No. 168.
Mr. Seward
to Mr. Cadwalader.
United
States Consulate-General,
Shanghai, September 2, 1874.
(Received October 12.)
No. 811.]Sir: Referring to the matter of the arrest of
General Le Gendre, at Amoy, I have now to submit the following further
information:
After the consideration which I gave to the subject, as indicated in my
dispatch No. 797, it seemed to me that a prosecution of Le Gendre before me
under the neutrality act must fail.
* * * * * * *
At this conjuncture I received a dispatch from Dr. Williams, dated July 31, a
copy of which I inclose.
Looking to the tenor of this letter I concluded that my wisest course
[Page 341]
would be to release Le Gendre
immediately upon his arrival here. I did this, and now inclose to you a copy
of my dispatch to Dr. Williams, No. 387, reporting this action.
After Le Gendre’s arrival I received two letters from the consul-general for
Japan, copies of which, and of my responses and of the order to release Le
Gendre, will be found herewith.
I have received no word from Dr. Williams of later date than the dispatch of
July 31.
The arrest of Le Gendre gave the liveliest satisfaction to all the Chinese
officials. Mr. Henderson’s dispatch No. 44 to the Department speaks of the
sentiments of the Chinese in this regard. They consider that Le Gendre has
been the promoter of the whole business, and seem to feel that the chances
of an amicable settlement with Japan would be increased by his removal from
the field.
* * * * * * *
It is with extreme satisfaction that I learn at this moment that the leave of
Lieutenant Cassel has been revoked. There are difficulties in dealing with
our citizens who are civilians, but none can arise when the person is an
officer of the Government. And for the one the responsibility of the
Government is very different from that which arises in the other case.
* * * * * * *
I have, &c.,
GEORGE F. SEWARD,
Consul-General.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 811.]
[Confidential.]
Mr. Williams to Mr.
Seward.
Legation of the United States,
Peking, July 31,
1874.
Sir: I have received your two dispatches, No.
369 of 17th ultimo, and No. 377 of the 8th instant, with one from Consul
Henderson of the last date, all relating to the Japanese invasion of
Formosa and the connection of American citizens with that expedition,
and the proper action of United States consular authorities growing out
of it.
In Mr. Henderson’s dispatch a report is given of some of the proceedings
of Mr. Cassel and Mr. Wasson in aid of the Japanese, and you are of
opinion that writs of arrest against them and other Americans in the
expedition may now properly be issued.
I have carefully read all these papers and whatever else I can learn
bearing upon the subject; and I shall defer for a while to instruct Mr.
Henderson in the premises to issue such writs, for the following
reasons:
One initial difficulty in this whole affair is that there has been no
declaration of war on either side. Both the Chinese and Japanese
governments affirm that they are still at peace, although the latter
have committed hostile acts against the former, invading their
territory, attacking the villages of aborigines, and appropriating
property taken by force. We know that neither of these nations
acknowledge or understand what is technically called international law,
and therefore between each other we can hardly look for their acting
according to its requirements.
* * * * * * *
The officers of the Tsungli yamun were much startled to learn that the
Japanese were assisted and guided by United States naval and military
officers; and it is not strange that they complained that this was in
direct violation of Article I of the treaty between China and America,
and asked me to order them to withdraw from their connection with the
force then going to Formosa. I declined to do so at first, on the plea
that the Japanese had assured foreign nations that they had the consent
of the government of Peking to chastise the aborigines of Formosa for
injuries done their subjects; but learning afterwards that this
assurance was quite unauthorized, I told the yamun that the consul had
been directed to warn them and all Americans to leave the
[Page 342]
expedition. These officials
have been fully told that until there has been a declaration of war, it
is difficult for foreign nations to take any decided action in respect
to this quarrel; and until something has been done by them, or the
opposing forces of the two nations come to actual blows, our countrymen
may plead that in aiding the Japanese they are not violating the
neutrality act, nor any provision in the treaty of 1858, or the act of
June 22, 1860. Whatever ideas the Chinese and Japanese may have about
international obligations and rights, and however they may conduct their
negotiations in relation to this invasion of Formosa, we must have
regard to our own usages. The fact of a state of war must be tested by a
formal declaration from one side or the other, or by the commencement of
lighting between their opposing forces; and until this has been done, it
may be urged that the provisions of the twenty-fourth section of the act
of June 22, 1860, do not apply, and that the Americans in the service of
the Japanese did not enlist “to make war upon any foreign power with
whom the United States are at peace.” Their enlistment might lead to
complications, but as they are at liberty to enter that service, the
point where it becomes a violation of neutrality and treaty rights
depends on the action and declaration of the two chief actors.
