§ MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the prosecution of Mr. Bethell for spreading sedition in Korea through his newspaper was undertaken at the instance of the Japanese Government; and whether the rebellion which Mr. Bethell was fomenting was rebellion against the Japanese Government or against the Korean State.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir EDWARD GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickThe attention of His Majesty's Government was drawn to the conduct of Mr. Bethell by the Japanese Government, as well as by complaints emanating from non-Japanese sources; as regards the second Question, Mr. Bethell was prosecuted under Article 5 of the China and Corea 953 (Amendment) Order in Council, 1907, which provides (amongst other things) that "every person subject to the criminal jurisdiction of the Court, who prints, publishes, or offers for sale any printed or written newspaper or other publication containing seditious matter shall be guilty of a grave offence against the Principal Order." By Sub-Article (3) of the above Article, it is provided that "matter calculated to excite tumult or disorder.… shall be deemed to be seditious matter within the meaning of this Article." The case does not seem to me to be affected by the question whether the Government of Korea is controlled by Japan or not.
In reply to a further Question by Mr. SMEATON,
§ SIR EDWARD GREYsaid seditious matter was described as matter calculated to incite to disorder.