“Better to be a crystal, though shattered,Than lie as a tile unbroken on the housetop.”
“Better to be a crystal, though shattered,Than lie as a tile unbroken on the housetop.”
“Better to be a crystal, though shattered,
Than lie as a tile unbroken on the housetop.”
His indomitable spirit possessed others, and his pupils rose to high office and power in the wave of revolution that floated the boy-mikado to supreme power and placed the national capitol in Yedo in 1868.
The Commodore arrived at Hakodaté May 17 and remained in the waters of Yezo until June 28th, 1854. He little knew then that the beautiful harbor would fourteen years later be made famous by a naval battle between the Shō-gun’s force of Dutch and American-built wooden war steamers, and the Mikado’s iron-clad ram Adzuma Kan (Stonewall).
Sailing for Riu Kiu, he entered Napa harbor, July 1st. On the 12th, the regent presented him with a large bronze bell of fine workmanship, cast in 1168a. d., by two Japanese artizans, and inscribed with flowery sentences. One, which declared that “the barbarians would never invade the land,” had a striking significance, though its composer had proved a false prophet. It now hangs, tongueless but useful, in the grounds of the Annapolis Naval Academy. As from China and Formosa, so from Japan at Shimoda and in Riu Kiu, blocks of native stone duly engraved were accepted as contributions to the obelisk on the banks of the Potomac, in perpetuation of the memory of Washington. On the 17th, the other vessels of the squadron having been despatched on various missions, the Commodore in theMississippileft Napa for Hong Kong.
The glory of Commodore Perry’s success is not that he “invented,” or “first thought of” or was the “sole author, originator, and father of the Japan expedition.” Such language is nonsense, for the thought was in many minds, both of naval men and civilians, from Roberts to Glynn and Aulick; but it was Perry’s persistency that first conquered for himself a fleet, his thorough-going method of procedure in every detail, and his powerful personality and invincible tenacity in dealing with the Japanese, that won a quick and permanent success without a drop of blood. A thorough man of war he was from his youth up; yet he proved himself a nobler hero, in that he restrained himself and his lieutenants from the use of force, while yet not giving place for a moment to the frivolities of Japanese yakunin of the Tokugawa period.
[34]Autograph letter to the writer. February 8th, 1883.
[34]
Autograph letter to the writer. February 8th, 1883.
[35]The Friend, Honolulu. October, 1884—“An unpublished chapter in the History of Japan.” Rev. S. C. Damon’s interview with Manjiro in Tokio, summer of 1884.
[35]
The Friend, Honolulu. October, 1884—“An unpublished chapter in the History of Japan.” Rev. S. C. Damon’s interview with Manjiro in Tokio, summer of 1884.
[36]Kinsé Shiriaku, p. 3.
[36]
Kinsé Shiriaku, p. 3.
[37]Japanese Fairy World, p. 300.
[37]
Japanese Fairy World, p. 300.
[38]Perry’s Narrative, pp. 484-489. Spalding’s Japan Expedition, pp. 276-286. R. L. Stevenson’s Familiar Studies of Men and Books.
[38]
Perry’s Narrative, pp. 484-489. Spalding’s Japan Expedition, pp. 276-286. R. L. Stevenson’s Familiar Studies of Men and Books.
CHAPTER XXXIV.LAST LABORS.
Forover two years, since leaving his native country, Perry had been under a constant burden of responsibility incurred in anxiety to achieve the grand object of his mission. His close attention to details, the unexpected annoyances in a sub-tropical climate, and the long strain upon his nerves had begun to wear upon a robust frame. He now looked eagerly for his successor, and to the rest of home. To his joy he found at Hong Kong orders permitting him to return either in theMississippi, or in the British mail steamer by way of India. He chose the latter.
The store-ships,SupplyandLexington, were ordered homeward by way of the Cape of Good Hope and theSusquehannaandMississippifor New York by way of Shimoda, Honolulu and Rio [de] Janeiro. TheMississippiwas to tow theSouthampton, which contained coal for the two steamers. The Commodore awaited only the arrival of theMacedonianfrom Manilla, whither she had gone to return the waifs picked up at sea, to turn over his command to Captain Abbot.
Before permitting Perry to leave for home, the American commercial residents in China gave theCommodore an expression of their estimate of his character as a man, and their appreciation of his services as a diplomatist to their country. This took the form of a banquet, with an address of unusual merit by Gideon Nye, and the presentation of an elaborate candelabrum made by Chinese jewelers in crystal and sycee silver. In return, Perry presented to Mr. Nye a cane made of gun carriages from San Juan d’Ulloa. Owing to war and the local troubles, the work of art did not reach New York until December 1858.[39]
On the morning of September 11th, at Hong Kong, theMississippiandMacedonianfired parting salutes. The yards and rigging were manned by the sailors who gave three hearty cheers, and the British mail steamer,Hindostan, moved off bearing the diplomatist and his flag-lieutenant homeward.
From England Perry crossed to the continent, and at Hague, spent several delightful days at the house of his son-in-law, the American Minister, the Hon. August Belmont. With Mrs. Belmont, the Commodore’s daughter Caroline, were then visiting Mrs. Perry and Miss Perry, the Commodore’s wife and youngest daughter. Thence returning to Liverpool on Christmas day, he paid a visit to the American consul at Liverpool, one Nathaniel Hawthorne, who has thus recorded his impression of his visitor:—[40]
“Commodore P—— called to see me this morning—a brisk, gentlemanly, off-hand, but not rough, unaffected and sensible man, looking not so elderly as he might, on account of a very well made wig.“He is now on a return from a cruise to the East Indian seas and goes home by theBalticwith a prospect of being very well received on account of his treaty with Japan. I seldom meet with a man who puts himself more immediately on conversable terms than the Commodore. He soon introduced his particular business with me,—it being to inquire whether I could recommend some suitable person to prepare his notes and materials for the publication of an account of his voyage. He was good enough to say that he had fixed upon me, in his own mind, for this office; but that my public duties would, of course, prevent me from engaging in it. I spoke of —— ——, and one or two others but he seemed to have some acquaintance with the literature of the day, and did not grasp very cordially at any name that I could think of; nor indeed could I recommend any one with full confidence. It would be a very desirable task for a young literary man, or for that matter for an old one; for the world can scarcely have in reserve a less hackneyed theme than Japan.”
