NAVY, UNITED STATES. 



525 



the Franklin on the 14th. On the 17th Ad- 

 miral Farragut called on her Majesty the Queen 

 at Osborn House. On the 18th the corporate 

 authorities and others of Southampton visited 

 the Franklin, and on the 19th she sailed from 

 Oowes for Syra, at which place she arrived on 

 the 4th of August. 



Here Admiral Farragut transferred his flag 

 to the Frolic and proceeded to Constantinople. 

 The Franklin sailed for Smyrna.. He reached 

 the Dardanelles on the 6th of August, and, hav- 

 ing received a firman from the Sultan, anchored 

 in the Bosphorus, off Constantinople, on the 

 8th. On the 13th of August, accompanied hy 

 a large number of officers of the navy, he was 

 received by his Majesty the Sultan, Abdul Aziz, 

 in his palace on the Asiatic shore, and on a 

 subsequent day called on the Viceroy of Egypt, 

 then on a visit to Constantinople. The Frank- 

 lin having been detained several days at the 

 Dardanelles, awaiting a firman, anchored off 

 Constantinople on the 21st. Here he was en- 

 tertained by the Grand- Vizier and other offi- 

 cials. He left the Bosphorus on the 29th, and 

 anchored in the harbor of Piraeus, Greece, on 

 the 31st of August. 



At Athens he was presented to the King and 

 Queen, and upon invitation of the King was 

 present at the baptism of the young prince and 

 attended a banquet at the palace. The Frank- 

 lin was visited by the King, the Grand-duch- 

 ess Alexandra Josephina, and the Grand-duke 

 Constantino (mother and brother of the Queen), 

 with their respective suites ; also by the Greek 

 officials and the diplomatic corps. 



On the 10th of September he left Piraeus, 

 and on the 14th arrived off Trieste, where of- 

 ficial calls were exchanged and other courtesies 

 extended. He sailed from Trieste on the 27th, 

 anchored off Gibraltar October 9th, and left 

 for New York on the 18th, where he arrived 

 on November 10th. 



The command of the Asiatic squadron was 

 held by Rear- Admiral Henry H. Bell until 

 January llth, when he was drowned at Osaka. 

 The command then devolved upon Commodore 

 J. R. Goldsborough, who retained it until the ar- 

 rival of Bear- Admiral S. C. Rowan at Singapore 

 on April 18th. The squadron "was composed of 

 the Piscataqua, 23 guns ; Oneida, 8 ; Iroquois, 

 6; Ashuelot, 10; Monocacy, 10; Unadilla, 

 5 ; Aroostook, 5 ; Maumee, 8 ; Idaho, 7 ; to- 

 gether with the Shenandoah and Hartford, 

 which have subsequently returned to the Uni- 

 ted States. 



Upon the opening of the ports of Osaka and 

 Hiogo, in Japan, it was deemed necessary that 

 a strong naval force should be present. Not 

 that any serious trouble was apprehended, but 

 certain discontented factions were known to 

 exist, and the display of foreign power would, 

 it was thought, prove a wholesome restraint 

 on the turbulent and disaffected. A few days 

 afterward, the unfortunate event of the drown- 

 ing of Rear-Admiral Bell took place. His 

 communication with the shore had been inter- 



rupted for several days by a storm, and ho left 

 his ship as soon as it abated, for the purpose of 

 visiting the United States minister. But his 

 barge was capsized, by a strong wind and heavy 

 sea, on the bar, in sight of most of his command. 

 Every effort was made, by boats dispatched 

 from the vessels present, to rescue the unfor- 

 tunate party, but only three of the boat's crew 

 were saved. The bodies of the lost were all 

 subsequently recovered. 



The harmony which prevailed at the opening 

 of the new ports was of short duration. Dif- 

 ficulties, originating in the innovations on an- 

 cient customs and opposition to intercourse 

 with foreigners, appeared among the Japanese, 

 and soon broke out in hostilities. 



On the 27th of January, the contending par- 

 ties came in conflict at Osaka. The Tycoon, 

 who favored the extension of commercial in- 

 tercourse, was defeated, and during the night 

 of January 31st sought shelter with some of 

 his principal adherents on board the Iroquois, 

 which was in the harbor. Protection was 

 given him until daylight, when he was trans- 

 ferred to one of his own vessels-of-war. 



On the 1st o.f February the several foreign 

 ministers were compelled to abandon Osaka 

 and were received and conveyed in the Iro- 

 quois to Hiogo, where they established their 

 legations. On the 4th of February an assault 

 was made in the streets of Hiogo by a detach- 

 ment of Japanese troops on the foreign resi- 

 dents, during which one of the crew of the 

 Oneida was seriously wounded by a musket- 

 ball. In consequence of these outbreaks, which 

 threatened the safety of the foreign population, 

 the naval forces present made a joint landing 

 and adopted measures to protect the foreign 

 settlement. But on the 8th of February an 

 envoy from the Mikado arrived at the United 

 States legation with information of a change 

 of government. Assurance was given that 

 foreigners would be protected, whereupon a 

 settlement was made and the forces withdrawn. 

 The Japanese officer who had command of the 

 detachment of troops, and ordered them to fire 

 on the foreigners at Hiogo, was subsequently 

 executed in the presence of a number of the 

 officers of the vessels-of-war. 



Rear- Admiral Rowan reached Yokohama on 

 the 24th of June, and found the open ports in 

 possession of the Mikado party. The foreign 

 naval forces, in pursuance of agreement in con- 

 ference, jointly occupied Yokohama for ^the 

 defence of the foreign settlement. No serious 

 disturbance took place there, and Rear- Admiral 

 Rowan awaited the progress of events between 

 the contending parties. 



After the death of Rear- Admiral Bell, Com- 

 modore Goldsborough transferred his flag to 

 the Hartford, and left Nagasaki on the 1st of 

 February for Hong Kong, on his way to Sin- 

 gapore and the United States. At Hong Kong 

 he paid an official visit to the Chinese viceroy 

 at Canton, who rules over the two extensive 

 and populous sea-coast provinces, Kwantung 



