Mr. Pruyn to Mr. Seward

No. 8.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches, No. 24, of September 25, and No. 25, of September 29 last.

I received with great gratification the information that the President is satisfied “that my proceedings have been, in all respects, the best that could have been adopted to co-operate with and sustain the British legation, and to bring the government of the Tycoon to a just sense of this new outrage, and of the danger which it brings on the empire.”

I have the honor to transmit enclosure No. 1, copy of my letter to the ministers of foreign affairs, agreeably to your instructions.

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

ROBERT H. PRUYN, Minister Resident in Japan.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington.

[Page 1065]
No. 1.

Mr. Pruyn to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs

I have the honor to inform your excellencies that the President of the United States has been pleased to approve of all my proceedings on the occasion of the attack on the British legation in June last.

I have been instructed to inform your excellencies that the President received the information of the assassination of the two British sailors with profound emotion, and that while the United States will hereafter, as heretofore, prove themselves a generous friend, yet that the safety of all representatives, citizens, and subjects of all the treaty powers must and will be insisted upon as an indispensable condition of the continuance of the relations between the United States and Japan which have been so happily established.

The President has derived much satisfaction from the reply of the ministers of foreign affairs to the letters which I had the honor to address to them on that occasion, and has expressed a hope that the government of his Majesty the Tycoon will practice such diligence in bringing all persons connected with the transaction to condign punishment, as will give assurance to the British government and to the treaty powers that the rights and safety of foreigners in Japan will hereafter be inviolably protected.

It has afforded me sincere pleasure to be able to inform the President that I am satisfied that the Japanese government is sincerely desirous of extending this protection, and of securing to the citizens and subjects of the treaty powers all the rights conferred upon them by treaty.

The cultivation of this feeling of good will, and the faithful observance of their reciprocal obligations by Japan and all the powers with which treaties have been made, not in a narrow spirit, constantly asking how much can be withheld, but in an enlarged spirit of liberality, which shall ever ask how much can with propriety be done, will result in great advantage to Japan and the world. And I indulge the hope that the friendship which now animates all these governments will be greatly increased and be perpetual. With respect and esteem,

ROBERT H. PRUYN, &c., &c., &c., Japan.

Their Excellencies Midsuno Idsumi No Kami, Itakura Suwo No Kami, Ogalawara Dlusio No Kami, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Yedo.