Mr. Van Valkenburgh to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I had the honor to inform you, in my dispatch No. 52, of the 26th May last, that the Tosa men, who murdered eleven sailors belonging to the French corvette “Dupleix,” at Sakai, in March last, had been canonized for that outrage. I gave it then as my opinion that I did not believe the Mikado’s court had been willfully guilty of such an offensive proceeding, but that it rather was the unauthorized act of some high priests, which that court had been powerless to prevent.
I now transmit inclosure No. 1, a print of the burial place where the remains of those murderers are entombed. The hat and whip show that they either belonged or were raised after death to the equestrian or responsible class. On the tombstones are engraved the names and the last words spoken by each of these men, a translation of which formed inclosure No. 1 of my dispatch No. 52, above referred to.
These prints are freely hawked about the streets of this town, and also other places, no doubt. I greatly regret this, as it seems to indicate that there is enough anti-foreign feeling extant to warrant a supply of such a publication in a popular form.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.