

CHAPTER XI. 



PAST AND PRESENT. 



When I first saw Japan in 1855, the inhabitants were 

 in a very different state from what they are at present. 

 They themselves must be struck with astonishment, 

 on looking back, at the extraordinary metamorphosis 

 which they have gone through in the last few years. 

 Two or three little incidents may be worth mentioning as 

 showing how their Government then treated foreigners, 

 and how we amongst those foreigners allowed ourselves 

 to be treated. I was in a fifty-gun frigate, and as we 

 sailed into Hakodadi harbour, at that time quite an 

 insignificant Japanese town, the signal was made by the 

 English admiral who was already there, not to salute 



