紀要論文

幕末　ロシアの対馬計画

Russia’s Secret Plans in Tsushima

jpn

13445952

https://doi.org/10.15002/00031199

法政大学社会学部学会

71

3

1

70

2024-12

Version of Record

The island of Tsushima, located between Kyūshu and Korea, was half asleep until the opening of ports (Hakodate, Yokohama, Nagasaki) to the great powers when the British and the Russian warships called and sounded the sea without permission of the Tsushima Clan during the 1850s and early 1860s. The Russians saw British surveys conducted around the Island in 1855 and in 1859 as being suspicious. After occupying the estuary of the Amur in 1850 and the establishment of Vladi vostok in 1860, the Russians next took note of the Tsushima Island spurred by the British surveying of if in the late 1850s. The geographical position of the Island seemed significant to the future of the Russian navy. Likhachev Ivan Fedorovich (1826～1907), the Chinese Flotilla’s Commander Admiral. realized the importance of the Tsushima Island as a year-round ancharage and the base for the Imperial Russian Navy, who also planned to lease land to build facilities by negotiating with the local government (i.e. the Tsushima Clan) without exciting British suspicion whatsoever. Russian grand duke and General Admiral Konstantin Nikolayevich (1827～92) advised the scheme to be a private deal with the Tsushima Clan for fear of causing political issues. In the Imperial conference it was agreed that in case of a failure, the Russian government would deny any involvement in the matter. Following Likhachev’s ambition and Konstantin’s advice, the Russian corvette Posadonik (Посадник, 885 t, 11 guns, 178 men) captained by Nicolai Birilev left Hakodate leaving the Russian Consul Goshkevitch in port on Feb. 20, 1861, and arriving at Imosaki (芋崎) in the Asaji Bay (浅茅湾), on March 1st (i.e. the Russian Calendar). The arrival of the three-masted warship surprised high officials of the Clan which called up a meeting at night. The following day the monjoshi (i.e. a kind of investigator, 問情使) visited the Ship and identified it as a Russian warship to talk with Birilev using an Russian interpreter who spoke Japanese pretty well. Birilev, the captain, said that the Ship, was damaged by a high wind and so needed repairs. He asked the Japanese officials to comply with his requests by offering the same priviledges as specified in the Russo-Japanese Treaty of 1854. The officials tried to find what could call damages but it was in vain. Birilev asked for the lot to build naval facilities (barrack, hospital and workshops) and for fresh food as well. The Tsushima Clan allowed the Russians to repair the ship for the present hoping that they would leave Tsushima after the refit. The Russians stayed in Imozaki for more than half a year, during which they raised the naval flags at sentry boxes and began building workshops, temporary housing (i.e. barrack, hospital, bathhouse), huts for animals and two landing jetties. In the meantime the crew began sounding in and around the sea and got involved in a strife with the local people causing the death of a peasant named Yasugoro (安五郎) and two hostages. The Tsushima officials tacitly permitted the Russian’s reckless attempts while Yoshiyori So (1818～90, 宗義和), head of the So Clan, kept sending reports concerning the Russians to the Bakufu Government, however, the Cabinet delayed their response which put him in great defficulties. The Central Government dispatched messengers to Tsushima two times. One from the Magistrate’s Office in Nagasaki and the other was Tadamasa Oguri (1827～68, 小栗忠順), high official of Foreign Affairs from Edo. Both asked Birilev to leave Tsushima. The negotiations broke down. The Japanese Government urged Muragaki, head of the Magistrate’s Office in Hakodate, to negotiate with Russian Consul Goshkewitch, asking him to tell Birilev to leave Tsushima. Since the Tsushima problem made little progress, Nobumasa Ando, the Prime Minister in the Shōgun’s Administration called the British envoy Rutherford Alcock for help. Alcock dispatched two warships, the Ringdove and the Encounter, under command of Vice Admiral James Hope to Tsushima. While in St. Petersburg, Russia, the negotiations between Gorchakov, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Francis Napier, British ambassador were sucessfully going on. Ukhachev ordered Birilev to evacuate from Tsushima as instructed by Konstantin. The Posadonik finally left Tsushima on September 7, 1861 due to the British intervention. Thus the Russian secret plan to occupy Tsushima received a setback.

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