and delicate task, and was for this purpose assigned to the East India station. His full powers to negotiate a treaty, his instructions signed by Mr. Webster, and the President's letter to the emperor of Japan, bear date of June 10, 1851, and he sailed the following month.[1] When he reached China en route he received a letter from the Secretary of the Navy ordering his recall. It had in the interval been determined to intrust the mission to Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry,—an officer who had attained distinction in the navy, and who had shown qualities which it was thought peculiarly fitted him to carry to success this undertaking, of such moment to the United States and to mankind, and one in the accomplishment of which officers of the American and European navies had thus far failed. Perry came of sailor stock, his father having served in the Revolutionary navy, and his brother Oliver being the hero of the victory on Lake Erie in 1813. At the time of his appointment to the mission he was fifty-eight years of age.
He was given ample time to make his preparations, and great freedom in the selection of his subordinates. America and Europe were searched for publications which would be of service to the expedition. The charts used were obtained chiefly from Holland, for which the government paid $30,000. Van Siebold's "Archiv" was obtained at a cost of $503, and a great variety of books on Japan were collected. The
- ↑ S. Ex. Doc. 59, cited, 74–82. For President Fillmore's account, 3 American Historical Record, 148; for Aulick's appointment and recall, Ib. 294.
