THE JAPANESE INDEMNITY FUND. ARGUMENT OF JOSEPH M. MORRISON FAVORING THE RETURN OF THE REMAINDER OF THE FUND TO THE JAPANESE GOVERMENT...[wrapper title]

[Washington]: W.H. Moore, Printe, 1878. 16pp. Original printed wrappers. Tear in upper portion of front wrapper repaired with plain paper (not affecting text). Vertical crease. Small hole in upper portion of first text leaf, affecting three letters of text. Otherwise quite clean and neat. Very good. This pamphlet documents the aftereffects of a little-known incident of nineteenth century "gunboat diplomacy." The "Japanese Indemnity" issue grew out of incidents in the summer of 1863, in which Japanese forces attacked merchant vessels from the United States and other nations passing through the Strait of Shimonoseki. In July, 1863, the U.S.S. Wyoming, which had been sent to the Pacific during the Civil War to search for pirate vessels in the service of the Confederacy (among them the notorious raider, the Alabama), was attacked by Japanese forces in the strait, and retaliated. The United States and other nations called on the Japanese to provide an indemnity for the attacks, and the Japanese paid a total of three million dollars, more than a quarter of which went to the United States. The present document prints the argument of Joseph Morrison before a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, during which he argued to send the balance of the money back to Japan. OCLC locates only three copies, at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, the University of Wisconsin, and the Iowa State Historical Society. Scarce. OCLC 41216026