IV-GLYNN, PERRY, AND

HARRIS.

THIS episode made our naval officers, and one in particular. resolve on a different course of deportment. Captain Geisinger, formerly of the Peacock, hearing from the Dutch consul at Canton of eighteen sailors imprisoned at Nagasaki, ordered Commander Glynn in the United States brig Preble to rescue them. At this time the seas were so little known, the charts so imperfect, and the season so inclement, that naval men at Hong-kong laughed at the idea. of the little fourteen-gun brig ever arriving at her destination. At Napa, in the Loo-Choo Islands, the natives openly scorned the notion of Glynn being able to do anything, when, in the "Japanese victory over the Americans"-referring to the episode in Yedo Bay-a ship of the line and a sloop of war had been driven away." All this put Glynn on his mettle. Reaching Nagasaki, he dashed through the cordon of boats and dropped anchor

HULL FOOTE.

boatman had insulted even an American admiral, and had not been made to suffer any punishment.

COMMODORE JOSIAH TATTNALL

The

within range of the city suburbs. The boom of the cannon announcing his arrival was sweet music to the American sailors in prison. Boarded by a chief interpreter with attendants, who inquired his business, Glynn was ordered to leave the waters of Japan at once. American's immediate reply was that his mission was to the government. Then, rather ostentatiously, he gave the order to heave anchor, spread sail, and move forward. Visions of involuntary hara-kiri at once excited the Japanese to voluble protests. Nevertheless. Glynn moved into the inner harbor and anchored within two hundred yards of the batteries on either side of the anchorage. He refused to see anybody but the governor, sending word that he would not leave until he had obtained the American seamen on deck. He demanded their immediate release. Fur

thermore, he made it plain that if the cordon of boats was not quickly broken up, he would blow them out of the water. During the nine days the Preble remained, a great army of soldiers gathered. Extra guns to the number of sixty were mounted, any one of which, rightly. trained, might have sunk the Preble. Yet, in spite of the glittering arms, the bright and variegated colors of the feudal banners, and the military and naval flags, the American commander, while granting a little longer time, refused to modify his request. Half his crew were on deck all the time, and every precaution against surprise and preparation for attack was made. Glynn was ably seconded by Lieutenant Silas Bent-afterwards with Perry, and the scientific discoverer of the Kuro Shiwo, or Pacific Gulf Stream.

officers the drill, discipline, manual of arms, and general quarters. The next day the imprisoned Americans were brought

on board, with every particle of property that belonged to them or their owners. Within fifty-nine days from leaving, Glynn had returned to Hongkong.

Among the captives released was Ronald MacDonald, born in Astoria, Oregon, about 1825. He had reached Japan in the whaling-ship Plymouth, and had been voluntarily put ashore for curiosity's sake, but was involuntarily made a prisoner. This bright youth was the first teacher of the English language in Japan - the forerunner of that mod

A new governor came into office. Visiting Glynn in the cabin, he asked for three days more time. Making an end to suavity of manner, Glynn dashed his fist upon the table and exclaimed, "Not another hour!" Nor should the governor nor any of the party leave the ship till he got an answer. Instantly the excited Japanese stood up, the interpreter telling Commander Glynn that this was a high officer, and must not be so spoken to. "So am I," retorted Glynn; "I represent the government of the United States." A parley was then asked for by the JapanWith watch in hand, Glynn waited during the promised fifteen minutes. When the Japanese returned to the cabin, the governor remarked to Glynn that he could have the men on the following day.

ese.

Then "grim-visaged war smoothed his wrinkled front." With the frankest cordiality Glynn ordered refreshments, extended every courtesy, and showed the

the Japanese officer to state the source of all power in the United States, and proceed from the highest to the lowest in authority, he answered, first of all, "the people". a phrase inexplicable to the Japanese of that day. Among his pupils was Moriyama, who served as interpreter in the Perry negotiations.

Commander Glynn put into the hand of Perry the key which that gallant officer used with such success in making the long-closed doors of feudal Japan open to commerce and civilization. By the blending of scrupulous politeness, consummate attention to the details of etiquette, and, last but not least, the display of abundant and most efficient force, Perry was able to win a "brain victory," without firing a hostile shot or shedding a drop of blood. Yet Commander Glynn had paved the way for his success.

