absorbed Portugal. The Roman
Catholics began before long to excite the enmity of the Buddhist and
Shintô priesthood, whose temples they had caused to be pulled down and
whose revenues they seemed on the point of usurping. Nobunaga had
favoured them, but in the civil wars that raged at that period the
principal patrons of the Jesuits were overthrown, and the new ruler
Taicosama soon proclaimed his hostility to the strangers. Their worst
offence was the refusal of a Christian girl to become his concubine.
Iyéyasu, a devout Buddhist, pursued the same religious policy as his
predecessor in possession of the ruling power. His dislike to
Christianity was stimulated by the fact that some of Hidéyori's
adherents were Christians, and the young prince Hidéyori was himself
known to be on friendly terms with the missionaries. The flame was
fanned by the Dutch and English, now become the hereditary political
foes of Spain, and the persecution was renewed with greater vigour than
ever. Missionaries were sought out with eager keenness, and in the
company of their disciples subjected to cruel tortures and the most
horrible deaths. The fury of persecution did not relax with Iyéyasu's
disappearance from the scene, and the final act of the drama was played
out in the time of his grandson.
An insurrection provoked by the oppression of the local _daimiôs_ broke
out in the island of Amakusa, where thousands of Christians joined the
rebel flag. After a furious struggle the revolt was put an end to on the
24th February, 1638, by the assault and capture of the castle of
Shimabara, when 37,000 people, two-thirds of whom were women and
children, were put to the sword. It is hardly possible to read the
native accounts of this business without a feeling of choking
indignation at the ruthless sacrifice of so many unfortunate creatures
who were incapable of defence, and whose only crime was their wish to
serve the religion which they had chosen for their rule of life. The
Portuguese were forbidden ever to set foot again in Japan. The English
had previously retired from a commercial contest in which they found
their rivals too fortunate and too skilful, and the edict went forth
that the Dutch, who now alone remained, should thenceforth be confined
to the small artificial island of Déshima, off the town of Nagasaki,
where for the next 2-1/4 centuries they and the Chinese were permitted
to carry on a restricted and constantly diminishing trade. Attempts were
made once or twice by the English, and early in the present century by
the Russians, to induce the government of Japan to relax their rule, but
in vain. The only profit the world has derived from these abortive
essays is the entrancing narrative of Golownin, who was taken prisoner
in Yezo in connection with a descent made by Russian naval officers in
revenge for the rejection of the overtures made by the Russian envoy
Resanoff, perhaps the most lifelike picture of Japanese official manners
that is anywhere to be met with. No further approaches were made by any
Western Government until the United States took the matter in hand in
1852.
CHAPTER IV
TREATIES--ANTI-FOREIGN SPIRIT--MURDER OF FOREIGNERS
THE expedition of Commodore Perry to Loochoo and Japan was not the first
enterprise of its kind that had been undertaken by the Americans. Having
accomplished their own independence as the result of a contest in which
a few millions of half-united colonists had successfully withstood the
well-trained legions of Great Britain and her German mercenaries (though
not, it may be fairly said, without in a great measure owing their
success to the very efficient assistance of French armies and fleets),
they added to this memory of ancient wrongs a natural fellow-feeling for
other nations who were less able to resist the might of the greatest
commercial and maritime Power the world has yet seen. While sympathising
with Eastern peoples in the defence of their independent rights, they
believed that a conciliatory mode of treating them was at least equally
well fitted to ensure the concession of those trading privileges to
which the Americans are not less indifferent than the English.
In 1836 they had despatched an envoy to Siam and Cochin-China, who was
successful in negotiating by peaceful methods a treaty of commerce with
the former state. In China, like the other western states, they had
profited by the negotiations which were the outcome of the Opium War,
without having to incur the odium of using force or the humiliation of
finding their softer methods prove a failure in dealing with the
obstinate conservatism of Chinese mandarins. For many years their eyes
had been bent upon Japan, which lay on the opposite side of the Pacific
fronting their own state of California, then rising into fame as one of
the great gold-producing regions of the globe. Warned by the fate of all
previous attempts to break down the wall of seclusion that hemmed in the
'country of the gods,' they resolved to make such a show of force that
with reasonable people, unfamiliar with modern artillery, might prove as
powerful an argument as theories of universal brotherhood and the
obligations imposed by the comity of nations. They appointed to the
chief command a naval officer possessed of both tact and determination,
whose judicious use of the former qualification rendered the employ of
the second unnecessary. Probably no one was more agreeably surprised
than Commodore Perry at the comparative ease with which, on his second
visit to the Bay of Yedo, he obtained a Treaty, satisfactory enough as a
beginning. No doubt the counsels of the Dutch agent at Nagasaki were not
without their effect, and we may also conjecture that the desire which
had already begun to manifest itself among some of the lower _Samurai_
for a wider acquaintance with the mysterious outer world was secretly
shared by men in high positions. Fear alone would not have induced a
haughty government like that of the Shôguns to acquiesce in breaking
through a law of restriction that had such a highly creditable antiquity
to boast of.
Most men's motives are mixed, and there was on the Japanese side no very
decided unwillingness to yield to a show of force, which the pretext of
prudence would enable them to justify. England and Russia, then or
shortly afterwards at war, followed in the wake of the United States.
Next an American Consul-General took up his residence at Shimoda, to
look after the interests of whaling vessels, and skilfully made use of
the recent events in China to induce the Shôgun's government to extend
the concessions already granted. In 1858 the China War having been
apparently brought to a successful conclusion, Lord Elgin and the French
Ambassador, Baron Gros, ran across to Japan and concluded treaties on
the same basis as Mr. Harris, and before long similar privileges were
accorded to Holland and Russia. In 1859 the ports of Nagasaki, Hakodaté
and Yokohama were thrown open to the trade of the Five Powers, and a new
age was inaugurated in Japan.
It was not without opposition that the Shôgun's government had entered
into its first engagements with the United States, Great Britain and
Russia. An agitation arose when the first American ships anchored in the
Bay of Yedo, and there were not wanting bold and rash men ready to
undertake any desperate enterprise against the foreign invaders of the
sacred soil of Japan. But at this time there was no leader to whom the
malcontents could turn for guidance. The Mikado was closely watched by
the Shôgun's resident at Kiôto, and the _daimiôs_ were divided among
themselves. The principal opponent was the ex-Prince of Mito, whose
constitutional duty was to support the Shôgun and aid him with his
counsels in all great national crises.
During the presence of Commodore Perry the reigning Shôgun Iyéyoshi had
fallen ill, and he died not long after the squadron had sailed. He was
succeeded by his son Iyésada, a man of 28, who does not seem to have
been endowed with either force of character or knowledge of the world.
Such qualities are not to be expected from the kind of education which
fell to the lot of Japanese princes in those days.
In view of the expected return of the American ships in the following
year, forts were constructed to guard the sea-front of the capital, and
the ex-Prince of Mito was summoned from his retirement to take the lead
in preparing to resist the encroachments of foreign powers. By a curious
coincidence, this nobleman, then forty-nine years of age, was the
representative of a family which for years had maintained the
theoretical right of the Mikado to exercise the supreme government, and
was at the same time strongly opposed to any extension of the limited
intercourse with foreign countries then permitted. Nor can it be
wondered that Japan, who had so successfully protected herself from
foreign aggression by a policy of rigid exclusion, and which had seen
the humiliation of China consequent upon disputes with a Western Power
arising out of trade questions at the very moment when she was being
torn by a civil war which owed its origin to the introduction of new
religious beliefs from the West, should have believed that the best
means of maintaining peace at home and avoiding an unequal contest with
Europe, was to adhere strictly to the traditions of the past two
centuries. But when the intrusive foreigners returned in the beginning
of the following year, Japan found herself still unprepared to repel
them by force. The treaty was therefore signed, interdicting trade, but
permitting whalers to obtain supplies in the three harbours of Nagasaki,
Hakodaté and Shimoda, and promising friendly treatment to shipwrecked
sailors.
While making these unavoidable concessions, the Japanese buoyed
themselves up with the belief that their innate superiority could enable
them easily to overcome the better equipped forces of foreign countries,
when once they had acquired the modern arts of warfare and provided
themselves with a sufficient proportion of the ships and weapons of the
nineteenth century. From that time onwards this was the central idea of
Japan's foreign policy for many years, as the sequel will show. Even at
this period there were a few who would have willingly started off on
this new quest, and two Japanese actually asked Commodore Perry to give
them a passage in his flagship. They were refused, and their zeal was
punished by their own government with imprisonment. The residence of Mr.
Harris at Shimoda and the visit which he insisted on paying to the
capital created fresh difficulties for the advisers of the Shôgun.
Written protests were delivered by non-official members of his council,
and he was obliged at last to ask the Mikado's sanction to the treaties,
in order to strengthen his own position. This invocation of the Mikado's
authority may fairly be called an innovation upon ancient custom.
Neither Nobunaga, Hidéyoshi nor Iyéyasu had thought it necessary to get
their acts approved by him, and Iyéyasu granted trade privileges
entirely on his own responsibility, without his right to do so ever
being questioned. This reference to Kiôto is the first sign of the
decadence of the Shôgun's power.
The supremacy of the Mikado having been once admitted, his right to a
voice in the affairs of the country could no longer be disputed. His
nobles seized the opportunity, and assumed the attitude of obstruction,
which has always been a powerful weapon in the hands of individuals and
parties. One man out of a dozen, of sufficient determination, can always
force the others to yield, when his position is legal, and cannot be
disturbed by the use of force. On the one hand, Mr. Harris pressed for a
revision of the treaty and the concession of open ports at Kanagawa and
Ozaka; on the other was the Court, turning an obstinately deaf ear to
all proposals. In its desperation the Shôgun's government appointed to
be Prime Minister, or Regent as he was called by foreigners, the
descendant of Iyéyasu's most trusted retainer, the _daimiô_ Ii Kamon no
Kami of Hikoné, and Mr. Harris, as has already been said, skilfully
turning to account the recent exploits of the combined English and
French squadrons in the Chinese seas, obtained his treaty, achieving a
diplomatic triumph of the greatest value purely by the use of "moral"
pressure. The English, French, Russian and Dutch treaties followed. The
Shôgun stood committed to a policy from which his new allies were not
likely to allow of his receding, while to the anti-foreign party was
imparted a consistency that there had previously been little chance of
its acquiring.
