Mr. Townsend Harris was appointed consul for America at Simoda, and arrived there in 1856; and being in constant intercourse with the Japanese authorities, he concluded a convention by which further advantages were gained by the Americans. The Japanese government thought that if the further concessions brought no more trouble than what had resulted from the little opening already made, they might, without much danger, open the sluices a little more; and in 1858, Mr. Harris, after much negotiation, arranged the articles of a commercial treaty (based upon the treaties with China), which was signed by him and the Japanese commissioners upon July 29, 1858. After this was settled, Holland, Britain, Russia, and France concluded similar treaties. The sound of the trumpets which had been blown to herald the approach of the American squadron to the shores of Japan had reached those shores long before the vessels themselves. The government was informed through the Dutch of the coming mission. The American government does not seem to have intended anything further than ostentatious display in the number and size of the vessels sent. They did not propose to follow up a refusal to open their doors, on the part of the Japanese, by any warlike operations. But the Japanese government does not appear to have been aware of this, and at the time they may have felt some doubts as to whether their late treatment of foreigners did not call for some display of power on the part of European nations. Commodore Biddle had been grossly insulted on board a vessel of war. The crew of one vessel had been very unkindly treated, and, according to native report, more than one vessel had recently been wrecked on the coasts of Japan, and the crews treated with severity until they died out. Until the squadron should arrive, the Japanese could take little or no action. But they waited with much anxiety the arrival of the expedition. It was considered as a most important event, fraught with much either of good or evil to the country--which was it to be?