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EXCHANGE OF FULL POWERS BETWEEN THE EARL OF ELGIN AND THE JAPANESE COMMISSIONERS.

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The treaty which he had negotiated is the model upon which have been framed all others with the European Powers. It stipulated in effect, that regular diplomatic relations should be entered upon; that the American Minister might travel all over Japan; that three ports should be opened to commerce by July, 1859, another in 1860, and a fifth in 1863. Besides these there were numerous specifications as to the manner of trade, and the rights of Americans in Japan.

The Japanese soon found treaties raining down upon them. That with the United States was signed early in August. Lord Elgin was even then on his way to Japan. By the 12th he had seen Mr. Harris at Simoda, learned of his treaty, and was on his way to Yeddo. We have already, in this Magazine for August, 1860, given an account of this mission. The result was that a treaty with England was signed on the 26th of August, in virtue of which Sir Rutherford Alcock was sent as Minister to the Court of the Tycoon.

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One point in Lord Elgin's experiences musting of the American treaty and the arrival of not be omitted. He never had an audience Lord Elgin Jehoshi had ceased to live; and with the Tycoon. All negotiations and official Ikomono, the Gotairo, was officially at the head interviews were with Commissioners specially of affairs. He found proofs implicating the appointed for that purpose. He received, in- Prince of Mito in the death of Jehoshi, ordered deed, all sorts of complimentary messages and him to retire to his principality, with the underingenious excuses from the Tycoon; but no Ty-standing that if he obeyed at once nothing should coon was visible at any time; and for a very be done; otherwise he would be arraigned on good reason-there was no Tycoon. He was charge of poisoning the Tycoon, and be liable dead in Japanese phraseology he had returned to crucifixion. The Prince of Mito was overto "Xim, which is the principle of every thing." awed, and yielded. The elective council was The messages were all pure inventions, and the convened, and a son of the Prince of Ksiou was British never learned the fact until two months elected Tycoon. But he was a youth of fifteen, after they had left Japan. How he died opens and so Ikomono, the Gotairo, kept the reins of up a curious chapter in Japanese history. government. The Prince of Mito was now deposed in favor of his son, a man of thirty, who had really the best claim to the Tycoonship. Ikomono held his post until March 24, 1860, when he was assassinated in broad daylight while on the point of entering the gateway of the palace of the Tycoon. The whole transaction is dramatic.

coon.

It was a rainy morning, when three separate cortéges approached the surrounding moat from different directions. On one side was that of the Prince of Ksiou, on the other that of the

When Commodore Perry first made his appearance in the Japanese waters, Minamotto Jehoshi had reigned for seventeen years as TyHe is represented to have been a man of much force, and to have carried great influence in the Council of the Daimios by his superior intelligence. He demanded a year's delay to assemble the Convention of the Daimios; and so Perry departed, and returned at the appointed time. In the mean time Minamotto died. The Japanese account of the circumstances of his death is this. His Prime Minister was Midzou-Prince of Owari, both of them Gosankay; beno Etsisen-no-Kami, a stout defender of old laws and customs. He conspired with other Daimios to put the Tycoon away. A cup of poison was offered to him, but he, suspecting something, dashed it into the face of the attendant, who ran the Tycoon through the body, and killed himself immediately afterward. The Prime Minister was accused of complicity, and also performed the hara-kiru.*

tween them was that of the Gotairo. He himself was in his norimon, around and before and behind him were his armed retainers. A few Samourai were near, when suddenly one of them sprang forward directly before the Gotairo's norimon; the attendants rushed ahead, leaving this unguarded. In an instant a score of armed men sprang up as if from the bowels of the earth. A fierce melée ensued; and when it was over, and the assailants had disappeared, the guards of the Gotairo looked for their master. They found only a headless trunk. In the distance was scen a man fleeing with a gory trophy. He was pursued, but not at once overtaken; for two men stopped right before the pursuers and performed the hara-kiru. That sacred occupation must not be interfered with even to secure the apprehension of the man who had apparently slain the actual sovereign. Stranger still, closer search showed two headless trunks; and when the man who bore the trophy was after a long chase overtaken and killed, the head which he carried was that of a stranger. He had devoted himself to destruction to lead the pursuers upon a wrong track, while the head of the Gotairo was secreted upon the person of another conspirator and carried off. It was said that the head of the Regent was taken to the Prince of