Scarcely was the ink of these engagements dry, when the Shôgun, who had
been indisposed for some weeks past, was gathered to his fathers,
leaving no heir. According to the custom which had been observed on two
previous occasions when there had been a break in the direct line, a
prince was chosen from the house of Ki-shiû to be his successor. The
ex-Prince of Mito, and several of his sympathisers among the leading
nobles, namely, Hizen, Owari, Tosa, Satsuma and the Daté of Uwajima, a
man of abilities superior to the size of his tiny fief in Shikoku, had
desired to choose a younger son of Mito, who had been adopted into the
family of Hitotsubashi. But the Prime Minister was too strong for them.
He insisted on the election of his own nominee, and forced his opponents
to retire into private life. Thus to their disapproval of the political
course adopted by the Shôgunate, was added a personal resentment against
its chief minister, and this feeling was shared in a remarkable degree
by the retainers of the disgraced nobles. A bloody revenge was taken two
years later on the individual, but the hostility to the system only
increased with time, and in the end brought about its complete ruin.
Mito was the ringleader of the opposition, and began actively to
intrigue with the Mikado's party against the head of his own family. The
foreigners arrived in numbers at Kanagawa and Yokohama, and affronted
the feelings of the haughty _samurai_ by their independent demeanour, so
different from the cringing subservience to which the rules of Japanese
etiquette condemned the native merchant. It was not long before blood
was shed. On the evening of the 26th August, six weeks after the
establishment at Yedo of the British and American Representatives, an
officer and a seaman belonging to a Russian man-of-war were cut to
pieces in the streets of Yokohama, where they had landed to buy
provisions. In November, a Chinese servant belonging to the French
vice-consul was attacked and killed in the foreign settlement at
Yokohama. Two months later, Sir R. Alcock's native linguist of the
British Legation was stabbed from behind as he was standing at the
gateway of the British Legation in Yedo, and within a month more two
Dutch merchant captains were slaughtered in the high street at Yokohama.
Then there was a lull for eight or nine months, till the French
Minister's servant was cut at and badly wounded as he was standing at
the gate of the Legation in Yedo. On the 14th January, 1861, Heusken,
the Secretary of the American Mission, was attacked and murdered as he
was riding home after a dinner-party at the Prussian Legation. And on
the night of July 5 occurred the boldest attempt yet made on the life of
foreigners, when the British Legation was attacked by a band of armed
men and as stoutly defended by the native guard. This was a considerable
catalogue for a period of no more than two years since the opening of
the ports to commerce. In every case the attack was premeditated and
unprovoked, and the perpetrators on every occasion belonged to the
swordbearing class. No offence had been given by the victims to those
who had thus ruthlessly cut them down; they were assassinated from
motives of a political character, and their murderers went unpunished in
every instance. Japan became to be known as a country where the
foreigner carried his life in his hand, and the dread of incurring the
fate of which so many examples had already occurred became general among
the residents. Even in England before I left to take up my appointment,
we felt that apart from the chances of climate, the risk of coming to an
untimely end at the hands of an expert swordsman must be taken into
account. Consequently, I bought a revolver, with a due supply of powder,
bullets and caps. The trade to Japan in these weapons must have been
very great in those days, as everyone wore a pistol whenever he ventured
beyond the limits of the foreign settlement, and constantly slept with
one under his pillow. It was a busy time for Colt and Adams. But in all
the years of my experience in Japan I never heard of more than one life
being taken by a revolver, and that was when a Frenchman shot a
carpenter who demanded payment for his labour in a somewhat too
demonstrative manner. In Yedo I think we finally gave up wearing
revolvers in 1869, chiefly because the few of us who resided there had
come to the conclusion that the weight of the weapon was inconvenient,
and also that if any bloodthirsty two-sworded gentleman intended to take
our lives, he would choose his time and opportunity so as to leave us no
chance of anticipating his purpose with a bullet.
In the spring of 1862 Sir Rutherford Alcock returned to England on leave
of absence, and Colonel Neale was left in charge. As I have said before,
disbelieving in the validity of the reasons which had led the Minister
to remove his official residence to Yokohama, the Chargé d'Affaires
reestablished himself at the temple formerly occupied as the British
Legation. On the anniversary, according to the Japanese calendar, of the
attack referred to on a previous page, some Commissioners for Foreign
Affairs in calling upon Colonel Neale, congratulated him and themselves
on the fact that a whole year had elapsed since any fresh attempt had
been made on the life of a foreigner. It was not unnatural, therefore,
that in the first impulse of indignation at the savage and bloody
slaughter of the sentry and corporal almost at his bedroom door, he
should have conceived the suspicion that the visit of the Commissioners
and their language in the morning, had been intended to put him off his
guard, and that consequently the Japanese government, or rather the
Shôgun's ministers, were implicated in what looked like a barbarous act
of treachery that deprived the Japanese nation of all right to be
regarded as a civilized community; more especially as the native watch
had been recently changed, and fresh men substituted for those who had
fought so well in defence of Sir Rutherford Alcock the year before. But
on reflection it will easily be seen that there was no real
justification for such a belief. The assassin was one of the guard.
After the murder of the two Englishmen he returned to his quarters and
there committed suicide by ripping himself up in the approved Japanese
fashion. We may be sure that if his act had been the result of a
conspiracy, he would not have been alone. Ignorant as the Shôgun's
ministers may have been, and probably were, of the sacred character of
an envoy, it was not their interest to bring upon themselves the armed
vengeance of foreign powers at a moment when they were confronted with
the active enmity of the principal clans of the west. I think they may
be entirely absolved from all share in this attempt to massacre the
inmates of the English Legation. But on the other hand it seems highly
probable that the man's comrades were aware of his intention, and that
after his partial success they connived at his escape. But he had been
wounded by a bullet discharged from the pistol of the second man whom he
attacked, and drops of blood on the ground showed the route by which he
had made his way out of the garden. As his identity could not be
concealed, he had to commit suicide in order to anticipate the penalty
of death which the Shôgun's government could not have avoided inflicting
on him. The apparent cognisance of the other men on guard (who were what
our law would call accessories before the fact), and the fact that
nevertheless they took no share in his act, is consonant with the
statement that he was merely accomplishing an act of private revenge.
His selection of the darkness of night seems to indicate that he hoped
to escape the consequences. Willis said that when he arose and looked
out, the night was pitch dark. It was the night before full moon, and in
the very middle of what is called in Japan the rainy season. He informed
me that there was a high wind and that heavy black clouds were drifting
over the sky. The stormy weather and the lateness of the hour (11 to 12
o'clock) might perhaps account for the native lanterns which were hung
about the grounds having ceased to give any light, but even under those
circumstances it is a little suspicious that the guard should have
neglected to replace the burnt out candles.
It was at Taku on our way down from Peking that Robertson, Jamieson and
I heard of this new attack on the legation. I believe our feeling was
rather one of regret that we had lost the opportunity of experiencing
one of the stirring events which we had already learnt to regard as
normally characteristic of life in Japan. It certainly did not take us
by surprise, and in no way rendered the service less attractive. But
Jamieson had found a better opening in Shanghai, and the remaining two
went on to Yokohama as soon as they could get a passage.
CHAPTER V
RICHARDSON'S MURDER--JAPANESE STUDIES
THE day after my arrival at Yokohama I was taken over to Kanagawa and
introduced to the Rev. S. R. Brown, an American Missionary, who was then
engaged in printing a work on colloquial Japanese, and to Dr J. C.
Hepburn, M.D., who was employed on a dictionary of the language. The
former died some years ago, but the latter is at this moment (1886)
still in Japan,[2] bringing out the third edition of his invaluable
lexicon and completing the translation of the Bible on which he has been
occupied for many years. In those days we had either to take a native
sculling boat for an _ichibu_ across the bay to Kanagawa or ride round
by the causeway, the land along which the railway now runs not having
been filled in at that time. Natives used to cross by a public ferry
boat, paying a _tempô_ (16-1/2 to the _ichibu_) a-piece, but no
foreigner was ever allowed to make use of the cheaper conveyance. If he
was quick enough to catch the ferryboat before it had pushed off, and so
seize a place for himself, the boatmen simply refused to stir. They
remained immovable, until the intruder was tired of waiting, and
abandoned the game. It was only after a residence of some years, when I
had become pretty fluent in the language and could argue the point with
the certainty of having the public on my side, that I at last succeeded
in overcoming the obstinacy of the people at the boathouse who had the
monopoly of carrying foreigners. There was in those days a fixed price
for the foreigner wherever he went, arbitrarily determined without
reference to the native tariff. At the theatre a foreigner had to pay an
_ichibu_ for admittance, and was then thrust into the "deaf-box," as the
gallery seats are called, which are so far from the stage that the
actors' speeches are quite indistinguishable. The best place for both
seeing and hearing is the _doma_, on the area of the theatre, close in
front of the stage. On one occasion I walked into the theatre, and took
my place in one of the divisions of the _doma_, offering to pay the
regular price. No, they would not take it. I must pay my _ichibu_ and go
to the foreigner's box. I held out, insisting on my right as one of the
public. Did I not squat on the floor with my boots off, just like
themselves? Well then, if I would not come out of that, the curtain
would not rise. I rejoined that they might please themselves about that.
In order to annoy a single foreigner, they would deprive the rest of the
spectators of the pleasure they had paid to enjoy. So I obstinately kept
my place, and in the end the manager gave way. The "house" was amused at
the foreigner speaking their language and getting the best of the
argument, and for the rest of my time in Yokohama I had no more
difficulty in obtaining accommodation in any part of the theatre that I
preferred.
[2] Dr Hepburn died in 1911.
In those days the Yokohama theatre used to begin about eleven o'clock in
the morning and keep open for twelve hours. A favourite play was the
_Chiu-Shin-Gura_, or _Treasury of Faithful Retainers_, and the
_Sara-Yashiki_, or the _Broken Plate Mansion_. The arrangement of the
interior, the fashion of dress and acting, the primitive character of
the scenery and lights, the literary style of the plays have not
undergone any changes, and are very unlikely to be modified in any
marked degree by contact with European ideas. There is some talk now and
then of elevating the character of the stage and making the theatre a
school of morals and manners for the young, but the good people who
advocate these theories in the press have not, as far as I know,
ventured to put them to practical proof, and the _shibai_ will, I hope,
always continue to be what it always has been in Japan, a place of
amusement and distraction, where people of all ages and sizes go to
enjoy themselves without caring one atom whether the incidents are
probable or proper, so long as there is enough of the tragic to call
forth the tears which every natural man sheds with satisfaction on
proper occasions, and of the comic by-turns to give the facial muscles a
stretch in the other direction.
On the 14th September a most barbarous murder was committed on a
Shanghai merchant named Richardson. He, in company with a Mrs Borradaile
of Hongkong, and Woodthorpe C. Clarke and Wm. Marshall both of Yokohama,
were riding along the high road between Kanagawa and Kawasaki, when they
met with a train of _daimiô's_ retainers, who bid them stand aside. They
passed on at the edge of the road, until they came in sight of a
palanquin, occupied by Shimadzu Saburô, father of the Prince of Satsuma.
They were now ordered to turn back, and as they were wheeling their
horses in obedience, were suddenly set upon by several armed men
belonging to the train, who hacked at them with their sharp-edged heavy
swords. Richardson fell from his horse in a dying state, and the other
two men were so severely wounded that they called out to the lady: "Ride
on, we can do nothing for you." She got safely back to Yokohama and gave
the alarm. Everybody in the settlement who possessed a pony and a
revolver at once armed himself and galloped off towards the scene of
slaughter.
Lieut.-Colonel Vyse, the British Consul, led off the Legation mounted
escort in spite of Colonel Neale's order that they should not move until
he or their own commander gave the word. M. de Bellecourt, the French
Minister, sent out his escort, consisting of a half-dozen French
troopers; Lieut. Price of the 67th Regiment marched off part of the
Legation guard, accompanied by some French infantry. But amongst the
first, perhaps the very first of all, was Dr Willis, whose high sense of
the duty cast on him by his profession rendered him absolutely fearless.
Passing for a mile along the ranks of the men whose swords were reeking
with the blood of Englishmen, he rode along the high road through
Kanagawa, where he was joined by some three or four more Englishmen. He
proceeded onwards to Namamugi, where poor Richardson's corpse was found
under the shade of a tree by the roadside. His throat had been cut as he
was lying there wounded and helpless. The body was covered with sword
cuts, any one of which was sufficient to cause death. It was carried
thence to the American Consulate in Kanagawa, where Clarke and Marshall
had found refuge and surgical aid at the hands of Dr Hepburn and later
on of Dr Jenkins, our other doctor. There was only one British
man-of-war lying in the harbour, but in the course of the evening
Admiral Küper arrived in his flagship, the _Euryalus_, with the
gun-vessel _Ringdove_. The excitement among the foreign mercantile
community was intense, for this was the first occasion on which one of
their own number had been struck down. The Japanese sword is as sharp as
a razor, and inflicts fearful gashes. The Japanese had a way of cutting
a man to pieces rather than leave any life in him. This had a most
powerful effect on the minds of Europeans, who came to look on every
two-sworded man as a probable assassin, and if they met one in the
street thanked God as soon as they had passed him and found themselves
in safety.
It was known that Shimadzu Saburô was to lie that night at Hodogaya, a
post-town scarcely two miles from Yokohama. To surround and seize him
with the united forces of all the foreign vessels in port would, in
their opinion, have been both easy and justifiable, and viewed by the
light of our later knowledge, not only of Japanese politics but also of
Japanese ideas with regard to the right of taking redress, they were not
far wrong. In the absence of any organised police or military force able
to keep order among the turbulent two-sworded class it cannot be doubted
that this course would have been adopted by any Japanese clan against
whom such an offence had been committed, and the foreign nationalities
in Japan were in the same position as a native clan. They were subject
to the authorities of their own country, who had jurisdiction over them
both in criminal and civil matters, and were responsible for keeping
them within the bounds of law and for their protection against attack. A
meeting was called at Hooper's (W. C. Clarke's partner) house under the
presidency of Colonel F. Howard Vyse, the British Consul, when, after an
earnest discussion and the rejection of a motion to request the foreign
naval authorities to land 1000 men in order to arrest the guilty
parties, a deputation consisting of some of the leading residents was
appointed to wait on the commanding officers of the Dutch, French and
English naval forces and lay before them the conclusions of the meeting.
The British admiral, however, declined to act upon their suggestion, but
consented to attend another meeting which was to be held at the
residence of the French Minister at 6 a.m. on the following morning. The
deputation then went to Colonel Neale, who with great magnanimity waived
all personal considerations and promised to be present also. The idea
had got abroad amongst the foreign community that Colonel Neale could
not be trusted to take the energetic measures which they considered
necessary under the circumstances. In fact, they found fault with him
for preserving the cool bearing which might be expected from a man who
had seen actual service in the field and which especially became a man
in his responsible situation, and they thought that pressure could be
put upon him through his colleagues and the general opinion of the other
foreign representatives. But in this expectation they were disappointed.
At the meeting Colonel Neale altogether declined to authorise the
adoption of measures, which, if the Tycoon's government were to be
regarded as the government of the country, would have amounted virtually
to making war upon Japan, and the French Minister expressed an opinion
entirely coinciding with that of his colleague. Calmer counsels
prevailed, and Diplomacy was left to its own resources, arrangements,
however, being made by the naval commanders-in-chief to patrol the
settlement during the night and to station guard-boats along the
sea-front to communicate with the ships in case of an alarm.
Looking back now after the lapse of nearly a quarter of a century, I am
strongly disposed to the belief that Colonel Neale took the best course.
The plan of the mercantile community was bold, attractive and almost
romantic. It would probably have been successful for the moment, in
spite of the well-known bravery of the Satsuma _samurai_. But such an
event as the capture of a leading Japanese nobleman by foreign sailors
in the dominions of the Tycoon would have been a patent demonstration of
his incapacity to defend the nation against the "outer barbarian," and
would have precipitated his downfall long before it actually took place,
and before there was anything in the shape of a league among the clans
ready to establish a new government. In all probability the country
would have become a prey to ruinous anarchy, and collisions with foreign
powers would have been frequent and serious. Probably the slaughter of
the foreign community at Nagasaki would have been the immediate answer
to the blow struck at Hodogaya, a joint expedition would have been sent
out by England, France and Holland to fight many a bloody battle and
perhaps dismember the realm of the Mikados. In the meantime the commerce
for whose sake we had come to Japan would have been killed. And how many
lives of Europeans and Japanese would have been sacrificed in return for
that of Shimadzu Saburô?
I was standing outside the hotel that afternoon, and on seeing the
bustle of men riding past, inquired what was the cause. The reply, "A
couple of Englishmen have been cut down in Kanagawa," did not shock me
in the least. The accounts of such occurrences that had appeared in the
English press and the recent attack on the Legation of which I had heard
on my way from Peking had prepared me to look on the murder of a
foreigner as an ordinary, every-day affair, and the horror of bleeding
wounds was not sufficiently familiar to me to excite the feelings of
indignation that seemed to animate every one else. I was secretly
ashamed of my want of sympathy. And yet, if it had been otherwise, such
a sudden introduction to the danger of a horrid death might have
rendered me quite unfit for the career I had adopted. This habit of
looking upon assassination as part of the day's work enabled me later on
to face with equanimity what most men whose sensations had not been
deadened by a moral anæsthetic would perhaps have considered serious
dangers. And while everyone in my immediate surroundings was in a state
of excitement, defending Vyse or abusing Colonel Neale, I quietly
settled down to my studies.
In those days the helps to the acquisition of the Japanese language were
very few. A thin pamphlet by the Rev. J. Liggins, containing a few
phrases in the Nagasaki dialect, a vocabulary compiled by Wm. Medhurst,
senior, and published at Batavia many years before; Rodriguez' _Japanese
Grammar_, by Landresse; a grammar by MM. Donker Curtius and Hoffmann in
Dutch, and a French translation of it by Léon Pagès; a translation by
the latter of part of the Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary of 1603;
Hoffmann's dialogues in Japanese, Dutch and English; Rosny's
_Introduction à la langue Japonaise_, were about all. And but few of
these were procurable in Japan. I had left London without any books on
the language. Luckily for me, Dr S. R. Brown was just then printing his
_Colloquial Japanese_, and generously allowed me to have the first few
sheets as they came over at intervals from the printing office in
Shanghai. A Japanese reprint of Medhurst's vocabulary, which could be
bought in a Japanese bookshop that stood at the corner of Benten-Dôri
and Honchô Itchôme, speedily proved useless. But I had a slight
acquaintance with the Chinese written characters and was the fortunate
possessor of Medhurst's Chinese-English Dictionary, by whose help I
could manage to come at the meaning of a Japanese word if I got it
written down. It was very uphill work at first, for I had no teacher,
and living in a single room at the hotel, abutting too on the bowling
alley, could not secure quiet. The colonel ordered us, Robertson and
myself, to attend every day at the "office" (we did not call it the
chancery then) to ask if our services were required, and what work we
had consisted chiefly of copying despatches and interminable accounts.
My handwriting was, unfortunately for me, considered to be rather better
than the average, and I began to foresee that a larger share of clerical
work would be given to me than I liked. My theory of the duty of a
student-interpreter was then, and still is, to learn the language first
of all. I considered that this order would be a great interruption to
serious work if he insisted upon it, and would take away all chances of
our learning the language thoroughly. At last I summoned up courage to
protest, and I rather think my friend Willis encouraged me to do this;
but I did not gain anything by remonstrating. The colonel evidently
thought I was frightfully lazy, for when I said that the office work
would interfere with my studies, he replied that it would be much worse
for both to be neglected than for one to be hindered. At first there was
some idea of renting a house for Robertson and myself, but finally the
Colonel decided to give us rooms at one end of the rambling two-storied
building that was then occupied as a Legation. It stood at the corner of
the bund and the creek, where the Grand Hotel now is, and belonged to a
man named Hoey, who took advantage of my inexperience and the love of
books he had discovered to be one of my weaknesses to sell me an
imperfect copy of the _Penny Cyclopædia_ for more than a complete one
would have cost at home. I used to play bowls sometimes with Albert
Markham (of Arctic fame), who was then a lieutenant on board H.M.S.
_Centaur_, and Charles Wirgman, the artist-correspondent of the
_Illustrated London News_. Towards the end of October we induced the
colonel to consent to our getting two lessons a week from the Rev. S. R.
Brown, and to allow us to engage a native "teacher," at the public
expense. So we had to get a second, and pay for him out of our own
pockets. He also agreed to leave us the mornings free for study up to
one o'clock. A "teacher," it must be understood, does not mean a man who
can "teach." In those days, at Peking and in Japan also, we worked with
natives who did not understand a word of English, and the process by
which one made out the meaning of a sentence was closely akin to that
which Poe describes in the _Gold Beetle_ for the decyphering of a
cryptograph. Through my "boy," who was equally ignorant of English, I
got hold of a man who explained that he had once been a doctor, and
having nothing to do at the moment would teach me Japanese without any
pay. We used to communicate at first by writing down Chinese characters.
