The Imperial Japanese Mission to the United States, 1917

IV

AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

Welcome to Washington by Secretary Lansing

The journey to the national capital was made direct and was carried through by the railroad authorities in the very best manner. A special train brought. the entire delegation to Washington. On board representing the American government were Breckinridge Long, Third Assistant Secretary of State; Ranford S. Miller, Consul General at Seoul, Korea, who had been assigned as aide to Viscount Ishii; Brigadier General James A. Irons, U. S. A., formerly military attachÈ at the American Embassy at Tokio and designated as aide to General Sugano, and Captain C. C. Marsh, U. S. N., assigned as aide to Vice Admiral Takeshita.

In addition to Viscount Ishii, Vice Admiral Takeshita and Major General Sugano, the Mission party included Masanao Hanihara, Consul General at San Francisco; Matsuzo Nagai, Secretary of the Foreign Office; Commander Ando, Imperial Japanese Navy;. Lieutenant Colonel Tanikawa, Imperial Japanese Army; Tadanao Imai, Vice Consul; Tashiro Owaku, Secretary, and Douglas L. Dunbar, American Secretary of the Mission.

When the train drew into the Union Station on Wednesday, August 22, Secretary of State Robert Lansing was on hand to greet the Imperial Mission .on behalf of the President. With him were Assistant Secretary of State William Phillips, A. B. Ruddock, Secretary of the Embassy attached to the State Department, and Colonel W. W. Harts, U. S. A., Military Aide to President Wilson. Two troops of United States cavalry to act as escort were drawn up outside the grand portal.

The New Hampshire Avenue residence of Perry Belmont, grandson of Commodore Perry, had been placed at the disposal of the visitors. Its spacious drawing rooms contain many relics and mementoes which Perry brought back with him from his epoch making call on the Mikado.

Greetings on both sides were extremely cordial. Japanese Ambassador Sato was present with all his aides to welcome his brother diplomat. Passing through streets thronged with people, past long lines of school children dressed in white with the red sun of Japan on the fronts of their gowns, the distinguished visitors were escorted by the cavalry. The display of Japanese colors and cries of school children as the party passed up Pennsylvania Avenue and by the Treasury Building, where the greater part of the crowds had gathered, appeared to delight the visitors immensely. Viscount Ishii rode bareheaded most of the time, bowing and smiling joyfully at every outburst.

The cortège duly reached the Belmont residence to be the guests of the government during their stay. It was arranged that the formal calls, which must precede the official conferences, would take place next day.

Viscount Ishii to the Press

Viscount Ishii, the special ambassador, spoke to the newspaper correspondents in the afternoon of his gratification at the welcome given the Mission at the national capital, at Honolulu, San Francisco and at all stages of its journey. He would not give extended interviews until he had made his formal call on President Wilson, but made the following statement:

To say I am pleased to be in Washington would be too conventional. I am delighted, we are all delighted, with the cordial reception tendered to us everywhere and with the splendid spirit of hospitality and of good will we have found at all points.

In speaking to the gentlemen of a newspaper press, which wields such enormous power in this great country, I am well aware that purely conventional and formal utterance is worse than nothing---it sounds empty. But at the same time, what can I say? I have not even done my first duty as a guest. Obviously it would be improper therefore to anticipate the message I carry from the Emperor of Japan to your great President.

My last visit to America was just ten years ago, and even on my short drive through your very beautiful streets this morning I was able to mark many changes for the better, though Washington has always remained a pleasant memory. Many things have changed, and now that Japan and America are together brothers in arms and fighting for a great common cause, I have every hope and confidence in success, victory and for continued international amity.

In the evening the Mission dined informally with Ambassador Sato at his residence.

At the White House

On Thursday afternoon Viscount Ishii, accompanied by Ambassador Sato and the members of the Mission, called at the State Department and were received by Secretary of State Lansing. Shortly thereafter, Secretary Lansing conducted the Viscount and his party, including Ambassador Sato, to the White House. In the Blue Room they were presented formally to President Wilson. It was an impressive proceeding.

The formal presentation of the envoy's credentials took the form of the delivery of an autographed document from the Emperor of Japan to the President of the United States. In accordance with custom this message was not. made public.

Viscount Ishii is reported to have said:

Mr. President: On this occasion I have the good fortune to be the bearer of a special message of welcome and deep appreciation from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan to the President and sovereign people of the United States of America on their momentous decision to, cooperate in the great war now raging.

His Majesty, interpreting the unanimous sentiment of Japan, congratulates your great country on this determination. It has been arrived at not lightly and in a moment of passion, but after the exercise of a noble patience and in a spirit of unselfish chivalry which have excited the admiration of the whole world. That America is now fighting on the side of Japan is a source of pride to His Majesty and to every Japanese.

