Towards the end of the eighteen century and during the first half of the nineteenth, various European powers had made attempts to establish trade relations with Japan. But these efforts had been unsuccessful because they were not ready to use force in Japan as they had done in other countries like China. The unusual situation prevailed until 1853, when an American squadron of four ships, under the command of Commodore Mathew Perry, arrived at Edo Bay, in Tokyo, demanding Japan to open its borders to foreign commerce. Perry was successful in his mission, after presenting representatives of the emperor with the text of a proposed commercial and friendship treaty, which was signed at his return on March 31 1854. The Treaty of Kanagawa, which provided for the opening of three ports to foreign vessels (Nagasaki, Shimoda and Hokadate), became the first formal agreement that Japan signed with a Western country.
In theory Perry's mission ended Japan isolation and other powers immediately followed the example of the United States. Similar treaties were signed with England in 1854, Russia in 1855 and Holland in 1857. However, the Empire of the Raising Sun still remained hostile against foreigners and was viewed as a mysterious nation by several countries in the world. By 1858 the authority of the Shogun had declined to a pitiable state and a powerful opposition had been formed against him by elements that could not be reconciled to the opening of Japan to the foreigners. On the other hand, the effect that the presence of foreigners had in the local economy intensify anti-foreign feeling in the country and the cry “Expel the barbarians” became louder than ever.
In the meantime attacks on foreigners became common occurrences. In less than two months after the opening of Yokohama some foreign sailors were murdered by mobs. Attacks continued through 1862, when Japanese authorities took action to stop this situation.
The wall of isolation, which Japan had kept around herself for 200 years finally was broken in 1865. Three years later the weak Emperor Komei died and a 14-year old Emperor was crowned. His name was Mutsuhito. He became the founder of the great Meiji era and his presence marked the end of the Shouguns in Japanese politics. With the opening of Japan, it could have been predicted that sooner or later the Emperor would be obliged to give audiences to foreigners. Mutsuhito decreed that the visitors would have to be treated with courtesy lest their countries be provoked into warfare. The first foreigners to catch a glimpse of the Japanese Emperor were European diplomats to whom Mutsuhito granted audiences in March 1868. A few weeks earlier, an announcement was made that, in keeping with universal principles, the Emperor would grant audiences to the ministers of foreign countries. His willingness to meet foreigners indicates that he had not been infected by his father's xenophobia. As a first step in improving relations with the foreigners, they were allowed to visit the city of Kyoto. On March 23 the British, French and Dutch envoys were invited to an audience with the Emperor.
Four years later, Peru decided to establish diplomatic relations with Japan and China. On November 5th, 1872, Navy Captain Aurelio Garcia y Garcia, the intrepid Commander of the ironclad Independence, was appointed by President Manuel Pardo as Special Envoy to Japan and China, granting him full powers to sign treaties of trade and friendship with both Asian countries. Instructions given to him on December 1872 established that he must assure that Chinese and Japanese authorities should guarantee the safety of Peruvian merchant ships and crews while in their waters. He also was instructed to appoint provisional Consuls and to decide if the establishment of a permanent mission was required in those countries. He also was instructed that the treaties must include the clauses of extraterritoriality and that of the most favored nation. Peru became this way the second country of the Americas, after the United States, to try such approach.
At the beginning the Government decided that the ironclad Independencia should transport the mission. The main reason of sending a powerful ironclad had a disuasive purpose, because the Japanese authorities had seized at the port of Yokohama a Peruvian cargo vessel, the María Luz, and had jailed the Captain of the ship under allegations of ill treatment of Chinese citizens aboard. The ship also was attacked by hostile mobs and suffered serious damages, so the Peruvian Government wanted an apology and a compensation for the ship´s owners.
