7 
o 
A fuccinB Account of the Adventures 
r. 
the Captain, if he wanted any thing, to make certain Sig- 
nals, which he mentioned ; and at the fame time told him, 
that in cafe any of his People died, he fhoiild make two 
SigMls, and dkould not throw the Body over till they came 
and examined it. The Day following the Interpreters, and 
ibme Gentlemen of the Emperor’s Court, came on Board 
in the Morning, and afked abundance of Queftions, to all 
which the Captain gave fuch clear and diftinCt Anfwers, 
that they feemed perfectly fatisfied. 
They returned again after Dinner, and brought a great 
Quantity of Refreffiments, which had been bought by the 
Captain of the Dutch Ships, and at a very high Price, 
which, however, the Englifh, Captain received with much 
Complaifance, and teftified his Thanks for them, as if it 
had been a great Favour •, and at the fame time defired 
leave to hoift his Flag, and to found his Trumpets, which 
Demands were granted. The following Days were fpent 
much in the fame manner ; that is to fay, the fame Perfons 
came on Board, and (till afked abundance of Queftions, 
Miich turned chiefly upon Religion, and the Difference be- 
tween the Faith profeffed by the Portugueze and Spaniards , 
and that held by the Englifh and Dutch , which, it may be 
eafily fuppofed, gave them a good deal of Trouble on both 
Sides. 
At laft, on the 28 th of July , about Ten in the Morn- 
ing, the principal Secretaries, with abundance of Interpre- 
ters, and a large Train of Attendance, came on Board the 
Ship, in order to inform the Captain that they had received 
an Anfwer from Court, and that it was by no means 
favourable. It amounted, in fhort, to this, that his Im- 
perial Majefty had declared he could not permit any Com- 
merce in his Dominions to the Subjects of a Prince who 
had efpoufed the Daughter of the King of Portugal , the 
principal Enemy of him and his Empire, and that there- 
fore he was to prepare himlelf for failing as foon as it was 
poffible. 
The Captain reprefented upon this, that the Seafon of 
the Year confidered, it was Amply impoflible for him to 
ftir, and therefore he hoped they would allow him to ftay 
till the proper Seafon, and the Return of the Trade-Winds, 
gave him an Opportunity of proceeding thence with Safety. 
To which realonable Demand they, without any great Diffi- 
culty, confented : The Captain from this took occafion to 
propofe another thing, which, he believed, would have 
been as readily granted, from the Sorrow and Concern 
which thele good People exprefied. In fhort, the fecond 
Favour he afked was this, that fince he had fpent two Years 
in his Voyage, and fince it was not probable they fhould 
ever have an Opportunity of purchafing Englifh Commo- 
dities again, he might have Leave given him to difpofe of 
his prefent Cargo : But the Reception given to this Propo- 
fition was very different from what he expedted ; he was 
told, that none in the Empire durft either adventure to 
purchafe any of the Goods he had on Board, nor fo much 
as to requeft a Licence for that Purpofe from Court, where, 
when once a Refolution was taken, it was abfolutely final, 
and there was no getting it either reverled or reviewed. 
To teftify, however, their own good Will to the Captain, 
and to fliew him how ready they were to do any thing they 
could to oblige him, they confented that he fhould purchafe 
Provifions, and whatever other Neceftaries he wanted, 
with Merchandize, and not with Money. 
If in the whole Courfe of thefe Proceedings the Captain 
met with many things that furprized him, there was one fell 
out more ftrange than all the reft, and it was this, that the 
Japonefe Governor acquainted him with more of the Affairs 
of Europe than he was Mafter of ; for difcourfing of the 
Dutch Wars, he enquired how Jong the Englifo had been 
at Peace with that Nation ? and upon the Captain’s giving 
him a clear Anfwer, and mentioning alfo the Time of his 
own Departure from England, the Governor replied, then 
you know nothing of the Attempt made to conquer the 
Dutch by your Mafter, in Confederacy with the King of 
France , and the Bifhop of Munfier , and that they are already 
Mafters of three of the feven Provinces ? The Captain af- 
fured him, that he did not, and that the News very much 
iurprized him. However, he very eafily underftood from 
thence, that he was very little obliged to the Dutch for 
their good Offices in this Negotiation. 
