control of Korea's foreign affairs passed to the Residency-General.
The Twenty-second Session of the Imperial Diet (December 28, 1905-March 27, 1906) is worthy of special notice because it passed, with slight amendments, the government bill for the nationalization of the railways of the Empire. The original bill contemplated the purchase by the government of all the railroads: but the Diet amended the bill, while accepting the principle, by exempting a few small railways of no great strategic importance, and applying the principle to seventeen large and important lines. In the same year, the railways in Korea passed under the management of the Japanese Government
Another event worthy of notice is the organization in 1906 of the Japan Peace Society, composed of men and women of several nationalities and of many shades of political and religious belief. And in 1909 this society was honored and strengthened by Count Okuma's acceptance of the position of President.
The year 1907 was marked by the negotiation of several "Agreements" of prime importance in the maintenance of peace in the Far East. In the first place, the Russo-Japanese Convention (July) "consolidating peace and good neighborly relations," proved that the Portsmouth Treaty was not merely a sort of truce but a desire to "preserve the peace permanently." The Franco-Japanese Agreement (June) evinced the strong "desire to strengthen the relations of amity existing between" the two peoples. A new Japan-Korea Agreement (July) gave Japan the control of the internal administrative affairs of Korea and especially established a "clear differentiation" of the Executive and Judicial departments of State. This separation of the judiciary from executive and official interference was further emphasized by the appointment of an earnest Japanese Christian, Judge Watanabe, as Chief
