MY DEAR COMMODORE PERRY,—Your kind favor of December 28th 1856, did not come to hand until the 20th inst., as I was fourteen months at this place without receiving any letters or information from the United States. The U. S. sloop of war _Portsmouth_ touched here on the 8th of last month, but she did not bring me any letters; her stay here was very short, just enough to enable me to finish my official letter; had time permitted I would have written to you by her. I am much obliged to you for your good advice; it was both sound and well-timed advice, and I have found every one of your opinions, as to the course the Japanese would pursue with me, prove true to the letter. Early last March I made a convention with the Japanese which, among other provisions, secured the right of permanent residence to Americans at Simoda and Hakodadi, admits a Consul at Hakodadi, opens Nagasaki, settled the currency question, and the dollar now passes for 4670 cash instead of 1600, and lastly admits the enterritoriality of all Americans in Japan. It was a subject of deep regret to me that I was not able to send this convention to the State Department until quite six months after it had been agreed on. In October 1856, I wrote to the Council of State at Yedo that I was the bearer of a friendly letter from the President of the United States addressed to the Emperor of Japan, and that I had some important matter to communicate which greatly concerned the honor and welfare of Japan. I desire the Council to give orders for my proper reception on the road from this to Yedo, and to inform me when those arrangements were completed. For full ten months the Japanese used every possible expedient to get me to deliver the letter at Simoda, and to make my communications to the Governors of this place. I steadily refused to do either, and at last they have yielded and I shall start for Yedo some time next month. I am to have an audience of the Emperor, and at that time I am to deliver the letter. I am satisfied that no commercial treaty can be made by negotiations carried on any where but at Yedo, unless the negotiator is backed up by a powerful fleet. I hope when at Yedo to convince the government that it is impossible for them to continue their present system of non-intercourse, and that it will be for their honor and interest to yield to argument rather than force. I do not expect to accomplish all that I desire on this occasion, but it will be a great step in the way of direct negotiations with the Council of the State, and the beginning of a train of enlightenment of the Japanese that will sooner or later lead them to desire to open the country freely to intercourse with foreign nations.