One of his first sentences was literally "Prince loves men, I also
venerate the prince as a master"; prince, as I afterwards divined, being
merely a polite way of saying _you_. He said he had lots of dollars and
_ichibus_ and would take nothing for his services, so I agreed with him
that he should come to my room every day from ten to one. However, he
never presented himself again after the first interview.
[Illustration: SIR ERNEST SATOW
1869]
[Illustration: SIR ERNEST SATOW
1903]
My "boy" turned out to be what I considered a great villain. I had at an
early date wanted one of the native dictionaries of Chinese characters
with the Japanese equivalents in _Katakana_. I sent him out to buy one,
but he shortly returned and said that there were none in the place, and
he must go over to Kanagawa, where he would be sure to find what I
wanted. After being out the whole day, he brought me a copy which he
said was the only one to be found and for which he charged me four
_ichibus_, or nearly two dollars. This was just after my arrival, when I
was new to the place and ignorant of prices. Six weeks afterwards, being
in the bookseller's shop, I asked him what was the price of the book,
when he replied that he had asked only 1-1/2 _ichibu_. My boy had taken
it away and returned next day to say that I had refused to give more
than one, which he consequently accepted. Unconscionable rascal this,
not content with less than 300 per cent. of a squeeze! I found out also
that he had kept back a large slice out of money I had paid to a
carpenter for some chairs and a table. He had to refund his illicit
gains, or else to find another place.
After a time I got my rooms at the Legation and was able to study to my
heart's content. The lessons which Mr. Brown gave me were of the
greatest value. Besides hearing us repeat the sentences out of his book
of _Colloquial Japanese_ and explaining the grammar, he also read with
us part of the first sermon in the collection entitled _Kiu-ô Dôwa_, so
that I began to get some insight into the construction of the written
language. Our two teachers were Takaoka Kanamé, a physician from
Wakayama in Ki-shiû, and another man, whose name I forget. He was stupid
and of little assistance. Early in 1863 Robertson went home on sick
leave, and I had Takaoka Kanamé to myself. In those days the
correspondence with the Japanese Government was carried on by means of
Dutch, the only European tongue of which anything was known. An absurd
idea existed at one time that Dutch was the Court language of Japan.
Nothing was farther from the truth. It was studied solely by a corps of
interpreters attached to the Dutch settlement at Nagasaki, and when
Kanagawa and Hakodaté were opened to foreign trade, some of these
interpreters were transferred to those ports. On our side we had
collected with some difficulty a body of Dutch interpreters. They
included three Englishmen, one Cape Dutchman, one Swiss, and one real
Dutchman from Holland, and they received very good pay. Of course it was
my ambition to learn to read, write, and speak Japanese, and so to
displace these middlemen.
So Takaoka began to give me lessons in the epistolary style. He used to
write a short letter in the running-hand, and after copying it out in
square character, explain to me its meaning. Then I made a translation
and put it away for a few days. Meanwhile I exercised myself in reading,
now one and now the other copy of the original. Afterwards I took out my
translation and tried to put it back into Japanese from memory. The plan
is one recommended by Roger Ascham and by the late George Long in a
preface to his edition of the de Senectute, etc., which had been one of
my school books. Before long I had got a thorough hold of a certain
number of phrases, which I could piece together in the form of a letter,
and this was all the easier, as the epistolary style of that time
demanded the employment of a vast collection of merely complimentary
phrases. I also took writing lessons from an old writing-master, whom I
engaged to come to me at fixed hours. He was afflicted with a watery
eye, and nothing but a firm resolve to learn would ever have enabled me
to endure the constant drip from the diseased orbit, which fell now on
the copy-book, now on the paper I was writing on, as he leant over it to
correct a bad stroke, now on the table.
There are innumerable styles of caligraphy in Japan, and at that date
the _on-ye-riû_ was in fashion. I had unluckily taken up with the
mercantile form of this. Several years afterwards I changed to a teacher
who wrote a very beautiful hand, but still it was _on-ye-riû_. After the
revolution of 1868 the _kara-yô_, which is more picturesque and
self-willed, became the mode, and I put myself under the tuition of
Takasai Tanzan, who was the teacher of several nobles, and one of the
half dozen best in Tôkiô. But owing to this triple change of style, and
also perhaps for want of real perseverance, I never came to have a good
handwriting, nor to be able to write like a Japanese; nor did I ever
acquire the power of composing in Japanese without making mistakes,
though I had almost daily practice for seven or eight years in the
translation of official documents. Perhaps that kind of work is of
itself not calculated to ensure correctness, as the translator's
attention is more bent on giving a faithful rendering of the original
than on writing good Japanese. I shall have more to say at a later
period as to the change which the Japanese written language has
undergone in consequence of the imitation of European modes of
expression.
The first occasion on which my knowledge of the epistolary style was put
into requisition was in June 1863, when there came a note from one of
the Shogun's ministers, the exact wording of which was a matter of
importance. It was therefore translated three times, once from the Dutch
by Eusden, by Siebold with the aid of his teacher from the original
Japanese, and by myself. I shall never forget the sympathetic joy of my
dear Willis when I produced mine. There was no one who could say which
of the three was the most faithful rendering, but in his mind and my own
there was, of course, no doubt. I think I had sometime previously
translated a private letter from a Japanese to one of our colleagues who
had left Yokohama; it must have been done with great literalness, for I
recollect that _sessha_ was rendered "I, the shabby one." But it could
not be made use of officially to testify to my progress in the language.
After the Richardson affair the Tycoon's government erected guardhouses
all along the Tôkaidô within Treaty limits, and even proposed to divert
the trains of the _daimiôs_ to another route which ran through the town
of Atsugi, but this project fell through. Foreigners were in the habit
of using it for their excursions, but Robertson and I had to pass along
it twice a week on our way to and from our Japanese lesson at Mr.
Brown's, and though determined not to show the white feather, I always
felt in passing one of these trains that my life was in peril. On one
occasion as I was riding on the Tôkaidô for my pleasure, I met a tall
fellow armed with the usual two swords, who made a step towards me in
what I thought was a threatening manner, and having no pistol with me, I
was rather alarmed, but he passed on, content probably with having
frightened a foreigner. That is the only instance I can recollect of
even seeming intention on the part of a _samurai_ to do me harm on a
chance meeting in the street, and the general belief in the bloodthirsty
character of that class, in my opinion, was to a very great extent
without foundation. But it must be admitted that whenever a Japanese
made up his mind to shed the blood of a foreigner, he took care to do
his business pretty effectually.
My first experience of an earthquake was on the 2nd November of this
year. It was said by the foreign residents to have been a rather severe
one. The house shook considerably, as if some very heavy person were
walking in list slippers along the verandah and passages. It lasted
several seconds, dying away gradually, and gave me a slight sensation of
sickness, insomuch that I was beginning to fancy that a shaking which
lasted so long must arise from within myself. I believe the sensations
of most persons on experiencing a slight shock of earthquake for the
first time are very similar. It is usually held that familiarity with
these phenomena does not breed contempt for them, but on the contrary
persons who have resided longest in Japan are the most nervous about the
danger. And there is a reason for this. We know that in not very recent
times extremely violent shocks have occurred, throwing down houses,
splitting the earth, and causing death to thousands of people in a few
moments. The longer the interval that has elapsed since the last, the
sooner may its re-occurrence be looked for. We have escaped many times,
but the next will be perhaps our last. So we feel on each occasion, and
the anticipation of harm becomes stronger and stronger, and where we at
first used to sit calmly through a somewhat prolonged vibration, the
wooden joints of the house harshly creaking and the crockery rattling
merrily on the shelves, we now spring from our chairs and rush for the
door at the slightest movement.
My experiences in Japan of an exciting kind were pretty numerous, but, I
regret to say, never included a really serious earthquake, and those who
care to read more about the insignificant specimens that the country
produces now-a-days must be referred to the pages of the Seismological
Society's Journal and other publications of the distinguished geologist,
my friend Professor John Milne, who has not only recorded observations
on a large number of natural earthquakes, but has even succeeded in
producing artificial ones so closely resembling the real thing as almost
to defy detection.
CHAPTER VI
OFFICIAL VISIT TO YEDO
DURING the later months of 1862 a good deal of correspondence went
forward about the Itô Gumpei (murderer of the sentry and of the
corporal) affair and the Richardson murder, and Colonel Neale held
various conferences with the Shôgun's ministers. The diplomatic history
of these proceedings has been already recounted by Sir Francis Adams,
and as for the most part I knew little of what was going on, it need not
be repeated here. The meeting-place for the more important discussions
was Yedo, whither the Colonel used to proceed with his escort and the
larger portion of the Legation staff. Some went by a gunboat, others
rode up to the capital along the Tôkaidô. At that period and for several
years after, the privilege of visiting Yedo was by Treaty restricted to
the foreign diplomatic representatives, and non-official foreigners
could not cross the Rokugô ferry, half way between Kanagawa and Yedo,
except as the invited guest of one of the legations. And now all the
foreign ministers had transferred their residences to Yokohama in
consequence of the danger which menaced them at Yedo. We younger
members, therefore, appreciated highly our opportunities, and it was
with intense delight that I found myself ordered to accompany the chief
early in December on one of his periodical expeditions thither. We
started on horseback about one o'clock in the afternoon in solemn
procession, the party consisting of Colonel Neale, A von Siebold,
Russell Robertson, and myself, with Lieutenant Applin commanding the
mounted escort. It was a miserably cold day, but R. and I combated the
temperature by dropping behind to visit Mr. Brown on our way through
Kanagawa, and then galloping on after the others. They had evidently
been going at a foot's pace during the interval. At Kawasaki we
encountered an obstruction in the shape of an obstinate head ferryman,
who did not recognize the British Chargé d'Affaires, and refused to pass
us over. The men on guard at the watch-house commanding the ferry, on
seeing some of us approach to demand their assistance, ran away. The
Colonel fumed with wrath, but fortunately at this moment there arrived
in breathless haste a mounted officer from Kanagawa, who had followed us
of his own accord on hearing that the English Chargé d'Affaires had
passed without a Japanese escort. So the ferryman collected his men, and
we got over without further trouble. A couple of miles beyond the river
we came to the well-known gardens called _Mmé Yashiki_, the
plum-orchard, where we were waited on by some very pretty girls.
