The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-06-20
ROMANTIC EPISODE
low william dams Became Prince I'm
the Orient

Mississippi bay, says correspon 9ent, |
writing from Yeddo, Japan, is the town
of Yokosko. 1t is at the head of lit
tie land-locked harbor and has the most |
beautiful surroundings imaginable.
The island and the mainland, all are
crowned and covered with groves of
evergreen trees. In the distance to the
west the Wakoni range of mountains is
plainly seen, and towering above all
other points is Fusi-yama, the highest
mountain in Japan. YokoskO is a town
of the old order of things. Here the
Japanese have their naval station, with
capacious machine-shops, foundries and
docks. Across a lesser inlet is the old
village 'of Hemimura, a fishing town,
and as old, for aught that is known, as
the fisheries of Japan. On a hillside
above the village Is the temple of To-
ko-san. 1t is a Buddhist temple and
has the carved stone lions and dragons
and shaven-bearded priests, gilt images
of Buddha, and lesser deities.
1t IS like all temples in japan, en-
powered in a beautiful grove, and
there is enough of the beautiful in its
surroundings to incline any heart to
worship the giver of such beauty.
From this temple a winding path leads
up TO the crest of a high, rounded hill,
from which is spread before You pic
ture of intense and varied beauty-the
wide sea, studded with green islands,
the long, high shOre-line with deep in
dentations of inlet and harbor lofty
mountain ranges and deep valleys. Here
in the grove, browning the hill, midst
fir, cypress, palm and bamboo trees, is
the grave of William Adams, the first
Anglo Saxon ever in Japan. He must
have been a remarkable man. In tkM
whole history of the orient no OF
stranger has arrived at such - 8
ence over n strange people. IL
Adams was a native of the county o.
Kent, England. His occupation was
sea-going. He served in the English
navy in the olden days of the Virgin
| queen" and held the position of master
| of vessel in the wars with Spain. He
must have been with the bold bucca-
neers who hunted Spanish treasure and
merchant ships on every sea. While on
/ shore in little village surrounded by
! the green hills of Kent, he had met a
/ blue-eyed, fair-haired Saxon girl. They
/ loved, plighted their trOth, and after he
/ had taken a voyage or two they were
| welded. Between the sea and shore
| several years passed happily and pros
perously. Two children, boy and a
/ girl, were theirs, both the image of the
mother, with the same gimmer of gold
in their hair and the same blue of the
! Kentish sky in their eyes. But times
/ grew bad. The wars had ruined trade.
/ English ships lay idle in their harbors
Holland, Spain and Portugal had then
/ the trade and commerce of the world.
/ Adams received an offer from the Dutch
East India company to pilot squadron
| of five merchant vessels to Asia. He
] 4, =, Ii fafr
haired wife aud child enSand repaired
to Holland, whence he set sail in 1898
After nearly two years of untold hard
| ships, with only one ship left Of the five
and only five able-bodied seamen, III
/ the greatest distress for the want of
food and water, they sighted the coast
of Japan. On the 10th day of April,
1900 they made a harbor in the prov
iuce of Bungo, in the southern part OF
Niphon. The people hocked around
the ship. BY signs Adams made their
/ wants known. The sick were taken on
/ shore and tenderly cared for. Soldiers
/ were stationed on the ship TO protect
/ the cargo. Four or five days elapsed,
when some Portuguese arrived from
1 Nagasaki. where they had trading
station. They alone had of all European
people. since the wonderful accounts of
Marco Polo, found the islands of Japan.
/. The Portuguese had come to the orient
as traders and missionaries. Between
them and the DUtch there was every
reason for rivalry They were warning
| with each other for the trade and wealth
OF the Indies. One was Jesuit and the
other Protestant in religion. The Por-
tuguese having been sent for by the
/ prince OF the province of Bungo, they
! repreg ented that the Dutch were pirates
| in commerce and heretics in religion,
and should be beheaded for either AID
crucifed for both.
This being more responsibility than
the prince wished TO assume, he re-
/ ferreu the whole matter to the tycoon,
whose capital was then at Osaca, eighty
I miles north. The tycoon sent at orce
. for Adams. On the way Adams ascer-
tanned the feeling of the Portuguese
and what they were anxious to accom-
plisb, and he also saw by the headless
| trunk and suspended bodies how fire.
quent capital punishments were IN
Japan and for what slight ofTenses they
| we're in use. Iyeyas was the tycoon.
He was the first of the Tocagawa fami-
| ". which ruled after him for $50 wears
/ Through .. 500 years Of written history
he is considered their "Alfred the
/ Great" by japanese historians. When
in the presence of the tycoon Adams
| found a mild-mannered, unpretending
man, who questioned him thoroughly
of England and Holland, of their com
merce and trade and their wars, and es-
pecially of their object IN coming to
Japan.
After the interview, which lasted sew
eral hours, Adams was plesed in con-
fnement He was kept there forty
| three days and nights. With the Wis
ions of CHASTITY, headless trunks and
bodies suspended on crosses, having
! been pierced by spears, his sleep could
! have been neither sweet nor refreshing
But Iyeyas was too great and too shrewd
man to be used by the Portuguese
! Jesuits, and Adams had told so straight
| forward a story, and exhibited such an
| intimate knowledge of the history of
! Europe, the trade and commerce of its
different nations, and of the various
arts and sciences, that Iyeyas was
strongly impressed with him. To the
| Portuguese opportunities he answered
that he saw nothing in the conduct of
the strangers to condemn, but much to
| commend, and ordered the release of
| Adams. He sent their ships to Yeddo
and told the whole crew to content
! themselves in Japan, as they would
never be allowed to leave it. Adams
was taken into the employ of the gov
eminent and he taught Iyeyas mathe-
MATES and navigation, and how to
build, launch and rig large ships.
Adams wrote home each year 10 his
| family by the annual Portuguese ship,
but failed to receive any answer. H
mission to go to his family, and was as
often told that he must be content here,
as permission to depart could never be
allowed. To induce him to stay and in
terest him in the work of ship-building,
teaching navigation and military tactics,
he was given a large tract of country
with a great number of departments,
over which he had absolute authority
/ He was ranked among the nobility next
to the princes of the empire. He was
called Amin, the japanese name of pi-
lot, and a part of Yeddo was, ard to
this day is, called Anjin-Cho, or district
Of Amin.
| In this way twelve years had elapsed
since he had left England, and although
he had written as often as conveyance
presented itself, no word came of his
| friends or family. And so hope died in
/ him of ever seeing the shores of his ma
tive land again, or ever looking again
] e Io II,