Confidential
(No. 133)
The Earl of Derby
Yedo
August 11, 1876

My Lord,

My despatch No. 102 of June 9th will have informed Your Lordship that I took advantage of the presence of the Corean Envoy at Yedo to advise the Foreign Minister to press on his attention the desirability of Corea entering into relations with Foreign Powers. He then informed me that, although the subordinate Japanese Officers who were in communication with the Corean Mission neglected no opportunity of supplying them with information on foreign subjects, and suggesting that Corea should lay aside her seclusion, and unfriendliness to other countries, he himself had no opportunity of using such arguments to the Envoy, although willing to do so if an occasion offered. I suggested that, as the visit of Foreign vessels to Corea, for the purposes of negotiation, was probably only a question of time, it would be well for Japan to prepare Corea for such a contingency, and to persuade her, whenever it should occur, to act in a reasonable manner.
On the 6th of June I telegraphed to Your Lordship that, if I were in a position to intimate that Foreign Powers contemplated opening relations with Corea, I had strong reasons to believe that the Japanese Government would recommend Corea to make Treaties similar to that concluded with Japan. As Your Lordship, however, did not authorize me to make such an intimation I had no opportunity of recurring to the subject during the stay of the Envoy at Yedo.
The despatch of Her Majesty’s Ship “Sylvia” to Corea which I heard of just as the Japanese Commissioner Miyamoto was leaving for that country, in the beginning of last month, enabled me, as I reported in my despatch No. 117, to convey notice to the Corean Government of the object with which the “Sylvia” is being sent, and to request that she might be properly treated. The tone of the letter of the Corean Envoy, written in acknowledgment of the kindness shown by us to the ship wrecked Corean Li Yuen Chun (translation of which was forwarded in my despatch No. 113) led me, I observed, to hope for such a result. I also suggested that Mr. Miyamoto might impress upon the Corean Government that it would now be sound policy for them to accept relations with foreign powers, and that he might possibly obtain from them some assurance that, if a Foreign Mission were sent there, for the purpose of friendly negotiation, it would be well received.
Although the Foreign Minister willingly undertook to inform the Corean Government of the “Sylvia”’s Survey, and to request, as I suggested, that she should be properly treated, he avoided making any promise as to the latter part of my proposal. The Vice Prime Minister Iwakura being absent, at that time, from Yedo I could not engage his influence in favour of my suggestions, but, on his return, which occurred lately, I took an opportunity of conversing with him on the subject. He then told me that if Mr. Miyamoto brought back a favourable report from Corea the Japanese Government might then be disposed to act in the manner I wished. Until his return they did not feel quite sure as to their own footing in Corea, but if the visit of the Envoy to Yedo had produced a good effect by showing the Coreans, among other things, the advantages of foreign intercourse, and how it should be conducted, and if there was reason to hope that the unreasonable hostility and dislike hitherto shown by the Coreans to foreigners was abating, the Japanese Government might then exert their influence to persuade the Corean Government to conclude Treaties with other Powers. His Excellency reminded me that the Coreans entertain a special aversion for the French, chiefly because they charge them with having desecrated and plundered the mausolea of some of the old Kings, and this aversion, he said, it will be very difficult to correct.
Mr. Miyamoto’s return is looked for at the close of this month.
I have now received from Your Lordship Mr. Adams’ despatches Nos. 360, 388, and 389 of the 25th May and 2nd June from which I learn that the Duc Decazes will endeavor to obtain a Treaty with Corea through the good offices either of the Chinese or Japanese Government, and that he considers that it would be a great imprudence on the part of the French Government to send an expedition to Corea where the difficulties of navigation are so considerable. It would certainly be well if the anti French feeling in Corea, which appears to tell against other nations, could be allayed by any friendly intervention, but when we have seen a Japanese squadron of eight or nine vessels navigate the Corean Waters in mid winter, without sustaining loss or casualty, it may be hoped that foreign nautical skill would not be found less capable whenever it may be judged desirable to employ it.
The Corean interpreter referred to in Mr. Adams’ despatch No. 389 as having been so serviceable to Kuroda is doubtless GokeShiyaku—the man mentioned in my despatch No. 102—who acquired his information and liberal views as to foreign politics from Mr. Mayers at Peking.
I have, &c.

Harry S. Parkes