Fuller accounts from Japan have been received this weak, and
are enough to shock the moral sense of the whole civilized world. It appears that the five English men-of-war who, on the requisition of Colonel Neale, attempted to extort redress from the Prince of Satsuma, failed in that object. The Prince met them with ninety guns mounted on well-built batteries, and, after two days of con- flict, the squadron steamed away without having obtained any concessions or dismounted all the guns. They had, however, lost two excellent officers, Captain Wilmot and Lieutenant Josling, and sixty-three men, and had committed one of the most astound- ing acts in the history of modern warfare. They shelled the city of Kagosima, a place with the population of Sheffield, continued shelling after it had been set on fire, and succeeded in burning itto the ground. All the buildings, public and private, except the Prince's house and the military works, were consumed, and after forty-eight hours of burning the masses of smoke were still visible fourteen miles away. There seems scarcely a doubt that the bom- bardLent was intended to destroy the town. The loss of life must have been enormous, and of all who died not a dozen could have had anything to do with the quarrel. No such act has stained our arms for years, and for years the one answer to our pleadings in favour of national justice and humanity will be " Kagosima."
