The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1847-05-03
Trade with Japan.
From tho Calcutta Star, October %. !

From tho Calcutta Star, October %.
Some weeks since intelligence received from home
OF the intention Of the British Government to occupy
the island OF Labuan as a naval station and we took
occasion to notice the immense advantages to trade
in the Eastern Archipelago likely to arise from such
In connection with this subject 1t may be well
to call attention to the increased interest which Is
At nome IN our trade with the far East which
IL especially cvnced by the project which has time
past been matter Of discussion In the English papers
that OF sending out mission to the Court Of Yedo for
the purpose Of establishing commercial relations with the
japanese
Whether an attempt TO open this extensive empire
or part Of to British trade likely to be successful
II IA not ensy to say and although II Ia than pro-
bable that great difficulties would be met with the
outset Of the experiment yet we cannot but think that
II IL worth trying II Ia true that the East India Com
pnny expended some Ave laos Of rupees in Its
attempts to open trade with the Japanese in the
seventeenth century but there appears every reason to
believe that had the privileges obtained by the treaty OF
1919 been followed up intercourse with the country
would have continued unlntcrruptedy the
time. The Company however did not think II worth
while at that time any decided towards
establishing any extended traffic on the basis Of tho
treaty and as petty trade could not then be carried on
without loss the enterprise voluntarily abandoned
in 1898 Subsequently to this, endcavours, made to
the lost ground but tho ntrgucs Of the Portu
guese who alway inclined to interfere with the
gon Of the people and who according tosome accounts
actually plotted tho subjugation OF the empire so
asperaed the government that towards the close OF the
seventeenth century all foreigners expelled the
Japancf domnions with the exception Of the Dutch,
who having always held themselves aloof from mission
operations, managed to secure for themselves the
privilege OF driving n limited trade Mt Nangasaki,
ourishing port Of Kousiou the most southerly Of the
Japanese islands There Is for supposing TINT
the English adventures would not have been then able to
hold their ground it not for the story industrious
ly circulated by the Dutch that the King Of England
had married Portuguese princess and that therefore
the interests and objects Of the two nations were in
unison
The trade Of the Dutch with Japan however, has
always been Of very Insignificant sort. Their factory
at Nangasaki II situated small artificial island Of
some half In extent all to which Is closely
guarded by Japanese soldiers. No more than eleven
Europeans are at any time allowed to reside on the
island and the treatment these people receive at the
hands Of the Japanese, would hardly be endured we
should say by any other people than Dutch traders IL
said that the person at the head Of the mission
obliged tosubmit to every ndigny at the hands OF the
meanest native officials and with reference to the re-
srctons under which their trade IL carried Macul
loch gives the Following" The Dutch. who were the
hrs permitted to visit the enre after the repuson Of
the Portuguese had their earliest factory on the island
OF Frato but they removed 1871 by the emperors