Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-03-30
Persecution of Native Christians in Japan.
A correspondent of the Springfield Republic
can writes from Yokohama:


can writes from Yokohama
A little more than year ago, the newly or
| ganized government of Japan began to put in
| force the old law against Christians. The law
! had so long slumhered that hopes were enter
| tanned that the progress of events in this cOun-
| try had so far modified the views and feelings
OF the mkado's government that the statue
would, by let-alone policy, he suffered to be-
come obsolete, and that ere long religious liber-
ty would be granted to the people. But events
have shown that so far from being only ques
ton of time, this government does not mean
that there shall be any question at all as to its
purpose to exclude the Christian religion from
the realm. The arrests made at Nagaski late in
1869 were most decided utterance to that effe
A large number, generally supposed to be from
three to four thousand, of native Christians, re-
siding IN and near that city, were seized and
dragged from their homes, hurried on board of
eight or ten steamers provided for the purpose,
and carried Off to parts then unknown.
Neither the circumstances of Sir Harry
Parkes, the British minister, who hap
| pened to be al Nagasaki at that
time, nor those of all the consuls at that port.
availed to arrest the procedure. Indeed, the
consuls were coolly told that the imperial gov
ernment could manage its internal affairs with
| out their counsel or assistance. So ship load
after ship load of those poor people left the har-
| Dor. An American man-Of-war lay there at the
| time, and one of her officers says that the ma
| tive Christians on the steamers decks silently
| crossed themselves as they passed his ship in
timating that they were sufferers for religions
| sake. From that time, until recently, little if
| anything has been heard of them. If is now
| known that they were sent off in different par.
ties, some to Satsma's territory, some TO Cho.
| shin's, some to Higo's, and Kangass ETC., etc.
and, as it will appear from the following details
respecting the treatment of one company, who
were sent to kangas's territory, there is no room
to doubt thai all of these people have been sub
| jected TO most inhuman cruelty, | have these
facts from foreigner who has been able with
out transgressing any law Of Japan, to visit the
prison where party of seven hundred Chris
tians are confined. This testimony is, therefore,
that of an eyewitness.
He found them shut up in what looked like a
huge cage built for the purpose at the bottom of
deep depression resembling crater in the ton
Of hill The building is of two stories, but is
invisible till one stands on the rim of the crater
whence he might drop a stone upon the roof
The wi ole seven hundred were ali confined IN
the upper story, from which they have no egress.
Their oppreSsors begrudge them even the sight
Of bit Of blue sky, and cannot Oxford them a
range of few yards to walk in, in the open air.
There, in that pent-up sly, the poor wretches
are huddled together, without regard to age or
sex. Mothers brought with them their infant
| children, nearly hundred of them, when they
| first entered this place of confinement, but few
of them now have the comfort of extending
their maternal love and care for their babes. for
within few months past. This peStilence has
prevailed in Japan with unusual maignity.
But, whatever pest may invade the prison of
these Christians, neither physician nor medicine
is provided for them by their keepers. Were
disease to carry them off. | dare say il
| would be regarded as special good fortune by
| the government, for it is evidently its aim not
TO save life, but to kill. The daily allowance of
food to the prisoners is ball of dirty Saigon
| rice. The staple of this country, of which there
| is no scarcity, is too good for those who dare 10
| believe what this government condemns. Be-
sides, the miserable ration they receivei is barely
enough to keep body and soul together, while
| the Tie that unites them must be constantly at
tenuated by such and SO scant diet. The aim
Of their oppressors is, if possible, to constrain
some Of them by such cruelty to deny their
ialth. With view to such a possible result,
another, and more comfortable building, has
Deen erected not far from the prison to receive
| tnose VINO recant. Hitherto it has never had an
occupant. When my informant visited the
prison, tue prisoners crowded as near as posi-
pie 10 the spot where be stood without delight
ed 10 see the face Of one who sympathized With
them, and wishing to speak with him, but the
Keepers, IN whose breasts the last spark of bu-
Dlanity seemed extinct, beat them back with
clubs, thrusting them between the bars of their
cages.
He there saw two dead bodies living inst where
they died OF smallpox, two DAYS before, no at
tempt having been made to remove them. The
prisoners told him this was not unusual and
those who died were always dragged out OF the
prison at the end of long poles, TO which the
survivors were compelled to fasten Them the
Deggarly keepers wishing TO keep out of the way