Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt

[2] In 1858, Gustave Duchesne de Bellecourt arrived in Japan as the secretary of the mission for the Franco-Japanese Treaty of Trade and Amity, led by Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros.

The following year, he went again to Japan, arriving on 6 September 1859,[3] and became the first French representative in the country,[4] with the title of "Premier ministre plénipotentiaire de France au Japon".

[5] In 1860, the servant of Duchesne was attacked with a sword and badly wounded in front of the French legation at the Temple of Saikai-ji in Edo.

[8] Duchesne however was strongly criticized by the French government for taking such bellicose steps, for the reason that France had much more important military commitments to honour in other parts of the world, and could not afford a conflict in Japan.

[8] In 1864, Duchesne de Bellecourt was succeeded at his post in Tokyo by Léon Roches, heralding an era of much stronger involvement by France.

Duchesne de Bellecourt in July 1863, at the age of 46.
Duchesne de Bellecourt, bringing the ratified Franco-Japanese Treaty to the shōgun , February 4, 1860.
Duchesne de Bellecourt remitting the ratified Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan to the shōgun in 1860. He is accompanied by Father Mermet-Cachon.
Franco-Anglo-Japanese conference on the French ship Sémiramis , July 2, 1863, following the Namamugi incident .
Forefront: French interpreter Blekman, Japanese interpreter.
Background (from left to right): Three Japanese governors of Yokohama , Duchesne de Bellecourt, daimyō Sakai-Hida-no-Kami, Colonel Neale (British representative in Japan), Admiral Jaurès , Admiral Kuper .
Letter of Napoleon III to the Japanese shōgun nominating Léon Roches , in replacement of Duchesne de Bellecourt. Diplomatic Record Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan) .