USA > Rhode Island > The "Old Stone Bank" history of Rhode Island, Vol. III > Part 36
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assume a diplomatic role few men in history have been called upon to fill.
From the same source from which most writers have secured many of the facts for books about Commodore Perry, a report published by Congress in 1856 entitled "Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, performed in the years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the command of Commodore M. C. Perry," we find just why this native son of Rhode Island has at last been called "The Great Com- modore," but before reviewing some of these facts, let us outline briefly the reasons why Commodore Perry was requested to perform the difficult task to which he was assigned.
Japan is said to possess a written his- tory extending over 2500 years; its sov- ereigns to have formed an unbroken
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dynasty since 660 B.c., but its authentic history begins about 400 A.D. Until the middle of the nineteenth century, the islands of Japan, stretching nearly 900 miles along the Pacific water front, en- joyed, by their own desire, little or no intercourse with the rest of the world. Long had the nations of the world looked with longing eyes upon this apparently limitless repository of resources and treasure, but all efforts to trade or treat with the unfriendly, disinterested, sus- picious, warlike, but cultured, talented, and wealthy inhabitants of these strange, mysterious, incomprehensible islands, had failed. After Pope Alexander VI, to avoid a disastrous war between Spain and Portu- gal, donated the entire Orient to these rival nations, three Portuguese were ship- wrecked, in 1542, at the southwest tip of Japan, and these castaways were sur- prised to find the Japanese an orderly, prosperous, peace-loving and intricately- governed people whose culture had much in common with the Chinese. They lived under an elaborate caste system at the top of which was the Mikado. Although the Mikado was revered as a sort of material- ized God, he could not be approached by ordinary mortals, and could never leave his palace. At the time the Portuguese landed in Japan, by accident, the real power in Japan had been acquired by hereditary nobles, one of whom ruled as regent for the Mikado, with the title of Shogun. The early Portuguese, however, were not concerned with methods of government. Trade for their own enrich- ment and conversion to Christianity were their sole objectives. More Portuguese followed the first arrivals, and a trading post and a mission were established at Nagasaki. A world-wide missionary order took control of spiritual affairs, and con- versions were made by the thousands. The Japanese showed themselves eager for Western goods and Western ideas, and for a while outsiders had no cause for discontent in Japan.
But soon a rival missionary order began to cast jealous eyes at their brothers in religion on the Yellow Sea. A shipload of their missionaries landed at Nagasaki. Then both missionary Orders began to compete for favor, and, as a result, the
natives began to find themselves arrayed in competing Christian groups. The Japanese looked on with puzzled sus- picion; they could not understand how squabbles, intrigues, and jealousy could exist - all in the name of Christianity. In 1600, about the time when Roger Williams was born in London, the Dutch arrived in Japan, and set up a trading port at Hirado. The Japanese welcomed them as they had the Portuguese, but the work of conversion to Christianity developed into a three-cornered fight.
In the struggle for supremacy which followed, traders and religious cults lost all sense of self-respect. They degraded their religion and shamed the culture of Europe to Oriental eyes. The reigning Shogun finally forbade further efforts of missionaries in Japan and decreed that all religious Orders be expelled from the land. The discredited missionaries began to foment trouble among the people, and the Shogun retorted with wholesale persecutions and massacres of the Chris- tians. The climax came in 1638, two years after the founding of Providence, when several thousand helpless Christian con- verts took refuge in an old castle near the sea. The Shogun's forces tried to dis- lodge them, without success. The Shogun then insolently ordered the leader of the Dutch colony to send a Dutch ship out to bombard the Christians from the harbor. For fifteen days the Dutchmen fired upon the Christians, until the besiegers were able to take the castle by assault and massacre the survivors. This incident put the finishing touch to the Japanese regard for white civilization: and all that it stood for. Late in the year 1638 came this edict, and consider care- fully the words, "For the future, let none, so long as the Sun illuminates the world, presume to sail to Japan, not even in the quality of Ambassador, and this declara- tion is never to be revoked on pain of death."
