File No. 894.001 M98/44A.
The Special Ambassador to
the President.
[Extract.]
Department of State,
Washington,
November 15, 1912.
Mr. President: I have the honor to submit to
you herewith my report as Special Ambassador to represent the President
and people of the United States at the funeral ceremony of His Majesty
Mutsuhito, the late Emperor of Japan.
The Special Embassy consisting, in addition to myself, of Mr. Hansford S.
Miller, Secretary, and Rear Admiral Alfred Reynolds, Naval Attaché,
representing the United States Navy, sailed from Seattle August 22 on
the cruiser Maryland, Captain John M. Ellicott in
command. Brigadier General John J. Pershing, Military Attaché,
representing the United States Army, joined the Embassy at Yokohama. In
compliance with your request Mrs. Knox also accompanied me.
The Maryland stopped at Honolulu for coal August
29 and * * * left for Yokohama the following day. * * * We
[Page 639]
arrived off the coast of Japan
on Monday morning, September 9, a day in advance of the scheduled time
of our arrival. In compliance with the request of the Japanese officials
we anchored in Yokohama harbor at three o’clock that same afternoon,
being the first of the special foreign embassies to arrive.
We were met aboard the Maryland by the full staff
of the American Embassy at Tokio and by the special Japanese reception
committee headed by his excellency Viscount Kurino, once representative
of the Imperial Japanese Government in Washington, and escorted with the
usual marks of honor to the landing where we were welcomed by the local
Japanese officials and a company of American residents of Yokohama.
Proceeding to Tokio by special train, we were greeted by a large
concourse of Japanese officials, business men and American citizens,
headed by his excellency Viscount Uchida, Minister for Foreign Affairs
and late Japanese Ambassador to the United States. From the station we
were formally escorted to the residence which had been assigned to us,
the official residence of the Minister of the Imperial Household,
adjoining the premises of the American Embassy in Tokio.
In view of the baseless reports current in many quarters that the Special
Embassy might have also some ulterior political mission, I took occasion
immediately upon my arrival in Tokio to set these reports at rest by
making a public statement of its true object, which was to pay a tribute
of respect to the memory of the late Emperor and to express the interest
of the American people in the progress of Japan under His Majesty’s
remarkable reign. A copy of this and of all other public or official
statements made by me in connection with the Special Mission will be
found annexed hereto. * * *
On Wednesday the 11th, accompanied by my staff and escorted by a guard of
honor, I proceeded to the Palace to present my letter of credence to His
Majesty the Emperor of Japan. In presenting my letter I took occasion to
make a few remarks voicing the respect, sympathy and friendship of the
American nation. The Embassy, accompanied by Mrs. Knox, was also
received in audience by Her Majesty the Empress and later given an
opportunity of paying its respects to the memory of the late Emperor,
whose body was lying in state in the Throne Boom of the Palace. The
formalities ended with a breakfast given by the Court to the members of
the special embassies and resident diplomatic representatives.
The funeral services of the late Emperor, who will be known in history as
Meiji Tenno, were held on Friday evening, September 13, in the Aoyama
district of Tokio, where the special embassies, foreign representatives
and a large concourse of Japanese and foreign officials and residents
convened to await the arrival of the Imperial cortòge, which left the
Palace at eight o’clock. The funeral services, conducted according to
the Shinto ritual, were most impressive in their simplicity. At the
conclusion of the ceremonies, after paying their last respects before
the bier, the foreign representatives withdrew. * * *
The Special Embassy took its formal departure from Tokio on Saturday
September 21, with the same marks of courteous attention that had
characterized its arrival, and proceeded to Yokohama. That evening, at a
quiet dinner given in our honor by the American
[Page 640]
Asiatic Association of Japan, I took occasion to
make a few remarks to my fellow-countrymen, expressing my conception of
the true relations that exist and should exist between Japan and the
United States.
The Embassy sailed from Yokohama by the cruiser Maryland on Saturday, September 22.
In conclusion I wish to record my conviction, based upon my personal
observations while in Japan as well as upon the unanimous expressions of
the Jananese officials and press, that the sympathetic purpose of the
Special Embassy was truly interpreted and deeply appreciated by the
Japanese Court, Government and people alike and did much to emphasize
and strengthen the ties of ancient friendship existing between the two
nations.
Respectfully submitted.
[Inclosure 1.]
Public announcement made by the Special Ambassador
on arrival in Tokyo, September 9, 1912.
The President, as Chief Executive of the American Nation, has sent me
as his special representative to pay a tribute of respect to the
memory of your late Emperor; to manifest the appreciation of the
American people of the wonderful achievements for Japan and humanity
under His Majesty’s benign reign; and to express the sympathetic,
continuing and unabated American interest in united Japan and in the
new life of equality of right and opportunity of her people for
which his late Majesty’s name will be forever revered. This is my
mission and this my message to Japan, her Emperor, and her people.
That I should have been selected as its bearer is an honor and
privilege which I unfeignedly prize and appreciate.
[Inclosure 2.]
Remarks of the Special Ambassador on presenting
Letter of Credence to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan,
September 11, 1912.
