Junks
The New Battleship Mikasa
The Old and the New
The Japanese remained in Washington till the 8th of June, spending their time in visits to the various public buildings, and a good deal of it in shopping, for which many of them seemed to have a great fancy. After passing through Baltimore, where they remained one night only, they spent a week in Philadelphia, where the Mint and its processes were special objects of interest. From Philadelphia they went on to New York, where they were received at the Battery by an escort of five or six thousand men of the New York militia, and conveyed through an immense crowd to the quarters which had been provided for them at the Metropolitan Hotel. Here they remained for two weeks, and on the 1st of July embarked on board the United States steam-frigate “Niagara,” to return to Japan by the Cape of Good Hope, being thus the first of their nation to make the circumnavigation of the globe.
The time of their stay in this country was limited by express orders brought with them from Japan, and they declined the numerous invitations which they received to visit other cities, and also an excursion which the government had planned to the Falls of Niagara. The short time they had to spend was no doubt more advantageously employed by restricting their observations to two or three places. Of the seventy-six persons, of which the embassy and its suite were composed, forty-six filled the position of attendants or servants to the remaining twenty, though some of them, directly attached to the person of the three ambassadors, were far above the rank of ordinary menials. The three ambassadors, though they bore the title of princes, were understood not to belong to the small class of hereditary nobles, but to owe their titles to the positions which they hold in the Emperor’s service. Among the seventeen persons next in rank to the ambassadors were a treasurer, having charge of the finances of the embassy,—though, except as to such purchases as they made, this office was a sinecure; a marshal, so to speak, charged with oversight and government of the servants; several secretaries, interpreters, and doctors, and others who might be called attachés. There was no priest or chaplain, nor any appearance of any formal worship. The three ambassadors affected a good deal of reserve; the others were inclined to sociability; but their ignorance of the language, and the necessity that all communications should undergo a double interpretation from English to Dutch, and then into Japanese, or vice versa, was a great obstacle to the communication of ideas.
In New York, besides their visits to public places and institutions, the more curious of the Japanese were taken to visit a number of large manufactories of various kinds, in several of which they exhibited a good deal of interest. They made a good many purchases, and received a good many presents, the manufacturers of various articles hoping in this way to open a market for their wares in Japan.
Though a good deal pressed upon at times by over-curious crowds, their reception was everywhere of the most kindly character, and can hardly fail to leave upon them a strong impression of American good-will.
Since the negotiation of the recent treaties, a number of Americans and Englishmen, agents of mercantile houses, have established themselves at the open ports. A few cargoes of Japanese products have been shipped, but the trade is still in its infancy, and the extent to which it can be carried remains very problematical.