Sir H.S. Parkes to Earl Granville.―(Received June 19)

(No. 67 Confidential)
Tôkiô, April 28. 1883

My Lord,

I HAVE the honour to report that on receipt of your Lordship’s telegram of the 22nd instant, which I acknowledged in my despatch No. 62. of the 23rd instant, I communicated with my German colleague, Count Dönhof, and arranged with him that Mr. Aston should proceed again to Corea to inform the Corean Government that Her Majesty’s Government and the Imperial German Government desired to extend for six months the term within which the ratifications of the British and German Treaties with Corea should be exchanged. We also agreed that it would be desirable that declarations of such postponement of ratification should be duly executed.
The arrival here of General Foote, the American Minister to Corea, and his intended departure on the 2nd proximo for that country, rendered essential the immediate dispatch of Mr. Aston on this service. He will accordingly proceed in the Peninsular and Oriental mail steamer leaving Yokohama to-night as far as Simonoseki, where I have arranged by telegraphic communication with Vice-Admiral Willes and the Senior Naval Officer in Japan that he shall be met by the latter in Her Majesty’s ship “Daring,” in order that he may be conveyed direct from that point to the Chemulpho anchorage (Jinchuen).
I beg to inclose a copy of the note which I have addressed on this subject to the Corean Minister for Foreign Affairs, and of the Declaration which I have instructed Mr. Aston to sign on the part of Her Majesty’s Government, together with a translation of a similar note addressed by Count Dönhof to the said Corean Minister, giving cover to a Declaration of the same tenour. I also add a translation of a letter from Count Dönhof to myself, requesting me to authorize Mr. Aston to undertake this service on behalf of the Imperial German Government.
I have furnished Mr. Aston with the inclosed instructions, and have requested Commander Eliott in the accompanying letter to convey him as expeditiously as possible to Jinchuen, and back again to Japan as soon as he is ready to return.
Owing to the immediate departure of the mail I am obliged to be thus brief in reporting these proceedings. I may add that I have named the 31st December in the Declaration between Her Majesty’s Government and that of Corea, because an extension of exactly six months in the case of the Anglo-Corean Treaty would have prolonged the term for exchanging the ratifications to the 6th December, and in the case of the German-Corean Treaty to the 30th December, and I thought that unity of action between the British and German Governments would be becomingly attested by naming the same date within which the ratifications of their respective Treaties may be exchanged.

I have, &c.
(Signed) HARRY S. PARKES

Inclosure 1

Sir H.S. Parkes to Min Yöng Mok.

Your Excellency, Tôkiô, April 28, 1883

I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have been instructed by Her Majesty’s government to direct Mr. Aston, one of Her Majesty’s Consuls in Japan, to inform your Government of their wish to extend for several months the time fixed for the exchange of the ratifications of the Treaty signed at Jinchuen on the 6th June last by the respective Representatives of our two countries.
My Government are of opinion that certain provisions of this Treaty require further consideration, and your Excellency will, I trust, perceive that their motive in proposing this postponement is an earnest desire to place the Treaty relations of our two countries from their commencement on a satisfactory footing, so as to prevent difficulties in the future.
Mr. Aston is therefore authorized to sign with a Representative of your Government a document declaring that our respective Governments agree to extend the term for exchanging the ratifications of the said Treaty till the 31st December of the present year.

I take, &c.
(Signed)　　HARRY S. PARKES

Inclosure 2

Declaration for extending the period stipulated for exchanging the Ratifications of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland and Chosen, signed at Jinchuen, June 6, 1882.

WHEREAS the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce concluded at Jinchuen on the 6th June, 1882, between Vice-Admiral Willes, on the part of Great Britain and Ireland, and Isas Ling Hsia and Ching Hung Kie, members of the Royal Council, on the part of Chosen, contains a stipulation that the ratifications of this Treaty shall be exchanged at Jinchuen within one year from the date of its signature, and whereas the Government of Great Britain is of opinion that portions of this Treaty require further consideration, the Undersigned being duly authorized by their respective Governments, have agreed to declare as follows:—
That the period fixed within which the ratifications should be exchanged shall be extended to the 31st December, 1883.
In faith of which they have signed the present Declaration made in duplicate and in the English and Chinese languages, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done at Söul on the(Sic.)

Inclosure 3

M. Dönhof to Min Yöng Mok.

(Translations)
Your Excellency, Tôkiô, April 28, 1883

ANIMATED by the wish to take into further consideration the German-Corean Treaty, signed at Jinchuen on the 30th June last year, the Imperial German Government desires to prolong the term for exchanging the ratifications of the said Treaty for several months.
I have therefore the honour to inform Your Excellency that I have received instructions to introduce to your Excellency Mr. Aston, one of Her Britannic Majesty’s Consuls in Japan, who is hereby authorized by the Imperial German Government to sign, with a Plenipotentiary appointed by your Excellency’s Government, a document by which the term for exchanging the ratifications of the German-Corean Treaty is extended to the 31st December of the present year.

I avail, &c.
(Signed)　　G. DÖNHOF, German Minister

Inclosure 4

M. Dönhof to Sir H.S. Parkes.
(Translations)
Your Excellency, Tôkiô, April 28, 1883

THE Imperial German Government have decided, in concert with your Excellency’s Government, to postpone the ratification of the Treaties with Corea.
In obedience to instructions received from my Government, I have the honour to request Your Excellency to be so good as to allow me to introduce Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul, Mr. Aston, in the name of my Government to the Government of Corea, and to empower him to sign a document postponing the exchange of the ratifications of the German-Corean Treaty.
I have the honour to inclose the letter of introduction for Mr. Aston, addressed to the Corean minister for Foreign Affairs, and the document for signature, and at the same time beg your Excellency to accept, &c.

