was now going to flourish, built a new warehouse and wharves, and
undertook other works on a large scale. But it was impossible that
their relations with the Dutch could be cordial; and dissensions soon
broke out. There was ill blood between the sailors of the two nations.
In the Philippines they could scarcely be restrained from fighting; and
when, at the end of June, the fleet returned to Firando and the crews
got ashore, they at once came to blows, and a Dutchman was killed. Then
followed the trial and execution of the English sailor who had killed
him; and the temper in which his shipmates regarded his condemnation
may be judged from the fact that "Captain Robert Adams was forced
to put the rope about his neck with his own hands." And it was not
only with the English that the Dutch sailors quarrelled. They were
drunken and riotous and "brabbled" in the streets, till at last the
long-suffering Japanese lost patience and seizing two of them summarily
cut off their heads. The English, too, demanded a victim. A Dutchman,
who had stabbed an Englishman, was condemned and executed by his own
countrymen in a novel fashion, "they having first made the man so drunk
that he could scarce stand on his legs, and so cut off his head within
their own house." As to the crews of the English shipping, they were
perhaps only a degree less turbulent; to maintain discipline and set an
example, four runaways were condemned and hanged.
In 1620 the English ship, _Elizabeth_, cruising off the Island of
Formosa, captured a Japanese vessel on her way from the Philippines to
Japan. On board were found two priests, who, in the end, proved to be
Pedro de Zuñiga, an Augustinian, and Luis Flores, a Dominican. They
long denied their names; and we find many references in the diary to
their examination at Firando. (It was an object to the English and
Dutch to convict them, as, in such case, the ship became good prize.)
In the end, these two unfortunate men, together with the Japanese
captain of the vessel, were, in 1622, put to death by the horrible
torture of slow fire, and the crew were beheaded;[35] so that we
cannot much regret that the captors were baulked of their prize. With
grim humour the shogun appropriated the cargo for himself, "leaving
the rotten hull for us and the Hollanders." So, much against their
will, the factors had to deliver over the prize goods, after a little
hesitation, which, however, they saw it was useless to persist in, when
Cocks was told that "they would take it whether we would or no, and
that, if we had not absolutely proved the Portingalls to be padres, the
Emperor meant to have put Captain Leonard Camps and me to death and to
have seized on all we had in the country; and, if any resistance had
been made, to have burned all our shipping and put us all to the sword"
(ii. 335).
At the end of 1621 Cocks set out on the last visit to the court at Yedo
recorded in his diary, the English and their Dutch allies now going in
one company. Speck was no longer at the head of the Dutch factory. He
had left Japan in the previous October; his successor being Leonard
Camps, who was now Cocks's travelling companion. After delivering the
customary presents, and after the usual long delay in getting leave to
depart, they were dismissed without the shogun's return gifts, which
were not ready, "which truly is the greatest wrong or indignity that
ever hitherto was offered to any Christians." It is almost unnecessary
to add that Cocks and Camps quarrelled. The diary ends on the 24th of
March, 1622, in the middle of the journey back to Firando; and in the
last entry Cocks tells us how the Hollanders slipped away from him. No
phrase could better express the whole course of the dealings of the
Dutch with the English in Japan.
The rest of the story of the English factory is soon told. The Council
of Defence of the East India Company at Batavia had some time before
determined to reduce it to small dimensions. In his letter of the 7th
September, 1622, Cocks records the receipt of orders "to leave off
our consortship of the Fleet of Defence with the Hollanders, and to
send our five ships for Jaccatra with as much speed as conveniently
we could"; all money and merchandise was to be withdrawn, except a
small "cargezon" or stock worth 5,000 taels, to be left in charge of
Osterwick and a couple of assistants; and Cocks, Eaton, and Sayers were
to "come along in the said ships for Jaccatra, for lessening charges in
the factory." All which directions the cape-merchant piously assured
the Company should be followed "as near as we can"; but nevertheless
stayed where he was. The difficulty, however, of getting payment of
outstanding debts was at least some excuse; and he still fondly clung
to the hopes of the China trade.
While the English were thus yielding ground, their Dutch rivals were
more energetic than ever. They had failed in an attempt to surprise
Macao; but had forcibly established themselves in the Pescadore
Islands, and they still persisted in their old offence of passing for
Englishmen. It was only a few months later that the Amboyna massacre
was perpetrated.
