The Question of Opening Japan
"What has already been written will clearly show to the reader that one of the two great problems was that of opening the country for foreign intercourse. The other problem…
From: 1853 C.E. To: 1858 C.E.
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Agitated Japan: the Life of Baron Ii Kamon-No-Kami Naosuké by Shimada Saburo and Yoshimaro Satoh, 1896.
Chapter III
The Two Great Problems of the Age
What has already been written will clearly show to the reader that one of the two great problems was that of opening the country for foreign intercourse. The other problem was the appointment of the Shogun's Heir. The reigning Shogun, lyesada, had no male issue. It therefore became necessary to appoint the Heir Apparent from one of the three Princely families related to the Tokugawas, Mito, Kii and Owari.
There were two candidates. One was the Prince of Kii or Kishiu, and the other was one of the sons of the Senior Prince of Mito. The former was a mere boy, while the latter was a young man already known as a clever and able prince. He had been adopted into the family of Hitotsubashi, and was then the Prince of that family.
When viewed from the side of blood relationship to the Shogun, he was more distant than the young Prince of Kishiu, but the party that would have him succeed to the Shogunate based their argument on the necessity of the times. They said that the crisis demanded a full grown able Shogun, and that no better could be found than the present Prince of Hitotsubashi. Several of the powerful Barons favored this view, while among the officers of the Shogunate, many were found who were of this opinion. The other party dwelt on the necessity of determining the Heirship by nearness of blood relationship.
Iyesada, who was of a remarkably reserved nature, did not support the candidacy of Prince Hitotsubashi. This Shogun has been taken for a weak-minded man. The account given of him, however, by those who were admitted into his confidence fully contradict popular notions concerning his intellectual capacities, and show clearly that he was in full possession of at least ordinary intelligence. He found himself face to face with the double problem of foreign intercourse and of appointing his Heir. His Senators, the Roju, with Baron Abe at their head did not possess sufficient strength to determine the question of opening the country to foreigners, and this lack of firmness finally resulted in the reference of the question to the Imperial Court and also to the Barons of the land. This was of course an entire departure from the usage of the Shogunate, for in any political question, the decision of the Yedo government was at once final and absolute.
History clearly states that Prince Iyeyasu, the founder of the line of the Tokugawas, in the year 1613, entered into a commercial treaty with England, which, however, was given up on the part of the latter in 1625 because there was more loss than profit in her trade with the Japan of those days. This treaty was concluded without any reference either to the Emperor or to the Barons.
Now, however, assailed by the question of foreign intercourse, the Cabinet of the Shogunate under Iyesada, exposed its weakness by refusing to make use of its absolute power in political matters. A forfeiture of absolute power is seldom without a sudden outburst of conflicting opinions, and this was exactly the case in the time of agitated Japan.
By a strange coincidence, the Senior Prince of Mito was at the head of the Exclusion Party as well as of the party supporting the candidacy of his son, Prince Hitotsubashi. These two parties, though different in name, were almost one and the same under his leadership. Notwithstanding his near relationship to the Shogunate, as one of the Three Houses of the Tokugawa Family, Rekko proved to be a powerful political opponent of the Yedo administration.
The very fact that the Shogun's Senators or Cabinet advisers referred the question of commercial treaties to the Imperial Cabinet and to the Barons, proves that the former must have seen the impossibility of keeping Japan any longer in exclusion. If they saw that it was possible they would have taken the decided step of closing up the country, for they knew that they would be supported by the public opinion of the time. This departure from the clear precedents of the Shogun's government was nothing short of an evasion of a responsibility in the face of a great problem.
Those who supported the candidacy of Prince Hitotsubashi were actuated by different motives. Some thought that his cleverness and ability being admitted on every side, he would be able to keep Japan insulated from foreign contact, and thus uphold the dignity and sacredness of the land.
Others wanted to strengthen the power of the Shogunate by putting the man of universal popularity into the Shogunal office. They hoped in this way to open the country to intercourse with foreign nations.
Others again knew the power and influence of the Senior Prince of Mito with the Imperial Cabinet and the Barons. They also knew that in Kioto and among the Fudai Daimio, the Shogunate had strong opponents. They reasoned therefore that by appointing Prince Hitotsubashi to the heirship, the two opposing parties would be reconciled, since the candidate was a son of the powerful Prince of Mito.