It is not the first time, I may be allowed to remind you, Mr. President, that this has happened. In 1900 I had the privilege of seeing with my own eyes the American and Japanese colors waving together, when the allied troops, in the face of terrible difficulties, triumphantly relieved the besieged legations at Peking. I well remember the skill and courage with which the American civilians and soldiers cooperated in the defense. The resourceful bravery which those few Americans showed then, American legions will show now.

The auspicious cooperation of the United States of America and Japan in the tremendous task of restoring the reign of mutual confidence and good will among the nations of the earth can not but draw us closer together. Our common efforts are directed to seeking an enduring peace based on respect for the independence of the smallest and weakest states; on contempt for the arrogance of materialist force; on reverence for the pledged word. In the service of these common ideals our two countries must surely realize a far nearer friendship than before.

This is no ordinary war. It is an issue between common morality and an inhuman system of calculated aggression which would render all friendly intercourse impossible. The welcome fact that the United States stands side by side with the Allied Powers is a guarantee of early victory, and so His Imperial Majesty hails it as such with deep gratification.

The President said in reply:

Mr. Ambassador: It is with a sense of deep satisfaction that I receive from your hand the letters whereby you are accredited as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Japan on special mission to the United States. It is a pleasure to accept through you from your imperial sovereign congratulations on the entrance of the United States into the great conflict which is now raging.

The present struggle is specially characterized by the development of the spirit of cooperation throughout the greater part of the world for the maintenance of the rights of nations and the liberties of individuals. I assure Your Excellency that standing as our countries now do, associated in this great struggle for the vindication of justice, there will be developed those close ties of fellowship which must come from the mutual sacrifice of life and property. May the efforts now being exerted by an indignant humanity lead at the proper time to the complete establishment of justice and to a peace which will be both permanent and serene.

I trust Your Excellency will find your sojourn among us most agreeable, and I should be gratified if you would be so good as to make known to His Imperial Majesty my best wishes for his welfare, for that of your wonderful country and for the happiness of its people.

I am most happy to accord you recognition in your high capacity.

During the presentation of Viscount Ishii to the President, Major General Sugano, accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel Tanikawa, called upon the Secretary of War, and Vice Admiral Takeshita, accompanied by Commander Ando, paid his respects to the Secretary of the Navy.

Later in the afternoon, Secretaries Lansing, Baker and Daniels paid return calls at the Belmont residence on the members of the Japanese Mission.

As guests of the President of the United States Viscount Ishii and the other members of the Japanese Mission were banqueted at the White House in the evening. It was a brilliant entertainment. In addition to the Imperial Mission, resident Japanese Ambassador Sato attended; also were present the members of the Cabinet, Senator Saulsbury, President pro tempore of the Senate; Speaker Clark, of the House of Representatives; Supreme Court justice Brandeis and representatives of the Senate and House. Among others were Rear Admiral Benson, Major General Hugh L. Scott, Herbert C. Hoover, the food administrator; Frank Scott, chairman of the War Industries Board; Judge Robert S. Lovett, Bernard M. Baruch and Hugh Frayne. The function was without formalities. President Wilson, however, as host, was extremely cordial to the guest of honor, and all the Japanese present proclaimed their pleasure in the experience.

Formal calls by Viscount Ishii and the members of the Imperial Mission were made on the Senate and House of Representatives early on the following day (August 24). At the Senate they were received by Senator Saulsbury and at the House by Speaker Clark. The calls were formal. On both sides they were marked by pleasantly spoken sentiments.

The legislative wheels practically suspended motion during the brief visit of the Japanese Mission. Numerous Senators and Congressmen revived acquaintance with members of the party who at one time or another were connected with the Japanese Embassy in Washington. Vice Admiral Takeshita and former Secretary of the Embassy Hanihara in particular became central figures in informal receptions as they passed through the corridors of the Capitol.

The calls of the Mission to the Capitol were later returned by Senator Saulsbury and Speaker Clark. Both men remained some time at the Belmont residence, the former reviving recollections of visits to Japan.

In the evening dinners were given by Secretary of War Baker and Secretary of the Navy Daniels in honor respectively of Major General Sugano and Vice Admiral Takeshita. The company in each case was composed of officers of the arm of the service represented by the guest of honor.

A Visit to Annapolis

A visit to the Naval Academy at Annapolis was the feature of Saturday, August 25. A private car attached to the Annapolis train bore Viscount Ishii and the Mission, depositing them in record time at the main gate of the Academy grounds, where they were greeted by Captain Eberle, the superintendent. The day passed most enjoyably for the visitors. Having admired the spick and span Academy literally from the tomb of John Paul Jones to the top of the highest flag staff, they anxiously inquired about West Point, its comparative beauty, and the possibility of its being seen.

