PUTTING THE KEY INTO THE LOCK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14375, 21 May 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

PUTTING THE KEY INTO THE LOCK.

• BY W. GRAY DIXON, M.A. Fob the awakening of the mind to the glory of the age in which we live there is nothing better than, to look back half a century and note the national gates which were then closed against foreign entrance, but which are now swung wide open in heartiest international welcome The-con-tract is one of the mightiest and most" inspiring that it has ever been given to, one human lifetime to see. And the pioneers who put the keys into the locks must rank with those most worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance. Among these pioneers a foremost place is due to Commodore Perry and those associated with him in the American expedition to Japan in 1853-54. Events Have revealed this as the most potential act in the great' world-opening drama. The key that unlocked Japan was a master-key that meant the unlocking of the whole of Asia. We can see, this clearly to-day. And the clearness with which we see it makes eVery glimpse into the minds of those who were engaged in the act profoundly interesting. How did Japan impress them? Had they any idea of the far-reaching issues of their enterprise? The interpreter to the expedition wag Dr. S. Wells Williams, of Canton, a learned American missionary. His journal of the Terry expedition to Japan (1853-54), a careful daily record of what he saw and heard at this momentous meeting of-West and East, has recently, for the first time, been given to the world. It constitutes the most recent number of the " Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan," and is most inviting reading. Not that it presents any special attractions of literary style, but there is the impress throughout of ripe scholarship, keen observation, and of a highly cultured and catholic mind, and the observed facts of which it is a direct and spontaneous transcriotion are in themselves so intensely interesting as to be independent of literary art. It was on Friday. July 8, 1853, about four o'clock in the'afternoon, that Perry's four ships dropped anchor in the harbour of Uraga in the Bay of Yedo. Four rockets had been sent up to announce their arrival. The tiny town of Uraga was in full view. As if peering over the wooded bluffs in the foreground, but far off to the west, showed the kingly cone of Fuji-san, reputed the very brain of ti.e Japanese world, and the dwelling of the great God Himself. "Many boats like scows, full of athletic, naked boatmen, came near. I asked one well-dressed man in the nearest to: the gangway to send ashore, and request a high officer to come off and take a letter to the Emperor." (At that time the Shogun, or "Tycoon," of Yedo, was notunnat-, urally mistaken by foreigners for the Emperor, the Emperor himself, the mysterious Mikado, being mistaken for a sort of Pontiff). While talking, a second official came up saying, 'I talk Dutch," whereupon Mr. Portman told him that the commodore only wanted to have a high officer to come aboard; he then pointed to the highest one there was to take such a commission, the second Governor of. Uraga, standing near him, and said that he could not venture to go ashore for any other. After some parley these two were admitted and received by Lieutenant Contee, in Captain Buchanan's cabin, and told that the President had sent four ships on a peaceful errand to the Emperor with a friendly letter, which it was desired to send up to Yedo with despatch bv a proper person. . . These officials said they would come tomorrow and receive the letter." A further interview brought out the objection that Nagasaki was the onlv place where Japanese laws allowed the letter to be received. But the American commodore nested that, he was under orders from President | Fillmore to communicate with Yedo, and' that he was as much bound to obey his orders as they were to obey theirs. Meanwhile soldiers could be seen drawn up on the shore. The bearing of the Japanese officers was dignified and self-possessed, and " nothing could have been more polite than the whole' manner of the incident. When a naval boat came alongside, it at 'once impressed Dr. Williams with the superior order and discipline on board, better than what prevailed in China. Thus two of the characteristics which we now know to be outstanding among the Japanese, their matchless courtesy and theu- genius for government were immediately m evidence. At length it was agreed to await instructions from Yedo as to whether or not the letter could be received, and on Tuesday. July 14, the Americans were permitted to land. Two envoys of high rank had arrived from Yedo,Toda, Prince of Tdau, and Ido, Prince of Iwaini. 'Ine landingplace was the beach of Kurihama, where elaborate preparations had been made for their reception. Pavilions, enclosed by white and blue-striped curtains, had been erected for the interview of the commodore with the envoys. Both sides were prepared for any emergency. The Japanese troops present numbered 5000. Dr. Williams was impressed with their fine horses and with the cuirasses and metallic helmets of ..he cavalry. The utmost order was maintained, nor did the populace intrude beyond the guard. "The hills rose behind, partly cultivated, and looking exceedingly fresh and green, inviting us in vain to explore their slopes, for the ridiculous laws interfere to prevent our trespassing on them, lruly, laws which prevent such things must have been brought about by a hard and dear experience, for it is against nature thus to prohibit intercourse uetween man ana The interview was not protracted. " The boys laid the boxes on the floor, and the two blacks came in to open them, lhey were taken out and opened upon the lacquered box, and the packets containing the copies and translations presented by Mr Contee. Tatsunosuke and lezaimon were both on the floor, and the former commenced the interview by asking it .the letters were ready to be delivered. hen he made known the reply, he put his head nearly to the floor in speaking to \ezaimon 'who, on his knees, informed the envoy'in a whisper. The-receipt for them in ' Dutch and Japanese was then delivered to Mr. Portman, and the originals themselves opened out in the boxes as they lay. Commodore Perry now spoke. He said that in two or three days he intended to leave for Lewchew and China, and would take any letters, etc., for the envoys, ; an offer which passed unacknowledged, being doubtless regarded as officious on the part of a banned foreigner. And then occurred an instance of that tactless bluntless into which people of our race so readily fall, and which is so alien to the sense of propriety of the Far Eastern. The commodore went on to say that there was a revolution in China by insurgents, who had taken Nanking and Amoy, and wished to introduce a new religion. "It will be better not to talk about revolution at this time" was the dignified and significant reply, and, Dr. Williams adds, the proper one too,' for the remark was very malapropos. In Perry and Williams we have two clearly marked types of makers of international history; the masterful warrior, actuated "by national ambition rather than a desire for the general well-being of the race, prejudiced indeed against other races, and disposed to under-estimate their characters and claims, and not too scrupulous in his methods so long as his patriotic ambition is satisfied ; and the open-minded minister of religion and culture, constrained to open up the world everywhere to mutual intercourse by the conviction of the unity of the race and the inalienable dignity'and sacredness of man. wherever found. At a later point in his journal Williams cannot restrain his indignation in this connexion. "I do not at all," he says, "like the way in which this nation is spoken of by the' commodore and most of the officers, calling them savages, liars, a pack of fools, poor devils; cursing them and then denying practically all of it by supposing them worth making a treaty with. Truly, what sort" of instruments does God work with!" But to return to the historic interview at Kurihama. " Conversation being thus stopped, and no signs of any refreshment appearing, there was nothing else to do than to go. • The contrast between its in-

