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Corean authority, and China had no concern with them. A copy of this answer was given to the Japanese Government by the United States Minister in Tokyo, and is here now. Does the situation remain the same now as then?

Yamen Ministers. Yes.

Japanese Minister. Formosa had formerly been occupied by the Japanese and the Dutch, and afterwards Teiseiko established his independence there. Under his descendants, however, the island became Chinese territory, but China subdued only a portion of the island, leaving the eastern portion to the aboriginal savage tribes, which your Government never attempted to reduce to obedience. Now, in the winter of 1871 these barbarians attacked and murdered the Japanese subjects shipwrecked on the coast, and the Japanese Government intends to send an expeditionary force to chastise them. But as the region lies adjacent to the territory under the local government of China, the Ambassador thought it better to inform you of the fact, in order to avoid a collision endangering amity between the two empires.

Yamen Ministers. We have only heard of the Formosan savages plundering and killing the people of Liukiu, but never heard of their attacking Japanese. Liukiu is a Chinese territory, and Chinese officers rescued and sent home to Liukiu such of them as could escape from the savages.

Japanese Minister. Liukiu has always belonged to Japan. During the feudal ages it was a dependency of the Prince of Satsuma, and is now under the direct rule of the Imperial Government. Hence, there is not a person of Liukiu who is not a Japanese subject, entitled to the protection of the Japanese Government. You say you have rescued the Liukiu people, but what have you done towards chastising the Formosan savages that have plundered and killed the rest?

Yamen Ministers. There are two sorts of aborigines in Formosa—those that have come under the Chinese rule, and are governed by the Chinese local officers, called ‘the ripe barbarians,’ and those that remain beyond the influence of China, called ‘the raw barbarians.’

Japanese Minister. The Formosan savages have molested foreign subjects more than once, and your Government never chastised them. This might lead to a very serious consequence—namely, the occupation of Formosa by other Powers, as in the case of Cambodia, Tonquin, and Amur districts, which is inconvenient, and a source of danger both to Japan and China. Hence, the Japanese Government has decided to undertake the work of chastisement itself. But in order to avoid complications our Ambassador, in his capacity of