3-016-753 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward St. John Neale, C.B., the British Chargé d'Affaires in Japan, 1864. 'Colonel Neale...has just brought our differences with the Japanese authorities to a satisfactory close...He was appointed British Vice-Consul at Alexandretta in 1841...[and] was promoted to the consulate of Varna, in Bulgaria...[He was transferred] to the British Consulate of Bosnia, including Herzegovina and Montenegro. In 1860 he was promoted from the consular to the diplomatic service, on being appointed her Majesty's Secretary of legation to the Embassy at Pekin; and in 1862 he was named Secretary of Legation in Japan..., [a post which] afforded him a fine opportunity for the display of that cool courage and sound good sense which he is known to possess in a remarkable degree. Step by step, with much diplomatic art, he brought the Japanese rulers and people to a better conception of, and respect for, the British power. He obtained submissive apologies and heavy compensation for past injuries from the Tycoon and his potent vassal, the feudal Prince Satzuma; and he has created a feeling of security in the merchants trading with Japan that is likely to lead to a more peaceful state of things for the future, and to very great mercantile prosperity'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.