Gustave Duchesne, Prince de Bellecourt (1817 – 1881) was a French diplomat who was active in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, and especially in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He was the first French official representative in Japan from 1859 to 1864, following the signature of the

Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan (Japanese: 日仏修好通商条約) (1858) opened diplomatic relations and trade between the two counties. Description The treaty was signed in Edo on October 9, 1858, by Jean-Baptist ...

in 1858.

China

Gustave de Bellecourt was Secretary of the French legation in China in 1857, under

Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gros (1793–1870), also known as Baron Gros, was a French diplomat and later senator, as well as a notable pioneer of photography. Life and career He entered the French diplomatic service in 1823 and was given the title of ...

. He participated to the operation against China in the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...

. In 1858, Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt arrived in Japan as the secretary of the mission for the Franco-Japanese Treaty of Trade and Amity, led by

Japan career

The following year, he went again to Japan, arriving on 6 September 1859, and became the first French representative in the country, with the title of "Premier ministre plénipotentiaire de France au Japon". He was assisted by the translator Father Girard. Duchesne de Bellecourt remitting the ratified France Japan Treaty to the Shogun in 1859

Duchesne de Bellecourt remitting the ratified France Japan Treaty to the Shogun in 1859

In 1860, the servant of Duchesne was attacked with a sword and badly wounded in front of the French legation at the Temple of

Saikai-ji , more commonly , is a Japanese temple in 4-16-23, Mita, Minato, Tokyo (on the Tsuki no Misaki). Its religious sect and principal image are Pure Land Buddhism and Amitābha respectively. This is a 26th the place where can get the green paper ...

in Edo. In 1861, Duchesne was promoted to the position of

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

. He was generally in agreement with

Rutherford Alcock Sir John Rutherford Alcock, KCB (25 May 1809''London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812''2 November 1897) was the first British diplomatic representative to live in Japan. Early life Alcock was born in St J ...

in his positions against the

Bakufu , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

. In 1863, Duchesne was involved in the negotiations for the reparations following the

Namamugi incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by t ...

, in which foreigners were killed by a party from

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a sou ...

. Duchesne, who had been a witness to Western interventions in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, was a strong advocate of the use of force to govern relations with Japan. He supported the French intervention in the 20 July 1863

Bombardment of Shimonoseki The refers to a series of military engagements in 1863 and 1864, fought to control the Shimonoseki Straits of Japan by joint naval forces from Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and the United States, against the Japanese feudal domain of ...

by Captain

Benjamin Jaurès Admiral Constant Louis Jean Benjamin Jaurès (3 February 1823 – 13 March 1889) was a French Navy officer and politician. Born in Albi, Tarn, he was a senator for life and active in Japan during the 1863 Shimonoseki campaign and the Boshin ...

and the August 1863 armed intervention of the British in the

Bombardment of Kagoshima The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daimyo ...

.Medzini,

Duchesne however was strongly criticized by the French government for taking such bellicose steps, for the reason that France had much more important military commitments to honour in other parts of the world, and could not afford a conflict in Japan. In 1864, Duchesne de Bellecourt was succeeded at his post in Tokyo by

Léon Roches Léon Roches (September 27, 1809, Grenoble – 1901) was a representative of the French government in Japan from 1864 to 1868. Léon Roches was a student at the Lycée de Tournon in Grenoble, and followed an education in Law. After only 6 mo ...

, heralding an era of much stronger involvement by France.

Tunisia career

Duchesne de Bellecourt was to be sent to

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, as Consul-General. Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt received the medal of the

Légion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

.Base de données Mérimée ministère de la Culture et de la Communication

Publications

* ''La colonie de Saïgon: les agrandissements de la France dans le Bassin du Mekong'

Notes

References

* Polak, Christian. (2001). ''Soie et lumières: L'âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950).'' Tokyo: ''Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon,''

Hachette Hachette may refer to: * Hachette (surname) * Hachette (publisher), a French publisher, the imprint of Lagardère Publishing ** Hachette Book Group, the American subsidiary ** Hachette Distribution Services, the distribution arm See also * Hachett ...

Fujin Gahōsha (アシェット婦人画報社). * __________. (2002). 絹と光: 知られざる日仏交流100年の歴史 (江戶時代-1950年代) ''Kinu to hikariō: shirarezaru Nichi-Futsu kōryū 100-nen no rekishi (Edo jidai-1950-nendai).'' Tokyo: Ashetto Fujin Gahōsha, 2002. ; *

Sir Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow, (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist. Satow is better known in Japan than in Britain or the other countries in which he served, where he was known as . He was a key figu ...

(1921), ''A Diplomat in Japan'', Stone Bridge Classics, * Medzini, Meron. (1971). ''French policy in Japan during the closing years of the Tokugawa regime.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
OCLC 161422
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellecourt 1817 births 1881 deaths Ambassadors of France to Japan Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 19th-century French diplomats French nobility