Everybody who travelled along the Tôkaidô in those days, who had any
respect for himself, used to stop here, in season or out of season, to
drink a cup of straw-coloured tea, smoke a pipe and chaff the
waiting-maids. Fish cooked in various ways and warm _saké_ (rice beer)
were also procurable, and red-faced native gentlemen might often be seen
folding themselves up into their palanquins after a mild daylight
debauch. Europeans usually brought picnic baskets and lunched there, but
even if they started late were glad of any excuse for turning in to this
charmingly picturesque tea-garden. Everyone now-a-days is familiar with
the Japanese plum-tree as it is represented in the myriad works of art
of these ingenious people, but you must see the thing itself to
understand what a joyful surprise it is to enter the black-paled
enclosure crowded with the oddly angular trees, utterly leafless but
covered with delicate pink or white blossoms which emit a faint
fragrance, and cover the ground with the snow of their fallen petals. It
is early in February that they are in their glory, on a calm day when
the sun shines with its usual brilliance at that season, while in every
shady corner you may find the ground frozen as hard as a stone. But to
my taste the plum-blossom looks better on a cloudy day against a dull
background of cryptomeria when you sit by a warm fire and gaze on it out
of window. In December, however, only the swelling buds are to be seen
stretching along the slender shoots of last spring. We proceeded on our
way without any special incident until we reached the notorious suburb
of Shinagawa, half consisting of houses, or rather palaces, of ill-fame,
where a drunken fellow who stood in the middle of the road and shouted
at us got a fall from one of the troopers, and so we reached the
Legation about sunset. The rest of the staff and the infantry guard, who
had come by sea, landed about an hour later.
The building occupied as the legation was part of a Buddhist temple,
Tô-zen-ji, behind which lay a large cemetery. But our part of it had
never been devoted to purposes of worship. Every large temple in Japan
has attached to it a suite of what we might call state apartments, which
are used only on ceremonial occasions once or twice in the year, but
from time immemorial it has been the custom to accommodate foreign
embassies in these buildings. A suitable residence for a foreign
representative could not otherwise have been found in Yedo. As a general
rule every Japanese, with the exception of the working classes, lives in
his own house, instead of renting it as do most residents in an European
capital. The only purely secular buildings large enough to lodge the
British Minister and his staff were the _Yashiki_ or "hotels" of
_Daimiôs_, but the idea of expropriating one of these nobles in order to
accommodate a foreign official was probably never mooted. There
remained, therefore, only the "state apartments" of some large monastery
as a temporary residence until a site could be obtained and the
necessary buildings constructed. Consequently there was no ground for
the reproach which one writer at least has urged against the foreign
ministers, that by turning sacred edifices into dwelling-houses they had
insulted the religious feelings of the Japanese people. In the early
years of our intercourse with Japan it is true that we were regarded as
unwelcome "intruders," but in native opinion we "polluted" the temples
by our presence no more than we should have "polluted" any other
residence that might have been assigned to us. Tô-zen-ji lay in the
suburb of Takanawa fronting the seashore, and was therefore conveniently
situated for communication with our ships, the smallest of which could
anchor just inside the forts, at a distance of perhaps a mile and a
half. Owing, however, to the shallowness of the bay, boats were unable
to get up to the landing place at low tide, and the assistance which
could have been rendered by a gunboat in the event of a sudden attack,
such as had been experienced in 1861, was absolutely _nil_. There
remained, however, the comfort derived from knowing that a refuge lay at
no great distance, and no doubt the appearance of a gunboat within the
line of forts that had been built to keep out foreign fleets produced a
considerable moral effect upon the general population, though
desperadoes of the sort that assaulted the guard in July 1861 would
certainly have been no whit deterred by any number of threatening
men-of-war which could not reach them. Behind the house there was a
small ornamental garden with an artificial pond for gold fish, on the
opposite side of which rose a hill covered with pine-trees. A good way
off from the quarters of the minister, and at the back of the cemetery
belonging to the temple, there was a small house named Jô-tô-an, which
was occupied by the senior chancery assistant. A tall bamboo fence cut
us off entirely from this part of the grounds, and joined the house at
either end. The rooms were not spacious, and very little attempt had
been made to convert them into comfortable apartments. I think there was
an iron stove or two in the principal rooms, but elsewhere the only
means of warming was a Japanese brasier piled up with red hot charcoal,
the exhalations from which were very disagreeable to a novice. The
native who wraps himself up in thick wadded clothes and squats on the
floor has no difficulty in keeping himself warm with the aid of this
arrangement, over which he holds the tips of his fingers. His legs being
crumpled up under him, the superficies he presents to the cold air is
much less than it would be if he sat in a chair with outstretched limbs
in European fashion. To protect himself against draughts he has a screen
standing behind him, and squats on a warm cushion stuffed with silk
wool. These arrangements enable him even in winter to sit with the
window open, so long as it has a southern aspect, and foreigners who
adopt the same system have made shift to get on. But if you are going to
live in Japan in European style, you must, in order to be moderately
warm during the winter months, replace the paper of the outer wooden
slides with glass, stop up the openwork above the grooves in which the
slides work that divide the rooms, and either build a fireplace or put
up an American stove. But even all this will not make you thoroughly
comfortable. Underneath you there are thick straw mats laid upon thin
and badly jointed boarding, through which the cutting north-west wind
rises all over the floor, while the keen draughts pierce through between
the uprights and the shrunken lath-and-plaster walls. The unsuitability
of such a building as a residence for the minister and his staff had
been perceived from the outset, and long negotiations, having for their
object the erection of a permanent legation, had by this time resulted
in the assignment of an excellent site, on which a complete series of
buildings was being constructed from English designs, but at the expense
of the Shôgun's government. Other sites in the immediate vicinity had
been given to the French, Dutch and Americans for the same purpose. All
these were carved out of what had been once a favourite pleasure resort
of the people of Yedo, whither in the spring all classes flocked to
picnic under the blossoms of the cherry-trees in sight of the blue
waters of the bay. Gotenyama was indeed a famous spot in the history of
the Shôgunate. In its early days the head of the State was wont to go
forth thither to meet the great _daimiôs_ on their annual entry into
Yedo, until Iyémitsu, the third of the line, to mark still more strongly
the supremacy to which he felt he could safely lay claim, resolved that
henceforward he would receive them in his castle, just like the rest of
his vassals. From that time the gardens had been dedicated to the public
use. But already before the foreign diplomats took up their abode in
Yedo, Gotenyama had been partially diverted from its original purpose,
and vast masses of earth had been carried off to form part of the line
of forts from Shinagawa to the other side of the junk channel that leads
into the river. The British minister's residence, a large two-storied
house, which from a distance seemed to be two, stood on an eminence
fronting the sea. Magnificent timbers had been employed in its
construction, and the rooms were of palatial dimensions. The floors were
lacquered, and the walls covered with a tastefully designed Japanese
paper. Behind and below it a bungalow had been erected for the Japanese
secretary, and a site had been chosen for a second, destined for the
assistants and students. On the southern side of the compound was an
immense range of stables containing stalls for 40 horses, and on the
second storey quarters for a portion of the European guard. Some slight
progress had been made with the buildings for the French and Dutch
legations. But we knew that the people disliked our presence there. The
official and military class objected to the foreigner being permitted to
occupy such a commanding position overlooking the rear of the forts, and
the populace resented the conversion of their former pleasure-ground
into a home for the "outer barbarians." To press on the completion of
the houses and to take possession was rightly considered an important
matter of policy. A deep trench was being dug round the enclosure, and a
lofty wooden palisade was built on the inner margin, which, it was
expected, would afford sufficient protection against a repetition of
such attacks as that of the 5th July 1861, and the British ensign was to
be hoisted again in Yedo as soon as the buildings should be ready for
occupation. We all looked forward to that event with the liveliest
feelings of anticipation, and for myself I anxiously expected its
arrival because Yokohama was a hybrid sort of town, that by no means
fulfilled my expectations, and I hoped before long to become a resident
of the famous city to which I had looked with longing eyes from the
other side of Europe.
We rode daily in the environs of Yedo, to the pretty tea-house at Oji,
which is depicted with such bright colours in Laurence Oliphant's book,
to the pond of Jiû-ni-sô on the road to Kô-shiû, to the other pond
called Senzoku half way to Mariko, and to the temple of Fudô at Meguro,
where the pretty damsels at the tea-houses formed more than half the
attraction. Within the city we made excursions to the temple of Kwannon
at Asakusa, then and for long afterwards the principal sight of interest
to the foreign visitor, to Atagoyama, where other pretty damsels served
a decoction of salted cherry-blossoms, and to the temple of Kanda Miôjin
for the view over the city. But the gorgeous mausoleums of the Shôguns
at Shiba and Uyeno were closed to the foreigner, and remained so up to
the revolution of 1868. We were allowed in riding back from Asakusa to
catch a passing glimpse of the lotus pond Shinobazu-no-iké, which is now
surrounded by a racecourse after the European manner, but the Fukiagé
Park, since known as the Mikado's garden, and the short cut through the
castle from the Sakurada Gate to the Wadagura Gate of the inner circle
were shut to us in common with the Japanese public. A large portion of
the city in the immediate neighbourhood of the castle, and large areas
in every quarter were occupied by the _Yashiki_ of _Daimiôs_ and
_Hatamotos_, of which little could be seen but long two-storied rows of
stern barrack-buildings surrounding the residence of the owner. From the
top of Atagoyama alone was it possible to get a view of the interior of
such enclosures, and it must be admitted that the knowledge thus gained
completely upset the idea that the nobles lived in palaces. Irregular
masses of low brown roofs and black weather-boarded walls alone were
visible. The use of telescopes was strictly forbidden on Atagoyama, lest
the people should pry into the domestic doings of their masters.
