Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1889

Mr. Bayard to Mr. Mutsu.

Department of State,
Washington, February 14, 1889.

Sir: I have just received your note of this date conveying the sad intelligence of the death of his excellency Viscount Arinori Mori, minister of education of Japan, by wounds inflicted by a religious fanatic.

That such a tragical occurrence should have had no other prompting than a diseased mind, and be wholly devoid of personal or political motive, deprives the incident of the most dangerous features.

Be pleased to accept an expression of my condolence in the loss of your eminent compatriot, and

Believe me, etc.,

T. F. Bayard.