extraterritoriality. But when the text of this proposal appeared in Japanese newspapers, the population greeted it with open hostility, considering such a judicial reform humiliating and dangerous. The dissent led the Japanese government to adopt a stricter attitude towards western diplomats and this inevitably stalled the negotiations at the very moment when a timid opening by the great powers was looming. In February 1888, Ōkuma Shigenobu became Foreign Minister. He engaged in a series of separate negotiations with each of the Western powers in the belief that if he could persuade one of them to sign a new treaty, the others would be forced to follow suit. He decided to turn to a lesser power that was more willing to concede more advantages to Japan. The choice fell on Mexico, which had no residents in Japan and did not trade extensively with it. On 30 November 1888, the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation between the two powers was signed in Washington, the first to actually provide for a level playing field between the signatories, as Foreign Minister Matías Romero renounced extraterritoriality in exchange for the right of Mexican citizens to trade and reside in the Japanese hinterland. However, this success was quickly thwarted by the intervention of Great Britain and France, who used the most-favored-nation clause to extend these concessions to them as well. One event that favorably influenced the attitude of the powers towards Japan was the Emperor's granting of a constitution, promulgated by him on 11 February 1889. This event was a key step in the westernization of Japanese institutions, which now also had a Prussian-inspired bicameral Diet. The latter, however, would have been extremely counterproductive for treaty revision negotiations. The representatives of the lower house, elected by the people and with little political experience, would undoubtedly have opposed concessions to the West and obstructed the government's work, while there were loud calls in the streets for a unilateral abrogation of the existing treaties. Okuma succeeded in October 1899 in making new agreements with the United States, Germany, and Russia, but the Japanese population regarded these new treaties as yet another surrender against Japan. On 18 October 1889, after a meeting, Okuma was the victim of a bomb attack in front of the Department of Foreign Affairs by a fanatic from the nationalist group Gen'yōsha. This caused him to temporarily withdraw from political life, while Prime Minister