Such was the mood in which the Iwakura mission left Japan. On account of this bad track-record, the
mission was rather coldly received in the United States, while in Europe it ran into displays of public
indignation in England, France, Belgium and Prussia. The matter was even discussed in the French
Assembly. The ill tidings about the treatment of the Japanese Christians preceded the embassy wherever it
went. The outcry in France did not fail to spread to Belgium. In Brussels, a large crowd purportedly lined
the streets where the carriages of the envoys were passing through, protesting against the persecution and
clamouring for the release of the Japanese Christians.