§ MR. BADEN-POWELL(for Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT) (Croydon)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether a Convention is now sitting for the purpose of revising the Treaties of 1858 and 1866 between this Country and Japan; whether he is aware that Mr. John Hartley and other merchants, being British subjects, have claims against the Japanese Government (in consequence of the violation of those Treaties on the part of that Government) which have not yet been settled; and, whether the signing of a new Treaty will prejudice those claims; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government will refuse to sign the Treaty until the Japanese Government have settled such claims?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)A Conference is now sitting at Tokio for the purpose of revising the existing Treaties between Japan and Foreign Powers. The case of Mr. Hartley is well known to Her Majesty's Government, and Questions in reference to it were asked in Parliament in February and March, 1884, and so recently as July last. My Predecessor stated that successive Secretaries of State had arrived at the conclusion that Mr. Hartley's case was not such as to justify diplomatic interference. I am not aware of any other claims by British merchants. The new Treaty, if concluded, will not prejudice the claims of British subjects.