CHAPTER XXI

Treaty Revision—Great Britain Takes Initiative—Difficulties with China.

The year 1894 marks a memorable stage in the rise of Japan to the position in the world she has since attained. It witnessed two events of far-reaching importance: the revision of the Treaty between Great Britain and Japan, which, though only the first of a series, practically solved the long-pending question of Treaty revision; and the outbreak of war with China. The new Treaty with Great Britain was signed on the 16th July, and within a fortnight of its signature Japan was at war with her continental neighbour. Both events, it may be noted in passing, had a calming effect on parliamentary proceedings, the Diet then in existence, though not actually in session, being the only one which lasted for the full constitutional term of four years.

The question of the revision of the treaties with foreign Powers has been referred to more than once in previous chapters. These treaties, as we have seen, formed part of a series of Conventions concluded between the years 1858 and 1869, which were framed on the same lines, while their effect was rendered uniform by the “most-favoured-nation” clause contained in each. As has already been pointed out, the features of the treaties which caused dissatisfaction in Japan were the concession of extra-territoriality, and the absence of any fixed period for their duration. Revision being subject to the consent of both parties, it was felt that Japan might be indefinitely deprived of tariff autonomy and the right of exercising jurisdiction over foreigners in her own territory. It was not unnatural that the Japanese Government, while overlooking the many disadvantages attaching to foreign residence and trade in what was a mere fringe of the country, should, as soon as it became aware that the character of the treaties was different from that of those made by Western Governments with each other, have taken an early opportunity to protest against conditions which were regarded as derogatory to the dignity of the nation, nor that it should have made repeated attempts to secure their removal by negotiation with the Powers concerned. We have seen how the failure of these efforts roused popular feeling, supplied political agitators with a weapon used with effect in the campaigns they directed from time to time against the Government, and eventually led to a serious recrudescence of the anti-foreign feeling of pre-Restoration days; so that by the time that the Constitution came into operation Treaty revision was no longer regarded as a mere matter of departmental policy, with which the public at large had little concern, but had become, so to speak, a national question.

In view of the importance which this question gradually came to assume in public affairs, affecting as it did both domestic policy and foreign relations, it may be well, at the risk of some repetition, to give a succinct account of the lengthy negotiations on this subject, asking the indulgence of the reader, should he be taken over ground traversed before.

Undeterred by the failure, already recorded, of Prince Iwakura’s mission in 1872, the Japanese Government made another attempt two years later to negotiate a new Treaty which would, it was hoped, be the forerunner of others. The relations between the United States and Japan were at this time, if anything, more friendly than those of Japan with other Powers. This was to a great extent the natural result of circumstances. By taking the initiative in the reopening of Japan to foreign intercourse, America had given evidence of an intention to pursue an independent policy in regard to foreign questions. Having been the first Western Power to appear on the scene, her influence had been the first to be felt in Japan. Moreover, her great commercial expansion being still in its infancy, she had fewer interests to protect in Japan than older countries. American representatives were thus spared much of the friction with the Japanese authorities which fell to the lot of other foreign representatives. Influenced probably by these considerations, it was to the United States that the Japanese Government addressed its overtures on this occasion. They were favourably received, and a new Treaty was negotiated with little difficulty. But the Treaty remained a dead letter owing to the inclusion of a clause providing that it should come into operation only when similar treaties had been concluded with other Powers.

