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The diplomatic activity ofPhilipp Franz von Siebold...________119

products and science, and so he would gave a Dutch character to the impact of the European civilization on Japan. However, his request was refused, as the Dutch government had already assigned, in June 1855, this charge to Johannes Lange, in Japan from 1854 to 1856.

Only few years later, in April 1858, Siebold was appointed Adviser of the newTVading Society, with a two-years assignment. Immediately he tried to give a political connotation to his visit in Japan, making many request to the Minister of the Colonies. He wanted to 1)be transferred in Japan to support the Dutch commissioners concerning the political, commercial and scientific questions; 2) receive a salaiy complying with his position as officer of the Dutch East Indies; 3) receive a compensation for the purchase of scientific equipments and for the travel expenses. He wanted to visit the various open ports in Japan and plan a trip from Nagasaki on the river Amur that he considered important for the Dutch commerce; 4) he asked that he could take inJapan the ratified treaty with the Netherlands.

Siebold was granted a good salary, 5000 guilders, and a compensation for the expenses, 2000 guilders, but the other requests were refused. The Dutch government didn’t want that his Japanese mission would be of political character. So, visiting the various Japanese ports and the surrounding areas should have assumed the characters of a private visit. However, Siebold received the permission to take in Japan the text of the commercial treaty ratified in 1855 in Batavia.

The treaty should have been handled to Siebold as soon as possible, and the Minister would had to acquire all the details of the departure. In the letters written by Siebold to his friends at the moment of the departure he expressed clearly the desire to return in Japan to be able to complete his Nippon13

Siebold left Europe in April 1859 in company of his son Alexander, at the time he was thirteen years old, to reach Deshima on 8 August, 30 years after his expulsion from that country. His arrival was completely different from the previous: already there were no inspectors waiting for the suspected persons. Siebold, moved, stopped on the quay, where the opperhoofd, Donker Curtius was waiting for him. He invited Siebold to stay at his home till they found a more comfortable place for him. The house of Donker Curtius was the same, in which Siebold stayed 30 years before. The botanical garden was still there, even if the living plants were veiy few, and due to the negligence, Siebold had difficulty to found also the memorial of Kaempfer and Thunberg that the German physician made construct many years before. The accounts of the opperhoofd, who lived in Deshima from seven years, made Siebold rather sad. He illustrated him the changes of Japan happened during his absence and the so weak development of the Dutch commerce. He reported also the destiny of all those Japanese, who were punished because of Siebold actions. Some of them were expelled or arrested, others killed themselves or

13 H. Kümer, Die Wörzburger Siebold. Eine Gelehrten Familie des 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Barth, Leipzig 1967, pp. 448-453.

died of diseases after the imprisonment.14 Also Kö Ryôsai (1799-1846) was death, but his other disciple, Ninomiya Keisaku (1804-1862), who was charged with the care of his daughter, was still alive, even if effected by paralysis.

At his arrival he was received by his old students and mostly by Sonogi, known also as Kusumoto Taki (1807-1865), the woman he had married during his first stay in the country and by О-Ine [Kusumoto Ine] (1827-1903), their daughter.

О-Ine was at the time 32 years old, had a daughter, Takako (1857-1938) and she founded a gynecological clinic in Nagasaki. Sonogi remarried after Siebold left Japan and had a second daughter in 1831. After the death of her second husband she remarried again with a merchant, Tawaraya Toijirô, and she gave him a son. Also Toijirô died before Siebold’s arrival in Nagasaki. When Siebold met again Sonogi and their daughter after so many years, he was very moved, but also impressed when he heard that in the meanwhile Sonogi had two other husbands.

Siebold resumed his previous activities with his old friends and he had the possibility to travel a lot now, that the old restrictions were abolished.

Alexander was impressed to see how many Japanese received and respect his father. This was true mainly in the case of Ninomiya, the most faithful friend of the German scholar, who was in prison because with the aid of an altimeter he measured the highness of Mount Fuji on Siebold’s request.

Donker Curtius (1813-1879) informed Siebold about the political situation of Japan, but said just a few things about the procrastination of the Dutch government to assure a commercial treaty. Commerce in the Chinese and JapaneseregionswerestrictlycontrolledbytheAmericans andthe Englishmen, and as always suspected by Siebold, they treated with the country and the population with disdain because of their poor knowledge of these countries, being interested only in their commercial activities. It’s useful to say, that this attitude offended veiy much the Japanese, and Siebold was displeased with the hostility they showed towards the foreigners.

