VISITS FROM DISTINGUISHED FOREIGNERS.
The Japanese Embassy arrived in Washington on the 14th of May,
1860, in the steamer Philadelphia, which brought them up the Potomac
from the United States frigate Roanoke, on which they had come from
Japan. They were received at the Navy Yard with high honors, and
escorted by the district militia to their quarters at Willard's
Hotel.
The entire party numbered seventy-one. The three Ambassadors were
rather tall and thin in form, with long and sharp faces. They had
jet-black hair, so far as any was left by the barber. In dressing
the hair the men expended as much care as women, and took as much
pride and pleasure in its neat and fashionable adjustment. It was
shaved off to the very skin, except around the temples and low down
in the back of the neck, from which it was brought up on all sides
to the top of the head and fastened by a string. It was then
carried forward, well stiffened with pomatum, in a queue about four
inches long, and of the size of one's finger, and pointed over the
front part of the head, which was left completely denuded of all
hair. They dressed in silk robes, and wore two swords at their
sides, according to universal usage with the higher classes of
their land. When they went in state to see the President they had
little hats tied on the tops of their heads, and some of them had
water-proof hats along, but they generally went bare-headed, carrying
fans to keep the sun's rays away from their eyes. When not using
these fans they stuck them down back of their necks into their
robes. They used the folds of cotton cloth swathed around them in
place of pockets. President Buchanan entertained the eight highest
dignitaries of the Embassy at a dinner-party, at which ladies were
present, and they attended evening parties given by Mrs. Slidell
and by Madame Von Limburg, arriving at eight and leaving at nine.
They paid one visit to the Capitol, where they went in on the floor
of the Senate by virtue of their diplomatic position, and after a
short stay crossed the rotunda to the House, where they took seats
in the gallery set apart for the Diplomatic Corps. A special
committee, with John Sherman as Chairman, waited upon the three
Ambassadors and invited them to take seats on the floor. On the
way they stopped to pay their respects to Mr. Speaker, in his
gorgeous apartment, where they took a glass of champagne with him.
They then went on the floor and took seats at the right of the
Speaker's platform, where the members crowded around them. Some
children attracted their attention, and Master Dawes was taken on
the knee of the Japanese chief Ambassador while he was a guest of
the House.
The principal object of the mission of the Embassy was to get an
English copy of the treaty between Japan and the United States,
signed by the President. The original was burned in the great fire
at Jeddo in 1858. The copy in Japanese was saved. This they
brought with them, and a copy of it not signed, and a letter from
the Tycoon to the President. The box containing these documents
was looked upon by them as almost sacred. It was called the "treaty
box," and was never allowed to be out of their sight. It was a
box three feet long, twenty-six inches in depth, and eighteen inches
wide, covered with red morocco leather, and neatly sewed around
the edges. There were three japanned boxes placed together, and
then covered. Around the box was a light framework, and when
carried was borne on a pole which rested on the shoulders of two
stalwart policemen, closely followed by a Japanese with two swords
in his girdle.
Some of the caricatures sketched by the Japanese were excellent,
and there was no mistaking Mr. Buchanan as they portrayed him.
They would not, however, sell one of these productions, even when
fabulous prices were offered, replying: "_Mi sogo Miphon_"--I will
take it to Japan.
When President Buchanan learned that the Prince of Wales intended
to visit Canada, he hastened to write to Queen Victoria, tendering
to her son a cordial welcome should he extend his visit to the
United States. The invitation was accepted, and the Prince, who
traveled under the name of Lord Renfrew, with the gentlemen of his
suite, became the guests of Mr. Buchanan at the White House. The
heir-apparent, who was then rather stout and phlegmatic, appeared,
like Sir Charles Coldstream, to be "used up," but he philosophically
went the rounds of the public buildings and was the honored guest
at a public reception and at a diplomatic dinner. He apparently
enjoyed a visit, with Miss Lane, to a fashionable boarding-school
for young ladies, where he rolled several games of nine-pins with
the pupils, but he could not be induced to remain on the White
House balcony at night in a drizzling rain watching fire-works that
would not always ignite. Indeed, it was rumored that his Lordship
had slipped away from his guardian and visited some of the haunts
of metropolitan dissipation.
The British party was taken to Mount Vernon on the revenue cutter
"Harriet Lane," accompanied by President Buchanan, Miss Lane, nearly
all of the Diplomatic Corps, and the leading army, navy, and civil-
service officials. President Buchanan escorted his guests to
Washington's tomb, and the great-grandson of George III. planted
a tree near the grave of the arch-rebel against that monarch's
rule. That evening the Prince dined at the British Legation, where
Lord Lyons had invited the Diplomatic Corps to meet him, and the
next morning he left for Richmond. When President Buchanan learned
that the expenses of the trip to Mount Vernon were to be paid from
a contingent fund at the Treasury Department, he objected, and
wished to pay the bills himself, but Secretary Cobb finally paid
them.