The arrival of the Japanese minister in Peking this week brings the
parties into closer relations upon the management of this affair, and
they may soon arrange it peaceably, if rumors are at air to be relied
on.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 3 in No. 811.]
Mr. Shinagawa to
Mr. Seward.
His
Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Consulate-General,
Shanghai, August 18, 1874.
Sir: You have doubtless been informed that
General Charles W. Le Gendre, a citizen of the United States and late
United States consul at Amoy, who was engaged by the Japanese government
through the United States minister in Japan, in December 1872, in
conformity with the terms of Article X of the treaty of 1858 between
Japan and the United States, to serve in the department of foreign
affairs at Tokei as an officer of the second rank, who lately came to
China as His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s special commissioner, was on
the 6th day of August, 1874, forcibly taken before the United States
consular court at Amoy by United States marines landed for that purpose
from the United States steamship Yantic, upon unknown charges, and in
virtue of a warrant issued by the United States consul at Amoy, while he
was in Amoy on his way to Foochow and Shanghai on business connected
with his mission; that on the day following the Hon. Charles W. Le
Gendre was, against his will, again brought before the United States
consular court at Amoy, when for the first time he was verbally made
acquainted with the charges made against him; that from that date until
the 13th instant he was forcibly detained at Amoy by the United States
consul, and was thereby rendered unable to discharge the duties
intrusted to him by His Imperial Japanese Majesty; that on both
occasions he notified the United States consul that he yielded only to
force, which he was unable to resist, in suffering the violence and
detention to which he was subjected; that he strongly protested against
these proceedings with the United States consul at Amoy; that Mr.
Gosheki, His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s acting consul at Amoy, found it
his duty to himself protest in the most formal and solemn manner against
these acts of violence toward His Imperial’ Japanese Majesty’s special
commissioner, as being a manifest infraction of the rights of nations,
and contrary to the privileges and immunities which commissioners enjoy
in civilized countries, although such officers may not always be vested
with the character of public ministers; that on the 13th day of August,
1874, the United States consul informed Mr. Gosheki that Mr. Le Gendre
was arrested by him in the United States consulate upon a charge of
advising, aiding, and abetting an expedition in hostility to the
government of China in violation of the laws of the United States and
their treaty with China; and that he had informed Mr. Le Gendre that in
so doing he was acting under instructions from the United States
legation at Peking.
In the afternoon of the 13th instant the Hon. Charles W. Le Gendre was
sent to Shanghai in charge of the acting clerk of the United States
consular court of Amoy, and upon his arrival at this port, a paper
purporting to come from you was read to him by the marshal of the United
States consulate-general, from which he was given to understand that he
had been released from arrest by order of the minister, and that there
would be no occasion to hold him for trial on the charge preferred
against him by the consul at Amoy.
The circumstances of the arrest and detention of General Le Gendre being
now the
[Page 343]
subject of
correspondence between the governments interested in the affair, I beg
that you will have the goodness to furnish me, for the information of
His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s government, with a copy of the paper
read to him by your order on his arrival at Shanghai, as stated above,
if possible before the departure of the mail for Japan.
I take, &c.,
[Inclosure 5 in No. 811.]
Mr. Seward to Mr.
Phoenix.
United
States Consulate-General,
Shanghai, August 15,
1874.
