Page:The Pamphleteer (Volume 8).djvu/109

Rh ropean intrigue; and even Kæmpfer notices that the European ships of war formed the practical breach, through which the Japanese entered, and perpetrated that massacre, to which it would appear they had been originally prompted by others.

That the negociations from England on a former occasion should not have been more successful than the late attempt from Russia, may easily be accounted for, when we reflect on the possibility of the favoured factor having said to them, "Forty years ago your throne has been all but overturned by the intrigue of these heretics; this embassy comes from the king who has married the daughter of the 'head of that caste;' and from whom you can expect nothing less than an irruption still more fatal to your tranquillity." Such an argument, pushed by a narrow-minded and interested factor, could not but carry weight with the Japanese, accustomed to respect and to place all confidence in their western visitors.

They are not averse to the indulgence of social excess; and, on these occasions, give a latitude to their speech which one would hardly suppose they dared to do in Japan.

It is an extraordinary fact, that for seven years past, since the visit of Captain Pellew, notwithstanding the determination of the empire not to enter into foreign commerce, the English language has, in obedience to an edict of the emperor, been cultivated with considerable success by the younger members of the College of Interpreters, who indeed were found eager in their inquiries after English books.

While the commissioner was at Nanggasaki, there arrived a large detachment of officers of rank, who had been out nearly four years and not yet completed one-fourth of a survey on which they were engaged. These officers were attended by a numerous and splendid retinue, and were employed in making an actual survey of every foot of the empire and the dependent isles. The survey appeared to be conducted on a scientific principle, to be most minute and accurate in its execution, and to have for its object the completion of a regular geographical and statistical description of the country.

In a word, the opinion of Dr. Ainslie is, that the Japanese are a people with whom the European world might hold intercourse without compromise of character. For the Japanese themselves, they are wonderfully inquisitive in all points of science, and possess a mind curious and anxious to receive information, without inquiring from what quarter it comes.

In the same spirit let us hope, that now, when

That spell upon the minds of men

Break never to unite again—

no withering policy may blast the fair fruits of that spirit of research which has gone forth from this hall; nor continue, under any circumstances, to shut out one half of the world from the intelligence which the other half may possess.