no business of his, and that, so long as strangers kept the laws and traded honestly, he cared not who they were nor to whom they might be nominally subject. On the last occasion of a Hispano-Portuguese memorial being presented on this question, he lost all patience and hounded the petitioners from his presence, emphatically declaring that if "devils from hell" visited his realm, they should be treated like angels from heaven, "so long as they behaved like gentlemen." In the present instance also, Ieyasu, recognising that the advice of the Portuguese was not remotely related to their own commercial and religious interests, flatly declined to follow it. Adams was released, and with his shipmates rejoined their vessel, which in their absence had been plundered. Liberal restitution was, however, made by Ieyasu, and after some wrangling the money was divided among the crew according to relative rank. What became of his companions is unknown; we have now only to deal with Adams himself, whose fortunes waxed greater after the dispersal of the band. The abortive Dutch expedition proved of some historical note, since it led to an Englishman setting foot in Japan for the first time, and becoming the assistant and friend of its ruler. He has left us no details of the first five years of his service for Ieyasu, but about the end of that period he was invited to construct a ship on the European model, and the vessel was designed and built, giving the Shogun great satisfaction. A second and larger ship was afterwards made to convey home a Spanish governor of the Philippines, who had been wrecked on the Japanese coast. Adams, who from his letters seems to have been an educated man, was also useful to Ieyasu as an instructor. "Now being in such grace and favour, by reason learned him some points of geometry and understanding of the art of mathematics with other things, I pleased him so, that what I said he would not contrary." His services indeed were rewarded with an estate near Yedo, called Hemimura, "like unto a lordship in England, with 80 or 90 husbandmen that be as my slaves or servants." With all this, however, Adams was home-sick. He had left a wife in England, and seems to have been an attached and, all things considered, a faithful husband, often making remittances to Mrs. Adams through the East India Company. After five years, therefore, he besought his master to permit him to visit his native land, "desiring to see my poor wife and children according to conscience and nature." Apparently he had not yet married in Japan, but by 1616 he had a Japanese wife and a son and daughter, Joseph and Susanna, who are frequently mentioned in the diary of Richard Cocks. Ieyasu refused leave of absence; probably he feared that if his Englishman crossed the broad seas, he would think twice before returning. The application was renewed when tidings came of the Hollanders being in Java and Patani; Adams now told the Shogun that if his departure were permitted, he would bring both Dutch and English to traffic in the country. But the answer was still in the negative. Meanwhile he was living a busy life. He made several tours round the coast, and advised on naval and military matters; probably he did some private trading as well. His experience enabled him to be of service to the Dutch traders who came to Japan in 1609 and 1611, when Spex established the factory at Hirado, and, owing to his standing at court, he was also useful to them as a diplomatist. He rendered like service to other foreigners in Japan, for he says in one of his letters: "The Spaniard and Portugal hath been my bitter enemies to death; and now they must seek to me, an unworth wretch, for the Spaniard as well as the Portugal must have all their negosshes go through my hand. God have the praise for it." From the Dutch ship of 1611 he learned that his countrymen were trading in the East, and, hoping that some of them might know him, he wrote on October 22nd, 1611, the interesting narrative of his life in epistolary form, which has fortunately been preserved with other letters of his in the India Office. There is a touch of pathos in the superscription of this letter which the lonely Englishman sent forth upon its travels, trusting it might reach a sympathetic reader: "To my Unknown Friends and Countrymen desiring this letter by your good means, or the news or copy of this letter, may come into the hands of one or many of my acquaintance in Limehouse or elsewhere, or in Kent, in Gillingham by Rochester." He concludes with a brief appreciation of his adopted country, in the course of which he says: "The people of this island of Japan are good of nature, courteous above measure, and valiant war their justice is severely executed without any partiality upon transgressors of the law. They are governed in great civility. I mean, not a land better governed in the world by civil policy." Probably through their factors, recently settled in Bantam, two copies of this letter were transmitted to the "Worshipfull Fellowship of the Merchants of London trading into the East Indies." It has been said to have led to the opening of British intercourse with Japan, but this is a mistake, for the first English expedition to that country under Cap. tain John Saris had started on April 18th, 1611, six months before it was written. It must have been some earlier letter of Adams, now lost, which inspired this enterprise, and in Saris's commission he was instructed to take counsel with Adams on all questions. It must not be supposed, however, that Saris was sent with the sole object of opening trade with Japan. He had other duties to perform, the main object of the expedition, as originally planned, being to call at Surat, where Sir Henry Middleton had been fostering the Company's interests. The East India merchants had regard for their