But just think of the importance of all this! For three centuries the empire of Japan had been shut like a locked box against the nations. Now the box was unlocked, and the people of the nations were free to come and go. For treaties were soon made with other countries, and the island empire was thrown open to the commerce of the world.
CHAPTER XXI
CAPTAIN INGRAHAM TEACHES AUSTRIA A LESSON
Our Navy Upholds the Rights of an American in a Foreign Land
NOW I have a story to tell you about how this country looks after its citizens abroad. It is not a long story, but it is a good one, and Americans have been proud of Captain Ingraham ever since his gallant act.
In 1848 there was a great rebellion in Hungary against Austria. Some terrible fighting took place and then it was put down with much cruelty and slaughter. The Austrian government tried to seize all the leaders of the Hungarian patriots and put them to death, but several of them escaped to Turkey and took refuge in the City of Smyrna. Among these was the celebrated Louis Kossuth, and another man named Koszta.
Austria asked Turkey to give these men up, but the Sultan of Turkey refused to do so. Soon after that Koszta came to the United States, and there in 1852 he took the first step towards becoming an American citizen. He was sure that the United States would take care of its citizens. And he found out that it would.
The next year he had to go back to Smyrna on some business. That was not a safe place for him. The Austrians hated him as they did all the Hungarian patriots. They did not ask Turkey again to give him up, but there was an Austrian warship, the Huszar, in the harbor, and a plot was made to seize Koszta and take him on board this ship. Then he could easily be carried to Austria and put to death as a rebel.