_Renewal of the Dutch Trade—Captain Gordon in the Bay of
Yedo—Fisscher—Meylan—Siebold—British Mutineers—Voyage of the
Morrison—Japanese Edict—The “Saramang” at Nagasaki—The “Mercator”
in the Bay of Yedo—Commodore Biddle in the Bay of Yedo—Shipwrecked
Americans—French Ships of War at Nagasaki—The “Preble” at
Nagasaki—Surveying ship “Mariner” in the Bays of Yedo and Shimoda—New
Notification through the Dutch—A.D. 1817-1850._
Great was the delight of Heer Doeff, when, in the year 1817, two
vessels arrived at last from Batavia, bringing news of its restoration
to the Dutch; also—what was hardly less welcome—a supply of butter,
wine, and other European creature comforts; together with goods for
renewing the trade, and a decoration of the order of the Lion for
Doeff, whose conduct in holding out against the English had been highly
approved in Holland.
On board these ships were several women, among others the wife of Herr
Blomhoff, appointed to succeed Doeff as director, who had with her an
infant child. This novelty greatly disturbed the Japanese. It was with
the utmost difficulty that permission was obtained for the wife of the
new director to land; her remaining was a thing not to be listened to,
and she was obliged to leave her husband and to return to Batavia in
the departing ships.[102]
Shortly after this renewal of the old Dutch intercourse, a new English
attempt was made at commerce with Japan. Captain Gordon of the British
navy, entered, in June, 1818, the bay of Yedo, in a little trading
brig, from Okhotsk, of sixty-five tons’ burden. He was immediately
visited by two officers, to whom he said that he had come merely to
obtain permission to return with a cargo of goods for sale. They
insisted upon unshipping his rudder, and required all his arms to be
given up. The vessel was then surrounded by a circle of some twenty
boats, and beyond by a circle of sixty larger ones, besides two or
three junks, mounting a number of guns. Two interpreters came on
board, one speaking Dutch, the other some Russian, and both a little
English. They inquired if the vessel belonged to the East India
Company, if the English were friends of the Dutch, and if Captain
Golownin was at Okhotsk. They asked after the king of Holland, the
king of France, and Bonaparte. They knew the names and uses of the
various nautical instruments, and said that the best were made at
London. In a subsequent visit they told Captain Gordon that permission
could not be granted for his trading to Japan, as by their laws all
foreign intercourse was interdicted, except at Nagasaki, and there only
allowed with the Dutch and Chinese, and he was requested to depart
the moment the wind was fair. The interpreters declined any presents,
being prohibited, they said, from accepting any. Captain Gordon was
much struck with the polite and affable conduct of the Japanese, both
towards him and towards each other. Everything that had been taken on
shore was carefully returned, and thirty boats were sent to tow the
vessel out of the bay. The shores were lined with spectators, and as
soon as the guard-boats had left, not less than two thousand visitors
came on board in succession, all eager to barter for trifles.[103]
In 1820, J. F. Van Overmeer Fisscher arrived at Nagasaki, as a member
of the factory. He resided there for seven years, and after his return
to Holland published, in 1833, a work in the Dutch language, entitled
“Contributions towards a Knowledge of the Japanese Empire,” embellished
with engravings from Japanese drawings, so superior to former specimens
as to give occasion for some suspicion of aid from the European
engraver.
In 1822, Fisscher accompanied Blomhoff in the quadrennial embassy
to Yedo, which, from its long intermission, appears to have excited
unusual attention. It had been proposed to make the embassy annual, as
formerly; but to this change the Japanese authorities would not assent.
Fisscher’s account of the journey does not differ materially from that
given by Kämpfer and Thunberg. The entrance into Yedo, notwithstanding
the absence of carriages, reminded him, from the noise and the throng
of people, of the commercial parts of London. The shops had signs, as
in Europe; the goods were exhibited from the doors and windows under
the charge of boys, who rivalled each other in calling by loud cries
the attention of purchasers. Long before entering Shinagawa, they found
themselves in the midst of a vast crowd, marching along broad streets,
paved at the sides, formed of houses, regularly built, among which
were many large buildings. From the suburb to their hotel, called
_Nagasakiya_, and in the immediate vicinity of the palace, it was two
hours’ march; and, as the palace was said to occupy a space half a
Japanese mile in diameter, Fisscher estimates the diameter of the whole
city at not less than five or six hours’ walk at an ordinary step.
After the audience and the official visits were over, the Dutch spent
twelve days in receiving visits. Among the crowds who obtained the
privilege of seeing them, were several princes or their secretaries,
and many savans, Doeff’s Globius among the rest. Several of these
visitors had more or less knowledge of the Dutch language, and great
eagerness was exhibited to obtain new scientific information. To a
party given to the Dutch by the master of the mint and the conductor
of the embassy, many of the Japanese guests came rigged out in Dutch
clothes; and as these had been collected through long intervals and
preserved as curiosities, they presented a very grotesque and antique
appearance.[104] Fisscher’s own party were laid under contribution in
the same way, their lady visitors unpacking and rummaging their trunks,
and putting them to the necessity of giving away some of the most
valuable articles. The greater part, however, were content with a few
words written on their fans.
