27 Quotes by Townsend Harris

We were sent to this country by the President, who desires to promote the welfare of Japan, and are quite different from the ambassadors of other countries.

In case of war, a treaty would have to be made at the end of the war.

The President is of opinion that if Japan makes a treaty with the United States, all other foreign countries will make the same kind of a treaty, and Japan will be safe thereafter.

When the ambassadors of other foreign countries come to Japan to make treaties, they can be told that such and such a treaty has been made with the ambassador of the United States, and they will rest satisfied with this.

By means of steam one can go from California to Japan in eighteen days.

If war should break out between England and Japan, the latter would suffer much more than the former.

The President regards the Japanese as a brave people; but courage, though useful in time of war, is subordinate to knowledge of arts; hence, courage without such knowledge is not to be highly esteemed.

Since the invention of steamships distant countries have become like those that are near at hand.

If Japan had been near to either England or France, war would have broken out long ago.