The Sun. — 1852-10-19 (London, England)

SQUEERS—who, by the way, ought to bring an action 054iust blr. D.Raios, for casting  odium upon his patronymic—has given us the topography of those forest-cities of the West which were  flourishing in marble magnificence long before the first mason had carved a stone for the vaunted halls the Alontezamss. Another gentleman, not less learned, named SLEE MAN, has described with astonishing minnuteness, the architectural monuments of Hindostan. We are familiar with the  lilliputian republic of Marino. We are intimately acquainted with the miniature oligarchy of Montenegro. Nay—it was only the other day that a young lieutenant of the Royal Navy of Old England, putting spurs to his horse, clambered up the acclivities of the Libanus, and ventured to domesticate himself among the dreaded chiefs of the Ansayrii. The Right Hon. BENJAMIN DISRAELI had proceeded there already in romance : but the Hon. FREDERICK WALPOLE went there in reality—and by this time, under thanks to the indefatigable press of Mr. BENTLEY, we have been enabled in that, as in so many other quarters before then, to fathom secrets which had hitherto seemed to be altogether unfathomible. Everywhere, indeed, about the surface of the globe, have we been conducted by that Great Power which Sir BIJLWER LYTTON has so grandly idealized 13 the Genius of the Lamp—everywhere (because Central Africa, according to our notion, must be entirely excluded from the category, seeing that, on the principle of the " sour grapes," we don't want to go there any longer)—everywhere, we repeat, have we been ushered in the north, in the south, in the east, and in the west—everywhere but within the ocean-frontiers of Japan ! And Japan, let it be remembered, is no little obscure corner of the globe, to be overlooked by reason of its insignificance. Japan is a group of four large and flourishing islands —Jezo, Niphon, Sikok, and Kiu-Siu—commanding attention, if only for the extent and grandeur of its marvellously fruitful territories. It comprises no less than five imperial cities—Jedo, Sakai, lleaco,  Okosaka, and Nangasaki. It contains a population variously estimated at from 15,000,000 to actually 50,000,000, the general and most rational impression upon the subject, being that its inhabitants number as many as those of the French Republic, the foremost among the races of the European Continent.  Added to all which, it has be®n declared, upon autho•  rity, that the capital of the Japanese is more populous than our own monster metropolis—GoLoWNlN actu ally talking of 8,000,000 as the reputed number of the citizens of Nangasaki! It is to this wonderful  empire that the civilized races of the world are at length about to be formally introduced by means of the gallant undertaking adventured upon by the democratic statesmen of Washington. Cannon balls, it is true, may probably be the sugar-plums of compliment thrown to the Japanese by the "great guns" of the United States ; for, when we speak of being introduced to the mysteries of Japan, it must be understood that Artillery is to be the Master of the Ceremonies ! Whatever particulars have hitherto been collected together in reference to the sources of Japan, or in regard to the customs of the Japanese, have only been calculated to whet the popular appetite for the marvel lous, and to enhance the public eagerness for some more searching and more widely extended investigation. It matters little, perhaps, to the merchant whether the people in those quar tars robe themselves at a funeral in white by way of mourning ; whether the advance of pregnancy among their women is marked by the wearing of a red crape scarf ; or whether they distinguish their more honoured guests by the presentation of a plate of snakes delicately stewed and adroitly seasoned. Such eccentricities are recorded of them, no doubt, but that matters little to the princes of trade either at New York or at Manchester. Possibly, moreover, it may be considered as a circumstance of moment only in the more recondite contemplations of Mr. WAKLEY in his capacity as the Coroner for Middlesex, that the young gentlemen of Japan are in the habit of relieving themselves of the tedium of existence through the fashionable suicide effected by dexterously ripping open the abdomen. Why the young ladies of the same country should presume for a moment that they enhance their beauty by blackening their teeth, or extracting their eyebrows, may seem a question of trivial import to those not wholly infatuated by the virtues of Mr.