Your good friend.
(Seal attached.)
“Millard Fillmore.
“By the President:
Edward Everett, Secretary of State.”[115]
Players at the Game of “Go”
Furnished with these orders, and this letter splendidly engrossed and enclosed in a gold box of the value of a thousand dollars, and provided also with a variety of presents, Commodore Perry, towards the end of 1852, sailed from the United States in the steam-frigate “Mississippi,” and, after touching at Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Hong Kong in April, 1853, whence he proceeded to Shanghai. The dispersion of the vessels of the squadron, delay in the arrival of others from the United States, difficulty in obtaining coal, and the claim of the American merchants in China, in consideration of existing civil commotions, to the protecting presence of a naval force, caused some delays. But, at length, after touching at Lew Chew [Riūkiū], and making a visit to the Bonin Islands,[116] Perry, with the steam-frigate “Susquehanna,” now the flag-ship, the “Mississippi,” and the sloops-of-war “Plymouth” and “Saratoga,” made Cape Izu about daybreak on the 8th of July. Many rumors had been current on the coast of China of extensive warlike preparations by the Japanese, aided by the Dutch, and the squadron was fully prepared for a hostile reception. Perry had made up his mind, instead of attempting to conciliate by yielding, to stand upon his dignity to the utmost, to allow no petty annoyances, and to demand as a right, instead of soliciting as a favor, the courtesies due from one civilized nation to another.
The promontory constituting the province of Izu appeared, as the vessels ran along it, to be a group of high mountains, their summits scarred with slides, and their sides mostly wooded, though here and there a cultivated spot could be seen. By noon the ships reached Cape Sagami, which separates the inner from the outer bay of Yedo. The shores of this point rose in abrupt bluffs two hundred feet high, with green dells running down to the waterside. Further off were groves and cultivated fields, and mountains in the distance.
Leaving behind some twelve or fifteen Japanese boats, which put off from Cape Sagami to intercept them, the vessels stood up through the narrowest part of the bay, not more than five to eight miles wide, but expanding afterwards to fifteen miles, having now also in sight the eastern shore, forming a part of the province of Awa.[117]
Within half an hour after passing Cape Sagami, they made another bold promontory from the west, forming a second entrance to the upper bay. In the bight formed by it lay the town of Uraga, visible from the ships, which, sounding their way, anchored within a mile and a half of the promontory,—a mile or more in advance of the anchorage ground of the “Columbus” and “Vincennes.”
As the ships dropped their anchors two or three guns or mortars were fired from the second promontory, and four or five boats put off. They were of unpainted wood, very sharp, their greatest breadth well towards the stern, and propelled with great rapidity by tall, athletic rowers, naked, save a cloth about the loins, who shouted lustily as they pulled. In the stem of each boat was a small flag, with three horizontal stripes, the middle one black, the others white, and about it were four or five well-dressed men with two swords in their girdles.
Some parley took place before anybody was admitted on board, that favor being refused except to the person highest in authority in the town. The conversation was carried on in Dutch, which the Japanese interpreter spoke very well; and, from what he said, it was evident that the vessels had been expected. After a long parley, in which the high rank of the commodore, and the necessity of his being met by persons of corresponding rank, were very much insisted upon, an officer, representing himself as second in command at the town in sight, was admitted on board. The commodore, however, declined to see him in person, and turned him over to Mr. Contee, the flag lieutenant, who, assisted by the two interpreters—one for Dutch, the other for Chinese[118]—had a long interview with him and his interpreter in the cabin. He was told that the object of the expedition was to deliver a letter from the President of the United States to the Emperor, and that some high officer must be sent on board to receive it; also, that the squadron would not submit to be watched and guarded, after the Japanese fashion, but that all the guard-boats must withdraw. The officer, as usual, was very inquisitive. He wanted to know whether the vessels came from Boston, New York, or Washington, how many men they had, etc., etc.; but these questions he was given to understand were regarded as impertinent.
Seeing the determination evinced, the Japanese officer, by name Nakashima Saburosuke, Yoriki of the governor of Uraga, returned on shore, taking back his official notifications in French, Dutch, and English, addressed to ships arriving on the coast (like those given p. 267), which the lieutenant refused to receive. He was followed by the boats, which, after that, kept at a respectful distance. He came back in about an hour to excuse his superior from receiving the letter addressed to the emperor. He spoke of Nagasaki as the proper place for foreign ships to touch at, and doubted if the letter would be answered; but all this was cut short by the assurance that if his superior did not send for the letter, the ships would proceed still higher up the bay to deliver it themselves; upon which information, much agitated, he stipulated for permission to return in the morning. As he departed, looking at the long gun in the cabin, he exclaimed, with an interrogative look, “Paixhan?” showing that the Japanese were not ignorant of the modern improvements in gunnery any more than of American geography.