Mr. G. F. Meylan, who first arrived in Japan shortly after Fisscher
left it, and who subsequently died there, as director, has also
contributed something to our knowledge of Japan, by a thin volume
published in 1830, like Fisscher’s, in the Dutch language, with the
title of “Japan; presented in Sketches of the Manners and Customs
of that Realm, especially of the Town of Nagasaki.” One of the most
original things in Meylan’s book is his apology for the custom of the
Dutch in taking female companions from the Nagasaki tea-houses. None of
the male Japanese servants are allowed to remain in Deshima over night.
“How, then,” plaintively asks Mr. Meylan, “could the Dutch residents
otherwise manage to procure any domestic comfort in the long nights of
winter,—their tea-water, for instance,—were it not for these females?”
He passes a high eulogy upon their strict fidelity and affectionate
activity; and indeed the connection appears to be regarded by them not
so much in the light in which we see it, as in that of a temporary
marriage. The female inmates of the Japanese tea-houses hold, indeed,
in the estimation of their own people, a very different position
from that which our manners would assign to them; since not only is
the custom of frequenting these houses, as places of relaxation and
amusement, general among the men, but sometimes, according to Fisscher,
they even take their wives along with them.
Of the personal charms of these wives, with their teeth blackened,
their eyebrows shaven, their faces white, Fisscher does not give a very
high idea. The concubines do not shave their eyebrows, but the custom
of blackening the teeth is so common as to be adopted by all females
above the age of eighteen. The immoderate use of the warm bath causes
them to look, at twenty-five, at least ten years older. Not content
with the natural burdens of child-bearing, they augment them by several
absurd customs, one of which is the wearing, during pregnancy, of a
tight girdle round the body.
The works of Fisscher and Meylan are chiefly valuable for the
confirmation they give of Kämpfer’s accounts, and as showing the
Japanese very little altered from what they were when he described
them. A visitant to Japan, and a writer of much higher pretensions, is
Dr. Philipp Franz von Siebold, who was sent out, in 1823, commissioned
by the Dutch government, to make all possible investigations, as well
into the language, literature, and institutions, as into the natural
history of the country. The Japanese interpreters understood Dutch so
well as to detect his foreign accent, but they were satisfied with the
explanation that he was a Dutch mountaineer. He availed himself, as
Kämpfer had done, of all means that offered to elude the restrictive
laws; and he found, like Thunberg and Titsingh, a certain number of the
natives very anxious to obtain information, and by no means unwilling
secretly to impart it.
In 1826, he accompanied Van Sturlen, the director, on the quadrennial
journey to Yedo, taking with him a young native physician, a native
artist, and several servants to assist his researches into natural
history. Following, as Fisscher had done, nearly or quite in Kämpfer’s
old route, he saw, in the passage across Kiūshiū, the same old
camphor-tree, as flourishing, apparently, as it had been a hundred and
thirty-five years before, but with a hollow in its trunk large enough
to hold fifteen men. He visited the same hot springs, and descended
some sixty feet into the coal mine, near Kokura, mentioned by Kämpfer.
He saw only one thin seam of coal, but was told of thicker ones
below,—an account which the coal drawn up seemed to confirm.
[Illustration: THE WEDDING CEREMONY]
At Yedo he met with many Japanese physicians, astronomers, and
others, of whose acquisitions he speaks with much respect.
Besides the other means, already pointed out, of measuring time, he
saw in use there Chinese clepsydras, or water-clocks; but the method
most relied upon for scientific purposes was a clock of which the
idea was derived from one introduced into China by the Jesuit Ricci,
and brought thence to Japan. This clock is worked by two balances,
one to act by day and the other by night. The arm of each balance is
notched, to accord with the variations in the length of the hours.
At the summer solstice the weights are hung respectively upon the
outermost notch of the day-balance, and upon the innermost notch of the
night-balance. At intervals of six days, four hours and twelve minutes,
both weights are moved; that of the day-balance a notch inward, that of
the night-balance a notch outward, until at the winter solstice their
original positions are reversed.
