The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-11-29
TIE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
JAPANESE CIVILIZATION.

We find in the New York EreEiag Post a Ion.
and very interesting letter from Japan, written
by r. H. Dana JT-, Esq, Of Boston. from which
We make liberal extracts. The skill:Ul manner
in which Nlr. Dana treats Of JaIIHc-- industry
and civilization. renders the letter one Of tie most
intelligent and valuable papers Oh japan which
ha- vet been published
rrTECT or FOREIGN TRADE AND INTERCOURSE.
80. was - fortunate a. o. H. able To visit al
the ports now open to fOre!ZueTS-N-ga~iki.
kanLgIwa (Which includes IOkuha;uJj and lia-
k1dadi-thus visiting each Of the three Islands
and circumnIyig,ting the group. The effect 81
foreign trade and intercourse J. already obvious
KanaStvya j. Tie port of lesidJ. and now the chief
port of foreigners in July. ISj9. | was there
nine months afterwards. ! found u town grown
up at YOkuhama with almost the fabulous growth
Of California city. What IN June, loJJ, was
a little collection Of JapsIue-. cottages, with q
few rural temples. flrm-hOuse-. and groves GA the
hillside, Is now a town Of some five or six thou
sand japanese inhabitants. with streets broad
ind straight, a strong pJlic-- q fire department.
street barriers and @at.s. ~hre-PE0Oi stOre-h'use-,
two mOles ~ solid masonry iutting into the ELr-
Dor, and innumerable shops for the sale Vi lac
quer work, porcelain, copPer-enamel, and engrav-
ings and cuttings IN ivory, wood, stone and crys-
tai, books, maIe and pictures, and all kinds Ut
japanese curiosities, - well - Of tEe necessarIes
Of daily life and the solid staples ut 0Dnmerce.
All this l. she work Of Japanese capital and skill.
Nor have the foreigners been inactive. They have
built, and are building, their lodging-hOuses and
tre-prOOf gO-dOtcns. (store-hOUs>.) planting trees
and shrubs ia their little enclosures and gather
ing about them all they can command Of western
or are willing u adopt from the Eastern civiiiza-
ton
40 FRENCH MERCHANTS IN JAFAS-
The French Emperor has taken part in tine
English war IN China, made treaties and e-tab-
lished snowy embassies and cDn-ulates with stalls
of Urbane and cultivated men, both in China and
Japan but as far A. / can learn there i not =
French merchant in China or japan, Or a French
cOlonist or householder.
JAPASEsE ExFoRTs-No MPoRTs.
Rice is the staff Of life in japan, and It's expor-
tatiOn, as well as that Of wheat. j. prohibited.
The most promising articles Of foreign trade are
ten and silk but they are not yet developed, and
their fate, in competition with the silks and teas
Of China, l. not decided. But / find the best liz
formed merchants confident Of their success. The
rape seed Is largely cultivated. and It's oil has
been exported with success % Shanghae and a lit
tie o. England. The vegetable wax u . minor
article, but has attracted attention in Europe.
To China the exports are drugs and medicines
fish. Hour, rupe seed Ol, seaweed and various
small a~rticlss Of food and cookery, passing under
the general name Of chOIC chOr. The amount Of
ten exported from japan the last gear Is about
one million Of POuads, and Of silk four thousand
bales and the prices OF these articles have risen
fifty per cent. in the markets of japan since July,
1889, 10 the great advantage of the Japsine>e pro-
Queer and merchant But the trade of Japan i
solely u trade Uf exports. As Vet they buy
nothing. lowell and Lawrence, Lyons and Man
chester and Leeds are spread before them in vain.
SilLS and furs and cottOns they have of their own,
(thOUgh Of their cOttUns we know but little and
IA fabric resembling flannel. but not WOODEN OF
linen, and their cotton fabrics bear no comparison
with ours But they are cheaper. The prices
alone seem to stand in the way.
Gold. which wac - plentiful at the opening Of
fine truIa ~ "a. h. yuIuad bur Hrf1. Ib,ya silver
giving great profits 10 the foreign traders, who
bought gold kObangs for a dollar apiece and sold
them IN China for four dOllaTs-the gold has now
risen to Its European value. and the confusion
and mistakes Of the government as u coinage and
currency are coming To an end-cOnfusicn and
increased by the unreasonable and fraud
ulent demands Of many Of the foreign merchants,
natural enough in a people who had lived by
themselves for twenty centuries, trading in oval
and square coins of gold and silver, and suddenly
found themselves beset by strange round coins,
belonging to all nations, with unknown images
and superscriptions, and varying weights and
values.
Such are some of the material aspects of this
newly admitted commerce. Its moral effects,
more interesting, lie hid in deeper causes
THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEM.
IL Is true, indeed, that Japan is still virtually
a sealed book. The cover, the preface, and a few
Lninterdicted chapters alone are open to us. But
some things we do know. The world knows that
Japan u under = icudal system of the straitest
and most powerful character that this is
surInOunted Icy "A mOnarchical power, vested in
the Tycoon. and soInewiiat controlled by q COun-
of STATE: and that the Mikad0, or Spiritual
believed 10 be- of divine ancestry, has
no secular power. The Tycoon and the great
feudatories, the DaimiOs. own the land which is
held under them, in strict feudal service, by sub
nfeudatiOn-the eighteen greater DaimiOs NOV
ing through the country with trains of soldiers.
III fraar md - .r1 Ca.frrrTrtr p. Tho I
number Of three. I've and ten palaces at 4 time.
These princes are the civil and military chiefs,
the judicial magistrates. a. well as the landOwn-
Prs Of the empire Great as their power Is. ex-
tending often to life and death, while they have
soldiers, subjects and servants, they have
no slaves. There are universities, academies.
schools. degrees in belles-lettres and the
natural sciences Vet, a military and feudal peO-
they do not rank learning 50 high as do the
Chinese. The greater mobiles, the lesser mobiles
Ut gentry. and the civil and military officers and
priests. rank first in the order and state there.
The doctors Of science. medicine and belles-lettres
-ank next, IL they have no Office and last of all
,ome the merchants and artisans, forming an in
ieriOr order
Having had no foreign commerce they have
lad no class Of powerful merchants OF manufac-
.urers, and they do not distinguish between these
md the retail traders and artisans. Even the
soldier and the commo soldiers son
With his two little swords. Outranks them. The
Is not hgte- nat VIII DC the elect
IF an extended commerce on this system? Will
{ be the old story % cities and burghers and
.uilds against castles and corouets? Already the
fleet of the infant commerce Is felt in the increase
q prices, the demand for products and the rise in
he value Of labor Will this raise the dignity
Df the merchant, and diminish the retinues Of the
Ii is said that the quick-sighted japan
sc are suspecting this, and that a party is form
among the mobiles TO counterfeit it. And
ome suppose that the assassination Of the Prince
Regent by the emisslries of the Prince or MitO
vowels to be sounded as in the Italianl was some
hing more than private revenge. Will the arts
ocratic institutions fall before these Innovations.
s in France. or acclmmOdlte themselves % them.