Hildreth's "Japan as It Was and Is": A Handbook of Old Japan, Volume 2 (of 2)

by Richard Hildreth

CHAPTER XLIV

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]