. Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan. toconcur, with the semblance ofpoliteness, in that which he couldnot prevent. This, however, did not induce that functionary and his subordinateofficers to spare their efforts in the attempt to escape the much dreadedvisit to the palace. Accordingly, they resorted to divers devices andstratagems, too clumsy, however, to be deemed either ingenious or the first place they begged that the Commodore would return the visitat Napha instead of Shui; then the effort was made to entrap the com-mander into a me
. Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China seas and Japan. toconcur, with the semblance ofpoliteness, in that which he couldnot prevent. This, however, did not induce that functionary and his subordinateofficers to spare their efforts in the attempt to escape the much dreadedvisit to the palace. Accordingly, they resorted to divers devices andstratagems, too clumsy, however, to be deemed either ingenious or the first place they begged that the Commodore would return the visitat Napha instead of Shui; then the effort was made to entrap the com-mander into a meeting with the regent, which would have been considered areturn of the latterri visit. In pursuance of this scheme, the mayor ofNapha made a great feast, some days before that named by the Commodorefor his visit, and invited him to be present, with the intention of having theregent attend and preside. The invitation was politely declined, on theground that the storeship, Caprice, was about to be dispatched on theappointed day to Shanghai, and the Commodore would necessarily be. 214 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. occupied. When the Lew Chewans found that the Commodore did notattend, they were determined that he should not, at any rate, lose the feastthat had been prepared for him, and accordingly sent off to the shipnumerous dishes of the intended banquet. These, as a matter of courtesy,were allowed to come on board, and very soon the quarter-deck exhibitedvarious preparations of poultry, fish, vegetables, and fruits. The Commo-dore, however, from considerations of policy, thought it best to be invisible. The next device was to appeal to the humanity of the Commodore, andthe request was preferred that he would make his visit to the palace of thePrince instead of at the royal residence. The reason assigned was, that thequeen dowager was sick, and had been for a year, in consequence of theshock received on the visit of a British naval officer, who persisted inentering the royal residence, t
Size: 1729px × 1445px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpublisheretcetc, bookyear185
