Perry, on his way out, suggested the temporary occupation of certain ports in the Loochoo Islands for shelter and supplies. Mr. Everett. Secretary of State, instructed him to do so, but added that, if it could not be done "without resort to force," it would be necessary to seek them elsewhere. (S. Ex. Doc. 34, 33 Cong. 2 sess.) Mr. Robert M. McLane, commissioner to China, was to take Commodore Perry's place, in case anything should prevent him from fulfilling his mission. (Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. McLane, Nov. 9, 1853, S. Ex. Doc. 39, 36 Cong. 1 sess.) Perry arrived in the Mississippi at Hongkong April 7, 1853. On the afternoon of Friday, July 8, 1853, with the steamers Susquehanna (flagship) and Mississippi and the sloops Plymouth and Saratoga he anchored in the Bay of Yeddo, off the city of Uraga, 27 miles from Yeddo. In reporting his proceedings he had, he said, decided on a course different from that of others who had visited Japan, viz, “to demand as a right, and not to solicit as a favor, those acts of courtesy which are due from one civilized nation to another; to allow of none of those petty annoyances which have been unsparingly visited upon those who had preceded me, and to disregard the acts as well as the threats of the authorities, if they in the least conflicted with my own sense of what was due to the dignity of the American flag. The question of landing by force was left to be decided by the development of succeeding events." Perry refused to meet, or deliver the President's letter to, any but an officer of the highest rank. He declined to go to Nagasaki. July 14, 1853, he was received by the Prince of Idzu, first counselor of the Emperor, and his coadjutor, the Prince of Iwami. To the former he delivered the President's letter, his letter of credence, and other documents. They gave a receipt, saying that they violated the law in receiving the papers there instead of at Nagasaki, but did it because the admiral, in his quality of ambassador of the President, had declared that he would be insulted by a refusal. They ordered Perry, in conclusion, to leave. Instead, he went higher up the bay, ten miles above where any foreign vessel had previously ascended and twenty above the usual anchorage. Perry said that the nearer he approached the imperial city "the more polite and friendly they became.” July 14 he wrote the Emperor that he would return in the next spring for a reply to the propositions of the United States. Mr. Dobbin, Secretary of the Navy, in acknowledging the receipt of Perry's reports of these transactions, said: "These communications have all been submitted to the President, who, while he would be happy to see your interesting mission crowned with success, and would aid you as far as he can legitimately, desires to impress you with his conviction that the great end should be attained, not only with credit to the United States, but without wrong to Japan. I need not remind you that your mission is one of peaceful negotiation, and that, although in consideration of the peculiar character of the Japanese much importance may well be attached to the exhibition of impressive evidences of the greatness and power of our country, no violence should be resorted to except for defense. It is very desirable to make our Navy an efficient branch of the government, both in extending and protecting commerce and trade; but as Congress alone has power to declare war, too much prudence can not be exercised, even in the great work in which you are engaged. S. Ex. Doc. 34, 33 Cong. 2 sess. 45, 50, 54. The letter of Mr. Dobbins is at p. 57 of this document. February 13, 1854, Perry returned to Uraga with the Susquehanna, Powhatan, and Mississippi, towing, respectively, the Lexington, Vandalia, and Macedonian. The Southampton had arrived in advance. He then moved up nearer to Yeddo. The Emperor, as Perry supposed, but in reality the Shogun, had appointed commissioners to treat with him. They desired him to return to Uraga and treat there. He declined to do so, and moved up to within 8 miles of Yeddo. They then consented to treat at a place opposite the ships. Here the Japanese erected a pavilion, as they had previously done at Uraga. Of the five commissioners, four were princes of the empire. On March 8, 1854, Commodore Perry landed and met the commissioners, his escort consisting of 500 officers, seamen, and marines, fully armed, embarked in 27 barges. "With people of forms," said Perry, "it is necessary either to set all ceremony aside, or to outHerod Herod in assumed personal consequence and ostentation. I have adopted the two extremes." On meeting the commissioners, Perry submitted a draft of a treaty. The commissioners later presented counterproprositions. Pending the negotiations, Perry established a telegraph line a mile long on shore, and laid down a railway and put into operation upon it a locomotive and cars, "carrying around the circle many of the astonished natives." A treaty was concluded March 31, 1854. It was signed at the pavilion on shore by Perry and by the four commissioners specially delegated by the Shogun. The commissioners gave Perry three copies of the treaty, signed by them, in Japanese, and he gave them in return three copies, signed by himself, in English, with translations into Dutch and Chinese, certified by the Dutch and Chinese interpreters, Messrs. Portman and Williams, for the United States. The usual course of both sides signing the same instrument was departed from, on the assurance of the Japanese that their laws forbade subjects of the Emperor to put their names to a document written in a foreign language. Additional regulations were entered into by Perry at Simoda June 17, 1854. S. Ex. Doc. 34, 33 Cong. 2 sess. 118, 120, 128, 133, 161. An account of Commodore Perry's expedition, from his journals and those of the officers under his command, was compiled by the Rev. Francis L. Hawks, D. D., and printed in quarto form by order of the House of Representatives. Similar treaties to that of Perry were made with Japan by Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Russia. After the treaty with the United States was concluded, Lieut. Rodgers, commanding the United States surveying ship Vincennes, visited Simoda and Hakodate. He ascribed the success attending the negotiation of the treaties," and especially that of Commodore Perry, to the imposing naval force which accompanied that officer." (Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, No. 6, Oct. 4, 