Mr. Griscom to Mr.
Hay.
American Legation,
Tokyo,
Japan, June 14,
1904.
No. 87.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of the Department’s instruction No. 53 of April 14, 1904,
inclosing for my information and for the attention of the Japanese
Government a copy of a dispatch from Mr. Lambert, vice-consul, in charge
of the American consulate at Tamsui, offering several suggestions to
further restrain the inhabitants of the island of Botel Tobago who were
implicated in the ill treatment of the survivors of the shipwrecked
American vessel the Benjamin Sewall.
I immediately called the attention of the Japanese Government to Mr.
Lambert’s three suggestions in a note to the minister for foreign
affairs (a copy of which is herewith inclosed) and am now in receipt of
his reply (a copy transmitted herewith), in which he says that the
purport of my note had at once been communicated to the proper
authorities.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
Mr. Griscom to
Baron Komura.
American Legation,
Tokyo, May 25,
1904.
Mr. Minister: With reference to my note
which I had the honor to address to your excellency regarding the
appreciation felt by my Government for the punitive measures visited
by the Imperial Japanese Government upon the inhabitants of Botel
Tobago Island for their inhuman behavior toward the survivors of the
shipwrecked American vessel Benjamin Sewall,
I have the honor to state that I am directed by my Government to
convey to you some suggestions, which Mr. Lambert, vice-consul, in
charge of the American consulate at Tamsui, has ventured to offer
with a view to assisting the Imperial Japanese Government in further
restraining the natives from the commission of like crimes.
It appears from information given Mr. Lambert by Doctor Goto, chief
of the civil administration bureau, Formosan government, that a
difficulty encountered by the Imperial Japanese Government in their
earnest endeavors to fix the responsibility for the outrage was that
no one, apparently, was able to speak the dialect of the Botel
Tobagoans. Therefore the suggestion is made that three or four of
the principal chiefs of the villages known to have been implicated
in the outrage be held as hostages for the good behavior of their
tribesmen for a period of not less than three years, and that the
place of their detention be the jail at Taihoku, where an
opportunity would present itself for some responsible official to
acquaint himself with their dialect. It is also suggested that it
might be well to increase the police force on the island of Botel
Tobago, especially during the typhoon season when wrecks are more
likely to occur, and, furthermore, in the event of the recurrence of
such outrages the hostages be promptly made to pay the penalty.
I take, etc.,
[Inclosure 2.]
Baron Komura to
Mr. Griscom.
Department of Foreign Affairs,
Tokyo, June 8, 1904.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of the 25th ultimo
regarding the inhuman behavior of the inhabitants
[Page 448]
of Botel Tobago Island toward the
survivors of the shipwrecked American vessel the Benjamin Sewall, and I beg to inform you in reply that the
purport of the same has at once been communicated to the proper
authorities.
I avail, etc.,