Sir: Upon the arrival at this port of the
British steamer Arratoon Apcar you will proceed to that vessel, if the
hour shall be suitable, receipt to the marshal of the Amoy consulate for
General Charles W, Le Gendre, and say to General Le Gendre that the
instructions from the legation do not require a prosecution in his case,
and that he is discharged from arrest.
And this shall be your authority for so doing.
[Inclosure 6 in No. 811.]
Mr. Seward to Mr.
Williams.
United
States Consulate-General,
Shanghai, August 13,
1874.
No. 386.]Sir: Referring to my dispatches No. 383 and
385, and the additional telegrams given herewith, I now transmit to you
a copy of a dispatch which I have addressed to the Department of State
in the matter, (No. 797.)
As it would seem difficult and expensive for me to take jurisdiction in
the matter, I am disposed to send Le Gendre to Mr. Mangum, at Nagasaki,
and in case no objection to taking this course occurs to me I shall do
so.
You will understand the difficulties of the situation, and will, I hope,
approve my whole course in the case.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 7 in No. 811.]
Mr. Seward to Mr.
Williams.
Shanghai, August 19,
1874.
No. 388.]Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 387, I have
now the honor to report that General Le Gendre arrived at Shanghai on
the 16th instant, and was at once released from arrest upon an order
given by me.
The consul-general for Japan at this port has written to me two letters,
asking for a copy of his order of release. I inclose copies of his
letters, and of my responses, and as well a copy of my order.
I presume that the anxiety to possess this document is induced because it
indicates that my instructions from you do not require a prosecution of
General Le Gendre, while Mr. Henderson appears to have stated that his
arrest was in pursuance of your instructions. Mr. Henderson may very
well have supposed that my first telegram to him was based on late
advices from you, especially on the advice expected in response to his
report of the service of the warning to leave the Formosa expedition
upon Messrs. Cassel and Wasson.
I inclose herewith a copy of a protest made by General Le Gendre before
the consular court at Amoy.
I may revert to this matter at a later date.
I am, &c.,
[Page 344]
[Inclosure in 7 in No. 811.]
You are hereby instructed and empowered to arrest ——, should he be found
within your jurisdiction, and to detain him in custody until he shall
have given to the United States of America a bond, with sufficient
sureties, in the penal sum of — —; such bond to be upon the condition
that the said ——— shall not, within —— from the date hereof, take part,
directly or indirectly, in any hostilities between the empire of China
and the empire of Japan; and that he shall not, during said period of
——, aid or assist in any manner or degree one of the said empires, or
any portion of the people thereof, in setting on foot or prosecuting any
hostile expedition or operation against the other of said empires, or
any portion of the territory or people thereof.
Given ——
[Inclosure 9 in No. 811.]
Mr. Seward to Mr.
Shinagawa.
United
States Consulate General,
Shanghai, August 19,
1874.
No. 7464.]Sir: I have received your letter of yesterday.
As the matter of the arrest of General Le Gendre is stated by you to be
the subject of correspondence between our respective governments, I will
transmit a copy of the order upon which he was released to
Washington.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 10 in No. 811.]
Mr. Shinagawa to
Mr. Seward.
His
Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Consulate-General,
Shanghai, August 19, 1874.
Sir: Your dispatch of to-day has been received.
From it I understand that you are unwilling to furnish me, for the
information of His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s government, with a copy
of the order on which General Le Gendre was released, but that you will
transmit the same to Washington.
Before I inform our minister at Peking of your decision, I have to
request whether you will have any objection to let me have a copy for
his use.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 11 in No. 811.]
Mr. Seward to Mr.
Shinagawa.
United
States Consulate-General,
Shanghai, August 19,
1874.
No. 7469.]Sir: I have had the honor to receive your
dispatch of this date, and as I learn from it that you are referring the
case of Mr. Le Gendre to your minister at Peking, I have to say that in
due course the order of release referred to will be transmitted to the
United States legation in that city.
I am, &c.,
