272 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



may be also forced into some service by the Japanese people, who seem ever on the alert to 

 make any available use of their territory. 



On the next day, after the departure of the squadron from Yedo bay, the wind, which had 

 been steadily blowing from east to E.S.E., began to increase with such force as made it 

 necessary to cast off the two sloops-of-war, the commanders of which, having been ordered by 

 signal to proceed to the duty previously assigned them, then parted company. Commander 

 Walker, in the Saratoga, had received written instructions from the Commodore to make the 

 best of his way to Shanghai to protect American life and property and to look after the general 

 interests of the United States in that vicinity. Commander Kelly, in the Plymouth, was 

 instructed to proceed to Lew Chew, and on his way to examine the western shores of Oho-Sima. 

 It was the intention of the Commodore to have surveyed the eastern shores of this island, but 

 he was prevented by the weather. 



After the Plymouth and Saratoga had been cast off, the wind gradually increased to a strong 

 gale. The two steamers were now hove to on the port tack. The wind being at east by souAh, 

 beating up an ugly sea, the Susquehanna rolled very deeply, but otherwise made tolerable 

 weather. The Mississippi apparently was doing better, but nevertheless lost two of her boats 

 during the gale. The storm did not begin to abate until the third day, when the Commodore 

 continued his course, without delay, for Napha. During the passage to and from Yedo bay, 

 the current set invariably with more or less strength, according to the wind, to the north and 

 east, while in the bay of Yedo itself, the tides were regular and set up and down the channel 

 opposite Uraga at the rate of two and a half knots. 



At the close of a chapter which completes the account of the first visit of Commodore Perry 

 to Japan, it seems appropriate to sum up briefly the results of that visit. Short as was the stay 

 of the squadron in the waters of the bay of Yedo, the ships having first anchored on the eighth 

 of July and taken their departure on the seventeenth of the same month, no unimportant 

 results had been effected. These, to be fully appreciated, must be considered not absolutely in 

 regard to their own intrinsic value, but relatively to the former policy of Japan, in its restricted 

 intercourse with foreign nations. 



During the eight days, which was the full extent of his first visit, Commodore Perry had 

 gained in behalf of his country several advantages hitherto denied to all other nations. It is 

 true certain concessions had been made, but in a very limited degree, to the Dutch and Chinese ; 

 and these, small as they were, were awarded to them at the expense, on their part, of the most 

 degrading conditions. The first point conceded was the release of the American squadron from 

 the perpetual presence of the Japanese guard-boats, which had always hitherto surrounded 

 foreign ships, and placed them, as it were, under arrest during their visit. A resolute resistance 

 was at once opposed by Commodore Perry to this degrading imposition of force upon a peaceful 

 visitor, and, in spite of all the Japanese authorities could urge on the score of their own 

 exclusive laws and inhospitable practice, a new precedent was established in conformity with the 

 comity of civilized nations. 



The second jjoint gained was the accomplishment of the Commodore's predetermined intention 

 to confer with no one but a dignitary of the highest rank in tlie Empire, and to obtain a recep- 

 tion in every respect honorable to himself and the country which he represented. This was 

 effected without the slightest deviation on the part of the Commodore from those simple rules 

 of diplomatic courtesy recognised by our institutions. For example, during the reception on 

 shore, while the governor of Uraga prostrated himself on every occasion when he addressed the 



