Mr. Plunkett to the Earl of Derby.―(Received January 17, 1876)

(No. 167)
Yedo, December 9, 1875

My Lord,

I HAVE the honour to inform your Lordship that, having received a private note from Mr. Terashima stating that he wished to see me about some current business, I called at the Foreign Department at 2 o’clock this afternoon, accompanied by Mr. McClatchie.
Instead of entering on the business he had mentioned in his note, his Excellency at once began the conversation by stating that he wished to speak to me on a subject which he had frequently discussed with Sir Harry Parkes.
I was doubtless aware of the peculiar relations which have existed for the last three hundred years between Japan and Corea, and he need not allude to the accusations made by the public papers against Her Majesty’s Minister of having encouraged the warlike aspirations of Japan in that quarter. These accusations were totally false, and the Government had at once published a formal denial of the charge. He merely now alluded to them as a preface to what he was going to say.
The position of the Japanese Settlement at Sorio was becoming untenable, the Coreans would not act up to the Convention concluded with Mr. Moriyama, and finally, the attack on the Imperial gun-boat “Unyokan” had exhausted the patience of the Japanese Government, and they felt the time was come when they must take steps to place their intercourse with Corea on a more satisfactory footing.
He, therefore, now wished to take the first opportunity of informing me, as Sir Harry Parkes was not within reach, that the Government had decided on sending a special High Commissioner to the capital of Corea, to propose the negotiation of a preliminary Treaty of Commerce and Navigation.
The person selected for this mission is Mr. Kuroda, one of the Cabinet Ministers and head of the Ministry of Colonization. He will set out in about ten days, and will be accompanied by several secretaries, and also by two or three men-of-war and a very small body of troops. This small force is in no way intended to act aggressively, but is only for his protection in case the Coreans should attack the Mission.
If the Corean Government receive Mr. Kuroda and accept his proposals, there need be no difficulty in the matter; but, should he meet with a hostile reception, it will be his duty simply to return and await the further instructions which may be given to him.
No special military arrangements are being made in view of this Mission, and the Government hope it will be found unnecessary to have recourse to strong measures.
I allowed Mr. Terashima to give me all the above details without once interrupting him; but, when he stopped, I told him that I had listened to all he said with the greatest interest, and thanked him for having given me such full details. That I was acting temporarily in the absence of Her Majesty’s Minister, and that he must consider what I might say as having only an unofficial character; but, as he had been so frank with me, I begged leave to ask one or two questions. I begged him to inform me whether the Government had decided what should be done in case the Mission should meet with the hostile reception, which in point of fact it is quite sure to encounter, and, secondly, whether Japan had inquired how the two neighbouring Powers, China and Russia, would look upon a Japanese expedition to Corea.
In reply to the first question, Mr. Terashima declined to say more than that he trusted the Coreans would receive the Mission in a proper way. He continued at some length to argue that letters had at various times passed between the Corean Government and the Japanese; that their Mission was quite different from that of any other nation, for it only went to claim the fulfillment of promises already made. There ought, therefore, to be no reason why a Japanese Mission should not be admitted to King-hi-tao.
I saw there was no use asking anything more on this point, so I again inquired as to the attitude he expected would be assumed by Russia or China.
His Excellency disposed of China very briefly, maintaining that she had no right whatever to interfere as she had acknowledged a couple of years ago to Mr. Soyeshima at Peking that she had no desire to shield the Coreans. Moreover, as a matter of fact, China had not interfered in any way when the French or Americans had made expeditions to Corea. He, therefore, considered that Japan had nothing to fear in that quarter.
With reference to Russia, his Excellency said that although no positive promise had passed, yet he had been informed by the Russian Minister here that Russia would not interfere in the matter.
I thought it right to press somewhat on this point, and finally, Mr. Terashima said: “if the Mission meet with opposition and war ensues, Russia would think it well.”
Having seen in Mr. Doria’s despatch No. 287 inclosed in your Lordship’s despatch No. 99 of the 15th of October, that the Japanese had asked permission to land troops inside the Russian frontier for an attack on Corea, I inquired casually whether, in case hostilities should unfortunately break out, the Japanese troops would attack the capital itself, or go from Sorio, or from some of the harbours on the Russian frontier. He answered briefly, “to the capital direct, certainly not from the Russian frontier.”
I had previously learnt that Mr. Kuro-ôka, an employé of the Japanese Naval Department, had lately proceeded to Vladivostock; I, therefore, took an opportunity to inquire what business had taken him there at this inclement season of the year. Mr. Terashima assured me that he was only charged with some naval matters of no interest.
I think it my duty to lose no time in bringing the above to your Lordship’s notice, but as I have only a couple of hours to catch the first steamer leaving today for San Francisco, I trust you will be pleased favourably to excuse the hurried manner in which I have been obliged to recount the interview.
I think it right to add that I abstained throughout from expressing anything like approval, and confined myself to reminding his Excellency twice of the serious warnings which Sir Harry Parkes had already given in this matter to the Japanese Government.

I have, &c.
(In the absence of Sir H. Parkes),
(Signed) F. R. PLUNKETT