はじめのひとこと
オールコックは、傷で不自由な書記官オリファントを、英国へ帰すことにしました。
書くよりも詳しいことを、直接伝えさせるためだった、と書いています。
オリファントは、将軍から女王への自筆の書簡を携えていきました。
これ以上の開港を数年見合わせることを求める書簡だった、と本の目次は書いています。
Alcock decided to send his secretary Oliphant, crippled by his wounds, home to England.
It was, he wrote, to give in person more full details than he could write.
Oliphant carried with him the Tycoon's autograph letter to the Queen.
It was a letter urging that no more ports be opened for a term of years, the book's table of contents says.
その前に、オールコックは老中に、内々に話したいと申し入れました。
老中は、まず三人を残して外国奉行を下がらせ、次にその三人も下がらせました。
最後に、目付と付き添いのすべても下がらせることに同意した、と彼は書いています。
間に入ったのは、オールコックの側の書記でオランダ語の通訳のマイバーグと、老中の側の通訳、Moriyama だけでした。
三時間たっても、二重の通訳に時間がかかって、話は終わりませんでした。
そこで、翌朝八時に続けることになりました。
オールコックは、この日に新しい局面が始まった、と考えました。
この目立った新しいやり方は、両国の関係の歴史に一時代を画す、と。
のちに、京の周りに集まった不平の者たちから出たとされる文書がありました。
その文書は、この慣例からの逸脱を、幕府の罪の一つに数えていた、とオールコックは注に書いています。
Before that, Alcock asked the Ministers to speak with him in confidence.
They agreed, first to withdraw the Governors of Foreign Affairs except three, then those three as well.
Lastly, he wrote, they withdrew the Ometsuke and all the attendants of every kind.
Between them sat only Myburgh, Alcock's secretary and Dutch interpreter, and the Ministers' interpreter, Moriyama.
After three hours, the double translation was so slow that neither side had finished.
So they agreed to meet again at eight the next morning.
Alcock considered that a new phase began on this 14th of August.
This striking innovation, he thought, marked an epoch in the history of the relations between the two countries.
Later, he noted, there was a document said to have come from malcontents gathered around Kyoto.
It counted this departure from custom among the crimes of the Tycoon's government.
記録の言葉
この話のもとになった記録の言葉です。ページは、その本に刷られたものです。
Rutherford Alcock『The Capital of the Tycoon』Vol. II（London: Longman, 1863）一次史料
I knew the Japanese Government was most anxious for the success of their own proposition, to defer the opening of the ports, and were satisfied this could not be attained, unless with my support. They were not quite at their ease, either, about the view that might be taken by Her Majesty’s Government of the late attempted massacre,—and Mr. Oliphant was just about to take his departure for England, with the Tycoon’s letter and my despatches on both these subjects.
I was about to send Mr. Oliphant, crippled as he was by his wounds, to give in person more full details than I could possibly write.
they consented ; — first to the withdrawal of all the Governors of Foreign Affairs, except three ; then these also, and, lastly, the Ometsky, or chief spy, with all the subordinates and attendants of every description.
made Mr. Myburgh, acting as my secretary and Dutch interpreter, come between us, with only room for the Japanese interpreter of the Ministers, Moriyama, on the mats, and with the Admiral and Mr. Oliphant drawn close on my left also.
I consider this 14th of August saw a new phase commenced ; and it will, I think, be seen hereafter that this striking innovation marks an epoch in the history of our relations.
I was not surprised, therefore, to find later, that in a document said to have emanated from a body of malcontents, assembled round Miako, under covert protection of some of the leading Daimios, hostile to foreigners and to the Tycoon, this departure from established custom, among others, was enumerated as one of the crimes for which his Government was denounced.
After three hours thus spent it was getting late, but so slow is the process of a double translation, that neither the Ministers nor I had concluded what we each wished to say. It was accordingly agreed that the conference／should be renewed the next morning at eight o’clock, as the Admiral was to embark in the afternoon.
MR. OLIPHANT, THE SECRETARY OF LEGATION, SENT HOME FOR THE CURE OF HIS WOUNDS—BEARER OF THE TYCOON’S AUTOGRAPH LETTER／TO THE QUEEN, URGING THE NON-OPENING OF MORE PORTS FOR A TERM OF YEARS — CONFIDENTIAL INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS