[Title] Shimonoseki Convention.

Ratified by the Japanese Government 9th November, 1864.

The Representatives of Great Britain, France, the United States of America, and the Netherlands, in view of the hostile acts of Mori Daizen, Prince of Nagato and Suwo, which were assuming such formidable proportions as to make it difficult for the Tycoon faithfully to observe the Treaties, having been obliged to send their combined forces to the straits of Shimonoseki, in order to destroy the batteries erected by that Daimio for the destruction of Foreign vessels and the stoppage of trade; and the Government of the Tycoon, on whom devolved the duty of chastising this rebellious Prince, being held responsible for any damage resulting to the interests of Treaty Powers, as well as the expenses occasioned by the expedition.

The Undersigned Representatives of Treaty Powers, and Sakai Hida no Kami, a member of the second Council, invested with plenipotentiary powers by the Tycoon of Japan, animated with the desire to put an end to all reclamations concerning the acts of aggression and hostility committed by the said Mori Daizen, since the first of these acts, in June 1863, against the flags of divers Treaty Powers, and at the same time to regulate definitively the question of indemnities of war, of whatever kind, in respect to the allied expedition to Shimonoseki, have agreed and determined upon the four articles following:-

I.

The amount payable to the four Powers is fixed at 3,000,000 dollars. This sum to include all claims, of whatever nature, for past aggressions on the part of the Prince of Nagato, whether indemnities, ransom for Shimonoseki, or expenses entailed by the operations of the allied squadrons.

II.

The whole sum to be payable quarterly in instalments of one-sixth, or 500,000 dollars, to begin from the date when the Representatives of said Powers shall make known to the Tycoon's Government the ratification of this Convention and the instructions of their respective Governments.

III.

Inasmach as the receipt of money has never been the object of the said Powers, but the establishment of better relations with Japan, and the desire to place these on a more satisfactory and mutually advantageous footing is still the leading object in view, therefore, if His Majesty the Tycoon wishes to offer in lieu of payment of the sum claimed, and as a material compensation for loss and injury sustained, the opening of Simonoseki, or some other eligible port in the Inland Sea, it shall be at the option of the said foreign Governments to accept the same, or insist on the payment of the indemnity in money under the conditions above stipulated.

VI.

This Convention to be formally ratified by the Tycoon's Government within fifteen days from the date thereof.

In token of which the respective Plenipotentiaires have signed and sealed this Convention in quintuplicate, with English, Dutch, and Japanese versions, whereof the English shall be considered the original.

Done at Yokohama this 22nd day of October 1864, corresponding to the twenty-second day of the ninth month of the first Year of Gengi.

(Signed) Sakai Hida no Kami,

    ''    Rutherford Alcock,

Her Britannic Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan.

(Signed) Léon Roches,

Ministre Plénipotentiaire de Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français au Japon.

    ''    Robt. H. Pruyn,

Minister Resident of the United States in Japan.

    ''    D. de Graeff van Polsbroek

His Netherlands Majesty's Consul-General and Political Agent in Japan.

Note. In 1883, Government of the U.S. America, in fulfillment of the Act of the Congress, February 22, 1883, reimbursed the amount of $785,000 87/100 to Japan.