out their long folds of paper, and gathering what scraps they could lay their
hands on, without regard to the kind of food, made up an envelope of conglomerate
eatables, in which there was such a confusion of the sour and
sweet, the albuminous, oleaginous, and saccharine, that the chemistry of
Liebig, or the practised taste of the Commodore’s Parisian oook, would
never have reached a satisfactory analysis. Nor was this the result of
gluttony, or a deficiency of breeding; it was the fashion of the country.
These unsavory parcels they stowed away in their pockets, or in their capacious
sleeves, to carry away with them. The practice was universal, and
they not only always followed it themselves, but insisted that their American
guests, when entertained at a Japanese feast, should adopt it also. Whenever
the Commodore and his officers were feasted on shore, they had paper parcels
of what was left thrust into their hands on leaving, which they were obliged
to take away with them, as it seemed an important part of Japanese hospitality,
which could not be declined without giving offenoe.
After the banquet, the Japanese were entertained by an exhibition of negro
minstrelsy, got up by some of the sailors, who, blacking their faces and dressing
themselves in character, enacted their parts with a humor that would have
gained them unbounded applause from a New York audience even at Christy’s.
The gravity of the saturnine Hayashi was not proof against the grotesque
exhibition, and even he joined with the rest in the general hilarity
provoked by the farcical antics and humorous performances of the mock
negroes. I t was now sunset, and the J apanese prepared to depart with quite
as much wine in them as they could well bear. The jovial Matsusaki threw
his arms about the Commodore’s neck, crushing, in his tipsy embrace, a pair
of new epaulettes, and repeating, in J apanese, with maudlin affection, these
words, as interpreted into English: “ Nippon and America, all the same
heart.” He then went toddling into his boat, supported by some of his
more steady companions, and soon all the happy party had left the ships and
were making rapidly for the shore. The Saratoga fired the salute of seventeen
guns as the last boat pulled off from the. Powhatan, and the squadron
was once more left in the usual quiet of ordinary ship’s duty.
The following day the Commodore landed to have a conference in regard
to the remaining points of the treaty previous to signing. He was met, as
usual, at the treaty house by the commissioners, who had more than their ordinary
share of gravity, probably owing to the natural effects of the previous
day’s conviviality.
As soon as the Commodore had taken his seat a letter was handed to him,
which the Japanese stated they had just received from Simoda. I t was
from Commander Pope, and had been transmitted through the authorities
over land. Its contents gave a satisfactory report of Simoda, and the Commodore
at once said that he accepted that port, but declared that it must be
opened without delay. Hakodadi, he added, would do for the other, and
Napha, in Lew Chew, could be retained for the third. In regard to the
other two he was willing, he said, to postpone their consideration to some
other time.
The Commodore now proposed to sign the agreement in regard to the
three ports, and directed his interpreter to read it in Dutch. When the
document had been thus read and afterwards carefully perused by the Japanese,
they stated that they were prepared to concur in everything except as
to the immediate opening of Simoda. After discussion, it was finally settled
that though the port might be opened, the Japanese would address a note
to the Commodore, stating that everything which might be wanting by
ships could not be furnished there before the expiration of ten months, but
that wood and water, and whatever else the place possessed, would be supplied
immediately ; and to this note the Commodore promised to reply, and
express his satisfaction with such an arrangement.
The question now camé up with respect to the extent of privileges to be
granted to Americans who might visit Simoda, in the discussion of which it
was perfectly plain that the Japanese meant to be distinctly understood
as prohibiting, absolutely, at least for the present, the permanent residence
of Americans, with their families, in Japan. The distance, also, to
which Americans might extend their excursions into the country around the
ports of Simoda and Hakodadi was settled ; and it is observable, that, at
the special request of the Japanese, the Commodore named the distance,
they assenting, at once, to that which he mentioned.
The proposition to have consular agents residing in Japan was one which
evidently gave great anxiety to the commissioners, and the same grounds
were taken and answered as have already been related in the narrative of
the Commmodore’s conversation with the interpreters on a previous page of
this chapter. The Commodore was firm in saying there must be such agents
for the sake of the Japanese themselves as well as for that, of our own countrymen,
and it was finally conceded that there should be one, to live at Simoda,
and that he should not be appointed until a year or eighteen months
from the date of the treaty.
Two more articles, including the new points which had been discussed,
were now added, to the transcript of the proposed treaty, and the Japanese
having promised to bring on board the Powhatan next day a copy, in Dutch,
of their understanding of the agreement as far as concurred in, the Commodore
took his departure.
During the next two days several notes passed between the Commodore
and the Japanese commissioners, in the course of which various questions
that had been already considered were more definitively settled ; and the
American interpreters were occupied, in co-operation with the Japanese,
in drawing up the treaty in the Chinese, Dutch, and Japanese languages.
On the twenty-ninth, the ships Yandalia and Southampton arrived from