Japan and the Japanese

508 JAPAN. A. D. 18171854.
and that the only way to deal successfully with the Japanese was
to show a resolution not to take no for an answer.
Accordingly, Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State, prepared a let-
ter from the President to the Emperor of Japan ; also a letter ot
instructions to the American naval commander in the China
seas, to whom it was resolved to entrust the duty of envoy, and
whose force was to be strengthened by additional ships. The sailing,
however, of these ships was till delayed after Mr. Webster's
death ; and in the mean time Commodore Matthew C. Perry was
selected as the head of the expedition. A new letter,* dated Nov.
5, 1852, addressed from the State Department to the Secretary of
the Navy, thus denned its objects :
"1. To effect some permanent arrangement for the protection of
American seamen and property wrecked on these islands, or driven
into their ports by stress of weather.
" 2. The permission to American vessels to enter one or more
of their ports, in order to obtain supplies of provisions, water, fuel,
&c. ; or, in case of disasters, to refit so as to enable them to prose-
cute their voyage. It is very desirable to have permission to estab-
lish a depot for coal, if not on one of the principal islands, at
least on some small, uninhabited one, of which it is said there
are several in their vicinity.
" 3. The permission to our vessels to enter one or more of their
ports for the purpose of disposing of their cargoes by
barter."
sale or
The mission was to be of a pacific character, as the president
had no power to declare war ; yet the show of force was
evidently relied upon, as more likely than anything else to weigh
with the Japanese. The Dutch it government, was stated, had in-
structed their agents at Desima to do all they could to promote the
success of the expedition. Indeed, if we may believe Jancigny,t
who speaks from information obtained during a residence at Bata-
* The official documents relating to this expedition were printed by order of
U. S. Senate, 83d Cong., 2d Sess. Ex. Doc. No. 84.
t Japan, p. 197. Perry, to judge by his letters (Dec. 14, 1852, May 6,
1853), did not place much reliance on the aid of the Dutch. The British
Admiralty showed their good will by furnishing the latest charts and sailing
directions for the Eastern seas.