From the moment they returned the salute of the superintendent on entering until they waved a last farewell to him they smiled and expressed the greatest admiration for the institution.

A company of marines, standing at attention, greeted the commissioners as they stepped through the main gate, and a few minutes later, after a walk across the campus, they found more than seven hundred plebes, garbed in khaki and white puttees, stretched across Worden Field awaiting review. With the Mission and Captain Eberle standing at attention, the Academy band began playing "Kimigayo," the Japanese national air. Broad, appreciative smiles played across the faces of the visitors as the thrilling air swept across the field. The plebes then executed a few evolutions and withdrew amid applause.

Thenceforth the guests were given the freedom of the Academy. The flag room of the library and the armory, where target practice is held, interested them most. The many captured battle flags received their attention, and explanation of target practice, including the raising of "dry" splashes in the floor, moved the military and naval officials of the Mission to surprised remarks. Every question they asked was answered fully, and they asked many. At the tomb of John Paul Jones, in the basement of the chapel, the commissioners stood about in silence for a few minutes, and then left. They also inspected a huge bell on the campus which Commodore Perry brought from Japan years ago.

Captain Eberle and Mrs. Eberle were hosts at luncheon for the distinguished guests at the superintendent's quarters.

At Washington's Tomb

For Sunday, the 26th, a touching ceremony was assigned---a visit to the tomb and home of Washington at Mount Vernon. The members of the Japanese Mission, with Secretary and Mrs. Daniels as hosts, sailed down the Potomac on the President's yacht Mayflower. Accompanying them were Ambassador Sato, Secretaries Lansing, Redfield and Baker, Postmaster General Burleson, Speaker Clark, members of the Senate and House, high officers of the army, navy and marine corps, members of the missions of other European countries and many prominent persons in diplomatic and official life.

Arrived at Mount Vernon the distinguished party repaired to the simple tomb of George Washington, and Secretary Daniels, uncovering his head, said:

It is not inappropriate---nay, I think it has an historical significance to note that in this pilgrimage of our distinguished visitors from Japan to the American Mecca they have come upon a ship of the navy as the guests of the Navy Department. The men of the navy love to recall that when in the early fifties it was determined to send a mission to Japan to open the way for that intercourse which has been mutually so agreeable and helpful, the diplomatic duty was entrusted to a distinguished naval officer, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, who had won fame ashore and afloat. To the courage of a naval officer he added the accomplishments of a diplomat, illustrating again how deserved was the praise of Lord Palmerston, who said:

Whenever I want a thing well done in a distant part of the world, when I want a man with a good head, a good heart, lots of pluck, and plenty of common sense, I always send for a captain in the navy.

Commodore Perry was the first to win the confidence of the Japanese people and Japanese rulers. He lived before this day of hurried calls, remained in Japan nearly three years, and had time to learn the worth of the Japanese and to study their customs and traditions. He remained long enough, too, for the people of Japan to learn from him and his fellow officers, sailors, and marines the broad and fraternal spirit of the American people who did not ask then, have not asked since, and will never ask for themselves, any right or privilege that may not likewise be freely granted to the smallest nation.

In 1855 the Perry treaty was ratified, and Japan and the United States formed a friendship which, cemented by the treaty negotiated for us by Townsend Harris, has bound together with hooks of steel the peoples of these two great nations. July 4 was established forever as a holy day of patriotism for the United States by the victories of George Washington. Independence Day has also a place in Japan's calendar, for it was on July 4, 1859, that the treaty providing for commerce between the United States and Japan became effective. Thus the American and Japanese diplomats strengthened and enlarged the treaty secured by Commodore Perry.

America opens its hearts and homes to the distinguished members of the Japanese Mission, and with a peculiar sense of fitness in the present crisis we welcome you to the shrine of George Washington, the patron saint of America, who illustrated those virtues of valor and statesmanship which attract men of like mold of every clime and every nation.

Today, with stronger ties than ever, woven out of the threads of our mutual participation in the worldwide struggle to insure to all mankind the right to live their own lives and pursue their own national ideals, Japan and America pause at the tomb of Washington, in the hope that there may fall upon us all a double portion of his spirit of faith in the triumph of the right and his readiness to make the supreme sacrifice for the principles for which America, Japan, and their allies are now contending in the arena of war. They have drawn the sword to end military feudalism. They will sheathe it only in a victory that will guarantee permanent peace. We will follow in the present war the admonition of General Washington, who, bequeathing to his nephew his swords, which now hang in his home at Mount Vernon, gave this counsel:

These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defense or in the defense of their country and its rights, and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in his hands to the relinquishment thereof.

