APPENDIX every thing involved in mystery, and no where Was there a better Opportunity for
doing so.
Japan Trad« But had the shameful and disgraceM conduct of these fjeofde been felt only .in its
effects upon the past, it would tee trifling, compared to what they are calculated to
produce oil the tuture. The unmanly degradation to which these factors tave
submitted, at the caprice and often for the amusement of the Japanese, in order to
gain their own ends, seem to have established an effectual bar against the future
extension of the trade by the Butch nation, who Will find it difficult, if not imprac*
ticable, 'evfer>' to fee again reflected in Japan: Ualess, ’therefore,’ the Dutch have
magnaminity enohgh to «bandon this trade, when they find ij of little comparative
valneto them, or when they see ft mast be con ducted on principles derogatory to the
dignity of the illustrious House 'of 'Orange, it is to bè foared, that- the day is ifer
distant, when the opportunity will be affbrded of opening a liberal «ni fct®»hblé
communiCaftbn betweèn Eeröpe and this interesting and important empire. Perhaps
, this will not happen until, according to Hnmbolt, the two great Oofeans dhfcll be diwtedj
by means of a channel across the isthmus of Darien, when the productions m Nöötka
Sound and 'erf'-Ghina will be brought more than twh thousand leagues nearer to Europe
and the United States, and when tdone t«y great change can be effected iti the
politic«! state of Eastern Ada; ■ for ttónfiêck oflamd,” ehaerves that writer* «tttis
barrier against the wasttM é f thé Aüadfic Ocean, has feeeft-for many ‘ages the 'bulwark
of the inffepenfiehce of China and Japan.”*
Shota the year 1750 no essential alteration appears to havetaben place in the trade:
the dtmost exertions of the Dutch were required to provide the cargoes, and Whenever
they succeeded, -return cargoes were always provided, to the extfeift <df tWOrör' three
ships in the year. I n order to «fiord a bettor view Of die nature and ehteftt ^efHljè
restricted trade thus -carried'On, the accounts of ‘two’df these expeditions :to-Japah-arë
annexed, from which it Will appear, that in the voyage of 1804-5 töie' ‘Company
exported -from Batavia to the Japan market 'commodities rto the amoünt-',bï 235,896
rix dollars in value; that the charges attendant en sthe shipment and. freight
amounted to -167,500 rix dollars (including g,6 IS r ix ‘dollars ©n-adCéuftt'éDcüsföfos)’,
making the whole expenses -of the voyage, with the prime cost of‘the articles, amount
to -379-,897 rix dollars. These articles, when sold in Japan, brought 160,578 rix
dollars; but the expenses and disbursements at Japan in one year for the■ eStaHfiChtmjlft,
the loss, on the weight of the sugar, and the expense of makihg'ffie'joüfney’fö Japón,
reduced that sum to 92,426 rix dollars. The return-cargo brought 'to Batavia the sum
of 886,554 rix dollars, or a-profit of-507,147 rix dollars -on ‘the adventure. The-cargo
' and return of -1806, and the expense of -the establishment, -cost the -Company 395,'582
rix dollars, (including ‘2,846 for customs), and the sales and -other receipts produced
569,089, -leaving-a balance of 175;505'rise'dollars in favour óf‘the adventure.
A "mt>re -correct judgment may perhaps be formed from the result of the adventures
undertaken -from Batavia during (fbe provisional authority Of the 'British
•government.
Humboldt’s Political Essay on New Spain, Vol. I, page 45.
government. The first of these was, intimately connected with a political object, appendix
to which the mercantile- adventqve was -njade subservient; and ,bath were undertaken __
without those previous arrangements;which would ^have insured a better assorted Japan Trade,
and cheaper cargo. The articles werp'-qpprehased on ;ihe spot and at the moment,
and the vessels engaged ,at a ivery high rate of freight. In the first, in particular,
the sugar being-of i-nfemr quality, -there was a loss-in the weight, and it was otherwise
less profitable than it would-have been, -had the assortment been of the same
quality Which «the Dutch-companywere,.in the ’habit -of sending. ‘The freight alone
amounted to, the, enprmotS" sum ibf ■ 82,309 Spanish dollars’.'; From the outward-bound
eargoes.it was necessary to pay the debts of the former government, amounting to
’^8,648, Spanish dollars ; and this, with-other.disbursements, and necessary provisions,
rendering the proceeds of the outward-bound cargo insufficient, to furnish the amount
requisite for the payment of the; copper, .the 'Dutch factor availed himself of the opportunity
to supply the deficiency of fourteen hundred pikuls at -the rate of twentyyfive
dollars p e r 120£ pounds,-amounting to Spanish dollars, 25;0OO; differing from the
rate paid to the Japanese of Tuhils 12,3.5, or ten rixrdollars per pikul, to an extent
,pf fifteen rix-dollars .against government. Besides this, the whole of the outward
cargo was not sold : several articles of merchandize remained undisposed of at Japan,
amounting -to r!9,6S8 Spanish dollars, to be accounted for in the ensuing year. All
these operated .-essentially to reduce the profits of a voyage, which depended ex. .
i.clusively 'on the return cargo.
•The results these voyages, however, limited as the profits -were, appear fully sufficient
to shew the importance dfi this trade to Batavia, even as it at present .stands, considering
that it affords a market foriso large'a quantity of the -produce .of the country,
- and that when the government seemed disinclined to send a -further adventure ,on
- Iheir own account, (there ,wcre not wanting numerous indisti duals anxious to obtain a
license t ©-undertake- the trade,.and to run all the* risks attached to it.*
d 2 I In
* “ Our eommercial relations '.with Japan are o f a very peculiar nature, -Every one knows ours is th e only
« Eur?p6»a natipn. admitted So i t , ; what .h.tyniliations .we are p^liK^d..to;sqCer,-for itj -.apd what expenses
:“ wc incur by our embassies tp .Jh e Court of Jeddo. Thig trade upuj once: very liw r^ v e , but in .the latter
years 1 th ink''it lias done little more than cover the expenses mcid'ental to it, and considering the toss of
i>:.ships and people, ‘is certainly hot such as to justify an exposure to s o many humiliations.
•“ 'Notwithstanding this, we have not been inclined -to resign the .tra d e ; nor indeed is it either necessary
« or prudent to do-.so. But I am at a loss to know, how tlie government of Batavia will, he able to account
“ for sending there, in the years 179? and 1798, a scrange ship bearing an American flag, by way o f pretence,
«- though really an English- vessel, and commanded by Captain Stuart, a real Englishman, though possessed
“ o f an -American pass, although be belonged to Madras or Bengal. TO abandon this trade would be ridiculous,
“ but as -it is subject to such regulations in Japan as it will be hardly possible to get rid of, i t may be
“ impractidSble to make it quite free and open. To pursue i t on account of the state or of a company
“ will never answer the purpose, I therefore venture to propose the sale by public auction, to the highest
“ bidder, at Batavia, of a license o r pass for one ;or two ships, of -limited burthen, to trade there, either
“ for ouc or more years, as may be preferred. The Chief of Dccima should be appointed and maintained by
“ the government, and' should act as "a hind o f consul, and proceed., on the embassy to Jeddo, if it were
fI-’reqaired. But beyra8dJ% is , the whole system5 and regulation of the_trade should be left" wholly to the
“ owners of the- ships,, -with exception of such rules as the Japanese laws may render necessary, with
“ regard to our trade.