§ MR. LAYARDasked the indulgence of the House in making a statement in vindication of the character of two very meritorious and excellent public servants, Lieutenant Colonel Neale and Admiral Kuper, When information reached those officers of the sensation which had been caused in this country by the very exaggerated statements which had been made concerning the events which had taken place in Japan, they naturally felt very deeply pained. He had that morning received a despatch from Colonel Neale, relating exactly what took place at Kagosima, which he trusted the House would permit him to read, as due to the gallant officer and Admiral Kuper. The despatch would, of course, be immediately printed and circulated, but he was anxious to bring it before the House at the earliest moment. Colonel Neale wrote as follows:—
Yokohama, Jan. 16.My Lord,—The misconceptions which appear to have influenced the remarks of some of the public journals in England in respect to the proceedings at Kagosima, as published in the London Gazette, I venture to conceive, render it proper that I should place upon record a series of facts, the official recital of which did not seem to me at the time to be of urgent necessity. The statements of the Prince of Satsuma's agents, herewith enclosed, were made in free and friendly conversation with the members of this Legation, while the indemnity money was in course of counting and reception. I deem it desirable to add that the population of Kagosima at no period exceeded 40,000 inhabitants, far less 180,000, as has been strangely imagined, to serve as a more striking text for comments; and further, that those 40,000 souls, men, women, and children, withdrew while their huts and paper houses incurred the risks attendant upon stray shot and shell from a British squadron, audaciously fired upon by numerous batteries, because it had signalled its intention to obtain redress for a barbarous murder and outrage committed upon British subjects, for which all redress had been evaded. 1911 Subsequent events, the voluntary payment of the indemnity demanded; the formal obligation entered into to execute the murderers of Mr. Richardson when arrested; the professions of friendship cheerfully expressed by Satsuma's envoys on behalf of their chief; their desire to cultivate friendly and social intercourse with the British nation; and their good humour and graceful offerings (of fruit) to the crew of the flagship of the British admiral after the facts of Kagosima; would all imply that the agents of Her Majesty displayed a degree of caution and moderation duly appreciated by those most deeply interested.I have, &c,EDWAKD ST. JOHN NEALE.An inclosure contained the purport of the conversation and statements of the agents of Prince Satsuma, on the occasion of the payment of the indemnity money at Her Majesty's Legation, on the 11th of December, 1863, and was as follows:—The agents for the payment of the indemnity stated that they had taken advantage of a coming typhoon at Kagosima to fire on the squadron, but that the typhoon had been the cause of the extent of the conflagration, and in consequence of there being no people in the town to put it out; that the number of soldiers collected in and about the batteries was 6,000; that immediately upon the appearance of the squadron, and even previously, as they had heard through Nagasaki it was coming, the Prince of Satsuma had ordered the inhabitants to retire into the villages, and that, therefore, no harm had happened to the people; that if we returned to Kagosima, we should find the town nearly restored to its original state; that reserves of soldiers were kept outside the batteries, but that it was difficult to get them to go into them to supply the place of those who were killed; that, immediately upon our taking the steamers, a horseman had been despatched at full speed to ask the Prince of Satsuma what should be done, when he directed that the batteries should immediately open fire upon the squadron.ABEL A. J. GOWEH. LACKLAND FLETCHER.JOHN MACDONALD. A. VON SIEBOLD.