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the decision arrived at by the Japanese Government, and he now remonstrated with Soyejima as the only person in Japan that stood in the way of Japan’s ceding the whole island to Russia.

After the retirement of Soyejima from office, Munenori Terashima, who had been Japan’s first Minister to the Court of St. James, was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Vice-Admiral Enomoto was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to Russia, with instructions to negotiate the affair of Sakhalin. The instructions consisted in making Russia agree to some natural boundary between the Japanese and Russian territories on Sakhalin, and, in case Russia should claim the whole island to herself, in making her recognise the sovereignty of Japan over the whole of the Kurile group. In the latter case Japan was to demand from Russia compensation for roads and other works in Sakhalin, and also the protection of her fishing interests in the adjoining seas.

In negotiating with the Tokugawa Government, Russia had readily agreed to recognise the three islands of the Kurile group as Japanese territory, as well as to open Sakhalin to Japanese fishing; but now that she had established a firm footing on Sakhalin, she long refused to listen to any condition proposed by the Vice-Admiral, till finally the approaching storm in the Balkans made Prince Gortchakoff agree to sign the treaty of the 7th of May (25th of April of the Russian calendar), 1875.

The treaty consists of eight articles, by the first of which the Straits of La Perouse is fixed as the boundary between Japan and Russia. In the second article are enumerated the islands of the Kurile group, recognised as Japanese territory, and the straits between the island of Shimshu and the Cape of Rabakka is fixed as the boundary between the two empires. The third article stipulates that the transfer of sovereignty over Sakhalin, with all the rights emanating from it, should take place immediately on the exchange of ratification, both Governments appointing officers to superintend the formality of such transfer. The fourth article assures that all the public buildings and lands owned by the Japanese Government in Sakhalin, and by the Russian Government on the Kurile Islands, should pass on to each other’s possession, on the condition of the new owner paying indemnity for the buildings and movable property, to be valued by the officers mentioned in the third article. The fifth article concerns the nationality of the Japanese in Sakhalin and the Russians in Kurile, to whom the right of option is assured, with the promise to protect their property, labour, and worship, in case they prefer to remain in each other’s territory while retaining