JAPAN. 



553 



The office of tycoon, though confined to one 

 of three families, is in no respect that of a sov- 

 ereign. Originally and theoretically the tycoon 

 was but the generalissimo commanding all the 

 military force of the country, under the direc- 

 tion of the emperor. He possesses hereditary 

 domains in various parts of the country, and 

 receives the revenue from them ; but the daim- 

 ios do the same. He is by virtue of his office 

 superior in certain respects to the other hered- 

 itary princes, particularly in holding the mil- 

 itary forces under his control. He .has no 

 power to make treaties without the imperial 

 sanction. But for the assumption of this power, 

 whereby he has enriched himself, while at the 

 same time he does not admit others to a share 

 in the profits of a foreign trade, he would have 

 been at present, as he was in fact until lately, 

 merely the captain-general of Japan. With 

 all the advantages accruing from the new rela- 

 tions with foreign Powers, he still is the tycoon, 

 and not the emperor, nor even a coordinate 

 ruler with the emperor. Yeddo is not the capital 

 of the country, as the common expression for 



foing to Miako, even from Yeddo, shows. The 

 apanese go down to Yeddo, and up to Miako. 

 The tycoon is after all but a servant of the em- 

 peror, and in the estimation of the Japanese, 

 there is an impassable gulf between the two. 



The trade of Japan with foreign countries 

 has greatly increased since the opening of the 

 ports. In one port alone, that of Kanagawa, 

 the English trade .increased from the value of 

 70,000 in 1862, to that of 112,000 in 1863. 

 A despatch from the British charge d'affaires, 

 in Japan, dated September llth, 1863, states 

 that the value of the export trade in British 

 vessels had increased within six months from 

 253,337 to 561,120, although, as the writer 

 of the despatch observes, " during those same 

 six months the succession of events which have 

 transpired of an alarming and exciting charac- 

 ter, was calculated altogether to paralyze and 

 arrest any trading operations." For the first 

 time raw cotton has been exported to the 

 amount of 795,207 Ibs. What may be the ca- 

 pabilities of the country in respect to cotton 

 growing is uncertain. It is a point upon which 

 no information whatever is given by the differ- 

 ent writers who describe the country from per- 

 sonal observation. Trade has hitherto been 

 much despised. " Amillionnaire merchant, if 

 one exists in Japan," says the writer we have 

 already quoted, "is obliged to prostrate him- 

 self in the dust before the lowest two-sworded 

 retainer of a daimio, if he happens to meet 

 one on the road. Wealth bestows no social 

 position. The most prosperous trader dares 

 not appear on horseback in the streets of Yed- 

 do; if he did, he would be instantly dragged 

 from the saddle, and ignominiously rolled in 

 the mud. 1 ' 



The only portion of the current history of 

 Japan which is of interest for Americans and 

 Europeans, is the history of the relations of the 

 Japanese Government to the civilized nations, 



with which, in late years, commercial treaties 

 have been concluded. This opening of com- 

 munication with foreign nations met with a 

 violent opposition on the part of many of the 

 daimios, and there has ever since been an un- 

 ceasing feud between a party friendly to the 

 foreigners and an anti-foreign party. The 

 tycoon was at the head of the former; the 

 mikado, or spiritual emperor, has openly es- 

 poused the cause of the other party, and 

 seems to have used this occasion for recover- 

 ing a more active and direct influence upon 

 the administration of the State than his pre- 

 decessors have exercised. 



In January, 1862, the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, Ando Tousimano Kami, suspected of 

 being favorable to the Europeans, was attacked 

 in Yeddo, in open daylight; Ando defended 

 himself bravely, killed one of his assailants 

 and put the others to flight. He deemed it best, 

 however, to leave the Council of Ministers, and 

 was replaced by one supposed to be hostile to 

 the foreigners. At the end of March a Japan- 

 ese embassy left Yokohama to visit those Eu- 

 ropean courts with which Japan has established 

 commercial intercourse, and to obtain from 

 them permission that the opening of the ports 

 of Yeddo and Osaca be postponed to a period 

 more favorable to the pacific intentions of the 

 tycoon. 



The anti-foreign daimios established a league 

 and went to Kioto, to lodge before the mikado 

 a complaint that the tycoon, "an unfaithful 

 servant of the legitimate emperor," had vio- 

 lated the constitution of Japan by concluding 

 treaties with foreigners (May 26th, 1862). The 

 mikado summoned the tycoon to defend him- 

 self. The tycoon charged with this mission 

 one of his ministers, who, rather than accept 

 the commission, committed suicide (hari-kari). 

 Another functionary went to Kioto, but was so 

 affected by his reception as likewise to commit 

 suicide. The tycoon then (July, 1862) prom- 

 ised to go to Kioto himself. 



While these negotiations were going on, two 

 English marines, belonging to the guard of 

 Col. Neale, charge d'affaires of the Queen of 

 England, were assassinated at the English le- 

 gation at Yeddo, by a Japanese officer, who 

 immediately after committed suicide (June 

 25th, 1862). Col. Neale withdrew from Yeddo 

 to Yokohama. In September, 1862, four Eng- 

 lish subjects, Kichardson, Clarke, Marshall and 

 Madame Borradaile, were attacked on the high 

 road which leads from Yokohama to Yeddo, by 

 the escort of a high Japanese functionary, a 

 relation of the Prince of Satsuma. Mr. Kich- 

 ardson was killed ; his companions escaped, but 

 two of them were severely wounded. 



Toward the close of the year 1862, the Jap- 

 anese embassy returned to Yeddo, having visited 

 Paris, London, Berlin, the Hague, St. Peters- 

 burg and Lisbon. They had achieved their 

 object, having obtained the consent of those 

 European governments that the opening of the 

 ports of Yeddo and Yokohama might be put off. 



