continued on his voyage to Japan in a naval vessel which had been placed at his service.[1]
The San Jacinto with the consul-general on board reached Shimoda, August 21, 1856. Mr. Harris kept a journal during his residence in Japan, and as he sailed up the coast in sight of Fujiyama, he makes this entry: "I shall be the first recognized agent from a civilized power to reside in Japan. This forms an epoch in my life, and may be the beginning of a new order of things in Japan. I hope I may so conduct myself that I may have honorable mention in the histories which will be written on Japan and its future destiny." As indicated in this extract, he at all times during his mission evinced a laudable ambition, but it was tempered with a well-becoming degree of reserve.
From his first intercourse with the officials at Shimoda he was met with obstruction, evasion, and prevarication which sorely tried his patience. The governor said that it was not expected that a consul would be sent unless some difficulty should arise, and that no arrangements had been made to receive him and no proper house could be had. He advised the consul-general to go away and return in a year. At the official interview granted him and Commodore Armstrong of the San Jacinto, Harris was again requested to go away, and when he declined the commodore was asked if he would take a letter to the United States expressing a desire for the consul's removal, but he also declined. He was then asked if he would write his government and
- ↑ For negotiations in Siam, Fankwei: The San Jacinto in the Seas of India, China, and Japan, by Dr. W. M. Wood.
