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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1885)
272 THE WEST SHORE. OLD AND NEW JAPAN. no. i. SINCE the beginning of the butt half of the present cUtitUy Ilutio utr Lwu two Japans one which we never knew and another with which we are but just be coming acquainted The one nnearthod by Commodore Perry anil Li floating forta of wood has passed away, and in iU stead has arisen another, thoroughly imbued with the progressive spirit of the nineteenth century. That stagnant and almost dead empire, buried nuder the deep crust of its own exclusivMicss, has sprung into new life onder the progressive influences which were at first forced upon it at the rauw.le of shotted cannon, even as the grains of wheat which had boon buried for four thou sand years in the tomb of an Egyptian mummy sprouted aud grew when planted in the warm, moist soil of a country thousands of miles distant from their native laml Tho germ, the living priuciplo, was thore, and it needed only the proper influonoea to quicken it into life. The entering wedge that split the shell of exolusivoness with which the Mikado's empire had encrusted itself was driven by the United States, and reoogniising the great iKimifita to their nation which have followed, the Japanese keep a warm place in thoir hoarta for America, and our countrymen are held by them in higher esteem than the subjected any other Tower. . Ever since the time the Spaniards from the east and the Portuguese from the west began their search for Maroo Polo's Kingdom of Cathay and Island of Zipangu, great interest has been centred in those old civilisations of Southeastern Asia, and the extravagaut ideas of their richness which have been handed down through the cen turioa lava only boon dispelled by the better knowledge of thum that has gradually been aoquired, chiefly during the last half century. Historians have generally accred ited Jaan with being the original Island of Zipangu, with a description of whose woudera the great Venetian travilor asteuished his oountrymen in the fourteenth cen tury, and which, mora than auything else, gave rise to those extravagant ideas aud ntminmi wl.inl. filial t.A w urnni Mir 1 aeifio and other unknown rogiona of the East with'ua- woim oi Strang civilisations ami amaiing wealth; made them Uie repository of gold, pearls and precious gems in J - "K - ". W, T, Vina ql,tu lt.fciud l, .p to mtj i, J., . : ; ' "w rw pufuoa M Utml Mud " . , r n mm la av attif aoa la ta U. M M dlu,. lbnMM I.M WCTu-Hrf rar-r!-: such fabulous, quantity that the greatest riches of the known world seemed but the veriest dross in comparison; Have into their keeping the mystical fountain of youth, endowed them with all the beauties and wonders of earth, air and water the mind oould conceive, and even located within their confines the Terrestrial Paradise from whose gates the angel of the Almighty had driven the progeni tors of mankind with a flaming sword of fire. Under the progress of geographical knowledge these mystical reg ions Iwcame gradually revealed in their true light, so far, at least, as to disclose the lack of any real foundation for the romantic ideas entertained by the adventurers who first penetrated them for the purpose of gaining riches by the sword. At the behests of commerce the fleets of Europe and America penetrated these regions, and by the middle of the present century had gained the right of entrance to the ports of every nation in the world ex cept Japan. She alone hedged herself in with a wall of exclusivonoss and refused to have anything to do with her neighbors of Ama or the greater Powers bordering upon the Atlantic. The dosire to break down this wall of prejudioe and establish commercial relations with a nation whose people were known to be industrious and intelligent and were supposed to be extremely wealthy, for thus much of the ideas of the early adventurers still lingered in the popular mind, became strongly engrafted upon the maritime nations of Europe and America. Es pecially was this the case in the United States, whose recent acquisition of California and Oregon had given her a commanding position on the Pacific and made her the advanoe guard of Caucasian progress. For many years the best means of establishing commercial relations with the Mikado s empire were discussed. Many were in favor of the opening of the sealed ports by force, advo cates of the doctrine of Sydney Smith, who said: "I am for bombarding all the exclusive Asiatics, who shut up the earth, and will not lot mo walk civilly and quietly through it, doing no harm, and paying for all I want" Out a natural reluctance to use such harsh measures prevented any of the interested nations from taking summary measures for the accomplishment of their de sires. In the United States tlie feeling became yery strong in commercial circles, and the Government was urged to send a commission to Japan, backed by a suf ficient naval force to oompel a respectful reception from the Imperial Court. Commodore M. 0. Perry waa an earnest advocate of this idea, and when the Government determined upon the expedition, he was selected for the dual position of ambassador and commander of the fleet Commodore Perry steamed out from Norfolk in the flagship Aliuiuippi on the 24th of November, 1852, ex pecting to meet the steamer Susquehanna and the sloops Plymouth and Saratoga and other vessels and storeships in Eastern waters. It waa not until the 4th of the fol lowing May that the MUaUtippi dropped anchor in the Chinese port of Shanghai, where she found the Susqu hannn and riytmmth awaiting her. Leaving the latter to guard American interests during the Chinese re bellion then in progress, he soon sailed with the two J