CHAPTER V. The United States And The Pacific

Long before the westward march of Americans had brought their
flag to the Pacific, that ocean was familiar to their mariners.
>From Cape Horn to Canton and the ports of India, there ploughed
the stately merchantmen of Salem, Providence, and Newburyport,
exchanging furs and ginseng for teas, silks, the "Canton blue"
which is today so cherished a link with the past, and for the
lacquer cabinets and carved ivory which give distinction to many
a New England home. Meanwhile the sturdy whalers of New Bedford
scoured the whole ocean for sperm oil and whalebone, and the
incidents of their self-reliant three-year cruises acquainted
them with nearly every coral and volcanic isle. Early in the
century missionaries also began to brave the languor of these
oases of leisure and the appetite of their cannibalistic
inhabitants.

The interest of the Government was bound to follow its
adventurous citizens. In 1820 the United States appointed a
consular agent at Honolulu; in the thirties and forties it
entered into treaty relations with Siam, Borneo, and China; and
owing to circumstances which were by no means accidental it had
the honor of persuading Japan to open her ports to the world. As
early as 1797 an American vessel chartered by the Dutch had
visited Nagasaki. From time to time American sailors had been
shipwrecked on the shores of Japan, and the United States had
more than once picked up and sought to return Japanese castaways.
In 1846 an official expedition under Commodore Biddle was sent to