<研究ノート>一仏国公使の目で見た自由党 : サンクイッチ公使書信を中心にして

Abstract

本稿は、一八八四年日本駐在フランス公使サンクイッチがパリ政府に送った書信を紹介し、それによって彼の目にうつった自由党のすがたを説き、さらにこの書信が日仏交渉史の上にはたした役割を考察したものである。

A few years ago some Franco-Japanese diplomatic documents from Paris came into my hands, among which was a letter of high interst written on November 30, 1884 by Joséph Adam Sienkiewicz, the French Ambassador to Japan. We can see from this letter that Sienkiewicz was very biased in his view of the democratic movement in Japan, above all in regard to the Japanese Liberal Party. At the time when he dispatched this letter to his government in Paris, the political situation in Japan was becoming critical. In addition, the Sino-French war had broken out and French troops had been attacked by the Chinese in Taiwan. Accordingly, it is quite probable that Sienkiewicz's communication influenced subsequent Franco-Japanese relations along the following lines : (a) it induced the Jules Ferry cabinet to refuse any assistance to the Liberal Party in Japan; (b) it dissuaded the Paris government from making an anti-Chinese pact with Japan; and (c) it led France to refuse Japanese proposals for a new treaty.