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JAPAN THROUGH WESTERN EYES
Manuscript Records of Traders, Travellers, Missionaries and Diplomats, 1853-1941

Part 6: Correspondence and Papers of Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) relating to Japan from Public Record Office Class PRO 30/33

Publisher's Note

Ernest Mason Satow (1843-1929) was one of the most remarkable diplomats of his age. At a time when the British Empire was rapidly expanding across the globe, establishing itself as the world's dominant power, Satow became the model British diplomat. With a deep and sincere interest in the countries in which he resided, he made great efforts to learn the local languages and customs and to befriend local people. Yet he always remained loyal to his native country and he could be a tenacious negotiator when necessary.

Born in London in 1843, Satow entered University College, London in 1859, graduating in 1861. According to his privately published work The Family Chronicle of the English Satows it was at university that he first became interested in Asia, and he specifically mentions how a library copy of Oliphant's narrative of Lord Elgin's mission to China and Japan proved a "strong attraction" to him and a major influence on his desire to travel to the East. When the Foreign Office offered University College three student-interpreterships to the China and Japan Consular Service, the young Satow jumped at the opportunity of realising his desire to visit Japan (although he also admitted that the £200 salary helped make up his mind). Coming top in the examination, Satow was offered a position and given his choice of serving in China or Japan; he chose Japan. Satow arrived in Japan in September 1862; barely fours years after Japan had first opened up to the West. Indeed, Japan could still be a dangerous place for foreigners as Satow soon discovered, when, only days after his arrival in Japan three Britons were attacked, one of whom died. In retaliation for this act, and in an effort to induce Western demands for greater access to Japan, British ships were involved in various military actions against the Japanese, culminating in the Battle of Shimonseki.

Despite these early confrontations between Japan and Britain, Satow soon settled into his new life, quickly picking up the Japanese language and making contacts amongst her ruling élite. He became an indispensable member of the British Legation to Japan, a fact underlined by his appointment as its secretary in 1868. However, despite his efforts, Japan was still a dangerous country for foreigners, and it was not until Satow and Sir Harry Parkes, the British Minister, were attacked by assassins in 1868, that the Japanese authorities were shaken into taking firm action to end the period of danger for visitors.

Satow also built up an enviable list of contacts in Japan, not least of whom was Marquess Ito, leader of the reform movement, whom Satow had known since 1864. It was his immersion in Japanese culture which ensured that the East rapidly became as familiar as his native West, giving him the knowledge to deliver a well-rounded perspective on events within Japan and on their international repercussions. In 1895 he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at Tokyo, following spells in Bangkok, Montevideo and Morocco. Satow was to hold the Tokyo post until 1900 when he was transferred to China, to oversee negotiations between the Chinese Government and the various Western powers active there.

The signing of a treaty in Peking in September 1901 between the various sides was due largely to Satow's diplomatic skills. Satow watched the growing power of Japan and attempted to warn the British Government of the consequences of Japan's influence in the Far East prior to China's surrender of Korea into the hands of Japan in 1894-1895. As a statesman with great foresight he was also to predict the Russo-Japanese War, following its course with inside knowledge and discovering the truth behind Japanese reasons for ending the war. In 1906 Satow was recalled from Peking and returned to Europe. He was made a Privy Councillor and also appointed member of the Court of Arbitration at the Hague, where he acted as Second British delegate to the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. He died in Devon in 1929, aged 86.

The papers included in this microfilm collection include correspondence with Legation staff, Consular staff at Hakodate, Kobe, Nagasaki, Formosa and Yokohama, the Foreign Office, the Government in British Burma and the Vice Consulate at Chiengmai. They provide intelligent and illuminating insights into the political and cultural climate of the time and should interest all scholars of the history of East Asia. A parallel project, China Through Western Eyes Part 6, makes available Satow's remaining correspondence and papers in the Public Record Office, relating to his time in China and the Second Peace Conference at the Hague.

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