Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Captain Broughton, HMS Providence (and her tender) and his voyage to the Pacific 1794–98
- 2 The ‘Bankoku Shimbun Affair’: Foreigners, the Press and Extraterritoriality in Early Modern Japan
- 3 Japan undermines extraterritoriality: Extradition in Japan 1885–1899
- 4 British Journalists in Meiji Japan
- 5 The Tokyo Embassy, 1871–1945
- 6 Captain Francis Brinkley (1842–1912): Yatoi, Scholar and Apologist
- 7 William Keswick, 1835–1912: Jardine's Pioneer in Japan
- 8 The Era of the Unequal Treaties, 1858–99
- 9 Ernest Cyril Comfort: The Other British Aviation Mission and Mitsubishi 1921–1924
- 10 Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria: Britain's Consular Service in the Japanese Empire, 1883–1941
- 11 John Carey Hall (1844–1921): A Career in the Japan Consular Service
- 12 Memories of the Past: The Legacy of Japan's Treaty Ports
- 13 The Centenary of Korea-British Diplomatic Relations: Aspects of British Interest and Involvement in Korea, 1600–1983
- 14 The Anglican Cathedral Seoul 1926–1986
- 15 British Public opinion and the Korean War: A preliminary survey
- 16 A Brush with History: Opening the British Embassy Pyongyang, 2001–02
- 17 Potboiler Press: British Media and North Korea
- 18 Reflections on North Korea: Myths and Reality
- 19 Twenty Years a-Stagnating – The Lost Opportunity of Britain's Relationship With the DPRK
- 20 Building politics: The British Embassy Peking, 1949–1992
- 21 Diplomacy in the East: Seoul, Beijing and Pyongyang 1981–2002
- 22 Odd Arne Westad. The Global Cold War
- 23 Charles Stephenson. Germany's Asia-Pacific Empire: Colonialism and Naval Policy, 1885–1914
- 24 Gordon Pirie. Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation 1919–1939
- 25 Margaret Hall. The Imperial Aircraft Flotilla: The Worldwide Fundraising Campaign for the British Flying Services in the First World War
- 26 Richard T. Chang. The Justice of the Western Consular Courts in Nineteenth Century Japan
- 27 Michael Auslin. Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and Culture of Japanese Diplomacy
- 28 Ian Nish. The Japanese in War and Peace 1942–1948: Selected Documents from a Translator's In-tray
- 29 Hugh Cortazzi, ed. Carmen Blacker – Scholar of Japanese Religions, Myth and Folklore: Writings and Reflections
- 30 Christian Polak, ed., with Hugh Cortazzi. Georges Bigot and Japan 1882–1899: Satirist, Illustrator and Artist Extraordinaire
- 31 Anthony Farrar-Hockley. The British Part in the Korean War. Vol. I: A Distant Obligation; Vol. II: The British Part in the Korean War. Volume II: An Honourable Discharge
- 32 Erik Cornell. North Korea under Communism: Report of an Envoy in Paradise
- 33 Valérie Gelézeau. Séoul, ville géante, cites radiuses
- 34 Donald N. Clark. Living Dangerously: The Western Experience in Korea 1900–1950
- 35 Jane Portal. Art under Control in North Korea
- 36 Felix Abt. A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom
- 37 Kevin O’Rourke. My Korea: 40 Years without a Horsehair Hat
- 38 Arissa H. Oh. To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption
- 39 Keith Howard. Songs for ‘Great Leaders’: Ideology and Creativity in North Korean Music and Dance
- 40 Michael Lindsay. The Unknown War: North China 1937–1945
- 41 P. D. Coates. The China Consuls
- 42 Michael J. Moser and Yeone Wei-chih Moser. Foreigners within the Gates: The Legations at Peking
- 43 Hsiao Li Lindsay. Bold Plum: With the Guerrillas in China's War against Japan
- 44 Hugh Baker. Ancestral Images: A Hong Kong Collection
- 45 Robert Bickers and Isabella Jackson, eds., Treaty Ports in Modern China: Law, Land and Power
- 46 Odd Arne Westad. Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China Korea Relations
- Notes
- Index Names
- Index Places
8 - The Era of the Unequal Treaties, 1858–99
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 February 2024
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Captain Broughton, HMS Providence (and her tender) and his voyage to the Pacific 1794–98
- 2 The ‘Bankoku Shimbun Affair’: Foreigners, the Press and Extraterritoriality in Early Modern Japan
- 3 Japan undermines extraterritoriality: Extradition in Japan 1885–1899
- 4 British Journalists in Meiji Japan
- 5 The Tokyo Embassy, 1871–1945
- 6 Captain Francis Brinkley (1842–1912): Yatoi, Scholar and Apologist
- 7 William Keswick, 1835–1912: Jardine's Pioneer in Japan
- 8 The Era of the Unequal Treaties, 1858–99
- 9 Ernest Cyril Comfort: The Other British Aviation Mission and Mitsubishi 1921–1924
- 10 Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria: Britain's Consular Service in the Japanese Empire, 1883–1941
- 11 John Carey Hall (1844–1921): A Career in the Japan Consular Service
- 12 Memories of the Past: The Legacy of Japan's Treaty Ports
- 13 The Centenary of Korea-British Diplomatic Relations: Aspects of British Interest and Involvement in Korea, 1600–1983
- 14 The Anglican Cathedral Seoul 1926–1986
- 15 British Public opinion and the Korean War: A preliminary survey
