change the tariff. Under these conditions the negotiations came to naught, as the American minister was the only one of the foreign representatives willing to accept the proposals of the Japanese government.
Up to this time it had been the policy and the practice of the foreign representatives in Tokio to cooperate in all measures of general interest, but Mr. Bingham, the American minister, was so strongly impressed with the equity and justice of the Japanese claim that he dissented from his European colleagues, and decided to take an independent course. Upon his recommendation the United States, in 1878, entered into a treaty with Japan by which the existing tariff was to be annulled and the exclusive right of Japan to establish imports was recognized. This treaty, however, had no other effect than to place the United States on the side of Japan in its efforts to break the bands which held it in bondage, as its provisions were not to go into effect until similar treaties were made with the other powers.[1]
Not discouraged by this failure of 1878, new proposals were submitted in 1882, but without avail, the American minister being the only one ready to concede the Japanese claim. Again in 1886 a more formal effort was made and a diplomatic conference or congress was assembled, in which the Japanese minister for foreign affairs, Count Inouye, and the representatives of all the treaty powers participated. Some progress was made towards an agreement on tariff revision,
- ↑ U. S. For. Rel. 1879, pp. 647, 670; 1880, pp. 652, 657, 679; U. S. Treaties, 621; N. A Rev. Dec. 1878, p. 406; Atlantic Monthly, May, 1881, p. 610; Ib. Dec. 1887, p. 721; Nitobe's Intercourse, etc. 104.