The son of Jehoshi, named Mittamotto Yesado, then became Tycoon; but he being a youth of infirm mind, Ikomono-Kami, the hereditary Gotairo, exercised the functions of the Tycoonat. He preserved a neutral position on the question of a treaty with the Americans; but summoned the Great Convention of all Daimios having a revenue of more than 50,000 kokous, to deliberate upon the matter. The great Prince of Kago, the most powerful of all, said that rather than consent to enter into a treaty, it would be better to die fighting. The Prince of Mito, one of the Gosankay, advised a temporizing policy; and finally the treaty with Perry was decided upon. The weak-minded youth Jehoshi was Tycoon when Mr. Harris's treaty was negotiated and signed. But the Prince of Mito now conspired against him. If Jehoshi was out of the way, his own son would be one of those who must be appointed Tycoon. Between the sign-Mito, who spat upon it, and then sent it to the

• The hara-kiru (the Japanese phrase is hara wo kiru, meaning simply "belly cut") is an institution peculiar to the country, in virtue of which any one accused of a great crime by disemboweling himself relieves himself and his posterity from any taint of crime. So sacred is it regard ed, that no man may be interrupted in the performance of it for any cause. It is a kind of habeas corpus, superseding all other exercise of the law. The phrase "happy dis patch," by which it is designated in European writings, is, according to Alcock, a pure invention, wholly unknown to the Japanese.

Mikado at his capital of Miako, where it was publicly exposed in the place of execution, with has violated the most sacred laws of Japana placard, "This is the head of a traitor who those which forbid the admission of foreigners into the country." It was then brought back to Yeddo, and flung in scorn over the outer walls of the palace at Yeddo from which the Gotairo had sallied in pride and power on the morning of his murder. Such, at least, is the story cur

rent in Japan. Whether true or not, no foreigner will probably ever know.

All Yeddo was of course flung into commotion. The gates which separate the wards were closed; the officer in command of the gate where the murder was committed performed the hara-kiru. At first it was said that all the assassins had been seized and put to the torture; but subsequently, and for a purpose of their own, the authorities denied this to the foreign Ministers. They said, however, that enough had been brought to light to show that the assassination had been perpetrated at the instigation of the Prince of Mito, who had been put aside in the election for the Tycoonship. There seem, however, not to have been wanting those who insinuated that the other Gosankay, the Princes of Ksiou and Owari, knew more of the matter than they cared to tell; that the Gotairo was really put out of the way by the action of the great Daimios, who were dissatisfied with him for having introduced the foreigners into their country.

The Government of the Tycoon, or rather of the late Gotairo, appear to have had no share in these outrages, and to have done all in their power to detect and punish the perpetrators, but with very indifferent results. In accounting for this, they referred to their want of success in detecting the murderers of Gotairo as a justification of a similar failure in detecting the assailants upon foreigners.

It is as yet quite impossible to pronounce with certainty what are the connections of the three estates of Japan-the Mikado, the Daimios, and the Tycoon-with the recent events which have brought about actual hostilities between several of the foreign Powers and the Japanese. Our belief, however, is that the Daimios have acquired a complete ascendency in the councils of the Mikado, and that the government of the Tycoon is endeavoring to counteract their proceedings. The general facts, as far as we can ascertain them, are as follows:

On the 14th of September, 1862, a party of foreigners, consisting of a lady and three gentlemen, set out for a ride from Yokohama. On the way they encountered a train of a Daimio, who maden fierce onslaught upon them. The lady escaped without serious harm, but all of the gentlemen were severely injured. One of them, Mr. Richardson, an English merchant, was killed, and his body was afterward found horribly mutilated. Reparation was demanded by the British Minister (not Sir Rutherford Alcock, who had some time before left Japan) for this outrage. The Government of the Tycoon agreed to pay nearly half a

