426 



JAPAN. 



After social interchanges in the evening, the 

 subject of a treaty was taken up the next day, 

 February llth. It was discussed for three 

 days, when the Coreans requested that an in- 

 terval of ten days be given them, in order that 

 they might refer the subject to the King. This 

 was granted by the Japanese on condition that 

 there should be no further conferences, and at 

 the expiration of the term the treaty should be 

 returned signed and approved by the King. 

 At the expiration of the ten days the Corean 

 officers returned, saying that they were unable 

 to fulfill the conditions to which they had 

 pledged themselves. The Japanese refused to 

 receive the excuses of the Coreans, and de- 

 clared that nothing but a positive promise to 

 produce the treaty, signed and ratified, should 

 induce them to remain a day longer on the 

 shore. The Coreans showing a disposition to 

 evade these conditions, the Japanese abandoned 

 their quarters and went aboard their ships, leav- 

 ing only two subordinate officers on the shore in 

 charge of their baggage. The Coreans now 

 entreated the envoys to return, assuring them 

 that no further cause of reasonable complaint 

 should arise. Upon these representations the 

 negotiations were renewed. It was now ex- 

 plained by the Coreans that the main obstacle 

 to a prompt conclusion of the treaty was the 

 requirement by the Japanese that the actual 

 signature of the King of Corea should be 

 affixed to it as a guarantee of fidelity in its ex- 

 ecution. This, they protested, was impossible ; 

 such a thing had never been done, or even 

 heard of, in Corea: the monarch never attached 

 his name to anything, and to ask him to sign 

 the treaty with his own hand would be an act 

 of temerity they could never venture upon. 

 The Japanese were inflexible. They declared 

 that, if this condition were not complied with, 

 they would go at once, and would not give 

 another opportunity for a renewal of the ne- 

 gotiations. Two days afterward, February 

 27th, the treaty was brought back to the em- 

 bassy duly signed and attested by the autograph 

 signature of the King. The embassy started 

 homeward February 28th, and on the 5th of 

 March had an audience with the Mikado, when 

 the treaty was submitted to his Majesty. The 

 treaty consists of twelve articles. It recognizes 

 Corea as an independent country, treating on a 

 footing of complete equality with Japan ; de- 

 clares that this equality shall be steadfastly ob- 

 served in future transactions between the two 

 countries, and that neither nation shall interfere 

 with the affairs of the other. It provides that 

 within fifteen months from the ratification of 

 the treaty the Japanese Government shall send 

 embassadors to the capital of Corea to adjust 

 the relations of the two kingdoms to each 

 other; that these embassadors may remain at 

 the Corean capital as long as they will, or re- 

 turn at their pleasure to Japan ; that the Co- 

 rean Government may likewise send embassa- 

 dors to Japan, who shall have the option to 

 remain there, or return home, according to 



their pleasure. It abolishes the former pay- 

 ment of an annual tribute from Corea to Japan, 

 and engages the Corean Government to estab- 

 lish trade with the Japanese, and open to them 

 two ports, within about twenty months from 

 the time of making the treaty. At these ports, 

 Japanese subjects shall be permitted to hire 

 houses or land on which to build. It stipulates 

 that any Japanese ship which is delayed on its 

 voyage, or to which any disaster happens on 

 the coast of Corea, may enter a port of that 

 land, to buy needed provisions, or to make 

 necessary repairs; that while the shipmaster 

 is required to pay for all that he takes, the 

 local officers and the inhabitants shall render 

 him and his crew all possible help; and, in 

 case of a shipwreck on either the Japanese or 

 the Corean coast, the shipwrecked persons of 

 either country may demand any assistance and 

 any care, and the local officers of the district 

 shall assure them full hospitality, and be bound 

 to send them back to their country, or hand 

 them over to the nearest officer of their coun- 

 try. Since the Corean waters are very danger- 

 ous on account of the numerous islands and 

 rocks with which they abound, the Japanese 

 receive permission by the terms of the treaty 

 to take surveys in the places where they have 

 not been made, and to construct hydrographic 

 charts showing the course of the currents and 

 the depth of the waters, for the better safety of 

 the shipping of both countries. It was also ar- 

 ranged that the Japanese Government may es- 

 tablish consular agents in the opened ports of 

 Corea; that while the access of Japanese to the 

 interior of the Corean country would be permit- 

 ted to a certain extent, the Japanese Govern- 

 ment would see that needless and untimely 

 intrusions were prevented, and would hold 

 travelers in due restraint until unimpeded 

 intercourse should be found practicable; that 

 cases of fraud or neglect to pay debts in which 

 both Japanese and Coreans are involved should 

 be investigated and rectified by officers of the 

 nationality to which the delinquents belong; 

 that crimes committed by Japanese against Co- 

 rean subjects should be adjudged by officers of 

 their own Government ; and that officers should 

 be appointed by the two governments to meet 

 at Kokwa (or Kanfa) within six months to settle 

 the necessary rules and regulations for the 

 control of the commercial transactions between 

 the two countries. A report was current at 

 St. Petersburg in March, shortly after the con- 

 clusion of the treaty, that war had broken out 

 between Japan and Corea, but it was without 

 foundation, and promptly received an official 

 contradiction. In the conference between the 

 representatives of the two powers who nego- 

 tiated the treaty, it was agreed that a Japanese 

 vessel should be furnished to take a Corean em- 

 bassy to Japan. Accordingly, a steamer sailed 

 for this purpose from Yokohama to the Core- 

 an port of Fusan, May 3d. Returning, it brought 

 an embassy of between seventy and eighty per- 

 sons from Corea to Yokohama. Thence the 



