Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 6, 1880

No. 436.
Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

United States Legation,
Tokei, April 13, 1880. (Received May 11.)

No. 1101.]

Sir: This government, on the 5th instant, issued an imperial decree for the regulation of political meetings and associations which has excited some unfavorable comments in the foreign and native public journals of the empire.

I have the honor to inclose for your information copies in duplicate of a translation of this decree as published in the Japan Mail of the 10th instant. It is therein provided that no political meetings shall be held for the discussion of political subjects, nor shall any political association be organized until permission shall have been first obtained from the police.

It is also provided that persons belonging to the army or navy, or persons of the first and second reserves, or public officers, or professors or students in the government service, or in the public or private schools, or students in the schools of art and agriculture, shall not be permitted to attend or become members of political societies or to attend political meetings or lectures.

Political societies are prohibited from advertising the subjects of lectures or debates and from issuing or sending out agents or circulars to influence the public to attend their meetings, and from communicating with each other. All such political meetings maybe dispersed by order of the police. Penalties are prescribed for all violations of the regulations. It is said that these restrictions are needful for the good order and peace of the empire.

I have, &c.,

JNO. A. BINGHAM.

[Inclosure in No. 1101.

—Extract from the Japan Daily Mail, April 10, 1880

.]

the new regulations respecting political meetings or societies.

(Came into force on the 6th of April, 1880.)

1. If any one shall desire to give a lecture on political subjects, or assemble a meeting to debate such subjects, the promoter, president or manager, shall, three days at least before the lecture is to be given or meeting held, send in an application to the nearest police station for permission. Every such application shall state the subjects of the lecture or debate, and the names and addresses of the lecturers or speakers.

2. Every person desirous of forming a political society shall, before doing so, make application for permission at the nearest police station. Every such application shall give the name of the proposed society, the rules for its government, the place of meeting of the society, and the names of the members. Any alterations in the rules of the society or in the members, after the establishment of the society has been authorized, shall be reported to the police authorities, who shall at all times have power to make such inquiries as they may deem expedient, respecting the affairs of the society.

3. After the establishment of a society has been once authorized, three days’ previous notice of the first meeting must be given at the nearest police station. After the first meeting has been held, it shall not be necessary to give notice of the subsequent regular meetings, but any alterations must be notified as provided in article No. 1 of these regulations.

4. Whenever the police authorities consider that granting the applications referred to in the three preceding articles would be prejudicial to the interests of the public, they may decline to do so.

5. Police officers in uniform shall have power to visit all lectures or meetings, and demand the production of the license to hold same.

6. If the license shall not be produced when demanded, or if any subject not specified in the report shall be lectured upon or discussed, or if the lecture or debate is considered prejudicial to the public interest, or liable to incite the hearers to commit offenses against the laws, or if persons are in attendance who ought not to have been admitted, and who refuse to leave when requested to do so, then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the police officers to close the meeting.

7. The following persons are forbidden to attend or take part in political lectures or meetings, or to become members of political societies: men belonging to the army or navy, the first and second reserves, police officers, professors, and students in government, public or private schools, and students in the schools of art and agriculture.

8. Every political society is prohibited from advertising the subject of its lectures or debates, or sending out agents or circulars to induce the public to attend its meetings. The combination of one society with another, and all communication between societies, is strictly forbidden.

9. Open-air lectures or debates upon political subjects are hereby prohibited.

10. If any lecture shall be given or meeting held without the permission mentioned in Article 1 being first obtained, the promoter of the lecture or meeting shall be liable to fine not exceeding 20 and not less than 2 yen, or to imprisonment not exceeding three months and not less than eleven days. The person who lent or rented the place of meeting, the president, manager, lecturers, and speakers shall severally be liable to a fine not exceeding 20 and not less than 2 yen, and every breach of Article 3 shall be punished in like manner.

11. For every breach of the provisions of Article 2 the president of a society shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 20 and not less than 2 yen. If false regulations or fraudulent lists of members of a society are forwarded to the police authorities, or incorrect answers returned to questions asked, the president of the society shall be liable, in addition to the monetary penalty hereinbefore mentioned, to imprisonment not exceeding three months and not less than eleven days.

12. If a police officer is refused admission to any lecture or meeting, contrary to Article 5, the promoter of the lecture or meeting, the president, and the manager shall each be liable to a fine not more than 50 and not less than 5 yen, or to be imprisoned not more than one year and not less than one month. Every person who refuses to answer questions, or returns false answers, respecting any lecture or debate, shall be liable to a similar punishment to that hereinbefore mentioned. In the event of any person being guilty of a similar offense a second time, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 and not less than 10 yen, or to be imprisoned not more than two years and not less than two months.

13. When the persons assembled at any meeting are ordered to disperse, every one refusing to do so shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 20 and not less than 2 yen, or to be imprisoned for not more than six months and not less than eleven days.

14. For every breach of Article No. 7, the conductors and president of a meeting, or the president and officers of a society, will be severally liable to a fine not exceeding 20 and not less than 2 yen, or to be imprisoned for not more than three months and not less than eleven days. If the offense committed shall be considered aggravated, the society maybe suppressed altogether, and should any persons persist in holding a meeting after being prohibited from doing so, they shall each be liable to a fine not exceeding 20 and not less than 2 yen.

15. For every breach of Article No. 8, the promoter of a meeting, the manager and president, and the president and officers of a society, shall each be liable to a fine not exceeding 50 and not less than 5 yen, or to be imprisoned not more than one year or less than one month. In addition, the society will be suppressed, and all persons found implicated in a breach of the said article will be liable to a similar punishment to that hereinbefore provided. Any person who shall compel another to join a society, or who has been previously convicted of a breach of Article No. 8, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 100 and not less than 10 yen, and to be imprisoned for not more than two years and not less than two months. The president and director shall also be prohibited from forming or joining any other society for a term of not more than five years or less than one year.

16. The foregoing regulations do not extend to meetings held in accordance with established custom.