Henry Willard Denison (May 11, 1846 – July 3, 1914) was an American diplomat and lawyer, active in

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

Japan.

Biography

Denison was born in

Guildhall, Vermont Guildhall ( ) is a town in and the shire town (county seat) of Essex County, Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262. According to a large sign in the town center, it is the only town in the world so named. The name derives from ...

, and spent his early years at

Lancaster, New Hampshire Lancaster is a town located along the Connecticut River in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The town is named after the city of Lancaster in England. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,218, the second largest in the coun ...

. He was a graduate of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, and went to

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

to study law in 1868, but did not graduate before he left for Japan in 1869 while working as a clerk for the Revenue and Customs Department in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

In an 1875 letter he indicates he worked in the U.S. Treasury Department from 1864-1869. In 1869, Denison was appointed Vice Consul at the United States Consulate at

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Japan, where his duties were primarily to serve as

public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

in the consulate court. At the time, the Japanese government's jurisdiction over foreigners in Japan was limited by the

extraterritoriality In international law, extraterritoriality is the state of being exempted from the jurisdiction of local law, usually as the result of diplomatic negotiations. Historically, this primarily applied to individuals, as jurisdiction was usually cl ...

provisions of the

unequal treaties Unequal treaty is the name given by the Chinese to a series of treaties signed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, between China (mostly referring to the Qing dynasty) and various Western powers (specifically the British Empire, France, the ...

. On July 14, 1875, he wrote U.S. Minister John A. Bingham, whom he and his wife knew well, indicating that he wanted help in securing a position with the Japanese government, preferable in the Ministry of Finance or in the Foreign Office. His contract expired in 1876, but at the recommendation of American Minister John A. Bingham, he stayed on in Yokohama to practice law. Denison came to the notice of the Japanese government for his skill as a lawyer, and in 1880, at the recommendation of the American Minister Bingham],he accepted a post as a oyatoi gaikokujin, foreign advisor to the Japanese government. He was immediately tasked the providing an explanation on the meaning of the ''

Elements of International Law ''Elements of International Law'', first published in 1836, is a book on international law by Henry Wheaton which has long been influential. Contents Textual history Many translations, editions and reprints of Wheaton's ''Elements'' have ...

'' a book on

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

that was widely used in Asia during that time. Although the position of foreign adviser was normally for a three- or five-year contract, Denison remained as a legal advisor to the

Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs The is an executive department of the Government of Japan, and is responsible for the country's foreign policy and international relations. The ministry was established by the second term of the third article of the National Government Organi ...

, until his death in 1914. As legal adviser, he worked closely with

Ōkuma Shigenobu Marquess was a Japanese statesman and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy. He served as Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan in 1898 and from 1914 to 1916. Ōkuma was also an early advocate of Western science and culture in Japan, and ...

and

Mutsu Munemitsu Count was a Japanese statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan. Early life Mutsu Munemitsu was born in Wakayama domain, Kii Province as the sixth son of Date Munehiro, a ''samurai'' retainer of the Kii Tokugawa clan. His father was acti ...

towards the revision of the unequal treaties and elimination of extraterritoriality. He also wrote legal opinions in defense of the Japanese position in the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895) was a conflict between China and Japan primarily over influence in Korea. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the ...

(1894–1895) and assisting in the drafting of the

Treaty of Shimonoseki The , also known as the Treaty of Maguan () in China and in the period before and during World War II in Japan, was a treaty signed at the , Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and Qing China, ending the Firs ...

. However, for his failure to predict the

Triple Intervention The Tripartite Intervention or was a diplomatic intervention by Russia, Germany, and France on 23 April 1895 over the harsh terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki imposed by Japan on the Qing dynasty of China that ended the First Sino-Japanese War. ...

, which cost Japan much of its territorial gains in that war, he came under strong criticism from hardliners in the military. He was supported by Mutsu Munemitsu and

Itō Hirobumi was a Japanese politician and statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Japan. He was also a leading member of the ''genrō'', a group of senior statesmen that dictated Japanese policy during the Meiji era. A London-educated samu ...

He also served as a Japanese judge in the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

along with Ichiro Motono,. Denison subsequently assisted Komura Jutaro in negotiating the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. During the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

(1904–1905), he travelled with

Kaneko Kentarō was a statesman, diplomat, and legal scholar in Meiji period Japan. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he drew on his connections in the American legal community over the course of his long career in Japanese government, particularly in his ro ...

to the United States, and assisted in the drafting of the

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

. Denison suffered a stroke in late June 1914 and was hospitalized at St. Luke's International Hospital and died on July 3. He was given a state funeral on July 6, attended by the American Ambassador to Japan, George W. Guthrie. His grave is at the Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo and significantly not in the foreign section of that cemetery. For his services, he was accorded the Order of the Rising Sun (2nd class) in 1895, and the

Order of the Sacred Treasures The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest tw ...

(1st class) in 1896, which came with a 10,000 yen monetary stipend. In 1902, he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, and was the first foreigner to receive that decoration,New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources
/ref> which came with a 15,000 Yen stipend. He was posthumously awarded the

Order of the Chrysanthemum is Japan's highest order. The Grand Cordon of the Order was established in 1876 by Emperor Meiji of Japan; the Collar of the Order was added on 4 January 1888. Unlike its European counterparts, the order may be conferred posthumously. Apart fr ...

. Future

Prime Minister of Japan The prime minister of Japan (Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: ''Naikaku Sōri-Daijin'') is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of Sta ...

Hara Takashi was a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921. Hara held several minor ambassadorial roles before rising through the ranks of the Rikken Seiyūkai and being elected to the House of Representatives. Hara ...

, commissioned a bronze bust of Denison, displayed in the entry to the Diplomatic Training Center in the city of

Sagamihara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

, near Yokohama.

Legacy

The

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...

established the chair ''Henry Willard Denison Professor of History'' in 1981, with

John Curtis Perry John Curtis Perry also known as John Perry (born 18 July 1930) is an East Asian and Oceanic studies professor and historian. He is the Henry Willard Denison Professor Emeritus of History at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts Universi ...

being its inaugural holder.

Notes

References

*Brooks, Barbara. ''Japan's imperial diplomacy: consuls, treaty ports, and war in China, 18''95. University of Hawaii Press (2000). *Dawes, Henry L. ''Encyclopedia of Massachusetts''. Bibliolife (2009) pages 103-104 *Hamilton, Keith. ''The practice of diplomacy: its evolution, theory, and administration''. Routledge (1994)

External links

Brief biography by Russell Bastedo

Brief description of Denison's part at the Russo-Japanese peace conference in 1905
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denison, Henry Willard 1846 births 1914 deaths American diplomats People from Guildhall, Vermont Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan American expatriates in Japan Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration American judges of international courts and tribunals 19th-century American judges Columbia College (New York) alumni 19th-century American lawyers