This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government
JAPAN.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[29950]
No. 1.
540 34815
[August 29.]
SECTION 8.
23 08
Sir C. MacDonald to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received August 29.)
(No. 200.) Sir,
Tokió, August 1, 1908. ON the 14th ultimo I received Mr. Cockburn's telegram No. 20 to you stating that the principal witness for the defence in Mr. Bethell's recent trial, his Corean editor, had been decoyed from Mr. Bethell's newspaper office by a trick, and had been arrested by the police.
Mr. Cockburn further stated that, in reply to his protests respecting the man's arrest, the Japanese authorities declared that the man had been detained on a charge of malversation of Corean political funds, and his detention was in no way connected with the Bethell case and his appearance thereat as a witness; they therefore refused to release him. To this Mr. Cockburn replied, with great truth, that the excuse of an arrest on a different charge would meet with no credence; that the man's arrest would effectually put a stop to any further prosecution of Mr. Bethell's paper, for the defence would be able to point out that it was unsafe to produce witnesses; and, finally, it was clearly understood before Mr. Bethell's recent trial that witnesses should in no way suffer.
At the time I received this telegram the Cabinet had just resigned, and Prince Ito had that very day left Seoul for Tokio, and was not expected to arrive there till the 23rd. As the case seemed to me a very flagrant one, and calculated to do great harm to the administration of our allies in Corea, I thought it advisable to take immediate steps here in an informal manner to support Mr. Cockburn's protests previous to receiving official instructions from you, which instructions I thought it was more than probable I should receive in the course of a few days. I accordingly directed Mr. Clive of this Embassy to see Mr. Ishii, the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, informally, and to point out the deplorable effect which would be produced by the arrest of Mr. Bethell's principal witness so shortly after the trial, which deplorable effect would be much accentuated when it became known that the witness had been decoyed from an English house, whereby the provisions of our Treaty as to arrest on British-owned premises had been evaded.
In reply,
Mr. Clive saw Mr. Ishii the same day and conveyed my message. Mr. Ishii handed Mr. Clive a telegram from Prince Ito, which had been just received, dated the 13th July, a copy of which I have the honour to inclose. In this Prince Ito mentions Mr. Cockburn's protest, and states that the Residency-General had replied thereto by pointing out that the present case being in no way connected with Mr. Bethell's case, they, the Residency-General, found themselves unable to comply with the request of the British Consul-General. The telegram further stated that the police authorities were "simply retaining" the individual in question in order to proceed with the necessary examination to which he had "spontaneously submitted himself." Though it was clear that the simplicity of his retention was on a par with the spontaneity with which he had submitted thereto, I considered that, as the explanation came from Prince Ito, it should be communicated to you, I therefore sent a short telegram stating that the arrest of the Corean editor had nothing to do with the recent trial, and I repeated it to Mr. Cockburn. To this the latter replied in a telegram to you, No. 21 of the 15th July, repeated here, to the effect that the man had been kept cut off from all communications with his friends since the 12th July, and pointed out that if the object of the police had been merely the investigation of Corean complaints, they would have summoned the editor to answer the charge, and would not have arrested him without summons or warrant. Mr. Clive therefore wrote to Mr. Ishii a private and unofficial note, which contained the following passage:--
"Mr. Cockburn now telegraphs that since the 12th July the man has been cut off from all communications from his friends, which amounts to much the same thing as being arrested. On further reflection it would appear that if the object of the police had been merely the investigation of the Corean complaints, as stated in Prince Ito's telegram, the more natural course to adopt would have been to issue a summons or
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