PREFATORY NOTE. 



Prompted in a great degree by feelings of personal friendship for Commodore Perry, the 

 compiler of the following pages yielded to his earnest request, enforced as it was by that 

 of other friends, and consented to undertake the task of preparing this Narrative of the 

 United States' Expedition to Japan. 



And here it is proper to mention, that among the expressed motives which induced the 

 Commander of the Expedition to desire the execution of the work by other hands than hia 

 own, none seemed more prominent than this consideration : that, as the facts here embodied 

 were to be gathered not merely from the pages of his own journal, but from those also of 

 several of his officers, as well as from their official reports to him, he thought it better to 

 confide the compilation to a disinterested third party, who might weave the various mate- 

 rials into a connected narrative of all the important events, uninfluenced by that partiality 

 for his own words or acts, from which, owing to the infirmities of human nature, the most 

 honest and best of men are not always entirely exempt. 



As the sole object on the part of the Commander was to afford to his government and 

 countrymen the most ample account he could of what had been done by himself, his 

 officers, and men — as in this respect he had nothing to conceal, as he wished to present 

 truly all of interest that had been observed either by himself or others, and to do justice 

 to the deserving officers who had so efiectually sustained him in .his plans for carrying out 

 a new, delicate, and arduous work — he deemed it best to place in the hands of the compiler, 

 without reserve, all the materials in his possession, whether from his own pen, or furnished 

 by the labor of others, and to request nothing more than that the preparation of the 

 work might be conducted in a spirit conformable to the ends and wishes just expressed. 



The materials were abundant and varied. Beside the manuscript journal of the Commo- 

 dore, in three large folios, and his official correspondence ; the journals of his secretary and 

 other officers, the diaries of the fleet captain and flag-lieutenants, the official reports of 

 gentlemen detailed for special duties, and the public documents connected with the Expe- 



