No. 199.
Mr. Bingham to Mr. Evarts.

No. 571.]

Sir: I regret to say that the insurrection in this empire, which should not have begun, is not yet closed. Unhappily this people have not yet learned the great lesson of ages, that an appeal to arms is never to be resorted to until the conditions of peace and submission to law become more dangerous to life and property than the conditions of war.

It seems altogether probable that the insurgents must yield to the superior forces of the Emperor within the next thirty days. Unless there shall be new uprisings in other provinces, this must be so. Acting upon what I suppose to be the spirit of the age, and especially of our own people and country, I have informally and unofficially suggested that his Majesty the Emperor should, in the event of his triumph, season justice with mercy. My suggestion was well received, when I said that nothing more became a sovereign, and that humanity governs the moral forces of this century in all lands and under all forms of government.

I beg leave to inclose the proclamation of Prince Arisugawa-no-Miya, of the imperial house, the commander in-chief of His Imperial Majesty’s army.

I have, &c.,

JNO. A. BINGHAM.
[Inclosure.]

Proclamation of Prince Arisugawa-no-Miya to Kagoshima Ken (Satsuma)

To Kagoshima Ken:

Since the rebels of the above Ken forced their way into Kumamoto Ken in a great multitude, the people of Kagoshima Ken have been in a condition of great excitement, and have been allied with the rebels one after the other, and not a few of them have met with an untimely death, at which His Majesty the Mikado was greatly distressed, and sent out an imperial envoy to restore peace. But the people did not in the least understand his meaning, and wanted to act with still greater violence. However, at last they were beaten and came to their present defeated condition, and now they have left Kumamoto Ken, and it is very uncertain whether they will return to their own Ken, passing through the province of Hiuga, and whether fear may not arise that they will injure quiet people. Now, therefore, His Majesty the Mikado intends at present to dispatch soldiers of the army specially to protect the people and to enable them to live in peace and quietness.

You, the Kocho, are requested to notify all the people under your jurisdiction to labor at their callings without suspicion, and to refrain from all insurrectionary movements.