Japan and its Currency. 13 



JAPAN, AND ITS CURRENCY. 



BY JOSEPH NEWTON, H. M. MINT. 



It is highly probable, if it be not morally certain, that, ere 

 many years shall have passed away, the thick veil of mystery 

 which has so long, and so effectually concealed from us an 

 exact knowledge of the laws which govern, and the peculiar 

 habits which distinguish the inhabitants of Japan, will be 

 removed. Such a consummation we believe must result from 

 the more enlightened, and, it may also be said, far more rational 

 mode of conducting negotiations with the authorities of that 

 strange empire of islands which now prevails. This country, 

 indeed, is particularly fortunate at present in having as its 

 chief representative at the Court of the Tycoon so able a 

 diplomatist, and so dispassionate a man as Sir Rutherford 

 Alcock. If it be true that — 



" A wise physician skilled our woes to heal, 

 Is more than armies for the public weal," 



it is equally certain that a talented and honest statesman may 

 contribute largely to the promotion of the social and com- 

 mercial intercourse, and the happiness of nations. In time 

 past it has been too much the custom for ambassadors and 

 others, while "dressed in a little brief authority," to play very 

 "fantastic tricks" indeed with those to whom they were 

 accredited, and thus to create, or widen breaches instead of 

 promoting peace and confidence. The fact, which is sustained 

 by abundant evidence, has had the effeet, in too many 

 instances, of preventing instead of aiding the extension of 

 commerce, and thereby arresting the progress of civilization 

 and of Christianity itself. 



The manner in which our intercommunication with the 

 Japanese has been conducted during the last few years is 

 happily not amenable to any such painful criticism. Con- 

 fidence, it has been truly asserted, is a " plant of slow growth," 

 but it appears to be one in process of rapid cultivation between 

 England and Japan, and we all know the value of the pro- 

 duction when fully matured. At this moment, there are in 

 this country many intelligent young Japanese, some of them 

 of noble birth, and destined for future legislators, under course 

 of educating and training in Great Britain, whilst several of 

 the vexatious restrictions which heretofore prevented the 

 admission of Englishmen into Japan have disappeared. In 

 short, a quiet and gradual, yet sure and steady revolution in 