“Commodore P—— called to see me this morning—a brisk, gentlemanly, off-hand, but not rough, unaffected and sensible man, looking not so elderly as he might, on account of a very well made wig.
“He is now on a return from a cruise to the East Indian seas and goes home by theBalticwith a prospect of being very well received on account of his treaty with Japan. I seldom meet with a man who puts himself more immediately on conversable terms than the Commodore. He soon introduced his particular business with me,—it being to inquire whether I could recommend some suitable person to prepare his notes and materials for the publication of an account of his voyage. He was good enough to say that he had fixed upon me, in his own mind, for this office; but that my public duties would, of course, prevent me from engaging in it. I spoke of —— ——, and one or two others but he seemed to have some acquaintance with the literature of the day, and did not grasp very cordially at any name that I could think of; nor indeed could I recommend any one with full confidence. It would be a very desirable task for a young literary man, or for that matter for an old one; for the world can scarcely have in reserve a less hackneyed theme than Japan.”
The master of English style, the literary American Puritan, so thoroughly at home in spirit-land and in analysis of conscience, was not expert in judging visible things. His mistake in describing the material on Perry’s scalp was amusing though natural. Not a few persons supposed that the Commodore wore a wig, yet the only head-ornament madeuse of by him was that given him by the Almighty, and still duplicated in his children. His handsome and luxuriant hair grew well forward on his forehead.
Perry, though exultant of his success, was uncertain of his political reception. There were dangers in a change of administration. The Japan expedition was a Whig measure, while the party now in power was Democratic. The English newspapers seemed to entertain a high opinion of the Commodore’s ability, and very flattering were some of their accounts of the expedition and the editorials concerning its leader. Not able to understand our Republican institutions, one of them wondered, with a “blush of shame,” “Why the government does nothing for Perry or Scott.” Others may wonder too.
Had a Whig administration been in power, it is doubtful whether Perry would have received any reward further than the thanks of the Navy Department, the honor of the publication of his journal, and a few copies of his own book. Looking back now at Pierce’s barren administration, the one bright spot in it seems to be the opening of Japan to diplomatic intercourse. It was a time of intense political excitement. The Kansas troubles, the World’s Fair in New York, and the beginning of surveys for the Union Pacific Railroad helped to turn attention from foreign matters. Nevertheless, the Senate at the opening of its session December 6th, called for the correspondence relating to the Japan Expedition.President Pierce delayed action until after an interview with Perry, and on January 30th, 1855, transmitted the report. The Commodore had arrived home on the 12th, eighteen days before, after an absence of two years and two months. The official documents were published in an octavo volume of 195 pages.
TheMississippileft Hong Kong the next morning after the Commodore’s departure, a few hours after that of the United States brig,Porpoise(which was never heard of again), on the 21st of September, entered Shimoda harbor finding there theSusquehannaandSouthampton. TheSusquehannaleft on the 24th, and theMississippion the 1st of October, the latter completing her journey around the globe on the 23d of April, 1855. On the next day, the Commodore repairing to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, formally hauled down his flag, and thus consummated the final act in the story of the United States Expedition to Japan. He now set himself to work in a hired room in Washington to tell that story in manuscript. Aided by Lieutenants Maury and Bent, secretaries, artists, printers, and a Japanese lad as attendant, it took shape in the sumptuous publication of three richly illustrated folio volumes.
Though receiving no marked token of respect from the government, yet other honors social and substantial, were not wanting. By the city of New York he was presented with a set of silver plate. The merchants of Boston had a medal struck in hishonor. The original was presented to him in gold[41]the subscribers receiving copies in silver and bronze. From the city of Newport, his native place, he was tendered a reception by the municipal authorities.
Little Rhode Island, so justly proud of her many eminent sons, was not unmindful that the Perrys were of her own soil. She accordingly summoned Matthew Calbraith Perry to receive at the hands of her chief magistrate, and in presence of her legislature, a token of her regard in the form of a solid silver salver weighing three hundred and nineteen ounces, suitably chased and inscribed. The resolutions of the legislature ordering the token were passed February 25th 1855.
An open air ceremony or presentation was decided upon and took place at 5 o’clock in the afternoon of June 15th upon the balcony in front of the old State House, the legislators occupying the room within. In response to the governor’s address Perry, deeply moved, spoke as follows:—
“It was in my earliest boyhood, before the introduction of steamboats or railroads, that I often watched upon the shore for the first glimpse of the gaily decorated packet-sloop, that in those days usually brought the governor from Providence to this town, and witnessed with childlike delight, in sight of this very edifice, the pomp, parade and festivities of ‘Election Day.’ Since then I have traversed almost every part of the globe in the prosecution of the duties of a profession of which I am justly proud, and now, after a lapse of nearly half a century, when declining in life, to be called by the representatives of my native state back to these hallowed precincts, here to receive from the lips of its Chief Magistrate the commendation of my fellow-citizens, is an honor I little expected when as a boy midshipman, forty-six years ago, I first embarked upon an element, then and always the most congenial to my aspirations for honorable emprise.”