For their treachery to white civilization, the Dutch claimed exception to this edict, and begged the right of exclusive monop- oly on European trade. Contemptuously, they were ordered to Nagasaki, where they were cooped up on a tiny island at the harbor's mouth, and forbidden to
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communicate with anyone except selected members of the despised merchant class. To their barricaded island one Dutch ship was permitted a yearly visit. It would land only specified articles under heavy guard. The captain had to bring extrava- gant presents for the provincial rulers, and he was compelled to commence negotia- tions by doing homage to the governor of the province on his hands and knees.
Beyond the Dutch, with these humiliat- ing conditions and restrictions, Japan again passed out of the family of nations. Japan again receded back into the shad- ows of mystery and virtual isolation. No ship could approach its shores except the lone Dutch vessel that came once a year. No one could leave Japan; an effort to do so meant instant death. Castaways on Japanese shores were either imprisoned or put to death. So far as human en- deavor could accomplish it, Japan's isolation was complete. And so it re- mained all the years when the American continent was being colonized; and so it remained during the eighteenth century when the American colonies were com- pelled to take to arms to preserve their liberties. Japan was still a strange, un- known land during all those years when American ships sailed to the four quarters of the globe, extending commerce and creating friendly relations with far flung nations. The renowned Yankee clippers had boldly matched their speed with the tall ships of England for the tea trade of China. They returned to their home ports laden with silks, spices, Chinese lacquer, brass and metal work, far beyond Yankee skill. New Bedford, Warren and Bristol whalers ranged to the distant ends of the earth - 685 whalers were registered under the Stars and Stripes in 1845 - and on their long cruises they often found it necessary to touch at foreign ports for repairs or supplies. In these emergencies they always found a welcome in any inhabited port, with one exception - Japan.
The United States long desired to open relations with these islands of mystery, and a first attempt was made in 1846, when Commodore Biddle sailed two vessels into Japanese waters and was promptly ordered to leave. Three years
later Commodore J. H. Aulick attempted the same mission, but he likewise failed, being suddenly relieved from command at the American Naval base in China. Then Commodore Matthew C. Perry of Newport had his opportunity, and well did he lay his plans.
After receiving his formal orders of appointment on March 24, 1852, Com- modore Perry interviewed whaling cap- tains and sailors who had been castaways in Japan. He availed himself of all the literature dealing with Japan then extant, and this reading convinced him that diplo- matic errors had been made in previous negotiations. The Japanese had their own court customs, and it behooved unin- vited guests to respect them. Perry per- ceived the unalterable caste foundations of the Japanese social order. The Mikado, descendant of the Sun, could not deign to take notice of any one whose rank was not next to his own; all intercourse with the lower ranks must be conducted through high-born subordinates. To deal with the Japanese diplomats on equal terms, Perry created a facsimile caste system among his officers, reserving for himself a special superior caste with the title "Lord of the Forbidden Interior."
This ruse he carefully kept from the ears of public officials who might make a laugh- ing stock of him and ruin his plans. There must have been plenty of amusement in the ward-rooms when lieutenants and ensigns rehearsed their roles as Shoguns and Poobahs, but it was serious business with the "Lord of the Forbidden In- terior," and it was a clever piece of stratagem, as we shall see.
Perry also determined to take as presents to the Mikado specimens of the finest products of American civilization - among them a small scale locomotive and train, telescopes, and scientific instru- ments, a complete telegraph outfit to show the Japanese the wonders they were missing by barring themselves from the outside world. For the ultimate in magic grandeur, he relied on the huge machinery of his paddle wheel, steam-driven ships.
After nearly a year of baffling delays in preparing and outfitting, Perry's flag- ship "Mississippi " was ready. Other ships assigned to the expedition were still either
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in dockyards or scattered over the ocean, with the Navy Department's promise to hurry them to the naval base in China as rapidly as possible. Finally, on Nov. 27, 1852, the historic Japanese Expedi-
tion, commanded by Commodore Mat- thew C. Perry of Rhode Island, and at that stage, consisting of one ship, sailed quietly from Norfolk and headed for the Orient.
