332
to the Foreign Minister to obtain the arrest of
the offender. It being Saturday evening, and
Count Okuma being absent, I addressed a private
note to Mr. Komura in which I asked His Excellency
to be good enough to lend me his assistance in the
matter, pending the despatch of an Official Note,
and on the 31st ultimo I addressed to Count Okuma
the Note, copy of which is herewith enclosed, to-
gether with translation of the reply which I received
the following day. In this Note, Count Okuma
refers to the last occasion on which a similar
request to the present one was made by Sir E. Satow,
and reminds me that his predecessor then expressly
stated that the Japanese Government did not wish
that the fact of Sir Ernest Satow's desire being on
that occasion granted should form a precedent and
that consequently His Excellency was unable to com-
ply with my request. The Note referred to was
transmitted to Your Lordship by Sir Ernest Satow in
his despatch Treaty No.18 of December 5th 1895.
On the same day, in the absence of Count Okuma,
I saw Mr. Komura, the Vice Minister, and expressed to
him my regret that the Japanese Government had not
seen their way to complying with my request. Mr.
Komura replied that ever since Count Okuma had taken
office he had held a strong conviction that, in the
absence of a distinct understanding, it was most
undesirable to surrender fugitive offenders in Japan,
that now that Formosa was in the possession of Japan
it would be very easy for offenders to escape to
Hongkong and the Japanese Government had no guarantee
that the Hongkong Government would deliver them over.
Since his return to Tokio, I have seen Count
Okuma who repeated what Mr. Komura had said adding
that in these days of constitutional government he
would be unable to defend himself before the Chamber
were he to surrender a fugitive offender, that he
thought the time had come for negotiating an extra-
dition treaty and he could not see that the existence
of Consular jurisdiction in any way presented obsta-
On
cles
332
to the Foreign Minister to obtain the arrest of
the offender. It being Saturday evening, and
Count Okuma being absent, I addressed a private
note to Mr. Komura in which I asked His Excellency
to be good enough to lend me his assistance in the
matter, pending the despatch of an Official Note,
and on the 31st ultimo I addressed to Count Okuma
the Note, copy of which is herewith enclosed, to-
gether with translation of the reply which I received
the following day. In this Note, Count Okuma
refers to the last occasion on which a similar
request to the present one was made by Sir E. Satow,
and reminds me that his predecessor then expressly
stated that the Japanese Government did not wish
that the fact of Sir Ernest Satow's desire being on
that occasion granted should form a precedent and
that consequently His Excellency was unable to com-
ply with my request. The Note referred to was
transmitted to Your Lordship by Sir Ernest Satow in
his despatch Treaty No.18 of December 5th 1895.
On the same day, in the absence of Count Okuma,
I saw Mr Komura, the Vice Minister, and expressed to
him my regret that the Japanese Government had not
seen their way to complying with my request. Mr.
Komura replied that ever since Count Okuma had taken
office he had held a strong conviction that, in the
absence of a distinct understanding, it was most
undesirable to surrender fugitive offenders in Japan,
that now that Formosa was in the possession of Japan
it would be very easy for offenders to escape to
Hongkong and the Japanese Government had no guarantee
that the Hongkong Government would deliver them over.
Since his return to Tokio, I have seen Count
Okuma who repeated what Mr. Komura had said adding
that in these days of constitutional government he
would be unable to defend himself before the Chamber
were he to surrender a fugitive offender, that he
thought the time had come for negotiating an extra-
dition treaty and he could not see that the existence
of Consular jurisdiction in any way presented obsta-
On
cles
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