Dan Fu: U.S.S. Columbus and Vincennes

A lithograph depicting Commodore Biddle's ships in Edo Bay, 1846, based on sketches by John Eastly.

The lithograph The U.S.S. Columbus and Vincennes in Japan is the product of a unique situation in early official US-Japanese relations and thus presents an image of Japan that deviates from the then-conventional depictions of the Japanese as barbarians or heathens.  The creator of the piece was faced with the difficult task of somehow portraying what was ultimately a failed diplomatic mission – that of opening Japan to trade with the US – in a positive light.  As a result, he may have purposefully massaged the story of Commodore Biddle’s mission to make the failure seem more acceptable.

The lithograph nominally depicts a scene from Commodore Biddle’s 1846 mission to Japan, the goal of which was to open the country up to trade with the United States.  The mission was overall a failure, since Biddle did not press the issue when the Japanese refused to trade with the United States.[1]

The lithograph itself, however, does not depict the narrative of Biddle’s failure but rather focuses on presenting a general atmosphere of the negotiations to the audience.  We see that Biddle’s ships, although much larger than and technologically superior to the Japanese ships, are vastly outnumbered and surrounded.  From the caption we find that his ships were surrounded immediately and were constantly accompanied by “at least four Japanese armed boats to prevent their landing.”[2]  From the caption we also find that, although relations between the Japanese and Biddle were very polite (various forms of the word “polite” in fact appear four times), the Japanese maintained a “warlike appearance,” were “jealous of [the Americans’] customs,” and prevented Biddle from ascertaining the “real state of the country.”[3]  The author’s choice of the latter phrasing especially, along with the presentation of the Japanese boats in a very organized manner – that is, with all fifty or so boats pointing in the same direction – suggest that the Japanese as depicted by this lithograph are presenting an air of strength and organization but may be hiding some turmoil underneath.  The Americans, on the other hand, are depicted as the image of polite visitors, in all cases either completely complying with their host’s demands or “politely refus[ing]” otherwise.[4]

These depictions were likely conscious choices by the artist intended to bolster Biddle’s reputation and, by association, that of the US government as well.  John Eastly, the artist whose sketches this lithograph was based on, must have been a member of Biddle’s trip.  Given Biddle’s failure to open Japan up to trade, then, Eastly’s goal may have been to make the failure seem understandable or even honorable.  We find a depiction of the Japanese as a people who are simultaneously formidable enough to be respected, as evidenced by the organization of their ships and their politeness, but still barbaric enough to not warrant too much trouble, as evidenced by their militarism and the potential that their image was but a façade.  Given such circumstances, Biddle’s decision to not open up trade when the Japanese politely declined might be viewed as gentlemanly and honorable; in other words, the lithograph takes what might otherwise be interpreted as a “lack” of “grim determination” on Biddle’s part and presents it as the decision to take the high road in interactions with a less developed people.[5]

Of course, the intention to present the story in this way is being inferred from the material in the lithograph/caption and what we know about the events in question and thus cannot be absolutely confirmed; for all we know, Eastly may have believed this version of events wholeheartedly, and it would be useful to know what he was told before he started his sketches or when he was writing the caption.  Given what we do know, however, it seems reasonable to conclude that the lithograph was intended to portray Biddle’s mission not as a diplomatic failure but rather as an example of the Commodore’s benevolence when dealing with foreign cultures.