When Perry's peaceful armada had sailed away, Japanese officialdom hoped it had got rid of the "hairy barbarians" for a long interval. What was the amazement of the Shimoda officers on August 21, 1856, to behold the United

Meanwhile, without a ship or a sailor, practically deserted by his government for eighteen mouths, except a brief visit from Captain Foote in the United States ship Portsmouth, Townsend Harris won every point, and prepared the way for

States steamship San Jacinto, Commodore Armstrong, with Townsend Harris, consul-general, on board! A residence was asked for, and the common courtesies proper in opening relations of official amity were demanded and obtained. Amid the strains of "Hail Columbia," Harris landed. On September 4 our sailors formed a ring around the flagstaff and cheered the first consular flag" in the empire. At 5 P.M. the San -Jacinto left for China.

the diplomacy of twenty nations. Refusing to deliver President Pierce's letter to any one but "the emperor," he entered Yedo, the long forbidden city, on November 30, 1857, refusing on the way to undergo any of the humiliations common to the Tycoon's vassals. His guard, attendants, and baggage-horses were decorated with the American arms and colors. With only his Dutch secretary, Mr. Heusken, he secured audience of the Shogun, standing. He continued during many weary months the instruction of these political hermits in modern international etiquette, in view of a desired treaty of commerce and foreign residence. While the American ships were

in China, the pot of Japanese politics was boiling over in murders and assassinations. The counterplay of forces was between Kyoto, the seat of the Mikado's authority, and Yedo, the place of long usurpation and of the sham emperor. Signature to the treaty being delayed, Harris threatened to go to Kyoto.

V.-FOOTE AND THE "PORTSMOUTH." THE names of Foote and Tattnall take us across the Yellow Sea. The former

recalls the only passage at arms between the two forces of the governments of China and the United States. The latter revived a famous saying of Walter Scott, "blood is thicker than water," making it mean forever, to speakers of the English tongue, that Briton and American are one in heart and aims, as in their best inheritances.

While Governor John Bowring, Admiral Seymour, and Consul (afterwards Sir) Harry Parkes were having their quarrel with the Chinese commissioner Yeh, American steamers were twice fired on when passing the barrier forts near Canton. It seemed high time to teach the Chinese that all foreigners were not opium-smugglers, and that peaceful neutrals had some rights which ignorant mandarins were bound to respect. Commodore Armstrong ordered Captain (afterwards Rear Admiral) Foote, of the Portsmouth, to bombard, capture, and destroy the forts.

The steamer San Jacinto drew too much water to get near enough to use her guns, but the little American steamer

Williamette towed the sailing-ship Portsmouth to within five hundred yards of the largest and lowest fort, which was built of great blocks of grauite and mounted heavy cannon. The Levant, towed by an egg-shell steam-launch, the Kum Fa, struck on a rock. So the Portsmouth on the first day had to fight alone.

The Chinese began the war. For one moment that day the long granite walls and darkened embrasures of the fort seemed in harmony with the sleepy repose of the beautiful soft afternoon, but before anchor was dropped, grape and round shot flew around and over the ship. Loud and clear were Foote's orders as. without steam and without wind, in a narrow and unknown channel, and with only the precarious expedient of a spring cable, the Portsmouth got into position. To the few non-combatants on the ship-purser, chaplain, surgeon, etc.-the time seemed long before the 8-inch ship's guns began to roar. Then her timbers quivered with the recoil of eight starboard broadside guns,

These lashed the water into white foam, or flew over the ship. The Portsmouth, caught in the current, was swung round with her stern toward the fort, which exposed her to a raking fire. A thirtytwo-pound shot came into the cabin, carrying off the right arm and crushing the hip of a marine. Captain Foote at once ran out a gun from the stern port and continued the fight. When dusk fell, the fort was nearly silent.

During several days, filled up in the interval with diplomacy, the Americans prepared for a land attack. On the 21st the Levant, towed by the Kum Fa, silenced one fort on the left after an hour's cannonade. Then four hundred of our marines and sailors, in their boats, towed by the Kum Fa, moved landward for a charge over muddy fields to take the forts. The launch of the San Jacinto

As soon as our men entered the forts, they broke and fled. Our total loss was seven killed and twenty-two wounded, all, in the final attack, belonging to the San Jacinto. Under the ship's artillery fire, and during the fighting in the fort, at least three hundred Chinese lives were lost. A rocket, with a spear-pointed head and a feathered bamboo shaft six or eight feet long, bounced over the rice fields and struck one of our marines, entering the leg along with its dirt and straw, and causing his death.

One hundred and seventy-six guns were found in the fort, one of which was a monster brass piece of eight inches bore, weighing fully fifteen tons. It was over twenty-two feet long, and nearly three feet across at its greatest diameter. These four barrier forts were captured between November 20 and 22. Al