Wherever we went a band of mounted guards surrounded us, ostensibly for
our protection, but also for the purpose of preventing free
communication with the people. These men belonged to a force raised by
the Shôgun's ministers from the younger sons of the _hatamotos_, and
numbered 1000 or 1200. They wore the customary pair of swords (_i.e._ a
long and short sabre thrust through the belt on the left side), a round
flat hat woven from the tendrils of the wistaria, for the rank and file,
and a mound-shaped lacquered wooden hat for the officers, a mantle or
_haori_, and the wide petticoat-shaped trousers called _hakama_. Between
them and the members of the foreign legations there existed no tie of
any kind, for they were changed every fifteen days just like so many
policemen, and mounted guard indifferently at all the legations. It was
not until 1867 that I managed to break through this rule and get a
special body of men attached to myself. Small guardhouses were dotted
about the legation grounds for their accommodation. As soon as it became
known that a foreigner was about to go out on foot or on horseback,
half-a-dozen were detailed to follow him at all hazards. It was
impossible to escape their vigilance. They were to prevent our speaking
to any person above the rank of a common citizen or to enter a private
house. On one occasion two members of our legation managed a visit to
the father of a young _samurai_ named Kotarô, who lived with us to study
English. The fact was reported, and when the visitors went a second time
they found the occupants of the house had removed to another part of the
city. We were allowed to sit down in shops, and even to bargain for
articles that took our fancy; but two kind of purchases were strictly
prohibited, maps and the official list of _daimiôs_ and government
officials. Anything we bought had to be sent afterwards to the legation,
and delivered to the officials of the foreign department who lived
within our gates, and payment was made to them. On one occasion the
Prussian representative, Herr Max von Brandt, made a determined stand
against this prohibition. Entering the shop of the bookseller Okada-ya
in Shimmei Maye, where we foreigners were in the habit of buying books,
he inquired for the List of Daimiôs. The bookseller replied that he had
it not in stock. Herr von Brandt knew that he had, and announced his
intention of remaining there until he was furnished with what he
required. He sent a member of his party home to the Legation to bring
out the materials for luncheon, and sat determinedly down in the shop.
The guards were at their wits' end. At last they dispatched a messenger
to the castle to represent the impossibility of inducing him to give
way, and at last towards evening there came an order to say that for
this once the foreigner was to have the book. So the day was won. As a
matter of fact, however, it was never necessary to proceed to this
extremity, as we could easily procure what we wanted in the way of maps
and printed books through our Japanese teachers. MSS. were always a
difficulty. As nothing could be published without permission, any book
that touched upon governmental matters had from of old to be circulated
in MS. Amongst such works were the so-called "Hundred Laws of Iyéyasu,"
which were supposed to embody the constitution of the Japanese
government. The book contains references to offices of state that were
instituted after his time, and the utmost that can be alleged in its
favour is that it perhaps contains a few maxims from his lips and
certain rules as to the appointment of high political functionaries that
were observed in actual practice. There was another book, of undoubted
authenticity, containing a vast mass of administrative regulations, of
which I never obtained a copy until after the revolution, when it was no
longer of practical value. That MS. is now in the British Museum.
Another expedient for eluding the censorate was printing forbidden books
with moveable types. It was frequently resorted to during the last years
of the Shôgunate and at the beginning of the new rule of the Mikado,
especially for narratives of political events during that period and for
one or two important treatises on politics. Shimmei Maye was one of our
favourite resorts in those days; here were to be had cheap swords,
porcelain, coloured prints, picture-books and novels. I much regret that
I did not then begin to collect, when the blocks were comparatively
fresh; a complete set of Hokusai's Mangwa, in perfect condition, could
be had for a couple of dollars, and his Hundred Views of Fuji for about
a couple of shillings. But I had little spare cash for such luxuries,
and all my money went in necessaries.
Two days after our arrival in Yedo we paid a visit to the Gorôjiû, or
Shôgun's Council. The word means "August Elders." It was somewhat _infra
dig._ for a foreign representative to use the prefix _go_ in speaking of
them, but the phrase had been caught up from the Japanese who surrounded
the minister, and for a long time I believe it was thought that _go_
meant five. I unveiled the mistake, and when I afterwards became
interpreter to the Legation we adopted the practice of giving them the
bare _rôjiû_, except in addressing them direct, when etiquette demanded
the honorific. I was unprovided with anything in the shape of uniform,
and had to borrow a gold-laced forage cap from Applin. We came
afterwards to look with much contempt on these gauds, and to speak
derisively of "brass caps," but in 1862 I was young enough to take
considerable pride in a distinctive mark of rank, and after this
occasion lost no time in buying a bit of broad gold lace to wear like my
fellow officers. It was an imposing procession, consisting as it did of
half-a-dozen "brass caps," the military train escort of twelve men under
their gorgeous lieutenant, and a flock of about forty Japanese guards
hovering about us before, behind, and on either flank. In these days a
foreign representative may often be detected approaching the office of
the minister for foreign affairs without any suite, and in the humble
_jinrikisha_ drawn by one scantily clad coolie. The interview took place
in a long room in the house of one of the _rôjiû_. A row of small
black-lacquered tables extended down each side, and chairs were set for
the Japanese as well as the foreigners. On each table stood an earthen
brasier, a black-lacquered smoking-stand, with brass fire-pot and
ash-pit, and two long pipes, with a supply of finely cut tobacco in a
neat black box. Three of the ministers sat on the right side of the
room, and with them an _ometsuké_, whose title was explained to me to
mean spy. I suppose "censor" or "reporter" would be nearer. Below them
sat eight _gai-koku bu-giô_, or commissioners for foreign affairs. We
used to call them governors of foreign affairs, probably because the
governor of Kanagawa was also a _bu-giô_. In the centre of the room sat
a "governor" on a stool, while two interpreters (one of whom was
Moriyama Takichirô) squatted on the floor. The four higher Japanese
officers alone were provided with tables and chairs, the "governors"
sitting on square stools, with their hands in the plackets of their
trousers. After some complimentary talk about the weather and health,
which are _de rigueur_ in Japan, a double row of attendants in light
blue hempen robes (we used to term the upper part "wings") came in
bearing aloft black lacquer boxes full of slices of sponge cake and
_yôkan_ (a sweetened bean paste), and afterwards oranges and persimmons.
Then tea was served in two manners, simply infused, and also the
powdered leaf mixed up with hot water and frothed. The conversation
proceeded at a very slow pace, as it had to be transmitted through two
interpreters, ours who spoke Dutch and English, and theirs who spoke
Japanese and Dutch. This gave rise to misunderstandings, and the
Japanese ministers seemed every now and then to profit by this double
obstruction to answer very much from the purpose, so that Colonel
Neale's observations had to be repeated all over again, interpreted and
re-interpreted. Often the ministers would seem at a loss, whereupon one
of the "governors" would leave his stool and glide up to whisper
something in his ear. This proceeding reminded one of the flappers in
Laputa. The principal topic was the murder of the sentry and corporal
at Tô-zen-ji which has already been related. To all the demands made by
Colonel Neale, in accordance with the instructions he had received from
Lord Russell, the _rôjiû_ objected, and when he informed them that the
British Government required the payment of £10,000 in gold as an
indemnity to the families of the two murdered men, they opened their
eyes very wide indeed. They offered $3000. Colonel Neale at last lost
all patience, which no doubt was what they were aiming at. He gave them
a piece of his mind in pretty strong language, and the interview came to
an end, after, I suppose, a sitting of about three hours length, without
anything having been settled. I forget whether it was on this occasion
that Siebold literally translated the epithet "son of a gun" by _teppô
no musuko_; the adjective that preceded it he did not attempt to
translate, as it has not even a literal equivalent in Japanese. The way
in which the ministers contradicted themselves from time to time was
something wonderful, and the application of the good unmistakeable
Anglo-Saxon word for him who "says the thing that is not," was almost
venial.
Of course Colonel Neale did not omit to complain of the ferryman and the
guards at Kawasaki, who had run away instead of putting us over the
river, and Eusden in translating used the words _zij sloopen alle weg_,
which excited my risible muscles kept at too great a stretch through
these tedious hours. I whispered to my neighbour, "they all sloped
away"; a terrible frown from the old gentleman rebuked my indecorous
behaviour, and I was afterwards informed that I should never be allowed
thenceforth to be present on one of these solemn occasions. That was a
relief to me, but I confess I ought to have felt more contrite than I
did. At the age of nineteen and a half a boy is still a boy, but I ought
to have manifested more respect for my elders.
Early in February we received news that the legation buildings in
Gotenyama had been destroyed by fire on the night of the 1st. Many years
afterwards I learnt on the best possible authority that the incendiaries
were chiefly Chôshiû men belonging to the anti-foreign party; three at
least afterwards rose to high position in the state. These were Count
Itô, Minister President of State (1886); Count Inouyé Kaoru; who the
third was I forget. It need scarcely be said that they long ago
abandoned their views of the necessity of putting an end to the
intercourse of their country with the outside world, and they are now
the leaders of the movement in favour of the introduction into Japan of
whatever western institutions are adapted to the wants and wishes of the
people.
Willis and I were now living together in a wing of the legation house at
No. 20 on the Bund, and a young Japanese _samurai_ named Kobayashi
Kotarô messed with us. He had been placed under Willis' charge by the
Japanese Government in order to acquire the English language, and was a
nice boy, though perhaps not endowed with more than average abilities.
He disappeared to his home about the time that the ultimatum of the
British Government was presented to the Council of the Tycoon in the
spring of 1863, and we never heard of him again. I had the teacher
Takaoka Kanamé now all to myself, and was beginning to read Japanese
documents. Across the hills south of the settlement lived a priest who
knew something of the Sanskrit alphabet as used in Japan, and I used to
go once or twice a week to him for instruction, but these studies were
interrupted by the rumours of war that began soon to prevail; and the
lessons from the American missionary, Mr. Brown, also came to an end, as
I was now able to get on alone.
CHAPTER VII
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.
CHAPTER VIII
BOMBARDMENT OF KAGOSHIMA
THUS one portion of the instructions sent out from home had been carried
into effect, and there now remained only the exaction of reparation from
the Prince of Satsuma. The demands to be made included, it will be
remembered, the trial and execution in the presence of English officers
of the murderers of Richardson, and the payment by the Prince of an
indemnity of £25,000 as compensation to Richardson's relatives and to
the three other members of the party who had been attacked. Marshall and
Clarke had recovered from their wounds, which in the case of the latter
were serious enough, as he had received a dangerous sword cut in the
shoulder, and Mrs Borradaile, who was not wounded, had returned to
China. The Tycoon's people were naturally desirous of having the
settlement with Satsuma left in their hands, but I suppose Ogasawara,
when pressed on the point by Colonel Neale, acknowledged that the
government were impotent in the matter, and the British Chargé
d'Affaires consequently assumed the responsibility of requesting the
Admiral to convey him and his staff to Kagoshima, in order to present
the demands he had been instructed to formulate.
