NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08044492 4 f.' DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS OF AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS 1778-1883 1 THE ALBERT SHAW LECTURES ON DIPLOMATIC HISTORY, 191 DIPLOMATIC NEGOTIATIONS OF AMERICAN NAVAL OFFICERS 1778-1883 BY Pk CHARLES OSCAR PAULLIN LECTURER ON NAVAL HISTORY IN THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY BALTIMORE The Johns Hopkins Press 1912 THE :;^Vv- YORK PUBLIC LIB11ARY 134390B ASTOE, LENOX AND MLDEN FOUNDATIONS ft 1941 L Copyright, 1912 By The Johns Hopkins Press Press of The new era printing company Lancaster, pa. CONTENTS Pagk 7~10 Preface • Paul I Diplomatic Activities of John Jones, 1778-1792 11-42 II Early Relations with Barbary, 1783- 1803 ;• 43-70 Tunis, III Negotiations with Tripoli and 1804-1805 7i-i°7 108-121 IV Negotiations with Algiers, 1815-1816. V The First American Treaty with Tur- key, 1784-1832 122-153 154-185 VI Early Relations with China, 1783-1830 . VII The First American Treaty with China, 1839-1846 186-214 .215-243 VIII Early Voyages to Japan, 1797-1849. IX The First American Treaty with Japan, 1851-1854 244-281 . .282-328 X The Opening of Korea, 1866-1883. XI Early Relations with Africa and the Pacific, 1821-1872 329-363 Index 365 X THE ALBERT SHAW LECTURES ON DIPLOMATIC HISTORY By the liberality of Albert Shaw, Ph.D., of New York City, the Johns Hopkins University has been enabled to provide an annual course of lectures on Diplomatic History. The courses are included in the regular work of the Department of History and are published under the direction of Professor John Mar- tin Vincent. PREFACE The diplomatic negotiations of American naval offi- cers fall within the period 1 778-1 883, and relate to several countries, the most important of which are France, Denmark, the Barbary Powers, Turkey China, Japan, Korea, Hawaii and Samoa. Obviously, a series of lectures treating of this subject does not possess a narrow unity in respect to either time or place. On the other hand, the course does not consist of a mere collection of detached studies in American diplomatic history, for its parts are knit together more or less closely by several unifying elements. From the point of view of the navy, these lectures constitute a well-defined whole, since they treat of the work of the officers of that service in the field of diplomacy, and present a rather full account of one class of naval activities. Moreover, the traits of character that dis- tinguish the naval officer, simplicity, candor and directness, affect his negotiations and give them a sort of unity. The sailor-diplomat is preeminently a " shirt-sleeve " diplomatist. He is a stranger to the devious and tortuous methods of procedure which so long disfigured international statecraft. Being a PREFACE fighter by profession, he does not underestimate the importance of a display of concrete force when tem- porarily filling the peaceful office of a diplomat. Notwithstanding that the countries with which these lectures are concerned are widely scattered, they, with two exceptions, have many points of similarity and may be classed together. With the exception of France and Denmark, they were all, at the time of which we write, backward, undeveloped and non- Christian countries. A century ago Turkey, the Barbary Powers, China, Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Samoa, and the peoples of Africa and the Pacific were outside the pale of occidental civilization and did not belong to the great family of nations. They were little visited, little known, and little understood by the nations of Christendom, which regarded them as inferiors and treated them with condescension. Their diplomatic procedure was peculiar to them- selves. It may be briefly described as oriental, cere- monious, and extremely deliberate. Sent to every quarter of the globe to protect the lives and property of his fellow-citizens, the American naval officer early came in contact with these distant peoples. He, with the trader, the missionary and the whaleman, were the first Americans to visit them and to establish permanent relations with them. Often he was the first representative of his government to enter into communication with them. Occasionally, PREFACE acting on his own initiative, he would make a treaty with some one of these remote nations. More often he was sent out for that purpose by his government as its regularly accredited envoy. A naval officer rather than a civilian was chosen for such diplomatic tasks because he could best unite force with persuasion, a combination always regarded as a requisite in dealing with these peoples, because he often possessed a spe- cial knowledge of their governments and customs, and because it was most convenient to select him since he visited every quarter of the globe in the line of his profession. The duties of naval officers, however, never per- mitted them