Paris Correspondence of the London Court Journal.
* * * The Japanese Ambassadors left us yesterday to proceed to London. The last days of their stay at the Hotel du Louvre were marked by a most extraordinary and impressive concurrence. One of the officers belonging to the suite of Envoys received the order which had been dispatched almost immediately after his departure from Japan, to commit the act of suicide, or self-execution, known as the hari, described by Bayard Taylor and other travelers in Japan as the only method of avoiding the disgrace and torture accompanying a public execution. What the offence committed by the miserable man before his departure from Japan was, or what the means whereby it was discovered must forever remain a secret. But what is certain is the fact of the act of suicide having been faithfully performed by the victim, and, according to official form, in presence of the representative of the spiritual majesty of Japan, and by stabbing himself in the bowels with the broad yataghan which every Japanese officer of distinction wears upon his bosom, suspended by a thick gold chain round his neck. It appears that it has been the custom daily of an afternoon for the four-and-twenty chief officers of the expedition to take their bath in a large marble basin which has been expressly fitted up for the purpose on the first floor of the hotel. In this, the water being let off and renewed at pleasure it was easy to accomplish the work of vengeance; and here, alone with the minister of Imperial wrath, the shadow appointed to watch every movement of his companions and report every action to his sovereign, did a miserable being put an end to his existence, at the word of command issued from the other side of the globe. The bath waiters of the hotel had reported on the suspicious appearance of the water which remained at the bottom of the bath on a certain day, and the evident attempts which had been made to cleanse the floor with unusual care. But so strange are considered the customs of these people, and so utterly impossible has it been found to understand their language, in spite of the numerous savans [sic] in Paris paid by the government not only to learn but to teach it, but who, although proclaimed perfectly conversant with all its dialects until the ambassadors arrived, seemed suddenly so struck with awe, perhaps at the sight of their Excellencies, that they lost their memory entirely, and could neither understand nor utter a single word, - that it was deemed by the persons consulted on the subject that the disorder must have been created by some religious or superstitious custom, and no further inquiry was therefore deemed necessary. After the lapse of a day or two, however, it was observed that one of the officers was missing; the waiters noticed moreover, that the room occupied by one of them remained undisturbed, although his vestments of ceremony remained extended on his bed; and at last many little circumstances and sundry religious observances which seemed to have no adequate explanation, occasioned an inquiry to be insisted on. The result of this inquiry seems to have been the discovery of the corpse of the victim, rudely embalmed and placed with great care in a large wooden chest, all ready packed to convey it away. The embalmment merely consisted of the most careful bandaging in silken wrappers, tightly compressed by leather thongs. As far as gesture and intonation can convey the impressions of the mind, it soon became easy to perceive that no concealment was sought, and that the occurrence was greatly regretted by the victim’s companions, although regarded as a stern necessity of duty. The discovery, of course, created the greatest embarrassment to the government, and M. Thouvenel, after consultation with the Emperor, sent down a message to the ambassadors as representatives both of the temporal and spiritual sovereigns of their country, declaring his great astonishment and disapproval at what had taken place. Intimation was given at the same time that such barbarous customs being totally at variance with the laws and institutions of the country, any repetition of the same occurrence would be followed by expulsion! – The body of the unfortunate man, being but imperfectly embalmed, was conveyed away, upon an order issued from the Ministers des Affaires Estranges to the Minister of Police, at 6 o’clock in the morning to the cemetery of Mont Parnassee, where it has been temporarily deposited to await the return of the Ambassadors, who on pain of the same order of hari are bound to lay it as piece de conviction at the feet of their Emperor. This is the story whispered about in Paris, and unfortunately confirmed by the only possible proof – that of the absence of one of the suite on the departure of the Embassy, which was ascertained beyond a doubt by those who, roused by the interest excited by the tale which has been suffered to get abroad, had the curiosity to assist at their departure yesterday evening, in order to compare their number with the photographic sketch executed on their arrival. This proved, not the truth of the story here related, but that of its foundation – the absence of one of the most conspicuous of the group.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, May 24, 1862, p. 3
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