“ Thus, in short, I am constrained to write, hoping that by one means or
other, in process of time, I shall hear of my wife and children; and so with
patience I wait the good will and pleasure of Grod Almighty, desiring all
those to whom this my letter shall come to use the means to acquaint my
good friends with it, that so my wife and children may hear of me; by which
means, there may be hope that I may hear of my wife and children before
my death; the which the Lord grant to his glory and my comfort. Amen.
” Done in Japan, the two and twentieth of October, 1611, by your unworthy
friend and servant to command in what I can,
“ WILLIAM ADAMS.”
In both these letters Adams related the principal occurrences that had
befallen him since he left the Texel, and from these we have drawn the facts
previously related. The letters did reach England, but whether they found
his wife and children living, or whether he ever heard from them we cannot
tell. As to himself, he might have sadly appropriated the words of the
poet:
“ Nor wife nor children more shall he behold,
Nor friends nor sacred home.”
He died at Firando, in Japan, in 1619 or 1620, after having resided
there from the year 1600 ; and we have dwelt the longer on his personal
history, not merely on account of its melancholy interest, but because when
we come to speak of the doings of his own countrymen in Japan, these
letters will be necessary to elucidate our narrative.
Leaving now these letters, we proceed with the history of the Dutch
commerce. The first factory of the Hollanders was at Firando, and was on
an humble scale. That of the Portuguese was at Nagasaki, on the island
Dezima, which is now occupied by the Dutch. The rivalry between the two
establishments was, of course, very great, and each sought to injure the other
as much as possible with the Japanese authorities. At length, before the
close of 1639, the Portuguese were totally expelled the country; and then
occurred an act on the part of the Dutch in Japan, too clearly proved to
admit of denial, and too wicked and infamous to allow of palliation. I t was
no better than cold blooded murder, prompted by no higher motive than the
base love of commercial gain. The facts were these: Though no Portuguese
Christian remained in J apan, yet the native Christians were not all extirpated.
These poor creatures, deprived of their European teachers, persevered
in their faith, though threatened with imprisonment, torture and death.
Oppression presently drove them into open rebellion, and they took refuge
and made a stand against the imperial forces in Simabara. The Japanese
authorities called on the Dutch to assist them in making war against these
Christians, and the Dutch did it. Kockebecker was then director of the
Dutch trade and nation in J apan. The native Christians had endeavored
to fortify themselves in an old town, which the troops of the Emperor could
not take. A Dutch ship was lying at Firando, and on board of this Kockebecker
repaired to Simabara, and battered the old town with the ship’s guns
as well as from a battery he had erected on shore. After a fortnight of this
work the Japanese were satisfied to discharge the Dutch director; for though
the Christians had not surrendered, yet they had lost so many of their
number, and the place was so weakened that it was obvious it could not
hold out much longer. Requiring, therefore, of the Dutch director that he
should land six more guns for the use of the Emperor, they dismissed him.
The place was finally taken, after a very large number of the besieged had
perished by famine, and a total massacre of men, women and children followed
; not one was spared.
We have spoken of this act as perpetrated by the Dutch in Japan, for
we cannot deem it fair to involve every Hollander in an indiscriminate
censure. There were other Dutch ships at Firando beside that which
was employed in the bombardment; but the commanders of these, either
suspecting, or having intimation that the Japanese would demand aid at
their hands, quietly left their anchorage, and went to sea before the demand
was made, and thus escaped participation in this atrocious wickedness. To
us it seems that the infamy must rest chiefly on the Dutch director, and
that M. Kockebecker deliberately preferred this most foul murder of the
innocent to the loss or interruption of the Dutch trade. Be this as it may,
the fa c t is distinctly admitted by all the Dutch writers on Japan, from the
middle of the seventeenth century up to Fischer’s work, published in 1838.
It is true, one says, that the Dutch were compelled to do i t ; another states,
that the Dutch only supplied cannon, powder, and ball, taught the Japanese
artillery practice, and sent ammunition, arms, and troops in their ships to
the seene of action; but old Ksempfer, who, though in the Dutch service as
a physician, was by birth a Grerman, affirms positively that the Dutch were
active as belligerents. Fraissinet (a recent French writer) endeavors to give
a different coloring to the fact, but, as we think, in vain. He represents the
case as one of political rebellion, in which the native Christians took sides
with the rebels; and is pleased to consider the Dutch as allies merely of the
Emperor, carrying on a lawful war as allies; and he says that the archives
of the Dutch factory at Dezima, as well as the relations of natives of respectability,
acquit the Hollanders of all blame. What the archives of the
Dezima factory may now state, we have not the means of knowing, and we
are not furnished by the French apologist with their language; but it is
certainly very remarkable, if they do not contain exculpatory evidence, that
the Dutch writers, all of whom were officials at Dezima, and many of whom
lived much nearer to the time of the transaction than an author of this day,
should have overlooked this evidence; particularly when some of them seek