Davis, Geo Lynn-Lachlan
Paper upon the origin of the Japan Expedition.
Baltimore, 1860.

YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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Bt GEO. LYNN-LACHLAN DAVIS,
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NovJ published, by permission of the (president of the Society,
with only a, fevj slight alterations.

f nltimore . . . |riitt^ir bg |o1jit llitrpljg & Ha.
PuBLisnERS, Booksellers, Printers, and Stationees,
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son of J/LaTyland, (jiq-lu a dzstzngxiislzed
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interest so strongly manifested Toy all
classes of fkmeTioans in every thing
relating to one of the old and great
Errhpires of Jlsia, ujill he some exozose,
it is hoped, for the. -puJolioation, at this
time, of the folloujing (Paper.
Baltimore, June SO, 1^60.

ORIGIN

JAPAN EXPEDITION.

To the Maryland Historical Society I owe an
apology for the character of the topic I have selected.
That doubts should exist respecting subjects connected
with the twilight of our earliest history — that the exploits
of King Arthur, or the piratical deeds of Captain Ingle,
should still involve a variety of open questions — is surely
a matter of no surprise. But it saddens us to think, a
discussion could arise upon a point which may be easily
traced, with the aid of documents, to so recent a period ;
and which cannot, as an excuse for misapprehension, plead
even the simple fact, that there is the least political or
religious prejudice in any way mingled with it. It may
also mortify us to know, how readily the authority of the
Government may be invoked in the propagation of error—
to say nothing of the distinguished man, whose name is
associated with an act of such gross historical injustice.
My meaning will be apparent upon the reading of a para
graph from the huge volume now lying before me, and

6 Origin of the Japan Expedition.
entitled "Narrative of the Expedition ul' an American
Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, performed in the
years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the command of Com
modore M. C. Perry, United States Navy, by order of the
Government of the United States, compiled from the ori
ginal notes and journals, of Commodore Perry and his
officers, at his request and under his supervision, by
Francis L. Hawks, D.D., LL.D., with numerous illustration^,.
Published by order of the Congress of the United States."
"Commodore Perry," according to this Narrative, "after
careful examination, believed that, under all the circum
stances, there was a favorable opportunity for our country
to establish commercial relations with Japan, and avowed
his belief to several of his brother officers, as well as to
some of the dignitaries of the Government, and eminent
citizens, long before the subject was discussed publicly, and
the expedition resolved upon. There were doubtless oth
ers (and among them probably some of high station in the
Government) whose minds had been led . to a similar con
clusion, and who, like Commodore Perry, anticipated pop
ular opinion on the subject of an expedition. Indeed,
instructions had been sent out to Commodore Aulick, then
on the East India Station, directing him to proceed to
Japan ; and the State Department, then under the charge of
Mr. Webster, had sought information concerning Japan
from the officer who commanded the Preble on her visit
Commodore Glynn, who very strongly felt and urged the
importance of establishing, if possible, a friendly commu
nication between that kingdom and our own country. We
believe, however, we do no wrong to any one when we .sixy

Origin of the Japan Expedition. 7
that the thought of making an immediate effort was urged
by Commodore Perry ; and, at all events, on the recall of
Commodore Aulick, he proposed to the Government of the
United States the Expedition which was finally sent. The
proposition was favorably received ; and it was determined
that a squadron should be dispatched, under his command,
on the peaceful mission of endeavoring to open a friendly
commercial intercourse with the Japanese." See page 77.
Such, I regret to add, is a specimen of the loose, slip-shod
method of the Reverend narrator. Will it be believed that
the Expedition was actually projected eighteen months
before the sailing of Commodore Perry ; that a proposal
was submitted to the Government, by Commodore John H.
Aulick, as early as the 9th of May, 1851 ; that the Expedi
tion was then set on foot; that, on the day afterwards, a
letter was addressed by the President to the Emperor of
Japan; that, on the 30th of the same month, a commission
was given to Commodore Aulick to make a treaty with the
Emperor; and that this Expedition was in the Bast under
the command of Commodore Aulick, at the very time to
which the preceding paragraph of the Rev. Dr. Hawks
refers? Yet there is ample evidence in support of each of
these propositions. The first paper I will read developes
the ground-work of the design ; and clearly proves, that
while Mr. Webster promptly approved of the project, the
credit of originating this far-famed Expedition is due to
Commodore Aulick. It is a letter from the pen of the
o-reat statesman, at that time the Secretary of State, to Mr.
Graham, the Secretary of the Navy, written in the author's
very best style, and dated on the 9th of May, 1851.

