Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, in the Years 1857, '58, '59

An 1859 account, by his private secretary, of Elgin's diplomatic mission to Japan and China, and trading concessions he established.

In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829–88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, became private secretary to Lord Elgin, accompanying him on a diplomatic mission to Japan and China, aimed at extended British trading interests. His 1859 account provides a highly informative analysis of the negotiations from a privileged vantage point.In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829–88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, later Liberal MP, satirical novelist, and, for a time, adherent of the religious mystic Thomas Harris, became private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811–63), accompanying him to China, and thence to Japan, on a mission to protect and extend British trading interests in the region. Oliphant's 1859 account of the trip was published in two volumes. Volume 2 deals with the negotiation of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Yedo, the legalisation of the Chinese opium trade and combat with Chinese insurgents at Nankin. The work is a mixture of travel narrative - Oliphant had previously written about his travels in Nepal and in the Crimea (also reissued in this series) - and political analysis. It provides both an informative account of the war from a privileged vantage point and a window upon Oliphant's own colourful career.