SIIIMONOSE'KI, a sea-port city of Japan, at the extreme s. end of the province of Nagato (Choshiu), commanding' the narrow straits of the same name; lat. 33° 56' ri. long. 131° e.; pop. '75; 19,532. It is the terminus of the great high road that traverses' the entire main island, and- the entrepot of a bustling junk and steamer trade. It is surrounded by high hills. In 1185 the naval battle, in which 1200 warjunks were engaged and the Taira army was annihilated by the Minamotos; was fought off the town. In 1864 the daunio of Choshin and his retainers• erected forts on the bluffs, and refused td allow foreign vessels to pass through the straits—a place where they had no legal: right to be, the laws of nations guararpeeing, to every country the right to all its terri-' tory "to the distance of a marine league along all its coasts." (see Wheaton. pa-vim): The strait of Shimonoseki at the narrowest portion is but half a- mile wide. The thikado• commanded the Choshin clan to close the strait. Foreign vessels were first warned-off and then fired on. By the instigation of sir Rutherford Alcock, another expedition consisting of five British, four Dutch, and three French ships, with the small chartered steamer Takiting, having on board a gun and a party from the Jamestown, represent ing the United States, arrived Sept. 4 off the batteries, and began the bombardment on
the 5th, continuing it for 8 days, when the silenced forts were entered and dismantled. The allied powers demanded from Japan the suns of $420,000 for injuries and expenses; and an "indemnity" of $3,000,000, of which $750,000 was paid to the United States, and $10,000 to the American owners of the ship Pembroke, Bred on by the batteries, but unhurt. The total expenses incurred in the expedition by the United States government was less than $25,000 (see Mihsuo's EMPIRE, p. 503). The " Shimonoseki Indemnity Fund," still lies in the U. S. treasury, amounting by accumulation of interest to about $1,500,000. Tire many attempts to have the money returned, thus iniquitously extorted from Japan have thus far failed. It is to be hoped that this justice will not be long de layed.