The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-09 00:00:00

JAPAN.

The Japan Commercial News of Nov. 1 says :
'6 In oar issue of Tuesday last we stated that their
Excellencies General Pruyn, the American minister
resident, and D. de Graeff Van Polsbrok, the consul
general of the Netherlands, had received invita-
tions to attend a conference of the Gorogio, at
Yedo, at 12 o'clock on the 26th inst.
"The customary civilities having been gone
through, the business of the meeting was stated—
viz., the closing of the port of Kanagawa to foreign
trade.

"The Gorogio said they had invited the repro
sentatives of America and of Holland to Yedo to
open to them in the presence of the whole of the
Tycoon's Government the very important subject
which they had now approached, and which they
thought would require several conferences to arrive
at a full understanding and settlement. With this
view they had appointed Takemoto Kai no Kami
and Ikido Sinri as commissioners to negotiate the
withdrawal of foreigners from Yokohama, and the
closing of the port of Kanagawa to foreign trade.
They requested the foreign ministers to inform their
respective Governments that the notification of the
Minister Ogasawara, signifying the intention of the
Japanese Government to exclude foreigners entirely
from Japan, had been withdrawn and cancelled
except in so far as Yokohama was concerned, but
that they found it necessary to close that port.
" The foreign ministers expressed great surprise
that they should have been invited to Yedo to hear
such a communication as this, and wanted to know
if this was all the important business for which they
had been invited to meet the Gorogio, and why the
British and French ministers had not been invited ?
"The Gorogio answered that they had not yet
communicated upon this subject with the British
minister or the French minister ; that they had
communicated first with the representatives of
America and Holland, because they had made the
first treaty with America and were the oldest friends
of the Dutch. They wished to make this important
communization in the presence of all the chief
officers of the Government, and as all could not con-
veniently leave Yedo to wait upon the foreign
ministers at Yokohama, they found it necessary to
invite the latter to come to Yedo to receive this com-
munication.
" The Japanese ministers said that the treaties
had been made only as an experiment to see if
foreign trade and intercourse would suit Japan.
They found it did net snit, and were desirous to
know if the foreign ministers would consent to give
up Yokohama without previously consulting with
their resrective governments. They regretted the
murders that took place from time to time at the
port of Yokohama, but could not prevent such
things, nor put a stop to the revolution which any
day may break out in the country, without closing
that port.
" The American minister and the Dutch consul-
general said they could not discuss such a proposi-
tion—that the invitation to them to come to Yedo
on this occasion was like one man sending word to
another to come to his house in order to tell him
that he must leave that house. General Pruyn told
them that the treaty of the Japanese Government
with the United States was not a temporary one,
but one of perpetuity, and, in the language of the
treaty, ' on firm and lasting foundations, Sec.; and
could not and would not be given up.
"The Gorogio expressed a wish that the subject
matter of this conference might not be communi-
cated to the other foreign ministers in Japan, but
both the foreigu representatives present assured the
Gorogio that the whole of what had passed at that
conference would be immediately communicated
to their colleagues, the other foreign ministers, and
that any objections to the contrary were as vain as
to expect the treaty powers to give up Yokohama
or any further ports in the country. Indeed, the
American minister went so far as to say that a great
mistake had been made in temporarily giving up
Gana; that it should never have been done; and
that had it not been done, this request would never,
in his opinion, have been made.
" By this time the Gorogio had written invitations
to the British minister and the French minister, re-
questing them to come to Yedo to meet them in con-
ference. We are not sure that the subject of the
desired conference was specified on this occasion ;
but the Gorogio said they wished to discuss' certain
important matters with each of those ministers.
" We understand that Colonel Neale, her Bri-
tannic Majesty's representative, replied to this
invitation at once in terms to put an effectual stop
to any further invitations of this extraordinary
character from the Japanese Government. He told
them that he would not attend a conference which
had for its objsct nothing less than the cession of a
great treaty right, that he would not discuss nor
receive any representation, nor minister or envoy of
the Japanese Goverment, upon such a subject;
that the utmost he would do would be to forward to
his Government any representation in writing made
in becoming language, which the Japeneac Govern-
ment might desire to make to the British Govern-
ment; that he advised them to weigh well the
terms in which they would make such representa-
tion, as the consequences might be very momentous
to them; end, in conclusion, he seemed them, we
hear, that i❑ the meantime, pending the answer of
the 13ritieh Government to such representation, any