Considering that the presence of the Independencia in Japanese waters was not enough, On November 12, 1872, the Peruvian Minister of War and Navy, Jose Miguel Medina, sent to Captain Nicolas del Portal, commander of the 1,600-ton screw corvette Union, which was under repairs in British shipyards, the following secret message (excerpts):
“Next week the frigate Independence will depart from Callao under command of its Captain, Aurelio García y García in a trip to the coasts of China and Japan. The Captain of that ship has been invested as Minister Plenipotentiary and his mission is to sign Trade and Navigation Treaties with those countries. However, as a result of the offense made by Japanese authorities to our National Flag by seizing illegally the Peruvian ship Maria Luz, whose Captain, Mr. Ricardo Herrera was forced into Yokohama after damages suffered by his ship during a storm, the Government has ordered our Plenipotentiary Minister to establish a proper reclamation to obtain the necessary apologies to our country and the reparations to the owners of such ship.
In order that the naval force that will escort the Plenipotentiary Minister may be strong enough to be respected by the authorities of such countries and support the claims to be done, the President has decided that after receiving this note, you should depart from London with the ship under your command and sail towards the port of Hong Kong, in the Chinese Empire, and await further orders from the Captain of the Independence. The Union will become part of the squadron that accompanies the Plenipotentiary Minister into those coasts, for which you will be placed under his command”.
The instructions to Captain del Portal also established that he should keep absolute secret on the reasons that brought the Peruvian naval force to those coasts and that his ship should be kept in war footage. He was also informed that ten big guns for the Union were going to be sent trough the Consul in Macao, and that before his departure he should purchase in London gunpowder for the artillery, bullets an other small weapons.
The idea of sending a squadron of Peruvian warships was unrealistic and expensive, and even if during those days Japan had a small navy, no one could assure for sure a successfull confrontation against Japanese warships. However, it must be pointed out that the fullness of the Japanese Imperial Navy, as we know it today, was reached around the end of the XIX Century and it was only during the middle of the 1870´s -several years after the Peruvians did- that Japan entrusted the British the construction of its first naval units. Furthermore, Japan´s first ironclad, the Hiei, was incorporated in 1877, four years after the plans to send the ironclad Independencia. However, reason prevailed and the Government gave up the idea of using warships for something that was, after all, a friendly mission.
On December the 22nd of that year, Garcia and Garcia and other eleven members of the Peruvian delegation, several of them naval officers, sailed to Japan on a merchant ship, arriving at Yedo on February 27th, 1873. The Japanese Government received the Peruvians with full honors, which was a deference never before granted by the Mikado to diplomatic missions of other countries. Captain Garcia and Garcia and his party were hosted at the splendid imperial palace of Hamagoten, and in less than one week, on the third of March, the young Emperor and his court received them in special audience. Preliminary negotiations were focussed on the Maria Luz Incident.
On June 1st, 1873, the Peruvian Captain and the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs signed at Yedo an agreement concerning reparations for the Maria Luz incident. On the 25 of that month, a Protocol was signed in which the Zar of Russia was appointed as arbiter for the solution of the Maria Luz affair. On August 21st the Peruvian flag was raised at the forts of Kanagarva, at the Yedo Bay and saluted by 21 guns as an apology for past offences committed against Peruvian ships. The mission concluded with the signature, that same day, of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Trade and Navigation between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of Peru, with very favorable clauses for the South American nation. In this way Peru became one of the first nations to establish official ties with the Mikado.
After his the conclusion of his official mission in Japan, Captain Garcia and Garcia sailed to China with similar instructions. In October 1873, he met at Tensing, 85 miles from Peking, with Viceroy Li Huang Chang, who was appointed by the Emperor to negotiate with the Peruvians. The naval officer was received within a hostile environment. The reason was simple: The Chinese were mad as hell because Peru was one of the countries involved in the coolie trade, which plainly was traffic in human labor (1).