THE WINNING OF JAPAN
TN the previous chapter the reasons were I given why Japan had been a closed country to the rest of the world after a disastrous and wholly unsuccessful at- tempt had been made by white civiliza- tion, in the sixteenth century, to establish trade with the Japanese, and to convert them to Christianity. Historians have no other choice than to believe that the in- habitants of the strange, unknown islands were justified in supporting the edict of 1638 which warned: "For the future, let none, so long as the Sun illuminates the world, presume to sail to Japan, not even in the quality of Ambassadors, and this declaration is never to be revoked on pain of death." By that edict, Japan disap- peared from the world of civilization. No one could thereafter approach its shores. Japanese ship construction was rigorously restricted to a type of boat that would swamp if it attempted the high seas. An effort to leave Japan meant death. Even fishermen swept away by storms were not allowed to return. Castaways on Japanese shores were either imprisoned or put to death. So far as human endeavor could accomplish it, Japan's isolation was com- plete. And so it remained until the ar- rival, in the middle of the last century, of a native born Rhode Island naval officer, Matthew C. Perry of Newport, who was selected by the American Gov- ernment to lead an expedition into the Orient with instructions to break down the age-old Japanese barriers. In the pre- vious account we also described how Perry prepared for this mission, and how he organized his officers and men into a fac- simile caste system, comparable to the castes rigidly maintained by the Japa- nese. Perry's flagship, the "Mississippi," sailed from Norfolk on November 27, 1852, and arrived in Hong Kong harbor
on April 6, 1853, where other ships of the expedition, the "Plymouth," the "Sara- toga," and the store-ship "Supply" had already arrived. While the final work of outfitting went forward at the American naval base in China, Commodore Perry was entertained by the representatives of several European nations who probably wished him a pleasant voyage and a dis- astrous outcome, because no country wanted to see another the first to reap the rewards of open commerce and intercourse with the Japanese. After arranging with Mr. Wells Williams, a missionary and authority on Oriental affairs, to join the expedition as interpreter, the squadron sailed for the Lin Chin Islands off the southernmost tip of Japan, where Perry established a base and coaling station. There the natives were found to be sus- picious and evasive but willing to ex- change supplies for gold and Chinese cash.
On July 2, 1853, the little fleet of four ships left the base called Napha and boldly sailed in the direction of the bay of Yeddo, or as we call it now, Tokyo. From such authentic sources as Commo- dore Perry's official report to Congress, published in 1856, and from a condensed version of the book "The Great Commo- dore" by Edward M. Barrows, this is, briefly, what happened.
At four o'clock in the morning of July 8, 1853, the American ships steamed into Yeddo, or Tokyo Bay, and they were soon surrounded by a great flotilla of junks, several of which approached with the evident intention of communicating with the strange ships that miraculously breathed fire and smoke and moved directly against the current with all sails furled. At this point the Commodore tried out the first of the policies he had
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decided on for dealing with the super- cilious Japanese. He ignored the junks, and moved forward up the Bay until op- posite the fortified town of Uraga, where observation indicated that the native sol- diers were preparing for action. No guns were fired from ship or shore but a ring of small boats was soon formed around the ships, and an officer of some rank in one of these boats held up a scroll of paper which he attempted to deliver on board the "Susquehanna," but the deck officers refused to receive it. The "Saratoga" barely escaped a real hand-to-hand en- gagement. The native boats approached her, and lines were thrown aboard, and some of the natives attempted to climb up the chains. Under orders, the Ameri- can sailors stood off the natives with pikes and other handy ship weapons, and just as a good old-fashioned pirate style deck fight seemed unavoidable, some one in the small boats called out, "I can speak Dutch." The boat was allowed to come alongside, and the volunteer interpreter demanded to see the head of the squadron.
This, of course, was refused. The Lord of the Forbidden Interior, or Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U. S. N., of Newport, Rhode Island, was of such high rank that he could be approached only by the high- est dignitaries in Japan. But the ingen- ious Japanese got around this difficulty. The interpreter announced that the Vice- Governor of Uraga was in the boat; he suggested that the American Lord of the Forbidden Interior delegate a subordi- nate of equal rank to confer with him. After a long, intentional delay, a mes- senger emerged from the cabin, or sacred temple, of the supreme dignitary, with an announcement that the Vice-Governor of Uraga and his Dutch interpreter could come aboard for a conference. Through this procedure Perry had put an end to the insolence with which foreign emissaries always had been received, and he had given the Japanese, for the first time, a basis for negotiation which they could understand. The caste plan seemed to be working.
