establish relationships with Japan but was unsuccessful. In 1853
Commodore Perry bore a message from the President to the Mikado
which demanded--though the demand was couched in courteous
language--"friendship, commerce, a supply of coal and provisions,
and protection for our shipwrecked people." After a long
hesitation the Mikado yielded. Commodore Perry's success was due
not solely to the care with which his expedition was equipped for
its purpose nor to his diplomatic skill but in part to the
fact that other countries were known to be on the very point of
forcing an entrance into the seclusion of Japan. Few Americans
realize how close, indeed, were the relations established with
Japan by the United States. The treaty which Townsend Harris
negotiated in 1858 stated that "The President of the United
States, at the request of the Japanese Government, will act as a
friendly mediator in such matters of difference as may arise
between the Government of Japan and any European power." Through
his personal efforts Harris may almost be said to have become the
chief adviser of the Japanese Government in the perplexities
which it encountered on entering international society.

Not only did the United States allow itself a closer intimacy
with this new Pacific power than it would have done with a state
of Europe, but it exhibited a greater freedom in dealing with the
European powers themselves in the Far East than at home or in
America. In 1863 the United States joined--in fact, in the
absence of a naval force it strained a point by chartering a
vessel for the purpose--with a concert of powers to force the
opening of the Shimonoseki Straits; subsequently acting with
Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, the United States
secured an indemnity to pay the cost of the expedition; and in