ON OPENING NEW POETS. 
Chap. XYII. 
foreign trade, every one is grieved when he reads 
the stipulations of the treaty, which state that the 
ports of Hiogo and Ne-egata are to be opened, and 
that foreign trade will also he carried on at the 
cities of Yedo and Osaca, by which the loss and 
the injury will be still further increased. 
The Ministers further state that “ the popular 
spirit having already arrived at such a pitch, it 
is very difficult even for the power and the autho- 
rity of the Government so to manage that each 
one should clearly understand the future advantage, 
and to cause them to endure for a time the present 
grief.” Should the Government use violence in 
carrying out the stipulations of the treaty, “it 
would he uncertain what mischief would result 
from such an act against the national spirit.” 
In order, therefore, not to press too heavily upon 
the people, and to give time to the ignorant to 
accustom themselves to free-trade, and to feel its 
benefits, the Ministers propose to defer the open- 
ing of the two ports * and two cities for the space 
of seven years, and to agree that they shall be 
opened in 1868. 
The document, of which I have just given the 
substance, is an able one, and demands most 
careful attention from the Governments of foreign 
powers who have treaties with Japan. As a 
general rule it is had policy to waive any treaty- 
right with Orientals, as, in the case of China and 
* Ne-egata is found to be useless as a port, and another wili be 