He began to be very little satisfied with his job as Adviser of the Trading Society, and he didn’t want to restrict his activities exclusively to the scientific questions. In the meanwhile he became more and more interested in the politics and the international affairs.

In 1860 he had the opportunity to purchase one of the houses in the area of Narutaki, where previously he founded his own school of medicine, the Narutaki juku15. He transferred there immediately. Again he realized a botanical garden, where he cultivated plants that later on would be sent in the Netherlands, as those that he cultivated in his nursery in Leiden.

Siebold was so respected, that he was one of the few foreigners who could walk on the streets without weapons. If he was called to a patient in the heart

14 G. Borriello, «Philipp Franz von Siebold...», p. 9. 15 Ibidem, p. 8.

The diplomatic activity ofPhilipp Franz von Siebold •••________121

of the night, the only thing he had to do was to be preceded by a servant carrying a white flag with a big «S» on it.

Arrived in Japan, Siebold presented a letter to the Governor of Nagasaki, emphasizing that the reason of his return in the Archipelago consisted in the willingness to fill the role of a mediator between Japan and the main Western powers, even if in Batavia, the President of the Nederlandse Handelsmaatschappij warned him not to reveal explicitly his position.16

In 1 April 1860, he wrote to the Governor in order that the Japanese government would establish a public structure to monitor the contraband, applying the arrest as sanction for those who practice it.

On 23 May, Siebold wrote again to the Governor informing him, that he was an adviser of the Trade Society established by Bauduin. This Society would supply steamers and weapons. Siebold included a list of the weapons. The armaments and the helmets of the officers and the guard of the shögun were the same used in Europe. He sent various bottles containing a substance that served to protect wood and other flammable materials from fire.

In a next letter of the 20 September, always addressed to the Governor, Siebold suggested not to cede the Island ofTsushima, or part of it to England, French or China, that aimed to use it as naval base.17

At the end of 1860, Siebold ask a permission from the Governor to stay permanently in Japan. In a letter dated 24 December 1860, the Japanese government accepted his request. According to this letter, the court asked Siebold to stay for a certain period in the country in quality of adviser «to be consulted concerning political and other kind of questions».18 Considering that at the beginnings of 1861 his contract was to expire with the Dutch TVade Society, Siebold decided to accept the proposal. In a meeting with the Governor, on 6 January 1861, it was decided that provisionally Siebold’s stay in Japan would last two years. In a written invitation, dated 28 February, Siebold was asked to go to Kanagawa as soon as possible as they wanted to consult with him about political questions.19

On 3 March, Siebold presented to the Governor a manuscript of political character, in which he dealt with various arguments, already discussed on 28 February. Siebold illustrated the project of the reopening of the port of Nagasaki to the foreign vessels, that would became the main city for the international commerce20; a free port, where the imported goods could be conservedwithout paying fees and where theJapanese goods could be exported in complete safety. It would be possible to protect the goods from fire. The warehouses of Akanoura would be enlarged and roadsteads would be constructed to repair the big vessels. Siebold expressed also his opinion concerning the modalities of the monetaiy change according with Japan was

16 Shiiboruto kankei shiryö, p .10.

17 Bakumatsu Gaikoku kankei moryo, 42, Tökyö Daigaku Shuppankai, 1989, p. 256-257.

18 Ibidem, p. 258.

19Zoku TsushinZenraru Hennen no. Bu 2, Yushodo Shuppan, 1983, p. 62.

20 J. MacLean, «Philipp Franz von Siebold...», p. 71.

obliged to offer a fix quote of argent coins, policy, that for the German expert, was clearly an advantage of the foreign countries.

Siebold and his son Alexander arrived to Yokohama on 4 April on the British vessel Scotland. On 28 April, Siebold in a letter addressed the Dutch Minister of the Colonies, communicated that he would be an Adviser of the Japanese government, and he promised to send time to time letters to inform him about the nature and the results of the consultations with the Japanese representatives.