For several years no further steps were taken by the Japanese Government in the matter of Treaty revision. Ministerial dissensions and the disturbed state of the country, which culminated in the Satsuma rebellion, called for the concentration of attention on domestic affairs. Foreign questions, therefore, ceased for a time to be a subject of public interest. By this time also it is probable that the Government began to realize more clearly than before the nature of the objections entertained by foreign Powers to the revision of their treaties with Japan; and to understand that, so far as the point of extra-territoriality was concerned, the unwillingness of foreign Governments to accede to Japanese demands was based on the reasonable ground that, until some substantial evidence of progress in the direction, at least, of legal reforms, was forthcoming, they must naturally hesitate to make their subjects amenable to Japanese jurisdiction. The energy and determination with which the Japanese Government set to work to carry out legal and judicial reforms showed that it was alive to the necessity of meeting the objections of foreign Powers in the direction indicated. One result of the progressive spirit displayed was, as we have seen, the promulgation of a Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, framed in accordance with Western ideas, which came into operation early in 1882. In the autumn of that year negotiations for Treaty revision were reopened, and a preliminary conference of the representatives of Japan and the leading Treaty Powers was held in Tōkiō. No definite result was then reached, but the ground was cleared for subsequent discussion, which took place four years later, the Japanese Capital being, as before, the seat of negotiations. At this second and more formal conference, at which no less than seventeen Treaty Powers were represented, and which lasted from May, 1886, to June, 1887, definite progress was made. In the end, however, negotiations were abruptly broken off by the Japanese delegates, in consequence, as was understood at the time, of popular dissatisfaction with the proposed employment of foreign judges in Japanese Courts of First Instance and Courts of Appeal in cases where foreigners were defendants. In 1889 negotiations were again reopened in Tōkiō. The proposals then submitted by Count (afterwards Marquis) Ōkuma, as Foreign Minister, were accepted by the American and Russian Governments; but public feeling again showed itself hostile to the appointment of foreign judges, even on the reduced scale contemplated by the new proposals. The attempted assassination of the Minister who had brought them forward once more put a stop to negotiations, and arrangements were made for the cancellation of the two treaties that had been concluded.

On all these occasions discussion had centred chiefly round the question of Japanese jurisdiction over foreigners. The main difficulty had always been the same: to reconcile the natural desire of foreign Governments to secure such guarantees in the matter of the administration of justice as would safeguard the surrender of extra-territorial privileges with the equally natural wish of Japan to recover the right of jurisdiction over foreigners in her territories. And it will be seen that even when a compromise satisfactory to both negotiating parties had been, or was about to be, reached, the sensitiveness of the public in Japan concerning any point which it regarded as detrimental to Japanese dignity prevented its acceptance by the nation.

In the following year Lord Salisbury presented to the Japanese Government in Tōkiō proposals for Treaty revision which were based on the results achieved during the second conference, and on the general experience gained in the long course of negotiations. These British proposals conceded the principle of territorial jurisdiction on the condition that all the new Japanese Codes of Law should be in operation before the revised Treaty came into force, and offered an increase of 3 per cent in the Customs Import Tariff. The period of duration of the proposed Treaty and tariff was fixed at twelve years, at the end of which time Japan would recover complete tariff autonomy. The proposed Treaty further provided for the opening of the whole of Japan to British trade and intercourse, and for her adhesion to the International Conventions for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright. This latter provision was called for by the frequent imitation of foreign trademarks, and the issue of cheap copies of foreign publications. In order to avoid offending Japanese susceptibilities careful attention was given to the form in which these proposals were framed. It might have been expected that proposals so liberal could not fail of acceptance. The fact that they were so far in advance of the views regarding Treaty revision entertained by the majority of foreign Governments implied a recognition of the progress made by Japan, and confidence in her future, which could hardly fail to be gratifying to the Government to which they were presented. The favourable impression they at first produced justified the hope that negotiations might result in an agreement on this long-pending question. Again, however, popular agitation stood in the way of a settlement. Objection was raised to the ownership of land by foreigners, a point which had figured in all previous schemes of Treaty revision, and the matter was quietly shelved without ever reaching the stage of negotiations. One explanation of the attitude assumed by Japanese Ministers at this time may be found in the jealousy prevailing in political circles which made it difficult for any single statesman, or party, to gain the credit of disposing of a problem, which had defied solution for so long. Any official jealousy of this kind which may have existed would tend to encourage agitation on the subject irrespective of the merits of the question at issue. Another reason likely to influence public opinion in a nation in whose character pride is so predominant a trait may have been the feeling that it was desirable for the country’s prestige that proposals which should furnish the basis of the new treaties should emanate from Japan.

