“In witness whereof, I have caused the great seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, and have subscribed the same with my name, at the city of Washington, in America, the seat of my government, on the thirteenth day of the month of November, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two. Your good friend. (Seal attached.) “MILLARD FILLMORE. “By the President: EDWARD EVERETT, _Secretary of State_.”[115] [Illustration: PLAYERS AT THE GAME OF “GO”] Furnished with these orders, and this letter splendidly engrossed and enclosed in a gold box of the value of a thousand dollars, and provided also with a variety of presents, Commodore Perry, towards the end of 1852, sailed from the United States in the steam-frigate “Mississippi,” and, after touching at Madeira and the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at Hong Kong in April, 1853, whence he proceeded to Shanghai. The dispersion of the vessels of the squadron, delay in the arrival of others from the United States, difficulty in obtaining coal, and the claim of the American merchants in China, in consideration of existing civil commotions, to the protecting presence of a naval force, caused some delays. But, at length, after touching at Lew Chew [Riūkiū], and making a visit to the Bonin Islands,[116] Perry, with the steam-frigate “Susquehanna,” now the flag-ship, the “Mississippi,” and the sloops-of-war “Plymouth” and “Saratoga,” made Cape Izu about daybreak on the 8th of July. Many rumors had been current on the coast of China of extensive warlike preparations by the Japanese, aided by the Dutch, and the squadron was fully prepared for a hostile reception. Perry had made up his mind, instead of attempting to conciliate by yielding, to stand upon his dignity to the utmost, to allow no petty annoyances, and to demand as a right, instead of soliciting as a favor, the courtesies due from one civilized nation to another. The promontory constituting the province of Izu appeared, as the vessels ran along it, to be a group of high mountains, their summits scarred with slides, and their sides mostly wooded, though here and there a cultivated spot could be seen. By noon the ships reached Cape Sagami, which separates the inner from the outer bay of Yedo. The shores of this point rose in abrupt bluffs two hundred feet high, with green dells running down to the waterside. Further off were groves and cultivated fields, and mountains in the distance. Leaving behind some twelve or fifteen Japanese boats, which put off from Cape Sagami to intercept them, the vessels stood up through the narrowest part of the bay, not more than five to eight miles wide, but expanding afterwards to fifteen miles, having now also in sight the eastern shore, forming a part of the province of Awa.[117]