, 1860-06-21

THE JAPANESE EMBASSY IN AN ENG-
LISu POINT OF VIEW.
From the LondonTelsg7aph. May s.s.l
The Japanese Ambassadors hare At length ar
rived in the United States, and By this time nre
ensconced in their quarters at Washington. 1t
might appear, upon 4 superficial REV OF the
matter, that their friendly visit 10 America con.
trasts with their outrages upon our sailors along
their own coast IN il Manner untavorable to
Epeand. but it must be borne IN mind that The
diptomatists Of the United States are not above
q little slight Of hand when endeayorinR to gain
point 1t semi- barbarous Court. They hare
somewhat resembled the French in Persia and
the Dutch in the Eastern world generally, with
The exception that their intligues are more
harmless and their jealousies less embittered.
aeross the Atlantic the privilege conferred upon
them Of receiving the first embassy from that
impalpable parsonage, the Japanese Tycoon.
In due course no doubt we shall hare London
bewildered by the spectacle Of a picturesque
train, tawny and narrow-eyed, in NIL the glory
pocxet handkerchiefs. They will come rs The
Siamese came before them, md there will be
much tea. table talk about Hakodadi and the
c!ean.swept streets Of Jeddo. There will be
curious groups to witness the entrance and exit
Of the rice fed ambassadors wherever they may
take up their residence; but from one cause or
another these Oriental missions lure never
hitherto led to many important results. 1tmay
he that our countrymeD, though they can con-
ouer and govern Africans and Asatics more
eHectually than any other nation of The West,
do not possess the qualities which would enable
them to establish commercial relations with
incenendent races upon q Tree aud amicahle
footing.
Ellhcr they are Too impatlent, or refuse to
lick the feet Of small savage potentates, or pay
Zoo little res pect to native p1eiudices, or have
habit Of sporting willing forbidden enclosures,
or peering through lattice windows, or inssating
that men shall be hanged for mur deting Fog
lishmen. or else they may be altogether too
rough, blunt, and ready. The Russluns have
gone far ahead of them in the interior of China,
and in the populous trncts Of Central Asia.
| There was a Muscovite diplnmatist at Pekin
when Mr.. Bruce was retreatioe from the am'
buscade Of the Peiho: it is difficult even now
to keep British flag flying On the great Bur-
mese Rivers; We are respected in persia on &C.
! count OF little more than our squadron in the
Gulf; and our officials are at loggerheads With
the authorities Of Japan precisely at the time
! when certain high and mighty Japanese Am
bassadors are saIuting the efligr of The modern
patriot OH Mount Vernon. EE3
| We have already said that we do not antIcl
| pete from :his mission any very startling re-,
sults. We DO not think that people all over
! America will suddenly begin to wear silk trou-
sers, ride in lacquered coaches, or hathe in the
open streets. Nor eau VIC believe that hence
|
mob in the interior Of the quaint island realm
with the spiritual and temporal Emperors Of
whom report has SAID so much and travellers
have seen so little. 1t is improbable that there
will be Immediately immense importations Of
copper TO line the tawdry watches that are
sported in Baltimore, nor IS it probable that a
line Of clippers will at once be established be-
tween New Orleans and Nagasali. The grand
thing will be practically to break down tue wall
of partition between the West and those lea east
familiar regions Of the East now offering q TIM
| i'd hand to the inhsbt..uts of the New World.
It is characteristic circumstance that the Am.
bassadors were carried from Panama to uamp-
ton Roads in the Roanoke, United States ship
of-war. There was not a vessel in all their EN-.
pire capable Of crossing the seas.
We have Ind . Chinese junk in the Thames
but 4 Japanese junk must, for some to come, bt
an impossible novelty. This indeed illustrate.
more forciblY, perhaps, the marvellous change
which has come orer tile policy Of the court o
Jeddo. Hitherto it has been one great object o
the law 10 prevent the people Of Japan from
leaving their oEn coasts; aotiilas Of guard
boats hare patrollcd round the isnnd dHy nut
night to prevent emigration or voyagiug in an,
shape; natives who, in spite Of these precau
tions, roved for while abroad, were liable o.
their return to suffer The punishment Of death
and, as m additional guarantee against the es
tahlishment Of intercourse with foreign COM
| tri.s it was ordained by repeated imperial dc
i ~ q
built that. in the event Of dangerous storm s
sea. they should go to pieces and founder.
Every reader knows hos jealously the avt
: nues Of The Empire have been guarded, how tl'
Dutch hnye been shut up in tleir miserable Ii
tie settlement of Decitna; how alt traffic b
. tween strange vessels and the maritime village
has been prohibited; and how Freuc1,, Amer
eau and British slips arriving in the Japanes
waters hare been placed under rigorous au
, almost Insulting Surveillance. Well, unlel
things take another turn, this system Of excl
sion has come to end; AID we can only hoI
: our ministers will ba Letter informed than
allow mere adyenturer to palm himself OFT l
!. greet officer Of state, as they didin 1851, whe
Mt the opening Of the Hyde Park exhibition,
buttonless ragatnuftin in blue Was allowed
take ur position in close proximity with tn
, Of the Queen.
Ne may NOW expect to learn something 4
, thentic about japan as il is. Probably the val
i GUS works written previous to the period whs
the TYcoons had closed their intercourse vi
Europe, owing to the offensive and reckless CO
d duct o{ the Standards, will never be surpass'
:: but since the Elgin mission the public ha
been treated with variety Of original sketch
. purporting to illustrate the civilization Of Il
islanders, which must have been either the ell
sions Of bewiidered midshipmen, or direct .
= tempts 10 trade upon popular credulity. Il
2 picture Of the interior thus presented was,
l color and perspective, thoroughly Voftairian.
1t 1tsuggested d contrast, very humilating
ourselves, between the vice ard dir, the rulgs
.e ity and squalor of Europe, and the imaacufs
{. cleanliness, the more than Roman mothers, t
uusophist;cated girls, tho splendid streets, t
- poetical customs, and the general elegance, I
7, briefly, courtesy, good breeding and virtne
1 Japan. We might hare imagined that tht
was nothing else 50 primitive-und, at the ELL
time, so PERFECTION the globe, except, it m