Treaty revision had thus become a national question in which political parties, as well as the Press, took an active interest, and in succeeding years the Diet was frequently the scene of animated discussions, which caused no little embarrassment to the Government. Fortunately for both Government and people, and for relations between Japan and foreign Powers, the long looked-for solution came in sight in 1894. In the spring of that year negotiations were resumed by the Japanese Government in London. The proposals then submitted to the British Government were practically the same both in form and substance as the previous British proposals, the chief difference lying in the substitution of a right of lease only in place of the right of ownership of land by British subjects. The Japanese Government had reason subsequently to regret this alteration, for it gave rise to a controversy, which, on being referred for arbitration to the Hague Tribunal in 1905, was decided against Japan. The negotiations proceeded smoothly, and ended in the signature on the 16th July of that year of a new Treaty and Protocol, some minor matters being regulated by an exchange of Notes. By the new Treaty arrangements consular jurisdiction was abolished, and the whole of Japan was opened to British trade and intercourse. It was also provided that before the new Treaty came into operation the new Japanese Codes should have been brought into force, and Japan should have notified her adhesion to the International Conventions for the Protection of Industrial Property and Copyright. It was also agreed between the two parties that the new Treaty should not come into operation before the expiration of five years from the date of signature, the object of this stipulation being to allow time for the negotiation of similar treaties with other foreign Powers. The _ad valorem_ duties in the tariff accompanying the agreement were subsequently converted into specific rates by delegates of the two Governments who met in Tōkiō for that purpose.

It is not surprising that the new Treaty should have met with scanty approval from the British mercantile community in Japan. In the wide areas over which the interests of the British Empire are spread it is inevitable that there should at times be some points of divergence between Imperial policy and local views, between the appreciation of a situation by the Government with its wider outlook and far-reaching responsibilities in matters of Imperial concern, and by British communities abroad. Nor was it unnatural for British residents in the Far East, accustomed by long experience to regard extra-territorial privileges in Oriental countries almost as part of the British Constitution, to view with unwillingness their surrender. But there can be no doubt that the time had come for a concession of this kind to be made. The progress of Japan in the thirty-six years that had elapsed since the treaties of 1858 had been attended by evidences of stability in administration and policy which invited the confidence as it evoked the admiration of the world. The conditions of foreign residence in Japan compared more than favourably with those in other countries where there was no exemption from territorial jurisdiction. Nor in any case would it have been right, or even, under the circumstances, possible, from the point of the position which Japan had already attained, for Treaty revision to be longer deferred. Subsequent events have established the wisdom of the course taken by Great Britain. It is true that Great Britain gained little material advantage from the agreement. But Japan had very little to offer in return for what she received. Circumstances precluded anything in the nature of a bargain. The opening of the whole country—already rendered accessible to travellers, and indirectly to merchants, by means of a passport system—was of little, if any, benefit to British commerce, which was unlikely to diverge from the trade routes already established. But by being the first to revise her Treaty on terms practically identical with those she had herself offered two years before, Great Britain showed her frank recognition of the changed conditions resulting from the steady progress of more than thirty years. And she thereby retained her position as the leading Western Power in the Far East, and gained the goodwill of Japan, thus paving the way for the future Anglo-Japanese Alliance.

Lest it should be thought that in the foregoing account of Treaty revision too much importance has been attached to it, and possibly too close a connection traced between negotiations on this subject and the development of Japan on Western lines, it may be well to conclude these remarks with a quotation from a speech delivered by Viscount Chinda, then Japanese Ambassador in London, at the Sheffield University on June 29th, 1918.

In the course of his speech Viscount Chinda said: “Perhaps no one except a Japanese will be able to appreciate truly and fully the great importance attached to the question of Treaty revision. For the Japanese, however, the question was a matter of paramount importance, connoting as it did nothing less than a national emancipation. The first treaties of Japan with foreign Powers were signed while the nation was still in a state of torpor from a long slumber of seclusion, and in the circumstances amounted almost to duress.... So defective indeed were these treaties that Japan was in effect deprived of the two essential attributes of a Sovereign State. The redemption of her judicial and fiscal autonomy became henceforth the dream of Japanese national aspiration, and her policies, both foreign and domestic, ever shaped principally with this one supreme end in view. Innovation after innovation, often involving sacrifices of traditional sentiments, were introduced for the purpose of assimilating the country and its institutions to the standard of Western civilization.”

Similar language has been held by other prominent Japanese statesmen, notably by Viscount Kato, at one time ambassador in London, and now the leader of a powerful political party, whose experience as a Cabinet Minister qualifies him to speak with authority on the subject.

