42 INTRODUCTION. 



to siiiTuund the frigate aud Lurii lier. The calculation was that if the English destroyed two 

 hundred of the boats, enough would still he left to effect the object. The rowers were to save 

 themselves by swimming. 



But Doeff advised another course. He recommended to the governor to amuse the com- 

 mander of the ship by promises of water the next day, so as to detain him as long as possible, 

 and to improve the time by causing a number of native boats to go with stones and throw them 

 into the narrow channel by which alone the ship could pass out to the open sea. This he hoped 

 could be done, without discovery by the English, in the course of tlie next day and night ; and 

 the work was ordered ; but before anything was accomplished, a favorable wind sprung up, and 

 the Phaiton stood out to sea. 



MacFarlane thinks that, anywhere but in Japan, the whole affair, having terminated blood- 

 lessly, would have been laughed at as a clever ruse de guer-i-e ; but it was no matter for mirtli to 

 the unfortunate Japanese officials. The law of the Kingdom had been broken, and the 

 consequence was inevitable. In half an hour after the ship made sail, the governor of Nagasaki 

 was dead by his own hand ; he had followed the custom of the country and disembowelled 

 himself. The officers of the neglected garrison did the same thing ; the interpreters were 

 ordered to Jeddo, and never were seen again in Nagasaki ; nor could the Dutch ever learn their 

 fate; and this "laughable" ruse cost no less than thirteen Japanese lives. The governor of 

 the jjrovince (Fizen) was the officer who had supreme command of the troops that belonged to 

 the garrison ; and was, at the time of the Phaeton's arrival, residing, compulsorily, in the 

 distant capital, (Jeddo,) yet was he punished by an imprisonment of one hundred days for the 

 delinquency of his subordinate officers. The visit of the British frigate therefore brought in 

 its train very sad consequences, creating very strong prejudices against the English, and to 

 this hour it is remembered in Japan with embittered feelings. 



Five years had elapsed after the visit of the English frigate before another attempt was 

 made. During that period the wars -of Europe bad cut off the Dutch at Dezima, not only 

 from communication with Holland aud her colonies, but with all the rest of the world. They 

 were in profound ignorance of all that had passed in this interval outside of Japan. 



In July, 1813, they heard with joy that two European ships under the Dutch flag were off 

 the port. They showed also the private Dutch signal, so that M. Doeff had no doubt they 

 were the long expected vessels that had come from Batavia for the annual trade. Letters also 

 were sent on shore to the factory, from which he learned that M. Waardenar, formerly 

 president of the factory, and under whose patronage and friendship M. Doeff had commenced 

 his career as an employ^ at Dezima, was on board one of the ships in the capacity of commissary 

 of the government, with his secretary and physician ; and that on board the other was M. 

 Cassa, accompanied by three assistants, and charged to replace M. Doeff. 



Immediately the storekeeper, Blomhoff, with another of the Dezima officials, (they had but 

 three left in the whole factory,) put off to meet the ships ; and, on their return, Blomhoff told 

 Doeff that M. "Waardenar was indeed on board, and that the Dutch captain, Voorman, who 

 had often been to Dezima before, commanded ; " but," added he, " everything aboard wore a 

 strange aspect ; and the commissary, instead of confiding to me, as usual, the papers from the 

 government, said he woiild deliver them to you in person." Presently the vessels came into 

 harbor ; and as all the crew spoke English, the Japanese, who had been accustomed to hear 

 that language since 179.5, concluded that the vessels were American, and that they had been 



