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THE ENFRANCHISEMENT OF JAPAN

WHEN the disorders of government in Japan and the anti-foreign disturbances which marked the first few years after the opening of the ports to intercourse with the outside world, as already narrated, had in great measure passed, the rulers of the nation addressed themselves to the task of adapting the country to the changed conditions. New and unexpected embarrassments, however, were at once encountered. It has been seen that the Japanese were as artless as children in the practice of diplomacy, and accepted submissively the treaties which Commodore Perry and Minister Harris prepared, as well as those of the other nations patterned after them. But the statesmen of Japan were sagacious and highly patriotic, and they early discovered that the nation had been led into a thralldom, a release from which would require the greatest wisdom, persistency, and forbearance.

Soon after the treaties went into effect it became apparent that the government had surrendered two of the highest attributes of sovereignty and independence the power to enforce its authority over all the people within its territory, and the right to frame and alter its tariff or impost duties at its pleasure. According to the American treaties of 1854 and 1858,

which followed the Cushing treaty of 1844 with China on the subject of exterritoriality, Americans committing offenses in Japan were to be tried by their own consuls, and Japanese having claims against Americans were required to enforce them in the consular courts. A fixed tariff of duties was also agreed to on imports and exports. Similar provisions were contained in the treaties with the other foreign powers.

Soon after the government of the Mikado was well established at Tokio efforts were made to obtain an abolition or a modification of these stipulations through the resident foreign ministers. These proved ineffectual, and inasmuch as the year 1872 was fixed in the treaties as the date when their revision might be considered, it was determined to dispatch an embassy to the capitals of all the interested powers for the purpose of securing, by means of such revision, a release from the humiliating and burdensome conditions which so greatly embarrassed the government.

In 1871 the embassy was constituted. At its head was placed Prince Iwakura, junior prime minister and minister for foreign affairs. With him were associated as vice-ambassadors, Kido, Okuba, Ito, and Yamagutsi, men who had already attained high positions in the government, and whose talents made them leaders of the New Japan. While the special object of the embassy was to obtain a revision of the treaties, it had also in view a study of the institutions of the Western nations, and to this end commissioners fitted for the task were selected from the various departments of government.

The embassy, which sailed from Yokohama the last

of December, consisted of forty-nine officials, with interpreters and servants making in all over one hundred persons. They were accompanied to the United States by the American minister, Mr. De Long, and his secretary; and the Japanese consul at San Francisco, an American citizen, was made a member of the embassy and continued with it through Europe. It arrived in San Francisco, January 15, 1872, where it was received with the greatest attention by the public officials and citizens. In the receptions and festivities, Vice-Ambassador Ito, who had been abroad and was familiar with the English language, was the chief speaker. The spirit which animated this distinguished body of statesmen may be seen from the following extracts from his speeches.

At a banquet given by the citizens of San Francisco, in the course of his remarks, he said: "Japan is anxious to press forward. The red disk in the centre of our flag shall no longer appear like a wafer over a sealed empire, but henceforth be in fact what it is designed to be, the noble emblem of the rising sun, moving onward and upward amid the enlightened nations of the world." And at Sacramento: "We come to study your strength, that, by adopting wisely your better ways, we may hereafter be stronger ourselves. Notwithstanding the various customs, manners, and institutions of the different nations, we are all members of one large human family, and under control of the same Almighty Being, and we believe it is our common destiny to reach a nobler civilization than the world has yet seen."

By a unanimous vote of Congress the embassy was declared the guests of the United States and an appropriation for its entertainment was made. On its arrival in Washington it was received at the executive mansion by President Grant, in the presence of all the heads of departments and bureaus and a numerous company of prominent citizens. An official reception was tendered by Congress in the hall of the House of Representatives, with eloquent addresses by the Speaker, Mr. Blaine, and Prince Iwakura. Public and private courtesies were likewise shown them in the other cities which they visited before their departure for Europe.

The ambassadors had several conferences with the Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, on the subject of the revision of the treaties, and received from him the assurance that the government of the United States was prepared to take the subject in the most liberal spirit towards Japan. But it was found that the Japanese representatives were not clothed with power to sign a treaty, and definite action was postponed till the embassy had conferred with the European treaty powers.

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During their stay in the United States the ambassadors and commissioners were busy in studying its institutions and customs, and their reports thereon constitute a large volume in the publications of the embassy. Prince Iwakura, who had been the main support of the imperial cause during the struggle which resulted in the reinstallment of the emperor, was a devoted monarchist, and found little in the American democratic system to pattern after; but he was much impressed with the strength of the central government. The reports give

special attention to the social aspects, the genial disposition of the people, their cosmopolitan character, the influence which religion exerts in society and government, the educational system, the respect paid to women, the growth of the cities, and European immigration.

The visit of the embassy to the European capitals was fruitless of results so far as its main object was concerned. It found the governments unwilling to give Japan jurisdiction over their subjects until it had reformed its system of jurisprudence, and they did not choose to give up the hold which they had acquired on the regulation of foreign trade. From the United States alone had the embassy received any well-grounded hope of release; and on his return to Japan the chief ambassador expressed to the American minister in a heartfelt manner his deep sense of obligation to the government for its reception and treatment.

Prince Iwakura was a noted character in Japanese history. He is held in esteem by Americans because of his high appreciation of the friendship of their country for his nation, and for the partiality shown by him to the United States in educating three of his sons in its institutions. Minister Bingham ranked him as one of the ablest of his majesty's ministers, and one of the foremost intellectually and morally of his countrymen. On his death in 1883, the emperor issued a rescript in which he bore this testimony: "He was the pillar of the nation, and a model for my subjects. I ascended the throne in my youth. The deceased was my teacher. Heaven has deprived me of his aid. How grieved am I! In honor of his memory I confer on him the posthumous title of first minister of state."