The Japanese Minister to the Secretary of State.
Washington, October 14, 1905.
Sir: The treaty of peace, concluded between Japan and Russia at Portsmouth on the 5th of September last, provides for the announcement [Page 821] of the Governments of Japan and Russia, respectively, of the ratification of the treaty by Their Majesties, the Emperor of Japan and the Emperor of Russia, through the medium of the American embassy at St. Petersburg and the French legation at Tokyo. I now have the honor, in pursuance of instructions from my government, to inform you that the said treaty has been duly ratified to-day, the 14th of October, by His Majesty the Emperor, and to request that you will have the goodness once again to exert your good offices by giving telegraphic instructions to the American representative at St. Petersburg to bring the fact of such ratification to the knowledge of the Russian Government.
It is the understanding between the Governments of Japan and Russia that the above announcement be given mutually on the day following the ratification of the treaty by the respective sovereigns, and, consequently, I beg to request that in sending the above instructions to the American embassy you will be so good as to add that the announcement referred to should be handed to the Russian Government to-morrow, the 15th instant. I am also instructed to request that, as soon as the above announcement has been handed to the Russian Government, the United States Government would kindly inform the Imperial Government of that fact.
Be pleased, etc.,