After Siebold’s return to Nagasaki, he continued diligently to follow
out his object, keeping up, through means of the interpreters, a
correspondence with his Yedo friends. In the course of five years he
had not only made large collections for the government of specimens
in natural history, but also, on his own account, of Japanese books
and other curiosities, besides acquiring a considerable knowledge of
the language. His collections in natural history had been shipped to
Batavia; he was preparing himself to follow, when an unlucky disclosure
took place. The imperial astronomer, notwithstanding the law to the
contrary, had secretly sent him a copy of a new map of Japan, lately
constructed on European principles. One of the draftsmen employed in
making it having quarrelled with the astronomer, informed against him,
in consequence of which the astronomer, his servants, the interpreters,
several of Siebold’s pupils, and other Japanese suspected of being
concerned in this affair, were arrested and subjected to a strict
examination. Siebold himself was called upon to give up the map; and,
when he hesitated about it, underwent a domiciliary visit, followed by
an order to consider himself under arrest, and prohibition to leave
Japan until the investigation was terminated. Finding thus not only
the fruits of his own labor, but the lives of his Japanese friends
in danger, he made a full confession as to the map, endeavoring thus
to remove suspicions and to preserve some other documents in his
possession, of which the Japanese yet had no knowledge, and which might
have compromised other persons not yet suspected. Studiously concealing
the connection of the Dutch government with his mission, he thought
it best to represent himself as simply a private inquirer, whose
researches into natural history and the physical sciences might be no
less useful to the Japanese than they were interesting to himself. Of
the particulars of this affair no account has ever been published. It
is said that some of his Japanese friends found it necessary to cut
themselves open, but Siebold himself was speedily released, with his
entire collections, which he brought with him to Holland, and by means
of which he converted his residence at Leyden into a very curious
Japanese museum.
The fruits of his researches, so far as zoölogy is concerned, and of
those of Dr. Burger, left behind as his successor, have been published
by the labors of some distinguished naturalists, and under the
patronage of the king of Holland, in a very splendid and expensive
work, called “Fauna Japonica,” with colored plates of most of the
animals described, and in the preparation of which the native works on
the subject were largely consulted. This work includes three lizards,
two tortoises, six snakes, eleven of the frog family, three hundred
and fifty-nine fishes (Siebold describes the Japanese as a nation of
fish-eaters), besides several whales, and two hundred and two birds.
The principal quadrupeds, natives of Japan, and described in it,
are a small deer, an antelope, in the most southern parts an ape, a
wolf, a bear, and in Yezo another more ferocious species, like the
Rocky Mountain bear, a wild hog, two foxes, and a number of smaller
animals. There is no animal of the cat kind, except the domestic cat.
The dogs used for hunting appear to be indigenous. There are pet
house-dogs, derived from China, and troops of street-dogs—belonging to
no individual, but denizens of particular streets—of a mongrel breed
between the two.
The “Flora Japonica,” prepared by Zaccarini, from Siebold’s collection
containing descriptions and drawings of one hundred and twenty-four
remarkable plants, was interrupted by the death of that botanist, as
was also another, less costly, but fuller enumeration of Japanese
plants, arranged in natural families. The latter work, so far as
completed, contains four hundred and seventy-eight genera, and eight
hundred and forty-seven species. Siebold states that, of five hundred
plants most remarkable for ornament or utility, at least half are of
foreign origin, chiefly from China.
Siebold’s observations, during his residence in Japan, upon other
subjects than natural history, have been principally embraced in a
publication in numbers, originally in German, but a French translation
of parts of which has appeared, entitled “Nippon, or Archives for the
Description of Japan.” This work, projected like most of Siebold’s
publications, on an extensive scale, contains many translations from
Japanese historical works, and exhibits a great deal of erudition;
at the same time it is diffuse, confused, incoherent, introducing a
great deal of matter with only a remote bearing on the subject; and,
whatever light it may throw upon some particular points, not, on the
whole, adding a great deal to the knowledge we previously had of Japan,
so far, at least, as the general reader would be likely to take an
interest in it.[105]
The same year in which Siebold was released, a party of English
convicts, on their way to Australia in the brig “Cyprus,” mutinied and
got possession of the vessel. After cruising about for five months,
being in great distress for wood and water, they anchored on the coast
of Japan; but they were fired at from the shore, and obliged to depart
without accomplishing their object.
Not long after this occurrence, three Japanese, the only survivors of
the crew of a junk, driven by storms across the Pacific, landed on
Queen Charlotte’s Island, on the northwest coast of America. They were
seized by the natives, but were redeemed by an agent of the English
Fur Company, at the mouth of Columbia River, and sent to England. From
England they were carried to Macao, where they were placed in the
family of Mr. Gutzlaff, the missionary. Some time after, four other
Japanese, who had been wrecked on the Philippines, were brought to
Macao.
The return of these men to their homes seemed a good opportunity for
opening a communication with Japan, as well for mercantile as for
missionary purposes, and an American mercantile house at Macao fitted
out the brig “Morrison” for that purpose, in which sailed one of the
partners, Dr. Parker, a missionary physician, and Mr. S. W. Williams,
one of the editors of the “Chinese Repository,” and afterwards Chinese
interpreter to Commodore Perry’s squadron. At Lew Chew [Riūkiū], where
the vessel touched, Mr. Gutzlaff also came on board.
