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The United States in 1854 had attained a commercial and industrial position among the nations of the world, which for rapidity of growth and for importance was unprecedented in history. It was an era peculiarly fitted for the development of American commerce. The unsettled political state of Europe, which had materially reduced its productiveness, had but added to the trade of the United States in the Atlantic; while the settlement of California had created a new centre of energy on the Pacific, and greatly stimulated national interest and effort in commercial intercourse with the East. It was but natural, then, that the people of the United States should have received the announcement of the success of the Japan expedition with satisfaction at the prospect of material benefit which it offered, and with pride in the American enterprise and skill which had opened a new field for their activities.

Up to the period when this expedition was initiated the two neighboring empires of the Far East had preserved a uniform policy in their relations with the Western nations. This policy was steadily persisted in to the point where warlike opposition was encountered. When confronted by a serious display of force, the