260 MURDER OF MR. RICHARDSON. Chap. XV. 
cut through ; and on moving the head, the neck 
was found to be entirely cut through on the left 
side. The two first-mentioned wounds had evi- 
dently been the first he had received, and had been 
given while he was on horseback ; the last four, or 
certainly two of them, had been inflicted after he 
had fallen from his horse, if not after death. A 
litter having been hastily constructed, the party 
returned to Kanagawa with the body.” 
Poor Mr. Richardson ! I knew him well. He 
was a fine manly specimen of a young English- 
man, of a mild and conciliatory disposition, and not 
at all likely to give any wanton offence to the 
Japanese people. Why then was the party at- 
tacked, and why this brutal murder? They were 
riding along the Imperial highway, within the 
limits of the settlement provided by treaty with 
the Government of the Tycoon, and were appa- 
rently infringing no law. Perhaps their great 
offence was this : they did not turn back or out of 
the way quick enough when they saw the cortege 
of the great man approaching. But although this 
was probably the pretext for attacking them, other 
causes, lying far deeper than this, were not want- 
ing. These are an intense hatred to foreigners of 
Western nations, and a dread of those innova- 
tions and changes which are seen to be coming 
upon the country, and which will eventually destroy 
the feudal power. 
It is becoming clearer every day that the Go- 
vernment of the Tycoon, with whom we have made 