On 23 April, Siebold met the Governor of Kanagawa, Matsudaira Yasunao. During the meeting the Governor asked him various questions on the general situation of the countries with which Japan concluded treaties, on the political line that an eventual Japanese mission in Europe would had adopt, and on the possibility to transfer the commercial port of Yokohama in another port.

Concerning the first question Siebold explained, for example, that England was considered the «factory ofthe world» that to sell its manufactured products was continuously on search of new markets, also at the risk of conflicts. Japanese must be prudent not only towards England, but also America and French. On the other hand, Siebold thought that Russia would need the help of Japan to obtain goods for the Russians living in the northern part of East Asia, and needed a port and a base in Japan for the supply of the marine. Contrary, Siebold considered veiy strong the Prussian army and emphasized the importance ofhaving good relationships with that country. Signing a treaty with Portugal, Japan would help everybody to forget all the previous regrett­ able events, referring to the expulsion of the Portuguese at the beginning of the Sixteenth century. The Netherlands was always a natural ally, that would supply sustenance to its colonies in Asia.

Concerning the Japanese mission to send in Europe, Siebold thought that all the signing powers of the treaties would have the privilege to be visited by the mission, and not only England, as request by the British Consul Alcock. The mission would pay a particular attention to the marine, to the army and mostly to the European militaiy schools. He thought that the success of this mission would be important for the peace and prosperity of Japan in the following decades.

Considering that the Japanese government was in a great difficulty as it wasn’t capable to protect the foreigners in Yokohama Öie Governor asked Siebold about the possibility to avoid the commerce in that city. Siebold repeated that the protected structures could be created in Nagasaki.21 In fact, the situation became troublesome mainly after the murder of Heusken, interpreter of Townsend Harris, and some Dutch and Russian in Yokohama.

21 N. Kutsuzawa, «The Activities of Philipp Franz von Siebold During His Second Stay in Japan, Particularly His Diplomatic Activities in Nagasaki, Yokohama and Edo», in A. Thiede (ed.), Philipp Franz von Siebold and His Era. Springer, Tökyö, 2000, p. 108.

The diplomatic activity ofPhilipp Franz von Siebold...________123

The same Siebold was well aware ofthe danger he faced and wrote the following paragraph in his diary on 13 April, the day before he embarked on the ship that would take him to Yokohama: «My luggage was taken on board this morning, and this afternoon I gave a sealed letter to Bauduin with a box for my wife containing my will, some silver objects, peals and maps of Ezo».22 In Yokohama he felt still better the animosity of the Japanese. Alexander wrote to his sister: «This city [...] seems a prison, all the houses are painted in black and have fences. Streets are completely desert during the night. Some foreigners, enough courageous to go out, are armed to the teeth...».23

He referred the contents of this meeting to the Dutch Minister, James Loudon, and to the General Dutch Consul in Japan, De Wit.24

From this activity it’s easy to understand how Siebold was trying to act as a Dutch diplomat. From his behavior, however, it’s clear that already there was a gap between him and the Dutch government. In fact, the Dutch policy of that period was changed and cooperated with the other countries to ask fromJapan the reopening of its ports according to the Ansei Treaties. Siebold, however, was convinced that it was right to press with the aim of opening up even only one port, the port of Nagasaki, and he tried to press the Japanese government in that direction.

Siebold, in the meanwhile, was trying to make also ä good impression to the Russians referring the contents of the various meetings to Lichacev, the Russian Commander of the Eastern fleet.25

In his second letter to the Minister ofthe Colonies, dated 6 June 1861, from Yokohama, Siebold wrote that on 2 May he was consulted by the Governor of Kanagawa concerning the regulation of the ports, the construction of a new pier and a new quay in the port of Yokohama.

On 4 May, Siebold visited Bungo, who expressed the wish of the Japanese government, that wanted him in Edo. Siebold was very honored by such an invitation. Bungo, who was Ambassador in America in I860, said also that he heard to mention Siebold’s name various times in the country.

On 28 May, Siebold and his son met the Minister ofForeignAffairs, Takeuchi Yasunori (1807-67). During the meeting the Minister asked Siebold to draft a plan for the Japanese mission, composed by more than 50 persons, that most probably would left to Europe at the end of that year. Siebold suggested to the Japanese to travel on their steamers or borrowed vessels and not on war vessels of a foreign country. The mission would make a first stop in Paris, as

22A. Kouwenhoven, M. Forrer, Shiiboruto to Nihon — Sono shögai to shigoto. Hotei,

Leiden, 2000, p. 70.

