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Show PLRRV'S MISSION TO JAPAN. President's Letter in 13";3 Courted Japan's Friendship. The letter which Commodore Perry bore from our government to tho m' kado asked for a mutual treaty The original Instrument was drafted In May, 1851, by Daniel Webster, then secretary of state, and was signed by President Fillmore. There It rested In November, 1852. Mr. Webster's successor, suc-cessor, Kdward Kverett. fished It out of tho department pigeon holes, took It to pieces and refashioned It, says Century. Three copies wero prepared nnd were splendidly engrossed In Kng-llsh, Kng-llsh, Dutch and Chinese. Theso wero Inclosed together in a sumptuous gold caso and, to make tho whole presentment present-ment still moro Impressive to tho Japanese Jap-anese mind, the gold case was enshrined en-shrined lu n coffer of rosewood. s Tho document Intrusted to Commo dore Perry asked of the Japanese court two things, friendship and trnSe first nnd foremost, friendship, for tho safety of our seamen. Mnny n hapless crew had been driven Into their ports by storm or wrecked on their rocky const, escaping tho peril of tho deep only to bo welcomed by those truculent Islanders to a dungeon or a cage on shore. This wrong must be stopped at ail hamuls. And If, In addition, wo could persundo Japan to enter friendly relations of trade, tho two countries by mutual interchange of productions, might each promote Its own prosperity and tho welfaro of the other. It was thought that orientals orien-tals might see that as well as'Vankecs. In the end they did. Hut It cannot bo said that Japan, any more than an oyster, every really yearned to be "opened." |