The Admiral had at first been unwilling to send more than a couple of
ships, but it was finally determined that the squadron should consist of
H.M.S. "Euryalus," "Pearl," "Perseus," "Argus," "Coquette," "Racehorse,"
and the gunboat "Havoc." The whole staff of the legation, from Colonel
Neale down to myself, embarked on board the various ships, Willis and
myself being in the paddle-sloop "Argus," Commander Lewis Moore. The
weather on the voyage down was remarkably fine, and the squadron arrived
at the mouth of the Bay of Kagoshima, where it anchored for the night,
on the afternoon of the 11th August. Early on the following morning we
proceeded up the bay, and came to an anchor off the town.
A letter had been prepared beforehand stating the demands, which had
somehow or other been translated into Japanese by Siebold and his
teacher; it was a difficult document, and I fancy the Japanese version
did not read very well. A boat at once came off from the shore with two
officers, to whom the letter was delivered. In the afternoon of the
following day some other officials visited the flagship, and stated that
it was quite impossible to say when the answer would be given. The name
of the principal official who visited Colonel Neale on this occasion was
Ijichi Shôji. I knew him very well afterwards in Yedo. He and his
retinue of forty men came on board, after having exchanged a parting cup
of _saké_ with their prince, with the full design of making a sudden
onslaught upon the British officers, and killing at any rate the
principal ones among them; they intended in this way to make themselves
masters of the flagship. It was a bold conception, and might have been
successful but for the precautions taken on our side. Only two or three
were admitted into the Admiral's cabin, while the marines kept a
vigilant eye upon the retinue who remained on the quarter deck. While
they were still on board another boat arrived, whether with
reinforcements or orders to countermand the intended slaughter I do not
know, but Ijichi, after communicating with the men who came in her, said
he must return to the shore. In the evening a written reply was
received, the bearer of which was told to return on the following
morning to learn whether it was considered of a satisfactory character.
The letter on examination proved to contain a _fin de non recevoir_; it
said that the murderers could not be found, blamed the Tycoon for having
made treaties without inserting a clause to prevent foreigners from
impeding the passage of the prince along the highroads; spoke of delay
until the criminals could be arrested, captured, and punished, after
which the question of an indemnity could be discussed, and practically
referred the British Chargé d'Affaires back to the Yedo Government. When
the messenger arrived on the morning of the 14th, he was informed that
the reply was considered unsatisfactory, and that no further
communication would be held with the Japanese except under a flag of
truce. The Admiral then made a little trip up the bay to reconnoitre
some foreign-built steamers lying at anchor off Wilmot Point in the
plan, and take some soundings at the head of the bay beyond. On his
return in the afternoon the commanders of the various ships were
summoned on board the flagship to receive their instructions from the
Admiral. There was no intention on our part of immediately attacking the
batteries, but the Admiral probably supposed that by adopting reprisals,
that is taking possession of the steamers, he would induce the Satsuma
men to give some more satisfactory reply than that already received.
In pursuance of this plan, Captain Borlase in the "Pearl," with the
"Coquette," "Argus," and "Racehorse," proceeded to seize the steamers at
dawn of the 15th. We were, of course, very excited, and busily engaged,
as we approached, in estimating the probability of their offering
resistance; but as the "Argus" was laid alongside the "Sir George Grey,"
we saw the crew rapidly disappearing over the other side into shore
boats with which they had already provided themselves. No attempt was
made by us to take any prisoners, but two remained on board the "Sir
George Grey," who gave their names to me as Godai and Matsugi Kôwan. On
being transferred to the flagship they adopted the aliases of Otani and
Kashiwa. The former was a remarkably handsome man, with a noble
countenance, and was, I believe, the captain of the steamer. The
profession of the second was that of a physician; he had been to Europe
with the first Japanese embassy in 1862, and had in fact only just
returned. Both of them were afterwards well known, the first as a rather
speculative man of business who established indigo works at Ozaka with
capital borrowed from the Mikado's government, the second was for a
short time prefect of Yokohama in 1868, and afterwards Minister for
Foreign Affairs under the name of Terashima Munénori, and he still (in
1887) holds office at Tôkiô.
We returned, with our prizes lashed alongside, to the anchorage under
the island of Sakura Jima, whither the squadron had removed on the
afternoon of the 12th in order to be out of range of the guns in the
forts before the town, the "Euryalus" and "Pearl" lying about mid
channel, between us and the forts. Here we awaited the development of
events, which came sooner than was expected. The Japanese made no sign,
and we could not divine their intentions from the slight glimpses
obtainable of the movements on shore. But at noon the report of a gun
was suddenly heard, and immediately all the batteries opened fire upon
the squadron. Although it was raining and blowing like a typhoon, the
Admiral at once gave orders to engage, and made a signal to us and the
"Racehorse" and the "Coquette" to burn the prizes. On this we all rushed
on board our prize and began to plunder. I secured a Japanese matchlock
and a conical black war-hat (_jin-gasa_), but some of the officers found
money, silver _ichibus_ and gilt _nibus_. The sailors seized hold of
everything portable, such as looking glasses, decanters, benches and
even old pieces of matting. After about an hour of this disorder the
steamer was scuttled and set on fire, and we went to take up our order
in the line of battle. The plan shows how the line was formed.
Some time elapsed before we returned the fire of the Japanese, and it
was said that the tardiness of the flagship in replying to the first
shot of the Japanese (two hours) was due to the fact that the door of
the ammunition magazine was obstructed by piles of boxes of dollars, the
money paid for the indemnity being still on board. The "Perseus," which
was lying close under fort No. 9, had to slip her cable, and the anchor
was months afterwards recovered by the Satsuma people and returned to
us. Owing to this delay she had to take the last position in the line.
It was a novel sensation to be exposed to cannon shot, and the
boisterous weather did not add at all to one's equanimity. The whole
line went a little way up the bay, and then curving round to the left
returned along the northern shore at a distance of about 400 yards, each
vessel as she passed pouring her broadside into the successive forts.
About three quarters of an hour after the engagement commenced we saw
the flagship hauling off, and next the "Pearl" (which had rather lagged
behind) swerved out of the line. The cause of this was the death of
Captain Josling and Commander Wilmot of the "Euryalus" from a roundshot
fired from fort No. 7. Unwittingly she had been steered between the fort
and a target at which the Japanese gunners were in the habit of
practising, and they had her range to a nicety. A 10-inch shell exploded
on her main-deck about the same time, killing seven men and wounding an
officer, and altogether the gallant ship had got into a hot corner;
under the fire of 37 guns at once, from 10-inch down to 18 pounders. The
"Racehorse" having got ashore opposite fort No. 8, the "Coquette" and
"Argus" went back to tow her off, which we succeeded in doing after
about an hour's work. During this time she kept up a constant cannonade,
and the gunners in the fort were unable to do her any mischief. But at
one moment it was feared that she would have to be abandoned and set on
fire. I shall never forget the interest and excitement of the whole
affair, from the bursting of the shells high in the air against the grey
sky all round the flagship as she lay at anchor before we weighed, till
we came into action ourselves and could see first the belching forth of
flame from the middle of a puff of smoke, and then, strange to say, a
round black thing coming straight at us. This black thing, however,
suddenly rose high into the air just as it seemed about to strike us,
and passed overhead. The "Argus" was struck only three times, first in
the starboard gangway, then by a shot which went right through the
mainmast, but left it standing, and thirdly by a round shot near the
water line which penetrated about three inches, and then fell off into
the sea. By five o'clock we were all safely anchored again under Josling
point, except the "Havoc," which went off to set fire to five Loochooan
junks that were lying off the factories. Probably the latter were set on
fire by sparks from the junks, but credit was taken for their wilful
destruction. Under the impression that a large white building in the
rear of the town was the prince's palace, every effort was made to
destroy it, but it turned out afterwards to be a temple, and we learnt
that during the engagement the prince and his father had not been within
range. Rockets were also fired with the object of burning the town, in
which we were only too successful. The gale had increased to such a
height that all efforts on the part of the townspeople to extinguish the
flames must have been unavailing. It was an awful and magnificent sight,
the sky all filled with a cloud of smoke lit up from below by the
pointed masses of pale fire.
Our prize was still burning when we came back to our former anchorage,
and as she had 140 tons of coal on board she made a good bonfire. At
last she gave a lurch and went to the bottom. It was no doubt a great
disappointment to the sailors, for the steamers alone were worth
$300,000, and everyone would have had a good share of prize money if we
had been able to carry them off. It was rumoured that the prizes were
burnt at Colonel Neale's instance, who was very anxious, like the old
warrior that he was, that every ship should go into action unhampered.
It was also said that poor Captain Josling urged the Admiral against his
better judgment to fight that day, in spite of the adverse weather.
On Sunday morning the 16th August the bodies of Captain Josling,
Commander Wilmot and of the nine men who had lost their lives in the
action were buried in the sea. In the afternoon the squadron weighed
anchor and proceeded down the bay at slow speed, shelling the batteries
and town at long range until we left them too far behind. We anchored
for the night at some distance from the town, and on the 17th proceeded
to return to Yokohama. Most of us on board the "Argus," and I believe
the feeling was the same on board the other ships, came away bitterly
discontented.
The Japanese guns still continued firing at us as we left, though all
their shot fell short, and they might fairly claim that though we had
dismounted some of their batteries and laid the town in ruins, they had
forced us to retreat. Had we maintained the bombardment until every gun
was silenced, and then landed, or even lain off the town for a few days,
the opinion was that the demands would have been acceded to. Rumour said
that Colonel Neale was very anxious that the Admiral should land some
men and carry off a few guns as trophies of victory, but that he
declined to send a single man on shore. And men said that he was
demoralized by the death of his flag-captain and commander, with whom he
was talking on the bridge when the shot came that took off their heads.
But none of this appears in the official correspondence. I believe the
real explanation to be that differences had arisen between the
diplomatist and the sailor, the former of whom interfered too much with
the conduct of the operations. No doubt the etiquette was for him to
remain silent after he had placed matters in the hands of the Admiral,
but this the impetuosity of his nature would not permit him to do. It is
also possible that insufficiency of the supply of coals, provisions and
ammunition may have been a factor in the determination that was come to.
The Admiral in his report, which was published in the London "Gazette,"
took credit for the destruction of the town, and Mr. Bright very
properly called attention to this unnecessary act of severity in the
House of Commons; whereupon he wrote again, or Colonel Neale wrote, to
explain that the conflagration was accidental. But that I cannot think
was a correct representation of what took place, in face of the fact
that the "Perseus" continued to fire rockets into the town after the
engagement with the batteries was at an end, and it is also inconsistent
with the air of satisfaction which marks the despatch reporting that
£1,000,000 worth of property had been destroyed during the bombardment.