to serve for a period of years as dip- lomatic agents or envoys. Their diplomatic mission terminated with the accomplishment of its object. The treaties which they negotiated were usually the first treaties between the United States and the coun- tries in question. On the establishment of perma- nent official relations, diplomatic intercourse was con- ducted through the regular channels of the State De- partment. In the footnotes of this work both full and abbre- viated titles of books are employed. When referring to a book for the first time, the aim has been to give its title sufficiently complete to insure its identification. Subsequent references are often abbreviated. Since much of the flavor and probative value of history is IO PREFACE lost by paraphrasing the account of a participant in an event, quotations from the original sources have been liberally made. The chapters on China and Japan have appeared in large part, and in a somewhat different form, in the Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute, volumes XXXVI and XXXVII. The chapter on Korea is in the main a reprint of my article in the Political Science Quarterly, volume XXV, number 3, pages 470-499. I respectfully make my acknowledg- ments to the editors of these periodicals. I also wish to thank Mr. Charles W. Stewart, librarian of the Navy Department, and Hon. Alvey A. Adee, second assistant secretary of state, for the facilities for re- search which they so courteously extended to me. Charles Oscar Paullin. Washington, D. C, January, 1912. CHAPTER I The Diplomatic Activities of John Paul Jones, 1778-1792 relate The diplomatic activities of John Paul Jones loan of armed vessels chiefly to the obtaining of a accounts from France and to the settlement of prize with Denmark. with that country and of prize claims be of special im- Intrinsically these matters may not no little promi- portance. They acquire, however, of the men nence from the celebrity of Jones and to momen- with whom he dealt, from their relation from their con- tous events in American history, and historical sig- nection with a time and place of much nificance. career, For an understanding of Jones's diplomatic facts respecting the be- it is necessary to recall a few diplomatic ser- ginnings of the American naval and navy is usually vices. The origin of the Continental Congress voted to dated from October 3, 1775, when to send them in pursuit fit out two armed vessels and the next four of some British transports. During of months a considerable navy was organized, a fleet construction of thir- eight vessels was sent to sea, the officers of the teen frigates was begun, and the first 12 DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES OF JOHN PAUL JONES new navy were appointed. Three grades of commis- sioned officers were established, commander-in-chief, captain, and lieutenant. The list of lieutenants was headed by John Paul Jones. In many respects the Continental navy was at its zenith in 1776-1777. After those years it rapidly declined, and when the Revolutionary War came to an end in 1783, its ves- sels had been almost entirely captured, destroyed, or put out of commission. At its height it consisted of some thirty vessels and three thousand officers and seamen. Its chief theaters of operation were off the American coast, along British trade routes, and in the waters of France and Great Britain. The beginning of the American state department and diplomatic service may be dated with the appoint- ment by the Continental Congress on November 29, l 775> of a "committee of secret correspondence," which was empowered to correspond with the friends of America in Great Britain, Ireland, and other parts of the world. In 1777 this committee was named the committee of foreign affairs, and in 1781 it was suc- ceeded by a department of foreign affairs. The first American diplomat was Silas Deane, who early in 1776 was appointed secret agent to France and was authorized to obtain military supplies and to ascertain the disposition of the French government toward the revolting colonies. Later in 1776, after the adoption of the declaration of independence, Benjamin Frank- 3 DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES OF JOHN PAUL JONES 1 lin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee were chosen by Con- gress to represent the new government in France, and were given the title of commissioners. In 1778 the commissioners were superseded by a minister to France, and Benjamin Franklin was the first to hold that office. In 1785 he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. By reason of the part played by France in the American Revolution, first as friend and later as ally of the revolting colonies, the American naval and dip- lomatic services were brought into close connection with the government of that country and with each other. The American commissioners to France had many important naval duties.