John A. Bingham to Terashima Munenor, April 4, 1876

Sir: In pursuance of instructions from my Government, I beg leave to inquire what new conventions, if any, were entered into during the last and the current year between His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s government and that of the Lew Chew Islands, and also to be informed by your excellency whether any privileges and powers heretofore exercised by the government of those islands have, during the past and present year, been in anywise limited, restricted, or changed by the Japanese government.

I make these inquiries because it is the wish of my Government to know whether anything has been done in the premises which in anywise contravenes, limits, or changes the subsisting compact between my Government and that of the Lew Chew Islands, concluded on the 11th of December, 1854, and, if so, what those changes and limitations are.

I will thank your excellency for an early reply to these inquiries.

I have, &c ,