No. 153
Confidential
The Earl of Derby
Yedo
September 26, 1876

My Lord,

In my despatch No. 149 of the 12th instant, I reported that Mr. Miyamoto had returned to Yedo the previous evening. This, although announced in print, proved to be a mistake as he did not arrive until the 20th instant.
It soon became known that this mission had proved satisfactory, and that he had succeeded in negotiating all the supplementary arrangements contemplated by the XIth Article of the Treaty of February last. As Mr. Miyamoto had kindly promised to visit me, I had hoped to have been able to furnish Your Lordship with some particulars of his negotiations, but illness has unfortunately prevented the fulfillment of his promise. In common with several of his suite he appears to have suffered from the climate of Corea.
The Vice Prime Minister, however, called on me yesterday and supplied me with the following interesting information.
Mr. Miyamoto, he said, had been exceedingly well received. On arriving at Kokwa, he was at once invited to the Capital, and to an audience with the King. The ceremony of his reception at Court was as honourable as could be desired, the best conveyances were placed at his disposal, and he was escorted by officers of the highest rank, and by a large retinue of musicians and mounted men. His negotiations proceeded rapidly and satisfactorily, and on the 21st or 22nd of August he concluded a supplementary treaty. The readiness shown by the Coreans to negotiate on this occasion contrasted strongly with the difficulties they had made when the first Treaty was being discussed. The visit of the Corean Envoy to Japan had evidently created a marked effect, and had induced the Corean Government to abandon their former reserve.
The supplementary Treaty, the Vice Prime Minister went on to observe, relates only to Japanese Affairs, with the exception, however, of one article which concerns foreigners and which is to the following effect:
“Hitherto Corea has had no relations with foreign countries, but Japan for some years past has been in friendly alliance with all nations. In future, therefore, whenever ships belonging to any of those nations happen to be shipwrecked on the Coast of Corea, their crews will be treated, as justice requires, with the utmost kindness and consideration, and in case they should wish to return to their country, they shall be handed over to the Japanese Consul, resident at one of the open Ports, who will take charge of them.”
I observed to the Vice Prime Minister that the insertion of such an Article in the new Treaty was very creditable to Japan, and the Envoy who had negotiated it.
His Excellency then remarked that Mr. Miyamoto had intended to wait until he had concluded his Treaty before entering on the subject of the Surveying operations of the British Ships, respecting which he had been charged by the Foreign Minister, at my request, to make an announcement to the Corean Government, as I reported to Your Lordship in my despatch No. 117 of the 10th July. But the Corean Ministers, themselves, brought up the question by enquiring if he knew that the English ships were off the coast.
Mr. Miyamoto replied that he intended to speak to them on that subject, that, before he left Yedo, the British Minister had asked the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs to inform the Corean Government—as foreign Governments had no means of communicating with Corea direct—that these ships were proceeding to Corea for surveying purposes, but with no unfriendly object, and only in order to provide for the present necessities of navigation. He assured them that they might fully rely on the truth of this announcement in support of which he proceeded to explain that although the dangers of the Corean Coast did not formerly concern foreigners, this was no longer the case, as their ships are now continually passing that coast on voyages from Shanghai and the three Northern Ports of China to the ports of Japan and the Russian settlements to the North of Corea. The survey of the numerous islands and rocks which stud the Corean Coast had, therefore, become indispensable. He therefore strongly advised the Corean Ministers, in the interests of their own country, to offer no discourtesy to these Surveying vessels, but to treat them well, and he urged that it was erroneous of them to suppose that their country could be protected by the height of its mountains or the shallowness of its seas.
The Corean Ministers replied that they were quite disposed to act as he desired, and that orders to treat these ships well should be issued by the local Authorities. The latter before Mr. Miyamoto left had reported that they had supplied the “Sylvia” and “Swinger” with wood, water, and rice.
The Vice Prime Minister then proceeded to give some account of Mr. Miyamoto’s communications with the Corean Government respecting foreign countries. After the Supplementary Treaty had been signed he was entertained by all the Ministers of State. Maps and globes were produced, and Mr. Miyamoto pointed out the relative positions of the various countries, and particularly of the “six great powers.” “You have one of these,” he observed, “as your immediate neighbour, and another of them—England—is as good as your neighbour, while they can all approach you with their ships whenever they please. Hitherto your view of the outer world has been limited to China on one side, and Japan on the other, and while your intercourse with those two nations has been guided by the maxim that China should be treated with Li (courtesy) and Japan with Sin (good Faith) your uniform policy towards other powers is described by the phrase, ‘Close the country and repel the barbarians’. This policy you cannot longer maintain. You should endeavor to treat all nations equally with Li and Sin, as it is hopeless for you to think of opposing them with arms. If you have any doubt as to the truth of what I tell you, choose some men, and send them to Europe and America, and let them see and judge for themselves. Japan will supply them with interpreters and guides.”
The Corean Ministers heard all that Mr. Miyamoto said without offering any observations. In the evening, however, two members of the Council went to Mr. Miyamoto’s residence, and made some apology for the silence with which his remarks had been received. The acknowledged the justice of his arguments, and regretted that he had not been asked for the fuller information which they— the visitors—would be glad to learn. This gave Mr. Miyamoto an opportunity of going over the same ground again in greater detail. After hearing all that he urged in favor of friendly relations with foreign countries, they told him that unfortunately their laws did not admit of change, and even if they should come to an understanding with foreigners, the innovations which foreign intercourse would introduce into the country would occasion internal difficulties of the gravest nature. The Government had pledged itself to the people to resist all intercourse with foreigners, and this resolution had been recorded on pillars of stone, which had been erected in every district, and stood in every highway. These pillars bore the inscription “Should foreigners invade our land he who does not attack them, but counsels peace, is a traitor to his country.” Under these circumstances they thought it impossible to open relations with foreign countries, and they asked Miyamoto to communicate to the latter a message to that effect.