servants' spiritual welfare as well as commercial ends, though Foxe's Book OF MARTYRS can scarce have been cheerful reading for little groups of Christians living amid men of alien faiths who were experts in torture. In the forty-first article of Saris's instructions we read that "for the better comfort and recreation" of the factors in the Indies, the Company is sending "the works of that worthy servant of Christ, Mr. William Perkins, to instruct their minds and feed their souls with that heavenly food of the knowledge of the truth of God's word, and the Book of Martyrs in two volumes, as also Mr. Hakluyt's Voyages to recreate their spirits with variety of history." The earlier part of Saris's voyage need not be dealt with here. In October, 1612, he anchored off Bantam. There he saw Adams's letter of the previous year, which had already been answered by Augustine Spalding, chief merchant of the East India Company in Java, who sought further information of Japan's commercial prospects. Long before Adams's response to this letter reached Bantam, Saris had sailed for Japan in the CLOVE, reaching (June 12th, 1613,) Hirado (then called Firando) on the island of the same name, which lies off Kiushiu, the southern member of the Japanese group. Hirado had long been a busy port. From an early period travellers to or from China passed through it; the Mongols had made it their point of attack in their attempted invasion of Japan in the thirteenth century; in the sixteenth it was a resort for Chinese traders and smugglers. The Portuguese had formerly been settled at Hirado, and the Apostle of the Indies, St. Francis Xavier, had founded a church there, while the Dutch, as we have seen, had set up a factory about two years before Saris's arrival. He had a cordial reception from Matsura Hoin, the ex-daimyo of Hirado, who, in accordance with Japanese custom, continued to administer the district, though his nephew or grandson, Tono Sama,1 was nominally in power. Both noblemen, attended by forty galleys, rowed out to the CLOVE, and Saris led them to his cabin, where he had prepared a banquet and music for their delectation. He then handed & letter over from James the First, but Matsura did not open it at once, saying he would await Ange's (Adams's) arrival. The latter was absent at the time on one of his court missions, but the daimyo undertook to send him a letter from the captain. For the next few days the English ship was a resort for the gaping curious of Hirado, and, according to Saris's journal, some of the Catholic Japanese ladies fell into an error of judgment in admiring his decorations. Giving leave to divers of the better sort of women to come into my cabin, where the picture of Venus hung, very lasciviously set out, and in a great frame, 'An official designation equivalent to his Highness. they fell down and worshipped it for our Lady with shows of great devotion, telling me in a whispering manner (that some of their own companions, which were not so, might not hear), that they were Christianos, whereby we perceived them to be of the Portingale-made papists. On another day: The king came aboard again, and brought four chief women with him. They were attired in gowns of silk, clapt the one sort over the other, and so girt to them, bare-legged, only a pair of halfbuskins bound with silk riband about their instep; their hair very black and very long, tied up in a knot upon the crown in a comely manner: their heads nowhere shaven as the men's were. They were well faced, handed and footed; clear skinned and white, but wanting colour which they amend by art. The king's women seemed to be somewhat bashful, but he willed them to be frolic. They sang divers songs and played upon certain instruments (whereof one did much resemble our lute, being bellied like it, but longer in the neck and fretted like ours, but had only four gut-strings). Matsura, who appreciated English cooking, especially powdered beef and pork "sod with onions, radishes and turnips," continued amiable and attentive to his visitors, and by his consent they rented a house. With about a third of his officers and men Saris took up his abode in it, and the lead, powder, cloth, copper and other goods of the cargo were stored in its godown or warehouse. Saris employed his time in making friends with the merchants, Japanese and foreign, of the port, and to that end distributed gifts right and left, an essential factor in Japanese commerce and diplomacy. Seven weeks slipped by without any more serious trouble than the esca pades of Christopher Evans, gunner's mate, who persisted in going ashore without leave and running wild there, "for which cause," says the captain, "I gave order to set him in the bilboes, where before the boatswain and most of the company he did most deeply swear to be the destruction of Jack Saris, for so it pleased him to call me." On July 29th Adams returned, and to Saris and Richard Cocks, who had come in the CLOVE as chief merchant, detailed the prospects of Japanese trade, speaking warmly of the natives. Saris's journal indicates that from the first there was a coolness between the two men. They rubbed each other the wrong way. Adams was invited to settle at the English factory, but preferred his own quarters in the town, where he had a St. George's ensign flying; while willing to do all in his power for his countrymen, he had no intention of throwing over his clients of other nationalities. Saris complains that, whenever he wants Adams, the latter has an engagement elsewhere and says that, if wanted, he can always be heard of at the Dutch factory. Probably it was the old story: the official from home coming out and wishing to command the man on the spot, who knew the ways of the natives and to whom red tape was repellent, and the latter retaliating with independence and brusqueness of manner. It must be remembered that Adams was not yet in the service of Saris's employers; he was merely giving help and advice, and on a vital point his counsel was not followed. He was against the English factory being set up at Hirado on the confines of the empire, and urged that it should be in eastern Japan, near Yedo, which, as a great city and seat of government, offered an excellent market. Saris, however, pleased with his treatment by the local ruler, Matsura, determined that Hirado should be the headquarters of British trade in Japan; it was even with difficulty that Adams persuaded him to present No. 535.