At last, at a consultation of the Council at Batavia on the 25th of
April, 1623, the dissolution of the English factory in Japan was
formally decided. Captain Joseph Cockram was despatched in the ship
_Bull_, invested with full powers. It was, however, left to his
discretion to allow two juniors to remain to collect debts, if there
were any prospect of recovery. He arrived at Firando in July, bearing a
letter, dated 22nd May, from the Council, directing all the members of
the factory "to come away from thence upon the ship _Bull_ for Batavia;
hereby charging you and every of you to fulfil our said order, as you
will answer the contrary at your perils." Cocks is ordered to get in
all the debts he can; and he is blamed in severe terms for the loss of
the "great sums" which he had advanced for the China trade: "The China
Nocheda[36] hath too long deluded you, through your own simplicity, to
give credit unto him. You have lived long enough in those parts to be
better experienced of the fraudulent practices of those people." The
English buildings at Firando are to be handed over to the king, to hold
in trust "until such time as we shall send thither again to repossess
the same." And so, after some other orders, the letter concludes with
a caustic admonition that, "because last year, to serve your own turn,
you made what construction you pleased of our commission for your
coming from thence, we do now iterate our commission in the conclusion
of our letter, lest, having read it in the former part thereof, you
should forget it before you come to the end."
Preparations for departure were at once made; the ostensible reasons
given to the king of Firando being the loss of ships and the bad
prospects of the China trade, and not "out of any unkind usage here in
his Majesty's [the shogun's] dominions." But, anxious as they now were
to shake themselves free of Japan, the factors were still obliged to
send up one of their number, Richard Hudson, to deliver the customary
present to the shogun; so that it was not till nearly the end of the
year that they were ready to quit Firando.
On the 16th of December, in consultation, it was determined to leave
no one behind to collect debts; but the Dutch factor was empowered to
receive any sums that might come in. The amount owing to the factory
was 12,821 taels, about £3,200, out of which Dittis was answerable for
6,636 taels, or £1,659. The following abstract[37] of a lost portion
of Cocks's diary gives us particulars of the last days spent by the
English in Japan:--
_Abstract_ "_Coppie of some passages at our leaving Jappan and
dissolving ye English Factory at Ferando in ye yeare 1623. Taken
out of_ MR. RICHARD COCK _his Journall; who was Chiefe these eleven
or 12 yeares._"
_December 19._--Tonomon Sarume paid 100 _Tale_ on account of his
debt of 500 _Tales_.
_December 20._--Prepared in the Japanese language the accounts of
the noblemen indebted to the factory, in order that the parties
might sign them as an acknowledgment of the debt to be left with
the Dutch chief for recovery; a power of attorney for that purpose,
also in Japanese, being signed by all the factors and delivered to
him. Copies of these several writings were also prepared for the
king.
On the 22nd these writings were delivered to the Dutch chief, Capt.
Newrode; and the copies sent to the king. The factors "had much
adoe with Tonomon Sama, Semidono, Taccamondono, and others, to give
us their bills ... and, when they didd itt, put in what they list."
On the 21st and 22nd sundry small presents in money were given to
the Japanese servants and others, few exceeding two or three _Tale_.
On the 22nd many of the townsmen came with their wives and families
to take leave of the factors, some weeping at their departure.
On the 23rd the factors went on board the ship _Bull_, intending
to set sail; but, the Dutch and many of their Japanese friends
coming on board with banquets, they postponed their departure;
and, there not being room in the ship to serve up the presents of
their friends, more than one hundred being on board, they landed at
Cochi. Afterwards Messrs. Cock and Osterwicke proposed, as a return
to their friends, to leave 50 _Tales_ as a banquet for them all;
but the other factors would not agree to it.
On the 24th, at noon, they set sail for Batavia. The same night in
a storm the _Bull_ sprung a leak, and was found to make six inches
of water every half-hour.
The _Bull_ reached Batavia on the 27th of January, 1624. And now poor
Cocks was indeed in trouble. In their letter of the 24th February to
the East India Company the Council of Defence accuse him of culpable
carelessness; that he neither kept the accounts himself nor appointed
others to do so; that he disobeyed orders in not leaving Japan the
year before; that he made a desperate debt of 5,000 taels with the
China captain; and that he had brought a store of trash and lumber from
Japan. No consultations had been kept, nor decorum nor order observed.