(Signed)　　G. DÖNHOF, German Minister

Inclosure 5

Sir H.S. Parkes to Mr. Aston.

(Confidential)
Tokio, April 28, 1883
Sir,

YOU will learn from the inclosed copy of a telegram from Earl Granville, which I received on the night of the 23rd instant, that Her Majesty’s Government have agreed with the German Government to extend the period fixed for the ratification of their Treaties with Corea for six months, and that I am instructed, after communicating with Count Dönhof, the German Minister to Japan, to direct you to give notice of this resolution to the Corean Government on behalf both of Her Majesty’s Government and that of Germany.
I have accordingly to direct you to proceed to Corea to carry out this instruction. You are aware of the reasons which render it essential that you should sail by the Peninsular and Oriental mail-steamer which leaves Yokohama this evening, and that I have arranged with Commander Eliott, of Her Majesty’s ship “Daring,” to meet you at Simonoseki. On joining that vessel I trust you will find that Commander Eliott will be able to proceed with you direct from thence to the Chemulpho anchorage. In that case, I hope you will reach that point about the 5th May, and thus anticipate by several days the arrival there of General Foote, the American Minister to Corea. It is obviously desirable that you should do your best to effect within that interval the negotiation with which you are charged.
I am glad to think that, as I have had the advantage of personal communication with yourself, detailed instructions in this case are not indispensable. I inclose under flying seal a note, in which I have informed the Corean Minister for Foreign Affairs of the object of your mission, and that you are authorized to sign a Declaration by which the British and Corean Governments will agree to the time for the exchange of the ratifications of the Anglo-Corean Treaty being extended until the 31st December next. Duplicate copies of this Declaration in English are inclosed.
I have also to hand to you, on the part of the German Minister, a similar note which he has addressed to the Corean Foreign Minister, and duplicate copies in German and French of a Declaration of the same tenour.
It will remain for you to draw up in concert, and with the aid of the Corean authorities, the Chinese versions of these two Declarations, and when they have been duly signed, you will leave one copy of each version with them, and bring away with you one copy of each version for the British and German Governments.
I trust you will find that the Corean Government will readily perceive the necessity which exists for the execution of these Declarations. It may occur to themselves, without your having occasion to remind them, that the grave events which occurred in Corea last year, and the arrangements recently concluded between Corea and China, render it incumbent on the British and German Governments to act with deliberation, and to obtain fuller information respecting the state of affairs in Corea than they yet possess. It is also to be hoped that the Corean Government will see that this proposal to delay the exchange of the ratifications of the British and German Treaties with their country admits solely of a friendly interpretation, and indicates the desire of the British and German Governments to establish amicable relations with Corea.
Unless you should see reason to delay your departure from Corea, it is desirable that you should return to Tôkiô to report your proceedings to myself and the German Minister as soon as these Declarations shall have been signed, and the Corean Minister for Foreign Affairs shall have furnished you with his replies to my note and that of the German Minister.
I inclose, under flying seal, the despatch in which I have requested the Commander of Her Majesty’s ship “Daring” to convey you from Simonoseki to the Chemulpho anchorage as expeditiously as his general instructions will permit, and back again to such port in Japan as he may deem most expedient after having been made acquainted by you with the requirements of the important service on which you are engaged.

I am, &c.
(Signed) HARRY S. PARKES

Inclosure 6

Sir H.S. Parkes to Commander Elott.
Tôkiô, April 28, 1883
Sir,

WE have already been in telegraphic communication with each other relative to the service on which your are now engaged, namely, the conveyance of Mr. Aston to Corea, in execution of important telegraphic orders which I received from Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the 23rd instant.
The Commander-in-chief, upon my application for a vessel, has been so good as to inform me that your will proceed on this service, and I heard yesterday, from Her Majesty’s Acting Consul at Kôbé, that you would leave to-morrow to receive Mr. Aston at Simonoseki, but that there was a possibility of your having to coal at Nagasaki. I therefore at once intimated to you by wire that, in view of his Excellency’s instructions (as to vessels not touching at Nagasaki), and also having regard to delay which would be occasioned by your calling on this occasion at that port for coal, I considered it particularly desirable that you should not do so if it could possibly be avoided.
Mr. Aston proceeds to-night in the Peninsular and Oriental steamer “Sumatra,” to Simonoseki, and on joining you there will deliver to you this despatch. I earnestly trust that you will be able to convey him to the Chemulpo anchorage (Jinchuen) direct from Simonoseki; and as the service on which he is engaged is of and urgent nature, I have to request you to use all the expedition that your general instructions will permit.
As the speedy return of Mr. Aston is of similar importance, I trust that you will not be detained more than a few days at Jinchuen, and as soon as Mr. Aston shall inform you that he is ready to leave, I have to request you to bring him back to such port in Japan, whether Simonoseki, Kôbé, or Nagasaki, as may best meet, in your judgement, the requirements, of Her Majesty’s ship under your command, combined with the best consideration, which I am well assured you will readily give to the exigency of the important public service with which Mr. Aston is charged.
I gladly profit by this opportunity to cordially thank you for the assistance you have already rendered to Mr. Aston on the occasion of his recent visit to Corea.

I have, &c.
(Signed)　　HARRY S. PARKES