8 Origin of the Japan Expedition.
Department of State,
Wasiiinqton. May Wi, 1851.
Honorable Wm. A. Graham,
Secretary of the Navy :
Sir: — You will doubtless have seen in the public jour
nals, that a number of Japanese were sometime since picked
up at sea, six hundred miles from the Japanese Islands, by
the barque Auckland, Captain Jennings, by whom they
had been treated very kindly, brought into the port of San
Francisco, and subsequently placed on board the revenue
cutter Polk, to await arrangements for their return to their
native country.
Captain Aulick has suggested to me, and I cheerfully
concur in his opinion, that this incident may afford a favor
able opportunity for opening commercial relations with the
Empire of Japan, or at least of placing our intercourse with
that Island upon a more easy footing.
Under these circumstances, I have the honor to inquire,
whether there is any small national vessel on the Western
coast of the United States, that could, without inconve
nience to the public service, be ordered to take these unfor
tunate men on board at San Francisco, and proceed with
them to Hong-Kong ? Commodore Aulick is charged with
the delivery of a letter from the President of the United
States to the Emperor of .Japan. And if these Japanese
mariners can be thus forwarded to Hong-Kong, there to
await the arrival of the Commodore, he could then take
them on board of one of these vessels under his command
and return them to their native land. Accompanied by an
imposing naval force, as he probably would be on this

Origin of the .Japan Expedition. 9
service, and with the kindly disposition awakened in the
bosom of the Emperor towards this Government, by the act
of restoring these unfortunates to their homes, the occasion,
it is believed, would be most auspicious for the accomplish
ment of the more important oljjects of Commodore Aulick's
mission. I am, sir, respectfully.
Your obedient servant,
Daniel Webster.
The Japanese mariners were subsequently sent to the
East, in conformity with the suggestion contained in the
preceding letter. But let me here add another very inter
esting epistle signed by the President, but written (we may
presume) by the same illustrious Secretary of State: —
Millard Fillmore,
President of tlie United States of America,
To His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan:
Great and Good Friend: — I send you this letter by an
envoy of my own appointment, an officer of high rank in
his country, who is no missionary of religion. He goes, by
my command, to liear to you my greeting and good wishes,
and to promote friendship and commerce between the two
countries. You know that the United States of America now extend
from sea to sea; that the great countries of Oregon and
Califprnia are parts of the United States; and that from
these countries, which are rich in gold and silver and
2

10 Origin of the .Japan Expedition.
precious stones, our steamers can reach the shores of your
happy land in less than twenty days.
Many of our ships will now pass in every year, and
some perhaps in every week, between California and China;
these ships must pass along the coast of your Empire;
storms and winds may cause them to be wrecked on your
shores, — and we ask and expect, from your friendship and
your greatness, kindness for our men, and protection for
our property. We wish that our people may be permitted
to trade with your people ; but we shall not authorize them
to break any laws of your Empire. Our object is friendly
commercial intercourse, and nothing more. You have
many productions which we should be glad to buy ; and
we have productions which might suit your people.
Your Empire has a great abundance of coal ; this is an
article which our steamships, in going from California to
China, must use. They would be glad that a harbor in
your Empire should be appointed to which coal might be
brought, and where they might always be able to purchase it.
In many other respects, commerce between your Empire
and our countrj^ would be useful to both. Let ^is consider
well what new interests arise from the recent events which
have brought our two countries so near together, and what
purposes of friendship, amity and intercourse they ought
to inspire into the breasts of those who govern both coun
tries. Farewell. Given under my hand and seal, at the City of Wash-
[h. s.] ington, the 10th day of May, 1851, and of the Inde
pendence of the United States the seventy-fifth.
Millard Fillmore.
£y the President: Daniel Webster, Sec'y of State.