They were tempted to deal severely with him and send him home as a
malefactor; but, having consideration for his age and position, and
allowing for his bad health and testy and wayward disposition, and
being also persuaded that harsh treatment might shorten his life, they
left him to be dealt with by the Company, only ordering his goods to
be seized on his arrival in England.[38] Thus, in disgrace and broken
in health, Cocks went on board the _Ann Royal_, and on the 24th of
February sailed for England. But he was not to see his country again.
A month later, on the 27th of March, he died at sea, and was buried
"under a discharge of ordnance."
No doubt many of the charges brought against Cocks were true. Traces
of confusion in his money accounts are to be found in his diary; and
he was too easy-going for the position of head of a factory which
had so many obstacles in the way of its development. There can be no
question of his want of firmness. His many quarrels with companions
and subordinates, and the somewhat helpless way in which he records
them, afford sufficient indications of this failing. But he was
perfectly honest; he died poor; and his very weaknesses render him a
not unamusing diarist. This last qualification makes us his friend; and
we cannot accompany him through these pages without feeling good will
towards him. We note his quaint phrases; his sharp eye for "trix" and
"legerdemayne" of enemies, or for the "playing the gemeny" of doubtful
friends; how this man is angry and "takes pepper in the nose", while
another loses temper and takes a proposal "in snuff", and a third in a
rage "falls into terms"; and we see him reduced to "Hodgson's choice"
long before he ought to be, if Cambridge Hobson gave his name to the
proverb.[39] He had a taste for planting and gardening; he grew the
first potatoes in Japan; "forget not my pigeons and fishes" is an
injunction in one of his letters, when away from home; his gold fish,
presents from China, were dearly prized and not willingly given away
to the great men in Firando who coveted them--all these are pleasant
traits. Nor was he, though "unlettered" and a little unsteady when
he quoted Latin, without some taste for books. He had a _Turkish
History_[40] and a _St. Augustyn Citty of God_[41] to lend a friend (i.
118); and he received a present of an English book of _Essaies_ (i.
230). But we need not assume that he had read Chaucer because he calls
a long rambling statement a Canterbury Tale (i. 282).
His property was only worth 1,500 reals, about £300; but, in accordance
with the advice of the Council of Defence quoted above, it was seized
on the arrival of the _Ann Royal_ in England. We learn from the minutes
of the East India Company that a petition was afterwards presented
respecting Cocks's small estate:--
"_24th Nov. 1626._--Mr. Cox, brother unto Capt. Cox that dyed
homewarde bound in the _Anne_, presented himselfe in Court, and
desired by peticion the favor of the Comp. concerning his brother's
estate, to whom the Court related the debaust carriage of his
brother and the evill service performed by him at Japan, where he
had lived long contrarie to the Companies mind and had expended
40,000 pounds, never returning anything to the Comp. but consuming
whatsoever came to his hands in wastfull unnecessarie expences;
nay, for 3 yeares togeather refused to come away when by expresse
order from the Comp. he was called thence; insoemuch that at last
the President and Councell [of Batavia] were inforced to send for
him with a ship sent purposelie. And for his estate he had at the
time of his death, the Court told him, it was very little or none
at all, and, if any, yett not sufficient to answer the Comp. what
he ought them, haveing confessed upon foote of his accompt at
Jaccatra that he was indebted to the Companie £900.
"Mr. Cox was sorry to heare this report of his brother and desired
the Court to deale favorably with him. In the end the Court wished
him to informe himself concerning the truth of these things from
those that are come home; and, because the Comp. at presente have
no leisure to examine his proceedings, they therefore willed Mr.
Cox to returne home and leave the buisnes to Mr. Woodward to effect
yt one his behalfe."[42]
In the end, the money was paid over by the Company to Cocks's relatives.
Scarcely anything was ever recovered from the debts owing to the
Company in Japan. The Council at Batavia, writing home on the 6th
February, 1626, announce that the Dutch factor at Firando had informed
them of the death of the Chinaman, Andrea Dittis, who had left only a
small estate to satisfy his creditors, out of which the Company was to
receive its share. All other debts were bad, and no return was to be
expected but by mere accident.