[Illustration: KAGOSIMA HARBOUR]
After the return of the squadron to Yokohama we settled down quietly
again, and the trade went on pretty much as usual; there were some
complaints that the Tycoon's council were laying hands on all the raw
silk destined for exportation, with a view doubtless of forcing up the
price and so recouping themselves out of foreign pockets for the
indemnities they had been forced to pay to the British Government. But
on a strong protest being made to them by Colonel Neale, the embargo was
removed. Rumours reached us of disturbances at Kiôto, where the
retainers of Chôshiû had been plotting to take possession of the palace,
and seize the person of the Mikado. Failing in their plans, they had
been dismissed from their share in guarding the palace, and had departed
to their native province, taking with them seven court nobles who had
been mixed up in the plot. Amongst them were Sanjô Sanéyoshi,
Higashi-Kuzé and Sawa, who afterwards held high office in the government
of the restoration.
The ill-success of the Chôshiû clan, which had been one of the foremost
in demanding the expulsion of the foreigners, was a turn of luck for the
Tycoon, and the result was the withdrawal of the circular of Ogasawara
proposing the closing of the ports. Ogasawara himself was disgraced.
Foreigners at Yokohama began to breathe freely again, and to renew their
former excursions in the neighbouring country.
But on the 14th October a fresh outrage completely upset our
tranquillity. A French officer of Chasseurs named Camus, while taking
his afternoon's ride at a distance of not more than two or three miles
from the settlement, and far from the high road, was attacked and
murdered. His right arm was found at a little distance from his body,
still clutching the bridle of his pony. There was a cut down one side of
the face, one through the nose, a third across the chin, the right
jugular vein was severed by a slash in the throat, and the vertebral
column was completely divided. The left arm was hanging on by a piece of
skin and the left side laid open to the heart. All the wounds were
perfectly clean, thus showing what a terrible weapon the Japanese
_katana_ was in the hands of a skilful swordsman. No clue to the
identity of the perpetrators of this horrible assassination was ever
discovered, but it made a profound impression upon the foreign
community, who after that were careful not to ride out unarmed or in
parties of less than three or four. Not that we were able to place much
confidence in our revolvers, for it was pretty certain that the
_samurai_ who was lying in wait to kill a foreigner would not carry out
his purpose unless he could take his victim at a disadvantage, and cases
of chance encounters with peaceably inclined Japanese were not known to
have occurred. Excepting perhaps the Richardson affair, from the very
first all these murders were premeditated, and the perpetrators took
care to secure their own safety beforehand.
It was an agreeable surprise to us a month later, when there appeared at
the legation two high officers of Satsuma, who undertook to pay the
indemnity of £25,000 and gave an engagement to make diligent search for
Richardson's murderers, who upon their arrest were to be punished with
death in the presence of British officers, in accordance with the
original demand. We may give Colonel Neale credit for knowing that there
was no genuine intention on the part of Satsuma to carry out this
promise, but on the other hand there was strong reason to suppose that
Shimadzu Saburô himself had actually given the order to cut down the
foreigners, and it could hardly be expected that the Satsuma men would
ever consent to do punishment upon him. The actual doers of the deed
were merely subordinate agents. We could not with justice have insisted
on their lives being taken, and at the same time suffer the principal
culprit to go scot-free. In order to succeed therefore in enforcing the
whole of the demands made by Her Majesty's Government, it would have
been necessary to invade Satsuma with an overwhelming force and
exterminate the greater part of the clan before we could get at their
chief; and we may be sure that he would never have fallen alive into our
hands. We had bombarded and destroyed the greater part of the forts and
town, probably killed a good many persons who were innocent of
Richardson's murder, and had thereby elevated what was in the beginning
a crime against public order into a _casus belli_. There would indeed,
it seems to me, have been no justification after that for taking more
lives by way of expiation. The Satsuma envoys, however, formally
acknowledged that their countrymen had been in the wrong, and they paid
the fine demanded by the British Government. No one therefore can blame
the British Chargé d'Affaires for having made peace on these terms. It
should be mentioned, however, that the Satsuma men borrowed the money
from the Tycoon's treasury, and I have never heard that it was repaid.
CHAPTER IX
SHIMONOSEKI; PRELIMINARY MEASURES
SIR RUTHERFORD ALCOCK returned from Europe early in March 1864, and
Colonel Neale took his departure. The members of the legation gave him a
farewell dinner, at which he delivered himself of prognostications as to
the future of those who had served under him. For me he prophesied a
professorship of Japanese at an English University, but so far his words
have not come true. The new chief was liked by everyone, and he was
particularly gracious to myself, relieving me from all chancery work, so
that I could devote the whole of my time to my Japanese studies. Willis
and I occupied a wooden house in a back street between the native town
and the foreign settlement, and there I worked industriously with my
three teachers. Sir Rutherford had brought with him very ample powers,
which he determined to make use of to chastise the Chôshiû clan for its
hostile attitude. We had, it might be said, conquered the goodwill of
Satsuma, and a similar process applied to the other principal head of
the anti-foreign party might well be expected to produce an equally
wholesome effect. In the summer of the previous year the Chôshiû people,
acting upon the orders which they had extorted from the Mikado for the
"expulsion of the barbarians," had fired upon an American merchant
vessel, a Dutch corvette and a French despatch-boat as they passed
through the straits of Shimonoséki. The corvette had returned the fire,
and in the other two cases satisfaction of an incomplete kind had been
obtained by the United States sloop "Wyoming" and the French squadron
under Admiral Jaurès respectively. The batteries had been destroyed, but
as soon as the foreign men-of-war quitted the scene, the Chôshiû men set
to work to rebuild the forts, to construct others, and to mount all the
guns they could bring together. So the hornet's nest was after no long
interval in good repair again, and more formidable for attack and
defence than before. That no foreign vessels could take their way
through the straits of Shimonoséki, which they had been in the habit of
passing from time to time after touching at Nagasaki in order to make a
pleasant and easy passage to Yokohama, instead of encountering the
stormy Cape Chichakoff, was felt to involve a diminution of western
prestige. Nothing but the complete subjugation of this warlike clan, and
the permanent destruction of its means of offence, would suffice to
convince the Japanese nation that we were determined to enforce the
treaties, and to carry on our trade without molestation from anybody,
irrespective of internal dissensions.
Sir Rutherford Alcock therefore lost no time in diligently setting to
work in order to bring about a coalition with the representatives of
France, Holland and the United States. In this he completely succeeded.
The Tycoon's government were warned that if they did not within twenty
days give a satisfactory undertaking to re-open the straits, the foreign
squadrons would be despatched thither to bring the Prince of Chôshiû to
reason. By a curious coincidence there had just returned to Japan two
out of a band of five young _samurai_ of Chôshiû, who the year before
had been smuggled away to England to see the world, and learn something
of the resources of foreign powers. Their names were Itô Shunsuké and
Inouyé Bunda. The other three who remained in England while their
companions, armed with the new knowledge, set forth on their journey to
warn their fellow clansmen that it was no use trying to run their heads
against a brick wall, were Endo Kinsuké, Inouyé Masaru and Yamao Yôzo.
They made themselves and the object of their return known to Sir
Rutherford, who promptly seized the opportunity thus offered of entering
into direct communication with the _daimiô_ of Chôshiû, and while
delivering a sort of ultimatum, of affording him the chance of
abandoning his hostile attitude for one more in accordance with the
treaties. He obtained the consent of his colleagues to the despatch of
two men-of-war to the neighbourhood of Shimonoséki in order to land the
two young men at a convenient spot, and delivered to them a long
memorandum for presentation to their prince.
A French officer (Commandant Layrle) and a Dutch naval officer, besides
Major Wray, R.E., were sent at the same time to gain what information
might be obtainable as to the present condition of the batteries, and to
my great joy I was lent as interpreter, along with my colleague, Mr. J.
J. Enslie. On the 21st July we left in the corvette "Barrosa," Captain
W. M. Dowell, and the gun vessel "Cormorant," Commander Buckle, and
passing up the Bungo channel, anchored off Himéshima Island after dark
on the 26th. We ran ashore, but managed to get off again, smashing the
jib-boom of the "Cormorant" as we did so. Early on the following morning
we landed our two Japanese friends Itô and Inouyé (who at that time went
by the name of Shiji), after promising to call for them on the 7th
August at the island of Kasato, off the coast of Suwô. On the way down I
had talked a good deal with them, and between us, with the aid of my
teacher, Nakazawa Kensaku (a retainer of Ogasawara, who had to seek his
livelihood in consequence of his master's disgrace), we had managed to
put Sir Rutherford's memorandum into Japanese. They were to cross over
in an open boat and land at Tonomi in Suwô. At eight o'clock we saw them
leave the shore. In Nakazawa's opinion the chances were six or seven out
of ten that their heads would be cut off, and that we should never see
them again.
We landed later on in the day at Himéshima and found the people very
friendly. They sold to us a plentiful supply of fish, but there were no
vegetables, beef or chickens to be had. Cattle were pretty plentiful and
fat, but the people looked poor and half starved. The population was
about 2000. The island was not fertile. I tried to buy some beef, but
the pretext that it was wanted as medicine for sick sailors (a Japanese
idea) was useless. Half the population was engaged in salt-burning; 1/2d
and 1d banknotes were current, and very little coin was to be seen. At
one place we gave a man an _ichibu_, worth say 10d. He pretended to turn
it over and look at it carefully, and then said "these are very rare
things here."
Next day we went round to the north side of the island and anchored
there. Here we again landed to visit the salt pans, and met with the
same friendly reception as before. On the 29th we crossed in one of the
ship's boats to Imi in Iyo, where the villagers refused to have anything
to do with us, but at Takeda-tsu, a mile or two further west, they made
no difficulties, and we were able to lay in a supply of pumpkins and
brinjalls. On the 1st August we weighed anchor before sunrise, and stood
away towards the straits. The "Barrosa" anchored about ten miles on this
side of Shimonoséki, and we went on in the "Cormorant," steaming towards
the coast of Buzen and then up to Isaki Point. When half-way across the
mouth of the straits we saw signal guns fired all along the north coast
from Chôfu to Saho. After going nearly up to Tanoura, keeping carefully
out of the range of the batteries, and cruising backwards and forwards
for a while, in order that the situation of the batteries and the number
of guns might be accurately noted, we finally returned to Himéshima. We
used to go on shore there for a walk every day, and found the people
inquisitive but friendly. On one occasion, however, as we were returning
through the village to our boats, we met a party of four _samurai_, who
appeared to form part of a detachment sent
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