The "coolie trade," as it became known, expanded during the 1840s and 1860s. After the abolition of slavery in Peru in the early 1850´s, the planters of the country could no longer get their supply of black slaves, so they looked around for alternative sources. This they found in China. It was chiefly at Amoy that the British collected all the coolies who were recruited by the foreigners or by their Chinese agents and forced aboard the coolie ships bound for the Peruvian coasts. Also, from 1847 to 1862, most Chinese coolies bound for Cuba were shipped on American vessels, and numbered about 6,000 per year. Some of the coolies were persuaded to emigrate with the promise of rewarding labor and eventual return to their homeland. At first, the Chinese government did little for the coolies because of its disapproval of Chinese citizens leaving their ancestral country. When reports of atrocities mounted, though, the Chinese government promulgated rules to regulate labor recruitment and working conditions. Some Peruvian merchant ships also engaged in the transport of coolies from Macao. Till the late 1860´s, conditions on board these ships, American, British or Peruvian were bad and some of the coolies never reached their destination. This coolie trade, like the opium traffic, was another disgraceful undertaking of the British traders, but the Peruvians and Americans also shared the guilt in this dark chapter of our history. Given the role of American shippers in the coolie trade in 1862, the U.S. Congress enacted the Prohibition of Coolie Trade Act, which forbade American shippers’ participation in the illicit enterprise. The Peruvian government also wanted to correct this wrongdoing.
The Chinese also could have been wrongly suspicious about the true nature of Garcia’s mission. It must be pointed out that at that time the real ruler of China was Tsu Hzi, the ruthless Dowager Empress of the decadent Manchu dynasty. Her reign encompassed the most humiliating period of China modern history, including the empire’s critical agonizing confrontation with the West. This confrontation ran far deeper than a political struggle. It was a clash between China and the pitiless actuality of the industrial revolution, between Cathay’s dream world and the real world. The Western European nations continually wrested rights of extraterritoriality from the Celestial Empire. Legalisms aside, extraterritoriality meant that China lost a degree of sovereignty. Ultimately, whole sections of Chinese cities were transformed into “international settlements”. This way the British, the French, the Germans, the Russians and others systematically lopped off piece after piece of the empire. With his green eyes, brown hair and Victorian beard, Captain Garcia y Garcia looked just like any other “European Devil”. Why should he be different from them? Some asked what did a country like the one he represented really wanted in China. Could it be perhaps a territorial concession? At that time Peru was unknown to the Chinese, save for the coolie trade, and even few Government officials could realize that it was just a developing nation, with no ambition whatsoever and incapable of imposing conditions of any kind in foreign lands.
After extremely difficult talks, Garcia went to Beijing, meeting with Prince Kung, uncle of the young Emperor Foug Chih (2). Finally, after a long stay of eleven months, on June 26, 1874, Peruvians and Chinese reached an agreement and signed a Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Trade and Navigation, which included the clauses of most favored nation. Another agreement was signed to protect and guarantee the rights of the hundreds of Chinese immigrants in Peru. The traffic of coolies to Peru ceased at the end of 1873 after Portugal closed Macau for such effects. However, to assure this will never happen again, the clauses of the Tientsin Treaty established that Chinese immigration to Peru would only be allowed on a free and voluntarily basis. On May 1878, Four years after the signing of the Tientsin Treaty, Peru appointed its first diplomatic envoy to China, Mr. Juan Federico Elmore, who had accompany Garcia y Garcia in its mission. The Chinese on the other hand send their first representative to Peru at the end of 1883.
After his successful trip to China, the Peruvian delegation sailed, via the Suez Canal, to Egypt. They were received in a special audience by the Egyptian Khedive Ismail Pasha, which probably was the first high level diplomatic contact between Peruvian and Egyptian authorities.
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(1) The word coolie came from a Hindi aboriginal tribal name, or from the Tamil “kuli”, which means "wages". The Europeans used it in a usually pejorative way applied to unskilled labourers or porters from the Far East who were hired for low or subsistence wages.
(2) Son of the Dowager Empress Tsu Hzi, Regent and the power behind the throne. Tung Chih was trained from a beginning to parrot his mother’s words. He died at the early age of nineteen, just two days after he mounted the Dragon Throne.
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