PRUYN, Minister Resident of the United States in Japan to future allotments of land at the open ports, December 3, 1864

Memorandum in reference to future allotments of land at the open ports.

It being desirable in the common interest to agree and determine upon some plan for the appropriation of all such land as may be required to enlarge the limits of existing foreign settlement at Yokohama, as also at the other open ports, in such manner as shall be equitable and fair to all, without favor or distinction to nationalities, and in order to put such plan in a clear and practical shape, the following bases have been accepted and approved by the

1. All land hereafter to be acquired by the filling up of the swamp at Yokohama, or recovered from the sea at Nagasaki and Hakodadi, to be allotted by the consuls in concert, and in such portions as the requirements of trade may, from time to time, suggest, at an upset price, to be regulated by the market value of land—this price to be set upon each lot by the said consuls, in common accord. If they do not agree, then the upset price to be determined by the vote of the majority.

2. These lots to be first offered to all those subjects of treaty powers who shall be, at the time, unprovided, and who, for legitimate purposes of trade and not for traffic in land, or as mere investments, shall have registered their names at their respective consulates, and each lot to be assigned in the order of date of registry, irrespective of nationality.

3. Any of these lots, if not accepted at the sale fixed, to be then put up to auction, with a public notice of at least fifteen days, and particulars as to situation, dimensions, and upset price. If this price should not be offered, the lots to be withdrawn from the sale and reserved for subsequent sale or appropriation.

4. The title-deeds to be issued on the requisition of the consuls of treaty powers, by the governor of the port, and countersigned by the consul of the nation to which the lease-holder belongs.

5. The proceeds of any such sales shall constitute a municipal fund, under such conditions as the consuls may conjointly agree upon.

These rules to apply to any new extension of land that may be obtained in any other direction, except that, when the Japanese government will not be indemnified for the expense of improvements by rent on land before valueless, one half the proceeds derived from the sale thereof shall be paid to said government, and the remaining half retained for said municipal fund, and when the Japanese shall be dispossessed of any land, a reasonable compensation will be paid to cover the expense of the removal of their buildings to some other locality; and no allotment of land to any foreigner for private use or advantage shall be required or sanctioned by the consuls, and a communication to be made to the Gorogio to this effect.

For public purposes the undersigned have already in their memorandum of the 22d of July, 1864, formally disclaimed and renounced any title to exclusive advantage whatever in respect to concessions of land or territory, either in the open ports or elsewhere in Japan, as whatever is granted to one may, with equal right and justice, be claimed by all in virtue of the most favored nation clause in all existing treaties. It is to be hoped that the Tycoon’s government, fully advised of this, will, in their own interest, avoid making exceptional grants of land to any one nation, minister or consul, or other authority, or without reference to the rest, and to the equal rights of all.

Finally, all past experience in China and Japan having shown that any appropriation of land or concessions to distinct nationalities is a fertile source of trouble and a grave disadvantage in the end to all, raising questions of diverse jurisdiction for municipal purposes, distinct bodies of police, and tending to produce conflicts of jurisdiction, increased expense, and imperfect results in order and security, besides perpetuating a mischievous error, that the interests of different nations in Japan are distinct and may be promoted at each others expense, whereas in truth they are identical, and are best promoted by union and common action, the undersigned have determined to make an official representation by a note identique to the government of the Tycoon, suggesting that upon no other bases should land be allocated for the occupation of foreigners at any open port in Japan, and pledging themselves to uphold this arrangement as the only one consistent with equity and the best interests of all the treaty powers without distinction.

Yokohama, December 3, 1864.