The citizens of our country must be dealt with as freemen,
or there should be no dealings at all. The second point was that, in the
event of any of our countrymen being cast, in God's providence, as
shipwrecked men on the coast of Japan, they should not be treated as
prisoners, confined in cages, or subjected to inhuman treatment, but
should be received with kindness and hospitably cared for until they
could leave the country.
The nearest approach to a precedent was to be found in our treaty with
China, made in 1844. This therefore was carefully studied by the
Commodore. Its purport was "a treaty or general convention of peace,
amity, and commerce," and to settle the rules to "be mutually observed
in the intercourse of the respective countries." So far as "commerce" is
concerned, it permitted "the citizens of the United States to frequent"
five ports in China "and to reside with their families and trade there,
and to proceed at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise to or from
any foreign port, and from either of the said five ports to enter any
other of them.
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