On the 27th of July, 1837, the chain of islands was made leading up to
the bay of Yedo, up which the “Morrison” proceeded some thirty miles,
to Uraga, the west coast of the bay rising hill above hill, and the
view terminating in the lofty peak of Fuji. Near Uraga, many of the
hills were cultivated in terraces, but the general aspect of the shores
was bleak and barren. Just above, the passage was narrowed by two
points of land projecting from opposite directions.
Having anchored about three quarters of a mile from the shore, the ship
was soon visited by a number of boats. Their crews, some two hundred in
number, and evidently of the lower class, hardly seemed to understand
the Chinese writing in which provisions, water, and a government
officer to communicate with, were asked for. They seemed, however,
to invite a landing; but during the night cannon were planted on the
nearest eminence, and, though the firing was unskilful, the “Morrison”
was obliged to weigh. She was pursued by three gun-boats, each with
thirty or forty men, which bore down upon her, firing swivels; but
when she lay to, to wait for them, they retired. A piece of canvas, on
which was painted, in Chinese, that a foreign ship desired to return
some shipwrecked natives, and to obtain some provisions and water, was
thrown overboard; but, though it was picked up, no notice was taken
of it. The Japanese on board, who had recognized the shores of their
country with delight, were much mortified at the result, which they
ascribed in part to their not having been allowed to communicate with
their countrymen.
For the purpose of making a second experiment, on the 20th of August
the “Morrison” entered the bay of Kagoshima, in the principality of
Satsuma. The shores, rising gradually from the water, were under
high cultivation. A boat from the ship boarded a Japanese fishing
vessel, and proceeded to a little village, where they found the people
in great commotion. The “Morrison” followed, and when opposite the
village, was visited by a richly dressed officer, with a number of
almost naked attendants. He stated that, supposing the ship to be a
pirate, preparations had been made to fire on her; but, satisfied by
the representations of the Japanese on board of the true state of the
case, he received, with much apparent interest, the despatches prepared
for the prince of Satsuma and the emperor, which he promised to deliver
to a superior officer. He left a pilot on board; a supply of water was
sent, and the ship was visited by many boat-loads of people, superior
in appearance to those seen in the bay of Yedo; but they brought
nothing to sell.
The despatches were soon brought back by several officers, the superior
officer, it was stated, declining to receive them. They added that the
depositions of the Japanese passengers, who had landed for the purpose
of giving them, had been forwarded to Kagoshima, and that a superior
officer might be expected from that city. Provisions were promised,
and that the vessel should be towed higher up the bay; early in the
morning of the twelfth, the crew of a fishing-boat communicated to the
Japanese on board a rumor that the ship was to be expelled. Warlike
preparations were soon seen on shore, in strips of blue and white
canvas stretched from tree to tree. The Japanese on board stated, with
rueful faces, that these preparations portended war; nor, according to
their description, were these cloth batteries so contemptible as they
might seem, as four or five pieces of heavy canvas, loosely stretched,
one behind another, at short intervals, would weaken the force of,
indeed almost stop, a cannon ball.
Officers on horseback, and several hundred soldiers, soon made their
appearance, and a fire of musketry and artillery was commenced. The
anchor was weighed, and the sails set, but there was no wind. For
eighteen hours the ship was exposed, without any means of offering
resistance, to two fires from opposite sides of the bay, which was
from three to five miles broad, till at last she was with difficulty
conducted clear of the shoals and past the forts.
All hope of friendly intercourse, or of returning the men, was now
abandoned. The poor fellows suffered severely at this unexpected
extinction of their prospect of revisiting their families. They
expressed great indignation at the conduct of their countrymen, and two
of them shaved their heads entirely in token, as it was understood,
of having renounced their native soil. As it was not deemed expedient
to go to Nagasaki, where the Japanese on board expressed their
determination not to land, the “Morrison” returned to Macao.[106]
In 1843, probably in consequence of this visit of the “Morrison,” the
Japanese authorities promulgated an edict, of which the following is a
translation, as given by the Dutch at Deshima, who were requested to
communicate to the other European nations,—the first attempt ever made
to employ their agency for that purpose.
[Illustration: A BUDDHIST FUNERAL]
“Shipwrecked persons of the Japanese nation must not be brought
back to their country, except on board of Dutch or Chinese ships,
for, in case these shipwrecked persons shall be brought back in the
ships of other nations, they will not be received. Considering the
express prohibition, even to Japanese subjects, to explore or make
examinations of the coasts or islands of the empire, this prohibition,
for greater reason, is extended to foreigners.”
The British opium war in China, of the progress of which the Japanese
were well informed, if it increased the desire of the English to gain
access to Japan, did not, by any means, diminish the Japanese dread of
foreigners.[107]
In 1845, the British surveying frigate “Saramang” entered the harbor of
Nagasaki. As she approached she was surrounded by numerous guard-boats,
from one of which a letter was handed, in Dutch and French, directing
her to anchor off the entrance, till visited by the authorities. The
Japanese officers who came on board stated that they had been apprised
of this intended visit by the Dutch, and that they were acquainted with
the recent visit of the “Saramang” to the Lew Chew and other islands,
and of her operations there.
