feasible, or, even if feasible, was likely to be permanent; while to expect foreigners, with the best will in the world towards Japan, voluntarily to strip themselves of all the safeguards which Treaty enactments have given them, and to hand themselves over as a corpus vile for the experiments of Japanese Jacobins or neophytes in political economy, was to presuppose an innocence on their part to which previous history would afford no parallel. Fortunately neither the leading statesmen of Japan, nor the most responsible organs of the native Press, showed any real sympathy with the Extremists. Count Ito's plan was to approach the several Governments with separate and confidential communications, hoping to extract from the complacency or the needs of one a concession which should act as a precedent for similar terms with the others. Nevertheless Great Britain remained, as she had all along been, the pivot of the situation-no slight proof of her commanding influence on the destinies of distant Asia. And it was to secure her assent to a definite plan of Revision that the efforts of the Japanese Ministers were in the main directed. The announcement on the very day that these pages originally left my hand (July 30, 1894) that Lord Rosebery's Government had concluded a Revision Treaty with Japan, which was shortly afterwards ratified, and has since been followed by a Supplementary Convention regulating the future tariff, was a proof of the conciliatory and generous spirit in which the Japanese advances had been met, and of Great Britain's desire to welcome into the comity of nations a Power with whom we share so many common relationships, and whose ambitions present such striking features of analogy to our own deeds.

Upon the Treaty itself, which is printed below, and which has been variously described by the two parties previously distinguished as an act of statesmanlike magnanimity and

The Treaty of July

1894.

of pusillanimous surrender, I will not here comment, preferring that its contents should be judged in the light of the reasoning already displayed in this chapter. At least, however, this credit must, without dispute, be conceded to Great Britain, and should never be forgotten by Japan, that, first of all the Great Powers, at a period anterior to the Chino-Japanese war of 1894-95, and consequently under no stress of expediency, emulation, or self-seeking, but of her own free-will and with ungrudging hand, England assisted Japan to strike off from herself the shackles of a past to which she had proved herself superior, and which is every day fading into a more rapid oblivion.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER III

I. TREATY OF COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN. (Signed at London, July 16, 1894; ratified at Tokio, August 25, 1894.)

ARTICLE I.-The subjects of each of the two High Contracting Parties shall have full liberty to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the dominions and possessions of the other Contracting Party, and shall enjoy full and perfect protection for their persons and property.

They shall have free and easy access to the Courts of Justice in pursuit and defence of their rights; they shall be at liberty equally with native subjects to choose and employ lawyers, advocates, and representatives to pursue and defend their rights before such Courts, and in all other matters connected with the administration of justice they shall enjoy all the rights and privileges enjoyed by native subjects.

In whatever relates to rights of residence and travel; to the possession of goods and effects of any kind; to the succession to personal estate, by will or otherwise, and the disposal of property of any sort in any manner whatsoever which they may lawfully acquire, the subjects of each Contracting Party shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other the same privileges, liberties, and rights, and shall be subject to no higher imposts or charges in these respects than native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation. The subjects of each of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other entire liberty of conscience, and, subject to the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations, shall enjoy the right of private or public exercise of their worship, and also the right of burying their respective countrymen according to their religious customs, in such suitable and convenient places as may be established and maintained for that purpose.

They shall not be compelled, under any pretext whatsoever, to pay any charges or taxes other or higher than those that are, or may be, paid by native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation.

ARTICLE II.-The subjects of either of the Contracting Parties residing in the dominions and possessions of the other shall be exempted from all compulsory military service whatsoever, whether in the army, navy, National Guard, or militia; from all contributions imposed in lieu of personal service; and from all forced loans or military exactions or contributions.

ARTICLE III.-There shall be reciprocal freedom of commerce and navigation between the dominions and possessions of the two High Contracting Parties.

The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties may trade in any part of the dominions and possessions of the other by wholesale or retail in all kinds of produce, manufactures, and merchandise of lawful commerce, either in person or by agents, singly, or in partnerships with foreigners or native subjects; and they may there own or hire and occupy the houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises which may be necessary for them, and lease land for residential and commercial purposes, conforming themselves to the Laws, Police and Customs Regulations of the country like native subjects.

They shall have liberty freely to come with their ships and cargoes to all places, ports, and rivers in the dominions and possessions of the other which are or may be opened to foreign commerce, and shall enjoy, respectively, the same treatment in matters of commerce and navigation as native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation, without having to pay taxes, imposts, or duties, of whatever nature or under whatever denomination, levied in the name or for the profit of the Government, public functionaries, private individuals, Corporations, or establishments of any kind, other or greater than those paid by native subjects, or subjects or citizens of the most favoured nation, subject always to the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations of each country.

ARTICLE IV.-The dwellings, manufactories, warehouses, and shops of the subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties in the dominions and possessions of the other, and all premises appertaining thereto destined for purposes of residence or commerce, shall be respected.

It shall not be allowable to proceed to make a search of, or a domiciliary visit to, such dwellings and premises, or to examine or inspect books, papers, or accounts, except under the conditions and with the forms prescribed by the Laws, Ordinances, and Regulations for subjects of the country.

ARTICLE V.-No other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, from whatever place arriving; and no other or higher duties shall be imposed on the importation into the dominions and possessions of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, from whatever place arriving, than on the like article produced or manufactured in any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation of any article, the produce or manufacture of the dominions and possessions of either of the High Contracting Parties, into the dominions and possessions of the other, from whatever place arriving, which shall not equally extend to the importation of the like article, being the produce or manufacture of any other country. This last provision is not applicable to the sanitary and other prohibitions occasioned by the necessity of protecting the safety of persons, or of cattle, or of plants useful to agriculture.

ARTICLE VI.—No other or higher duties or charges shall be imposed in the dominions and possessions of either of the High Contracting Parties on the exportation of any article to the dominions and possessions of the other than such as are, or may be, payable on the exportation of the like article to any other foreign country; nor shall any prohibition be imposed on the exportation of any article from the dominions and possessions of either of the two Contracting Parties to the dominions and possessions of the other which shall not equally extend to the exportation of the like article to any other country.

ARTICLE VII.-The subjects of each of the High Contracting Parties shall enjoy in the dominions and possessions of the other exemption from all transit duties, and a perfect equality of treatment with native subjects in all that relates to warehousing, bounties, facilities, and drawbacks.