364 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



if the Americans were to have another port assigned to them, five years would he required to 

 make similar preparations. The Commodore replied that the fact of Nagasaki having been 

 especially appropriated to foreigners was one of the grounds of his objections to it ; that its 

 inhabitants and authorities, having been so long accustomed to the servility of the Dutch, would 

 doubtless exact more from the Americans than they would be inclined to submit to, and serious 

 consequences might follow. Moreover, the Commodore declared that he desired it to he well 

 imderstood that his countrymen visiting Japan must be free from all those opj^ressive laws 

 which have been hitherto imposed upon strangers. In a word, he declared emphatically that 

 he would not think of accepting Nagasaki as one of the ports. 



The Commodore then informed the commissioners that he should expect, in the course of time, 

 five ports to be opened to the American flag. He would, however, he said, be content for the 

 present with three : one on the island of Nipjjon^ say either Uraga or Kagosima ; another in 

 Yesso, suggesting Matsmai, and a third in Lew Chew, that of Napha. In regard to the 

 remaining two he was willing to defer all discussion to some future time. 



After many evasions, and their usual j^rotestations of legal difficulties, they at last answered 

 that, as the Commodore positively refused to accept Nagasaki, and as they themselves objected 

 to Uraga, that Simoda accordingly was formally proposed. In regard to Lew Chew, the 

 commissioners declared that, as it was a distant dependency, over which the Emperor of Jajoan 

 had but limited control, they could entertain no proposition. And as for Matsmai, that also 

 stood in similar relations to the Japanese government. 



Notwithstanding all these objections, the Commodore still persisted in his demands, as he 

 had always to be on his guard against the deceitful diplomacy of the people with whom he was 

 negotiating. Finding that the Commodore was resolute, and that all their cunning devices to 

 bend him from his purpose were of no avail, the commissioners proposed to consider the matter, 

 and retired to another apartment for private consultation. After an absence of an hour they 

 returned and reported as the result of their deliberations that a longer time would be required 

 before their decision could be given in regard to the opening of Matsmai. They remarked, in 

 addition, that it was not in the power of the Emperor to grant the use of this ^jort without 

 consulting the prince under whose hereditary right it was governed, and that to do this would 

 require a year, at the expiration of which time they would be prepared to give a reply. Tlie 

 Commodore then told them that he could not leave Japan without an answer of some kind, and 

 that if the prince to whom they referred was an independent sovereign, he would go himself to 

 Matsmai and negotiate with him. 



This point was finally settled for the time by the Japanese saying that they would give a 

 definite answer on Thursday, the twenty-third of March. In regard to Simoda, it was agreed 

 that the Commodore should dispatch one or more vessels to that port, and the commissioners a 

 Japanese officer of rank to meet them, in order that the harbor might be examined, and its 

 fitness for the required purposes determined, it having been clearly understood that if it did not 

 answer the expectations of the Americans in all respects, another place, somewhere in the 

 southern part of Nippon, would be insisted on. The Vandalia and Southampton were accord- 

 ingly dispatched, on the twentieth of March, to examine the harbor of Simoda. 



The day after the conference on shore, Moryama Yenoske, the chief interpreter, accompanied 

 by two Japanese officials, came on board the Powhatan and submitted a paper, in the Dutch 

 language, containing a report by the Japanese themselves of the propositions made by the 



