Russell Robertson to T. Van Buren , United States, May 13, 1875

Mr. Robertson to Mr. Van Buren.

My Dear Colleague: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st April, requesting me to inform you, first, “what enactments, if any, had been made by this consulate, imposing new obligations upon my countrymen in Japan, and by what authority such enactments had been made.” I scarcely understand what is meant to be conveyed by the words “new obligations,” and so am somewhat at a loss to reply to this query. But, at the outset, I may state that British consuls in Japan have no power at present to make enactments of any kind. Such would always issue from the legation, though it may not infrequently happen that it is by the suggestion of a consul that Her Majesty’s minister is moved to issue a regulation. Before the order in council, Her Majesty’s minister, or the consul, with the approval of the minister, either under the powers conferred by prior orders in council or under Article XX of the treaty between Great Britain and Japan, issued regulations from time to time with the object of carrying into effect the treaty and the trade regulations attached thereto, and for the good order and governance of Her Majesty’s subjects in Japan, but section 85 of the order in council, above quoted, is more comprehensive, and it is under this that Her Majesty’s minister issues from time to time such regulations as seem to him necessary.

I give the section at length: “Her Majesty’s minister in Japan or China may, from time to time, make such regulations as seem fit for the peace, order, and good government of British subjects resident in, or resorting to, Japan or China, and for the observance of the stipulations of treaties between Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, and the Emperor of Japan or China, and for the maintenance of friendly relations between British subjects and Japanese or Chinese subjects and authorities, and may make any such, regulations apply either throughout Japan or China or to some one or more of the consular districts in Japan or China, and may by any such regulations repeal or alter any regulations made for any such purposes as aforesaid before the commencement of this order. Any such regulations shall not have effect unless and until they are approved by Her Majesty, such approval being signified through one of Her Majesty’s principal secretaries of state, save that in case of urgency, declared in any such regulations, the same shall have effect unless and until they are disapproved by Her Majesty, such disapproval being signified through one of Her Majesty’s principal secretaries of state, and notification of such disapproval is received and published by Her Majesty’s minister in Japan or China.”

Your second inquiry is, “What authority, if any, do I possess to grant licenses for the sale of liquors within my consular jurisdiction and to impose penalties in connection therewith?”

The query is rather an embarrassing one, but I will do my best to answer it. In the early days of this settlement certain regulations were issued by Mr. Charles Winchester, Her Britannic Majesty’s chargé d’affaires, one of which ran as follows:

“No British subject may establish either a boarding-house, eating-house, or other public house of entertainment, or a butcher-shop or slaughtering-house, without the sanction of the consul and under such conditions as he may require.”

I fail, however, to find in my records whether the British consul singly, or acting jointly with his colleagues, ever drew up the conditions which were contemplated in this regulation. When I succeeded to the charge of this consulate, I found that it was the practice to charge publicans or victuallers a license-fee of $12 a month, but it did not occur to me to go into the origin of this fee until the licensed victuallers made a stand last year and declined to continue the payment. I then went into the question with my colleagues, but after much research we could only ascertain, with anything like certainty, that in 1862 the French minister, M. de Bellecours, had issued a very complete set of regulations in respect to licensed victuallers (French) in Yokohama, the fees payable, and the penalties for any breach of the regulation. In our order in council of 1865, above referred to, certain previous orders in council were repealed, and among them an important one dated February 4, 1861. It was under this last-mentioned order in council that Mr. Winchester issued the series of regulations from which I have extracted regulation 8, above mentioned. Even, therefore, if this regulation had been given effect to, it is a question whether it would now have any force, viewing the fact that the very order in council to which it owes its birth is itself repealed.

It does not seem to have occurred to any one, however, to bring about the issue of new regulations under the order in council of 1865 for the governance of licensed victuallers, so that the due sequence of things might be carried on, following article 8 of the regulations issued under the prior order in council, and hence the deplorable situation into which the matter has fallen, so far as British subjects are concerned. I have, as you are aware, addressed Her Majesty’s minister on the subject, and a proposed draught of regulations has been submitted to the diplomatic body, but I am disposed to think that Her Majesty’s minister is disinclined to legislate solely for British subjects, unless the other foreign representatives are disposed to adopt a like course with regard to their respective nationals.

In reply to your third query, Mr. Benson can, I think, furnish you with a printed copy of the convention under which the municipal directorate was established, but municipal regulations in the full sense of the term have never existed, nor do they exist in Yokohama at the present moment, with the exception, perhaps, of the land regulations under which the title-deeds are issued.

I am, my dear colleague, faithfully yours,