The store-ships, Supply and Lexington, were ordered homeward by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Susquehanna and Mississippi for New York by way of Shimoda, Honolulu and Rio [de] Janeiro. The Mississippi was to tow the Southampton, which contained coal for the two steamers. The Commodore awaited only the arrival of the Macedonian from Manilla, whither she had gone to return the waifs picked up at sea, to turn over his command to Captain Abbot.
Before permitting Perry to leave for home, the American commercial residents in China gave the Commodore an expression of their estimate of his character as a man, and their appreciation of his services as a diplomatist to their country. This took the form of a banquet, with an address of unusual merit by Gideon Nye, and the presentation of an elaborate candelabrum made by Chinese jewelers in crystal and sycee silver. In return, Perry presented to Mr. Nye a cane made of gun carriages from San Juan d’Ulloa. Owing to war and the local troubles, the work of art did not reach New York until December 1858.[[39]]
On the morning of September 11th, at Hong Kong, the Mississippi and Macedonian fired parting salutes. The yards and rigging were manned by the sailors who gave three hearty cheers, and the British mail steamer, Hindostan, moved off bearing the diplomatist and his flag-lieutenant homeward.
From England Perry crossed to the continent, and at Hague, spent several delightful days at the house of his son-in-law, the American Minister, the Hon. August Belmont. With Mrs. Belmont, the Commodore’s daughter Caroline, were then visiting Mrs. Perry and Miss Perry, the Commodore’s wife and youngest daughter. Thence returning to Liverpool on Christmas day, he paid a visit to the American consul at Liverpool, one Nathaniel Hawthorne, who has thus recorded his impression of his visitor:—[[40]]
“Commodore P—— called to see me this morning—a brisk, gentlemanly, off-hand, but not rough, unaffected and sensible man, looking not so elderly as he might, on account of a very well made wig.
“He is now on a return from a cruise to the East Indian seas and goes home by the Baltic with a prospect of being very well received on account of his treaty with Japan. I seldom meet with a man who puts himself more immediately on conversable terms than the Commodore. He soon introduced his particular business with me,—it being to inquire whether I could recommend some suitable person to prepare his notes and materials for the publication of an account of his voyage. He was good enough to say that he had fixed upon me, in his own mind, for this office; but that my public duties would, of course, prevent me from engaging in it. I spoke of —— ——, and one or two others but he seemed to have some acquaintance with the literature of the day, and did not grasp very cordially at any name that I could think of; nor indeed could I recommend any one with full confidence. It would be a very desirable task for a young literary man, or for that matter for an old one; for the world can scarcely have in reserve a less hackneyed theme than Japan.”
The master of English style, the literary American Puritan, so thoroughly at home in spirit-land and in analysis of conscience, was not expert in judging visible things. His mistake in describing the material on Perry’s scalp was amusing though natural. Not a few persons supposed that the Commodore wore a wig, yet the only head-ornament made use of by him was that given him by the Almighty, and still duplicated in his children. His handsome and luxuriant hair grew well forward on his forehead.
Perry, though exultant of his success, was uncertain of his political reception. There were dangers in a change of administration. The Japan expedition was a Whig measure, while the party now in power was Democratic. The English newspapers seemed to entertain a high opinion of the Commodore’s ability, and very flattering were some of their accounts of the expedition and the editorials concerning its leader. Not able to understand our Republican institutions, one of them wondered, with a “blush of shame,” “Why the government does nothing for Perry or Scott.” Others may wonder too.
Had a Whig administration been in power, it is doubtful whether Perry would have received any reward further than the thanks of the Navy Department, the honor of the publication of his journal, and a few copies of his own book. Looking back now at Pierce’s barren administration, the one bright spot in it seems to be the opening of Japan to diplomatic intercourse. It was a time of intense political excitement. The Kansas troubles, the World’s Fair in New York, and the beginning of surveys for the Union Pacific Railroad helped to turn attention from foreign matters. Nevertheless, the Senate at the opening of its session December 6th, called for the correspondence relating to the Japan Expedition. President Pierce delayed action until after an interview with Perry, and on January 30th, 1855, transmitted the report. The Commodore had arrived home on the 12th, eighteen days before, after an absence of two years and two months. The official documents were published in an octavo volume of 195 pages.
The Mississippi left Hong Kong the next morning after the Commodore’s departure, a few hours after that of the United States brig, Porpoise (which was never heard of again), on the 21st of September, entered Shimoda harbor finding there the Susquehanna and Southampton. The Susquehanna left on the 24th, and the Mississippi on the 1st of October, the latter completing her journey around the globe on the 23d of April, 1855. On the next day, the Commodore repairing to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, formally hauled down his flag, and thus consummated the final act in the story of the United States Expedition to Japan. He now set himself to work in a hired room in Washington to tell that story in manuscript. Aided by Lieutenants Maury and Bent, secretaries, artists, printers, and a Japanese lad as attendant, it took shape in the sumptuous publication of three richly illustrated folio volumes.