Chap. II. of Mr. Will 
better underftood, and afford a clear Solution to a Queftion 
never yet anfwered, viz. How being once poffeffed of 
fuch a Commerce, we came to lofe it ? But that we may 
proceed regularly, I fhall give the Reader next the Sub- 
ftance of a Letter written to Captain John Saris by Mr. 
Cocks, who was chiefly intruded in the new Fadtory fet- 
tled at Firando. This Letter is dated the ioth of Decem- 
ber 1614, and contains abundance of curious Circum- 
fiances that are not to be found in any other Piece that ! 
have been able to meet with. 
As to the Affairs of Japon , the Writer of this Letter 
o-ives us an Account, that they were at that time in a very 
difmal Condition, a civil War being ready to commence, 
that threatened great Calamities to the whole Country. 
We have heard before, that the right Heir of this mighty 
Empire was fhut up in the ftrong Cattle of Ofaca , where 
Twas defigned he fhould live in perpetual Ignorance of 
himfelf, and his juft Title to the Crown •, or, at leaft, if 
he fhould by any means come to the Knowledge of his 
true Quality, fhould by that clofe Confinement be depri- 
ved of all Opportunities of giving any Difturbance to the 
prefent Poffeffor j but the ufurping Emperor’s Plot did 
not take the defired Effedt: The young Prince came to 
know himfelf fome way or other, and accordingly took 
up Arms to affert and maintain his Right. He converter 
his Prifon into a ftrong Garrifon, and inftead of other 
Keepers got quickly about him an Army of one hundred 
thoufand°Men, bold, refolute, hardy Soldiers, moft of 
them Out-laws, Exiles, and Malecontents, who flocked 
in to him from all Parts of the Empire, and will fpend 
their Blood to fet him in the Throne. Befides this Force 
of Men, he had laid in as good a Strength of Proviflon, 
having furnifhed the invincible Cattle of Ofaca with Vic- 
tuals for three Years. 
This was the Alarm which the Emperor ever dreaded : 
Nothing could look with a more threatening, malignant 
Afpedt upon his State and Power than a black Cloud ga- 
thering about the Cattle of Ofaca. However, to main- 
tain his own Prete'nfions, he marched in Perfon with an 
Army of three hundred thoufand Men towards the Prince, 
and fome little Bickerings had patted between Parties of 
both Armies at the Time of the writing of this •> but now 
the whole Empire expedted the Refult of a pitched Battle, 
in which that Controverfy fhould be folemnly decided, 
which of thefe two Pretenders fhould finally wear the Im- 
perial Crown of Japon. 
It was not long before this that the Emperor declared 
himfelf a publick Enemy to the Chriftians, giving Orders 
for the banifhing all Jefuits, Friars, Nuns, and their Ad- 
herents, out of Japon, pulling down their Churcnes and 
Monafteries, and to make fure Work with them, not only 
ordering their Banifhment, but actually fhipping them 
away hmffelf, fome for China, and others for the Manil- 
las : And in a fhort Space after this Perfecution, a very 
great Confufion happened at Eddo (one of the largeft Cities 
of the Empire) occattoned by a moft dreadful Tuffonjhat 
raged there. The City was almoft demolifhed by it, a 
great Part of the Buildings being broke down, and the Sea 
breaking in at the fame time, threatened to fwallow up all 
the reft. To that the Inhabitants were forced to quit the 
Place, and run up into the Mountains for Shelter. The 
Pagan and the Chriftian Japonefe are very contrary one to 
another in their Opinions and Attentions concerning the 
Caufe of this horrible Commotion. The latter fay, ’tis a 
Judgment from God upon the Nation for the Affronts of- 
fered to the Chriftian Religion, particularly for the Empe- 
ror’s banifning it with all the pious Jefuits that preached it, 
' as he lately did, fo that the Circumftance of the Calamity 
with refpedt to that Place, clearly (as they fay) expounds the 
Caufe of it. On the other hand, the Pagans fay ’tis 
Witchcraft, and that the Jefuits, upon their Banifhment, 
fell to conjuring, and rai fed that Storm to plague the Coun- 
try, in Revenge. 
