Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/205

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Question. What is the rank of a minister?

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Question. What kind of a thing is the law of nations?

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Question. Let us now hear what is meant by opening ports like other nations.

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Question. Is there anything more we ought to know?

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In his record of these conferences Mr. Harris says: "I may be said to be engaged in teaching the elements of political economy to the Japanese. … They said they were in the dark on all these points, and were like children; therefore I must have patience with them. They added that they placed the fullest confidence in all my statements. … I then gave them champagne, which they appeared to understand and to like." Champagne seems to have been an important factor in the diplomacy of the Orient.

By his forbearance and painstaking method of explanation and instruction, Harris won the confidence of the imperial negotiators, and by yielding on non-essential points and demands which the Japanese could not well concede, he succeeded in obtaining a treaty which completely satisfied his own government and was accepted as a model by all the European nations. Much delay in its signature was occasioned by the opposition of the daimios and other influential dignitaries. A