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VISIT OF THE JAPANESE AMBASSADORS.

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India squadron, Captain Pearson, and the other officers of the Powhattan steam frigate. The civilities on each side were completely en règle. An audience of the servants of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan was appointed for two o'clock of the 9th of March. On the arrival of the United States officers at the Palace grounds, they were received at the lower gate by the King's household troops on duty, and at the Palace stairs by the Honolulu Rifles. The gallant Admiral and suite, having been introduced by Mr. Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Relations, were presented to the King by the United States Commissioner, Mr. Borden. The Legation from the Tycoon then arrived, and was received at the foot of the stairs by Mr. Wyllie and other officers of the King. His Majesty welcomed them to his Court; and the Ambassadors expressed their acknowledgments,-the conversation being conducted in Dutch, with the assistance of an English interpreter. The King then retired; and Her Majesty Queen Emma entered the throne-room, accompanied by the Princess Victoria, and attended by her ladies and maids of honour, and with her usual grace received the Ambassadors and the officers, asked their impressions of her country, &c.; and the ceremonies terminated.

The high courtesies were continued the same afternoon. The Ambassadors sent, through the American Commissioner, some presents to the King. In acknowledging these, the Foreign Minister was happy to have the opportunity of again assuring their Excellencies of the very high respect and very distinguished consideration with which he had the honour to be,' &c.; and a few days later, the Minister wrote a despatch, in which the King proposes that a treaty should be at once made, conditionally on after ratification, of perpetual

friendship, commerce, and navigation,' between Japan and Hawaii. To this despatch, Sinmi Bozenno Cami, First Ambassador; Mooragaki Awageno Cami, Second Ambassador; and Ogooli Bungono Cami, First Associate and Remembrancer,-being three princes,—reply, on the 25th day of second month of the seventh year of Ansey, '—a date difficult for the historian to synchronise with our own era, but probably shortly after Mr. Wyllie's despatch,- that they could not conclude such a treaty under their powers, and that, therefore, the despatch would be forwarded to Japan.

Not but that the two-sworded princes were ready to swear eternal friendship on the stairs; for they received the kindest hospitality from the King, who placed his house in Beritania Street at the disposal of the Ambassadors, and his marine villa at the command of the Admiral. The following sequence of adjectives will describe the Japanese Embassy,-quick, intelligent, and inquisitive; possessed of a curiosity constant and vivacious; polite, affable, and patient under the corresponding curiosity exhibited by the Hawaiians towards them. They inspected every object, inquired into it, described it, and sketched it, an accomplished draughtsman forming one of the suite.

Other calls of ceremony and of kindness having been made, the Japanese, after a stay in the islands of about ten days, prepared to depart; and a P.P.C. audience was held at the Palace. If Austria piques herself on the Vienna code of etiquette, she will learn in Japan a transcendental rigueur which quite eclipses her own. The First Ambassador commenced a graceful acknowledgment of all the attentions shown to himself and his suite; and having spoken two or three sentences, he was so overcome by his feelings, no doubt at the

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A JAPANESE LEAVE-TAKING.

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exact place indicated in his instructions,-that his voice shrank up to a piping treble, and he had to conclude his speech in a suffocating whisper. So contagious is deep feeling, that all the suite were affected in the same manner and at the same moment, and could only whisper their adieux, interrupted by their sighs.

And so they departed.

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