Simoda was one of the ports open for trade with us; they knew that our people had wives and daughters, and that a man’s family were ordinarily resident with him in his permanent abode, and that if the head of the family lived in Simoda as a Japanese would live, there would certainly be women who would “come and remain at Simoda.”  But more than this.  It will be remembered that the Commodore had submitted to them our treaty with China, and they had held it under consideration for a week, at the end of which time they said:  “As to opening a trade, such as is now carried on by China with your country, we certainly cannot yet bring it about.  The Chinese have long had intercourse with Western nations, while we have had dealings at Nagasaki with only the people of Holland and China.”  Now what was “such a trade” as we carried on with China?  The Japanese read in our treaty that five ports were open to us, that permission was given “to the citizens of the United States to frequent” them; and further, “to reside with their families and trade there.”  This they deliberately declined assenting to when they refused to make a treaty similar to that with China.  They surely would not afterward knowingly insert it in any treaty they might make with us.

The only permanent residence to which they gave assent, and that most reluctantly, was the residence of a consul.  Temporary residence was allowed to our shipwrecked citizens, as well as to those who went to Simoda or Hakodate on commercial business.  They are allowed to land, to walk where they please within certain limits, to enter shops and temples without restriction, to purchase in the shops, and have the articles sent to the proper public office duly marked, where they will pay for them, to resort to public-houses or inns that are to be built for their refreshment “when on shore” at Simoda and Hakodate; and until built, a temple, at each place, is assigned “as a resting-place for persons in their walks.”  They may accept invitations to partake of the hospitality of any of the Japanese; but they are not permitted to enter “military establishments or private houses without leave.”  Without leave, our citizens cannot enter them within the territories of any nation with which we have a treaty.  In short, the whole treaty shows that the purpose of the Japanese was to make the experiment of intercourse with us before they made it as extensive or as intimate as it was between us and the Chinese.  It was all they could do at the time, and much, very much, was obtained on the part of our negotiator in procuring a concession even to this extent.