1855, MS. Inst. Japan I. 9.) By Article VII. of the Perry treaty as published by the United States, it was agreed that American vessels resorting to Simoda and Hakodate should be permitted to exchange gold and silver coin and articles of goods "for other articles of goods, under such regulations" as the Japanese government should establish. Lieut. Rodgers stated that the Japanese version of the article read, “for other articles of goods, such as may be necessary for them, under such regulations,” etc. (Ibid.) July 17, 1901, there was unveiled at Kurihama, Japan, a monument erected by the Japanese "American Association of Japan," in commemoration of the advent of Commodore Perry, in July 1853. (For. Rel. 1901, 378-384.) As to the judicial powers of consuls in Japan, see S. Ex. Doc. 20, 40 Cong. 3 sess.; and, for consular-court regulations, S. Ex. Doc. 25, 41 Cong. 3 sess. See, also, as to consular jurisdiction in Japan, as it once existed, Mr. Eli A memorial of American residents in Japan, asking for legislation, March Orient, 190–197. The government of the United States had, in 1852, the right to insist upon Japan entering upon such treaty relations as would protect travellers and sailors from the United States visiting or cast ashore on that island from spoliation or maltreatment, and also to procure entrance of United States vessels into Japanese ports. Mr. Conrad, Asst. Sec. of State, to Mr. Kennedy, Nov. 5, 1852, MS. Notes. 3. HARRIS TREATIES AND JAPANESE EMBASSY. $ 847. By the treaty concluded by Commodore Perry, American ships were allowed to obtain supplies of provisions and coal and other articles of necessity, by purchase and by barter, in the ports of Simoda and Hakodate; aid and protection in case of shipwreck were promised, and the privilege of appointing a consul to reside at Simoda was obtained. Immediately after the publication of the treaty a party of American citizens, some of them accompanied by their wives and children, embarked for Hakodate for the purpose of settling there and supplying the wants of whale ships which were expected to touch at that port. They proceeded, however, first to Simoda, where they were allowed to land, and were lodged in one of the temples; but they were afterwards notified that they would not be permitted to reside either at Simoda or at Hakodate, since they apparently intended to stay in Japan permanently, and not, as the treaty stipulated, only temporarily. September 8, 1855, Townsend Harris was appointed consul-general of the United States to reside at Simoda. He was chosen in the hope that by reason of his “knowledge of Eastern character" and his "general intelligence and experience in business" he might be able to induce the Japanese to enter into a treaty of commerce. He was furnished with a full power to negotiate and conclude such a treaty. His instructions stated that the intolerance of the Japanese in regard to the Christian religion precluded the hope that they would consent to a stipulation by which missionaries would be allowed to enter the Empire or by which Christian worship would be permitted. With regard to the treaty of 1854, he was informed that the United States would insist upon a fair and liberal construction of it, and, if such a construction could not be obtained, would demand and require, by such means as might be necessary, the conclusion of a new treaty, by which the privileges to which the United States was entitled would be assured. Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Harris, No. 2, Sept. 13, 1855, and No. 6, For instructions to Mr. Harris to pay a debt of $2,000 incurred by an June 17, 1857, Mr. Harris concluded with the Japanese a treaty regulating the intercourse of American citizens with Japan and the value of coins therein, and giving the American consul jurisdiction and privileges in certain cases. By this treaty it was provided that, with a view to supplying the wants of American ships, American citizens might permanently reside at Simoda and Hakodate, and that the government of the United States might appoint a vice-consul to reside at Hakodate. On July 29, 1858, Mr. Harris concluded with Japan a treaty of amity and commerce. This treaty provided for diplomatic representation at Yeddo, secured rights of residence and of trade at certain ports, regulated duties, granted the privilege of extraterritoriality to American citizens in Japan, and stipulated for religious freedom in that country. He achieved his success by a firm, tactful, honest diplomacy, and without the aid of a fleet, though it is no doubt true that he invoked the then recent humiliation of China by the allied fleets as an argument with the Shogun's ministers. Before the end of the year the fleets of the allies appeared, and treaties similar to that of the United States were obtained by France and Great Britain. Treaties between Japan and other powers followed in due time. The treaty of July 29, 1858, provided that the ratifications should be exchanged at Washington. The Japanese having no vessel suitable for the conveyance of their mission to America suggested to Harris that he ask his government to lend a man-of-war for the purpose. Harris advised that this be done. "We were," said he, "the first nation to make a treaty of amity with the Japanese. This we have followed up by making the first commercial treaty with them, and to have the éclat to receive the first embassy from this singular people can not but redound to our national honor." Lord Elgin, said Harris, had requested the Japanese to send an ambassador to England and had offered them any conveyance they might require, but they had evaded the request, not having decided to send an ambassador to any nation. The departure of the mission to the United States was at first postponed, owing, as was understood, to the effort of some of the daimios to induce the Mikado to preserve the ancient law, which inflicted the death penalty on any Japanese who might leave the country. The Japanese, said Harris, looked upon the treaties as "unavoidable evils." They at length determined, however, to send an embassy to the United States. In the mission there were 20 gentlemen and 51 servants-71 in all. Commodore Tatnall conveyed them in the Powhatan to Panama, and the steam frigate Roanoke was sent to convey them from Colon to New York. By a joint resolution of April 19, 1860, Congress appropriated the sum of $50,000 to defray the expenses of the embassy. S. Ex. Doc. 25, 36 Cong. 1 sess.; joint resolution of April 19, 1860, 12 |