Thus was severed our connection with Japan, not to be re-united until
our own day. But the re-occupation of our factory was often proposed
and more than once attempted. Even when writing their letter just
referred to, the Council at Batavia spoke of it. Again in 1627 they
proposed it. In 1633 a freeman of the Company, named Smithwick, again
raised the question; and again in 1635 it was debated. In 1658 the
Company actually fitted three ships to re-open the trade, but the
lateness of the season and the prospect of a Dutch war caused them to
abandon the expedition. In 1664 the Company again seriously thought
of the undertaking and wrote to Bantam for information respecting the
late settlement at Firando; and it is remarkable that so soon after
our retirement so little was remembered. The reply was that "in this
factory here is not the least remembrance of your servants acting in
Japan formerly; only your agent hath procured a jornall of a voyage
made thither in 1615; but it mentions only the acting of the mariner,
nothing of the factor."[43] In 1668 a committee was appointed to
consider how trade could be re-opened, and in the next year enquiries
were again addressed to Bantam. From thence was announced a rumour that
the Dutch had tried to purchase the English buildings at Firando, but
were refused by the daimio, who was in expectation of our return! In
1670 the ship _Advance_ was sent out to Bantam, to be used in reopening
trade, if thought convenient; but she was despatched to Persia. But in
1671 two ships, the _Crown_ and _Bantam_, were actually commissioned
to make a voyage from Bantam to Taiwan and thence to Nagasaki; the
supercargoes receiving instructions to find out where the English
formerly resided at Firando and why they were removed. These vessels
were lost. The same year the agent at Bantam reported that "there are
some Scotch, Irish, etc., there [at Firando], although wee know not
by what occasion there", an interesting remark, probably referring
to descendants of the old settlers. At last the matter was seriously
taken in hand, and ships were despatched from England in 1672 with a
letter from Charles II to the emperor of Japan, every care being taken
to escape the attention of the Dutch. Those wary traders, however, did
not fail to discover the English designs; so that, when at length the
ship _Return_ arrived at Nagasaki on the 29th of June, 1673, it was
found that her coming was expected. The crew were well treated and
allowed provisions while a message was despatched to the shogun; but
the new-comers were closely watched and sharply questioned about their
religion. Again, as in Cocks's days, the cross of St. George in the
English flag gave trouble. It is interesting to find it noticed that
one of his old interpreters was still living. At last, on the 28th of
July, the shogun's decision was announced. The Dutch had taken care
to inform the Japanese of Charles's marriage with a princess of the
Roman Catholic family of Portugal; and the shogun refused to accept the
friendship of one who had allied himself with a daughter of the enemies
of Japan. So the _Return_ sailed away on the 28th of August; and, after
this, only indirect attempts to open negotiations by the mediation of
the princes of Bantam, Amoy, Taiwan, Tonquin, and Siam were made in
1681 and 1683.[44]
* * * * *
The social relations of the English with their Japanese neighbours
were on the whole friendly. Periodical exchanges of presents and
courtesies were the rule, although an occasional quarrel or street
row was only to be expected where so many elements of turbulence were
present in drunken sailors and factory-men. The domestic arrangements
of the English are patent enough in the pages of the diary, and appear
to have given no offence to the natives. Only on one occasion do we
read of "rhymes cast abroad and sung up and down" against the native
women at the English factory; which, moreover, Cocks attributed to
the instigation of the Dutch, "songs having been made against them
to like effect before, but not against us." They were even allowed
to hold slaves, although they were afterwards forbidden to export
them. They also appear to have kept on good terms with the princes
of the neighbouring provinces; the daimio of Satsuma being specially
noticed for his friendliness. The Dutch, on the other hand, were not
so conciliatory; and we have seen that the natives of Firando sided
with the English against them, when they attacked the English factory.
But they were richer and could afford handsomer presents; and thus had
always friends at court.