As already mentioned, the reigning Shogun was not in favor of Prince Hitotsubashi, and yet he dared not openly express his disapproval. His reserve was so great as to make his officers believe that he had formed no opinion in this matter. Furthermore, he did not like to offend the old Prince of Mito, who naturally wished to see his able son become virtual ruler of the land.
The power of Mito party was growing day by day, and some able men were sent to Kioto for the purpose of persuading the Imperial Court to decide the question of heirship in behalf of Prince Hitotsubashi. The sole power of appointing the Heir, of course, rested with the reigning Shogun, but before so strong an opposition, he dared not take a decided step.
One evening, Hiraoka, one of the confidential officers of the Shogun, who is still living to bear witness of what is related here, found his master, Iyesada, unusually melancholy and morose. Hiraoka knew what was troubling him. He said that trustworthy help could be found in the person of Baron Ii Kamon-no-Kami Naosuke, and proposed to appoint him as the Tairo, which office the nature of the times so much required. Before this, the Shogun must have heard of Naosuke's opinion through some of his Senators; and he now made up his mind to vest the power of the government in the Baron of Hikone whose family had always proved to be not only faithful but also possessed of ability in times of need.
Baron Abe, who had long been the Senior of the Roju or Senators, was at his own suggestion succeeded by Baron Hotta, whom he had nominated.
The warships of the United States that had come to Uraga in 1853 left Japan after a short stay, promising to come in the following year for a reply. Their reappearance in 1854 was followed by the arrival of English ships, and also of Dutch and Russian vessels, with whom conventions for the relief of ships and sailors had been concluded. But it was not until the arrival of the United States Consul-General, Mr. Townsend Harris, in 1856, that the question of foreign trade and resilience began to assume a definite shape. After repeated interviews with local officers and agents sent from Yedo, and after many provoking delays of over fifteen months, the American Consul-General was admitted for the first time into the Castle of Yedo to present his credentials from the Government of Washington.
Baron Hotta was now at the head of the Senators, and was the principal diplomatist of the country that had been closed up so long. The draft of a treaty was prepared with considerable modifications of that drafted the previous year.
The Japanese people of those days little knew the nature of that treaty. They had not the slightest idea of its commercial character. Consequently they mistook the American demand for the opening of Kanagawa, Yedo, Osaka, Hiogo, and Niigata for a scheme of territorial aggression. The result, as might be expected, was a still stronger opposition to the opening of the country to a foreign intercourse.
It was in the 12th month of the 4th year of Ansei era (1857) that after diplomatic interviews with the American representative, the Senators signed a representation to the Imperial Cabinet of Kioto, stating the difficulty of exclusion, and a recommendation to conform to the necessity of the times. The influence of the Exclusion Party was such that no answer came even in the first month of the following year.
Pressed on one side by Mr. Harris, the American representative, and urged on the other side by his anxiety for his country, Baron Hotta now went in person to the Imperial Capital. There he did his best in explaining the impossibility of adhering to the old tradition, but the influence of the opposing party in Kioto was too great. The result was that he received instructions to consult further with the princes of the Tokugawa Family and with the Barons of the land, before again submitting the question to the Imperial Cabinet.
This instruction from the Imperial Court was next to a flat refusal of the Shogunate's proposal. On the 20th day of the 4th month of the 5th year of Ansei era, (June 2, 1858) Baron Hotta came back to Yedo from his unsuccessful mission to the Imperial City.
Thus the great question of making treaties with foreign nations had reached the climax of difficulty. None but a master-mind could solve this problem; while the other, that of the appointment of the Shogun's heir, had also reached a crisis which allowed of no delay.
The Shogun now made up his mind. On the 22nd day of the 4th month of the same year, June 4, two days after the return of Hotta from Kioto, a private messenger was sent to the Yedo mansion of Baron Ii. The Shogun's wish was that the lord of Hikone should be Tairo.
On the following day the subject of this biography was publicly installed into that high and responsible position, only next to that of the Shogun himself. Ii was virtually master of the situation.
The tendency of the times daily increased the power and influence of Prince Rekko of Mito. The fact that he was an earnest advocate of the exclusion policy drew to him many adherents. His influence exerted on the question of the Shogun's Heir proved to be a formidable offset to the other party led by the Baron of Hikone.
Saburo, Shimada and Yoshimaro Satoh. Agitated Japan: the Life of Baron Ii Kamon-No-Kami Naosuké. D. Appleton, 1896.
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