having stayed about one quarter of an houre word was brought that the Emperor was come forth. Then they rose up, and led me betwixt them to the doore of the roome where the Emperor was, making signes that I should enter in there, but durst not look in themselves. The presents sent from our King to the Emperor, as also those which (according to the custom of the country) I gave unto the Emperor as from myselfe, were placed in the said roome, upon the mats very orderly, before the Emperor came into it. Coming to the Emperor, according to our English compliments, I delivered our King's letter unto his Majestie, who tooke it in his hand, and put it up towards his forehead, and commanded his interpreter, who sate a good distance from him behind, to will Master Adams to tell me, that I was welcome from a wearisome journey, that I should take my rest for a day or two, and that his answer should be readie for our King. Then he asked me whether I did not intend to visit his sonne at Edoo. I answered, I did. The Emperor said, that order should be taken to furnish mee with men and horses for the journey, and against my return his letters should be readie for our King. So taking my leave of the Emperor, and coming to the door where I had left the secretarie and the admiral, &c." Some commercial privileges were at this time obtained by these adventurers for our East-India merchants, notwithstanding the opposition experienced from the Portuguese and Dutch; and a letter was written to James by the Emperor of Japan, expressing a wish to facilitate an intercourse of trade, and willingness to allow the establishment of a British factory, a settlement of which nature was shortly afterward made at Firando. The Editor has stated that, about this period, and a few years subsequently, the English adventurers also carried on no inconsiderable traffic with the neighbouring islands of Loo Choo. We could have wished to see an adequate corroboration of this assertion; for we were told, if we rightly recollect, in Mr. McLeod's account of those islands, that the visits of European vessels had been so rare as to make them objects of wonder, to such a degree that we can scarcely conceive that the natives had any traditionary stories current relative to the frequency of their appearance in earlier times. The British trade declined, and the factory was abolished, as the Editor represents on the authority of the appendix to Sir T. Raffles's History of Java, about the year 1623, but without the intervention of any political differences between the two nations. When the restoration of the Stuarts had quieted our domestic disturbances at home, and allowed men to turn their minds once more to the speculations of distant commerce, an attempt was made to revive the trade with Japan, in or about the year 1674: but Japan herself had not re mained without change during this interval; nor without the seeds and indeed almost the fruit of her present anti-commercial policy; and the bigotry, the folly, the pretensions, and the political intrigues of the Portuguese missionaries had at length brought utter ruin on themselves and their friends. After many years of commotions caused by them, and subsequently of persecutions of them, which, we are sorry to say, were not unmerited, they had at last been universally expelled from the empire; and those who have contemplated the results of Portuguese civilization and religious instruction, on the coasts of Africa, will not easily believe that the interests of true religion would have been much advanced by the continuance of the Jesuits in the isles of eastern Asia. We are not very clearly informed how far the spirit of nonintercourse with Europeans, which has since influenced the government of Japan, originated in these events, or was only increased by them: but the Dutch took advantage of the banishment of the Portuguese, and for many years made a very profitable market of Japan; though the restrictions and degradations to which they submitted seem to have been extraordinary. Towards the latter end of the 17th century, these profits were much diminished; the returns, which about the middle of the same century had been in gold and silver, being now made to them in copper only; and hence this period has been named by them "the brazen age" of Japanese com merce. An attempt was made to revive the English trade, as we have stated, in 1674: but it met with so many difficulties that it was soon abandoned. It is curious that one of the most material was the alliance of Charles II. with a princess of Portugal; a fact causing hostile prepossessions, which were carefully fostered by our Dutch rivals. Though the English traders were not deficient in perseverance, they were at length compelled to depart, and had the following conference on that occasion: On the 26th of August, preparations were nearly made for departure, on which day the chief magistrates and secretaries going on board, a conversation took place which merits peculiar notice"They asked one question now more than formerly, which was, since it was forty-nine years since our being here, caused, as I had told them, by the civil wars, which we had nigh for twenty years, and twice wars with the Dutch, and in all that time having trade with Bantam, why we did not come for Japan, as well as for Bantam? I answered, that the trade between England and Bantam was chiefly continued for pepper, which was bought yearly, with what was sent out of England, and returns made made immediately, which could be done with a small stock; but the trade for Japan could not be carried on from England directly, but required a settlement in several places in India, as Tonquin, Siam, Cambodia, and Tywan, which several factories required a stock of twenty tun of gold, which our honourable employers had resolved to set apart, to furnish the trade with such commodities as were proper for this market, which being so considerable a sum, (besides the employment of many ships, ) it was no small matter to resolve upon so great an adventure, which required time, and peace, and other matters for their encouragement; which, until now, they had not found convenient: and these I supposed were the reasons inducing our company now to prosecute this voyage: they seemed contented with this answer. After, they told me, the wind being come fair, and they having furnished us with what we requested for our maintenance of life, and for the carrying on our voyage to Bantam, which was according to the