It was a solemn moment when Viscount Ishii, bearing a great wreath of roses and chrysanthemums, bowed reverently to the resting place of the Father of this country, and said in tones deeply thrilled with emotion:

In the name of my gracious sovereign, the Emperor of Japan, and representing all the liberty loving people who own his sway, I stand today in this sacred presence---not to eulogize the name of Washington, for that were presumption---but to offer the simple tribute of a people's reverence and love.

Washington was an American, but America, great as she is, powerful as she is, certain as she is of her splendid destiny, can lay no exclusive claim to this immortal name. Washington is now a citizen of the world; today he belongs to all mankind. And so men come here from the ends of the earth to honor his memory and to reiterate their faith in the principles to which his great life was devoted.

Japan claims entrance to this holy circle. She yields to none in reverence and respect; nor is there any gulf between the ancient East and the new-born West too deep and wide for the hearts and the understandings of her people to cross.

It is fitting, then, that men who love liberty and justice better than they love life, that men who know what honor is, should seek this shrine, and here, in the presence of these sacred ashes, rededicate themselves to the service of humanity.

It is a fitting place, at this time when all the world is filled with turmoil and suffering, for comrades in a holy cause to gather and here renew their fealty to a righteous purpose, firm in the determination that the struggle must go on until the world is free from menace and aggression.

Japan is proud to place herself beside her noble allies in this high resolve, and here, in the presence of these deathless ashes, she reaffirms her devotion to the cause and the principles for which they wage battle, fully determined to do her whole part in securing for the world the blessings of liberty, justice and lasting peace.

As the representative of my people, then, I place this wreath upon the tomb of Washington with reverent hands, and in so doing it is my proud privilege to again pledge my country to those principles of right and justice which have given immortality to the name of Washington.

As the Viscount, with a noble gesture, laid the wreath upon the tomb, the thought that the act was indeed a consecration of national principle and a pledge of the faith of the two peoples found expression among the onlookers. The mansion was thoroughly and reverently inspected and the grounds visited before the guests returned to the Mayflower for the trip to Washington.

Viscount Ishii on His Mission

The American press,. characteristically anxious to have the Japanese Imperial Mission declare itself upon the war issues which it would raise in conference, sought some authoritative expression. Viscount Ishii gave the Associated .Press on Monday, August 27, a brief statement defining the purposes of his mission to the United States. The statement says:

The Imperial Japanese Mission came to the United States for two reasons:

First, to convey to the President and to the American people the appreciation and congratulation of the Emperor and the nation of Japan for the entrance of the United States into the war as allies of Japan and the other nations now waging war against the enemies of freedom.

Second, to determine how best to cooperate with the United States in carrying the war to a triumphant conclusion.

Having determined in what manner Japan can use her resources and strength to this end, it is the purpose of the Mission further to aid the Allied cause by showing what she can do with the help and cooperation of the United States. Japan is entirely unselfish in her aim. We are fighting for a common end, and we wish to aid the common efforts.

Reception by the Secretary of State and Mrs. Lansing

Invitations were pouring in upon the Mission for festal occasions. Naturally the Mission felt itself entirely in the hands of the State Department, and was obliged to decline many tempting offers with regret. The garden party given by Secretary Lansing to the Mission on the evening of Tuesday, the 28th, however, compensated for many of the entertainments they could not attend. It can not be better told than as David Lawrence described it next day:

America may have lavishly entertained Marshal Joffre and Arthur James Balfour and in embers of other distinguished Missions which have come to the United States since the outbreak of the war, but nothing, really nothing, compares with the brilliancy of the reception given Viscount Ishii and the Japanese Mission.

Last night's reception and garden party at the Pan American Union Building, given by the Secretary of State and Mrs. Lansing and attended by the President and Mrs. Wilson, was the most elaborate ever given in the national capital. The country's most distinguished society was in attendance, The beautiful Pan American Building was brilliantly illuminated and decorated, and the Aztec Garden and Venetian Pool of the grounds were beautifully adorned with vari-colored lights casting rainbows across the waters. The gardens were hung with rows of Japanese lanterns. The outside stairways from the building to the gardens had an artistic touch in the green feathery foliage, with tall bunches of white hydrangea in graceful baskets hung from the balustrades. Small tables were set on the terrace overlooking the Aztec Garden. A military band played. The weather was ideal. Diplomats of all nations, high officials, Senators and Representatives, members of the numerous war boards and their wives, passed through the patio to the gardens, where supper was served.

