About This Print

This print was published on February 10, 1904 the day after Japan's attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur and the day of the Imperial Proclamation declaring war on Russia. It illustrates one of a number of negotiating sessions, largely initiated by Japan, over the status of Manchuria and Korea prior to the start of the war.

Count Witte, who was to be the chief negotiator for Russia during the treaty conference at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at the close of the war (won by Japan), wrote:

Not long after my return to Russia, Kurino, the Japanese minister to Russia, came to see me.  In July 1903, while I was still minister of finance, he had presented a proposal to me and Count Lanbsdorff that would have made a peaceful settlement of our differences possible.  I favored acceptance, but to no avail, because it was sent to Viceroy Alekseev and became the subject of endless and fruitless discussion.1

Of course, the scene depicted in this print may be a total or partial fiction, but the bearded Russian negotiator may be Count Witte or Baron Rosen and the mustachioed Japanese figure might well be Jutaro Komura, foreign minister, or Shin'ichiro Kurino, minister to Russia.