“It was in my earliest boyhood, before the introduction of steamboats or railroads, that I often watched upon the shore for the first glimpse of the gaily decorated packet-sloop, that in those days usually brought the governor from Providence to this town, and witnessed with childlike delight, in sight of this very edifice, the pomp, parade and festivities of ‘Election Day.’ Since then I have traversed almost every part of the globe in the prosecution of the duties of a profession of which I am justly proud, and now, after a lapse of nearly half a century, when declining in life, to be called by the representatives of my native state back to these hallowed precincts, here to receive from the lips of its Chief Magistrate the commendation of my fellow-citizens, is an honor I little expected when as a boy midshipman, forty-six years ago, I first embarked upon an element, then and always the most congenial to my aspirations for honorable emprise.”
SILVER SALVER IN POSSESSION OF COMMODORE PERRY’S DAUGHTER,MRS. AUGUST BELMONT.
SILVER SALVER IN POSSESSION OF COMMODORE PERRY’S DAUGHTER,MRS. AUGUST BELMONT.
Cherishing a keen remembrance and love of his boyhood’s home, he resolved to visit it, and also the ancestral farm and cemetery at South Kingston. In a call made upon one of his earliest friends he stated that his object was to purchase the Perry homestead, which he said would never have gone out of the family if he had not been at sea. He wished to erect a monument to his grandfather, Freeman Perry.
While thus on his native heather, the burly Commodore would visit also Tower Hill where his father once lived, and his youngest sister, Mrs. Jane Butler of South Carolina, was born. When offered a guide he said he thought he knew the way better than his guide. Every foot, indeed, was familiar ground. Miss Oprah Rose, in writing, March 15th 1883, of this visit, says further: “I had never seen the Commodore before, but had seen his younger brother and sister. His hair, I noticed, was handsome and grew well on his forehead. His eyes indicated thought, and, as he turned them rather slowly, seemed to take in or comprehend what he saw; in manner he waseasy and natural. As he walked away, I saw that he expressed character in the manner he carried his shoulders. It was a military air. He looked as if he expected to do his duty even if he made sacrifices.”
Resuming his literary tasks during the months of June and July, between artists and engravers, he collected the illustrative matter for the text of his first volume. This, with the first part of the manuscript amounting to one hundred and fifty-nine pages, he sent to the printer on the 7th of August. He then hied away to Saratoga to forget the novel cares of authorship in drinking at the famed health-fountains and inhaling the air of the Kayaderosseras hills. He found much change and some improvement. The hostelry of the old Revolutionary soldier, Jacobus Barhyte, where all the famous people gathered to enjoy the host’s famous fish dinners, and in whose groves Poe elaborated his poem ofThe Raven, was gone, along with the well stocked preserves; but in grander hotels and on ampler porches, the gay throng chatted and enjoyed life. The Commodore after a ten day’s stay returned to New York, April 27.
When his first volume was out, Perry enjoyed the author’s genuine delight of sending autograph presentation copies of his book to personal friends and those most interested in the Japan enterprise. Among several autographs letters of acknowledgement, is one from Irving in which he says:—
“You have gained for yourself a lasting name and have won it without shedding a drop of blood, or inflicting misery on a human being. What naval commander ever won laurels at such a rate?”
“You have gained for yourself a lasting name and have won it without shedding a drop of blood, or inflicting misery on a human being. What naval commander ever won laurels at such a rate?”
This first volume was afterward republished for popular use by D. Appleton & Co., and a smaller book based upon it was compiled by Dr. Robert S. Tomes under the title of “The Americans in Japan.”
The preparation of the second volume required great care. Here the delicate work of specialists was called in. Fortunately Perry was sufficiently familiar, by personal acquaintance with scientific experts, to easily find the right men for the right work. On September 9th 1856, Perry sent to the printers a goodly portion of the manuscript of the second volume, and was pleased to find volume third—the work of Chaplain Jones—also in press. It now looked as if the whole work would be ready for delivery at the next session of Congress. Ever conscientious in the expenditure of government money, Perry relieved his aids of further service and continued the work alone. He read every line of script before going to the printer, and corrected all the proof sheets. We find him writing December 28th 1856, to Townsend Harris, our consul-general to Japan then living at Shimoda, who was slowly but surely driving in the wedge inserted by the sailor-diplomatist.
When in sight of the consummation of his literary enterprise, February 2d 1857, Perry wrote, “I have been drawn into much expense not to be put into a public bill,” . . . “The greater portion of thelabor has been performed by myself and those employed under my direction.” He sought help outside of the navy only when it was impossible to do otherwise. The completed work was therefore a true product of the navy. Dr. Francis L. Hawkes wrote the preface, added a few footnotes and here and there a sentence, and Dr. Robert Tomes prepared the introduction, but the narrative was of Perry’s own writing. Nathaniel Hawthorne or some other master of letters might have made a better product as literature, but for history it is well that Perry told his own story.
A set of six superbly drawn and colored pictures of the most striking scenes of the Japan Expedition was prepared for the government archives and for sending abroad for foreign rulers and cabinets. They were drawn by the eye-witnesses Brown and Heine,[42]and were executed in lithograph by Brown and Lewis of Albany. Three hundred copies of the set were printed, and the plates then destroyed. Each set was in a portfolio.
Eighteen thousand copies of the Japan Expedition were published, at a total cost of $360,000. Fifteen thousand copies were given to members of Congress, two thousand to the Navy Department chiefly for distribution among the officers, and one thousand to the Commodore of the Expedition. Of this thousand, Perry gave five hundred copies to Dr. Hawkes.
This was the reward of a grateful republic!