The President and Mrs. Wilson arrived about ten o'clock. The band played the national anthem. The Presidential party flanked by military and naval aides walked slowly through the ballroom to the gardens. Mrs. Wilson was particularly handsome in a gown of black lace and tulle, relieved by a modish sash of orange tulle over one shoulder and fastened at the waistline in a bow. She carried a large orange colored ostrich feather fan.

The Japanese were delighted with the reception given them. It was by far the most beautiful of all the state functions given thus far to the foreign missions.

At the Navy Yard

A visit to the Washington Navy Yard by Vice Admiral Takeshita, Major General Sugano, and the other naval and military members of the Imperial Mission, helped to fill Wednesday, the 29th. They were escorted by high naval officers and were much interested in the guns under construction and in the relics of naval wars of the past.

Before the United States Senate

The visit to the Senate, which had been arranged by Senator Saulsbury, was scheduled for Thursday, the 30th, and became the occasion of a great friendly demonstration. The galleries were crowded, and few Senators were missing from their seats. The visitors were received with great ceremony. They entered the main door and were escorted down the centre aisle while the entire audience arose. The audience also arose before and after Viscount Ishii's address, and as the Mission left the chamber after shaking hands with Senators and Representatives.

Senator Willard Saulsbury of Delaware, acting as President pro tempore of the Senate, in the absence of Vice President Marshall, received the guests, conducting Viscount Ishii to a seat beside him on the right of the President of the Senate, and Ambassador Sato to a seat on the left. There was much applause as Senator Saulsbury arose.

He said:

Senators, we are highly honored today by the presence of these distinguished guests, who come to us representing the most ancient and powerful Empire of the world. We have met here before and welcomed the distinguished missions from other great nations. Heroic Belgium, historic Italy, great Russia, beloved France, and democratic Britain have sent to us of their best, but to none have we extended a more cordial welcome than today we give to the representatives of great Nippon, that beautiful land of ancient tradition and passionate patriotism.

A mighty nation is the ancient Empire of Japan. Its youth renewed, it joins our great young nation in pledging anew a continuance of our old friendship, which the trouble maker of the earth has tried so hard to interrupt. We now know how industriously insidious attempts have been made by the Prussian masters of the German people to bring about distrust and hatred in the world. We know what evil attempts they have made to breed hatred and distrust of us among our friends, and we welcome this opportunity to heartily congratulate our old friends who honor us today that by the capture of Tsing Tau and the German islands in the Pacific Japan has completely removed from the far eastern world the only threat, as we believe, to peace and prosperity, the only threat to lasting peace in eastern Asia.

Within the memory of living man Prussians have provoked four wars for conquest and in three succeeded. Their fourth attempt has roused the world to unified, concerted action.

The yellow peril was made in Germany, and Shangtung was seized; the Slav peril was made in Germany, and Serbia was overwhelmed and Russia was invaded; but the thick-witted, smug, self-centered supermen of Germany entering their last attempt at conquest have roused a real peril---a real peril to themselves---and the free nations that believe in international honor, in the binding force of treaties, and in the pledged word are grimly though so sorrowfully engaged in creating, perfecting, and bringing to successful issue an alliance for the benefit of all earth's people, which will protect the rights of nations, small and great, and enable them to lead their lives in peace, and lead them unafraid. This alliance we and the other free nations of the earth are creating to control the disturbers of the peace of the world, and it is now succeeding. The alliance we create is based on the brotherhood of man, the equal rights of men and nations. It is based on the universal kindly instincts of the human heart, no matter whether that heart beats in an eastern or a western breast, no matter where free men live, in America or Asia, in South Africa, in Europe, or in South America. The alliance we create is directed against and threatens only wrong, inhumanity, and injustice. It threatens only rapacity, greed, hypocrisy, and nationalized brutality. It threatens only military autocracy and the violators of treaties who disregard the pledged honor of nations. Our alliance is indeed a peril, but only to the new pirates of the seas, to the assassins of the air; to those who violate international decency and fair dealing, who misuse the forces of developed science and distort the teachings of philosophy, who would destroy civilization itself in the effort to accomplish world domination.

This peril our alliance has created is the peril to the central European powers, but it bears no color label. It is and will be in the future the common glory of all true men of all free nations everywhere to have joined in its creation and success. It is an Anglo-French-Slav-Italian-Japanese-American peril to the misdemeanant of the world. Allies in east and west are joined together to bring back lasting peace to a disordered and war-sick world. Let us renew our time honored friendship with clasped hands and good wishes for the peaceful, friendly development of both our nations and assure poor, stricken Europe that this western Republic and eastern Empire, together in friendly accord, will work for the good of all humanity.