With great difficulty permission was obtained to land, in order
to make some astronomical observations, but the officers earnestly
begged that this might not be repeated till they could consult their
superiors; nor were they willing that the vessel should leave till
such consultation had taken place. They asked, for this purpose, a
stay of two days. The captain offered to wait four days, if they would
allow his observations to be continued; but this they declined, urging
as a reason their own danger of punishment. The vessel was freely
supplied with such provisions as she needed, and the British officers
were strongly impressed with the demeanor of the Japanese, as at once
dignified and respectful.
That same year, the American whaleship “Mercator,” Captain Cooper,
while cruising among the northern islands of the Japanese group, fell
in with a sinking junk, from which she took eleven Japanese sailors,
and as many more from a rock to which they had escaped. Captain Cooper
proceeded with these rescued men to the bay of Yedo, and on anchoring
there was surrounded by near four hundred armed boats, which took the
ship in tow, took all the arms out of her, and carried her in front of
a neighboring town, probably Odawara. Here she was guarded for three
days, being all the while an object of curiosity to great crowds.
Orders presently came from Yedo, in these words:
“I am informed, by the mouths of some shipwrecked persons of our
country, that they have been brought home by your ship, and that they
have been well treated. But, according to our laws, they must not be
brought home except by the Chinese or Dutch. Nevertheless, in the
present case, we shall make an exception, because the return of these
men by you must be attributed to your ignorance of these laws. In
future, Japanese subjects will not be received in like circumstances,
and will have to be treated rigorously when returned. You are hereby
advised of this, and that you must make it known to others.
“As, in consequence of your long voyage, provisions, and wood and
water are wanting on board your ship, we have regard to your request,
and whatever you want will be given to you.
“As soon as possible after the reception of this order, the ship must
depart and return directly to her own country.”
Immediately upon the receipt of this order, the ship was abundantly
supplied with provisions, her arms were returned, and she was towed
out of the bay by a file of boats more than a mile long. It would seem
that since the visit of the “Morrison,” a fleet of guard-boats had been
provided to take the bay of Yedo in charge.
Commodore Biddle, sent soon after to the China Seas, with a
considerable American naval force, was instructed, among other things,
to ascertain if the ports of Japan were accessible. With this object in
view, with the “Columbus” ship of the line, and “Vincennes” frigate,
he anchored (July 20, 1848) in the bay of Yedo. Before the ships
reached their anchorage, an officer with a Dutch interpreter came on
board to inquire their object. He was told that the vessels came as
friends to ascertain whether Japan had, like China, opened her ports to
foreign trade; and, if she had, to negotiate a treaty of commerce. The
officer requested that this statement should be reduced to writing, for
transmission to the higher authorities. He also stated that all needed
supplies would be furnished, but refused permission to land, and even
wished to stop the passing of boats between the two vessels; but as the
commodore would not agree to this, he did not persist in it. The vessel
was soon surrounded by a multitude of boats, and as many Japanese as
wished were allowed to come on board, both as a proof of friendship and
to let them see the strength of the ships.
Another officer, apparently of higher rank, came on board the following
morning. He stated that foreign ships, on arriving in Japan, were
required to give up their arms; but when told that only trading
vessels could be expected to do that, he appeared to be satisfied. The
emperor’s reply might be expected, he said, in five or six days. He was
offered copies in Chinese of the late English, French, and American
treaties with China, but declined to receive them, as did all the other
Japanese officers to whom they were offered. To explain the concourse
of guard-boats about the ship, he pretended that they were only waiting
in readiness to tow the ships, if needed. These boats followed the
ships’ boats when sent at some distance for sounding, but did not offer
to molest them, nor did the crews of the ships’ boats make any attempt
to land.
The Japanese, who had undertaken to water the ships, sent off the first
day less than two hundred gallons, and the next day not so much. As
this was less than the daily consumption, the commodore stated that if
they went on so, he should send his own boats. This was by no means
acceptable, and in the next two days they furnished twenty-one thousand
gallons.
On the 28th, an officer with a suite of eight persons came on
board with the emperor’s letter, which, as translated by the Dutch
interpreter, read thus:
“According to the Japanese laws, the Japanese may not trade except
with the Dutch and Chinese. It will not be allowed that America make
a treaty with Japan or trade with her, as the same is not allowed with
any other nation. Concerning strange lands all things are fixed at
Nagasaki, but not here in the bay; therefore, you must depart as quick
as possible, and not come any more to Japan.”
The Japanese original, as translated at Canton, first into Chinese and
from Chinese into English, runs as follows:
“The object of this communication is to explain the reasons why we
refuse to trade with foreigners who come to this country across the
ocean for that purpose.