23Ibidem, p. 71.

24N. Kutsuzawa, «The Activities of Philipp Franz von Siebold During His Second StayinJapan, Particularly His Diplomatic Activities in Nagasaki, Yokohama and Edo»,

in A. Thiede (ed.), Philipp Franz von Siebold and His Era. Springer, Tökyö, 2000, p. 108.

25 K. Yasuda, Bunkyu Gannen no Tairo Gaiko to Shiiboruto. Okayamadaigaku Kibi

Yogakushiiyo kenkyukai, 1995, pp. 120-122.

124 Giovanni Borriello

the Emperor was superior in rang respect to the British Queen. After Paris, the mission would reach, through Bruxelles, London and then The Hague, Saint Petersburg and Berlin. Lisbon would be visited during the return trip. Siebold took also in consideration the arguments that the Ambassadors would have dealt with: military sciences, navigation, naval engineering, mineral industry, natural sciences, agriculture and all those elements that would favor the modernization of the country.26

Siebold suggested also that as the vessel Fiery Cross reached Yokohama only a few time before, it would be advisable hire it for thejourney. If it wouldn't be possible, they could hire a vessel from the P.&O. Company (The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company), that dealt with the connections between Kong, Shanghai and Japan. In the Netherlands they could hire a vessel for the return trip.

Copies of Siebold’s letters of 28 April and 6 June 1861 and of the attachments were sent to the Dutch government. In the Netherlands it was emphasized that Siebold’s information to the Japanese government were given on the basis of his observations, and that in December of 1860, the General Commissioner has already informed the government of Nagasaki, that Siebold had no relationships with the Dutch government. So, the Netherlands found necessary to inform the Japanese government that Siebold was acting as a private and not in an official way.

On 18 June, Siebold and his son reached to Edo and settled in the house where previously stayed also the Prussian Ambassador, Friedrich Eulenburg. As the Japanese government was worried about the safety of the foreigners, Siebold received an escort of 50 men.

Only a few weeks after his arrival to Edo, during the night of 6 July, a group of rönin attack the British Legation, conducted by Alcock, near the Tözenji temple. Four persons were killed and nineteen wounded. In spite ofthe danger, Siebold went there immediately to care the injured persons.

On 11 July, he wrote a long letter from Edo to the Dutch Ministry of the Colonies referring to the attack of the British Legation. Siebold made a complete description of the event in appendix of a successive letter of 20 July. The account was then published on the pages of the Ki^lnische Zeitung entitled Das Attentat auf die englische Gesandtschaft in Edo vom einem historische-politischen Gesichtspunkt betrachtet.27

In his account Siebold affirms that after the murder of Heusken on the 14 January 1861, eveiy foreign Ambassadors left Edo for Kanagawa, except from the American Townsend Harris. The British Alcock went to Hong Kong, but veiy soon he returned to Nagasaki at the beginnings of June, and then he transferred with the Dutch De Wit from Nagasaki to Edo.

At about 3:30 on 6 July, a Japanese officer communicated to Siebold the attack against the Legation. When he arrived there, he got to know that around

26Zoku Tsushin Zenran, Hennen no. 2, Yushodo Shuppan, 1983, pp. 59-62.

27Kölnische Zeitung, no. 307, November 5,1861.

___________The diplomatic activity ofPhilipp Franz von Siebold •.• ________125

midnight 14 armed persons entered with force in the temple and in Alcock’s lodgings.

According to Siebold the guard couldn’t be accused of negligence as Alcock refused to have an escort in his lodging.28

Next morning Siebold returned to the temple and found Alcock and the French De Bellecourt, that criticized the Japanese government.

He understood that their behavior was caused by a gradual growth of the discontent provoked by the previous murders, and the numerous political and commercial difficulties. According to Siebold the two had a limited knowledge of the existing form of government, the laws of the State and the traditions of the Country, and considered the attach as the continuation of the previous murders. Moreover, they thought that the Japanese government wasn’t able to pursue and punish the criminals, that could be even protected by the authorities.

