JAURÈS (C.). - Lot 241

JAURÈS (C.). French admiral on a mission to the Far East under the Second Empire. L.A.S. "C. Jaurès", Yokko-hama [sic for Yokohama], August 4, 1863. 5 pp. in-4 on laid paper. Beautiful, legible handwriting. Some foxing and traces of folds. Important letter written from Japan a few weeks before the Franco-Anglo-Dutch expedition to Shimonoseki, in which the officer describes with a rare blend of ethnographic curiosity, political considerations and military narrative the events then shaking the Far East. Jaurès first recalls his amazement at Japan, which he considers "the most beautiful country in the world", while vividly describing local customs and Japanese bathhouses: "There would be volumes to be written on this civilization of the Far East (...) walking down a Japanese street, you would see a swarm of naked girls rushing down the street to see you pass...". He also mentions the Japanese taste for objets d'art and lacquerware: "Japan is also the land of trinkets; there are some admirable lacquers..." The letter then takes a political and financial turn when he warns his correspondent against the "Madagascar affair", which he deems disastrous: "He will lose money in it, and it will give him a lot of trouble later on..." The document's historical interest lies above all in the long passage devoted to French military operations in Japan after a daimyo fired on a French ship: "After pacifying Cochinchina, I had to rush to Japan (...) a Damio (...) dared to fire on the French King-chang aviso". Jaurès then gives a detailed account of the punitive expedition to Simonosaki [Shimonoseki]: "I gave this Damio a lesson he will remember. After destroying his batteries, I landed 250 men (...) they destroyed the battery, burned two military villages and the Damio's palace, blew up three powder magazines and killed 150 Japanese." He concludes by regretting that some officers remain distant from active command: "In the navy, you never stop (...) I don't think he has what it takes to be an admiral. A remarkable account of the French military presence in Japan in 1863, at a time of tension that led to the bombing of Shimonoseki and the forced opening of Japan to the Western powers. The letter combines personal observations, colonial considerations and a first-hand account of a military operation carried out by French forces in the Far East.