This Congress has pledged all the resources of our great country to our common cause, the curbing of international rapacity and hate and barbarism.

Senators, I have never believed there was more than a jingling rhyme in the phrase that "east is east and west is west and never the two shall meet," and we are happy today, while honoring our distinguished guests, to demonstrate to the world that there is no east and there is no west when strong men come together as friends, though they come from the ends of the earth, determined in friendly alliance to work out right and justice for themselves and all earth's peoples.

Let us never permit hereafter that evil tongues or wicked propaganda shall cause even the simplest minded among our people to forget the ancient friendship of our nations or weaken the ties of mutual respect and regard in which we hold each other. This meeting today symbolizes complete international fraternity which common consciousness of international honor has brought about. Let it be eternal!

I have the honor of presenting to the Senators of the United States the most distinguished of our visitors, His Excellency Viscount Ishii, chief of the Mission from Imperial Japan.

Viscount Ishii arose and said:

Mr. President and gentlemen of the Senate of the United States, no words at my command can give adequate expression to the profound appreciation I have of this honor you confer upon us. We know full well the exalted dignity and the proud traditions of this illustrious branch of the great Legislature of the United States; and in the name of my country, my Mission, and myself, I thank you most sincerely. To accept your courteous invitation and to occupy even the smallest fraction of the time allowed for the momentous deliberations of this august body is a great responsibility---a responsibility I do not underestimate, but from which I may not shrink.

I shall not, however, abuse this rare privilege by attempting to address at length, in a language of which I have but little command, trained leaders of thought and masters of argument and oratory. But I grasp this occasion to say to you that the whole people of Japan heartily welcome and profoundly appreciate the entrance of this mighty nation of yours into the struggle against the insane despoiler of our civilization. We all know that you did not undertake this solemn task on the impulse of the moment, but that you threw your mighty weight into the struggle only after exercising a most admirable patience, with a firm determination that this world shall be made free from the threat of aggression from the black shadow of a military despotism wielded by a nation taught with the mother's milk that human right must yield to brutal might. To us, the fact that you are now on the side of the Allies in this titanic struggle constitutes already a great moral victory for our common cause, which we believe to be the cause of right and justice, for the strong as for the weak, for the great as for the small.

We of Japan believe we understand something of the American ideal of life, and we pay our most profound respects to it. Jefferson, your great democratic President, conceived the ideal of an American commonwealth to be not a rule imposed on the people by force of arms, but as a free expression of the individual sentiments of that people. Jefferson saw Americans not as a set of people huddled together under the muzzles of machine guns, but he saw them as a myriad of independent and free men, as individuals only relying on a combined military force for protection against .aggression from abroad or treachery from within. He saw a community of people guided by a community of good thought and pure patriotism, using their own special talents in their own special way under their own sacred rooftrees; not a machine made nation, but a living, growing organism, animated by one passion---the passion of liberty.

I assure you, gentlemen, that the Japanese ideal of national life is, in its final analysis, not so very far removed from yours. We conceive of our nation as a vast family, held together not by the arbitrary force of armed men, but by the force of a natural development. We shall call the common force that animates us a passion of loyalty to our Emperor and to our homes, as we shall call that of Americans a passion for liberty and of loyalty to their flag.

Blind loyalty without rational consciousness of the responsibility of self is but another name for slavery, while a right of liberty ill conceived, ignoring the mutual human affection and respect for the rights of every man, which form the essence of true loyalty, must be tantamount to anarchy. These two passions---passion of loyalty and passion for liberty---are they not really one? Is not the same control working in both cases---the intense desire to be true to our innermost selves and to the highest and best that has been revealed to us? You must be free to be Americans and we must be free to be Japanese. But our common enemy is not content with this, freedom for the nation or for the individual; he must force all the world to be German, too! You had hoped against hope that this was not so; but that noble hope fled. and your admirable patience was exhausted. You did not then hesitate to face the issue and the foe, as you are facing it,. with that great American spirit which has loved and still loves liberty, which loves the right more than peace and honor more than life.

We of Japan took up arms against Germany because a solemn treaty was not to us "a scrap of paper." We did not enter into this war because we had any selfish interest to promote or any ill conceived ambition to gratify. We are in the war, we insist on being in it, and we shall stay in it, because earnestly, as a nation and as individuals, we believe in the righteousness of the cause for which we stand; because we believe that only by a complete victory for that cause can there be made a righteous, honorable, and permanent peace, so that this world may be made safe for all men to live in. and so that all nations may work out their destinies untrammeled by fear.