In the conference, the Vice-Governor of Uraga was informed that the Lord of the Forbidden Interior bore a letter from the President of the United States to the
Emperor of Japan, and he desired that a day be appointed for the American official to deliver it personally to the Emperor. After some discussion about the Americans going to Nagasaki to de- liver their request, which Perry refused to do, the conference ended. Early the next morning, two barges approached bringing a Dutch interpreter and Kayama Yezaimen, Governor of Uraga, and the highest dignitary in the countryside. Ad- hering to his plan to observe caste, the Commodore withdrew to his cabin, and two American captains were delegated to receive the visitors.
After a studied delay, the visiting digni- tary was allowed to open the conference, at the outset of which he announced that it would be necessary for the Americans to deliver their message to the Dutch at Nagasaki, and an answer would be trans- mitted through the officials there. This demand was refused, and Perry, through his spokesman, of course, insisted that the President's letter would be delivered by him on the shores of Tokyo Bay, to a court official with credentials direct from the Nipponese Emperor. At this point the Japanese Governor was shown a mag- nificent gold and rosewood box prepared in Washington, containing Perry's creden- tials. This changed matters somewhat. Yezaimen became cordial and made an offer for the first time of water and refresh- ments if the fleet stood in any need. Then the conference ended; the Governor went ashore for further instructions.
Several days later three impressive looking barges came out to the fleet bring- ing Yezaimen, richly clad in silks. After being received on the deck of the "Sus- quehanna," with awed reverence he pre- sented a ponderous document wrapped in velvet and enclosed in a box of sandal- wood. It was the credential of the Im- perial messenger, sent aboard for inspec- tion, by the American Lord of the Forbidden Interior. To it was affixed the royal seal of the Son of Heaven himself. The Emperor's messenger proved to be an officer of high rank, the famous Prince Toda of Idsu, First Counsellor of the Empire. The shore meeting of the two dignitaries was set for the following day, and all that night the curious American
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sailors listened to the sound of hammering as the work of Japanese stage setting went on in haste. Sunrise revealed the results of this hurried preparation. The shore was lined with ornamental silk screens, decorated with huge scarlet flowers and blazons of the imperial arms. In the midst of the screens could be seen the roofs of three cone-shaped tents or buildings in which the meeting was to take place. Several thousand Japanese soldiers were drawn up in orderly divi- sions along the shore, and before them more than a hundred patrol boats were arranged in parallel lines. Every vantage point on the nearby hill was crowded with natives, and report shows that they were gathered there by the tens of thousands to see the Lord of the Forbidden Interior and his strange barbarians. The landing signal was hoisted from the "Susque- hanna," and fifteen boats with the Ameri- can colors at the stern, and sailors at the oars, put off from two of the ships. The crews disembarked and, armed with mus- kets and sidearms, formed along the shores. One hundred marines wheeled into line on either side of the wharf facing the sea. A brigade of nearly two hundred sailors followed, and two bands brought up the rear. The Japanese marveled at the size and military carriage of both the sailors and marines. As the order "Pre- sent Arms" rang out, the barge with the broad pennant swept up to the wharf. The oarsmen held their sweeps erect; the solitary figure in brilliant dress uniform with sword and epaulets, stepped ashore. Matthew C. Perry of Newport, brother of the equally famous Oliver Hazard Perry, had landed in Japan.
From this point on, it is a long and most interesting story, but briefly, the meeting on the shores of Tokyo Bay consumed but a few minutes of comic-opera formality. Commodore Perry presented a letter from Millard Fillmore, President of the United States, his own letter of credence, and two letters from the Commodore to the Japa- nese Emperor. The letters were all directed to one purpose - the opening of business relations between Japan and the United States. Perry announced that he was leaving soon for his naval base in China, and that he would return in the
Spring for an answer to the President's letter. The Japanese asked if all four ves- sels would return. "Probably more" answered the Commodore, "as these are only a small portion of the American naval fleet." After waiting a few days the expedition left Japanese waters and re- turned to Napha, where several foreign nations immediately attempted, using a common but expressive term, to "horn- in" on what the Americans appeared likely to accomplish.
