Mr. Buck to Mr.
Hay.
United
States Legation,
Tokyo,
Japan, May 16,
1902.
No. 643.]
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a
copy of the reply of the Japanese minister for foreign affairs of this
date to my note of the 13th instant, a copy of which was inclosed with
my dispatch No. 642 of the 14th instant, in which note I stated the view
of the United States that the question of taxes in all its bearings,
should be referred for final settlement by the proposed arbitration.
It appears from the minister’s note that the Japanese Government will not
widen the scope of arbitration so as to include any question other than
the one of the house tax, which they claim to be the only question at
issue.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Baron Komura to
Mr. Buck.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Tokyo, May
16, 1902.
Monsieur le Ministre: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of the 13th
instant, in which, in pursuance of instructions from your Government
you represent the desire of the United States that the scope of the
proposed arbitration respecting the house tax be widened so as to
include and settle all questions in controversy relative to the
imposition of charges within the purview of the suggested
reference.
I hasten to assure your excellency in reply to the friendly
suggestion of your excellency’s Government that the proposal of the
Imperial Government to have recourse to arbitration in the present
case was precisely as wide as the controversy which gave rise to
that proposal. The only question at issue was the question of the
so-called house tax, and it was in respect of that question that the
Imperial Government suggested an arbitral solution.
I should add, in order to prevent any misapprehension on the subject,
that the Imperial Government could not consent to submit to
arbitration any point not in actual controversy or which had not
been made the subject of diplomatic discussion and to the amicable
adjustment of which the usual diplomatic processes had not been
unsuccessfully applied.
The revised treaties have been in operation for nearly three years,
and I confidently believe that your excellency will agree with me
that rights which have been openly, and with full knowledge, and
without objection, exercised by the Imperial Government during all
that time, ought not now to be brought into the arena of diplomatic
discussion or made the subject of international arbitration.
I avail, etc.,