Your Majesty: I very keenly appreciate the
honorable privilege that has been vouchsafed to me by the President
in accrediting me, by the letter I bear, as his personal
representative and ambassador charged with the special mission of
bringing to Your Majesty and the Imperial family, the Government and
people of Japan the sympathetic message of the American Commonwealth
on this sad occasion. Not the least of the ties of true friendship
that join the nations of the earth in the higher brotherhood of
affectionate esteem is the bond of common sorrow. The people of the
United States share in the grief which the people of the great
Empire of the Orient feel in presence of the bereavement that has
befallen them in the death of their beloved Ruler; and the
President, in obedience to the sentiment of his countrymen no less
than in response to his own personal feeling, has charged me to
voice the condolence of his countrymen, and in so doing to express
to Your Majesty his own sincere sympathy with you in the loss of
your distinguished father.
It is right that I should accomplish this mission in a spirit
befitting the intimacy that has so long existed between the Republic
of the West and the Empire of the East. First among the nations to
greet the entrance of your Island Commonwealth into the family of
the modern nations, and constantly since that memorable epoch an
interested and applauding spectator of the marvelous progress of
your gifted people in every walk of material progress and national
advancement, the United States owes it to itself as well as to Japan
to demonstrate adequately on this mournful occasion the closeness of
the association of the two Commonwealths by partaking of your sorrow
as earnestly as we admire your prosperity, and by rendering
heartfelt tribute, at the bier
[Page 641]
of your lamented Ruler, to the memory of one
whose skill in statecraft and wisdom in governance were potent
factors in setting Japan in the high place won by earnest effort and
unwearying achievement.
[Inclosure 3.]
Remarks of the Special Ambassador made at a
farewell dinner tendered by the American Asiatic Association
Yokohama, September 21, 1912.
In taking leave of this beautiful land and of you, my countrymen, who
have shared with me the responsibility of making due expression of
the sincere sympathy entertained by the American people in the great
sorrow of Japan, my mind instinctively turns to some of the most
conspicuous accomplishments for the general good of the reign that
has just closed.
The present solemn grief of Japan, so sympathetically shared by the
other civilized powers and which to many of you must in a sense seem
personal, may surely be assuaged by the proud contemplation of the
inestimable blessings of the Meiji era. Whether measured by the
peculiar inherent difficulties overcome, the radical nature of
reforms accomplished, or their effect upon the progress, happiness,
and prestige of the people, it seems not too much to assert that the
record of real accomplishment during the beneficent reign of the
late Emperor is not excelled by any other chapter in human
history.
The character and tastes of the Japanese people and the nature of
their institutions have been largely molded and virilized by contact
with the natural forces of their environment and softened by
contemplation of the beauties of the land in which they were
developed and matured.
Unaffected by external forces and influences for so many generations,
Japanese institutions became deep rooted and seemed unchangeably
fixed and the characteristics and temperament of the people
apparently reflected a permanent result of their long isolation and
a self-reliance well adapted to meet the conditions of the national
life.
The relations of the United States and other western powers to the
marvelous changes that have taken place in Japan during the past
sixty years have been intimate and direct. If the Japanese horizon
has been expanded it is largely because we have urged her to open
the door for the ingress of our civilization and the egress of her
own. If the dual system of government that for hundreds of years
seemed to meet the demands of Japanese conditions has now been
permanently abolished and the Empire unified and strengthened,
through self-sacrificing patriotism that has no historic precedent,
it is because such changes were necessary to enable Japan to meet
the responsibilities and protect herself against the danger of the
new relations to the world’s progress to which the West invited her.
We have applauded the zealous and intelligently directed efforts and
the rapid success attained under the late Emperor in the adjustment
of Japan to new responsibilities. When he insisted upon respect for
and gave protection to productive labor, eliminated feudalism and
its attendant special privileges, established and promulgated equal
and humane laws for the government of his people, the West looked on
with admiration and recognized a highly intelligent and assiduous
preparation to faithfully perform an important part in the work of
advancing a higher world civilization.
The renascence of Japan has occurred in the “Meiji Era” of
international intercourse. There is to-day a decided impulse towards
social coordination that must become a real cosmic force. Through
the marvelous modern development in the means of communication each
nation promptly feels the influence of the public opinion of all
nations. As nations understand each other better and the world draws
closer together in the recognition of a common humanity and
conscience, of common needs and purposes, there is carried into the
international field the insistent demand for greater unity in
enforcing everywhere the principle of a high humanity and, by
restraints mutually applied and observed, all the human
ameliorations without which both national and international life
would soon fall into anarchy and decadence.
At all times recalling with satisfaction the special and important
part taken by America in urging Japan to take her proper place upon
a broader stage of the world’s activities, we, logically, are
prepared to rejoice with her in her progress towards the attainment
of her maximum development and usefulness to the civilization of the
future.
[Page 642]
[Inclosure 4.]
Statement to the Press on return of the Special
Ambassador to the United States.
As publicly announced before I left Washington and repeated on my
arrival in Japan, the purpose of my recent mission was, on behalf of
the President and the people of the United States, to pay a tribute
of respect to the memory of the late Emperor; to manifest the
appreciation of the American people of the wonderful achievements
under His Majesty’s benign reign; and to express the sympathetic
American interest in the new Japan.
In fulfilling that high mission I was received on all sides by the
Court, the officials, and the people of Japan in the spirit in which
I came. I have the pleasantest recollections of the kindly reception
that was everywhere accorded me in Japan, both personally and as
representative of the American people, at a time of profound
national mourning.
