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TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND JAPAN.
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dwellings and warehouses; but no fortification, or place of military strength, shall be erected under pretence of building dwellings or warehouses; and to see that this Articel is observed, the Japanese authorities shall have the right to inspect, from time to time, any buildings which are being erected, altered or repaired.
The place which British subjects shall occupy for their buildings, and the harbour regulations, shall be arranged by the British Consul and the Japanese authorities of each place, and if they cannot agree, the matter shall be referred to and settled by the British Diplomatic Agent and the Japanese Government. No wall, fence, or gate shall be erected by the Japanese around the place where British subjects reside, or anything done which may prevent a free egress or ingress to the same.
British subjects shall be free to go where they please, within the following limits, at the opened ports of Japan.
At Kanagawa to the River Loge (which empties into the Bay of Yedo, Kawasaki, and Sinogowa) and ten ri in any direction.
At Hakodadi ten ri in any direction.
At Hiogo ten ri in any direction, that of Kioto excepted, which city shall hot be approached nearer than ten ri. The crews or vessels resorting shall not cross the River Engawa, which empties into the Bay between Hiogo and Osaca.
The distance shall be measured by land from the goyoso, or town hall of each of the foregoing ports, the ri being equal to four thousand two hundred and seventy-five yards English measures.
At Nagasaki, British subjects may go into any part of the Imperial domain in its vicinity.
The boundaries of Nee-e-gata, or the place that may be substituted for it, shall be settled by the British Diplomatic Agent and the Government of Japan.
From the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, British subjects shall be allowed to reside in the city of Yedo, and from the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the city of Osara, for the purposes of trade only. In each of these two cities a suitable place, within which they may hire houses, and the distance they may go, shall be arranged by the British Diplomatic Agent and the Government of Japan.
Art. IV. All questions in regard to rights, whether of property or person, arising between British subjects in the dominions of His Majesty the Tycoon of Japan, shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the British authorities.
Art. V.-Japanese subjects, who may be guilty of any criminal act towards British subjects, shall be arrested and punished by the Japanese authorities according to the laws of Japan.
British subjects who may commit any crime against Japanese subjects, or the subjects or citizens of any other country, shall be tried and punished by the Consul or other public functionary authorized thereto, according to the laws of Great Britain.
Justice shall be equitably and impartially administered on both sides.
Art. VI.--A British subject having reason to complain of a Japanese must proceed to the Consulate and state his grievance.
The Consul will inquire into the merits of the case, and do his utmost to arrange it amicably. In like manner, if a Japanese have reason to complain of a British subject, the Consul shall no less listen to his complaint, and endeavour to settle it in a friendly manner. If disputes take place of such a nature that the Consul cannot arrange them amicably, then he shall request the assistance of the Japanese authorities, that they may together examine into the merit of the case, and decide it equitably.
Art. VII. Should any Japanese subject fail to discharge debts incurred to a British subject, or should he fraudulently abscond, the Japanese authorities will do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to force recovery of the debts; and should any British subject fraudulently abscond or fail to discharge debts incurred by him to a Japanese subject, the British authorities will, in like manner, do their utmost to bring him to justice, and to enforce recovery of the debts.
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