Commodore Shufeldt had, at the date of the signing of the treaty, served forty-three years in the navy, during which he had performed important duties in connection with the slave trade and in the Civil War. This diplomatic mission did not come to him by chance, but he, like Perry, was selected for it because of his fitness to perform its duties. He had discharged with credit a diplomatic trust in Mexico during the Civil War, and had made himself conversant with Korean affairs by two previous visits to that country. His last diplomatic success added another worthy page to the history of the peaceful achievements of the American navy.
By the terms of the treaty the United States was admitted to trade in the three ports already opened to the Japanese, and to such as might be afterwards opened to foreign commerce; diplomatic and consular officers were to be received; provision was made for the case of ship-wrecked vessels, and other usual stipulations of commercial treaties; traffic in opium was prohibited; and exterritorial jurisdiction was given to American consuls,—but the following provision was inserted: "Whenever the king of Chosen shall have so far modified and reformed the statutes and judicial procedure of his kingdom that, in the judgment of the United States, they conform to the laws and course of justice in the United States, the right of exterritorial jurisdiction over United States citizens in Chosen shall be abandoned;" and the two countries were to be open to the residence respectively of the citizens and subjects of the other to pursue their callings and avocations.[1]
- ↑ For Sargent resolution and speech, 7 Cong. Rec. pt. iii. pp. 2324,