During the Commodore’s absence in Japan, his family had lived at No. 260 Fourth avenue, New York City. He now took steps to secure a permanent home and so purchased the house at No. 38 West 32d street. The forty years growth of the metropolis was vividly brought before his mind when on first looking out of the window of his new home, the old in Bloomingdale, from which he took his bride, was in sight. His new home stood on what was part of the lawn of the old Slidell homestead.
He became interested in the work of the American Geographical Society, and attended its meetings. He prepared two papers, “Future Commercial relations with Japan and Lew Chew,” (Riu Kiu), and “The Expediency of Extending Further Encouragement to American Commerce in the East,” which were printed in the society’s journal, and excited much interest. On the 6th of March 1856, at a crowded meeting in the chapel of the New York University, at which Perry was present, Rev. Francis L. Hawkes read his paper, afterwards published in pamphlet form, on “The Enlargement of Geographical Science, a consequence to the opening of new avenues to commercial enterprise.” The president of Columbia college, Charles King, in moving a vote of thanks, spoke in high praise of the merits and polished literary style of the essay. The prospects of trade, of coal, of mail-steamers to China, the new avenues open to American commercial enterprise, and the work of Christian missions heartily believedin by Perry, were discussed by him with clearness, strength and beauty.
MEDAL PRESENTED BY THE MERCHANTS OF BOSTON.
MEDAL PRESENTED BY THE MERCHANTS OF BOSTON.
James Buchanan was inaugurated President, and Lewis Cass became Secretary of State, March 4th 1857. General James Watson Webb was eager to have the mission to China filled by his friend Commodore Perry. He was long held back by Perry’s modesty and refusal to give assent to his friend’s warm importunity. After permission had been given, General Webb hastened to Washington, but was one day too late. Less than twenty-four hoursbefore, the Hon. Wm. B. Reed had received the appointment as envoy to Peking. Perry’s fame as a diplomatist was to be inseparably linked to Japan only.
General Webb, in speaking to the writer in 1878 in New York, said that the regret of General Cass in not having known of Perry’s willingness to go, and that it was too late, seemed very sincere. Perry had allowed his friends to make the proposition, inasmuch as great events were about to take place in China and he was eager to advance American interests in the East. Further, he expected if he were appointed, to have the personal services of Dr. S. Wells Williams his old interpreter and friend whose character, knowledge and abilities, we know, constituted the real power behind the American Legation in China from 1858 to 1876.
On the 28th of December 1857, Perry reported that his work on the book would end with the year, and his office in Washington be closed. On the 30th, he was detached from special duty to await orders. It was intimated to him at the Department that he was to have command of the squadron in the Mediterranean—the American naval officers’ paradise, when away from home. To this duty Perry looked forward with delight. Thornton A. Jenkins was to be his chief of staff. He spent the pleasant winter in New York enjoying social life.[43]Early in January,1858, he made a report on the cause of the loss of theCentral America, with suggestions for changes in the laws which should secure greater safety of life and property on the ocean. These studies, which have since borne good fruit, were with other matter published in a pamphlet of seven pages, January 15th, 1858. His last official services were performed as a member of the Naval Retiring Board.
The time was now drawing near when this man of tireless activity, who was ever solicitous about the life and safety of others, was to part with his own life. The inroads upon a superb constitution, made by constant work on arduous and trying service, at many stations, in two wars, in three or four diplomatic missions, and in protracted study so soon after return from Japan, were becoming more and more manifest. In the raw weather of February 1858, the Commodore caught a severe cold which from the first gave indications of being serious. The old torment of rheumatism developed itself, and yet not until the hour of his death was he believed to be in mortal danger. It became manifest, however, that the disease, contracted thirty-five years before, in his energy and anxiety to save life and property, had undermined his constitution. Symptoms of rheumatic gout appeared. One token of organic change was a strong indisposition to ascend elevations of any sort. For four weeks he felt more or less out of health. A change of physicians did not better his case. On the 4th of March at midnight, the disease,leaving the region of the stomach, began to assault the citadel, and at 2a. m.at his home in Thirty-second street, New York City, he died of rheumatism of the heart.
His nephew, by marriage to the daughter of Commodore Oliver H. Perry, the Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton, who was with him in his sickness says, “His last wish expressed to me was to be buried by his father and mother and brother in the old burial ground, to mingle his dust with his native soil. He even choose his grave there.”
At his death, Matthew Calbraith Perry was third on the list of captains, having served at sea twenty-five years and three months, and on other duties nineteen years. Since entering the navy in 1808, he had been unemployed less than five years, and had completed a term of service within one year of a half century.
As a member of numerous civic and scientific associations, as well as President of the Montezuma Society, the loss of Matthew Perry was that of a citizen of broad tastes, sympathies, labors and influences. The great city offered profuse tokens of regard and manifestations of sorrow. The flags of the shipping in the harbor, and on the public buildings and hotels, were flying at half-mast during three days. It was arranged that on Saturday, in the grave-yard of St. Mark’s church at Second avenue and Tenth street, the hero should be buried with appropriate honors.
The military pageant which preceded the hearse consisted of five hundred men of the Seventh Regiment, two hundred officers of the First Division of the New York State Militia, followed by a body of United States Marines. The pall-bearers included the Governor of the State, General Winfield Scott, Commodores Sloat, Breese, McCluney and Bigelow, and seven others, eminent and honored in the various fields of achievement; but the most touching sight was the simplest. The sailors who had served under Commodore Perry in the Japan Expedition and the Mexican war, had volunteered on this occasion to do honor to their old commander. They were the most interesting among the mourners. Although engaged in various pursuits, in different places, they all managed to appear in the regular working uniform of the United States Navy. This they had procured at their own expense. They paraded under the command of Alonzo Guturoz and Philip Downey. All bore evidence of having seen hard service. They attracted much attention as they paraded through the streets, and the simple music of their fifes and drums seemed more appropriate and more impressive, than even that of the regimental band.
