DS as president, signed “T. Roosevelt,” one page, 8 x 10, February 11, 1904. President Roosevelt directs the Secretary of State to cause the Seal of the United States to be affixed to “my proclamation of the neutrality of the United States during the present hostilities between Japan and Russia.” Signed boldly at the conclusion by Theodore Roosevelt. In fine to very fine condition, with a rusty paperclip impression to the top edge. Accompanied by two printed copies of Roosevelt’s ‘Neutrality-Russia and Japan’ proclamation.
The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire between 1904 and 1905 over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. When Emperor Nicholas II refused Japan’s offer to recognize Russia’s dominance in Manchuria, in exchange for the Korean Empire falling within the Japanese sphere of influence, a stalemate ensued. Negotiations broke down in 1904 and the Imperial Japanese Navy opened hostilities in a surprise attack on the Russian Eastern Fleet at Port Arthur, China on February 9, 1904, two days before Theodore Roosevelt signed this document. After Japan’s decisive naval victory at the Battle of Tsushima, the war was concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, 1905. At the behest of the two nations, the peace conference was mediated by President Roosevelt, who, for his efforts, won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, making him the first American to ever win a Nobel Prize.
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