202 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



I gave the following memorandum to the Japanese interpreter, Mr. Lobscheid, explaining 

 for his information each paragraph separately. 



MEMORANDUM. 



It is provided by the 12th article of the treaty that ratified copies shall be exchanged within 

 eighteen months after the day on which it was signed at Ka-na-ga-wa by Commodore Perry and 

 the Japanese commissioners. I have brought a copy for this purpose, approved by the Senate 

 of the United States and signed by the President. I wish to deliver this to some person of the 

 highest rank who shall be appointed by the Emperor to receive it, and to deliver to me in return 

 a copy in the Japanese language, approved and signed in the same manner by the Emperor. 



As I have a special power for this purpose, which I will deliver with the treaty to the high 

 officer appointed to exchange ratifications, I shall expect that high officer to have the same 

 authority in writing from the Emperor, which he will deliver to me at the same time. This is 

 in accordance with the usage of nations. 



It is desirable that the exchange shall be made as soon as possible, as I wish to return with 

 the Japanese copy immediately to the United States. I am ready to proceed for this purpose to 

 Yedo, if it is agreeable to the government of Japan ; or to make the exchange in proper form 

 on board the United States ship Powhatan, as soon as the Japanese commissioner is ready. 



The Japanese copy of the treaty is to have the seal and signature of the Emperor attached to 

 it, in like manner as the seal and signature of the President of the United States are affixed to 

 the copy which I bring. 



It will be necessary to have the original treaty at hand when the ratifications are exchanged, 

 in order to compare it with the copies, and see they all agree. 



When the exchange is made, the commissioners will sign two certificates of the fact, to be 

 transmitted to the President of the United States. 



The Japanese officer who boarded the ship informed us tbat the town of Simoda had been 

 totally destroyed by the effects of an earthquake on the 23d of December. The Eussian frigate 

 Diana, which was lying here at the time, received so much injury that she subsequntly foun- 

 dered. I will subjoin to this communication a full account of this calamity. 



On the 29th January I paid a visit of ceremony to the governor of Simoda. I found him to 

 be Isawa Mimasaki Nokami, who had been one of the commissioners for making the treaty. He 

 received me in a temple situated on an eminence, which seemed to have escaped serious damage 

 from the earthquake. He stated, in the course of conversation, that the Japanese government 

 would not be prepared to exchange ratifications at this time, as by the treaty this was not to be 

 done until eighteen months had elapsed from the time it was made. I told him this was a 

 mistake, and referred him to the 12th article of the treaty itself, which says, " within eighteen 

 months, or sooner if practicable." Before leaving him I expressed a hope that he would do all 

 in his power to forward the business, which he promised he would. He said it would require 

 six days to send a letter to Yedo and get an answer back. 



On the 4th of February I received a message from the governor, saying that letters had come 

 from Yedo, and inviting me to a conference on shore. I went accordingly. After the usual 

 compliments, and an expression of regret at the delay I was subjected to, which he said was partly 

 owing to the destruction of the place by the earthquake, and partly to their press of business 

 with the Eussians, who were here negotiating a treaty, he began to state other difficulties which 

 stood in the way of immediate exchange of ratifications. In the first place, he asked if I had 



