47 - Mr. Van Valkenburgh, Letter to Mr. Seward: No.64. Legation of the United States in Japan. Yedo, November 1867. Arrangements for the establishment of a Japanese municipal office for the foreign settlements of Yokohama. US Diplomatic Correspondence, 1867, 73
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2022
Summary
SIR; I HAVE THE honor to transmit herewith, No. I copy of an arrangement providing for municipal government at Yokohama, (Kamagawa) which was unanimously adopted and agreed to by the foreign representatives and the Japanese government.
You will perceive that the principle of exterrioriality has been carefully preserved, and that the citizens of the United States are in all cases of offence memorable only to the jurisdiction of our own authorities.
I have the honor to be, Sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant. R. B. VAN VALKENBURGH.
Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of State, Washington, D.C.
Arrangements for the establishment of a Japanese municipal office for the foreign settlement of Yokohama:
1. That an office to be united the municipal office be formed under the Japanese government at Yokohama, and placed in the charge of a foreign director, who will be subordinate to the governor of Kanagawa.
2. That the said director, acting under the authority of the governor of Kanagawa, shall see to the repair, cleanliness, and efficiency of all the streets and drains in the foreign settlement of Yokohama. He shall be authorized to receive such complaints relative to police or the state of drains and throughfares as may properly be addressed by foreigners to the local government direct, and in the name of the governor of Kanagawa will prosecute foreigners before their own authorities for nuisances or any infingement of police order.
3. The said director, acting under the authority of the governor ofKanagawa, will have the charge and direction of all foreigners who may be employed as police for the maintainance of security and order within the foreign settlement of Yokohama, or for the repression of disorderly conduct on the part of foreigners within the port of Kanagawa.
Whenever its subject or citizen of a treaty power is arrested in the commission of an offence by the said director, or any foreigner or Japanese acting under his orders or the orders of the governor of Kanagawa, the person now arrested must be conveyed at once to the consul of his nation, who will take steps for the detention of the offender until he can be prosecuted.
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- Culture Power & Politics in Treaty Port Japan 1854-1899 Key Papers Press and Contemporary Writings , pp. 172 - 173Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018