Josiah Tattnall
Commodore
2/5/1860
Japan
Today, I met the Japanese foreign minister and his staff on the U.S.S Powhatan and the Japanese Kanrin Maru in their capital of Edo. President Buchanan has requested my presence in the escort of these Japanese officials to San Francisco, then to Washington D.C., for diplomatic purposes. Honestly, I shouldn't be doing this when our country is as chaotic as it is right now. With the Dred Scott controversy and John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, we need to be worrying about ourselves more than some "diplomatic relations." My main concern is with the choice of the Japanese officials to take a course through the stormy North Pacific Ocean, instead of my suggested course on the Cape of Good Hope. Anyways, the meeting was extravagant, to say the least. For the ceremony, rifles were fired about 13 times, I think. After taking away my command of the East India Squadron and ordering me to this, all I can say is that I don't really approve. I'm a distinguished war veteran, and I should be treated like one.
I agree with you. We should not be worrying ourselves so much. You seem like a very independent person and I think u should be treated like a distinguished war verteran too. -- Tateishi Onojiro
ReplyDelete