Go back to the Essay Commodore Perry's letter to Senior Councillor Hayashi, March 10, 1854
United States Flag Ship Powhatan
At anchor off the Town of Yokohama
Edo Bay, 10 March 1854
To His Highness,
Hayashi, Daigaku-no-kami
etc. etc. etc.
Your Highness,
In reply to the communication of your highness, which was brought to me yesterday by
Kurokawa Kahei, and the chief interpreter, Moriyama Einosuke, I hasten to remark that
it has given me the greatest satisfaction to learn from its contents, that the imperial
government of Japan has at last awakened to a conviction of the necessity of so
altering its policy with respect to foreign nations, as to consent to an interchange of
friendly intercourse with the United States.
Though the propositions set forth in the communication of your highness furnish strong
No