BEFORE THE MEIJI Restoration, Britain and the other Western Powers had, in practice, protected those Westerners who were not protected by any treaty between their own country and Japan. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan would not concede that the Western Powers had any such wider protective rights; but, by then, the point was moot as most Western countries had negotiated treaties with Japan.

With Korea, the earlier position adopted by Western Powers in Japan was simply not sustainable – not least with the Ansei treaty revision negotiations in play – and neither Britain nor the other Western Powers claimed any general right to exercise any protective rights in relation to subjects or citizens of a country without a treaty with Korea. Although fewer Western countries had treaties with Korea than with Japan, the Western population in Korea was so small that the point never became an issue.

That said, this position did not stop the Chinese police in Chemulpo from bringing a Turk and a Greek (neither of whom had the benefit of any extraterritorial rights) who had been fighting in a hotel there before the Vice-Consul. There is no indication of the outcome: probably nothing, as the Vice-Consul had no jurisdiction over either of the combatants. It does, however, indicate how the British authorities were perhaps regarded as the ultimate policemen for otherwise unrepresented foreigners. It was also during the period that Britain was protecting China's interests in Korea and so it might have been natural for the Chinese policemen to report to the Vice-Consul.

A significant difference between Japan and Korea was that, for a five-year period in Korea, Britain also exercised protective rights over Chinese subjects. As such, the Consuls also tried cases brought against Chinese subjects. We have no detailed records of such cases and, certainly, no indication that the Consuls applied anything other than English law in them. As with many of the cases involving Britons, we have often only oblique references to the cases.

For limited periods, Britain exercised protective rights in respect of Italian subjects in Korea.