Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/128

 as exemplified by the doings of those traders, impelled Japan to immediate and enthusiastic imitation. Portuguese ships were made free to visit any part of the realm. To the Dutch and the English, when they came in the early years of the seventeenth century, similar freedom of commerce was granted. They received written authorisation, over the vermilion stamp of the Tokugawa Shōgun to "conduct trade without molestation in any port or at any place in Japan." There was no imposition of onerous taxes or duties, and though presents had to be offered to local officials and to the central government, their total value never exceeded five per cent of the nominal cost of the cargo on account of which they were made. Yet, eighty-seven years after this auspicious inauguration of foreign intercourse, Japan made an almost complete reversal of her national policy, adopted an exclusive attitude, substituted distrust and aversion for the confidence and amity of her previous mood, and asserted her right of isolation with fierce and unrelenting imperiousness. What had happened to produce this remarkable metamorphosis?

Looking back to the commencements of Japan's foreign intercourse, it is seen that close upon the footsteps of the pioneers of trade followed the pioneers of Christianity. They too were hospitably received. It is true that the sequel of their propagandism shows Japan re-