The route lay through Fifth Avenue, Fourteenth street, and Second Avenue to Saint Mark’s Church.
The sensation produced throughout the community by the loss of so illustrious a naval commander was shown in the faces of the crowd. Despite the cold weather, the people lined the streets to see and listenand feel. The tolling of the church bells, and the boom of the minute guns rolling up from the ships and yard of the naval station, added solemnity to the scene.
Within the church, the burial service was conducted by the Rev. Drs. Hawks, Vinton, Higbee, and Montgomery. The anthem “Lord let me know my end,” the hymn “I would not live alway,” and the interlude “I heard a voice from Heaven,” were sung, moving all hearts by their sweetness and solemnity.
The service over, the coffin was carried out and deposited in the grave in the church-yard adjoining, and lowered into its last resting place. The committal service and prayer over, the marines fired the three volleys of musketry. The weather-beaten tars of the Japan Expedition took a last look at the wooden enclosure which contained all that was mortal of their beloved Commander, and all turned to depart. “The sight of those honest hardy marines, who had collected from all quarters, and at great personal inconvenience, to pay this last tribute of respect and affection to one whom they had once loved to obey, was interesting and suggestive. One almost expected to witness a repetition of the scene that occurred at the funeral of Lord Nelson, and to see the stars and stripes that floated above the grave torn into shreds and kept as momentoes of the man and the occasion; but their affection though deep and strong did not run into the poetical, and the flag remained whole and untouched.”
In the church of St. Nazaro in Florence, may be read upon the tomb of a soldier the words:
“Johannes Divultius, who never rested, rests—Hush!”
That is Perry’s real epitaph.
The unresting one now rests in the Isle of Peace. The two brothers, Perry of the Lakes, and Perry of Japan, sleep in God, near the beloved mother on whose bosom they first learned the worth of life, whose memory they worshipped throughout their careers, and beside whose relics they wished to lie.
On a hill in the beautiful Island cemetery at Newport, which overlooks aboriginal Aquidneck, the City and Isle of Peace, the writer found on a visit, October 30th, the family burying-ground. In the soft October sunlight, the sight compelled contrast to the ancestral God’s acre in South Kingston, among whose lichened stones of unwrought granite the Commodore proposed erecting a fitting monument to his fathers. Within the evergreen hedge, in the grassy circle ringed with granite and iron lay, on the north side, the tomb of the Commodore’s grand-daughter, a lovely maiden upon whose grave fresh flowers are laid yearly by the loving parent’s hands.
The tomb of M. C. Perry is of marble, on a granite base, with six garlands of oak leaves chiselled on it and bearing the modest inscription:
“Erected by his widow to the memory of Matthew Calbraith Perry, Commodore in the United States Navy, Born April 19th, 1794. Died March the 4th, 1858.”
“Erected by his widow to the memory of Matthew Calbraith Perry, Commodore in the United States Navy, Born April 19th, 1794. Died March the 4th, 1858.”
On the south side beneath and across, lies the son of the Commodore who bore his father’s name:
“In memory of Matthew Calbraith Perry, Captain in the U. S. Navy. Died November 10th, 1848.”
“In memory of Matthew Calbraith Perry, Captain in the U. S. Navy. Died November 10th, 1848.”
Another stone commemorates his son Oliver, who was with his father in China and Japan, and for some time, United States consul at Hong Kong:
“In memory of Oliver Hazard Perry, son of Matthew C. and Jane Perry. Died May 17th, 1870, aged 45.”
“In memory of Oliver Hazard Perry, son of Matthew C. and Jane Perry. Died May 17th, 1870, aged 45.”
The Commodore’s widow, Jane Slidell Perry survived her husband twenty-one years; and died in Newport, R. I., at the home of her youngest daughter, Mrs. Tiffany, on Saturday, June 14, 1879, at the age of 82.
[39]See letter of James Purdon Esq.,New York Times, January 6th, 1859.
[39]
See letter of James Purdon Esq.,New York Times, January 6th, 1859.
[40]English Note Books, Vol. I., Dec. 25, 1854.
[40]
English Note Books, Vol. I., Dec. 25, 1854.
[41]See page221.
[41]
See page221.
[42]Putnam’s Magazine, August 1856, pp. 217, 218.
[42]
Putnam’s Magazine, August 1856, pp. 217, 218.
[43]See “A Dinner at the Mayor’s,” Harper’s Magazine, October 1860.
[43]
See “A Dinner at the Mayor’s,” Harper’s Magazine, October 1860.
CHAPTER XXXV.MATTHEW PERRY AS A MAN.
Theactive life of Matthew Perry spanned the greater part of our national history “before the war.” He lived to see the United States grow from four to thirty-two millions of people, and the stars in her flag from fifteen to thirty-one. He sailed in many seas, visited all the nations of Christendom, saw most of the races of the earth, and all flags except that of the stars and bars. He saw the rise and fall of many types of naval architecture. He was familiar with the problems of armor and ordnance, resistance and penetration, and had studied those questions in the science of war, which are not yet settled. He had made himself conversant with the arts auxiliary to his profession, and was one of the foremost naval men of his generation. His personal importance was far beyond his rank. He died fully abreast of his age, and looked far beyond it. Had he lived until the opening of “the war,” he would have been fully prepared, by alertness of mind, for the needs of the hour, and would doubtless have held high rank. He was called to rest from his labors before feeling the benumbing effects of old age. As it was, his influence was clearly traceable in the navy, and younger officerscarried out his ideas into practice, when opportunity came. Had the United States, at the opening of the rebellion possessed a respectable modern navy, such as Perry labored for, the great southern ports could have been at once sealed; and that foreign aid, without which the Confederacy could not have lived six months, would have been made null. Indeed, with a first-class navy, the slave-holder’s conspiracy could never have been hatched. As it was, the navy kept off foreign intervention.
