552 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



that the chief Japanese officer 

 asked the English commissioner 

 if he too would condescend to 

 play the part of the Russian 

 count ! — the officer answering to 

 his own question, " No, I trust 

 not." 



The mistaken idea of the illi- 

 berality of the Japanese in reli- 

 gious matters, seems to have been 

 fully proved ; and the late mission 

 experienced the reverse in a de- 

 gree hardly credible, and little 

 expected by themselves from the 

 representations previously made 

 to them. The story of the annual 

 test of trampling on the crucijfix, 

 at Nanggasaki and the other im- 

 portant cities, is a story derided 

 by the Japanese priesthood. On 

 visiting the great temple on the 

 hills of Nanggasaki, the English 

 commissioner was received with 

 marked j-egard and respect by the 

 venerable patriarch of the north- 

 ern provinces, eighty years of 

 age, who entertained liim most 

 sumptuously. On showing him 

 rovmd the courts of the temple, 

 one of tiie English officers pre- 

 sent heedlessly exclaimed in sur- 

 prize, Jasus Ckristus ! Tlie patri- 

 arch, turning half roimd, with a 

 placid smile, bowed significantly 

 expressive of " AVe know you are 

 Jasiit Christus ; well, don't ob- 

 trude him upon us in our tem- 

 ples and we remain fiiendsj" and 

 so, with a hearty shake of the 

 hands, these two opposites parted. 

 This leave-taking reminded Dr. 

 Ainslie very forcibly of the story 

 Dr. Moore fel's so Avell of the 

 Duke of Hamilton and himself, 

 taking leave of the Pope. The 

 Pope, who had conceived a regard 

 for the young Duke, on the latter 

 making his congi said, " 1 know 



you laugh at the benediction of a 

 Popcj but the blessing of an old 

 man can do you no harm;" and, 

 so saying, laid his hand on his 

 head, and blessed him. 



The massacre of Samebarra is 

 by the Japanese attributed to Eu- 

 ropean intrigue ; and even Kaemp- 

 fer notices that the European 

 ships of war formed the practicable 

 breach, through which the Japa- 

 nese entered, and perpetrated that 

 massacre, to which it would ap- 

 pear they had been originally 

 prompted by others. 



That the negotiations from 

 England on a former occiision 

 should not have been more suc- 

 cessful than the late attempt from 

 Russia, may easily be accounted 

 for, Avhen we reflect on the pos- 

 sibility of the favoured factor 

 liaving said to them, " Forty 

 years ago your throne had 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 ar- 

 gument, pushetl by a narrow- 

 minded and interested factor, 

 could not but carry weight with 

 the Japanese, accustomed to re- 

 spect and to place all confidence 

 in their western visitors. 



They are not averse to the in- 

 dulgence of so«ial 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, notwith- 

 standing the determination of the 



empire 



