upon it, recognizing the commodore's services in appropriate terms, was prepared by Marquis Ito.
The dedication took place on July 14, 1901, being the forty-eighth anniversary of the event. The government of the United States sent a squadron to participate in the exercises, commanded by Rear-Admiral Rodgers, a grandson of Perry, and there was also present Rear-Admiral Beardslee, who was a midshipman in Perry's fleet. The Japanese government honored the occasion with the presence of its army and navy. The president of the association, in his dedicatory address, gave as the reason for the location of the monument that "it was at this spot that the modern civilization of our empire had its beginning. … When Commodore Perry set his foot on this shore the Japanese empire was enshrouded in the fogs of a seclusion of nearly three hundred years." He proceeded to review, "the complete and wonderful change" which the nation had made, and for which it was mainly under obligations to the United States. "This monument," he said, "is erected to preserve on stone our determination never to forget the friendship of the United States that sent Commodore Perry to induce us in a peaceful way to have intercourse with foreign powers." The prime minister of the empire also delivered an address of similar purport, in which he said: "It gives me boundless joy to participate in this grand celebration at this moment when the light of our progress is sending forth its rays with increasing brightness."[1] Such an occasion and such a tribute are without a parallel in the history of nations.
- ↑ Foreign Relations U. S. 1901, p. 378.
