6 fo it is fooner loft when the Herb comes to be tranfported ; 
6 and therefore, however fome forts of Japan Tea may be 
4 valued in the Indies , we never can expedt to fee them in 
6 equal Perfection here in Europe. 
4 III. Hew is the Commerce, of Japan carried on among 
4 themfelves P and what foreign Commerce had they , before 
4 this Country was dif covered by the Inhabitants of Europe ? 
4 It is extremely difficult to fay any thing on this Head 
4 worthy your Notice, and at the fame time to fay it with 
4 Certainty ; but, as I am well aware of the Contradictions 
4 you have met with in many Books upon this Subject, I 
4 will endeavour to fliew you the Source of them in few 
4 Words: In all that has been written upon this Head, it 
4 is on the one hand afferted, that the Japonefe have a great 
* Contempt for Trade and Tradefmen ; and on the other, 
4 that no Nation in the World has fuch wife Regulations in 
4 refpedt to Commerce, as are to be found amongft them. 
4 To reconcile this Contradiction, I muft obferve to you, 
4 that the fingle Maxim on which the Government in Japan 
4 proceeds, is this, that Commerce is a Proof either of 
4 Poverty, or of Covetoufnefs ; and that the greateft Hap- 
4 pinefs a Nation can poffefs is, to have all within them- 
4 felves. In regard to the Empire of Japan , this is ftridlly 
4 true : They derive from the Bounty of Providence, and 
4 from their own Induftry, not only ail the Neceffaries, but 
4 alfo all the Conveniences, all the Elegancies, of Life ; 
4 and therefore they are abfolutely content, I mean, fuch 
4 as have the Adminftration of the Government are content, 
4 with what they poffefs. 
4 This appears, by their neither fending or receiving 
4 Embaffaddrs in the manner that other Nations do; and 
4 tho 9 formerly the Government fo far complied with the 
4 Defires of fuch as were of a mercantile Genius, as to per- 
4 mit them to trade in certain Countries, under abundance 
4 of Reftridtions, yet they have fince thought fit to revoke 
4 thefe Licences ; and their Subjects now carry on no foreign 
4 Trade at all, at leaft with the Permiffion of the Govern- 
4 rhent. As to their inland Commerce, it is, and always 
4 was, very great ; but they have fo ftrong a Notion, that 
4 Buying and Selling corrupt the Morals of Men, incline them 
4 to Fraud, to Covetoufnefs, and, above all, to Laying, that 
4 they have not only the fevered Laws for punifhing thefe 
4 Vices, but have likewife contrived fome very lingular 
4 Methods for preventing them ; particularly thefe : 
4 In the firft Place, to prevent any Deceit in meafuring, 
4 there is a Steel-yard fixed at the End of every Street, by 
4 which all Commodities are meafured ; and it is the fame 
4 with regard to Weight and liquid Meafures, none, but 
4 thofe authorized by the Government, can be ufed. They 
4 have public Fairs, at certain Seafons in the Year, in all 
4 the great Cities, to which Merchants bring their Goods, 
4 in fuch Proportions as they are injoined by Law ; and 
4 thefe are fold, not by the Merchants themfelves, but by 
4 Officers appointed by the State, to the beft Bidder : Yet 
4 this is not managed by Auction, from an Apprehenfion, 
4 that this might create Jealoufies and Hatred among fuch 
4 as bid againft: each other ; to prevent which, every Man 
4 writes in a little Note what he is willing to give, and his 
6 Name. The Officer, having collected thefe Notes, which 
4 are allfealed, opens them ; and, having declared the higheft 
4 Bidder, delivers him the Goods, and bums all the Notes. 
4 In cafe of any notorious Fraud, they not only condemn 
4 the Parties that are guilty, but their whole Families, and 
4 even their Neighbours ; which puts every Man fo much 
4 upon his Guard, that there are very few Inftances of De- 
4 ceit happening throughout this extenfive Empire. 
4 It is not the Government only, but every private Man, 
4 that coins Money but he muff carry it to the Matter of 
4 the Mint, who fees that it is fine, and of its proper 
4 Weight ; which he aftefts by his Stamp : But, if it wants 
4 half a Grain, he cuts it in two, and returns it to the Owner. 
