modore would not consent to go to Uraga. And upon the Japanese rejoin
ing that the Emperor had appointed that town for the place of negotiation
and that it could in consequence be nowhere else, he was told by Captain
Adams that the Commodore was willing to meet the commissioners on
shore, opposite the present anchorage of the squadron; but if the Japanese
government would not consent to that, the Commodore would move his ships
higher up the bay, even, if it should be deemed necessary, to Yedo itself.
The interview was conducted in the most courteous and friendly manner, and
after the business was over, the Japanese partook of some refreshments, and
entered cheerfully into a general conversation.
The Japanese now took their leave, and although they had been impressed
with the resolute bearing of the Americans, departed with their usual
good humor and polite expressions of friendly feeling.
The next day the J apanese officials came off again to the Powhatan, and
were received as before by Captain Adams, under instructions from the
Commodore.
The Japanese reiterated their assurances of the friendly disposition of
the Emperor, who had given orders, as they said, that the Americans should
be treated with the greatest consideration. The commissioners, they declared,
would be ready to receive the Commodore in a few days, and upon
being asked in what place, they answered at Kama-kura. As Uraga had
been specified on the previous day, Captain Adams, with some surprise, demanded
how it was that the place had become so suddenly changed. The
Japanese, with their usual imperturbable manner, which is schooled to cunning
and deceit, promptly answered, without the least mark of emotion or
evidence of discomposure, that the Emperor had named both places, so that
if the Commodore should not be satisfied with the one, he might perchance
with the other.
Kama-kura is a town situated in the outer Bay of Yedo, about twenty
miles below Uraga, at the place where the Macedonian had grounded. Ap
the Commodore had had an opportunity, when anchored off Kama-kura,
while engaged in the extrication of the Macedonian from her perilous
position, of seeing enough of that place to satisfy him that it would be absurd
to take the ships there, and as he suspected some artful design on the
part of the Japanese, when informed that Kama-kura had been specified, he
directed Captain Adams to say that it was altogether unsuitable. Captain
Adams then conveyed this information to the Japanese, with the statement that
neither Uraga nor Kama-kura were proper places, as they were so distant,
and so insecure as harbors, and that some other locality must be selected.
The Japanese then proposed that Captain Adams should go down to Uraga,
and confer with the high officer there about the place of meeting, when they
were told that it would be necessary to receive the instructions of the
Commodore before a reply could be given on that point.
The Commodore’s secretary, who was present at the interview, was then
dispatched to the Susquehanna. The secretary soon returned with the
answer that the Commodore would neither go to Uraga, nor allow any of
his officers to do so, but that Captain Adams would be permitted to meet
any of the high Japanese dignitaries on the shore, near the anchorage of the
squadron, to confer upon the subject of a proper place of meeting, but that
it was an essential condition of the Commodore’s consent that the place
should not be remote from his present position.
The Japanese officials, notwithstanding the very explicit answer, which
was duly conveyed in Dutch by Mr. Portman to Tatsnoske, (who, as on the
first visit, was one of the attendant interpreters,) and by him interpreted to
his superiors, still pertinaciously clung to their original proposition, and
urged the necessity of making Uraga the place of meeting. As they still
persisted in their wearisome efforts to carry their point, Captain Adams cut
the matter short, by telling them to put in writing their objections to holding
the interview in the neighborhood of the American anchorage, to which
the Japanese assented, on the condition that Captain Adams would answer
a written question which they were about to ask. This being granted, Tok-
suro, the second interpreter, having conferred for a moment with his superiors,
wrote down in Dutch the proposed question, which was translated by
the American interpreter, Mr. Portman: 11 As the President’s letter was
received at Grorahama, near Uraga, why are you not willing to receive the
answer there ? ” Captain Adams answered that he did not know precisely
all the Commodore’s reasons, but the principal one was that the anchorage
was very unsafe.
The Japanese now seemed somewhat troubled, as if they feared that
the Americans were disposed to assume a hostile attitude, and asked, with
some anxiety, whether the Commodore was actuated by the same friendly
feelings as the Japanese government. Captain Adams did all in his power
to reassure them, and declared that the Americans were actuated by no
other motives than those of friendship, and that their greatest desire was to
be in relations of peace and amity with Japan, and that their chief object in
refusing their assent to the Japanese propositions was the fear of endangering
the lives of the officers and crews and the safety of the ships by resorting
to an insecure place. The Japanese reiterated, several times, that a
high officer would come to arrange all business with the Commodore, but
that he could not arrive for several days. Upon its being proposed that he
should come on board the ships, the J apanese declared that that was quite
impossible; and then Captain A. suggested that, as it was the custom to
transact all public business at the metropolis, the Commodore should go to
Yedo. This last suggestion was opposed by the very emphatic remark:
“ You cannot be received at Yedo.”
The Japanese now requested that the boats of the squadron should bo