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.

Any nation that refuses to hold intercourse with other nations must expect to be excluded from this family.

Japan and China are isolated and without intercourse with other countries; hence the President directed me to attend to or watch the state of affairs in China also.

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

The nations of the West hope that by means of steam communication all the world will become as one family.

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

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