Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation

The signed by Britain and Japan, on 16 July 1894, was a breakthrough agreement; it heralded the end of the unequal treaties and the system of extraterritoriality in Japan. The treaty came into force on 17 July 1899 and lasted until 26 July 1941, less than five months before attack on Pearl Harbor.

When this treaty became effective, British subjects in Japan became subject to Japanese laws instead of British laws. The jurisdiction of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan, the British Court for Japan under it and consular courts in each treaty port ceased on that date, save for pending cases which were allowed to continue. British subjects from that date became subject to the jurisdiction of Japanese courts.

Background

In February 1853 Russia discovered that a US fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry was to leave Norfolk for Japan. Tsar Alexander II then organized an expedition and entrusted its command to Admiral Yevfimiy Putyatin. The Russian delegation arrived in Nagasaki on 12 August 1853, a month after the Americans, and began a series of negotiations that would lead to the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda with the Tokugawa Shogunate on 7 February 1855.

The American and Russian maneuvers however had not gone unnoticed. During a parliamentary question on 23 June 1854, Lord John Russell stated that the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir John Bowring, had been ordered to keep a close eye on Commodore Perry's activities in Japan. Commander of the East Indies and China Station James Stirling, however, did not consider such an initiative a priority at the time.

The outbreak of the Crimean War forced the British to review the project. Admiral Stirling was commissioned to capture or sink the Tsar's Pacific Fleet. The Admiralty made it a priority to prevent the Russians from using Japanese ports, but Stirling thought this was an excellent opportunity to make an agreement with the Land of the Rising Sun. When he arrived in the port of Nagasaki on 7 November 1854, he took the opportunity to enter into negotiations with the Japanese authorities. The negotiations mainly concerned war matters and regulated naval traffic in Japanese waters for the duration of the conflict, in effect almost closing the country again to foreign vessels.

On 14 October 1854, the Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty was signed, an agreement that did not, however, grant any obvious commercial advantages to the British.

Lord Elgin mission

thumb|[[James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine]]

The 1854 Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Friendship received mixed opinions at home. The Foreign Office praised Admiral Stirling's work, and Grand Admiral James Graham himself paid tribute to him in Parliament, but the greatest criticism came from British citizens living in China, who hoped to intensify their business with the Japanese country. Subsequent British expeditions made it clear, however, that the agreements had granted considerable advantages to the Shogunate. The Japanese authorities wanted to control foreign trade and any transition had to take place under their supervision. Modernizing Japanese institutions thus became a priority for the imperial government. Extraterritoriality had previously been imposed to protect British citizens, but by the time the Japanese had built a reliable system of laws that could also be observed by westerners, it would no longer have been necessary.

The modernization of Japan

Internationally, all of the imperial government's efforts were concentrated on the abrogation of the so-called 'Unequal Treaties', which were in fact unilateral, non-reciprocal pacts that subscribed to an implicit subservience of the Japanese country to western nations.

For the British authorities, the extraterritoriality clause was necessary to protect British citizens in Japan from Japanese law, which was considered barbaric and excessively cruel. The fact that there were no clear rules and that the Daimyo had full legislative and judicial autonomy within their own fiefdom was a further obstacle. Unknown to the British and other Westerners at the time, however, Japan had a long judicial history, beginning with the Seventeen-article constitution enacted on 6 May 604AD, and the legislative and judicial autonomy was a reflection of the confederate characteristic of the central government (Bakufu) in the Han system, in which Daimyo's were monarchs.<br>

Nevertheless, it was therefore necessary for the imperial government to carry out substantial legislative, and judicial reform, in addition to the preparations for the new Meiji Constitution.

In 1871 a decree was issued abolishing the Han, the territories of the Daimyo, reorganizing them into prefectures, while in the same year the Mikado worked to reduce the death penalty and flogging. In May 1873, a new penal code was drafted that abolished torture, further reduced the use of capital punishment, and almost eliminated corporal punishment. However, these changes were not enough to ensure the abolition of extraterritoriality, which continued to be constantly discussed at the country's various embassies.

The popular opposition

In 1882, the Japanese public, also taking advantage of printing, began to mobilize to demand full judicial and tariff autonomy.  On 15 June 1886, in order to satisfy the imperial authorities, an Anglo-German delegation presented a plan to introduce mixed courts in the country to supervise cases between two parties of different nationalities. Such an initiative had already been successfully tested in Egypt and it was assumed that it could represent a further step towards the abrogation of extraterritoriality. But when the text of this proposal appeared in Japanese newspapers, the population greeted it with open hostility, considering such a judicial reform humiliating and dangerous.

Both bills were rejected and the government fell again. Under these conditions, it was Itō Hirobumi, the man behind the 1889 Constitution, who was appointed prime minister on 8 August 1892. He chose as Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, a diplomat who had gained extensive experience both as Minister of Agriculture in the Yamagata government and as Japan's Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, a role that led him to be the signatory of the former Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with Mexico.

Mutsu was intent on resuming negotiations and was able to avail himself of the availability of Lord Rosebery, then still foreign minister, and the help of Aoki Shūzō, who despite previous failures had shown great ability.

Faced with yet more opposition from the Diet, the Prime Minister decided to resort to strong-arm tactics and dissolved the assembly. Once the internal obstacles had been removed, Ito and Mustu were able to devote themselves to drafting a new diplomatic agreement with Britain.

Effects of the First Sino-Japanese War

After complicated negotiations, an agreement on all points was finally reached on 13 July 1894. Growing tensions in the neighbouring kingdom of Korea, however, threatened to undermine the signing of the new treaty. Two factions had long been opposed in the country, one pro-Chinese, more conservative and linked to the imperial government, and one pro-Japanese, who wanted to emulate the successes of the 'Meiji Revolution'. The latter started an insurrection, the suppression of which was entrusted to an expeditionary force sent by the Chinese Empire. Japan reacted by sending its own troops to the peninsula, which captured the Korean ruler and imposed a pro-Japanese government. Mutsu entrusted the delicate matter to Ōtori Keisuke, Minister Plenipotentiary in Korea, but he dismissed a British naval instructor in the service of the Koreans from his position. This action led to a dangerous stalemate, as on 14 July 1894 Britain refused to sign the treaty unless it was first given clarification on the Korean question and the treatment of its officer. Mutsu, cornered, wasted no time and in the following days intensified his efforts to avoid disaster. and came into force on 17 July 1899, five years after the signing as stipulated in ARTICLE XXI of the treaty.). This treaty was not terminated until 26 July 1941, one year after Great Britain and the Commonwealth nations notified the termination to Japan, ending up far outliving the newer Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Within five months of its termination, the Empire of Japan declared war against the US and the Commonwealth.