<論説>松平定信と「鎖国」

Abstract

寛政期に老中首座松平定信が主導的に作成し、幕府がラクスマンに示した「国法書」は、ロシアの江戸回航を回避するために異国船の打ち払いを「国法」として提示し、松前での書簡の受け取りを拒否する一方で、対立を緩和するため、通信・通商には交渉の余地があることを伝え、長崎に来航するよう促した。これらの主張はおおむねそれ以前の対外政策に準拠していたが、長崎をオランダ船・唐船以外の異国船の受け入れ窓口として外国に向けて提示した点で画期性があった。 文化露冦事件後、定信は寛政期以来の貿易容認の態度を翻し、ロシアの通商要求に応ずるべきではないと幕府に進言した。ロシアの襲撃を受けた際の幕吏の失態に向けられた批判に直面し、幕府の権威が損なわれ、幕府支配を揺るがすゆゆしき事態と見抜いたためであった。定信をして貿易容認論を放棄せしめた契機は、文化期以降の幕府の対外政策の方向性にも大きな影響を与えたと考えられる。

The aim of this paper is to clarify the historical significance of the reaction of the Edo shogunate to Russian initiatives during the late Edo period using the documents of Matsudaira Sadanobu. In 1792 the Russian envoy Laxman sailed into Nemuro hoping to return Japanese castaways by delivering them to Edo. In rejecting Laxman's demands, the Edo shogunate dispatched a high level official to Matsumae to meet with Laxman and declare that Japanese law stipulated that all foreign ships that sailed Rear the Japanese coastline would be driven off. However, since the shogunate felt an obligation to the emissary who had brought the castaways home and since there was fear of instigating war with a militarily powerful Russia, the shogunate conveyed its readiness to enter into negotiations for the opening of relations and trade if Laxman would voyage to Nagasaki. It is generally thought that Japan followed the policy of sakoku during the Edo period. However, throughout the Edo period it was simply not the case that diplomatic and trade relations with nations other than those that had been designated by the shogunate were not conducted. The policy of Bot establishing diplomatic relations was adopted in the process of reacting to the approaches made by various Southeast Asian countries in the first half of the 18th century, but in regard to trade the shogunate displayed a permissive attitude. In short, the conveying to Laxman the willingness to negotiate reflected the thinking of the shogunate on foreign relations and international trade that had been built up over the first 150 years of the Early Modern period. If the Russians returned, the shogunate intended to respond to the trade offer, even if it refused diplomatic relations. Yet it is also true that there were great changes to aspects of the previous foreign policy seen in the response to Laxman. This was that Nagasaki was now to be the sole port open to ships of various foreign nations. Nagasaki had previously been the port for Dutch and Chinese ships, but it had never been considered as a location that would receive ships from other nations. The shogunate was concerned about the system of coastal defenses for the nation, and Nagasaki was the harbor whose military defenses were most prepared. Thus, it directed the Russians to Nagasaki as the only port that could accommodate foreign ships. However, when the second Russian envoy Rezanov sailed into Nagasaki in 1805, the shogunate refused not only diplomatic relations but also trade. Dissatisfied, the Russians attacked Japanese strategic points of Etorofu and Karafuto, and the shogunate forces there were defeated. Rumors of the defeat of the shogunate forces Immediately spread throughout the country and people's fears were incited while at the same time criticism of the shogunate arose. That criticism grew out of the historical consciousness that Japan had never once been defeated by a foreign country since its founding. The defeat at the hands of the Russian severely injured the authority of the shogunate as rulers of the nation. The shogunate was reduced to a state in which it had to struggle to restore its authority. In particular, of great significance for the shogunate was the letter that Russians entrusted to the freed hostages who had been captured in the attack, because it stated that if Japan didn't respond to demands for the opening of trade, a large force would be dispatched. News of the letter spread instantly throughout society, and how the shogunate would react became a focal point for the public. Responding to Russian trade demands meant submitting to the Russians. In this manner, the shogunate issued a law ordering that Russian ships be repelled in order to maintain its authority as the rulers of the nation. This signified that the shogunate was proclaiming its will to firmly refuse Russian trade demands for the domestic audience. The collapse of the Edo shogunate first began when the shogunate bowed to the threat of warships and accepted the letter of the American emissary Perry. Its underlying composition in which the display of a weak-kneed attitude toward a foreign nation resulted in a fatal blow to the legitimacy of the shogunate as national rulers was established when shogunate forces were defeated in the Russian attack.