Although overshadowed by the famous and successful mission of Commodore Matthew Perry seven years later, the Biddle expedition deserves far greater fame. It was, in fact, the first official contact between America and Japan, and certainly a necessary precursor to Perry's breakthrough of 1853.
The old and rare print images (below) depict Biddle's ships, Columbus and Vincennes, in Tokyo Bay during Biddle's visit of 20~29 July 1846.
Commodore James Biddle, a distinguished naval career officer and scion of a noted Philadelphia family, served his country in a diplomatic capacity on various occasions. Because of this, he was a reasonable choice in 1845 to head a mission to exchange ratifications of the first treaty between the United States and China, after which he was to attempt to negotiate a treaty with Japan.
Biddle sailed from New York in June 1845, concluding the treaty with China early in 1846 and cruising along the Chinese coast throughout that spring. In early July, he proceeded to the next part of his mission, sailing for Japan.
Rather than sail for the open port of Nagasaki, he decided to make directly for Edo (modern-day Tokyo), arriving on July 20, mindful of his instructions to "ascertain if the ports of Japan are accessible," but "not in such a manner as to excite a hostile feeling or a distrust of the Government of the United States."
Biddle's ships moved up Tokyo Bay on July 21, 1846, but were stopped by numerous small vessels carrying armed soldiers. His ships remained at anchor about fifteen miles below Tokyo (offshore Yokosuka) for the duration of their visit.
After an initial confrontation in which Japanese officials demanded that the Americans surrender their weapons, peaceful relations were established and numerous Japanese visited the ships, bringing many supplies as gifts.
Biddle continued negotiations to be received on shore, without success. Finally it was arranged that he would present an address to suitable Japanese officials (the Shogun's Magistate in Uraga, present-day Yokosuka) on board a Japanese vessel, and he arrived in full uniform for the occasion.
However, upon boarding the boat the Commodore was deliberately knocked over by a common sailor. The Japanese officials professed to be mortified, and Biddle accepted their apology without insisting on harsh punishment for the offender.
Subsequently there was much debate over whether Biddle had helped or hurt the American position by losing face or being magnanimous, depending on one's point of view, and this dialectic is still pursued by historians today. In any case, much of Commodore Perry's behavior in Japan seven years later was designed to avoid such an incident.
Feeling that he had carried out his instructions as far as they could be pursued, Biddle accepted from his reluctant hosts both supplies and a tow out to sea to catch the wind.
For their part, the Japanese were happy to aid him in departing. A small fleet of rowboats towed the American warships from their anchorage.
After the departure on 19 July, Biddle made for Hawaii, where he learned of the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. As a result, instead of heading home, the Commodore took his warships to the west coast of America to support the conquest of California, and spent the next year there.
Only in March 1848 did Biddle finally arrive back in Norfolk, Virginia. Biddle arrived home in Philadelphia in April 1848 and died there on 01 October.
The Biddle mission to Japan paved the way for the later successful expedition of Perry, and the latter's famous "Opening of Japan" must be seen in the context of the 1846 expedition. Perry came not as an isolated phenomenon, but part of an escalating American pressure campaign which was begun by Biddle.
No comments:
Post a Comment