Japan courtesy, we must be gone from hence the next day. We should have our boats sent us, and all our ammunition, and we must depart peaceably without shooting off any guns in the jurisdiction of the Japan Emperor, which I promised I would perform. I asked whether we might wear our colours? They said, that we might wear any colours that had no cross in them, our cross being offensive to them, for being nigh the Portugal cross. Then asking whether we might return after the death of our Queen? They answered, that possibly we might, if the Dutch and several Chinese did satisfy the Emperor that we were not in amity with Portugal; but he could not assure us we should have admission, our surest way was not to come; for the Emperor's commands (according to the Japanese saying) were like unto sweat that goeth out of a man's body and hands, which never returneth in again: the Emperor's commands admit of no alteration." The efforts to form a commercial intercourse with Japan have since been few and desultory. The Dutch trade sank from its "brazen age" into something worse, "cujus non invenit ipsa Nomen, et a nullo posuit natura metallo;" and, during the latter part of the last century, we have seldom read the name of Japan, unless on our engraved atlas. The growing power of Russia on its north-eastern frontier naturally attracted the attention of that government to an empire situated in seas in which they are endeavouring to push their commerce: but the Russian embassy in 1805, detailed by Langsdorff and Krusenstern*, may be deemed as complete a failure as that of Lord Amherst in China; and Captain Golownin's narrative proves that Russia has as yet effected no farther progress towards any commercial interWith regard to the British, one more attempt was course. * See Rev. vol. lxxvi. p. 240.; lxxvii. p. 113. 124. 275. made made when England had taken Batavia towards the close of the late war, which is detailed in the appendix to Sir T. Raffles's work on Java. * The returns yielded a balance in favour of the voyage: but whether they were sufficient to encourage the merchants in prosecuting the undertaking farther, we are unable to judge. The present Editor labours in his introduction, though with no great weight of argument, to prove the important results which we might derive from a renewal of this commerce. If conducted only on the scale according to which the Dutch in later times have carried it on, it could at most be a matter of very little national interest: but if founded on the more extensive and liberal views of commerce which now prevail in this country, it would, in the opinion of Sir T. Raffles, ultimately secure more than adequate returns. Those only, whose statistical knowlege embraces this portion of our globe, can be adequate to argue this point: but there is one fact which must strike more superficial observers, that the commerce of Japan cannot increase in any great degree without a concomitant change in the political system of that country. It is highly probable, indeed, that intercourse with Europeans might eventually produce such a change of policy, although it never yet has had that effect in China: but, if the existing institutions of Japan continue, they will probably uphold the present habits and manners of the people; and these habits will be a more effectual bar to the general use of our manufactures, than all the edicts of Bonaparte and his servant-kings. Let it not be imagined that we argue against the local knowlege and commercial accuracy of such a man as Sir T. Raffles; who possibly looks, as we do, to the increase of commerce as an ultimate event, to be produced by more intermediate causes than the cargoes of one or of twenty ships. How far the present habits of the Japanese are adapted to our views will appear in some parts of Captain Golownin's Recollections, to which we now turn our undivided attention. Captain G. has arranged his remarks under the following heads: 1. Geographical Situation, Climate, and Extent. 2. Origin of the Japanese Nation. 3. Religion and Religious Customs. 4. National Character, Civilization, and Language. 5. Government of the Empire. 6. Laws and Customs. 7. Productions of the Country; Trade and Commerce. 8. Population and Military Force; and lastly, 9. People who pay Tribute to the Japanese, and Colonies.' * See Rev. vol. lxxxvi. p. 337. Of Of these topics, we propose to notice some cursorily, and others at greater length. From the first two chapters we collect, among other matter, that the climate of Japan is far inferior to that of countries in the same latitude in Europe; and that the extremes are great, the cold being frequently at 15 degrees of Reaumur, and the summer heat intolerable. Many of the influencing causes are obvious; such as the continual and dense sea-fogs so prevalent. in the neighbouring ocean, and the height of the mountains in some of the islands, which are constantly cloud-capped. It may also be observed that the arctic ice descends in unbroken masses to much lower latitudes in the Kamschatka seas, than in those to the north of our part of the globe. The Japanese, like all other people, have their fabulous history, founded on vanity and superstition: although, as far as Captain Golownin's information extends, they do not appear to lay claim to an antiquity so much at variance with the records of the creation as many other Oriental nations. They have enough, however, in their mythology to flatter their national feelings their island is deemed the first created land; and their account of its origin is not very dissimilar to the Pindaric description of the island of Rhodes, springing from the sea. Τελευτα and as Niphon, the name of the most considerable island, is derived, according to the note of the Editor, from Ni, signifying fire, or the sun par excellence, and Pon, basis or foundation, we may extend our quotation to the succeeding lines of the lyric poet: ἔχει τέ μιν 6 ξειᾶν ὁ γενέθλιος ἀκτίνων πατὴρ, Pindar. Olymp. vii. 124-130. The Japanese suppose, also, that they were the first people created, and created with a decided superiority over the rest of the human race. These fables, the author says, are deservedly ridiculed by their best informed citizens: but, as they are universally current with all others, Portuguese Christianity could have had no great effect in the extirpation of superstitious errors. The real extraction of this people is a matter of doubt. They appear, we are led to understand, to be of the same race |