“This has been the habit of our nation from time immemorial. In all
cases of a similar kind that have occurred we have positively refused
to trade. Foreigners have come to us from various quarters, but have
always been received in the same way. In taking this course with
regard to you, we only pursue our accustomed policy. We can make no
distinction between different foreign nations—we treat them all alike,
and you as Americans must receive the same answer with the rest. It
will be of no use to renew the attempt, as all applications of the
kind, however numerous they may be, will be steadily rejected.
“We are aware that our customs are in this respect different from
those of some other countries, but every nation has a right to manage
its affairs in its own way.
“The trade carried on with the Dutch at Nagasaki is not to be regarded
as furnishing a precedent for trade with other foreign nations. The
place is one of few inhabitants and very little business, and the
whole affair is of no importance.
“In conclusion, we have to say that the emperor positively refuses the
permission you desire. He earnestly advises you to depart immediately,
and to consult your own safety in not appearing again upon our coast.”
This paper, which had neither address, signature, nor date, was
enclosed in an open envelope, on which was written, “Explanatory
Edict.” With respect to the delivery of it, the following circumstance
occurred, which will best be stated in the words of the commodore’s
despatch:
“I must now communicate an occurrence of an unpleasant character. On
the morning that the officer came down in the junk with the emperor’s
letter, I was requested to go on board the junk to receive it. I
refused, and informed the interpreter that the officer must deliver on
board this ship any letter that had been entrusted him for me. To this
the officer assented; but added, that my letter having been delivered
on board the American ship, he thought the emperor’s letter should be
delivered on board the Japanese vessel. As the Japanese officer, though
attaching importance to his own proposal, had withdrawn it as soon as
I objected to it, I concluded that it might be well for me to gratify
him, and I informed the interpreter that I would go on board the junk,
and there receive the letter. The interpreter then went on board the
junk, and in an hour afterwards I went alongside in the ship’s boat,
in my uniform. At the moment that I was stepping on board, a Japanese
on the deck of the junk gave me a blow or push, which threw me back
into the boat. I immediately called to the interpreter to have the man
seized, and then returned to the ship.” The interpreter and a number of
Japanese followed, who expressed great concern at what had happened,
and who succeeded in convincing the commodore that his intention of
coming on board had not been understood. They offered to inflict any
punishment he chose on the offender; but as to that matter he referred
them to the laws of Japan; and being satisfied that it was an
individual act, without authority from the officers, he concluded to
be satisfied.[108] What interpretation was put upon his conduct by the
Japanese will presently appear.
[Illustration: A SHINTŌ FUNERAL]
At the very moment that these ships were thus unceremoniously sent
away, eight American sailors were imprisoned in Japan, though possibly
the fact was not then known at Yedo. They had escaped from the wreck of
the whaleship “Lawrence,” to one of the Japanese Kuriles, where they
had landed early in June. After an imprisonment of several months,
they were taken to Matsumae, and finally to Nagasaki. One of them, in
an attempt to escape, was killed. At last, after seventeen months’
confinement, they were given up to the Dutch at Deshima, and sent to
Batavia in the ship of 1847. According to an account signed by the mate
and published in the Serampore “Free Press,” their usage had been very
hard.
On the 28th of July, the day preceding the departure of the two
American ships from the bay of Yedo, two French ships of war, the
frigate “Cleopatra,” commanded by Admiral Cecille, and a corvette, on a
surveying expedition, entered the harbor of Nagasaki, for the purpose,
as the admiral stated, of letting the Japanese know that the French,
too, had great ships of war; but being surrounded by boats and refused
all intercourse with the shore, they departed within twenty-four hours.
In consequence of these visits the Dutch at length communicated to the
French and American governments copies of the edict of 1843, concerning
the return of shipwrecked Japanese, and surveys of the Japanese coast,
already given.
In September, 1848, fifteen foreign seamen arrived at Nagasaki,
forwarded from Matsumae in a Japanese junk, from which they were
carried in close kago to a temple prepared for their residence, and
around which a high palisade was erected, no communication with them
being allowed. Indeed, it was not without a good deal of difficulty
that the director of the Dutch factory obtained leave to send them
some articles of food and clothing. As none of the sailors understood
Dutch, the Japanese officers who had them in charge found it difficult
to communicate with them,—to aid in which the Dutch director was
finally called in. Eight of the men, according to their own account,
were Americans, all quite young, and seven of them Sandwich-Islanders.
They stated themselves to have escaped from the wreck of the American
whaler, “Ladoga,” which, according to their account, had struck a shoal
in the Sea of Japan, and gone to pieces. The director wished to send
them to Batavia in the annual Dutch vessel, then about to sail, but for
this a reference to Yedo was necessary, which would take forty days,
much beyond the time fixed by the Japanese rule for the departure of
the ship.
These facts having been communicated, under date of January 27,
1849, by the Dutch consul at Canton to the American commissioner
there, Captain Geisenger, in command on that station, despatched the
sloop-of-war “Preble,” Commander Glyn, to Nagasaki, to bring away these
sailors.
