The United States have no possessions in the east and do not desire to have any, as other countries do.

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

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

The expense of a war could be paid in time; but the expense of opium, when once the habit is formed, will only increase with time.

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.

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.

If you make a treaty first with the United States and settle the matter of the opium trade, England cannot change this, though she should desire to do so.