Miyamoto replied that Japan was on friendly terms with all foreign powers as well as with Corea, and was willing to use her good offices between them whenever she should be invited to do so, but that she could lend no support to a policy of exclusion, and could not be the medium of communicating to foreign countries such a message as the above.
At this point, said the Vice Prime Minister, the discussion closed. Mr. Miyamoto could not prevail upon the Corean government to say that they would accept foreign intercourse, but he is satisfied that he has convinced them of the futility of attacking any foreign ships that may happen to visit them, and acts of open hostility, he believes will not again be repeated.
I thanked the Vice Prime Minister warmly for this interesting communication, and then enquired what steps the Japanese Government proposed to take in order to carry out the assurance he had given me (as reported in my despatch No. 137 of the 15th ultimo) that on the return of Miyamoto they would use all their influence to persuade the Corean government to enter into relations with foreign Powers.
He replied that I had asked him a difficult question, and one which he was not then prepared to answer. It would be necessary, he said, to find out some plan by which the Corean Government could get over the pledge they had give their people as to resisting foreigners, without having to submit to too grave a compromise. A great change had to be effected without it being called a change, as that was a word to which the Coreans entertained the strongest aversion, and it was not easy to see how such a revolution of opinion was to be brought about. His Excellency observed that Japan was, at one time, in the same difficulty, but the restoration of the Mikado to power gave the new Government an opportunity of reforming their position towards foreigners, and, since that time, everything had gone on well. Unfortunately, the antecedents of the foreign question in Corea carried with them some unhappy associations, and foreigners were regarded as national enemies. The French expedition, and the spoliation of the Royal tombs which took place on that occasion rankles deeply, His Excellency remarked, in the Corean mind, and has left a very unfavourable impression.
The Corean Government might save appearances towards their own people, I suggested, by allowing themselves to be satisfied that foreigners had now become their friends. We, the English, had lately given them a proof of friendship in our treatment of the shipwrecked Corean Li Yuen-Chun, and on the other hand our thanks would be due to the Coreans for the Attention which His Excellency informed me they had shown to our surveying ships. Might not a visit from a friendly nation which has never had any trouble with Corea—a visit designed, if it were thought advisable, for the exchange of courtesies only—enable the Corean Government to take fresh ground, and announce to the people that the condition of affairs was changed, and that they had no longer anything to apprehend from foreigners. The mere fact that two or three English ships going to Corea, and being well received by the Government would surely have a good effect.
The Vice Prime Minister agreed with me that such a visit might have a very good effect, and he began to put questions to me as to the proceedings of the surveying vessels and their intercourse with the Coreans. On this point, however, I could give him no information, which surprised His Excellency, as Her Majesty’s Ship “Sylvia,” he reminded me, had lately visited Nagasaki. I am sorry that Captain St. John, who has since returned to his Surveying ground, did not give me an opportunity of profiting on that occasion by the experience he has gained.
His Excellency then terminated the interview, which was rather a hurried one, by observing that he would again consider the subject with me at a later date. He added that, as the Foreign Minister Mr. Terashima, had that day returned to Yedo, I should obtain official information from him respecting Miyamoto’s proceedings in Corea, and should treat as confidential the particulars he had given me.
I congratulated His Excellency on the result of Mr. Miyamoto’s negotiations observing that Japan had achieved the success of placing her own relations with Corea on a satisfactory footing, and she would also gain much additional credit if she was instrumental in bringing Corea into friendly intercourse with the world.
His Excellency remarked upon the change that had already taken place in Corea as affording some hope that more might be accomplished. This time last year, he observed, our representative (Moriyama), was refused an interview with the Prefect of Torai, an officer of comparatively low rank, and now the King of Corea had himself invited another of our Envoys (Miyamoto) to an audience and had shown him every possible attention. Last year the Coreans would look at nothing of foreign make or shape, but on the occasion of Miyamoto’s visit, his ship was filled from morning to night with persons of various ranks, officers, draftsmen, artizans and others, who made the closest examination, and took drawings of everything in the ship. The Corean Authorities also showed the utmost interest in maps and books on foreign subjects, and the old Regent himself—the greatest opponent of foreigners—wrote to ask Miyamoto to give him any maps he could spare.
I need not observe to Your Lordship that this change for the better is not limited to the Japanese. We have now a distinct guarantee based on the faith of a Treaty stipulation that shipwrecked foreigners shall be humanely treated and restored to their countries, our own surveying vessels, it appears, are being well treated and allowed to carry out their surveying work, and we have also a reliable assurance that foreign vessels visiting Corea are no longer exposed to the risk of attack. I believe, therefore, that English ships might now proceed there without fear of collision, thought it is evident that it would be of no advantage to them, but the reverse to go there on the first occasion in the company of French ships.
I have, &c.

Harry S. Parkes