cups of saki, the commissioners expressed great anxiety about the proposed
visit of the Commodore to Yedo. They earnestly urged him not to take his
ships any higher up the hay, as, they said, it would lead to trouble, by which
the populace might be disturbed, and their own lives, perhaps, jeoparded.
The Commodore argued the matter with them for some considerable time,
and, as they still pertinaciously urged their objections to his visit to the
capital, it was agreed that the subject should be further discussed by an interchange
of notes. The meeting then broke up.
Before proceeding further with the narrative, it may be well here briefly
to pause and define with precision what had been accomplished by means of
the treaty that had been signed.
. When it was determined by our government to send an expedition to
Japan, those in authority were not unmindful of the peculiar characteristics
of that singular nation. Unlike all other civilized people, it was in a state
of voluntary, long-continued, and determined isolation. I t neither desired
nor sought communication with the rest of the world, but, on the contrary,
strove to the uttermost to prevent it. I t was comparatively an easy task
to propose to any power, the ports of which were freely visited by ships
from every part of the world, the terms of a commercial treaty. Such
powers have recognized commerce itself as part of their national system, and
the principle of permitting it is freely avowed by their usage; a treaty,
therefore, had but to define its privileges, and state the conditions on which
they might be enjoyed in the case of any nation seeking to make such a
treaty. But not so, when, by any power, commerce itself was interdicted,
and made contrary to law. Before general conditions of commerce could be
proposed to. such a power, it was necessary to settle the great preliminary
that commerce would be allowed at all. Again, if that preliminary were
settled affirmatively, a second point, of great moment, remained to be discussed,
viz., to what degree shall intercourse for trading purposes be extended
? Among nations accustomed to the usages of Christendom, the principles
and extent of national comity in the interchanges of commercial transactions
have been so long and so well defined and understood, that, as between
them, the term, “ commercial treaty,” needs no explanation; its meaning
is comprehended alike by all, and in its stipulations it may cover the
very broad extent that includes everything involved in the operations of
commerce between two maritime nations. All ports are open, all commodities
may be imported or exported, subject only to such regulations as may
have been agreed upon between the contracting parties. The foundation for
the contract existed before its terms were adjusted. But in a kingdom
which, in its polity, expressly ignored commerce and repudiated it as an evil
instead of a good, it was necessary, as we have said, to lay the very founda-
tion as well as adjust the terms.
Hence the instructions to Commodore Perry covered broad ground, and
his letters of credence conformed to his instructions. I f he found the J a panese
disposed to abandon at once and forever their deliberately adopted
plan of non-intercourse with foreigners (an event most unlikely), his powers
were ample to make with them a commercial treaty as wide and general as
any we have with the nations of Europe. I f they were disposed to relax
but in part their jealous and suspicious system, formally to profess relations
of friendship, and opening Borne only of their ports to our vessels to allow a
trade in those ports between their people and ours, he was authorized to negotiate
for this purpose, and secure for his country Such privileges as he
could, not inconsistent with the self-respect which, as a nation, we owed to
ourselves. I t must not be forgotten, in the contemplation of what was accomplished,
that our representative went to a people who, at the time of his
arrival among them, had, both by positive law and an usage of more than
two hundred years, allowed but one of their harbors, Nagasaki, to be opened
to foreigners at a ll; had permitted no trade with such foreigners when they
did come, except, under most stringent regulations, to the Dutch and Chinese;
were in the habit of communicating with the world outside of them
at second hand only, through the medium of the Dutch, who were in prison
at Dezima; and a people who, as far as we know, never made a formal
treaty with a civilized nation in the whole course of their antecedent history.
To expect such a people to make a compact such as would be made
between two great commercial nations, England and ourselves, for instance,
would have been simply ridiculous. There were, in fact, but two points on
which the Commodore’s instructions did not allow him a large discretion,
to be exercised according to circumstances. These two were, first, that if,
happily, any arrangements for trade, either general or special, were made, it
was to be distinctly stipulated that, under no circumstances, and in no degree,
would the Americans submit to the humiliating treatment so long borne by
the Dutch in carrying on their trade. The citizens of our country would be
dealt with as freemen, or there should be no dealings at all. The second
point was, that in the event of any of our countrymen being cast, in God’s
providence, as shipwrecked men on the coast of Japan, they should not be
treated as prisoners, confined in cages, or subjected to inhuman treatment,
but should be received with kindness, and hospitably cared for until they
could leave the country.
I t will easily be seen, therefore, that, from the circumstances of the case,
there was novelty in the features of the mission on which Commodore Perry
was sent. Little or no guidance was to be derived from our past diplomatic
experience or action. The nearest approach to such guidance was to be
found in our treaty with China, made in 1844. This, therefore, was carefully
studied by the Commodore. I t purports to be “ a treaty or general
convention of peace, amity, and commerce,” and to settle the rules to “ be
mutually observed in the intercourse of the respective countries.” So far as