Mr. Pruyn to Mr.
Seward
No. 8.]
Legation of the United States in
Japan, Yedo,
January 27, 1863.
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
Legation of the United States in
Japan, Yedo,
January 27, 1863.
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.