terlocutors was very striking. In the front was ar group of foreign, officers, and behind them the picturesque-looking shaven-pated Japanese in relief -against the checked screen; on the left a row* of full-dressed officers with swords, epaulettes, etc., all in full lustre; on the right the two envoys and a secretary, with two more plainlydressed men on their knees between the two rows." Williams was of opinion that the immobility of the two Princes was studied. He was told that their stiffness relaxed as soon as the foreigners had gone. Certainly there was no stiffness in the genial crowd, as the interpreter moved among them on his way back to his boat. One after another plied him with questions. Were the women .in America white? How could he learn strategy? To which latter question Williams gave the frank reply, "Only by your going abroad or letting us come here." A number,/ were invited on board the ships and sailed in them back to Uraga. All were . intensely interested in what they saw. One man more particularly was so eager to examine and measure tilings as to almost annoy the officers. The meaning of it all appeared when en their return to Japan seven months later it was found that this man, Sahorosuke by name, had published a considerable book on American guns, carefully illustrated ! The reply of the two envoys from Yedo was to the following effect: "According to Japanese law it is illegal for any paper to be received from foreign countries except at Nagasaki, but as the commodore has taken much trouble to bring the letter of the President here, it is notwithstanding received. No conversation can be allowed, and as soon as the documents and the copy are handed over, you will leave." With this answer Perry" had fain to be content, and his ships were, soon underweigh. Not 3-et had the treaty come, but . it was to come very soon, as soon as March 31 of the following year. The door was vet unopened, but the kev had been put into the lock, the lock of Japan, the lock of Asia and—may we not say without exaggeration?—the lock of a new world.