Mr. Pruyn to Mr. Seward.
My Dear Sir: * * * * * *
I feel sure the President would have permitted the Fusiyama to leave had it not been that it was advisable to set an example to Great Britain. Otherwise discretion might have been left me as to delivery. I should have acted, after conference, &c., with my colleagues. The Monitor case is now provided for by [Page 676] the convention. I have advised the owners they must now look to our government. Their case is not a very strong one. The vessel is found wherever and whenever there is trouble in Japan. The consul at Nagasaki had a complaint preferred on them by the governor of the port that the ubiquitous steamer had put into a small port in an island not far distant—it was claimed for repairs. It is now daily expected here. When I have given the owners an opportunity for explanation, I will send a despatch.
The Japanese have purchased British steamers since the affair at Simonoseki, and the ship of the admiral is now lying beside the flag-ship of the French admiral, undergoing repairs by French engineers. There can certainly be no cause for withholding this steamer now by our government. The British officers are giving instructions also in cavalry tactics and other branches of the military art, and a brisk trade in Belgian, Prussian, and English rifles is in progress.
I regret there should have been a necessity for stopping the vessel, so long a time having elapsed since ordered. We have friends here who think ruin our only national heritage, and though the government has shown no distrust, I think our relations would not suffer by its arrival.
* * * * * * *
I am, very faithfully and respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.