INTRODUCTION. 17 



of law, altliougli 'beyond liis power of prevention, so sure is he of tlic punishment of death that 

 he anticipates it by ripping up his own body, disembowelling himself, rather than to be delivered 

 over to the executioner. In fact, he is encouraged to do so, inasmuch as by his self-destruction 

 he saves his property from forfeiture and his family from death with him. With many of the 

 high officials it is a point of honor thus to kill themselves on any failure in their departments ; 

 it is construed into an acknowledgment that they deserve to be put to death by the Emperor, and 

 their sons are often promoted to high positions, as a sort of reward for the fother's ingenuous 

 acknowledgment of guilt. 



It is easy to see, from what has been said, why the laws and customs of Japan are so obsti- 

 nately unalterable. Every man is afraid of proposing an innovation, however wise or necessary, 

 because the penalty is so fearful should it not be approved . He who in the grand council offers 

 a measure which is disapproved by the tribunal of final resort pays for his act with his life. A 

 governor, or lord, or prince, knows that if he attempt any alteration, no matter how salutary, he 

 will be instantly denounced by his colleague, or secretary, a spy upon his conduct, as a violator 

 of the established usages of the Empire, and the certain consequence is death. So, too, with the 

 common people ; broken up into their little sections of five families, they dare not depart in the 

 slightest degree from what is prescribed, for they are quite sure that the authorities will be 

 informed of it, and the penalty inevitably follows. There cannot, under such a system, be 

 anything like judicious legislation, founded on inquiry, and adapted to the ever varying circum- 

 stances of life. All must proceed exactly as it has done for centuries ; progress is rendered 

 imjjossible, and hence, in some degree, the difficulty, so long experienced in all Christendom, of 

 bringing the Japanese into communication with other nations. As a remedy for an existing 

 evil, they saw fit, centuries ago, to interdict entirely all such communication ; and though the 

 fact admits of proof that many of their wisest men would gladly have seen the interdict removed 

 or modified, as being no longer necessary in their altered circumstances, yet no man dared to 

 propose any alteration. 



We may venture to hope that, even in the partial communication with strangers allowed to 

 the Japanese by the late treaty with our country, the first step has been taken in breaking down 

 their long prevalent system of unalterable laws and unchangeable customs. But among a people 

 so sensitive and suspicious considerable time must elapse before much progress is made in a better 

 direction. And in the first exercise of our rights under the treaty, it is to be hoped the greatest 

 care will be taken by our countrymen to avoid everything which can alarm the sleepless Japanese 

 jealousy of strangers ; if there be not, there is danger lest in their apprehensions, or perchance 

 in mere caprice, they may seek to undo all that they have thus far done. It is obvious that a 

 great deal depends now on the fairness, good sense, and good temper of our consular representa- 

 tives. One rash man may overturn all that has been accomplished. 



The system of espionage to which we have alluded explains also what all the writers on 

 Japan, and all the officers of our late expedition, represent as a prominent characteristic. We 

 allude to the systematic falsehood and duplicity exhibited, and often without shame, by the high 

 Japanese officials and public functionaries in their negotiations and intercourse with strangers. 

 We do not mean to say that these bad traits belong to the people generally. On the contrary, 

 almost every writer describes them as naturally frank in manner, communicative and open in 

 speech on ordinary topics, and possessed of a very high sense of honor. They are a people of 

 very ingenious and lively minds, possessed of shrewdness, of great personal bravery, as their 

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