The outbreak of war with China within a few days of the signature of the revised British Treaty has already been mentioned. To foreign residents in the Far East, who had opportunities of observing the relations between Japan and China during the previous years, the event caused little surprise. At no period of history had their relations been cordial, except perhaps for a time in the seventh century, when China became the model on which Japan remoulded her institutions. The Mongol invasions of Japan in the thirteenth century had left unpleasant memories in both countries, and relations were not improved by the intervention of China in support of Korea when the Japanese in their turn invaded that country. On neither side, however, was the recollection of past hostilities allowed to stand in the way of the customary intercourse between neighbouring Oriental States, which was limited to the despatch at irregular intervals of complimentary missions, and the occasional visits of Chinese traders. By the time that Japan embarked on a policy of seclusion, in consequence of the domestic troubles which arose in connection with the first efforts of foreign missionary enterprise, Chinese traders had, as we have seen, established a small centre of commerce in the south-west of Japan. There, after the country was closed, they, and the Dutch traders, were allowed to remain, though under conditions which deprived the privilege of much of its value, and eventually reduced the commerce thus conducted to small and rapidly dwindling proportions. Prior to the issue of the edict which put an end to maritime enterprise the Japanese had shown no lack of seafaring spirit. Even then, however, the pursuit of trade as a definite object never seems to have attracted the nation, the visits of Japanese vessels to the mainland of Asia being undertaken more with an eye to the prosecution of piratical raids than the conduct of peaceful commerce.

With the reopening of Japan to foreign intercourse the situation underwent a complete change. The establishment of “treaty ports” and the development of Japanese trade with foreign countries had the natural effect of drawing Japan and China more closely together, though for some years circumstances conspired to prevent the growth of more intimate relations between the two peoples. Much of the new commercial intercourse between them was conducted not directly between Chinese and Japanese merchants, but indirectly through the medium of merchants of other nationalities, who acted as the middlemen of foreign commerce in the Far East. Incompatibility of temperament, moreover, and of ideas—the result of a fundamental difference in conditions of national development—acted as a barrier between the two peoples. Nor was the state of affairs in either country such as to favour a recognition of the common interests which pointed to the desirability of a closer understanding. The decay of China under spiritless Manchu rule had already begun. Resting in fancied security on the traditions of past greatness, and unconscious of her own decadence, she was too proud to make advances to a smaller though near neighbour, whose existence she had hitherto found it convenient to ignore. Japan, for her part, in the throes of a revolution which was to usher in a new order of things, was too busy for a time to pay much attention to intercourse with China, of whose attitude towards herself she was, nevertheless, well aware.

It was not until after the Restoration that the relations between the two countries were placed on a formal Treaty basis. The Treaty concluded at Peking in 1871, on the initiative of the new Japanese Government, was framed on simple lines, something both as to form and substance being borrowed from the treaties in existence between the two nations and Western Powers. By the most important of its stipulations it was arranged that the Consuls, or “administrators,” as they were termed, of each country should exercise supervision and control over their nationals resident therein; that these officials should endeavour to settle amicably all disputes that might arise between the subjects of the two countries; and that, failing a settlement in this manner, the questions at issue should be referred to the Consuls and local authorities for joint decision—the latter having, moreover, the right of arrest and punishment in all criminal cases. Trade regulations and an _ad valorem_ tariff were attached to the Treaty, but no period of duration was mentioned.

Not long after the conclusion of this Treaty the friendly relations thus formally established between the two countries were disturbed, as we have seen, by the quarrel which arose out of the ill-treatment received by natives of Loochoo in Formosa. The adoption by Japan of Western innovations had already given offence to the Chinese Government, which viewed with strong disapproval this departure from the traditional policy hitherto followed by Far Eastern States. The forcible measures taken by Japan in connection with this incident to obtain redress caused both surprise and irritation. These feelings were intensified by the controversy which took place a few years later over the annexation of Loochoo by Japan. On this occasion China contented herself with making a formal protest. No definite understanding was effected in the course of the negotiations that ensued, and the incident was closed by China’s tacit acquiescence in the new situation. Thenceforth, however, the relations between the two countries assumed a character of estrangement, which only needed the stimulus of some further dispute to ripen into hostility.

This further cause of quarrel was supplied by Korea.