Editing Daniel Webster (section)

===Foreign affairs===

Fillmore appointed Webster not only for his national stature and pro-Compromise position, but also for his experience in foreign affairs, and Fillmore relied on Webster to guide his administration's foreign policy.{{sfn|Remini|1997|p=689}} In the aftermath of the failed [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]], a diplomatic incident with the [[Austrian Empire]] arose over the Taylor administration's sympathetic actions towards the Hungarian rebels. Rather than backing down, the Fillmore administration secured the release of exiled Hungarian leader [[Lajos Kossuth]] from the [[Ottoman Empire]] and gave a banquet in Kossuth's honor.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=698–705}} In 1851, Webster wrote a book about Kossuth's life.<ref name="Webster/1851/Kossuth">{{cite book |last1=Webster |first1=Daniel |author1-link=Daniel Webster |title=Sketch of the Life of Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary: Together with the Declaration of Hungarian Independence; Kossuth's Address to the People of the United States; All His Great Speeches in England; and the Letter of Daniel Webster to Chevalier Hulsemann |date=1851 |publisher=[[Stringer & Townsend]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDosAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}<!-- https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupid?key=ha008686900  https://archive.org/details/websterkossuthdi00piv  https://archive.org/details/sketchlifelouis00websgoog  https://books.google.com/books?id=fn2hy-U7KNoC   https://books.google.com/books?id=O8UEAAAAYAAJ --></ref> The administration was particularly active in Asia and the Pacific, especially with regard to [[Japan]], which [[Sakoku|prohibited nearly all foreign contact]]. In November 1852, the administration launched the [[Perry Expedition]] to force Japan to establish trade relations with the United States.{{sfn|Smith|1988|pp=96–98}} Perry was successful in his mission, as Japan agreed to open trade relations with the 1854 [[Convention of Kanagawa]].{{sfn|Remini|1997|p=713}} The Fillmore administration also reached trade agreements with [[Latin American]] countries,{{sfn|Remini|1997|p=722}} worked to counter British influence in [[Central America]]{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=713–716}} and took measures to prevent [[Filibuster (military)|unauthorized military expeditions]] against [[Cuba]] and other Latin American countries.{{sfn|Remini|1997|pp=718–720}} An expedition to Cuba led by [[Narciso López]] precipitated a diplomatic crisis with [[Spain]], but Fillmore, Webster, and the Spanish government worked out a series of face-saving measures that prevented an outbreak of hostilities from occurring.{{sfn|Smith|1988|pp=227–229}}