Shigenobu Okuma (March 11, 1838 – January 10, 1922) was a native of Saga Prefecture, Japan. He was born as a priest of the Saga domain at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. In his early years, he went to the Netherlands to study. Later, he actively participated in the "Respect for the Emperor" and the "Meiji Restoration" movement. He has successively served as Daisuke of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Meiji Japan, Daisuke Daisuke of the Ministry of Finance, and judge of the Foreign Affairs Bureau. He founded Tokyo Vocational College (the predecessor of Waseda University) and became president of Waseda University in 1910."Today, when informatization and globalization are deepening and it is easy to lead to the resurgence of exclusive, narrow-minded and extreme nationalism, it is necessary for us to deeply understand and seriously think: the invisible spread of 'love' is more likely, more dangerous and more desperate than the visible spread of 'thieves'. ”- Kato Kaichi
Wen Ma Guochuan
A shipwreck on October 24, 1886 pushed Japan** into an embarrassment.
On the same day, the British cargo ship "Normanton" ran aground and sank off the coast of Wakayama Prefecture. The British captain and foreign crew grabbed a lifeboat to save their lives, and all 25 Japanese passengers left behind drowned. However, according to Japan's treaty with the United Kingdom, Japanese courts did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. The British consul in Kobe tried the captain of the Normanton on the basis of consular jurisdiction, and the captain ended up serving only three months in prison and no compensation was paid to the victims. The news quickly spread throughout Japan, and all the people, whether it was *** or ordinary people, were extremely indignant, and the newspapers were full of indignant commentaries.
The Normanton incident "thoroughly infuriated the Japanese, who strongly demanded the abolition of extraterritoriality, and the angry public** turned to Japan's ongoing "Shikameikan diplomacy."
The Rokumeikan is a first-class diplomatic club built by Japan three years ago, which costs a lot of money and lasts several years. At the opening ceremony, the then Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Shin Inoue, said, "Friendship knows no borders, and this ...... is set up to deepen the relationshipMy generation borrowed the name of the sentence of the "Book of Songs" ("Yo Yo Deer Song, Eat the Apple of the Wild;I have guests, drumming and blowing sheng") is the Luming Pavilion, which means to highlight the harmony and communication of people from all over the world, and if the museum can also achieve harmony and communication, it is the hope of our generation. "In order to entertain high-ranking people from Europe and the United States, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs often holds evening balls here attended by the Prime Minister, the Ministers, and their wives and ladies. In this way, Inoue wants to prove to Western diplomats that Japan is already a "civilized country" and stands on an equal footing with the advanced countries of the world, hoping to achieve the goal of revising unequal treaties.
Luming Hall. However, foreigners ridiculed the "Lumingguan diplomacy" as an "open farce", and the Chinese people also criticized it as an arrogant and lascivious national decadence. ** Lu Jinnan pointed out sharply that this kind of Europeanization is just "trying to please foreigners and win their sympathy, so as to make them agree to the treaty of amendment", in fact, it does not match the national strength, and it is even more ineffective.
After the Normanton incident, the diplomacy of the Nakameikan was completely bankrupt, and Inoue Shin was also gloomy**, and Shigenobu Okuma succeeded him as secretary of foreign affairs and took on the important task of revising the unequal treaty. Okuma studied Western culture as a young man and participated in diplomatic negotiations in the early days Xi of the Restoration, successfully dealing with difficult diplomatic issues, but the diplomatic situation at this time was far more complicated.
The Normanton incident "and the treaty correction were unfavorable, leading to a rampant debate, and it was difficult for anyone who took over as foreign secretary to make a difference." Because Japan did not have the strength to negotiate with the foreign powers on an equal footing, it was impossible to overturn the Old Covenant in one fell swoop, and the people demanded that extraterritoriality be abolished in one step, so the negotiations for the revision of the treaty had little chance of success. If the foreign minister is not careful, he will be scolded as a "thief" by the countrymen. In this case, Okuma still did not hesitate to start new negotiations.
Okuma adopted a completely different negotiation strategy from Inoue Shin: Japan only negotiated one-on-one with the great powers, and never talked to the "conference of nations". In this way, Japan's negotiating position was changed, and the bargaining price of the opponent was weakened by dividing and disintegrating, and considerable progress was made in the negotiations.
Shigenobu Okuma. In 1889, Japan signed new treaties with the United States, Germany, and **. On the eve of the signing of a new treaty with Great Britain, there was a sudden uproar. The British "Times" took the lead in ** Okuma's contract change plan, and the Japanese media followed**. According to this plan, extraterritoriality will be completely terminated after five years, and the Japanese mainland will be open to foreigners, giving them the right to travel, live, do business, and acquire property;Japan gained some tariff autonomy and set an agreement for full tariff autonomy after 12 years, thus opening the door to Japan's tariff autonomy in the future. In terms of judicial power, foreign judges are employed only in the Court of Majority (Supreme Court) and are appointed only if the defendant is a foreigner, and his appointment is for a period of 12 years;Within two years of the implementation of the new treaty, Japan had completed its codes of civil, commercial, and procedural laws, and the promulgation of the codes was carried out only by notifying the powers without their consent.
The new treaty is quite beneficial to Japan, although it still contains quite a bit of "inequality". At that time, when Japan was at a disadvantage, Okuma was able to achieve such a point, which was the best result that could be achieved at that time. However, when the news reached Japan, the whole country was in an uproar.
The people believe that Japan is already an advanced "civilized country," so why is it that foreign judges still have to preside over the Supreme Court of Justice?Isn't this still an unequal treaty that harms the interests of the country?!In the blink of an eye, Shigenobu Okuma became a "thief". A huge opposition campaign was launched in various localities, and 185 proposals were submitted calling for the cessation of negotiations on the revision of the treaty. The patriotic and indignant youths are even sharpening their knives and are determined to fight the thief to the end.
On October 18, 1889, after attending a cabinet meeting, Okuma passed by the main gate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a horse-drawn carriage. A patriotic and angry young man named Tsuneki Kuraishima suddenly threw a bomb, and Okuma fell in a pool of blood. The 56-year-old Okuma had his lower right leg damaged and was in critical condition for a time. Although he was spared death in the end, he had to amputate his right foot, and he could only walk with support in his later years. Tsuneki came to the island and ran to the palace to cut his own abdomen. Paradoxically, not only was he not condemned, but he was praised as a "hero" by the society.
Statue of Shigenobu Okuma.
Under these circumstances, Okuma had to resign, and the treaty correction was once again put on hold. Under the threat of death, no one dares to start negotiations on the renewal of the treaty lightly. In the end, the abolition of alien extraterritoriality was five years later than the Okuma plan, and the realization of tariff autonomy was nearly 10 years late, and it was not until 1911 that tariff autonomy was fully restored.
More than 100 years later, the Japanese young critic Kato Kaichi wrote in an article that although "Ai**" keeps saying that he is a "patriot", he is actually doing the same thing as a "thief" - harming national interests, "In a country, the vast majority of people are not "thieves"....People who think they are patriots, but who have become actually objective ** - the number of 'love **' is quite large, and the scale is not small. He pointed out, "Today, when informatization and globalization are deepening and it is easy to lead to the resurgence of exclusive, narrow-minded, and extreme nationalism, it is necessary for us to deeply understand and seriously think: The invisible spread of 'love' is more likely, more dangerous, and more desperate than the visible spread of 'thieves'." ”
This is a summary of the lessons of history and a reminder to those countries that have been gripped by nationalist sentiments.