1280 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
collection of Japanese works of art,’? now on 2 iiccary deposit in the National 
Museum at Washington, District of Columbia. 
Referred to Committee on the Library. 
December 18, 1889—House. 
Mr. C. A. Russewu introduced bill (H. 2753) same as 8. 321. 
February 18, 1890—Senate. 
Mr. VoorHEEs, from Committee on the Library, submitted 
report (S. 317) on bill (S. 321). 
The Committee on the Library, to which was referred the bill 
(S. 321) providing for the purchase of ‘‘the Capron collection of Jap- 
anese works of art,” reports the same favorably, and recommends its 
passage. 
This collection was made by the late Gen. Horace Capron, a gentle- 
man of great refinement, culture, and learning, while he was United 
States minister [commissioner] to Japan. It was carefully examined 
by Prof. G. Brown Goode, the assistant to the late Prof. Spencer F. 
Baird, Director of the National Museum, who estimated its value at 
about the sum proposed in the bill to be appropriated. The committee 
thinks the Government should have the ownership of this collection. 
It would be placed in the National Museum, where the many visitors 
from all parts of the country could see it. 
‘‘THE ORDER OF THE RISING SUN.’ 
The honor conferred upon a distinguished American by the Emperor of Japan. 
As matter of peculiar and entertaining interest, the Post has been permitted to 
make the following extracts from the records of Gen. Horace Capron, formerly 
Commissioner of Agriculture, who resigned that position in 1871 to accept one from 
the Japanese Government, together with translations of the documents accom- 
panying the late honor conferred upon him by the Emperor of Japan. 
When it is considered that eight years have passed since General Capron retired 
from the service of that Government, during which the various works inaugurated 
by him have been gradually developed under the eye of His Imperial Majesty, it 
can but be considered creditable to American enterprise. 
The work commenced by him was not the simple improvement of the agriculture 
of Japan, as many have supposed, but comprehended the development of a great 
island of 35,739 square miles, which to that period had remained a ‘‘terra incognita,”’ 
and the inauguration of a state, with all the industries and appliances, scientific and 
practical, of a new civilization, the influences of which works have extended over the 
whole Empire. It can not be better explained than in copying the following abstract 
from a correspondence of our minister to Japan as follows: 
‘Tt may well be said there was no state in Yesso in the sense that men constitute 
a state when General Capron first took charge of that island, and it may also be said 
that when he left it a state was inaugurated with the introduction of the various 
industries and appliances which will secure food, clothing, and shelter to a nation.” 
The following are translations of the papers accompanying the decoration conferred 
upon him:by the Emperor: 
(No. 1.) ; 
January 16, 1884. 
Drar Str: His Excellency Ito Hirobumi, the acting minister of foreign affairs, 
Tokyo, instructs me by cablegram to inform you that His Majesty the Emperor of 
