Japan

by Walter G. Dickson

On January 19th, the Progressive Party of Japan adopted a platform attacking the Cabinet for “bad finance and weak diplomacy.” And as late as March 21, 1908, figures presented to the House of Peers showed the necessity for an increase in taxes to meet deficits. This additional drain on the popular pocketbook resulted in disturbances and even sanguinary riots in May of 1908.

A supplementary treaty with Russia, known as the Russo-Japanese Convention, signed July 30, 1907, strengthened the diplomatic friendship that was re-established between Japan and her erstwhile enemy by the Treaty of Portsmouth. By the terms of the new Convention, the contracting nations agreed each to respect the existing territorial integrity of the other. Both recognized the independence and territorial integrity of China and the principle of equal opportunities in commerce and industry of all nations in the Chinese Empire. Also the Convention provided for a linking of the Japanese and Russian railways in Manchuria.

Japanese control in Corea was completed, indeed, only after a series of wordy conflicts with the Corean Emperor and his Ministry, and after a number of riots throughout Corea that had to be put down by Japanese troops with much shedding of blood.

Soon after the opening of hostilities between Japan and Russia, an agreement between the Mikado’s representative and the Corean Emperor was signed (February 23, 1904), whereby Corea adopted the advice of Japan in respect to various improvements in administration, while Japan insured the safety of the Imperial Household of Corea and guaranteed the independence and territorial integrity of the Corean Empire. By this agreement, Japan secured the assistance of the Corean army in movements in Corea.

A second agreement between Japan and Corea, signed August 22, 1904, provided for a Japanese Financial Adviser and a Foreign Diplomatic Adviser to regulate the Corean finances and foreign relations.

On November 18, 1905, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, occurred the formal transfer to Japan of the control of the Corean Government. This transfer was in accordance with a treaty signed the day before, at Seoul, whereby it was provided that Japan should control and direct the external relations and affairs of Corea, through the Japanese Department of Foreign Affairs in Tokio. It was also agreed that Japan should have direct representation at the Court of the Emperor of Corea by a Resident-General residing at Seoul. Count Ito, of Tokio, was appointed to this post; and, acting under the terms of the treaty, he at once stationed Japanese Residents (or local governors) at the several open ports of Corea and at other places in Corea.

From the beginning of Japanese control, the attitude of the Emperor of Corea toward the Mikado’s representatives was one of active opposition and at times even of open hostility. The secret plottings of the disgruntled Emperor against the Japanese authorities reached their culminating act in the spring of 1907, when he sent a delegation, with more or less secrecy, to the Hague Peace Conference. This led to his abdication in favor of the Crown Prince, July 19, 1907. Coreans asserted that the abdication was compulsory. The facts, as given officially, however, show that the Emperor abdicated by unanimous advice of his Ministers.

With the accession to the throne of the new Emperor, a new Convention was promulgated (July 25), in which the future course of Japanese control was defined and agreed to by his Corean Majesty, as follows: First, the administration of the Corean Government was to be under the Japanese Resident-General, Count Ito; second, all transactions of important state affairs, as well as the enactment of all laws, were to receive the approval of the Resident-General before going into effect; third, all appointments of high executive officials were to receive the approval of the Resident-General; fourth, Japanese subjects, if recommended by the Resident-General, were to be eligible to hold office under the Corean Government; fifth, no foreigners were to be employed by the Corean Government excepting with the consent of the Resident-General.

After the signing of this Convention, the Corean army was disbanded. By May 2, 1908, cordial relations between the new Emperor and the Japanese Resident-General had progressed to such an extent that the Corean Government itself began an active campaign against the disorderly elements throughout the Empire.

Relations between the Governments of Japan and the United States continued undisturbed through the first three years following the close of the Russo-Japanese War, though at one time, in 1907, the press and people both in Japan and the United States went so far as to discuss the possibility of war between the two countries. The rumors of war were the outgrowth, first, of the act of the authorities of San Francisco, California, in barring Japanese pupils from the regular public schools; second, of the agitation in the United States to restrict Japanese immigration; third, of the decision of the United States Government to send a great fleet of battleships, for the first time in history, to the Pacific; fourth, of attacks on Japanese subjects at San Francisco and other places on the Pacific Coast.