With rising unpopularity of foreigners in Japan, causing violence, the Tokugawa Shogunate and the British government agreed in 1862 to postpone of the opening of the designated ports of the 1858 Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty. Explore the contents of the agreement bellow.
London
Protocol, June, 1862
(Signed
by Earl Russell and the Japanese Envoys, June 6, 1862.)
It
has been represent to Her Britannic Majesty’s Minister in Japan by the
Ministers of the Tycoon, and to Her Majesty’s Government by the Envoys who have
been sent to England by the Tycoon, that difficulties are experienced by the
Tycoon and his Ministers in giving effect to their engagements with foreign
Powers having Treaties with Japan, in consequence of the opposition offered by
a party in Japan which is hostile to all intercourse with foreigners.
Her
Majesty’s Government having taken those representations into consideration, are
prepared, on the conditions hereinafter specified, to consent to defer for a
period of five years, to commence from the 1st of January, 1863, the fulfillment of those portions of the IIIrd Article of the Treaty between Great
Britain and Japan of the 26th of August, 1858, which provide for the opening to
British subjects of the port of Ni-igata or some other convenient port on the
West Coast of Nipon on the 1st day of January, 1860, and of the port of Hiogo
on the 1st day of January, 1863, and for the residence of British subjects in
the city of Yedo from the 1st day of January, 1862, and in the city of Osaka
from the 1st day of January, 1863.
Her
Majesty’s Government, in order to give to the Japanese Ministers the time those
Ministers consider necessary to enable them to overcome the opposition now
existing, are willing to make these large concessions of their rights under
Treaty; but they expect that the Tycoon and his Ministers will in all other
respects strictly execute at the ports of Nagasaki, Hakodate, and Kanagawa, all
the other stipulations of the Treaty; that they will publicly revoke the old
law outlawing foreigners; and that they will specifically abolish and do away
with –
1. –
All restrictions, whether as regards quantity or price, on the sale by Japanese
to foreigners of all kinds of merchandise according to Article XIV of the
Treaty of the 26th of August, 1858.
2. –
All restrictions on labour, and more particularly on the hire of carpenters,
boatmen, boats, and coolies, teachers, and servants of whatever denomination.
3. -
All restrictions whereby Daimios are prevented from sending their produce to
market, and from selling the same directly by their own agents.
4. –
All restrictions resulting from attempts on the part of the Custom-house
authorities and other officials to obtain fees.
5. –
All restriction limiting the classes of persons who shall be allowed to trade
with foreigners at the ports of Nagasaki, Hakodate, and Kanagawa.
6. –
All restrictions imposed on free intercourse of a social kind between
foreigners and the people of Japan.
In
default of the strict fulfillment by the Tycoon and his Ministers of these
conditions, which, indeed, are no other than those which they are already bound
by Treaty to fulfil, Her Majesty’s Government will, at any time within the
aforesaid period of five years, commencing from the 1st of January, 1863, be
entitled to withdraw the concessions in regard to the ports and cities made by
this Memorandum, and to call upon the Tycoon and his Ministers to carry out,
without delay, the whole of the provisions of the Treaty of August 26th, 1858,
and specifically to open the aforesaid ports and cities for the trade and
residence of British subjects.
The
Envoys of the Tycoon accredited to Her Britannic Majesty announce their
intention, on their return to Japan, to submit to the Tycoon and his Ministers
the policy and expediency of opening to foreign commerce the port of Tsushima
in Japan, as a measure by which the interests of Japan will be materially
promoted; and they engage to suggest to the Tycoon and his Ministers to evince
their goodwill to the nations of Europe, and their desire to extend commerce
between Japan and Europe, by reducing the duties on wines and spirits imported
into Japan, and by permitting glass-ware to be inserted in the list of articles
on which an import duty of 5 per cent. is levied, and thereby remedying an
omission inadvertently made on the conclusion of the Treaty; and they further
engage to recommend to the Tycoon and his Ministers to make arrangements for
the establishment at Yokohama and Nagasaki of warehouses in which goods coming
from abroad may be deposited, under the control of Japanese officers, without
payment of duties, until such time as the importers shall obtain purchasers for
such goods, and be prepared to remove them on payment of the import duties. Her
Britannic Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Envoys
of the Tycoon have accordingly signed this Memorandum, which will be
transmitted by the former to Her Majesty’s Representative in Japan, and by the
latter to the Tycoon and his Ministers, as an evidence of the arrangement made
between them on this 6th day of June, 1862.
(Signed) Earl
Russell.
Takenouchi Shimotsuke
no Kami
Matsudaira Yewami no
Kami
Kiogoku Noto no Kami
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