No. 421.
Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

No. 1250.]

Sir: Referring to my No. 1226, in which I had the honor to acquaint [Page 690] you that in accordance with instruction No. 535 I had on the 11th of December last ordered and decreed the amendment, as therein stated, of section 22 of title “Criminal Proceedings” of the “Regulations for the consular courts of the United States of America in Japan,” issued November 16, 1870, I now beg leave to inform you that having submitted said order and decree of amendment to the several consular officers of the United States in Japan, the same has been returned to me by them, indorsed approved and assented to by the said officers severally.

After the receipt of the approval by our consular officers in Japan of said order and decree of amendment, I did on the 28th ultimo cause the same to be published, with my signature and the signatures and opinions and the assent thereto of my advisers indorsed thereon, in the Japan Daily and Weekly Mail, a journal issued in Yokohama, a copy of which publication is herewith, in duplicate, together with a copy of my order that said amendment should take effect and be in force from and after the 2d instant, of which notice and publication I have duly acquainted our several consular officers in this empire.

In thus ordering and decreeing this amendment and giving thereto the force of law until the same shall be amended or modified by act of Congress, I conformed to your instructions and to sections 4117 and 4118 United States Revised Statutes, 1878, page 792.

Hoping that my action as herein stated may meet your approval,

I have &c.,

JNO A. BINGHAM.
[Inclosure in No. 1250.—Extract from the Japan Daily Mail, January 28, 1881.]

[Cut of eagle.]

Notice is hereby given that the following amendment of section 22 of the title “Criminal proceedings” in the “Regulations for the consular courts of the United States of America in Japan,” published to be in force November 16, 1870, shall take effect and be in force from and after the 2d day of February 1881, the said amendment having been heretofore, to wit, on the 11th of December, 1880, ordered and decreed by me, and the same having been heretofore duly assented to and approved by the several consuls of the United States of America in Japan as certified by them respectively.

JNO. A. BINGHAM,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
of the United States of America in Japan.

amendment.

It is hereby ordered and decreed that section 22 of the title “Criminal proceedings” in the “Regulations for the consular courts of the United States of America in Japan,” adopted November 16, 1870, be and the same is hereby amended so that the same shall read as follows:

The punishment of persons convicted of crimes in the courts of the United States in this empire, except in such cases as are otherwise provided for by law, shall be as follows: murder shall be punishable by death; manslaughter shall be punishable, by imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years and a fine not exceeding $1,000; all other felonies shall be punishable as provided by the laws of the United States of America, and for misdemeanors at common law the punishment shall be by fine not [Page 691] exceeding $500 or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.

[l. s.]
JNO. A. BINGHAM,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America in Japan.

Assented to.

THOS. B. VAN BUREN,
Consul General.

Assented to.

J. STAHEL,
Consul.

Assented to.

A. C. JONES,
Consul.

Assented to.

W. C. DAVISSON,
Consular Agent.

I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the record in the legation of the United States of America at Tokei, Japan.

[l. s.]
D. W. STEVENS,
Secretary of Legation.