MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



^31 



Japanese ever surprized into a 

 burst of passion was, when, upon 

 a similitude of the two nations 

 being unguardedly asserted, the 

 latter laid his hand upon his 

 sword ! 



The people are said to have a 

 strong inclination to foreign in- 

 tercoui'se, notwithstanding the 

 political institutions to the con- 

 trary 5 and perhaps the energy 

 which characterizes the Japanese 

 character cannot be better eluci- 

 dated, than by that extraordinary 

 decision which excluded the world 

 from their shores, and confined 

 within their own limits a people 

 who had before sei-ved as merce- 

 naries throughout all Polynesia, 

 and traded with all nations — 

 themselves adventurous naviga- 

 tors. 



There is by no means that uni- 

 formity among them which is ob- 

 •erved in China, where the im- 

 pression of the government may 

 be said to have bioken down all 

 individuality and left one Chinese 

 the counterpart of another. Un- 

 like the Chinese, the women here 

 are by no means secluded — they 

 associate among themselves, like 

 the ladies of Europe. During 

 the residence of Dr. Ainslie, fre- 

 quent invitations and entertain- 

 ments were given ; on these oc- 

 casions, and at one in particular, 

 a lady from the court of Jeddo 

 is represented to have done the 

 honours of the table with an ease, 

 elegance, and address that would 

 liave graced a Parisian. The 

 usual dress of a Japanese woman 

 of middle rank costs perhaps as 

 much as would su])ply the ward- 

 robe of an European lady of tlie 

 same rank for twenty years. 



The Japanese^ with an appa- 



rent coldness, like the stillness of 

 the Spanish character, and de- 

 rived nearly from the saiue causes, 

 that system of espionage, and that 

 principle of disunion, dictated by 

 the principles of both govern- 

 ments ; are represented to be 

 eager for novelty, and warm in 

 their attachments ; open to stran- 

 gers, and, abating the restrictions 

 of their political institutions, a 

 people who seem inclined to 

 throw themselves into the hands 

 of any nation of superior intelli- 

 gence. They have at the same 

 time a great contempt and disre- 

 gard of every thing below their 

 own standard of morals and ha- 

 bits, as instanced in the case of 

 the Chinese. 



This may appear to be contra- 

 dicted by the mission from Russia 

 in 1814, under Count Kreusen- 

 stern ; but the circumstances un- 

 der which that mission was placed 

 should be considered. Prom the 

 moment of their arrival they were 

 under the influence of an exclu- 

 sive factor, who continued to rain 

 upon them every possible igno- 

 miny which can be supposed to 

 have flowed from the despotism 

 of Japan, through the medium of 

 an interested and avaricious man, 

 W'ho dreaded competition or the 

 publication of his secret. The 

 warehouse in which the Russian 

 iTiission had been lodged was 

 pointed out to Dr. Ainslie, Avho 

 observes, that, " as the rats were 

 let out the Count and his suite 

 were let in, vvherc they remained 

 for six long months, with scarce 

 room to turn ; the mark of -ob- 

 loquy to the Japanese, and the 

 laughing stock of the European 

 factory." So lively, indeed, was 

 the impression of the occuneoce, 



2 M 2 that 