Be this as it may, one thing is evident. The great Daimios ever have been, and are now more than ever, bitterly opposed to the recent policy by which, under the actual guidance of the late Gotairo, foreigners have been admitted into the kingdom of the Rising Sun. They opposed it, as we have seen, from the first; and to them and the swashbucklers, who make up their retinues, are to be attributed a long train of outrages upon foreigners to which we can only allude. Those who wish to study the subject will find ample materials in Sir Rutherford Alcock's work, of which they form one of the most inter-million dollars by way of indemnity. This was esting portions. First, soon after the arrival of the British Minister, he learned that three of the crew of the Russian Count Mouravief-Amoorsky "Conqueror of the Amoor"-were slain; then Alcock's Japanese linguist was cut down; then Mr. Hewskin, the interpreter to the American mission, was murdered; and at length a violent attack was made upon the British legation at Yeddo, with the apparent design of killing all the members. No one of them lost his life, but several were wounded, among whom was Mr. Lawrence Oliphant, the Secretary of the Legation, and author of the excellent narrative of Lord Elgin's mission. Besides these outrages, directed against persons officially connected with the foreign missions, there were many others against private persons, which had they stood alone might probably have been supposed to be occasioned by the arrogance with which Europeans are wont to conduct themselves when thrown into contact with those whom they consider to belong to an inferior race. But taken altogether, they clearly indicate a settled feeling of hostility on the part of the great Daimios, and consequently of their retainers, to all foreigners.*

A writer in the North China Herald, quoted by Alcock, endeavors to put an entirely opposite construction upon the whole matter. According to him the great Daimios are anxious that the whole of Japan should be opened to foreign intercourse; and they oppose the treaties because they do not go far enough. They wish to derive benefit from foreign commerce by having all the ports of

paid, but following the payment was an edict, emanating apparently from the Mikado, ordering all foreigners to leave the country, and directing that the open ports should be closed. During the negotiations came the order of the Tycoon to which we have before referred, banishing the Daimios from the capital. Some of these appear to have entered into hostility against all foreigners upon their own responsibility, the initiative being taken by the Prince of Nagato. From his batteries he fired upon several ships of various nations, among which was an American merchant steamer, the Pembroke. To avenge this our steam-sloop Wyoming went to the scene of outrage on the 13th of last July, fired upon the shore batteries and the vessels of the Prince; sunk a steamer and damaged a bark, receiving considerable injury, and losing five men killed besides several wounded. The French and Dutch have also undertaken to punish similar outrages upon their vessels, with what success we are as yet uninformed. It is reported also that the English have bombarded Yokohama. But as we close the accounts are only vague.

What the result of the recent transactions

will be upon the fate of the Japanese Empire must be left for the future to unfold.

the empire opened, instead of the few which belong to the Tycoon. If we have at all correctly read the course of events, there is not the slightest reason to accept this theory.

CAP-AND-BELLS.

A NOVEL IN TEN CHAPTERS.

MTS

CHAPTER VIII.

ISS GOSSIMER'S object in calling just then was to engage her friend the Countess Kreeper in a delightful excursion they were to make in carriages to a neighboring lake. "There is a sweet prospect from there, and really the water presents a very grand spectacle, I am told; and I have no doubt we will all be very harmonious," Miss Charlotte said, simpering, and fanned herself with the sun-shade with which she had tapped upon the panel of the door. She had her suspicions of some one having been recently ejected; indeed, one of Trout's great lemon kids lay sprawling on the floor; but her fear of the little Countess by this time was such that she affected to overlook the circumstantial evidence offered, and kept her own counsel.

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The gentlemen invited to join the Gossimers were those already known to us-Pawley, Slipper, the Lieutenant, and Rudder. Trout not being asked, staid behind and spent the day in bed smoking, in which occupation the Captain, stopping in on his way to the place of rendezvous, found him engaged early as it was. couldn't sleep, old boy," Trout said, by way of apology; "and as I haven't consoled myself much lately, I thought I'd make up for lost time. I intend to keep indoors, and cool, today. Well, you're all dressed to go-I wish you a pleasant time."