Mr. Buchanan's courteous civility toward the Prince of Wales, and
the demonstrations made toward him in the Northern States, evidently
made a deep impression on Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort,
who also doubtless felt chagrined by the inhospitable manner in
which the young traveler was treated in Virginia. In the darkest
hours of the Civil War which followed, when so many leading British
statesmen espoused the cause of the Confederates, Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert were always friends of the Union. Their restraining
influence, at a period when there were many causes of alienation,
undoubtedly prevented a recognition of the belligerent rights of
the Confederate States, which would have been followed by an alliance
with them as an established government. Commercially this would
have been desirable for Great Britain, as it would have enabled
her merchants to have obtained possession of the cotton crop, and
to have paid for it with manufactured articles--British shipping
enjoying the carrying trade.
President Buchanan was very industrious, and gave personal attention
to his official duties. Rising early, he breakfasted, read the
newspapers, and was in his office every week-day morning at eight
o'clock. There Mr. J. Buchanan Henry, his private secretary, laid
before him the letters received by that morning's mail, filed and
briefed with the date, the writer's name, and a condensed statement
of the contents. Letters of a purely personal nature the President
answered himself, and he gave Mr. Henry instructions as to the
reply to, or the reference of the others. An entry was made in a
book of the brief on each letter, and the disposition of it if it
was referred to a Department. This system enabled the President
to ascertain what had been done with any letter addressed to him
by reference to Mr. Henry's books.
President Buchanan remained in his office, receiving such visitors
as called, until one o'clock, when he went to luncheon. Returning
to his desk, he rarely left it before five o'clock, when, with few
exceptions, he took a hour's walk. He did not use his carriage a
dozen times a year, except when he resided, during the summer, at
the Soldiers' Home, and drove in to the White House in the morning
and back in the afternoon.
On his return from his daily "constitutional" walk, Mr. Buchanan
dined, at six o'clock, with the members of his household. He kept
up the established etiquette of not accepting dinner invitations,
and rarely attended evening parties or receptions, on the ground
that universal acceptance would have been impossible, and any
discrimination would have given offense. Once a week some of the
members of the Cabinet, accompanied by their wives, dined at the
White House "en famille," and, as there was no ceremony these were
regarded as pleasant entertainments.
A series of State dinners was given during each session of Congress,
the table in the large dining-room accommodating forty guests.
The first of these dinners, annually, was given to the Justices of
the Supreme Court and the law officers, the next to the Diplomatic
Corps, and then to the Senators and Representatives in turn,
according to official seniority, except in a very few cases where
individuals had by discourtesy rendered such an invitation improper.
Miss Lane and Mr. Henry issued the invitations and assigned seats
to those who accepted them in order of precedence, which was rather
a delicate task. Mr. Henry had also, in the short interval between
the arrival of the guests in the parlor and procession into the
dining-room, to ascertain the name of each gentleman and tell him
what lady he was to take in--probably introducing then to each
other. It was, he used to say, a very _mauvais quart d'heure_ to
him, as he was pretty sure to find at the last moment, when the
President was leading the procession to the table, that some male
guest, perhaps not accustomed to such matters, had strayed away
from his intended partner, leaving the lady standing alone and much
embarrassed. He had then to give them a fresh start.
Mr. Henry, as private Secretary, was charged with the expenditure
of the library fund, the payment of the steward, messengers, and
also with the expenditures of the household, which were paid out
of the President's private purse. These latter expenditures
generally exceeded the President's salary in the winter months,
because President Buchanan enjoyed entertaining and entertained
liberally from inclination. In summer, the social entertaining
being much less, and the President being at the Soldiers' Home,
the expenses were much less. The President's annual salary, then
twenty-five thousand dollars, did not defray the actual household
expenses of the Executive Mansion. Other Presidents had saved a
considerable part of their salaries, but Mr. Buchanan had to draw
upon his private means, not only for his expenses, but for his
generous charities. He also made it a rule, which other Presidents
had neglected, not to accept presents of any value, even from his
most intimate friends or political supporters, and it was a part
of the duty of his private secretary, Mr. Henry, to return any
gifts at once with the thanks of the President.
[Facsimile]
James Buchanan
JAMES BUCHANAN was born in Franklin County, Pa., April 22d, 1791;
entered the Legislature of Pennsylvania when twenty-three years of
age; was elected to Congress, 1820, where he served five terms;
was Minister to St. Petersburg, 1831-1833; was United States Senator,
1833-1845; was Secretary of State under Polk, 1845-1849; was Minister
to England, 1853-1856; was President of the United States, 1857-
1861; died June 1st, 1868.