No. 163.
Mr. Seward
to Mr. Davis.
Shanghai, August 11, 1874. (Received September 17.)
Sir: I have the honor to inclose to you herewith a series of telegrams that have passed between the consul at Amoy and myself, showing the arrival of General Le Gendre at Amoy, his arrest, &c.
It is notorious that General Le Gendre has a special concern in the [Page 329] Japanese expedition to Formosa. You are aware that, during the time of his service as our consul at Amoy, he made many visits to the island. At a later moment he appeared in Japan, “having a very full and complete set of maps, charts, photographs, &c., of the coast, mainland, and people of Formosa” (Mr. De Long to Mr. Fish, No. 302, November 6, 1872.) He was then brought into communication with the Japanese government, and there followed negotiations for his employment by that government, “with a distinct reference to the use of his services as an adviser in military operations, should they become necessary.” (Mr. Fish to Mr. De Long, No. 164, December 30, 1872.) The military operations here referred to would appear to be those since undertaken in Formosa, ostensibly to punish savage inhabitants of the island for alleged maltreatment of shipwrecked Japanese. This matter is thus spoken of by Mr. Low, in his dispatch No. 264, of June 13, 1873:
There are, he says, (the Japanese ambassador,) only two questions of importance which he desires to discuss with the Chinese government.
- First. Whether China is responsible for the acts of the aborigines on the island of Formosa. If the government answers this question in the affirmative, he will then demand redress and indemnity for the murder of some natives of Loochoo, who were wrecked there a year and more ago. If the answer be given in the negative, notice will be given that Japan proposes to send a military force to Formosa, to chastise the savage and semi-civilized tribes that practically hold undisputed possession of a large part of the island, and, as there are no safe harbors on that part of the island where the aborigines reside, permission will be asked to land troops at one of the ports open to trade, and to march them through Chinese territory that lies between the ports and the points where the troops are intended to operate against the savages.
- Second. To ascertain the precise relations between China and Corea, &c.
General Le Gendre was associated with the embassador on this mission. (See Mr. Low’s letter, No. 256, May 13, 1873.)
It has been reported that the Chinese disclaimed responsibility for the acts of the Formosan savages.
It has been reported again that they agreed to take some steps to restrain them for the future. At any rate, in the early part of this year, the Japanese set on foot an expedition to Formosa of an extensive character. My several dispatches in regard to it have laid before you all the general information which I have gathered, and will have demonstrated that it was not intended for a raid against a few scattered miserable savages.
That expedition sailed from Japan in the middle of April. The southern part of Formosa, from sea to sea, was at once occupied. The savages were encountered and beaten in conflict or driven into inaccessible mountains. Long since the ostensible purposes of the expedition were accomplished, but the Japanese still remain. They have put up houses of such description as warrant the belief that they are intended for permanent occupation. They have constructed a few roads where their utility for military purposes is not manifest. It is said that large numbers of troops are massed near Nagasaki, ready to be moved in case of the outbreak of war. Meanwhile the Chinese, who beyond a doubt would be glad to see the Japanese evacuate the island and let the matter drop, have been in negotiation with Japan, and, as if in anticipation of war, have mobilized large forces and are everywhere preparing for war.
Of the view which the United States representative at Peking takes you are doubtless informed. I may, however, quote from his dispatch to me of June 17 last:
I suppose my instructions to Mr. Henderson have reached you in passing, and I have therein given my views of the countenance and aid which our countrymen are affording [Page 330] to the Japanese. It is our duty to maintain the peace existing between this empire and our own country, and these men are violating that peace, and must be restrained if it can be done. The first article of the treaty gives one of its chief obligations and its infraction by their assisting an armed invasion of Formosa needs no proof, now that the real nature of that expedition has been shown. It seems to me that all right-minded people thus engaged must now see that the Japanese are using them in carrying out hostile designs, and that their presence militates against the honor and obligations of the United States.
The persons more particularly referred to in this extract are Messrs. Cassell and Wasson, citizens of the United States, who are now actually in the Japanese camp in Formosa.
It would seem as if it had been the intention of General Le Gendre to accompany the expedition.
Under date of the 18th of May the United States minister at Tokei wrote to me as follows:
From information recently received I deem it proper to say to you that before any expedition left Japan for Formosa, or any other portion of China, viz, on the 18oh and also on the 19th of April, I made written protest to the minister for foreign affairs against the employment by Japan of any ship or citizen of the United Sfcates in an armed expedition against Formosa until the written consent of China thereto should have been first obtained by the government of Japan. On the 22d of April, and while the expedition still remained in port at Nagasaki, I received from the minister for foreign affairs a dispatch, in which he said that in compliance with my request the steamer New York and Messrs. Le Gendre, Cassell, and Wasson, citizens of the United States, had been detached from this service.
What better evidence could be adduced to show that the moment for the use of General Le Gendre’s services, “as an adviser in military operations,” had arrived?
Messrs. Cassell and Wasson did go to Formosa. The New York did not go. A vessel chartered from British subjects did not go, a similar notice having been sent to the Japanese government by the British minister. General Le Gendre also remained behind. Public report says that he was at Nagasaki on or about the date when the expedition sailed and engaged in promoting its departure. When the New York, a Pacific mail-steamer, was detached, he appeared at the Pacific mail agency and complained violently of her withdrawal, believing apparently that it was the act of the company. From the inception of the scheme for an invasion of Formosa on the part of the Japanese there are, then, numerous proofs to connect him with it and to establish the proposition that he has promoted it.
The first intimation that I had of his departure for the scene of operations came to me by Mr. Henderson’s telegram of the 5th instant. Called upon to act promptly, lest the opportunity might be lost, I did not hesitate to advise his arrest. It remains now to determine whether there is a case against General Le Gendre which will justify me in prosecuting him for a breach of the neutrality act.
* * * * * * *
General Le Gendre remains at Amoy, and I am using my best endeavors and judgment to determine whether it is possible or right to hold him longer, having due regard to law and international obligations. I confess that the conclusion is forced upon me that I have no means open to me to prevent his going on to Formosa and there taking up arms against the country upon whose soil he now is.
Writing, as I do, at the last moment before the departure of the mail-and having had but little time to give to the consideration of the subject, I am unwilling to decide hastily what should be done. I should be sorry to think that you might see in my course any lack of regard for the rights of the individual. I should, however, be more sorry to [Page 331] fail in regard to the rights of the great empire upon whose soil I stand, and which has deputed to our Government certain duties which cannot be too faithfully and impartially discharged.
I have, &c.,
Consul-General.