Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/322

 298 COBEA. possession of a Corean, is his absolutely ; (9), Any boat from a surveying ship, unable to return to the ship, shall be provided with necessaries by the headman of the place, who shall be afterwards refunded ; (10), If the ship of any foreign country be wrecked on the Corean coast, the men shall be cared for, and handed over, if they so wish, to the Japanese agent, to be sent to their own country; for ''Japan has entered into friendly relations with foreign nations, though Corea has not''; (11), The preceding ten articles are equally binding with the original treaty ; but if the working of any article is found prejudicial to the interests of either country, after a year's notice it can be reconsidered. The ''Trade Begulations " demand the production of ship's papers, manifest, capacity of vessel, and other particulars, before goods can be landed ; the manifest is in the Japanese language only. Goods are landed by the permit of the Corean authorities^ on the receipt by them of the description and value of the goods, which, if examined, must be in a careful manner, so as not te damage them. Exported goods must pass through the Corean government offica Ships desiring to clear, must give notice to the Corean authorities before noon of the day of sailing ; rice and other grain may be exported ; tonnage dues are fixed, from which ships of war are exempted. The government, or subjects of Corea^ may charter Japanese vessels to any Corean port Japanese ships smuggling shall be seized by the Coreans, handed to the Japanese ; and the goods attempted to be smuggled shall be forfeited to the Corean government Opium is strictly prohibited And the last article provides for the mutual revision of any of the trade regulations at any time. We are sorry to know that the Corean govemmeut, which was compelled, under threat of war, to form that treaty, has almost nullified it^ by enormous prohibitive customs. Corea could not possibly defeat a Japanese invasion ; and it is highly impolitic to keep the relationship an open sore.