Glyn touched at Lew Chew, where he learned from the Rev. B. J.
Bettelheim,[109] a missionary resident there, that very exaggerated
reports had reached these islands of chastisement inflicted upon an
American officer who had visited Yedo in a “big” ship. The missionary
seemed even to think that these reports were not without their
influence upon the authorities of Lew Chew, as the cause of a “want
of accommodation” exhibited in their conduct towards the “Preble,”—a
piece of information which had its influence in leading Captain Glyn
to assume a very decided tone in his subsequent intercourse with the
authorities of Nagasaki.
The “Preble” made the land off Nagasaki on the 17th of April. Japanese
boats, which soon came alongside, threw on board a bamboo, in the split
of which were papers containing the customary notification to foreign
vessels, as to their anchorage, and the conduct they were to observe,
and certain questions which they were to answer. These papers (in
English, with some Dutch variations) were verbatim as follows:
1. _Warning to respective commanders, their officers and crew of the
vessels approaching the coast of Japan, or anchoring near the coast
in the bays of the empire._—During the time foreign vessels are on
the coast of Japan or near, as well as in the bay of Nagasaki, it is
expected and likewise ordered, that every one of the _schip’s_ company
will behave properly towards and accost _civillen_ the Japanese
subjects in general. No one may leave the _vessle_, or use her boats
for cruising or landing on the islands or on the main coast, and ought
to remain on board until further advice from the Japanese government
has been received. It is likewise forbidden to fire guns, or use other
fire-arms on board the _vessle_, as well as in their boats. Very
disagreeable consequences might result in case the aforesaid _schould_
not be strictly observed. (Signed.) The Governor of Nagasaki.
2. _To the commanders of vessels approaching this empire under Dutch
or other colors._—By express orders of the governor of Nagasaki, you
are requested, as soon as you have arrived near the northern Cavallos,
to anchor there at a safe place, and to remain until you will have
received further advice. Very disagreeable consequences might result
in case this order should not be strictly observed. Deshima. (Signed.)
The Reporters attached to the Superintendent’s office. (Seal.)
Translated by the Superintendent of the Netherlands’ trade in Japan.
(Qu. chief interpreter?)
3. (This is addressed like No. 2, and contains the same orders about
anchorage. It then proceeds as follows:) “Please to answer, as
distinctly and as soon as possible, the following questions: What is
the name of your vessel? What her tonnage? What is the number of her
crew? Where do you come from? What is the date of your departure? Have
you any wrecked Japanese on board? Have you anything to ask for, as
water, firewood, etc. etc.? Are any more vessels in company with you
bound for this empire? By order the governor of Nagasaki. Translated
by the Superintendent of the Netherlands’ trade in Japan. Deshima.
UPPER REPORTER. (Seal.)[110]
UNDER REPORTER. (Seal.)
The ship was soon after boarded by a Japanese interpreter with seven
men, who gave directions in English as to her anchorage; but, as the
captain persisted in selecting his own ground, the officer yielded. To
another officer, who came on board to learn what he wanted, he stated
his object, which led to many inquiries. The vessel was surrounded
by guard-boats, and the usual offer was made of supplies, which were
refused unless payment would be accepted. To an officer who came on
board the next day, Captain Glyn complained of these guard-boats; and
he gave him also a letter to the governor of Nagasaki, stating his
object. The same officer having returned on the 22d, but only with
promises of a speedy answer, Captain Glyn remonstrated with warmth.
Finally, on the 26th, through the intervention of the Dutch director,
who, being sick himself, sent one of his subordinates on board, the
sailors were delivered up without waiting to send to Yedo, as had been
proposed. The day before, a curious memorandum in Japanese Dutch, a
sort of journal or history of the prisoners since their capture, was
handed to the captain, who was very hard-pressed to say whether he
would sail as soon as he received them. Another memorandum in Dutch was
also handed to him, to the effect that, as all shipwrecked mariners
were sent home by the Chinese or Dutch, this special sending for them
was not to be allowed.
It appears, from the statements of the men, that they were, in fact,
deserters, having left the Ladoga near the Straits of Sangar. At a
village on the coast of Yezo, where they landed, they were supplied
with rice and firewood, but while they stayed were guarded by soldiers,
and surrounded by a cloth screen, as if to keep them from seeing the
country. Landing two days after at another village, they were detained
as prisoners, and were confined in a house guarded by soldiers; but
for some time were amused by promises that they should be released and
furnished with a boat. Disappointed in this expectation, two of them
escaped, but were speedily recaptured. A quarrel taking place between
them, one of them was shut up in a cage, and two others, having made
a second escape, after being retaken were shut up with him. A new
quarrel happening in the cage, one of the prisoners was taken out and
severely whipped. Two months after their capture, the whole number
were put in a junk, the three close prisoners in one cage, the twelve
others in another, and forwarded to Nagasaki. They were lodged at
first in a palisaded and guarded house, and were subjected to several
interrogations, being flattered with hopes of being sent home in
the Dutch vessel then in the harbor. In order to get on board her,
McCoy (who described himself as twenty-three years old, and born in
Philadelphia, and who appears to have been the most intelligent of the
party) made a third escape. Japanese jails, he observed, might do well
enough for Japanese, but could not hold Americans. Being retaken, he
was tied,—much as described in Golownin’s narrative,—put into a sort of
stocks, and repeatedly examined under suspicion of being a spy. Thence
he was taken to the common prison and confined by himself for three
weeks; but, on threatening to starve himself, and refusing to eat for
three days, he was restored to his companions, it would seem, through
the intercession of the Dutch director, who endeavored to persuade the
men to wait patiently, and not to quarrel among themselves.
