FUTURE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH JAPAN AND LEW CHEW. 187 



honorable means, if not prevented by the unauthorized and covert acts of these men, who, in 

 their desire for gain, assume, whether rightly or not, all the immunities of citizenship, but 

 entirely overlook the honor and character of the country whose protection they are always ready 

 to claim. 



It has been hinted, with what truth I shall not undertake to say, that at least one experiment 

 has already been made to introduce into Japan the abominable traffic in opium ; fortunately, 

 this diabolical attempt was defeated by the sagacity of the Japanese authorities. 



Of the Lew Chews I have little to say in this paper, other than to remark that, as places of 

 resort for temporary equipment and supplies, these islands hold out every convenience to vessels 

 passing in their route ; fertile beyond measure, as some of them are, and peopled by an inoffen- 

 sive, industrious race, they could, by the practice of kind and honorable measures towards them, 

 be brought into the most friendly intercourse ; but, as before remarked, the governments of the 

 United States and Europe should protect these and other defenceless communities, in remote parts 

 of the world, from the acts of injustice and outrage not unfrequently committed by the crews of 

 ships navigating distant seas, who, in the confidence of escape from detection, inflict upon tbe 

 simple natives wanton and unprovoked wrongs, threatening them, if they resist, with the inter- 

 position of the power of their respective governments, whose good faith they deliberately violate. 

 And if perchance the natives assume the defensive in the protection of their lives, their property, 

 and domestic rights, and blood is shed, then the home governments are beset with complaints 

 emanating from the aggressors themselves, misrepresenting and exaggerating the acts of the 

 natives, who, having no means of explanation or defence, are consequently looked upon as 

 guilty — for how can it be otherwise proved? And the governments thus importuned can do no 

 less than to cause investigations to be made ; and this can only be accomplished by the despatch 

 of vessels-of-war, at considerable cost, to the distant regions where these outrages of the natives 

 are alleged to have been committed ; and the results will turn altogether upon the prudence, 

 discretion, and sense of justice of the officers entrusted with this duty. Meanwhile, the really 

 guilty parties go unwhipped of justice. 



Now, to avoid these acts of cruelty, at least to guard against their being perpetrated by 

 persons sailing under the American flag without the knowledge of the authorities at home, 

 consuls, or consular agents should be sent to every part of the world visited by our ships, there 

 to be prepared, in their official character, as well to watch over the rights and interests of our 

 bona fide citizens as to detect and bring to punishment a class of adventurers to be found every- 

 where — men who, from their cosmopolitan and vagabond life, have no claim upon the protection 

 of any nation — yet are they the most clamorous in demanding their assumed rights. 



The additional cost of salaries to the increased number of consuls would bo as nothing, com- 

 pared with the advantages that would accrue from their services ; indeed, it might be a question 

 whether the outlay would not be in a measure returned to the revenue of the country by the 

 remunerative results arising from the greater facilities rendered to our foreign commerce. 



M. 0. P. 



