Mr. Seward to Mr. Van Valkenburgh.
Sir: Your dispatch of the 30th of May, No. 55, has been received.
You gave me therein a copy of a proclamation which was issued by the government of the Mikado, in April last, whereby it is proclaimed that “the Christian and other civil religions” are strictly prohibited; that any person suspected of violating that commandment must be reported to the proper officer, and that the reporter shall be rewarded.
You inform me that you have lost no time in conferring upon that transaction with the representatives of the other treaty powers; that the conference thus sought resulted in a unanimous agreement to address an identical letter of protest against the proclamation to the commissioner of foreign affairs. You have given me, also, a copy of the protest which you addressed, in execution of this resolution, to the Japanese commissioner. Your letter is also accompanied by a copy of a correspondence which has taken place between yourself and her Britannic Majesty’s minister upon the subject of the proclamation, from which correspondence it appears that the British minister concurs in the measures you have adopted.
Your proceedings, thus recited, are entirely approved and commended by the President. He regards the proclamation as not merely ill-judged but as injurious and offensive to the United States and to all other Christian states, and as directly conflicting with the eighth article of the treaty between the United States and Japan of 1858, and no less in conflict with the tolerating spirit and principles which prevail throughout the world. You are advised, therefore, that the United States, cannot acquiesce in or submit to the Mikado’s proclamation. This decision will be directly communicated from this place to the several powers who hold treaty relations with the Japanese empire.
[Page 758]You are authorized to make the same known to the representatives of those powers in Japan.
The United States do not desire to add to the civil disturbances which are now unhappily existing in Japan by awakening religious prejudices or passions. Such a course of proceeding would be equally unfriendly to Japan and inconsistent with the accepted principles of the Christian religion. You are, therefore, instructed to act in the matter without any unnecessary demonstration, and in concert with the representatives of the other western powers. I assume that they will be instructed to co-operate with you in the endeavor to obtain the repeal or abrogation of the offensive proclamation. You will be expected to seek this object in a peaceful and inoffensive manner, avoiding publication of your proceedings as far as shall be found practicable and expedient. You will, nevertheless, be expected to proceed in the matter with firmness and without practicing any injurious hesitation or accepting any abasing compromise.
If it shall be necessary, you will distinctly inform the Japanese authorities that this government will regard it to be an imperative duty to protect the lives and property of citizens of the United States against any persecution which may be instituted under the Mikado’s proclamation. I am, sir, your obedient servant,
R. B. Van Vankenburgh, Esq., &c., &c., &c.