Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and Japan, 1853-1895 by Payson J.

Treat
Review by: Frederic H. Soward
Pacific Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 2/3 (Feb. - Mar., 1933), pp. 115-116
Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia
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 Books of thePacific 115
in consonancebothwithhuman realityin gen-
it to be satisfyingly
eral and with thosemore intimaterealitiesof personalexperience
and association which life in China had afforded. Its sequel,
"Sons," was approached with some trepidationmingledwith the
interest.Would the new generationbe as "real" and as alive?
Would the strongindividualityof stylefalteror become weari-
some? Would the calm grandeurof the human cycle on the land
degenerateinto the mere blood and thunderof the new revolu-
tionaryera?
The sons, their wives and children and those few associates
who remain over fromWang Lung's time are if anythingmore
clearlydifferentiated figures,morerealistichumanbeings,less the
generalized type,than were the charactersof the earlier book.
They, togetherwiththeneweracquaintances,remainin one'smem-
ory as individualsintimatelyknown.
The flowingstyleof "The Good Earth"-one of its strongest
marksof distinction-carriesthroughthe second volume. It is a
beautiful prose. But one senses, particularlyin reading aloud,
that there are passages and situationsless suitable to this style,
passages in which, because of theirunsuitability,the styleis apt
to degenerateinto overrepetitionand confusion; and that as the
authorapproaches nearer and nearerto the quickeningtempo of
modern Chinese life it will require increasingwariness on her
part to adapt this effectiveand sonorous rhythmto the less
majesticqualityof themovementof events.
The dramaticstrength of "Sons" is no less-though different-
than "The Good Earth." It carries one throughfamiliarhuman
situationsand unfamiliarexternalscenesand happeningswithsure
artistry, and ends on a powerfulnote of emotionalsuspense. It is
evidentthat thereis much still to come fromPearl Buck's pen,
otherthanthetranslationof theold novel,Shui Hu, which is to be
her nextpublishedwork.-E. G.
DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES
AND JAPAN, 1853-1895
By Payson J. Treat
Stanford University Press, 1932

RememberingCroce's dictumthat"all historyis contemporary

history"the modern historian is chary of applying the word
"definitive"to any historicalpublication. But it may be confi-
dentlyassertedthatin thesehandsomelyprintedvolumesProfessor
Treat has covered his subject so carefullyand thoroughlythat
therecan be littleunexploredmaterialwhich futurewritersmay
use to modifyhis conclusions.ProfessorTreat has spent25 years
in workingover the archivesof the State Department,the printed
source material,the private papers of threeAmerican diplomats

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116 Pacific Affairs

who served in Tokyo, and the secondaryauthorities.The result

is a painstakingnarrativeof diplomatic historywhich records
year by year the work of the American Legation in Tokyo from
its inceptionto the Sino-JapaneseWar of 1894. His volumes are
not easy reading-it is doubtfulif the author expected them to
be-but theywill remain an indispensablereferencesource for
thisperiod.
The visit of Commodore Perry to Japan was not the result
of a sudden decision,but reflectedan increasingappreciationof
the commercial possibilitiesof Japan, lying athwart the trade
routesbetween San Francisco and Shanghai. Perry's "firmness,
dignityand fearlessness"made a favorable impressionupon the
Japanese,who preferredto negotiatewith him ratherthan with
the Russianswho came a monthlater. The resultwas the treaty
of March 1854, which began the westernizationof Japan. On
this point ProfessorTreat is most illuminatingin his exposition
of the relationbetweenthe new policy and the confusingintrigues
and skirmishesof internalpolitics during the succeedingtwenty
years. What Perry had commenced,Townsend Harris was to
completein his CommercialTreatyof 1858. The choice of Harris
as the firstAmerican envoywas a happy one. Harris had traded
for seven years in the Far East, really liked and respectedthe
Japanese,and had the moral courage to reject precipitateaction
when antiforeignfeelingcaused the blades of the ronins to flash.
In the thirtyyears after Harris retired (1862) the seven
American ministerswho followed him owed their position to
political influence.The haphazard method of selectionworked
betterthanit deserved,since twoofthesemen,Pruynand Bingham,
were mostsuccessfulin maintainingthe close and intimaterela-
tionswith Japan that Harris had established.Of the others,one
misinterpreted the factorsthat caused the returnof the Emperor
to power,another"commencedhis careerby bullyingtheJapanese
and ended it by quarrelingwith his countrymen," and a third,a
Californianwithan anti-Orientalbias who had dabbled in fiction,
displayed in his dispatches "no few traces of that skill in the
developmentof fictitiouscharacterizationswhich had given him
such repute." Under him Americaninfluencegave way to British,
and it was fortunateforthe United States thata career diplomat,
Edwin Dun, who had lived almosttwentyyearsin Japan, was in
charge duringthe stormyyears 1884-95.
Here ProfessorTreat abruptlyends his narrative,leaving us
to hope thatin his nextvolume the storywill cover the vital years
beforetheWorld War.-FREDERIC H. SOWARD.

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