The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-10


are treated differently In this particular.
AZ applied 10 Turkey. Egypt, China
and some other pagan countries the term
Internationally" siGnihee that, among
other special privileges conceded, an
American citissn resident OF found
therein must, when charged with q crime
or with M Offences against tho local civil
law, b. tried by the diplomatic or CON
sulnr representative Of tho United
states, and N adJudlRd guilty must
have HE punishment metsd out 10 him
by such officer. OF oourse, this immun-
NY from native Jurisdiction, which In
assured by treaty, Ia not confined 10
missionaries, but Ia enjoyed by ell Amer
loan o~itlSens, i~rrespeotlvely Of their
profession or occupation. A q matter
Of fact, however, outside Of the treaty
ports the American citizens encountered
by natives are almost exclusively mis-
sionaries. IL IA they who, throughout
the interior Of the vast Chinese Empire,
profit by the treaty privileges ertorted
from the Pekin Government and appeal
10 the State Department TO enforce
them. That Ia why missionaries have
had to bear the brunt Of the odium and
evaporation which a rigorous applica-
tion Of the system Of exterritoriality not
unnaturally provokes. That IL to say.
II missionaries are eyed with Jealousy
and suspicion and occasionally are the
victims Of gross outrages II Ia not In
their capacity Of professors and propa-
gandists OF the Christian religion, but a.
benefciaries Of invidious privileges.
This is the gist Of Colonel WEIdHr-
MANS statement Of facts. From those
facts, however, IL is not necessary to
draw the deduction that the system Of
exterritoriality in China should be given
up, or to assume that becauseit has been
renowned In one part Of the Far East
Thrust be relinquishcd in another.
When the question Of exacting by
treaty the privileges Of exterritoriality
from a given country is mooted the test
inquiry always is, or should be: May
that country fairly be described as civil
lized in the Western sense OF the term,
and especially as regards the administra-
ton of justice between natives and for
eigners' II that query be addressed to
China as she is to-day 1t must be an
swered in the negative, whereas a sim
liar reply cannot be returned with any
show of equity in the case Of Japan
under existing conditions. Even IL tho
Chinese courts and magistrates were
not VIGOROUSLY swayed by favoritism
and infected with corruption. 1t would
be glaringly unjust to subject foreigners
to the jurisdiction OF tribunals charged
with the exposition Of IN antiquated,
alien and almost insorutable jurispru-
denoe, and accustomed to follow strange
and mysterious modes Of procedure.
Under such circumstances the oonoes-
sion of exterritoriality by the Pekin Gov
eminent was the fundamental condition
Of commercial intercourse with the West
ern world. A precisely similar state Of
things prevailed in Japan when the
earlier treaties were made with the Sho-
gunate, and the United States was
therefore justified at that time in de-
handing for its citizens the privi-
leges Of exterritoriality. 1t was also
justified In retaining them for a long
time after the revolution Of 1868, which
restored the Mikado to temporal power,
because a good many years were needed
to bring about a drastic reform Of Japa-
nese institutions. In the course Of three
decades, however, the native codes Of civil
and criminal law and the native methods
of legal procedure were thoroughly re-
constructed after Western models, with
the result that the original pretext for
exterritoriality had approached the van
ishing point.
Such being the t%renchant change
effected in Japan's judicial system, the
Mikado's Government, after the war
with China in 1sa4-s5 had been brought
to a triumphant close, respectfully re-
quested the treaty Powers to cancel
the exterritoriality clause in the exist
ing conventions. With more or less
alacrity and cheerfulness the other sig
natories gave consent.
When China emulates her neighbor in
the adoption of Western civilization and
adapts her system Of jurisprudence and
her modes Of judicial procedure to West
ern ideas Of justice, her tribunals will be
treated with as much respect as Is now
shown to those Of Japan.