would be put to death, and this violation of the
law of nations would at once be equivalent to a
declaration of war. The conquest of Japan, notwithstanding
the superior courage and spirit of its
inhabitants, would perhaps be easier than that of
China, which has yielded to every conqueror that
has tried it. The coasts of China, where China
would be invaded, are situated within the tropics,
and Europeans would suffer from the climate. Japan
is a healthy mountainous country, in the temperate
zone, and the climate would be perfectly
Congenial to them. China is a great continuous
territory, difficult, of course, to penetrate. It has
been for ages accustomed to obey the rule of one
master with an undivided authority, and a portion
of it could not be .conquered unless a conquest
were made of the whole. Japan consists of many
separate islands easily accessible. The government
of the provinces is in the hands of hereditary princes,
who might readily be detached from their allegiance
to their chief. A single island might be conquered
or detached without the whole empire, and
readily preserved by the superiority of an European
navy. An illustrious traveller * is of opinion,
* “ Should a canal of communication,” says Humboldt, “ be
opened between the two oceans, the productions of Nootka
Sound and of China will be brought more than 2000 leagues
nearer to Europe and the United States. Then only can
6
that the neck of land which divides the two Americas,
has been hitherto the bulwark of the independence
of China and Japan. This opinion, I
conclude, must relate to a direct attack from
Europe, and is certainly not well founded. No
European nation has ever yet been in a condition
to fit out a fleet and armament of such magnitude
and efficiency of equipment, as, after a voyage,
at the very shortest, of between three and four
months, could accomplish so mighty and distant
an enterprise as the conquest of Japan. A canal
across the isthmus would facilitate the conquest of
Japan, if attempted from America, by giving the
western shore of that continent the advantages of
the superior resources of the eastern shore j but it
would not facilitate the conquest if attempted from
Europe, for it could not be navigated by the great
ships necessary to transport troops across the Atlantic,
and ultimately over the Pacific. This fleet
must be constructed or collected on the western
coast of America, and that coast must be the rendezvous
frpm which the expedition sails. America
may be looked upon as a stepping-stone to the
any great changes be effected in the political state of Eastern
Asia, for this neck of land, the barrier against the waves
of the Atlantic Ocean, has been for many ages the bulwark
of the independence of China and Japan.”—Political Essay
on New Spain.