Before his Departure, he refolved to make another 
Trial as to what might be done hereafter; and with this 
View, he enquired of the Governor, whether, after the 
Death of the Queen of England , it might not be poffible 
for his Majefty’s Subjects to obtain Leave to trade in 
Japon ? To which the Japonefe Officer made him this re- 
markable Anfwer, that he would not advife the Englifh to 
make fuch an Attempt ; for that as the Sweat once expelled 
never found an Entrance again into the human Body, fo the 
Orders of the Emperor once iflued, the Matters which occa- 
fioned them never more found admittance into his Mind. All 
the Time they remained in the Port, the Governor, his Se- 
cretary, and other Officers, made them frequent Vifits, and 
fatigued them with an. infinite Number of intricate,’ and 
fome of them very impertinent Queftions, which gave them 
a great deal of Trouble ; but if we except this, they were 
in all other things ufed with as much Kindnefs and Civility 
as it was poffible. When the Seafon came that they might 
depart with Safety, the Governor came on Board, and 
brought with him all that he had taken from them, except 
their Powder, which he declared it was not in his Power 
to put on Board till they were ready to fail ; but at the 
fame time he told the Captain, that he would take care 
none of the Dutch Ships fhould ftir out of Port, till he had 
time to get fafe to Bantam , becaufe, as he was informed 
there was a War broke out between the two Nations. 
On the 28th of Auguft 1673, the Wind being fair, the 
Captain received pofitive Orders to fail without Delay, 
which accordingly he did, fully perfuaded in himfelf, that 
if it had not been for the Intrigues of the Dutch, he might 
have fiicceeded in his Deflgn, and have raifed his Reputa- 
tion by the effeblual Execution of his Commiffion. This 
is certainly the laft Attempt made in our Favour, and in 
all probability, it is the laft that will be ever made, unlefs 
a more enterprizing Spirit ftiould rife in fucceeding Gene- 
rations than feems to actuate the prefent Race of C Britons . 
In the fucceeding Volume we fhall infert fome farther Ac- 
counts of this Country ; but before we difmifs this Subject, 
it cannot but be agreeable to the Reader to fee the great 
Maxim of the Japonefe, upon which our Exclufion is plainly 
built, viz. The Refolution of admitting no Strangers into their 
Country on any Terms , explained, and fet in a clear Light, 
the rather, becaufe the Examination of this Point will na- 
turally lead us to explain fome others that will render the 
Connection of this Difcourfe more eafy and obvious than it 
would otherwife be. 
The original Government of Japon was by an abfolute 
Monarch, in whofe Perfon were united all thofe Characters 
that naturally give a Luftre to a Man in the Eyes of his 
own Species, j He had befides the Regal Dignity, that of 
head Prieft, lupream Legiflator and Director of the Forces 
of the Empire all invefted in him ; but as here and elfe- 
where Ability is not always annexed to Blood, fo it fell 
out, that fome of thefe fupream Monarchs, who in their 
own Language are .ftiled Dairy, which fignifies elevated 
Lord, were in fome meafure governed by thofe to whom 
they intruded the Command of their Forces ; and this 
prime Minifter, and General in chief, had the Title of 
Cubo-Sama , which has very near the fame Signification with 
the Turkifh Title of Vizir- Azem, that is, tnoft illufirious, 
or mojl refplendent Lord ; and at length the Cubo-Sama be- 
came in Fadt the Mafter of the Empire, and the Dairy had 
the Title only, or at the moft an empty Shadow of Autho- 
rity, or rather of Sovereignty. 
This Ufurpation in the Cubo-Sama s began about the 
twelfth Century, and occafioned great Wars and Diftur- 
bances in Japon , from whence arofe that Multitude of little 
Kingdoms and Principalities into which this Country was 
divided, when firft it was vifited by the Europeans. For 
when the Governors of Provinces faw that the Cubo-Sama? s 
had made fo free with their Lords and Mafters the Dairy's, 
who were, and ftill are, treated with divine Honours, they 
thought there might be Jefs Crime in refilling thefe lawlefs 
Minifters, and fo fet themfelves up for Kings and Princes. 
Taico-Sama, which is another Title of Honour, tho’ ufed 
by moft Writers, and particularly by fuch as I have trail* 
icribed in this Sedtion as a proper Name, was the firft who 
formed a Defign of making the Cubo-Sama as abfolute as 
ever 
4 
