Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/218

 and thenceforward the strait was open and free to the commerce of the world.

The attack was followed by a demand on the Shogunate by the ministers of the four participating powers for an indemnity, which was fixed at $3,000,000, and after some delay and great embarrassment, because of the poverty of the treasury, it was paid. An equal share of the indemnity was allotted to each nation, although Great Britain had furnished the greater portion of the armament. The exaction of the indemnity under the circumstances has been the subject of much adverse criticism. The attempt to close the port was in violation of international law; but it was not the act of the government with which the powers had relations, and it claimed that, if time was afforded, it would bring about the removal of the obstruction. The sum paid to the United States remained in the treasury unused for twenty years. The public conscience was troubled as to the justness of the exaction, and in 1883 by an act of Congress the amount received was returned to Japan, and accepted by that government "as a strong manifestation of that spirit of justice and equity which has always animated the United States in its relations with Japan." None of the other three nations partaking of the indemnity have seen fit to follow this example.

An incident connected with the Shimonoseki affair occurred which was not without influence on the later history of Japan. The year before, two youths,