Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/180

The history of foreign affairs in Japan in the early part of the New Era is so intricately bound up with the political events of the period that a brief statement of the latter is indispensable for the clear understanding of the former.

The Tokugawa Government had already entered into diplomatic relations with the United States in 1854, and promised to open the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate. The same arrangement had already been made with England and Russia during the same year, with Holland in 1855, and with France in 1858. But the diplomatic documents then signed by the officers of the Shogun, and not subject to ratification, were all of a temporary nature, because he dared not enter into formal engagements so long as there existed much opposition in the Imperial Court in Kyoto, and even among the Daimyos or feudal lords directly subject to the Shogun.

The arms of England and France having been attended with success in the South of China, in 1857 Mr. Townsend Harris, United States Consul General, obtained audience of the Shogun after great difficulties, and explained to him the advisability of entering into formal treaty relations with the United States first, so that the latter might act as mediator, in case England and France should make exorbitant demands, elated by the newly obtained victory. This was listened to, and on the 29th of July, 1858, a treaty of amity and commerce, consisting of fourteen articles, was signed, promising to open the ports of Kanagawa and Nagasaki in 1859, Niigata in 1860, Hyogo in 1863, and to fix concession grounds in Yedo (1st of January, 1862) and Osaka (1st of January, 1863). The document was to be ratified by the Shogun on or before the 4th of July, 1859, but before doing so he had to obtain the permission of the Emperor in Kyoto. The permission, how-