3. HARRIS TREATIES AND JAPANESE EMBASSY. § 847. By the treaty concluded by Commodore Perry, American ships were allowed to obtain supplies of provisions and coal and other articles of necessity, by purchase and by barter, in the ports of Simoda and Hakodate; aid and protection in case of shipwreck were promised, and the privilege of appointing a consul to reside at Simoda was obtained. Immediately after the publication of the treaty a party of American citizens, some of them accompanied by their wives and children, embarked for Hakodate for the purpose of settling there and supplying the wants of whale ships which were expected to touch at that port. They proceeded, however, first to Simoda, where they were allowed to land, and were lodged in one of the temples; but they were afterwards notified that they would not be permitted to reside either at Simoda or at Hakodate, since they apparently intended to stay in Japan permanently, and not, as the treaty stipulated, only temporarily. September 8, 1855, Townsend Harris was appointed consul-general of the United States to reside at Simoda. He was chosen in the hope that by reason of his knowledge of Eastern character" and his general intelligence and experience in business" he might be able to induce the Japanese to enter into a treaty of commerce. He was furnished with a full power to negotiate and conclude such a treaty. His instructions stated that the intolerance of the Japanese in regard to the Christian religion precluded the hope that they would consent. to a stipulation by which missionaries would be allowed to enter the Empire or by which Christian worship would be permitted. With regard to the treaty of 1854, he was informed that the United States would insist upon a fair and liberal construction of it, and, if such a construction could not be obtained, would demand and require, by such means as might be necessary, the conclusion of a new treaty, by which the privileges to which the United States was entitled would be assured. Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, No. 2, Sept. 13, 1855, and No. 6, For instructions to Mr. Harris to pay a debt of $2,000 incurred by an June 17, 1857, Mr. Harris concluded with the Japanese a treaty regulating the intercourse of American citizens with Japan and the value of coins therein, and giving the American consul jurisdiction and privileges in certain cases. By this treaty it was provided that, with a view to supplying the wants of American ships, American citizens might permanently reside at Simoda and Hakodate, and that the government of the United States might appoint a vice-consul to reside at Hakodate. On July 29, 1858, Mr. Harris concluded with Japan a treaty of amity and commerce. This treaty provided for diplomatic representation at Yeddo, secured rights of residence and of trade at certain ports, regulated duties, granted the privilege of extraterritoriality to American citizens in Japan, and stipulated for religious freedom in that country. He achieved his success by a firm, tactful, honest diplomacy, and without the aid of a fleet, though it is no doubt true that he invoked the then recent humiliation of China by the allied fleets as an argument with the Shogun's ministers. Before the end of the year the fleets of the allies appeared, and treaties similar to that of the United States were obtained by France and Great Britain. Treaties between Japan and other powers followed in due time. The treaty of July 29, 1858, provided that the ratifications should be exchanged at Washington. The Japanese having no vessel suitable for the conveyance of their mission to America suggested to Harris that he ask his government to lend a man-of-war for the purpose. Harris advised that this be done. "We were," said he, "the first nation to make a treaty of amity with the Japanese. This we have followed up by making the first commercial treaty with them, and to have the éclat to receive the first embassy from this singular people can not but redound to our national honor." Lord Elgin, said Harris, had requested the Japanese to send an ambassador to England and had offered them any conveyance they might require, but they had evaded the request, not having decided to send an ambassador to any nation. The departure of the mission to the United States was at first postponed, owing, as was understood, to the effort of some of the daimios to induce the Mikado to preserve the ancient law, which inflicted the death penalty on any Japanese who might leave the country. The Japanese, said Harris, looked upon the treaties as "unavoidable evils." They at length determined, however, to send an embassy to the United States. In the mission there were 20 gentlemen and 51 servants-71 in all. Commodore Tatnall conveyed them in the Powhatan to Panama, and the steam frigate Roanoke was sent to convey them from Colon to New York. By a joint resolution of April 19, 1860, Congress appropriated the sum of $50,000 to defray the expenses of the embassy. S. Ex. Doc. 25, 36 Cong. 1 sess.; joint resolution of April 19, 1860, 12 course between the United States and Japan (Baltimore, 1891). See, also, an appreciative estimate of Harris's work, in Hishida, The International Position of Japan as a Great Power (New York, 1905), 111-117. Mr. Harris, in consideration of the important services which he had rendered, was appointed minister resident of the United States in Japan. (Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, min. to Japan, No. 1, Jan. 17, 1859, and No. 3, April 30, 1857, MS. Inst. Japan, I. 21, 24.) "I am happy to announce that, through the energetic yet conciliatory efforts of our consul-general in Japan, a new treaty has been concluded with that Empire, which may be expected materially to augment our trade and intercourse in that quarter, and remove from our countrymen the disabilities which have heretofore been imposed upon the exercise of their religion. The treaty shall be submitted to the Senate for approval without delay." (President Buchanan, annual message, Dec. 6, 1858; Richardson's Messages, V. 506.) Captain, afterwards Admiral, S. F. Du Pont was designated to receive and take charge of the embassy on its arrival in the United States. Commander Lee, Lieut. David D. Porter, and a purser, to act as disbursing agent, were detailed to assist him. The envoys, on their arrival in the United States, were conducted immediately to Washington. They reached that capital on the 14th of May, 1860, and on the 17th of May were received by the President, to whom they presented their letters of credence from the Tycoon. The ratifications of the treaty were exchanged on the 22d of May, and the members of the embassy were afterwards conducted to some of the principal cities of the country. They were sent back to Japan on the U. S. S. Niagara, which sailed from New York on the 29th of June. Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, min. to Japan, No. 9, April 27, 1860, MS. Inst. Japan, I. 29; Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, to the Japanese Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, to Capt. Du Pont, April 26, 1860, 52 MS. Dom. Presents were placed by the envoys in the hands of Captain Du Pont for 66 Various presents, including some arms and munitions of war, which the envoys had expressed a desire to take to their government, were made on the part of the United States. Some medals were also struck off in commemoration of the embassy's visit, one of the medals bear ing on its obverse a head of the President, and on the other side an appropriate inscription. (Mr. Cass, Sec. of State, to Capt. Du Pont, May 22, 1860, 52 MS. Dom. Let. 261; Mr. Cass to Mr. Floyd, Sec. of War, June 22, 1860, id. 370; Mr. Trescot, Act. Sec. of State, to Mr Harris, No. 12, June 26, 1860, MS. Inst. Japan, I. 33.) The embassy proposed to give to Captain Du Pont $20,000, to be distrib uted among the police of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York and certain other persons. The Department of State replied: "The President is reluctant to interfere with the wishes of the embassy upon a matter not requiring his official intervention, buț he is decidedly of opinion that the proposition, although very honorable to the envoys, is not of a character to meet the approbation of this government, and this opinion you will communicate to the embassy." (Mr. Trescot, Act. Sec. of State, to Capt. Du Pont, June 26, 1860, 52 MS. Doin. Let. 387.) During the stay of the envoys in Baltimore two swords were purloined from them. One of the swords was afterwards recovered and sent back to Japan. (Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Pruyn, Dec. 9. 1861, MS. Inst. Japan, I. 57; Dip. Cor. 1863, 963.) The Japanese, when suggesting in 1863 that they might send another embassy to the United States, "begged most earnestly that no such expensive reception should be given to it as on the occasion of the former one." (Mr. Pruyn, min. to Japan, to Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, Dec. 1, 1863, Dip. Cor. 1864, III. 463, 464.) In 1889 Japanese retail merchants dealing in "Scott's Emulsion," an American medicinal preparation, were informed by their government that they must obtain a special license for its sale. They complied, but the American legation at Tokio sought to have the exaction removed. Subsequently, in addition to the license tax, they were required to pay an excise duty of 10 per cent in the form of a revenue stamp on each bottle. The Japanese merchants were thus in some cases obliged to return their stock to the American importers, who invoked the interposition of the legation. The Japanese government defended its action on the twofold ground, first, that "Scott's Emulsion," being in the nature of a medicinal preparation, fell within the Japanese regulations for the sale of licensed medicines, which required a special license to be taken out for the vending of such ar ticles; and, second, that under the treaties the Japanese government had the right to levy internal taxes on all goods or articles of mer chandise imported into the Empire. It was stated, however, that the imperial authorities would not have it understood that they would inflexibly adhere to their opinion or hesitate to abolish the internal taxes upon the imported article if it could be conclusively shown that they are not altogether correct in their position; and they invited an expression of the views of the United States upon the subject. The United States took the ground that the exactions violated Articles III. and IV. of the treaty of 1858. Article III. provided that "Americans may freely buy from Japanese and sell to them any articles that either may have for sale, without the intervention of any Japanese officers in such purchase or sale, or in making or receiving payment for the same;" and that "all classes of Japanese may purchase, sell, keep, or use any articles sold to them by the Americans." Article IV. provided that "duties" should be "paid to the government of Japan on all goods landed in the country, according to the tariff hereunto appended;" and that "all goods imported into Japan, and which have paid the duty fixed by this treaty, may be transported by the Japanese into any part of the Empire without the payment of any tax, excise, or transit duty whatever." The Japanese government laid special stress on the words “may be transported," as defining and limiting the scope of the stipulation. The United States replied that, while it might be true that the American negotiator had particularly in mind the "likin" tax, or transit duty, imposed on goods in China, yet the language of the treaty made it clear that it was intended, while doing away with the transit duty, to prevent the imposition of equally onerous and distinctive taxes in other forms, and to preclude the assessment of duties, in addition to those provided in the treaty, by reason of the passage of the goods from American into Japanese hands. This construction, the United States maintained, was confirmed by the practice of thirty years, under which the Japanese government had abstained from imposing internal taxes on goods imported under the conventional tariffs. Mr. Sato, Japanese chargé, to Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, March 7, 1890, In his No. 120, May 20, 1890, Mr. Swift reported that he had communi- 4. DOMESTIC DISTURBANCES. § 848. Treaties with Japan, similar to that of the United States, were made by France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Prussia, and Russia. The opening of the country to foreign trade was followed by marked antiforeign disturbances. These were ascribed in large measure to the sudden enhancement of the cost of various articles by reason of the foreign demand. This enhancement was said in some instances to amount to as much as 300 per cent. Exportations increased, while |