Page:American Diplomacy in the Orient - Foster (1903).djvu/179

 On the 12th of July the governor came on board, and stated that it had been arranged that a high officer would be nominated to receive the President's letter, and a building was being erected on shore for the place of reception, but he added that no reply to the letter could be given at that place, but one would be transmitted to Nagasaki, through the Dutch or Chinese superintendents. As soon as this answer was made known to Perry, he wrote the following memorandum:—

"The commander-in-chief will not go to Nagasaki, and will receive no communication through the Dutch or Chinese.

"He has a letter from the President of the United States to deliver to the emperor of Japan or to his secretary of foreign affairs, and he will deliver the original to none other; if this friendly letter of the President to the emperor is not received and duly replied to, he shall consider his country insulted, and will not hold himself accountable for the consequences.

"He expects a reply of some sort in a few days, and he will receive such reply nowhere but in this neighborhood."

After being translated into Dutch the memorandum was handed to the governor, and he departed. In the afternoon he returned to the ship, and said that a very distinguished personage, properly accredited by the emperor, would be appointed to receive the commander on shore the day after the morrow. The day following he came to the flagship with the credentials of the plenipotentiary and a certificate from the court that he was