Fearful that one or more of these for- eign nations might upset his plans, and suspicious particularly of what the Dutch were scheming to do, Perry altered his plans and sailed back to Tokyo Bay in January, 1854, arriving at an anchorage twelve miles above Uraga on February 11th. A lot went on in Japan during Perry's absence ; there were many differ- ences of opinion in respect to American overtures; there were many political changes, and several changes of official attitude, but support for the long frowned upon relations with outsiders finally pre- vailed, and Perry's return, although in advance of schedule, proved to be well- timed. After some delay occasioned by Perry's refusal to move his ships back down the Bay to Uraga, a shore meeting was arranged for March 8, 1854. Once more the shore was lined with screens and decorations; once more the populace crowded the shoreline to see the strangers; once more Perry went ashore with all the fanfare and display that a naval squadron could present. The first meeting brought no results since the reply to the American President's letter proved to be a meaning- less communication of good wishes and friendly expressions. Nothing was said about trade and commerce. Then fol- lowed three weeks of conversations with little or no results, but the next feature of the negotiations caused considerable ex- citement. This was the presentation of gifts long before promised by Perry, but held back for the proper occasion.
On the day selected, the Americans erected a miniature railroad with locomo- tive, passenger cars, and track, and while the terrified natives kept at safe distance, the nobles took their turn sitting astride the roof of the tiny passenger car, holding
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on desperately with half-shut eyes, as the puffing engine whirled around the circu- lar track at 20 miles an hour. Included in the wonders of the civilized world brought to Japan as gifts from a progressive free country were a complete telegraph send- ing and receiving set, plows and other agricultural implements, vegetable seeds, rifles, books, telescopes, dressing cases, clocks, perfumery and many articles of household and scientific use.
The Shogun also brought forth his gifts for the Americans - magnificent bro- cades and silk, beautiful porcelains, tables, trays and goblets finished in the secret lacquer of Japan. Finally the long days of negotiation drew to a close. Details of
the treatment of shipwrecked sailors were settled; reluctant permission was obtained for consulates at the treaty ports of Simoda and Hakodate; terms on which American traders could deal with Japa- nese merchants were roughly outlined. On March 31, 1854, the Commodore and the Japanese High Commissioners cere- moniously affixed their signatures to the document which admitted Japan to the world family of nations. For 2500 years of known history Japan had remained an isolated, unknown land. Commodore Matthew C. Perry of Rhode Island opened the door and introduced to the world a nation that was soon destined to become a power in its own right.
BARNUM AND AVERY
T THIS amusing anecdote has to do with two celebrated figures - one, the greatest showman of all times, and, the other, a murder suspect whose name was as well known in American households a century ago as any name since connected with a major crime important enough to arouse nation-wide interest. Concerning the murder case - the body of Sarah Maria Cornell, a poor factory girl, was found hanging by the neck in a Tiverton, Rhode Island stackyard, or wood yard, late in the year 1832. All suspicion pointed to the Reverend Ephraim K. Avery, a Bristol clergyman, who was be- lieved to have had reasons for wanting the young girl put out of the way.
The trial at Newport was a national event, and it proved to be a sensational battle of wits between the prosecutors and the defenders of the accused. Feeling ran high because of the profession and the standing in the community of the clergy- man on trial for his life, and few believed that he would escape the same fate that befell the unfortunate Sarah. However, the jury finally rendered a verdict of not guilty, although the Reverend was forced to leave Rhode Island and go somewhere beyond the reach of those who openly threatened to take the law into their own hands. Few places in America were safe
for the Rev. E. K. Avery a century ago, but somehow he managed to find a spot where his identity was not discovered.
So much for the murder suspect. It was about this time that Phineas T. Bar- num, dean of deans of the American cir- cus, began his active career as an exhibitor of the strange, curious, stupendous and astounding. Already he had had a rather full life of adventure and interest in show- manship, and he made up his mind to seek his fortune under the billowing canvas, the pavilions as they called the big tops in those days.
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