1825-1829. Dr. Von Siebold (Dutch) in Yedo. 1827. Beechey (British) in "Blossom"

Islands.

at Loo Choo

1837. The "Morrison" Expedition in Yedo Bay. 1844. Letter1 from King William II. of Holland. 1845. American whaler "Mercator" in Yedo Bay. British frigate "Saramang" at Nagasaki.

1846. Dr. Bettelheim in Loo Choo Islands.

Wreck of American whaler "Lawrence" on Kurile
Islands.

1848. (United States) Commodore Biddle's Expedition in Yedo Bay.

Wreck of American whaler "Ladoga" off Matsumai, Yezo.

Ronald McDonald landed in Japan.

1849. United States "Preble" in Nagasaki harbor. British "Mariner" in Yedo Bay.

1853. Shōgun Iyeyoshi died.

Commodore Perry in Yedo Bay.

It needs only a few words to summarize this period which includes the final days of the two-edged policy of exclusion and inclusion, which forbade not only foreigners to enter, but also Japanese to leave, the country. It would not even allow Japanese shipwrecked on other shores to be brought back to their native land, as several futile attempts mentioned above attest. Nagasaki was the only place where foreign trade was allowed, and there only in a slight degree with Chinese and Dutch. The events of this period are almost all vain attempts to open Japan. Two important events concern the Loo Choo Islands,

1 Recommending to open Japan to foreign intercourse.

then independent, and later visited also by Commodore Perry on his way from China to Japan. Ronald McDonald was an Oregon boy, who, "voluntarily left adrift, got into Yezo, and thence to Nagasaki." He is reported to have puzzled the Japanese authorities by stating that in America "the people are king and the source of authority"! This period of seclusion came to an end on July 14, 1853, when the Japanese, contrary to their own laws, received from Commodore Perry the letter from President Fillmore to the Emperor of Japan.1

II. Period of Treaty-Making (1854-1858).

CHRONOLOGY.

1854. Perry's treaty of peace and amity. British treaty of peace and amity. 1855. Russian treaty of peace and amity. Terrible earthquake.

1856. Fire in Yedo; 100,000 lives lost. Dutch treaty of peace and amity.

Townsend Harris, United States Consul, arrived. 1857. Harris in audience with the Shōgun. 1858. Harris treaty of trade and commerce.

Elgin treaty of trade and commerce.

1 The following is what the Japanese themselves stated about this event: "The letter of the President of the United States of North America, and copy, are hereby received and delivered to the Emperor. Many times it has been communicated that business relating to foreign countries cannot be transacted here at Uraga, but in Nagasaki. Now, it has been observed that the Admiral, in his quality of ambassador of the President, would be insulted by it; the justice of this has been acknowledged; consequently, the above-mentioned letter is hereby received, in opposition to the Japanese law."

This is the era which was opened by Commodore Perry, and was almost entirely devoted to the persevering attempts of Perry, Harris, Curtius, Lord Elgin, and others to negotiate treaties, first of friendship and amity, and afterwards of trade and commerce, with Japan. It is rather interesting that the only events chronicled above, besides treaty-making, are terrible catastrophes, which the superstitious conservatives believed to have been visited upon their country as a punishment for treating with the barbarians! It is again a matter of peculiar pride to Americans that the first treaty of friendship and amity was negotiated by Perry; that the first foreign flag raised officially in Japan was the Stars and Stripes, hoisted at Shimoda by Harris on September 4, 1856; that Harris was the first accredited diplomatic agent from a foreign country to Japan; that he also had the honor of the first audience of a foreign representative with the Shōgun, then supposed to be the Emperor; and that he negotiated the first treaty of trade and commerce.

III. Period of Civil Commotions (1858-1868).

CHRONOLOGY.

1859. Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hakodate opened. First Christian missionaries.

1860. Assassination of Ii, Prime Minister of the Shōgun. 1861. Frequent attacks on foreigners.

1862. First foreign embassy. Richardson affair

1863. Bombardment of Kagoshima.

1864. Bombardment of Shimonoseki.

1865. Imperial sanction of treaties. Tariff convention. 1866. Shōgun Iyemochi died; succeeded by Keiki. 1867. Emperor Kōmei died; succeeded by Mutsuhito. Keiki resigned. Reorganization of the Govern

ment.

1868. Restoration, or Revolution.

This era has been so named because it was marked by commotions, not merely between different factions among the Japanese, but also between Japanese and foreigners. The anti-foreign spirit that manifested itself in numerous assaults and conspiracies was so involved with internal dissensions that it is quite difficult to distinguish them. The assassination of Ii, the Shōgun's Prime Minister, who had the courage and the foresight to sign the treaties, was the natural sequence of the opening of three ports to foreign commerce. The conservative spirit, moreover, was still so strong that the Shōgun had to send an embassy, the first one ever sent abroad officially by Japan, to petition the treaty-powers to permit the postponement of the opening of other ports. The murder of Richardson, an Englishman who rudely interrupted the progress of the retinue of the Prince of Satsuma, was the pretext for the bombardment of Kagoshima; and the firing on an American vessel that was passing through the Straits of Shimonoseki was the excuse for the bombardment of Shimonoseki. About the middle of this period the Imperial sanction of the treaties was obtained, and a tariff convention was negotiated.