Becoming a Foreign Minister in the second ITO Cabinet, Munemitsu MUTSU, who had succeeded in the conclusion of the equal treaty with Mexico, requested the Minister-Counselor to England Shuzo AOKI to negotiate with the country, and in 1894 just before the Sino-Japanese War, he succeeded to conclude the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with England, which heightened the sense of danger against the advance southward of the Russian Empire, and thus abolished the extraterritoriality.
第二次伊藤内閣で、メキシコとの間に平等条約締結を成功させた陸奥宗光が外相となり、駐英公使の青木周蔵を交渉に当たらせ、1894年（明治27年）の日清戦争直前、ロシア帝国の南下に危機感を募らせていた英国と日英通商航海条約の調印に成功し、治外法権制度を撤廃させた。