The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-15 00:00:00

SERIOUS CR A RGE AGAINST A BRITISR

OFFICIAL IN JAPAN.

(From the China Mail, Nov. 29, 1860.)

Some of the foreign visitors to Kawasaki have
probably been in the Seabonse Asia, or tea-house,
which overlooks the river, and, if so, they will not
fail to remember Outa -San, the daughter of the
mistress of the house. She is sometimes called la
petite, being little, and a pretty, modest, and gentle
girl of 14, who bids the guests welcome in the
kindest manner, who sees that they are attended
to, and who comes down to them as they are going
off on their ponies and wishes them a pleasant Jour-
ney. This tea-house is as respectable as any Eng-
glish hotel, and such was not the opinion of one of
those English Consuls in Japan who affect to be so
busily occupied in upholding treaty stipulations.
This gentleman was proceeding to Yedo, on Satur-
day, the 16th June last, and unfortunately reached
Kawasaki after the hour in the evening when all
passage of the river is strictly prohibited by the
Japanese authorities. He was in company with a
naval officer, who we much fear has met a watery
grave in the ill-fated brig Camilla.
On the arrival of this gentleman at Yedo a letter
was given to Mr. Aleock from the Japanese Minister
for Foreign Affairs, complaining that when the
Consul found he could not be allowed to pass the
river on the night of the 16th June, he horse-
whipped some of the officials stationed at Kawasaki.
He then went into a tea-house (the one we have
referred to), which is not licensed for purposes of
prostitution, and demanded that the daughter of
the house should sleep with him; and when this
was refused, as she was neither intended for a pros-
titute nor of fit age, he horsewhipped both her and
_.
her mother in order to enforce compliance to his
demand. We have seen a semi-official translation
of this letter, and it goes on, with
unexampled
pApanese
_p_hment
moderation, to say that, while draw
deulah
atten-
tion of Mr, Alcock to the matter, tdllte_
the error that
ignoran t of the Japanese
Go-
vernment does not formally
of the Consul, as he was
have fallen into
language, and must
for prostitution. This
all tea houses are places
apaneseGovernment was
statement of the _
cor-
roborated by the testimony of a foreign Consul,
who arrived at Kawasaki before the English
and ho, on inquiring for the daugh-
Consul lea,
ter of the house, was told that she had fled
from the violence with which she had been
treated, and could not return to the house until the
English Consul had left. Any visitor to Kawasaki
will have no difficulty in finding out Outa-San, and
inquiring for himself into this affair.
We merely notice it here as illustrative of the
very unsatisfactory state of matters in Japan at
present. Has Mr. Alcock taken any action in this
matter ? All the sins—real or alleged—committed
by the foreign community at Yokohama are but
dust in the balance compared with it. Let a
British subject commit the harmless act of going to
Yedo, or even let him commit the unpardonable
crime of having been said to have gone to Yedo,
and he is published to the world by Mr. Aleock as
a misdemeanant fleeing from justice. Let a
British Consul be officially accused of horsewhip-
ping Japanese officials, and of attempting, to all
intents and purposes, to rape a child, and a silence,
as of the grave, descends over the whole question.

CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE LONDON AND NORTII-
WEsTERN.—At a special meeting of the directors of this
company on Saturday, Rear-Admiral Moorsom, the deputy
chairman, who has been a director of the line from its com-
mencement, was unanimously elected to fill the office of
chairman, in the place of the Marquis of Chandos, resigned.
DEATH OF A CELEBRATED CRICKETER.—We re-
gret to announce the death of Wm. Hillyer, the celebrated
cricketer, which took place on the Bth inst., !at Maidstone.
He was in his 47th year, and was one of the best bowlers
that England ever produced. During his career, and
"at
of the late veteran Lillywhite, they achieved• nianY a To"
tory for the Marylebone Club, as "giyo,u" bowlers.