Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward
No. 244.]
Legation of the United States,
Paris,
January 19, 1866.
Sir: Recalling the communication received at
this legation from the British [embassy at Paris, dated December 19th,
1865, in reference to the mode of transmitting
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the Japanese indemnity, a copy of which was
enclosed in my despatch No. 226, I have now the honor to transmit to you
a note verbale, received from Mr. Drouyn de
Lhuys, advising me of what appears to be a very satisfactory settlement
of all the questions growing out of the convention signed at Yokohama on
the 22d of October, 1864. By this note I am advised that the
representatives of the treaty powers have concluded a final arrangement
for the payment of the whole indemnity, a modification of the tariffs,
and new guarantees for the opening of the Hiogo. The part of the
telegram communicating this intelligence which fixed the time when the
Hiogo was to be opened, unfortunately was not legible.
By the same note I was advised of the proposal of the British cabinet to
divide the indemnity fund equally between all the powers. The liberality
of this proposal places the United States under greater obligations than
any of the other treaty powers, inasmuch as our equitable proportion of
it was, I believe, the smallest. I did not hesitate to embrace this
proposal, subject only to the conditions by which my power was limited.
Subject to the same conditions, I accepted the proposal of Great Britain
to deposit the first instalment of $500,000 in the English military
chest at Yokohama, and its equivalent, in sterling, at the board of
treasury, in London, subject to the order of the four powers. The note verbale of Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys, and mine in
reply, are herewith annexed. France accepts these propositions, and
Holland undoubtedly soon will do so, if she has not already. Nothing
will then be wanting for the distribution of the fund but the
ratification of the treaty by Congress. I hope, with the ratification,
to receive your instructions as to the disposition of the money that
shall be placed to the credit of the United States.
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Translation.]
Verbal Note.
The affair of the Japanese indemnity had heretofore given rise to two
questions: 1st. In effecting the payment of the first instalment of
the indemnity, the Japanese government had asked for a delay of one
year for the payment of the second instalment. Was this request to
be discarded or to be granted; or was there occasion to remit part
of the indemnity; and in the two latter alternatives what
compensation should we ask for in return? 2d. How should the
indemnity be divided, and how should the sums paid over by the
Japanese government be received?
It was thought advisable to leave the first question to be decided by
the representatives of the four powers interested in Japan, acting
together. The last news received from that I country shows that that
point must by this time be settled. Indeed, the ministers of France
and England have sent to Paris and London copies of a memorandum
drawn up and signed by them and their colleagues from the United
States and the Netherlands, in which declaring that there would be
advantage in remitting the two-thirds of the indemnity to the
Japanese government, if in return it were disposed to give us the
three following compensations: the opening of the port of Hiogo and
of the town of Osacca to the commerce of the four powers as early as
the 1st of January, 1866, the ratification of the treaties by the
Mikado, and a revision of the custom-house tariff. They have decided
to go to Osacca, where the government of the Tycoon had just
arrived, to conclude at once, amicably, with it, the negotiations
relating to this affair. Now a recent telegraphic despatch addressed
by Sir Harry Parkes to the British government, under date of
Shanghai, December 8, states that the Mikado had approved the
treaties, a modification of the tariffs had been obtained, the
opening of the port of Hiogo was again guaranteed, and the indemnity
was to be punctually paid. The allied naval forces which had brought
the European agents to Osacca were, therefore, sent back to
Yokohama. We have now, consequently, only to come to an agreement
with regard to the second question.
The government of the Emperor had thought at first that the division
of the Japanese indemnity might be effected in accordance with the
following plan: the two-thirds of it,
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say two millions of dollars, to be divided
among the four powers concerned, proportionably to the number of men
employed by each, in the Simonosaki expedition; France, the United
States, and the Netherlands to levy each $140,000 upon the last
third as a compensation for special losses; and the remaining
$580,000 to be divided into four equal shares among the four powers.
The British cabinet appearing to be more in favor of an equal
division of the whole of the indemnity among the four powers, the
government of the Emperor makes no difficulty in adopting this plan,
and is ready, should this system of division be adopted also by the
government of the United States, to apply it to the $500,000 already
paid in by the Japanese government as the first instalment of the
indemnity. As for the manner in which each government is to receive
this money, the British cabinet proposes that the $500,000 already
deposited in two of the banks of Yokohama should be handed over to
its commissariat chest at Yokohama, in which case an equal sum in
pounds sterling would be held by the Treasury Department at London,
subject to the draft of the powers entitled to share in it. If, as
there is reason to suppose, this combination is not of a nature to
create objections, even at Yokohama, the government of the Emperor
is prepared to accept it also, and only desires to know whether the
government of the United States would acquiesce in it also, in which
case the plan proposed could be at once carried out.
Verbal Note.
The minister of the United States at Paris has been advised of a
despatch recently addressed by Sir Harry Parkes to the British
government, dated Shanghai, December 8, 1865, which states that the
Mikado had approved of the treaties entered into between the
government of Japan and the governments of England, France, Holland,
and the United States; that the tariffs had been modified; that the
opening of the Hiogo had been guaranteed anew, and the stipulated
indemnity was to be punctually paid,
The minister of the United States is also advised that the English
cabinet had proposed that the covenanted indemnity, as well what had
already been paid as what should hereafter be paid, should be
equally divided between the four treaty powers.
Assuming that the telegraphic advices from Sir Harry Parkes shall be
sustained by official despatches, and that the Senate of the United
States will ratify the convention at Yokohama of 22d October, 1864,
the minister of the United States does not hesitate to embrace the
liberal proposal of the British cabinet, if found acceptable to the
other treaty powers.
The British cabinet also proposes to deposit the first instalment of
$500,000 in its military chest at Yokohama, and an equivalent in
sterling to the credit of the treaty powers at the treasury in
London. This proposal also the minister of the United States is
ready to embrace, subject always to the conditions attached to his
acceptance of the preceding proposition.
