The Secretary of State to the Japanese Minister.
Washington, October 16, 1905.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note No. 61, of the 14th instant, communicating, in pursuance of instructions from your government, information of the ratification of the treaty of peace between the Governments of Japan and Russia by His Majesty [Page 822] the Emperor of Japan, and requesting that the representative of this government at St. Petersburg be instructed by telegraph to inform the Russian Government of the fact of such ratification. A telegram was accordingly sent to Mr. Eddy, our chargé d’affaires ad interim at St. Petersburg, Saturday afternoon, the 14th instant, in the following words:
In pursuance of the understanding which has been reached between the Russian and Japanese Governments, you will deliver to the Russian foreign office to-morrow, Sunday, the 15th instant, the Japanese notification of the ratification of the treaty of peace by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, and you will promptly advise me by telegraph of your having done so. The following is the text of the communication you are to make, dating it October 15th:
“The treaty of peace concluded between Japan and Russia at Portsmouth on the 5th of September last provides for the announcement of the Governments of Japan and Russia, respectively, of the ratification of the treaty by Their Majesties the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of Russia through the medium of the American embassy at St. Petersburg and the French legation at Tokyo. I now have the honor to advise your excellency, in pursuance of a formal communication made to the Secretary of State by the Japanese minister at Washington and transmitted to me by the Secretary of State, that the said treaty was duly ratified on yesterday, the 14th instant, by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.”
I am happy to inform you that yesterday, at 11.20 o’clock, a telegram was received from Mr. Eddy reporting that in accordance with instructions he presented the formal notice of ratification of the treaty of peace to Count Lamsdorff in person at 2 o’clock yesterday, the 15th instant.
Accept, etc.,