"I thought you one of the seven sleepers," the Captain answered. "I hope nothing's gone wrong-where that cigar-pouch came from, you know ?"

"Hold your jaw," Trout returned, sitting up and blushing. "Did you never know a man too happy to sleep much? I wish that fellow Gossimer had had the manners to invite me, though."

He would sooner invite old Nick, the Captain thought; but he kept his opinion of Clarendon's tactics to himself. "I am going to stop for the Countess on my way," he said, "and if you keep a look-out from your window you may have a chance of witnessing a pretty little flirtation between her door and the Gossimer's."

"Hang your impudence!" the worshiper of her ladyship rejoined; "you don't suppose I would trouble myself to look after you!" But when Rudder had gone he slipped out of bed and established himself behind his curtains with an eye to a loophole, through which he saw the bold Captain tap with his riding-whip at a distant door, and the widow come out ready bonneted and take his arm; and-"By Jove!" Trout growled, looking enviously after the pair,

With which answer Miss Charlotte presently departed, and communicated the same by note to Clarendon, who was in anxious expectation of the event. "I think I will try my chance to-morrow," he reflected. "She'll jump at the offer, no doubt. I have given my attentions so much the appearance of a lively flirtation that the idea of becoming one of Us will be a pleas-"he's as good as his word, and has struck up a ing novelty, and melt her into gratitude for once in her life. By Jove! quarter of a million now, and quarter of a million when old Joy closes his account with this life, won't be amiss at the present crisis, especially if the governor is to be believed, that we can't keep our heads above water another six months without a legacy or something of this sort."

"No bad news in your note, eh?" Lieutenant Felt asked, who was present. He had become a sort of hanger-on of Gossimer's for the sister's sake, and that rising politician in consequence did not scruple to make him of use."

flirtation already, and for all day, I suppose!"

But the Captain had other ends in view than a flirtation with the bewitching Countess. Not for her had he buckled in his waist within a span of that of his slim Lieutenant, and it was not to please her eye that he sported a many-colored scarf, which gave his breast the swell of a pouter pigeon's, and carried a pink in the second button-hole of his coat. The Countess was not fond of the small carnations, but Miss van W. was, and perhaps it was this preference which seated Rudder opposite the latter lady on their way to the lake, where he answered to the best of his "No, there's nothing in it—it merely refers ability for Pawley's absence to Miss Gossimer. to the jaunt we were talking about," Gos answer-"I don't know what has been the matter with ed. By-the-way, you can do me a service if him the few past days," the Captain said; "he you will." has seemed disconsolate about something, and when I stepped in last evening to know if he intended joining us, he was getting ready to leave, and will be gone, I suppose, before we get back.'

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"Of course I will, my dear fellow," Felt said. "Well, go to the stables and engage the carriages-we will want two, and you and I can ride alongside." By which fine manœuvre-it being certain that the enamored Lieutenant would never permit himself to be repaid otherwise than by thanks, or a smile perhaps from his angelthe cost of the trip may be said to have been carried over to Miss Charlotte's credit.

"Quite a will-o'-the-wisp!" Charlotte exclaimed, and Florence, turning her face momently from the view without, asked, “Where Mr. Pawley thought of going?" But Rudder did not know. "He don't appear to know him

self," he added, and nothing farther was said of there's duty to be done aloft. If you will excuse our hero.

