ld secure careful regard for the interests and
susceptibilities of that Government in the enactment of any laws
relating to Chinese immigration.

Those clauses of the treaties which forbid the participation of citizens
or vessels of the United States in the opium trade will doubtless
receive your approval. They will attest the sincere interest which our
people and Government feel in the commendable efforts of the Chinese
Government to put a stop to this demoralizing and destructive traffic.

In relation both to China and Japan some changes are desirable in our
present system of consular jurisdiction. I hope at some future time to
lay before you a scheme for its improvement in the entire East.

The intimacy between our own country and Japan, the most advanced of the
Eastern nations, continues to be cordial. I am advised that the Emperor
contemplates the establishment of full constitutional government, and
that he has already summoned a parliamentary congress for the purpose
of effecting the change. Such a remarkable step toward complete
assimilation with the Western system can not fail to bring Japan into
closer and more beneficial relationship with ourselves as the chief
Pacific power.

A question has arisen in relation to the exercise in that country of
the judicial functions conferred upon our ministers and consuls. The
indictment, trial, and conviction in the consular court at Yokohama of
John Ross, a merchant seaman on board an American vessel, have made it
necessary for the Government to institute a careful examination into
the nature and methods of this jurisdiction.

It appeared that Ross was regularly shipped under the flag of the United
States, but was by birth a British subject. My predecessor felt it his
duty to maintain the position that during his service as a regularly
shipped seaman on board an American merchant vessel Ross was subject to
the laws of that service and to the jurisdiction of the United States
consular authorities.

I renew the recommendation which has been heretofore urged by the
Executive upon the attention of Congress, that after the deduction of
such amount as may be found due to American citizens the balance of the
indemnity funds heretofore obtained from China and Japan, and which are
now in the hands of the State Department, be returned to the Governments
of those countries.

The King of Hawaii, in the course of his homeward return after a journey
around the world, has lately