Despite the long and brilliant succession of services rendered his country, Matthew Perry never received either rank or reward beyond those of an ordinary captain.
The rank of admiral was provided for in the Act of Congress of November 15th, 1776, and the title of admiral was conceded to Paul Jones in the correspondence of the State Department. Yet although the original law, creating the American navy, allowed the rank of captains in three grades of commodore, vice-admiral and admiral, there was no legal title higher than captain in the United States navy until 1862; until Farragut hoisted his flag at the main peak of theHartfordAugust 13th, 1862, as senior rear-admiral; becoming, July 25th, 1866, admiral. In compliment to his services Charles Stewart was commissioned senior flag-officer, and at the time of Perry’s death, Stewart was senior to himself. Yet if the title of admiral, prior to Farragut, belongs to any American officer by virtue of largeness of fleetscommanded, by responsibility of position, or by results achieved, surely we may speak as the Japanese did of “Admiral Perry.”
With most of his subordinate officers, Perry’s relations were of the pleasantest nature compatible with his own high sense of duty and discipline. If he erred, it was usually in the right direction. Professor Henry Coppée, who was a young officer in the Mexican war, writes, from memory, in 1882:—
“He (Perry) was a blunt, yet dignified man, heavy and not graceful, something of a martinet; a duty man all over, held somewhat in awe by the junior officers, and having little to do with them; seriously courteous to others. The ship seemed to have a sense of importance because he was on board.”
“He (Perry) was a blunt, yet dignified man, heavy and not graceful, something of a martinet; a duty man all over, held somewhat in awe by the junior officers, and having little to do with them; seriously courteous to others. The ship seemed to have a sense of importance because he was on board.”
The same gentleman relates that once, upon going on board the flag-ship, the midshipmen, with the intent of playing a practical joke, told him to go to Commodore Perry and talk with him. They expected to see the landsman gruffly repelled. The tables were turned, when the would-be jokers saw “the old man” kindly welcome the young officer and engage in genial conversation with him. “I remember,” adds Dr. Coppée, “years afterwards when I heard of what he accomplished in Japan, saying to myself, ‘Well, he is just the man of whom I should have expected it all.’ ”
He had both the qualities necessary for war and for peaceful victory. Though his conquests in warand in peace, in science and in diplomacy, were great, the victory over himself was first, greatest and most lasting. He always kept his word and spoke the truth.
“The Commodore was not a genial man socially. His strong characteristics were self-reliance, earnestness of purpose and untiring industry, which gave such impetus to his schemes as to attract and carry with them the support of others long after they had passed out of his own hands. It was the magnetic power of these qualities in the character of the man that enlisted the services of others in behalf of his purposes, and not any special amenities of manner or sympathies of temperament, that drew them lovingly toward him. And yet, under this austere exterior, which seemed intent only upon the performance of cold duty, as duty, he had a kind and gentle nature that in domestic life was an ornament to him. Never afraid of responsibility in matters of official duty, he was ever on the alert to seek employment when others hesitated. He was bluff, positive and stern on duty, and a terror to the ignorant and lazy, but the faithful ones who performed their duties with intelligence and zeal held him in the highest estimation, for they knew his kindness and consideration of them.”[44]
He was not inclined to allow nonsense and cruel practical jokes among the midshipmen, and couldeasily see when a verdant newcomer was being imposed upon, or an old officer’s personal feelings hurt by thoughtless youth. The father of a certain captain in the Mexican war, whose record was highly honorable, was reputed to have handled the razor for a livelihood. The young officers knowing or hearing of this, delighted occasionally to slip fragments of combs, old razors, etc., under his cabin door. Perry, angry at this, treated him with marked consideration.
He was far from being entirely deficient in humor, and often enjoyed fun at the right time. At home, amid his children and friends, he enjoyed making his children laugh. Being a fair player on the flute, he was an adept in those lively tunes which kept the children in gleeful mood. Even on the quarter-deck and in the cabin, he was merry enoughafterhis object had been attained. The usual tenor of his life was that of expectancy and alertness to attain a purpose. Hence, the tense set of his mind only occasionally relaxed to allow mirth. Captain Odell says, “He was not a very jolly or joking man, but pleasant and agreeable in his manners, and respected by all who had intercourse with him.” The moral element of character, which is usually associated with habitual seriousness in men who aspire to be founders, educators or leaders, was very marked in Matthew Perry.
