JAPAN. 



555 



residence near the entrance, and burned the 

 small village of Amidagume, in which several 

 thousand horse and foot soldiers were station- 

 ed, who made but a feeble resistance. 



On July 25th, a meeting of the representa- 

 tives of the United States, France, Great Brit- 

 ain, and the Netherlands, was held at Yoko- 

 hama, and it was unanimously agreed that the 

 inland sea, now closed to commerce by the out- 

 rageous acts of the Prince of Nagato, should be 

 reopened by the combined naval forces of the 

 above governments. 



Mr. Seward, under date of September 1st, in- 

 structed Minister Pruyn to demand of the Gov- 

 ernment of the tycoon a compliance with treaty 

 stipulations; the prompt payment of a sum 

 sufficient to indemnify all the losses which 

 were sustained by himself and other members 

 of the legation on the occasion of the firing of 

 his official residence ; to demand that diligent 

 efforts be made to discover the incendiaries and 

 bring them to condign punishment ; to demand 

 proper and adequate guarantees for his safe re- 

 turn to Yeddo, and the permanent reestablish- 

 ment of the legation there without delay. He 

 said : " Insist on the full observance of the trea- 

 ties between the United States and Japan in all 

 the particulars which have not been heretofore 

 waived or postponed by this Government, and 

 demand reasonable indemnity, to be fixed by 

 yourself, for the injuries which have been 

 sustained by American citizens from any acts 

 of violence committed against them by Jap- 

 anese subjects ; and further demand that dili- 

 gent efforts be made by the tycoon's Govern- 

 ment to bring the aggressors to justice, and to 

 inflict upon them such punishment as will be 

 calculated to prevent further outrages of the 

 same kind." 



Mr. Pruyn is authorized to employ the naval 

 force at his command to protect himself, the 

 legation, and others of our countrymen, under 

 any circumstances which may occur ; and he 

 will inform the Government of the tycoon 

 that the United States will, as they shall find 

 occasion, send additional forces to maintain the 

 foregoing demands. 



Under date of Oct. 3d, 1863, Mr. Seward wrote 

 to Mr. Pruyn : " Having been advised by your 

 despatch of the 8th of August, which came from 

 San Francisco by telegraph, that the tycoon 

 has returned to Yeddo, and that your relations 

 with his Government are much improved, I 

 deem it inexpedient to restrain your discretion 

 at present by special instructions, but cheerfully 

 wait the development of events which must have 

 occurred since that communication was sent." 



As all the efforts of Colonel Neale to obtain 

 satisfaction from the Prince of Satsuma for the 

 murder of Kichardson failed, Admiral Kuper 

 proceeded with his fleet to Kagosima, which is 

 in Kiusiu, the most southern of the four islands 

 which constitute the Japanese empire. There 

 Prince of Satsuma has a castle and strong fortifi- 

 cations which the British admiral intended to 

 attack. The expedition consisted of seven ves- 



sels, while other seven remained in the harbor 

 of Yokohama. The vessels forming the expe- 

 dition reached their destination on the 12th of 

 August. As the Japanese showed no dispo- 

 sition to avert hostilities, Admiral Kuper pre- 

 pared for action. The following details of the 

 memorable naval engagement which now en- 

 sued are taken from the " Japan Herald," an 

 English newspaper published at Yokohama : 



On the afternoon of August 14th, there was a gener- 

 al shifting of the disposition of the fleet, the greater 

 part of which were placed under the island, out of 

 range of the guns on the fort in the middle of the chan- 

 nel, say 1,VOO yards on either side. The Euryalus, 

 although shifting, still remained within range, as 

 did also the Perseus. On the morning of the 15th 

 the Pearl, Coquette, Argus, Havoc, and Racehorse 

 proceeded up the bay, and took as hostages three 

 steamers there at anchor said to be the England, pur- 

 chased by Satsuma in 1861, for 120,000 dols. ; the 

 steamer George Grey (for 40,000 dols.) ; and the Con- 

 test, which cost him 85,000 dols., in May last. The 

 locality of the anchorage of these vessels" was snugly 

 behind Point Wilmot. 



The weather, which had been stormy during the 

 whole morning, now became worse ; it was raining in 

 torrents, and the wind blowing a hurricane round the 

 bay. At ten o'clock the above named vessels, English 

 and Japanese, had returned, and at twelve the men 

 were just piped to dinner, and nothing immediate ex- 

 pected, when suddenly the battery on the main cover- 

 ing the Euryalus, and that on the island covering the 

 Perseus, opened fire. The three hostage steamers 

 were forthwith fired (their crews having, been pre- 

 viously sent on shore, and one of the head officers on 

 board, recognized as having belonged to the staff of 

 one of the late ambassadors to Europe, and another of- 

 ficer, at their own request having been taken on board 

 the flagship where they now remain). All the ships 

 weighed and formed line of battle. The Perseus then 

 engaged the battery that had been firing at her in 

 beautiful style, as we are informed, knocking her an- 

 tagonist's guns over, one after the other; and when 

 she had completed that, as though she had been only 

 getting her hand in, she passed over to the other side, 

 and engaged the battery on the opposite shore. All 

 the batteries (10) were then engaged by the ships, at 

 point blank range, at from 400 to 800 yards respective- 

 ly (the Euryalus being within 200 yards), commencing 

 with the northernmost and passing down the entire line. 

 About dusk the town was fired in several parts by 

 our shells, and three of the forts silenced. All the 

 ships then returned to their anchorage, save the Race- 

 horse, which had got ashore within 200 yards of the 

 nearest battery, of which accident she availed herself 

 in true British style to pour her metal into it until it 

 was effectually silenced. The Argus was sent to bring 

 her off, which she accomplished after about an hour's 

 delay, during the whole of which time she was under 

 fire from one of the other batteries. 



This was Saturday the 15th, during the whole of 

 which day it had been raining and blowing fiercely. 

 The loss on this day to us was 11 killed and 39 wound- 

 ed. About nine o'clock the whole of one side of the town 

 was blazing. The following day (Sunday) the weather 

 cleared up, the dead (2 officers and 7 seamen) were 

 consigned to their sailors' grave in Euryalus Bay, at 

 eleven o'clock, and the fleet stood out. passing close to 

 the batteries on the island, which it engaged the whole 

 way. The destruction accomplished oy the fleet ap- 

 pears to have been enormous. There can be no doubt 

 that the whole city is now one mass of ruins, including 

 the palace, the factories, and the arsenal and ware- 

 houses ; the batteries also have been seriously damag- 

 ed ; not one of them which had been engaged the first 

 day fired a shot on the second day as the fleet passed 

 out. The three destroyed ships alone have cost Satsu- 

 ma 245,000 dollars, upward of half of which he has 



