OLIPHANT.—NOTES ON JAPAN. 95 
from Japan, some merchant ships went out to Nagasaki—not altogether strictly in 
accordance with international law—to open trade at that port. Since November 
last we have an actual experience to refer to ; but we must beware of drawing con- 
clusions rashly from it. That the result has not equalled the anticipations formed 
at the commencement is due to the fact that trade has not been carried on under 
the provisions of the treaty concluded at Yeddo, but under that now obsolete sys- 
tem formerly pursued by the Dutch, in which the foreign merchant was compelled 
to deal with and through Government alone. The consequence was, that 
after the first few Government contracts were completed, the trade could only 
be carried on under those restrictions and disadvantages which have rendered it so 
little profitable to the Dutch throughout this long course of years Now, however 
that those restrictions are removed, and a currency established, which will once 
more enable merchants to enter upon extensive commercial transactions under 
favorable conditions, instead of confining them to a paltry barter trade. carried out 
under Government regulations, I have no doubt that we shall receive very differ- 
ent accounts of our mercantile prospects in this quarter. When we hear that be- 
tween November, 1858, and March, 1859, no less than 15,000 tons of British and 
American shipping have left Shanghae for Nagasaki, a port the annual trade of 
which had been carried on by two Dutch ships, and that upwards of 11,000 
tons have returned thenee, many of the yessels being announced to go back 
again, we are driven to suppose either that the British merchant is more than 
usually blind to his own interest, or that there really is a trade worth engaging 
in, About fourteen hundred bales of silk in all have been procured and exported 
at Nagasaki, since the trade began last November. It is expected that the supply 
of this article will increase materially, the climate being suitable for the growth 
of the mulberry, and the habits of the people well adapted to the manipulation 
of silk. 
Among the imports into Japan, produce from the Straits and China naturally 
forms a large proportion. This is for the most part composed of drugs and what 
is technically termed Chow-chow cargo—viz., spices and condiments of various 
sorts; also Sandal and Sapan wood. We have contributed damasks, cottons, 
muslins, velvets, woollens, &c; while American piece goods have found a ready 
market, As yet, however, our merchants are only feeling their way, and some 
time must elapse before it will be possible for us to predict with any certainty 
either the nature or extent of that trade which is capable of being created in this 
most interesting quarter of the globe. Meantime, a heavy responsibility will rest 
alike upon the merchants engaged in developing commerial relations in this coun- 
try, and on our own official agents employed in supporting them and at the same 
time in protecting the Government to which they are aceredited in due exercise 
of their treaty rights. 
We are ignorant of the political considerations which induced the Japanese Gov- 
ernment to relinguish that system of exclusiveness which had for many years dis- 
tinguished it among the nations of the Hast. We do know, however, that this 
result was not arrived at without much angry discussion and violent opposition 
on the part of some of the most influential members of the aristocracy ; and we 
ean have little doubt that a strong feeling adverse to intercourse with foreigners 
