Mr. Seward to Mr. Van Valkenburgh.
Sir: Tour dispatch of the 4th of June, No. 57, has been received.
I thank you for the diligence you have shown in giving me a copy of the petition which was presented to the naval and military forces by the Tokugawa family of the Mikado’s government.
It manifests much devotion to the cause of the late Tycoon. You have given me, also, a copy of the letter which the naval commanders, under the Mikado’s flag at Yedo, have addressed to the representative of the Tokugawa family, upbraiding them for their omission to deliver up their ships of war to the Mikado, pursuant to an alleged compact. You have further given me a translation of the appeal of Kats-awa to the Mikado, in which he insists upon a recall of the late Tycoon from his enforced banishment to Mito.
In view of the past authority and the connections of the writer, if you have correctly described them to me, that paper is indicative of a long struggle on the part of the Tokugawa family.
The importance attributed to the Miya Sama, or lord of the great temple at Yedo, by the Mikado’s chiefs and by the people, is an exceedingly curious and interesting fact.
The military fraternization, which took place between the prince of Sendai and the prince of Adsu, in which the Mikado’s cause was perfidiously sacrificed, while both parties affected implicit obedience to his commands, shows that treachery is not unfamiliar to the princes of Japan.
The anxiety which we feel for the end of the political convulsions in Japan is increased rather than relieved by the events which you have related.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
R. B. Van Vankenburgh, Esq., &c., &c., &c.