At the Time of Captain Saris' s being in Japon, it was 
thought, that if any other Englifo Ship came into thofe 
Parts the Goods might immediately be fold off, without 
the Formality of carrying another Prefent to the Emperor ; 
but ’twas afterwards found to be otherwife, and every Ship 
that came in was under a Neceffity of doing it, paying 
[ A M. A D A M S. 867 
its Cuftom that Way ; more than this, they could not hate 
Liberty fo much as to fet out a Junk, without the Empe- 
ror’s Licence was annually procured s fop twa§ made 
Death for any Japonefe Mariner to ftir out of the Count! y 
without Leave, only their own Ships might go in and due 
freely whenever they had Gccafton. _ 
A good Projed was fet on Foot for beginning a Trade 
upon the Coaft of China , at a Town near Languid , to which 
Place a Ship might fail from Firando with a good V irtd 
in three or four Days Time. This was firft propofed and 
undertaken by fome confidefable Chineje then in j aponj, 
who laboured very hard in the Matter, and made no Que- 
ftion of accomplifhing it fo far, that three EngUJhSfx ips 
fhould have a Vent for their Commodities every Year at 
that Place. The Endeavours of the Englifh Factory (fet- 
tled at Firando) towards a Trade from Tujhnia to' Cored 
proved ineffectual, very little to any Purpofe being to bd 
done there. There was no Vent for any Commodities, but 
Pepper only, and not much of that, though fold at fome- 
thing a better Rate. By all Circumitances, it feems to ap- 
pear, that the Cor cans are not at ail difpofea to a Coirt" 
fpondence with them of Ti'fhrna, fmee they 11 allow them 
but to come into one little I own, and 1 or bid them to gd 
without the Vf alls of that upon Pam of Death, nor lo little 
a Way up into the Country, and that the King of Tvfkma 
is no Subject to the Emperor or Japon •, fo tnat there was 
no Danger of this latter Prince’s getting any Footing 
amongft them, by the opening a Correspondence with the 
former. 
Yet the Coreans are poffeffed with fuch Jealoufies and 
Fears of the Japonefe, as not to indulge any of their Neigh- 
bourhood in any manner of Liberties, by which it may 
be poftible to fatten any hold upon diem y And the truth 
is, they are not fearful and miftru’ftful without Came, if, 
at leaft, former Attempts upon their Liberty may be. a 
Reafon why an Adverfary that made them fhould be dif- 
trufted for the future •, for Tico-fam , the Emperor before 
this, did adtually make an Irruption into Corea, intend- 
ing to carry on his Conquefts to the very Gates of Peking, 
and furprize the Chine fe Emperor in his Palace : But he 
was, in the midft of that Career of Fortune prevented, by 
a Corean Nobleman, who, to ferve his Prince and Coun- 
try in that Extremity, gave the Conqueror his Death in 
a Cup of Poifon, dying himfelf with him at the fame 
time. By this means the JaponeJe loft ail they had gotten 
in Corea , and left China to the After-Conqueft of tht 
Tartars, which was very like, at this time, to have fallen 
to their own Share. 
Now ’tis very probable, that this is the Reafon of the 
horrid and inveterate Prejudices thefe two People enter- 
tain one againft the other. The Japonefe were the Inva* 
ders of the Coreans , and the Coreans robbed the Japonefe 
of a glorious and fortunate Prince. But yet that Princd, 
how dear foever to the Japonefe , was an Invader of the 
juft Rights and Liberties of the Coreans •, and they had 
no Reafon tamely to give away to a foreign Power, that 
pretended ,to enflave and trample upon them, if they 
could find any Means, either by Force or Policy, to put 
a flop to it. However, it is certain, that the Japonefe 
mortally hate the Coreans, and can never be pofietted with 
Sentiments of Friendfnip for them as long as the World 
{lands, unlefs the Humour of the Nation ftrangeiy alters. 
They cannot, with any Patience, bear the Sight of a 
Corean and thofe People they take for fuch cannot walk 
the Streets without a whole Rabble at their Heels, flout- 
ing and pelting them with Dirt and Stones. 
Thus it was with Captain Saris in fevetal Towns in 
: Japon, where the People did not know what the Englijh 
were j there was hardly any patting along, the Mob being 
fo very rude and clamorous : Nay, the very Children had 
it in their Mouths, as well as the reft, Core , Core, Cocore 
Ware . You Coreans with falfe Hearts. I he Japonefe are 
the civileft, and moft well-bred People in the W odd, 
only they cannot be civil to a Corean , or any body they 
think to be fo. It is faid, that there are very large Cities 
in this Province of Cored •, and alfo towards the Sea f 
great many Bogs, impaflable by Horfe or foot almoft, to 
that they ufe the Sailing-Waggons, winch are furmthed 
with Wheels* as other Waggons are, but much broader 
