[Untitled], January 11, 1870.

[Untitled]

The minister of France to their excellencies the ministers for foreign affairs of the Mikado:

I received the letter in which your excellencies inform me that the government has decided to remove the Christians of Urakami from their homes, for the purpose of distributing them among various daimios, under sentence of labor. According to the statement of your excellencies, the arbitrary measure is in final execution of the one carried out last year, the motive being to prevent quarrels between those Christians and their neighbors interfering with the established authority.

On the other hand, I learned from the intelligence received by me from Nagasaki, that in compliance with instructions sent from Yeddo since the 1st instant, the local authorities had already taken steps to deport seven hundred of those unfortunate Christians, and that all efforts to procure a delay had failed.

I intend to join my colleagues in examining a situation which, to me, appears serious in every respect, but as several of them are absent from Yokohama I hasten to earnestly protest against a cruel and unjust measure against innocent people, whose only offense is the profession of the Christian religion.

I shall not inquire to-day in how far the quarrels among the people of Urakami, alleged as motive for their deportation, are justified by facts; but I am enabled to state that no mention of any such cause is made in his report by the vice-consul of France, who, on the contrary, states that those Christians have invariably conducted themselves as obedient subjects.

In conclusion, I must state that the course now adopted by the Mikado is in direct opposition with declaration made to us in the beginning of last year by the minister for foreign affairs.

I have, &c.,