Many of the notices of native customs are interesting. The reader will
at once remark several instances of the Japanese severity in punishing
offences which our modern code regards as comparatively trivial. Death
was the penalty for the most petty theft. Cocks tells us of a boy
of sixteen who was cut in pieces with great cruelty for stealing a
little boat and taking it to another island; and again, of a man who
was "roasted to death, running round about a post, fire being made
about him", the offence being also theft of a "small bark of little
or no value" (i. 291). A curious form of degradation is mentioned in
connection with an execution on a certain occasion, when the brother of
a criminal "had the lock of his hair cut off by the hangman with the
same cattan which cut his brother in pieces" (i. 156). The difference
in European and Japanese ideas of justice was well exemplified when
the Dutch factor, complaining of an assault on one of his countrymen,
demanded that "the parties which offered the abuse might be brought to
the place where they did it and be beaten with cudgels. At which the
king smiled and said it could not be, but, if he would have them cut in
pieces, he would do it."
The custom of suicide of friends and retainers at the funeral of a
great man is referred to more than once. Saris mentions the mint-master
of Iyéyasu as "one that hath vowed that, whensoever the Emperor shall
die, he will cut his own guts and die with him."[45] No doubt he was
one of the two nobles who "killed themselves to accompany Ogosho Sama
in another world, as they think", and whose monument Cocks saw at Yedo
in 1618. In his letter of 10th December, 1614, Cocks also reports
that, at the death of old Foyne Sama, "Ushian Dono, his governor, and
two other servants, cut their bellies to bear him company";[46] and
in the curious account of the funeral of Foyne's brother, in 1621, we
are told that "one bose or priest hanged himself in a tree hard by the
place of funeral ... for boses may not cut their bellies, but hang
themselves they may". Some of the dead man's servants too were only
restrained from self-sacrifice by the king's orders; and "many others,
his friends, cut off the two foremost joints of their little fingers
and threw them into the fire to be burned with the corpse" (ii. 202).
The practice of hara-kiri, or self destruction to avoid disgrace, is
mentioned as occurring at Firando on two occasions (i. 337; ii. 136).
A few other points of interest may be noticed. The spread of
Christianity through the southern and western provinces has already
been referred to. The mother of the king of Firando is called "a
papistical Jesuit, and he and the rest of his brethren and sisters
papistical Christians" (ii. 250). Again, at the funeral of Foyne's
brother, mentioned above, it was said that a log of wood was
substituted for the real body and burned, "for he was thought to be a
Christian" (ii. 201). On the other hand, it seems that the Japanese
would not admit into their faith perverts from Christianity, for an
Englishman "went and cut his hair after the pagan fashion, thinking to
turn pagan; which he could not do here, although he would" (i. 179).
The changing of names, which gives so much trouble in reading Japanese
history, is often mentioned. Figen a Sama is at first called Tome Sama;
and some of his relatives appear suddenly under new names in 1621 (ii.
169). The caboques, or dancing bears as Cocks calls them, that is,
the dancing women or players, and their male companions, are present
at every large entertainment mentioned in the diary. And, lastly,
the readiness of the Japanese to adopt foreign customs is curiously
exemplified in the rapidity with which tobacco-smoking spread among the
people. "It is strange", says Cocks, writing in 1615, "to see how these
Japons, men, women, and children, are besotted in drinking that herb;
and not ten years since it was in use first." When once the habit had
got such a hold, no measures for the destruction of the plant could
change it. The "drinking" inevitably went on, and in 1619 the burning
of half a town is ascribed to it.
* * * * *
In conclusion I should mention that one of the chief difficulties with
which I have had to contend in editing these volumes has been that of
finding explanations of the foreign words and terms in the diary. Cocks
adopted words from other languages besides Japanese, and generally
wrote them down as they sounded. Hence it was no easy matter for one
ignorant of eastern languages to decide whether particular words, thus
disguised, are Japanese or of some other tongue; and I fear that I have
too often taxed the patience and good nature of my orientalist friends
for solutions of these difficulties. It is with pleasure that I take
this opportunity of thanking Dr. William Anderson, whose knowledge of
the language of Japan is so extensive, and my colleagues Dr. Charles
Rieu and Professor R. K. Douglas, for much valuable assistance. I
also gratefully acknowledge kind help and many courtesies from Mr.
Charles C. Prinsep, Superintendent of the Records, and Mr. Edward J.
Wade, Assistant-Librarian, in the India office; and from Mr. W. Noel
Sainsbury, of the Public Record Office.
BRITISH MUSEUM,
_30th December, 1882_.
SOME JAPANESE AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS AND TERMS.
bongew (_Jap._ bugiyō).--a superintendent.
bose (_Jap._ bōdsu).--a Buddhist priest.