Mr. President and gentlemen, whatever the critic half informed or the. hired slanderer may say against us, in forming your judgment of Japan we ask you only to use those splendid abilities that guide this great nation. The criminal plotter against our good neighborhood takes advantage of the fact that at this time of the world's crisis many things must of necessity remain untold and unrecorded in the daily newspapers; but we are satisfied that we are doing our best. In this tremendous work, as we move together, shoulder to shoulder, to a certain victory, America and Japan must have many things in which the one can help the other. We have much in common and much to do in concert. That is the reason I have been sent and that is the reason you have received me here today.

I have an earnest and abiding faith that this association of ours, this proving of ourselves in the highest, most sacred, and most trying of human activities---the armed vindication of right and justice---must bring us to a still closer concord and a deeper confidence one in the other, sealing for all time the bonds of cordial friendship between our two nations.

Again I thank you.

Mr. Saulsbury said: "The special ambassador from Japan and the Japanese ambassador to Washington will be glad to receive the Senators and their guests upon the floor as they desire to be presented."

The members of the Japanese Mission took their places at the left of the Vice President's desk, and the members of the Senate were presented to them by the committee appointed by the President pro tempore.

Before the House of Representatives

Presentation to the House of Representatives was reserved for the afternoon of Wednesday, September 5. Again a great audience awaited the Imperial Mission, crowding the galleries, the diplomatic gallery notably, as well as filling the seats of the Representatives. The Speaker, Mr. Clark, was in the chair. Announcing a committee to wait on the Japanese commissioner's and conduct them into the hall, as consisting of Mr. Flood, Mr. Linthicum and Mr. Goodwin of Arkansas, he declared that the House stood in recess.

Almost immediately thereafter the members of the Japanese Mission, escorted by the committee appointed by the Speaker, entered the chamber and were announced to the House by the Sergeant at Arms. The members of the Mission were: Viscount Ishii, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary; Vice Admiral Takeshita, Imperial Japanese Navy; Major General Sugano, Imperial Japanese Army; Mr. Masanao Hanihara, Consul General at San Francisco; Mr. Matsuzo Nagai, Secretary of the Foreign Office; Commander Ando, Imperial Japanese Navy; Lieutenant Colonel Tanikawa, Imperial Japanese Army; Mr. Tadanao Imai, Vice Consul; and Mr. Owaku.

Mr. Aimaro Sato, Ambassador from Japan to the government of the United States; Mr. Tokichi Tanaka, Counselor of the Embassy; Captain Nomura, Naval AttachÈ; and Lieutenant Colonel Mizumachi, Military AttachÈ, accompanied the Mission into the House, together with Mr. Breckinridge Long, Third Assistant Secretary of State; Brigadier General James A. Irons, United States Army; Captain C. C. Marsh, United States Navy; and Mr. A. B. Ruddock, of the State Department, personally attached to Viscount Ishii.

Viscount Ishii was seated on the right of the Speaker and Ambassador Sato upon his left.

The Speaker: Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, Japan is one of the oldest countries in the world, and yet it is the very newest of the great powers of the world. The history of Japan extends back into the twilight of fable. In ancient times there were seven things selected that were denominated the wonders of the world. Nearly all of them have gone. The historian of the times in which we live will rank the remarkable and astounding progress of the Empire of Japan as one of the seven wonders of these times.

The Empire of Japan is our nearest western neighbor. She holds one side of the Pacific and we hold the other, and every right thinking man in the Empire of Japan and in the Republic of the United States hopes that peace, amity, and friendly relations will always prevail between these two great powers.

Within the last few months we have had visiting commissions from France, Great Britain, Belgium, Russia, and Italy, and now we have the Japanese Mission. I present to this magnificent audience Viscount Ishii, the head of the Mission from Japan.

Viscount Ishii, rising and bowing, said:

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives, I thank you most sincerely for this gracious reception. The rare opportunity thus. afforded to me is deeply appreciated throughout the nation I have the honor to represent. I bring a message, borne by us across an ocean and a continent, from the Emperor and the people of our beloved island, set in the far eastern Pacific, to the President of the United States and to you, the representatives of the greatest republic on earth today, a potent factor in the most stupendous and, we must believe, the final struggle for liberty throughout the world.

Our message reiterates an assurance of unchanged sincerity of friendship well understood by the people of the United States, but it is a message which has never found opportunity such as this for delivery. Your courteous permission for us to occupy a place on this historic rostrum and to, speak within the hearing, in fact, of the hundred millions of people of the United States of America carries with it a forceful manifestation of the sentiment which we believe the United States entertain toward my country.

