42G EXrKDITION TO JAPAN. 



laid before him. He declared tliat the American officers were in the wrong for not having given 

 previous notice of their intention to stay on shore, and because they had gone to a temple which 

 had not been especially designated for their use. 



When the prefect was set right in regard to these false countercharges, he shifted his ground 

 and urged that, as the treaty had not yet gone into effect, the Americans could not yet claim 

 the advantages it was supposed to secure. This view was, of course, emphatically objected to, 

 and the prefect, moreover, informed that the Commodore was not willing to discuss with him 

 the subject of the interpretation of the treaty, as it did not concern him. It was then proposed 

 by the prefect that the matter complained of should be submitted to the commissioners for their 

 arbitration. This was peremptorily declined, and an immediate apology for the outrage, or a 

 categorical refusal, insisted upon. The Japanese official was not yet willing to come directly to 

 the point, and lingered in the discussion of the minor details of the question, in the course of 

 which he stated that it was a Japanese custom to appoint guards for the protection of strangers. 

 He was then indignantly told that the Americans required no such protection, as they were well 

 able to protect themselves on all occasions, and that one of the articles of the treaty was framed 

 for the express purpose of securing freedom from that very surveillance alluded to. The prefect 

 was then emphatically assured that the Americans would never submit with impunity to such 

 treatment, as it was not only an infringement of the stipulations of the treaty, but a violation 

 of the laws of hospitality and an outrage. The prefect now disavowed the whole proceeding, 

 saying that his subordinates had acted upon their own responsibility and without his knowledge, 

 and that he regretted its occurrence. This apology was, of coiirse, accepted, with a reminder, 

 however, that for the future the Commodore could make no distinction between the prefect's 

 own acts and those of his subordinates, but that the former would be held responsible in all 

 cases. 



The prefect then expressed a desire to restrict the stay of officers during the night on shore 

 to cases of necessity, but any such qualification of the privilege was positively denied ; and as 

 the Japanese " could not, of course, judge of the necessity which might require the American 

 officers to remain on shore, they must decide that for themselves."' 



All difficulty now being removed, there was no further interruption to the friendly intercourse 

 between the people of Simoda and their American visitors. There were daily and most intimate 

 relations with the authorities, who seemed anxious to facilitate the views of tlie Commodore, 

 and superintend the supplying of his vessels with water, and all the provisions their scant 

 resources afforded. As the day was now approaching the 9th of May, which had been appointed 

 for meeting the Japanese officials at Hakodadi, the Commodore took his departure for tliat place 

 in his flag-ship, the Powhatan, accompanied by the steamer Mississippi. The Macedonian, 

 Vandalia, and Southampton had sailed previously for the same port. The store-ship Supply 

 was left at Simoda. Previous to the Commodore's departure, he had offered a passage to the 

 interpreter Tatsnoske, or any other Japanese personage whose presence might be required at 

 Hakodadi ; this offer, however, was declined, as, with their usual ceremonious obedience to their 

 superiors, they were fearful of taking any step, however trifling in itself, without being fortified 

 by the authority of the imperial government. The Commodore had now been twenty-five days 

 in the harbor of Simoda^ and as much of his time had been spent in tedious negotiation with 

 the local authorities, who pertinaciously disputed at every step what had been previously con- 

 ceded by their superiors, ho was glad to vary the dull business in which he had been necessarily 