The impressions of a young person or subordinate officer, will, of course, differ from those formed inlater life, and from other points of view. We give a few of both kinds:—
“His many excellent qualities of heart and head were encased in a rough exterior. ‘I remember,’ says a daughter of Captain Adams, ‘when I was a little girl at Sharon Springs, being impressed by a singular directness of purpose in the man. I used to like to watch him go into the crowded drawing-room. He would stand at the door, survey the tangled scene, find his objective point, and march straight to it over and through the confusion of ladies, children and furniture, never stopping till he reached there. He was a man of great personal bravery, as were all the Perrys, of undoubted courage and gallantry, bluff in his manners, but most hearty and warm in feelings, and with that genuine kindness which impresses at the moment and leaves its mark on the memory. Children instinctively liked the big and bluff hero. As a friend he was most true and constant, and his friendship was always to be relied on.’ ”“Such was the vein and character of the man, that the impression he made on my mind and affections was such as to make me desirous of following him to the cannon’s mouth, or wherever the fortunes of peace or war should appoint our steps.”[45]“He was an intense navy man, always had the honor of the navy at heart, and lost no opportunity to impress this feeling upon the officers of his command.”[46]“I have no unfavorable recollections of Commodore Perry. On the contrary, I think he was one of the greatest of our naval commanders. He had brains, courage,industry and rare powers of judging character, and I believe he would not have spared his own son had he been a delinquent. He seemed to have no favorites but those who did their duty.”[47]“I consider that Commodore Matthew C. Perry was one of the finest officers we ever had in our navy—far superior to his brother Oliver. He had not much ideality about him, but he had a solid matter-of-fact way of doing things which pleased me mightily. He was one of the last links connecting the old navy with the new.”[48]
“His many excellent qualities of heart and head were encased in a rough exterior. ‘I remember,’ says a daughter of Captain Adams, ‘when I was a little girl at Sharon Springs, being impressed by a singular directness of purpose in the man. I used to like to watch him go into the crowded drawing-room. He would stand at the door, survey the tangled scene, find his objective point, and march straight to it over and through the confusion of ladies, children and furniture, never stopping till he reached there. He was a man of great personal bravery, as were all the Perrys, of undoubted courage and gallantry, bluff in his manners, but most hearty and warm in feelings, and with that genuine kindness which impresses at the moment and leaves its mark on the memory. Children instinctively liked the big and bluff hero. As a friend he was most true and constant, and his friendship was always to be relied on.’ ”
“Such was the vein and character of the man, that the impression he made on my mind and affections was such as to make me desirous of following him to the cannon’s mouth, or wherever the fortunes of peace or war should appoint our steps.”[45]
“He was an intense navy man, always had the honor of the navy at heart, and lost no opportunity to impress this feeling upon the officers of his command.”[46]
“I have no unfavorable recollections of Commodore Perry. On the contrary, I think he was one of the greatest of our naval commanders. He had brains, courage,industry and rare powers of judging character, and I believe he would not have spared his own son had he been a delinquent. He seemed to have no favorites but those who did their duty.”[47]
“I consider that Commodore Matthew C. Perry was one of the finest officers we ever had in our navy—far superior to his brother Oliver. He had not much ideality about him, but he had a solid matter-of-fact way of doing things which pleased me mightily. He was one of the last links connecting the old navy with the new.”[48]
He seemed never idle for one moment of his life. When abroad, off duty he was remembering those at home. He brought back birds, monkeys, pets and curiosities for the children. He collected shells in great quantities, and was especially careful to get rare and characteristic specimens. With these, on his return home, he would enrich the museums at Newport, Brooklyn, New York and other places.
As he never knew when to stop work, there were, of course, some under his command who did not like him or his ways.
In the matter ofpecuniary responsibility, Perry was excessively sensitive, with a hatred of debt bordering on the morbid. This feeling was partly because of his high ideal of what a naval officer ought to be, and partly because he feared to do injustice to the humblest creditor. He believed a naval officer, as a servant of the United States Government, ought tobe as chivalrous, as honest, as just and lovely in character to a bootblack or a washerwoman as to a jewelled lady or a titled nobleman. His manly independence began when a boy, and never degenerated as he approached old age, despite the annoyances from the law-suits brought upon him by his devotion to duty regardless of personal consequences. He refused to accept the suggestion of assistance from any individual, believing it was the Government’s business to shield him.
In reply to an allusion, by a friend, when harassed by the lawsuit, to the pecuniary assistance he might expect from a relative by marriage, he replied, “I would dig a hole in the earth and bury myself in it, before I would seek such assistance.”
He had a great horror of debt, of officers contracting debts without considering their inability to pay them. He often lectured and warned young officers about this important matter.
Under date of Nov. 16th, 1841, we find a long letter from him to Captain Gregory of theNorth Carolinaconcerning midshipmen’s debts. He blames not so much “the boys” as Mr. D. (the purser), who indulged them, for “a practice utterly at variance with official rectitude and propriety, and alike ruinous to the prospects of the young officer.” He insists that the middies must be kept to their duties and studies, and their propensity to visit shore and engage in unsuitable expenses be restrained.
In ordinary social life, and in council, Perry appearedat some disadvantage. He often hesitated for the proper word, and could not express himself with more than the average readiness of men who are not trained conversers or public speakers. With the pen, however, he wrought his purpose with ease and power. His voluminous correspondence in the navy archives and in the cabinets of friends, show Matthew Perry a master of English style. A faulty sentence, a slip in grammar, a misspelling, is exceedingly rare in his manuscript. From boyhood he studied Addison and other masters of English prose. In his younger days especially, he exercised himself in reproducing with the pen what he had read in print. He thus early gained a perspicuous, flowing style, to which every page of his book on the Japan Expedition bears witness. Like Cæsar, he wrote his commentaries in the third person. Perry himself is the author of that classic in American exploration and diplomacy. Others furnished preface, introduction, index, and notes, but Matthew Perry wrote the narrative.[49]
He rarely wrote his name in full, his autograph in early life being Matthew C. Perry; and later, almost invariably, M. C. Perry. In this he affected the style neither of the fathers of the navy nor of the republic, who abbreviated the first name and added a colon.
It was the belief of Matthew Perry that the Bible contained the will of God to man, and furnished a manual of human duty. It was his fixed habit to peruse this word of God daily. On every long cruise he began the reading of the whole Bible in course.