« As for large Sums, they are paid in Purfes, containing 
4 about ioo Cupangs, which are carried likewife to the Offi- 
4 cer of the Mint, who tells and weighs the Pieces, and 
4 then claps his Seal upon the Purfe, with a Character irri- 
4 porting the Value contained therein. This once done, 
4 the Purfe paffes from Hand to Hand for twenty Years ; 
* for, fo long as the Impreffion remains fair, nobody dif- 
c putes its Value. As to the foreign Commerce, of old it 
4 was only with their Neighbours the Chinefe ; and I fhall 
4 have Occafion to explain it to you hereafter. At prefent 
4 I hope, I have fatisfied you as to this Queftion. 
4 IV'. Why are all Nations prohibited from trading here 
c except the Dutch and the Chinefe ? This does not pro- 
4 ceedj as is generally imagined, from any Prejudice againft 
4 other Nations, or from any Prepoffeffion in favour of the 
4 Chinefe or Dutch , but from Reafons that I fhall lay before 
4 you as fuccindtly as I can. The Japonefe do not feek 
4 foreign Commerce at all ; but, on the other hand, it is a 
4 Maxim of their Policy not to refufe it to any Nation 
4 provided they fend their Goods in their own Veffels to 
4 Japan , and fubmit to the Regulations, which, for its 
4 own Security, the State has eftablifhed. Their Com- 
4 merce with the Chinefe is fo old, that it is beyond Me- 
4 mory ; and I fhall fhew you hereafter, that nothing has 
4 been able to bring them to prohibit it. 
c The Portuguefe came thither about the Middle of the 
4 fixteenth Century, and were received with all the Kind- 
4 nefs and Civility confident with the Conftitution of the 
4 Empire, and the Genius of the Nation. Some time after, 
4 the Spaniards from Mexico found their Way thither, as 
4 the Englifh likewife did, after they fettled in the Eaji 
4 Indies. It was owing to the Intrigues of the Priefts, who 
4 put their Converts upon Confpiracies, Seditions, and Re- 
4 bellions, that Chriftians in general were forbidden to trade 
4 to Japan ; and as the Dutch had not intermeddled in any 
4 fort with thefe Difturbances, they were permitted to carry 
4 on their Trade under the antient Regulations. This Pro- 
4 hibition happened in the Year 1636, and was intirely 
4 owing to the Bigotry and ill Management of the Clergy, 
4 who brought an Odium on Chriftianity, that will hardly 
4 ever be effaced. Yet, after all, I muft own, that, in my 
4 Opinion, the Patience and Perfeverance of the Chinefe and 
4 Dutch are the beft Reafons that can be affigned for their 
4 maintaining themfelves in this Commerce, from which 
4 other Nations are excluded, not becaufe they are hated 
4 by the Japonefe , but becaufe they are incapable of fub- 
4 mitring to thofe fevere Rules, which are now impofed 
4 upon Strangers, many of which took Rife from that un- 
4 fortunate Extirpation of the Chriftian Religion in Japan- 
4 It is no lefs true, that the Dutch themfelves, though not 
4 excluded from Trade, were neverthelefs extremely hurt 
4 by that Accident, fince they were removed from the 
4 Settlement they had firft obtained, and where they were 
4 much eafier than they are at prefent ; which fhews you, 
4 that it was not their Intereft to procure the Banifhment of 
4 other Nations, fince, inftead of turning to their Advan- 
4 tage, it has done them inexpreffible Mifchief. 
4 V. In what State are the Chinefe in japan, and what 
4 Commerce do they carry on ? As the Chinefe are by far the 
4 moft docile and tradtable People in the World, they are, 
4 without Queftion, the fitted: to deal with the Japonefe ; 
4 becaufe, whatever new Regulations are made, whatever 
4 frefh Hardfhips are laid upon them, they fubmit without 
4 repining, and appear content, let their Ufage be what it 
4 will. In antient times the Japonefe had a great Trade 
4 with China , in which a Multitude of People were em- 
4 ployed ; but, in one of the Chinefe Sea-ports, where a few 
4 Japonefe were fettled, the Natives having pradlifed a little 
4 of that Fraud, which is infeparable from the Chinefe^ thefe 
4 Strangers applied themfelves to the Magiftrates for Re- 
4 drefs ; but, finding none, they redreffed themfelves, by 
4 facking the Town. As foon as the Emperor of China 
4 was informed of this, and that, tho 9 the Place was very 
4 populous, it had been deftroyed by a very Handful of 
4 Japonefe , he refolved at once to be rid of thefe People, 
4 and eredted where the City had ftood a Column of Marble, 
4 on which the Edidt of Banifhment was engraved, threat- 
4 ening at the fame time Death to any Japonefe , who fhould 
4 dare to land in his Dominions ; forbidding at the fame 
4 time all his Subjects to carry on any Trade with thefe 
4 Flanders ; which Prohibition remains in Force to this 
4 Day : And the Chinefe always declare at heme, that they 
4 are bound to fome other Market, when they fit out their 
4 Junks for Japan . 
4 Yet the Japonefe never prohibited Trade with China , 
4 but differed them to come freely into their Country, as they 
4 did before $ fo that the Difficulties the Chmkfe now labour 
• ■- 4 '•under 
