[Untitled], January 30, 1871.

[Untitled]

To their Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, &c., &c.:

I beg leave to inform your excellencies that since having answered your communication conveying to me the sad intelligence of the unfortunate assault recently made in Yeddo upon Messrs. Dallas and King, I would add to what I have already said, the assurance that the foreign representatives have heard of this outrage with deep concern. We had hoped that the establishment of the government of His Majesty the Tenno, would have been distinguished by a cessation of attacks upon the lives of foreigners, and we regret, therefore, to see in the present instance a repetition of so grave a crime. The two Englishmen had not provoked the attack. They were walking quietly in the streets when one or more Japanese stole up behind them under the cover of darkness, and cut them down with the long swords usually carried by the armed class. It is only too evident to all of the foreign representatives, that in the ranks of the Japanese sworded class there are men who are ready to use their weapons for the worst purposes, and who think little of taking the lives of their fellow-men. It is, also, evident that the disposition to crime is greatly encouraged by the light degree of restraint to which these dangerous men are subjected, and by the permission given them to wear their deadly weapons on all occasions.

The sword should be the symbol of honor and distinction, and should be intrusted only to those who will not disgrace it, but how frequently many men of the sworded class are seen in the streets of Yeddo in an excited state, threatening defenseless people with their weapons, and cutting at dogs, or committing other offenses. Surely, such men are not worthy of the privilege of carrying arms, and how can the government who allows them to do so disclaim responsibility for the violence they commit.

I trust that the measures now being taken by the government to bring to justice the Japanese who attacked Messrs. Dallas and King, will speedily prove successful, as the value of punishment in so serious a case depends greatly on the promptitude with which it is inflicted. But the foreign representatives all feel that the punishment due in the present instance will not alone suffice to protect their countrymen in Yeddo, or elsewhere, against the recurrence of similar violence, and they consider, therefore, that it is the duty of the Japanese government to take more resolute measures than they have hitherto done for controlling disorderly men of the sworded class. It is obvious that such danger would be avoided if officers only were allowed to wear their swords habitually, and if men of the common class were forbidden to carry these arms except when engaged on some public duty. The foreign representatives consider themselves bound, therefore, to earnestly urge on the Japanese government the adoption of a measure of this nature. If the latter should think from the trouble that it may entail it would be well for them to reflect on the danger to which they will expose themselves by allowing the lives of the subjects and citizens of all the treaty powers in Japan to be imperiled by a particular class of unruly Japanese, and on the reproach which the latter brings upon the country by such outrages as those of which the foreign representatives now complain.

With respect,