We would not have traveled 10,000 miles merely to repeat what must have sufficiently impressed itself upon you, but that within the last few months a new day has dawned---a day welcomed indeed by us. It follows. upon another when you, with magnificent forbearance, endured great wrongs and outrages in the hope that recourse to the sword might be avoided. It was a day in which you bore the pitiless cruelty of the wilful aggressor of all human rights---bore it bravely and with fortitude until the star of hope vanished and toleration ceased to be a virtue. Then, in the dawning of this day, you arose and threw your mighty forces into the balance against the wrong in favor of the right. in this dawning the Stars and Stripes flung across the skies were entwined with the emblem of the Rising Sun, and so commenced the brighter day. That is why we are here. We come to bring to you the message of our Emperor, which gives you assurance of the comradeship and the cooperation of Japan throughout this day. We are here to say that, with the other Allies, we heartily welcome the advent of the United States in the fields of France and elsewhere. We recognize the great uplift given to humanity and the promise of a physical victory doubly insured by the most momentous decision you have taken.

We bring to you assurance of support, unselfish, without a motive other than the common force that drives us all today. We of Japan face the task seriously and with determination. We recognize the grim and unrelenting order we all must obey. We know that the desperate foe of civilization must he met by self-sacrifice, counsel, and unsleeping watchfulness. We are here to say that Japan has done and will do what may be demanded of her to the utmost of her resources and to the best of her ability.

Yours are vast resources; ours may be small, but we can say to you. that the spirit of Japan burns as ardently and will last as long as may be demanded in this war. We are eager for counsel with you. We come to, find out how these two nations can best coordinate their energies and their resources; how best they can cooperate in the conduct and the winning of this war. We come to say to you that we are proud on this day to stand shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers of America. In the field and in the household; in the mine and in the shop, the men and the women of Japan are working and will work with a greater confidence and a higher sense of moral obligation.

Japan has exerted herself with the spirit of loyalty to her allies, her Emperor, and to her homes, following the ideals of our national life, to which I alluded when I had the honor of addressing your Senate a few days ago. Japan will continue to add her quota to the sacrifice which alone can insure a victory. Like the people of America, those of Japan have remained permanently independent because of a real patriotism which, when the occasion demands, never fails. We, like you, protect ourselves against aggression from without and treachery from within. We, like you, know nothing of tyranny and despotism; and we, like you, stand determined that malignance and oppression from the conqueror, imposed upon the conquered, shall not become the lot of our people. Neither shall our families and our homes be violated and desecrated by the licentious and brutal forces of evil now trampling upon the helpless women and children of the countries they have overrun.

Treachery from within, indeed, at this hour, calls for our attention. While your soldiers leave their families and their homes to fight on the blood stained fields of France, we must guard our landmarks, as you will guard yours, against treachery that has found hiding places in our midst and which for the last ten years has sown the seeds of discord between us. Let it be a part of our cooperation and coordination to protect each other from these forces of evil which lack even the poorest courage of an open enemy.

Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the House of Representatives, we have been climbing a mountain toward the stars by different and sometimes devious pathways, but near the summit our roads shall join, and together we shall win into the full sunlight above the clouds. We shall pass safely through the dangerous places. Our blood shall not have been shed and our sacrifice shall not have been made in vain, for we shall be among the nations of a world living in a brotherhood of peace. Will it not then be a source of intense national pride to each of us to remember this day which must insure a permanent maintenance of these renewed pledges of comradeship and of cooperation?

I again wish to express my sincere appreciation of the honor you have done us.

The members of the Mission then took their places on the right of the Speaker's rostrum, and the members of the House of Representatives were presented to them.

The distinguished visitors were then escorted from the hall of the House. Every remark touching on the friendly relations of the two countries, made by either the Speaker, Mr. Clark, or by Viscount Ishii, precipitated tremendous applause. One reference to continued peace between the two nations threw the House into an outburst that lasted several minutes.

Speaker Clark's declaration that the rise of Japan must be considered one of the seven wonders of the world, made some of the Southern members so enthusiastic that they indulged in rebel yells, much to the surprise but evident delight of the commissioners.

Dinner at Graystone

Mr. Judah H. Sears of the Shipping Board entertained at dinner on the evening of Friday, September 11, at Graystone, his residence on Klingle Road, in compliment to Viscount Ishii and his confrËres. The dinner was served at small tables placed in the pergola and on the terraced lawn, which was strung with vari-colored electric lights, outlining trees and shrubs and making a network overhead. The Japanese and American flags and the national colors of Japan adorned the pergola, where the guests of honor were seated. In the absence of Mrs. Sears in the Adirondacks, Mrs. Peter Goelet Gerry, wife of Senator Gerry of Rhode Island, acted as hostess. Informal dancing followed in the drawing rooms and a delightful musical program was given.


V. Philadelphia's Welcome

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