-VOL. XC. his letters to Ieyasu (who in 1605 had delegated the Shogunate to his son, but still retained supreme power), and to that son, Hidetada. The daimyo provided a galley for the journey, and with eighteen men, half of them English, Saris and Adams set out for Ieyasu's court, then at Shizuoka. On the way they visited Kamakura and the great copper image of Dai Butsu, and, faithful to the traditions of the British tourist, some of our people went into the body of it and hooped and hollowed, which made an exceeding great noise," while others inscribed their names on the image. On September 8th Saris delivered the royal letter to the imperial secretary, who handed it in turn to Ieyasu, court etiquette not permitting direct presentation. Saris then withdrew, and Adams was summoned for consultation, the result being that Saris was permitted to send in a petition, stating what privileges he desired, and duly received a charter authorising trade all over Japan. The party then proceeded to Yedo, where the Shogun Hidetada gave it audience; and on the return journey four days were spent at Adams's house near Uraga, a small port outside the entrance to Yedo Bay. Adams took the opportunity to renew his counsel that the factory should be set up there, but Saris, while acknowledging the merits of Uraga harbour, remained bent on his former scheme. After the return to Hirado the breach between the two men continued to widen. Tales were set afloat to Adams's disadvantage. Even Cocks, despite genuine friendship, a friendship apparently mingled with awe, writes: "I cannot choose but note it down that both I myself and all the rest of our nation do see that he is much more friend to the Dutch than to the Englishmen, which E The First Englishman in Japan. are his own countrymen, God forgive him." One trumpery incident caused much mutual irritation about this time. A servant of Adams's, whom he had left at Hirado to cater for the merchants, "did most unreasonably cozen them; he seems, in fact, by illegal commissions to have made about ten shillings on the wine bill. Saris, indignant with the man, went to the master. "In friendly manner," he says, "I acquainted Mr. Adams in the presence of Mr. Cocks, of his man's dishonest and villainous dealing, being put in trust and to cheat us so unreasonable. He took it very evil that his servant should be so thought of, and so highly took his part, as by the persuasion of Mr. Cocks I did not say further, but gave order to Mr. Cocks to let him go no more to market for us." Adam's attitude can be attributed to his wider acquaintance with the Asiatic servant's elastic code of morals. A more serious cause for friction was of a financial nature. Saris had at Uraga bought for the Company some Kioto ware from a stock kept by Adams as agent for some Spaniards. Adams expected payment in Spanish ryals, then the international currency of the East, but Saris insisted on paying Japanese money and thereby reduced the price five per cent., such a discount being then customary. Adams protested that he was thus out of pocket, as he had to pay ryals to those for whom he had sold the goods, but Saris would not give way. Altogether their relations were far from pleasant, especially towards the end of the captain's stay in Japan. Adams could not but reflect that, so far, his services to the Company had been gratuitous; he had received gifts amounting to £42, but this was not fair remuneration for a man to whose influence and knowledge the success of the expedition was due. He was, indeed, entitled to a a free passage home in Saris's ship, and Ieyasu had now consented to his going; but the prospect of many months with Saris in the confined space of a small vessel cannot have been enticing, and he resolved to let the CLOVE sail without him. Informed of this decision, Saris, who, however he might dislike the other, had to recognise his value to the factory and the certainty that if it did not employ him some foreign one would, made an offer for his services. After some negotiations Adams accepted a salary of £100 a year. Eleven days after the contract was signed, Saris wrote a memorandum for Cocks, in which the references to Adams are nothing less than venomous. He is only fit to be master of the junk or an interpreter, requires constant supervision, and must not be trusted to disburse the Company's money. Saris, then, professed to believe Adams a fool, idler, and knave, yet left him in a responsible post at what was then a high salary. In the circumstances the latter, ignorant of the captain's Parthian dart, must have been well pleased to see the CLOVE fading away on the horizon in December, 1613. Despite Saris's insinuation, Cocks reports to the Company in the following year, "I find the man tractable and willing to do your Worships the best service he may," and mentions that he has repaid £20 advanced by the Company to Mrs. Adams in England. Before Saris left, the factory was in working order. Cocks at its head, with the title of Cape-merchant, left an interesting diary, from which a good idea of the life of the colony can be derived. He established two branch factories at Osaka and Yedo, each with several sub-agencies, and fitted out one or two oversea expedi |