After a month’s longer detention, a new escape was planned, but only
McCoy and two others succeeded in getting out. Being retaken they
were tied, put in the stocks, and finally all were sent to the common
prison, where they had very hard usage. It was stated, and no doubt
truly enough, in the Dutch memorandum, respecting their treatment,
handed in by the Japanese, that they gave so much trouble that the
authorities hardly knew what to do with them. One of the Americans
died, and one of the Sandwich-Islanders hung himself. McCoy, who had
learned considerable Japanese, was secretly informed of the arrival
of the “Preble” by one of the guards with whom he had established an
intimacy.
At the same time with these men another seaman from an American whaler
was delivered up, who had landed a month or two later on some still
more northerly Japanese island. As this man, named McDonald, and who
described himself as twenty-four years old, and born at Astoria, in
Oregon, had made no attempt at escaping, he had no occasion to complain
of severity. In fact, he lived in clover, the Japanese having put him
to use as a teacher of English. The very interpreter who boarded the
“Preble” had been one of his scholars. All these men stated that they
had been required to trample on the crucifix as a proof that they were
not Portuguese, that reason being suggested to them when they showed
some reluctance to do it.
McCoy mentioned, and others confirmed it, that when he threatened the
Japanese guards with vengeance from some American ship of war, they
told him that they had no fears of that, as the year before, at the
city of Yedo, a common soldier had knocked down an American commander,
and no notice had been taken of it. McCoy and the others strenuously
denied having ever heard this story (evidently referring to the
occurrence described in a preceding page) before it was thus mentioned
to them by the Japanese.
McDonald, before his release, was requested by the Japanese to describe
the relative rank of the commander of the “Preble,” by counting down in
the order of succession from the highest chief in the United States.
Like a true republican, he began with the people; but the Japanese,
he says, could make nothing of that. He then enumerated the grades
of president, secretary of the navy, commodore, post captain, and
commander, which latter rank, being that of the officer in question,
seemed so elevated as rather to excite the surprise of his auditors.
Five weeks after the departure of the “Preble,” on the 29th of May,
Commander Matheson, in the British surveying ship “Mariner,” anchored
in the bay of Yedo, off the town of Uraga, and three miles higher up,
according to his statement, than any other vessel had been allowed
to proceed. As he entered the bay, he was met by ten boats. A paper
was handed up, in Dutch and French, requesting him not to anchor, nor
cruise in the bay; but when the Japanese found he was determined to
proceed, they offered to tow him. During the night he was watched by
boats and from the shore. Having a Japanese interpreter on board, he
communicated the object of his visit, and sent his card on shore to
the governor of the town, with a note in Chinese, proposing to wait
upon him; to which the governor replied that it was contrary to the law
for foreigners to land, and that he should lose his life if he allowed
Captain Matheson to come on shore, or to proceed any higher up the bay.
[Illustration: SCENES IN JAPANESE CEMETERIES]
The survey of the anchorage having been completed, Matheson
proceeded, on the 31st, to the bay of Shimoda, on the other side of
the promontory of Izu, where he spent five days in surveying, and was
detained two days longer by the weather. After the second day, he was
visited by an interpreter, who understood Dutch, and by two officers
from Uraga, apparently spies on each other, to watch his proceedings;
and finally an officer of rank, from a town thirteen miles off, came
on board. There were three fishing villages at the anchorage, and he
landed for a short time, but the Japanese officers followed, begging
and entreating him to go on board again. The ship was supplied with
plenty of fish, and boats were furnished to tow her out.
In 1850, the Japanese sent to Batavia, in the annual Dutch ship,
three American sailors who had been left in 1848 on one of the Kurile
Islands, also thirty-one other sailors belonging to the English
whaling-ship Edmund, of Robertstown, wrecked on the coast of Yezo. At
the same time, probably in consequence of the numerous recent visits
to their coasts, the Dutch were requested to give notice to other
nations, that although it had been determined, in 1842, to furnish with
necessary supplies such foreign vessels as arrived on the coast in
distress, this was not to be understood as indicating the least change
as to the policy of the rigorous exclusion of foreigners.[111]