The Chinese trade had declined not less than that of the Dutch. The ten junks a year, to which it was now restricted, all came from Sha-po (not far from Chusan), half of them in January and the other half in August—their cargoes, which include a great variety of articles, being partly furnished by private merchants who come over in them, but chiefly by a commercial company at Sha-po, for whom the captains of the junks act as supercargoes. Except as to some trifling articles, this trade seems, like that of the Dutch, to be pretty much in the hands of the government, who, or some privileged company under them, purchase the imports and furnish a return cargo to each junk, two fifths in copper and the remainder in other articles. The Chinese, however, still continued to be allowed much more liberty than the Dutch of personal intercourse with the inhabitants of Nagasaki. The settlement of California, the new trade opened thence with China, and the idea of steam communication across the Pacific, for which the coal of Japan might be needed, combined with the extension of the whale fishery in the Northern Japanese seas to increase the desire in America for access to the ports of Japan. Shortly after the visit of the “Preble,” the American government resolved to send an envoy thither, backed by such a naval force as would ensure him a respectful hearing—the cases of Biddle and Glyn seeming to prove that the humoring policy could not be relied upon and that the only way to deal successfully with the Japanese was to show a resolution not to take no for an answer. Accordingly, Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State, prepared a letter from the President to the Emperor of Japan; also a letter of instructions to the American naval commander in the China seas, to whom it was resolved to entrust the duty of envoy, and whose force was to be strengthened by additional ships. The sailing, however, of these ships was delayed till after Mr. Webster’s death; and in the mean time Commodore Matthew C. Perry was selected as the head of the expedition. A new letter,[113] dated November 5, 1852, addressed from the State Department to the Secretary of the Navy, thus defined its objects: “1. To effect some permanent arrangement for the protection of American seamen and property wrecked on these islands, or driven into their ports by stress of weather. “2. The permission to American vessels to enter one or more of their ports, in order to obtain supplies of provisions, water, fuel, &c.; or, in case of disasters, to refit so as to enable them to prosecute their voyage. It is very desirable to have permission to establish a dépôt for coal, if not on one of the principal islands, at least on some small, uninhabited one, of which it is said there are several in their vicinity. “3. The permission to our vessels to enter one or more of their ports for the purpose of disposing of their cargoes by sale or barter.”