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Ainsi fait à Berlin, le seize Décembre, dix-huit cent quatrevingt-quatre.

(Signé)

STRAUCH,

Au nom de l'Association. (L.S.)

:

DECLARATION OF HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT.

Recognition of Flag of the Association.

The Government of Her Britannic Majesty declare their sympathy with, and approval of, the humane and benevolent purposes of the Association, and hereby recognize the flag of the Association, and of the Free State under its administration, as the flag of a friendly Government.

Done at Berlin, the sixteenth day of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-four.

:

(Signed) EDWARD B. MALET,

On behalf of Her Majesty's Government.

(L.S.)

COREA.

No. 44.

TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND COMMERCE BETWEEN GREAT
BRITAIN AND COREA.

Signed at Hanyang, November 26, 1883.

[Ratifications exchanged at Hanyang, April 28, 1884.]

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and His Majesty the King of Corea, being sincerely desirous of establishing permanent relations of friendship and commerce between their respective dominions, have resolved to conclude a Treaty for that purpose, and have therefore named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:

Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, Sir Harry Smith Parkes, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty the Emperor of China;

His Majesty the King of Corea, Min Yöng-Mok, President of His Majesty's Foreign Office, a Dignitary of the First Rank, Senior Vice-President of the Council of State, Member of His Majesty's Privy Council, and Junior Guardian of the Crown Prince;

Who, after having communicated to each other their respective full powers, found in good and due form, have, agreed upon and concluded the following Articles :-

ARTICLE I.

Peace and Friendship. -Protection of Persons and Property.

1. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, her heirs and successors, and His Majesty the King of Corea, his heirs and successors, and between their respective dominions and subjects, who shall enjoy full security and protection for their persons and property within the dominions of the other.

Good Offices in Case of Differences with a Third Power.

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2. In case of differences arising between one of the High Contracting Parties and third Power, the other High Contracting Party, if requested to do so, shall exert its good offices to bring about an amicable arrangement.

ARTICLE II.

Appointment and Privileges of Diplomatic and Consular Officers.

1. The High Contracting Parties may each appoint a Diplomatic Representative to reside permanently or temporarily at the capital of the other, and may appoint a Consul-General, Consuls, or Vice-Consuls, to reside at any or all of the ports or places of the other which are open to foreign commerce. The Diplomatic Representatives and Consular functionaries of both countries shall freely enjoy the same facilities for communication, personally or in writing, with the authorities of the country where they respectively reside, together with all other privileges and immunities as are enjoyed by Diplomatic or Consular functionaries in other countries.

2. The Diplomatic Representative and the Consular functionaries of each Power and the members of their official establishments shall have the right to travel freely in any part of the dominions of the other, and the Corean authorities shall furnish passports to such British officers travelling in Corea, and shall provide such escort for their protection as may be necessary.

3. The Consular officers of both countries shall exercise their functions on receipt of due authorization from the Sovereign or Government of the country in which they respectively reside, and shall not be permitted to engage in

trade.

ARTICLE III.

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British Consular Jurisdiction.
Punishment of Offences by
British Subjects on Coreans and by Coreans on British
Subjects.

1. Jurisdiction over the persons and property of British subjects in Corea shall be vested exclusively in the duly authorized British judicial authorities, who shall hear and determine all cases brought against British subjects by any British or other foreign subject or citizen without the intervention of the Corean authorities.

2. If the Corean authorities or a Corean subject make any charge or complaint aganist a British subject in Corea, the case shall be heard and decided by the British judicial authorities.

3. If the British authorities or a British subject make any charge or complaint against a Corean subject in Corea, the case shall be heard and decided by the Corean authorities.

4. A British subject who commits any offence in Corea shall be tried and punished by the British judicial authorities according to the laws of Great Britain.

5. A Corean subject who commits in Corea any offence against a British subject shall be tried and punished by the Corean authorities according to the laws of Corea.

6. Any complaint against a British subject involving a penalty or confiscation by reason of any breach either of this Treaty or of any regulation annexed thereto, or of any regulation that may hereafter be made in virtue of its provisions, shall be brought before the British judicial authorities for decision, and any penalty imposed, and all property confiscated in such cases, shall belong to the Corean Government.

7. British goods, when seized by the Corean authorities at an open port, shall be put under the seals of the Corean and the British Consular authorities, and shall be detained by the former until the British judicial authorities shall have given their decision. If this decision is in favour of the owner of the goods, they shall be immediately placed at the Consul's disposal. But the owner shall be allowed to receive them at once on depositing their value with the Corean authorities pending the decision of the British judicial authorities.

8. In all cases, whether civil or criminal, tried either in Corean or British Courts in Corea, a properly authorized official of the nationality of the plaintiff or prosecutor shall be allowed to attend the hearing, and shall be treated with the courtesy due to his position. He shall be allowed, whenever he thinks it necessary, to call, examine, and cross-examine witnesses, and to protest against the proceedings or decision.

9. If a Corean subject who is charged with an offence against the laws of his country takes refuge on premises occupied by a British subject, or on board a British merchantvessel, the British Consular authorities, on receiving an application from the Corean authorities, shall take steps to have such person arrested and handed over to the latter for trial. But, without the consent of the proper British Consular authority, no Corean officer shall enter the premises of any British subject without his consent, or go on board any British ship without the consent of the officer in charge.

10. On the demand of any competent British Consular authority, the Corean authorities shall arrest and deliver to the former any British subject charged with a criminal offence, and any deserter from a British ship of war or merchant-vessel.

ARTICLE IV.

Opening of Chemulpo (Jenchuan), Wönsan (Gensan), Pusan (Fusan), Hanyang (Seoul), and Yanghwa to British Trade.

1. The ports of Chemulpo (Jenchuan), Wönsan (Gensan) and Pusan (Fusan), or, if the latter port should not be approved, then such other port as may be selected in its neighbourhood, together with the city of Hanyang and of the town of Yanghwa Chin, or such other place in that neighbourhood, as may be deemed desirable, shall, from the day on which this Treaty comes into operation, be opened to British

commerce.

Purchase or Hire of Land, Houses, &c., in Foreign Settlements.

2. At the above-named places British subjects shall have the right to rent or to purchase land or houses, and to erect dwellings, warehouses, and factories. They shall be allowed the free exercise of their religion. All arrangements for the selection, determination of the limits, and laying out of the sites of the foreign Settlements, and for the sale of land at the various ports and places in Corea open to foreign trade, shall be made by the Corean authorities in conjunction with the competent foreign authorities.

Rent, &c., of Foreign Settlements.

3. These sites shall be purchased from the owners and prepared for occupation by the Corean Government, and the expense thus incurred shall be a first charge on the proceeds of the sale of the land. The yearly rental agreed upon by the Corean authorities in conjunction with the foreign authorities shall be paid to the former, who shall retain a fixed amount thereof as a fair equivalent for the land tax, and the remainder, together with any balance left from the proceeds of land sales, shall belong to a municipal fund to be administered by a Council, the constitution of which shall be determined hereafter by the Corean authorities in conjunction with the competent foreign authorities.

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