Rear-Admiral Almy says: One pleasant Sunday afternoon in the month of April, 1845, and on the way home by way of the West Indies, I was officer of the deck of the frigateMacedonian, sailing along quietly in a smooth sea in the tropics, nearing the land and a port. The Commodore came upon deck, and towards me where I was standing, and remarked: “I have just finished the Bible. I have read it through from Genesis to Revelation. I make it a point to read it through every cruise. It is certainly a remarkable book, a most wonderful book.” As he uttered these words, the look-out aloft cried “Land O!” which diverted his attention, perhaps, or he would have continued with further remarks.
“Perry,” writes another rear-admiral, “was a man of most exemplary habits, though not perhaps a communicant of any church, and upright, and full of pride of country and profession, with no patience or consideration for officers who felt otherwise.”
Keenly enjoying the elements of worship in divine service, he was also a student of the Book of Common Prayer. His own private copy of this manual of devotion was well marked, showing his personal appreciation of its literary and spiritual merits. Often, in the absence of a chaplain, he read servicehimself. Of the burial service, he says it is “the English language in its noblest form.”
He enjoyed good preaching, but never liked the sermon to be too long. “The unskilled speaker,” says the Japanese proverb, “is long-winded.” The parson was encouraged not to tire his hearers, or to cultivate the gift of continuance to the wearing of the auditor’s flesh. In flagrant cases, the Commodore usually made it a point to clear his usually healthy throat so audibly that the hint was taken by the chaplain. In his endeavor to be fair to both speaker and hearers, Perry had little patience with either Jack Tar or Shoulder Straps who shirked the duty of punctuality, or shocked propriety by making exit precede benediction. When leave was taken, during sermon, with noise or confusion, the unlucky wight usually heard of it afterwards. While at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Perry had the old chapel refurnished, secured a volunteer choir, and a piano, and so gave his personal encouragement, that the room was on most occasions taxed beyond its capacity with willing worshippers. When in 1842, the ships fitted out at the yard were supplied with bibles at the cost of the government, Perry wrote of his gratification: “The mere cost of these books, fifty cents each, is nothing to the moral effect which such an order will have in advancing the character of the service.”
Perry manifested a reverence for the Lord’s Day which was sincere and profound. He habitually kept Sunday as a day of rest and worship, forhimself and his men. Only under the dire pressure of necessity, would he allow labor or battle to take place on that day. In the presence of Africans, Mexicans and Japanese, of equals, or of races reckoned inferior to our own, Perry was never ashamed or afraid to exemplify his creed in this matter, or to deviate from the settled customs of his New England ancestry. Japan to-day now owns and honors the day kept sacred by the American commodore and squadron on their entrance in Yedo Bay.
With chaplains, the clerical members of the naval households, Perry’s relations were those of sympathy, cordiality and appreciation. About the opening of the century, chaplains were ranked as officers, and divine service was made part of the routine of ship life on Sundays. The average moral and intellectual grade of the men who drew pay, and were rated as “chaplains” in the United States Navy, was not very high until 1825, when a new epoch began under the Honorable Samuel L. Southard. This worthy Secretary of the Navy established the rule that none but accredited ministers of the gospel, in cordial relations with some ecclesiastical body, should be appointed naval chaplains. From this time onward, with rare exceptions, those holding sacred office on board American men-of-war have adorned and dignified their calling. Until the time of Perry’s death, there had been about eighty chaplains commissioned. With such men as Charles E. Stewart, Walter Colton, George Jones, Edmund C. Bittenger, Fitch W. Taylor,Orville Dewey, and Mason Noble,—whose literary fruits and fragrant memories still remain—Perry always entertained the highest respect, and often manifested personal regard. For those, however, in whom the clerical predominated over the human, and mercenary greed over unselfish love of duty, or who made pretensions to sacerdotal authority over intellectual freedom, or whose characters fell below their professions, the feelings of the bluff sailor were those of undisguised contempt.
We note the attitude of Perry toward the great enterprise founded on the commission given by Jesus Christ to His apostles to make disciples of all nations. Naval men, as a rule, do not heartily sympathize with Christian missionaries. The causes of this alienation or indifference are not far to seek, nor do they reflect much credit upon the naval profession. Apart from moral considerations, the man of the deck, bred in routine and precedent is not apt to take a wide view on any subject that lies beyond his moral horizon. Nor does his association with the men of his own race at the ports, in club or hong, tend to enlarge his view. Nor, on the other hand, does the naval man always meet the shining types of missionary character. Despite these facts, there are in the navy of the United States many noble spirits, gentlemen of culture and private morals, who are hearty friends of the American missionary. Helpful and sympathetic with all who adorn a noble and unselfish calling, they judge with charity thoseless brilliant in record or winsome in person. Perry’s attitude was ever that of kindly sympathy with the true missionary. With the very few who degraded their calling, or to those who expected any honor beyond that which their private character commanded, he was cool or even contemptuous. He had met and personally honored many men and women who, in Africa, Greece, the Turkish Empire, and China, make the American name so fragrant abroad. In the ripeness of his experience, he took genuine pleasure in penning these words: “Though a sailor from boyhood, yet I may be permitted to feel some interest in the work of enlightening heathenism, and imparting a knowledge of that revealed truth of God, which I fully believe advances man’s progress here, and gives him his only safe ground of hope for hereafter.[50]To Christianize a strange people, the first important step should be to gain their confidence and respect by means practically honest, and in every way consistent with the precepts of our holy religion.” Of the Japanese people, he wrote: “Despite prejudice, their past history and wrongs, they will in time listen with patience and respectful attention to the teachings of our missionaries,” for they are, as he considered, “in most respects, a refined and rational people.”
How grandly Perry’s prophecy has been fulfilled, all may see in Christian Japan of the year 1887.