No. 188.
Mr. Bingham to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Tokei,
Japan, January 18, 1877. (Received
February 19.)
No. 495.]
Sir: Referring to my No. 472, of date the 11th
ultimo, in relation to the promised protection of American citizens and
their rights on the Bonin Islands, I regret to say that it appears by a
complaint recently made by a citizen of the United States to Mr. Yan Buren,
that his rights of property, and also those of other citizens of the United
States in those islands, have been violated by Japanese officials. I have
addressed a communication to his excellency Mr. Terashima on the subject, in
which I request him to protect our citizens in those islands in their rights
of person and property. I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of the
dispatch of the consul-general transmitting the complaint of Mr. Nye, a copy
of which is also inclosed, together with a copy of my dispatch to Mr.
Terashima above referred to. (Inclosures 1, 2, and 3.)
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 495.]
Mr. Van Buren to
Mr. Bingham.
United
States Consulate-General,
Kanagawa (Yokohama), Japan, January 16, 1877.
No. 2369.]
Sir: Herewith I have the honor to transmit to
you a statement prepared by Capt. Crocker Nye, now in command of the
Tamamura-Maru, of the Mitsu-Bishi M. S. S. Company, concerning certain
property owned by himself and other American citizens at the Bonin
Islands, and the alleged action taken in connection therewith by the
Japanese authorities in December last, for all of which I beg your
careful consideration.
All the parties referred to as owners of the property are Americans.
Captain Pease, as you are aware, is dead.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 495.]
Mr. Nye to Mr.
Bingham.
Sir: I wish to call your attention to some
proceedings on the part of the Japanese Government at Port Lloyd, Bonin
Islands. I am informed by good authority that the Japanese who went down
to the Bonin Islands, per Taikei-Maru, in December, 1876, landed and
took possession of a place called Akei. This land was purchased by
Benjamin Pease, from a Frenchman named Louis Lascelles, more than five
years ago. The deed was made out in his wife’s name, and the same is
recorded in the United States consulate, Yokohama. In the summer of
1873, I purchased the schooner Tori, for $3,200 (Thomas S. Stevens
owning one-half with me), and we formed a partnership, or agreement,
with Benjamin Pease and Metiah Jordan for the purpose of raising stock
at Akei, we putting the price of the vessel against the land, and agreed
that each should hold one-quarter of the vessel and One-quarter of the
land, and whatever profit
[Page 342]
or
loss should be shared in the same way. The same year we brought
seventeen head of cattle from Ascension, in the schooner Tori, aud
placed them on Akei, and built a stock-yard to keep them in at night.
There was a meeting in August or September, 1874, to settle boundary of
lands and other disputes, which were all settled, except one,, by
general consent; the boundary of Akei on the north was called Ugly
Gulch, and the southwest side of a large hill on which an outlook had
been placed to watch the cattle. This gave Akei a frontage on the water
of over half a mile and extending back half-way over the island,
widening as it extended back. The place has always been in charge of one
of the interested parties until Susan Pease (widow of Captain Pease) was
told to leave by the Japanese, and also requested the cattle to be taken
away, which was to be done when the Taikei-Maru left, as soon as weather
permitted, as the cattle have to be made to swim around the headland and
placed on other people’s premises, and kept at our expense. I am also
informed that the houses have been taken down and the banana-trees,
which had cost a great deal of labor to plant and bring into bearing
condition, some of the plants having been brought from Ascension. We had
also planted about two hundred cocoa-nut trees. All the land around the
harbor of Port Lloyd is held and improved by some one, and the Japanese
could not have a landing or a place to build unless they took land
belonging to those who held and improved it, and as they have taken Akei
I pray that we may be compensated for our loss and for the expense we
have incurred. We have always had to pay duty on all shell and oil we
have brought from the Bonin Islands, and to pay export duty on all
lumber we took down for building purposes. I have some of the receipts
now. I have a power of attorney from Susan Pease to act for her. Thomas
S. Stevens, Metiah Jordan, and myself are in the employ of the M. B. S.
S. Company.
Yours, &c.,
[Inclosure 3 in No. 495.]
Mr. Bingham to
his excellency Terashima
Munenori.
Legation of the United States,
Tokei, January 18,
1877.
No. 455.]
Sir: I am in receipt of a communication from
Thomas B. Van Buren, esq., the consul-general of the United States at
Kanagawa, wherein he informs me of a complaint made to him by a citizen
of the United States named Crocker Nye, who claims that certain property
belonging to him and other citizens of the United States, and held by
them in the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, has been wrongfully taken and
some of it destroyed by Japanese officials. I have the honor to inclose
herewith for your excellency’s information a copy of Mr. Nye’s statement
and complaint. (See inclosure 2.)
Referring to your excellency’s dispatch to me of date the 7th of Decmber
last I observe that your excellency was pleased to say therein that
foreigners who have owned and improved lands in the islands for several
years shall be secured in their property,, and that no inhabitant of the
islands will be molested in his rights.
I trust that your excellency will direct that the citizens of the United
States who have been deprived of their property as stated may have the
same restored to them and that the spoliation of their lands shall
cease.
I have, &c.,
