PREFACE The scheme of this work as a whole is fully described in volume 1. It may be said here that the arrangement of the documents is chronological according to date of signature; each document has a serial number, but the numbers are merely for convenience and have no other significance. All international acts of the United States which have gone into force are in general included, whether now in force or not; but postal conventions and treaties with Indian tribes are not included. Extrinsic and related papers which are referred to in the documents proper are also printed, so far as possible. The headnote to each document gives the relevant dates; the notes which follow each document are mainly textual and procedural but treat to some extent of the diplomatic history of the document. As the document volumes are to be globally indexed, there is no separate index for this volume. The print of the documents and of the quotations in the notes is literal and thus includes any peculiarities and even any errors of the original. Certain texts are reproduced in facsimile. This volume contains twenty-one documents of the treaty edition, numbered from 152 to 172, inclusive. The period covered is from June 1852 to January 1855. A full-size reproduction of the chart of Article 5 of Perry's Treaty with Japan (Document 164; see p. 509) is contained in a pocket inside the back cover of this volume. Since publication of volume 5 most of the records in the custody of the former Archives Section of the Office of the Historical Adviser of the Department of State, and also various other groups of records of the Department, have been transferred to The National Archives. Removal of the records of the Archives Section, comprising those of earlier date than August 15, 1906, was completed prior to August 1938. Included in the transfer were original treaties, diplomatic and consular correspondence, domestic and miscellaneous letters, records of claims commissions and international boundary commissions, certain legation and consular archives, and other papers, all of which serve as source material for this edition. Accordingly, most of the records cited in this volume with the abbreviation "D.S." are |