- 16 A Brush with History: Opening the British Embassy Pyongyang, 2001–02
- 17 Potboiler Press: British Media and North Korea
- 18 Reflections on North Korea: Myths and Reality
- 19 Twenty Years a-Stagnating – The Lost Opportunity of Britain's Relationship With the DPRK
- 20 Building politics: The British Embassy Peking, 1949–1992
- 21 Diplomacy in the East: Seoul, Beijing and Pyongyang 1981–2002
- 22 Odd Arne Westad. The Global Cold War
- 23 Charles Stephenson. Germany's Asia-Pacific Empire: Colonialism and Naval Policy, 1885–1914
- 24 Gordon Pirie. Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation 1919–1939
- 25 Margaret Hall. The Imperial Aircraft Flotilla: The Worldwide Fundraising Campaign for the British Flying Services in the First World War
- 26 Richard T. Chang. The Justice of the Western Consular Courts in Nineteenth Century Japan
- 27 Michael Auslin. Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and Culture of Japanese Diplomacy
- 28 Ian Nish. The Japanese in War and Peace 1942–1948: Selected Documents from a Translator's In-tray
- 29 Hugh Cortazzi, ed. Carmen Blacker – Scholar of Japanese Religions, Myth and Folklore: Writings and Reflections
- 30 Christian Polak, ed., with Hugh Cortazzi. Georges Bigot and Japan 1882–1899: Satirist, Illustrator and Artist Extraordinaire
- 31 Anthony Farrar-Hockley. The British Part in the Korean War. Vol. I: A Distant Obligation; Vol. II: The British Part in the Korean War. Volume II: An Honourable Discharge
- 32 Erik Cornell. North Korea under Communism: Report of an Envoy in Paradise
- 33 Valérie Gelézeau. Séoul, ville géante, cites radiuses
- 34 Donald N. Clark. Living Dangerously: The Western Experience in Korea 1900–1950
- 35 Jane Portal. Art under Control in North Korea
- 36 Felix Abt. A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom
- 37 Kevin O’Rourke. My Korea: 40 Years without a Horsehair Hat
- 38 Arissa H. Oh. To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption
- 39 Keith Howard. Songs for ‘Great Leaders’: Ideology and Creativity in North Korean Music and Dance
- 40 Michael Lindsay. The Unknown War: North China 1937–1945
- 41 P. D. Coates. The China Consuls
- 42 Michael J. Moser and Yeone Wei-chih Moser. Foreigners within the Gates: The Legations at Peking
- 43 Hsiao Li Lindsay. Bold Plum: With the Guerrillas in China's War against Japan
- 44 Hugh Baker. Ancestral Images: A Hong Kong Collection
- 45 Robert Bickers and Isabella Jackson, eds., Treaty Ports in Modern China: Law, Land and Power
- 46 Odd Arne Westad. Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China Korea Relations
- Notes
- Index Names
- Index Places
Summary
Although Britain's contacts with Japan stretched back to the last years of Elizabeth I's reign, they had made little impact on either government or commercial thinking until the nineteenth century. Memories of the relative poorness of early trade did not incline either merchants or governments to push very hard for its resumption, even though the steady growth of the China trade in the eighteenth century brought Britain ever closer to Japan. Japan was seen as an even more remote and even more difficult market than China, and while for Americans it seemed a logical stepping stone to China, for the British, it was on the road to nowhere.
Two developments were to modify that position. As Britain's relationship with China changed following the end of the East India Company's monopoly over the China trade in 1834 and even more as a consequence of the first Opium War (1839–42), to many it seemed that the ‘opening of Japan’ was a logical next step. There were also those who believed that, as more and more British ships plied East Asian waters, it would be helpful to British merchant and naval shipping to have unhindered access to at least some Japanese ports. The second development was the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, and subsequent attempts to prevent Russian vessels seeking refuge in Japanese ports. A third factor, though perhaps of lesser importance, was not to be left behind as the United States pressed in on Japan.
Two treaties were concluded, in 1854 and 1858. The first, like the American treaty of the same year, was negotiated by a naval officer, Admiral Stirling, and found little favour among British merchants either in China or at home. The second treaty, concluded in haste in the summer of 1858 by the Earl of Elgin, largely derived its language from the second American treaty, and its contents from the British experience in China. British subjects could not be left to the mercy of Japanese laws (though there was to be no question about Japanese being subjected to British laws), the Japanese right to tariff control would be restricted, and trade more generally protected by a most favoured nation clause – this last was the main difference from Harris's treaty, and one which was to have important repercussions in the future.
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- East Asia ObservedSelected Writings 1973-2021, pp. 82 - 101Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2023