Hawaii holomua = Progress. [volume] (Honolulu) 1893-1895, 1894-05-23

encouragement freed from taxa
ton for time" just as our own
Edward the Third took the
fugitive Flemish weavers under
his protection, and settled them
IN the eastern counties Of England
where they laid the foundation
of orr great wooIIen manufactures
and just as French refugees from
Normandy and Brittany. en-
eouraged to cross the Channel;
brought with them the technical
skill and knowledge to which
England is indebted for her
manufactures of silk, fine linens,
lace, glass. paper. beaver hats,
lustrihgs, printed calicoes, but
tons, aud many other articles
which had previously been i'm
ported from France. Corea, t
NAV be added. was subsequently
reconluered by. Japan. and
Corean potters were brought
back, who commenced the fabri-
cation of that beautiful Sats1ma
ware which has since become
famous all over the world.
BY the beginning of the eighth
century Japan had made great
strides along the path of progress.
The foundations of a national
literature had been laid. an OBJ
servatory had been established,
Buddhism had supplanted the
old pagan religion, and had in
stituted a pure and noble code of
ethics; the cultivation of the
lacquer-tree and of the mulberry
bad led to the introduction of
two highly important branches
of industry; and silkweavers had
been imported from China. This
stage of civilisation had been
reached, it should be remember
ed, at the time England was
being ruled by the petty kings of
the Heptarchy. and Gaul had not
emerged from the semi-barbarity
of the Merovingian period, and
the Visigoths were still masters
of Spain; and Venice had only
just struggled into existence on
her mud islands, and had elected
her first duke or doge, in the
person of Anafesto, citizen of
Heraclea.
The government of Japan was of
tribal origin, and its first emperor
was a victorious chieftain, to
whom his subordinates rendered
tribute and obedience. His
position resembled that of the
Norman Conquerer, and the
feuda system he established In
the islands he subdued was al
most identical with that which
preva led in England for so many
centuries after the battle of
Hastings. And the European
guilds of the Middle Ages were
anticipated by those of Japan.
where there were guilds of clay
image-makers, guilds of ladies
attendant on the emperor. guilds
of buffers, guilds of cooks, guilds
of guards, dc.
The primitive religion APP
pears to have been of a very
remarkable character The sun,
symbolised as woman, was
yenerated or worshipped as the
only conceivable image or rehec-
ton of the Diety, and the popu-
lar belief, different from all
known system of religion in
having no body or dogma by
which its adherents were held to
gether. The greatest advocate
of Shintoism, Moto-ori, writer
of the eighteenth century. admits
that It had no moral code. He
asserts that morals were invent
ed by the Chinese, because they
were an immoral people; but in
Japan there was no necessity for
any system of morals, as every
japanese acted rightly if he only
consulted his own heart But
whatever may have been the past,
or whatever may be the present
morality of the japanese. every
traveller bears willing testimony
10 the charm of their manners;
to their politeness. which seems
to be a natural instinct rather
than acquired habit; to their ex-
treme courtsey; and to their un-
failing good-humour. Rudeness
is almost impossible to them. and
it is difficult to withhold our
admiration from a people, IN
babiting a country almost as
thickly populated as the United
Kingdom. but among whom,
neither beggsr nor beggary is
TO be found.