On 10 July, Siebold took part of a meeting with Andö Nobumasa (18191871), Minister of Foreign Affairs, that informed him about the impossibility to capture the fugitives as in the country there were many temples that protected the criminals, often disguised in peregrines and beggars, with the complicity of the monks.

According to the appendix to his letter of 11 July 1861, Siebold prepared a document, that illustrated during the meeting with the Minister. He emphasized that according to the international laws, ambassadors were inviolable. To offend an ambassador о to make an attack against him was a serious crime that needs to be punished with severity. If no measure would be taken, it could result even in a war. All the previous murders of Russians, Dutch, etc. were less serious as they didn’t concern ambassadors. The Japanese government should have arrest the criminals and discover the reasons of the attack. They shouldn’t have to keep in secret anything, and this would have reestablish an atmosphere of reliance.29

During the meeting they discussed also about the Japanese mission in Europe. For this reason, the Minister asked Siebold to take part of the mission and to negotiate personally with the heads of the different countries.30 They discussed also concerning the problem of the Russian war vessel Possadnick, that forced the port ofTsushima from the spring of that year. Russia was acting without respecting the treaty, as only vessels in difficulty could receive permissions to enter in a port. Siebold proposed to solve the problem in a friendly way. He would write to the Russian Commander Lichacev asking him to retire.31

28N. Kutsuzawa, Tozenji Jiken ni Miru Shiiboruto no Gaikoteki Katsudo ni tsuite.

Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1988.

29J. MacLean, «Philipp Franz von Siebold...», p. 77.

30Taiwasho, in Koichi Yasudä (ed.), Bunkyu Gannen no Tairo Gaiko to Shiiboruto.

Okayamadaigaku Kibi Yogakushiryo kenkyukai, 1995, p. 230.

31Ibidem, pp. 129-131.

After the events of Tôzenji, Siebold increased the number of the guards around his house. Alexander wrote with great enthusiasm to his mother describing the situation: «Our house is ready to the war. There are guards armed with daggers and guns everywhere. So we should be safe. However, rethinking to the events of Tôzenji, it’s difficult to sleep during the night. Don’t wony about us, we know how to defend ourselves and we have loyal and courageous bodyguards.32 Most probably Siebold added only: «I write you soon, now I’m too tired, there are five nights that I don’t sleep. Don’t wony, we’ll survive.33 During a night an interpreter informed him, that there was an attack planned against him, and suggested him to pass the night in a shed, where the röniriwouldn’t search him. This seemed to much to Siebold, who replied: «It seems that you forget that I’m a Dutch officer. If you want to go away, you are free. I’ll defend myself alone against these rönird»34

Siebold was informed about the events that happened after the attack against Tözenji in a letter of the Minister on 17 July. Three of the criminals killed themselves in an inn in Shinagawa, another was arrested by the police. In the bag of one of them they found a document signed by 14 persons who took part in the event.

So he received the order from the Dutch Consul De Wit to return to Yokohama, with the pretext that it was too dangerous to him to stay in Edo. In fact Siebold’s vision concerning the political questions and his proposals didn’t correspond to the Japanese-Dutch interests. Through his position he exercised a great influence on the relationships between Japan and the signing powers of the treaties. Most probably he lacked of political tact in the moment of difficulty in the relationships between Japan and the Western world, and his activities weakened even the same influence of De Wit on the Japanese government. Even the several times repeated proposal to reopen the port of Nagasaki to the international commerce was in contrast with the Dutch politics. If all the commerce would be concentrated in that port, the Netherlands would have met more competition.

When DeWit communicated to Siebold that the Dutch governmentwouldn’t guarantee his protection for a long time if he would remain in Edo, and the German scholar replied that he wasn’t worried at all. At this point De Wit contacted the Japanese government and made press so that Siebold would be sent elsewhere to avoid conflict with the Netherlands. His request was made in the moment in which his activities and mostly his friendship with the Russian caused a great suspect among the Japanese.

On 13 October 1861, the Japanese government asked Siebold to leave Edo. He was very struck by the fact that the Japanese chased him away again, mostly because he was convinced that his activities would assure a great benefit both to the Japanese and Dutch interests. Alcock proposed to his son

32A. Kouwenhoven, M. Forrer, Shiiboruto to Nihon — Sono shögai to shigoto. Hotei,

Leiden, 2000, p. 71.

33/bid.

34Ibid., p. 72.