Evening star., 1941-08-03

u. 5. Warships Helped
Open Japan 10 Trade
81 Years Ago
Commodore Perys
Mission Recalled as
Crisis PeriIs Amity
BY w. B. RAGSDALE.

1t took a treaty gained by set
of warships to open Japan to the
trade that is now being so severely
threatened by the march of troops
and the crash of bombs in the Far
East.
Shipwrecked sailors, gold in Cali
fornia and an expanding trade with
China had furnished the need for
those treaties. They brought Japan
out from under a 200-year-old shell
of isolation from which virtually
all foreigners had been excluded.
That was less than a hundred
years ago. In that fragment Of a
century Japan has studied deeply
and at close range the ways Of
foreigners of all nations. Now it is
off on what 1t calls a sacred cam
paign to bring a new order to the
Orient.
Unlike China, where trade -four
ished for many years without benefit
of treaty, traders made no progress
with Japan until their overtures
had been blessed with the formal
consent of the central government.
Portuguese Favored.
It's first contact with the outside
world had been in the 18th century
through trade with the Portuguese.
But the Portuguese traders were
heavy-handed. Also they brought
missionaries who quarreled among
themselves and snubbed Japanese
officials.
The Japanese put them out, for
bade the practice of Christianity,
banned foreign trade. ordered jap
anese to stay within the boundaries
of their own nation, promised to put
to death any who went to a foreign
land and returned.
They made an exception of the
Dutch, who had helped expel the
Portuguese. A Dutch trading sta
tion was allowed on the Island of
Deshima at Nagasaki, but super
vision was so close one of the Dutch
traders said it was more like a
prison than a factory. They were
allowed two ships a year.
The English tried a little Jap
anese trading early in the 17th CEN
tury, found it Improbable and quit
When they wanted to start back,
the Japanese would not permit
them to.
Flew Dutch Flag.
Two American ships, the Lady
Washington and the Grace, put in
at a Southern Japan port in 1871
on their way to Canton with a
cargo of sea otter pelts. The JAP
anese refused to trade.
The Franklin of Boston went into
Nagasaki In 1899. but few the Dutch
flag. The Margaret of Salem made
six such trips between 1901 anc
1909, always flying the Dutch flag
Little notice Of Japan shows ur
in American shipping records be.
tween that date and 1896.
The whaler Manhattan, from Sae
Harbor, N. Y, visited TOXIC in 1845
with some shipwrecked japanese
and was allowed to stay day OF
so. Several stowaways went along
with the Manhattan when it left
In 1886, Commodore Biddle took
twos naval vessels to Toxic to ask
If the government would open its
ports and treat with Americans. It
said no, ordered him away.
After that, talk of a treaty with
Japan was loud. Many American
ships went out to China to trade
hunted whales in the North Pacific
The shores of Japan were largely
uncharted. Rough weather was
frequent. Many ships went to pieces
there.
Thrown Into Jail.
Some of the .-.ipwrecked sailors
were not treated so well. Eieh,
from the Lawrence of Poughkeepsie
were kept in Jail 1ss months befor.
the Dutch could get them out
Others from the Lagoda of New
Bedford were mistreated, rescued
with some difficulty by a nava.
vessel.
One explanation was that 81
many shipwrecked Americans from
whalers were showing up in Japar
that the Japanese suspected Amer
lea Of sending spies into the country
Then A. H. Palmer of New York
director of the American and For
eign Agency, made study of tn,
Far Eastern markets for the Secre
tary of State. This had much to d,
with the final decision to send Com
modore Matthew Galbraith PER-,
in 1853.
He went steaming into the BAY
at Toxic, smoke pouring from hi
! tunnels, against a strong headwind