Origin of the .Japan Expedition. 11
On the 80th of the same month is dated the commission
to Commodore Aulick, (a copy of which will be filed with
this Paper in the Archives of our Society,) clothing him
with the full power to negotiate and sign a treaty of friend
ship, commerce and navigation between the two countries.
The next document (which also I will beg leave to file)
is a copy of the instructions to our newly appointed envoy,
dated about ten days later than the commission. It alludes
in eloquent terms to the approach of the moment when the
" last link" in the great " chain of oceanic steam naviga
tion" shall be formed ; describes the manner in which the
poor shipwrecked mariners shall be delivered at Jeddo, the
capital of the Japanese Empire; specifies a number of
objects as desirable and proper articles for the proposed
treaty ; and recommends the propriety of securing a period
of three years " for the exchange of ratifications."
Notwithstanding the gigantic proportions and vast pre
tensions of the Narrative written by Dr. Hawks, it will be
observed that not one of the above named documents is
mentioned or even quoted in that work. Commodore
Aulick is entirely ignored as the originator of the Expedi
tion ; and the only reference to him in this connection, is
the one which states that he was the commanding officer nf
the East India squadron, and that he had been ordered " to
proceed to Japan." To make the injustice of this grave
omission on the part of the Reverend narrator the more
apparent, and to show what little connexion Commodore
Perry really had with the origin of this Expedition, it is
only necessary to add, that Commodore Aulick had sailed
to the Bast, with the full expectation of carrying out the

12 Origin of the Japan Expedition.
design, and executing the noble purposes of the mission,
when he was suddenly arrested by a hand behind him — by
the powerful hand of Secretary Graham — and soon after
wards succeeded in the command of the squadron by Com
modore Perry, the officer who subsequently became so
conspicuously connected with the history of the Expe
dition. It is not good for us to make a charge without the exhi
bition of proof; and as it is no part of my purpose, in this
Paper, to go beyond the origin of the Expedition, I will not
accuse Mr. Graham of any injustice in the recall of Com
modore Aulick, at the moment when this veteran in the
sea-service of his country was upon the eve of reaping so
rich a reward, and of enjoying so high an honor. But to
rebut any presumption which may arise against the origi
nator of this Expedition, from the extraordinary order of
Mr. Graham, Secretary of the Navy, it is but due to Com
modore Aulick for me to say, that Mr. Dobbin (successor to
Mr. Kennedy in the office vacated by Mr. Graham's resig
nation) did most distinctly state he was fully satisfied with
the explanation submitted by this officer, of everything
relating to the aspersions which had been cast upon him';
and, notwithstanding the request of Commodore Aulick,
he refused to order a court of inquiry.
There are many claimants besides Commodore Perry for
the honor of originating an Expedition which, all must
now admit, is destined to exert a powerful influence upon
the social, commercial and political fortunes of the whole
world. I do not pretend to say what did or what did not
pass through the mind of the President oi- his constitu-

Origin of the Japan Expedition. 13
tional advisers, either before or even after the interview of
Commodore Aulick with Mr. Webster, on the 9th of May,
1851 ; nor will I stop to inquire into the date either of this
or of that particular pi'oposal, or into the exact character
of the facts and suggestions submitted to the Government,
upon various occasions, by diflerent distinguished indivi
duals. In tracing a point of external history, we must
look to the record ; and the diflference between the case of
Commodore Aulick and that of all the other claimants, is
most striking and conclusive. Whatever may have been
thought of other suggestions, it is certain that the proposal
submitted by this officer was the one accepted by the Gov
ernment. It instantly became a living embodiment, a tan
gible and potential reality. It was the express — the openly
avowed — the direct — the immediate basis of the Expedi
tion. And this fact is proved by the documents I have cited
and read.
No blame should be cast upon Dr. Hawks for becoming
the mere amanuensis of Commodore Perry, or assisting his
friends in making out a report for the Government. But
when he goes beyond the journals and legitimate notes of
Navy officers, and assumes the functions of a historian, he
comes under a stricter responsibility ; and I hold it to be a
duty as well as a right to expose his grave delinquencies.
Commodore Aulick is indeed a native of Virginia, and a
well tried officer of the Federal Government. But our field
of labor is not confined to the limits of Maryland. And I
may mention as an interesting fact, that the Commodore
did spend a portion of his boyhood within the bosom of
our own dear State, and entered the Navy of the United

1-4 Origin of the Japan Expedition.
States under the auspices of General Roger Nelson, a very
eminent Marylander of that period, and the father of our
present distinguished townsman, the Honorable John
Nelson. I now beg leave (with this explanatory Paper) to file the
documents I have cited, as a sacred deposit among the
Archives of this Society, and a means of counteracting,
in some degree, the tendency of erroneous statements, put
forward before the whole country with an air of such
imposing authority. If I understand the high objects of
this Society, it is a part of her mission to collect and hand
down to the future the all-important facts of the present ;
and to preserve the purity of the fountain, whatever may
be mingled with the muddy streams which flow in every
direction around us.
Geo. Lynn-Lachlan Davis.

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