Rudder had, however, unintentionally stopped short of the truth in his relation, for it was while the honest sea-lion sat and talked of a subject nearest his heart that his host had fully resolved to leave the watering-place for parts unknown. The Captain on that occasion had spoken more warmly than his wont of the lady in question, for he had just parted from fair Florence. "The most perfect woman I ever encountered," was the burden of his speech. "She has sentiment in her composition which never degenerates into commonplace sentimentality; she is well-read, with rather a desire to keep what she knows out of sight; and she is witty and entertaining without ever being sarcastic or scandalous. The man she comes to look up to will be a lucky one, by the lord Harry!" the Captain said, and sigh- | ed. And Pawley did not repeat his former advice to his friend, but puffed his cigar in silence, and finally, flinging it out of window, spoke on a sudden in this wise:

"I am sick of this place and this manner of life, deuced sick of it. I sleep and rise and eat and dance and walk about, and every day cheat myself into the idea that I am accomplishing something, but destroy nightly what I have written by day. I am farther from the end of what I have in hand than when I came here. I write nothing that pleases me, and do nothing. I begin to think my life was intended to weigh nothing in the balance of existence, and to be of concern to no one, either now or hereafter. What good will ever come of this fruitless struggle with Fate? I will fall back into the lethargy in which my kinsfolk have been content to live the past century, and will produce the staple which may best minister to trade and my animal wants. What will it matter to me whether my children, if I have any, inherit a worthier surname than their father did before them; or if simpletons or worse, such as this fellow Gossimer, make the country a laughing-stock, or weaken its hands by feeble legislation? I suppose the thing won't wear threadbare during my days, and those coming after may fight their own battles. I was foolish enough some while back to believe I could mend abuses, and set about it, under the smart of a recent disappointment. I suppose the edge of that has worn off by this time; I certainly feel discontented with myself, my plans, my- No, I won't go to the Gossimer's fête to-morrow. I am becoming morose and unfitted for society, and will take myself to some place where no one may be taxed to endure my ill-humor."

Rudder was confounded by this unlooked-for torrent of words. "Pooh! all you want is somebody to keep you from preying on yourself," he said, after a pause and due consideration. "You're dyspeptic and low-spirited, my boy. And by the lord Harry! if I were asked, I could not point out a young fellow more likely to distinguish himself. But it's not to be done by moping under decks like a lubber when

my candor, and take the advice of a man who has seen some ups and downs in life, put a little higher valuation on your ability to do, and don't believe every man who succeeds necessarily a better man than yourself. And if you must have some one to support you in that opinion, why get married."

"Married!" the other cried, with a burst; then sighed and stole a glance at the strip of crape encircling the hat at his elbow. No other reply made he, but lit a fresh cigar and smoked it out in moody silence; and his friend began to perceive that it was less to repose a confidence in him, Rudder, than to relieve his breast that Pawley had spoken.

The

The lake mentioned by Miss Gossimer was a pretty enough sheet of pellucid water, as most of us know, of no great compass, and skirted by trim thickets: it also contained a miniature island in its midst, accessible by means of what Miss Charlotte called a "shallop" drawn upon the hither shore; and which her brother unmoored and induced the widow to embark in with himself, when the party had lunched in company, and singly or in couples were following the bent of their various fancies. Countess took her seat in the bow, as she said, in the confidence of being shipwrecked before they returned; and the opinion she professed of Clarendon's seamanship was borne out not many yards from the bank by Gos's getting entangled with his sculls, and coming near upsetting thema likelihood which his passenger seemed to think a good joke, and with a hand on either gunnel while the boat was rocking, made the woods reecho her screams and laughter. Altogether she was in high spirits, and seemed bent on plaguing Gos. "I wish I had the Captain for a crew," she said, on the occasion of their first disaster; but on looking back the Captain was descried already far off, skirting the beach of the lake with Florence on his arm.

"I remember a natural seat among the rocks, where you see that tulip-tree," he had said to the belle. "It holds our party in view, and at the same time is out of ear-shot. Suppose we go there and look over a book together?”

"If it's a pleasant book," Florence had said, and they had walked on talking of indifferent matters.

The Captain's selection was judicious, the branches of the tulip-tree spreading a cool shadow over the rocks which lay half imbedded in moss and close to the water's edge. Our heroine looking across the lake saw Gossimer and his fair freight making for the island, and papa sedately angling from a shaded headland with the Dowager in the back-ground, likewise reflected in the smooth surface. "How still and pleasant it is!" Florence then said; “and now where is your book, Captain ?"

"It is not a bound volume, nor a printed one either," Rudder answered, putting his hand in the breast of his coat.

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