WILLIAM ADAMS

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importance. A fleet of British merchant vessels was overtaken by a hurricane in the Pacific. All the ships but one were lost, and the crew of that one, the Charity by name, had perished all but eight. Among the survivors was a young man named William Adams, a native of Rochester, who remained the most fit of the ship's company; and on the 11th April, 1600, he succeeded in steering the greatly damaged Charity to the north coast of the island of Kyushiu in Japan. Adams and his mates were permitted to land, and were well treated; and after resting awhile, Adams was conveyed by boat to Osaka, where he was interviewed by the Shogun, who sent him to prison. After awhile he was set at liberty, and attached to the Shogun's following. He appears to have showed much cleverness in his relations with the Japanese, and soon found favour with his protector. In 1609 he was ordered to construct a vessel like that in which he had come to Japan, and he was rewarded by a grant of land near Yedo. He continued to enjoy the Shogun's confidence for nearly twenty years, during which he was more than once taken into consultation in respect to negotiations with Dutch and Portuguese traders. He died in 1620, after seeing one of the streets in Yedo named after him.1

In the year 1604 James I. issued a licence to Sir Edward Michelborne on behalf of the East India Company, "to discover the countries of Cathaia, China, Japan, and Corea, and to trade with the people there." The result of this publication was a renewed interest in the Far East, which was not restricted to Great Britain.

The strides made by the Dutch East India Company, which had been established in 1602, led to an increased activity among the traders of Holland. Dutch vessels made Java their headquarters, and sought their way along the coasts of China and Japan. In 1609 a Dutch vessel anchored off Hirado. The crew was interviewed by Adams, and, doubtless owing to his good offices, was well received by the Daimyo, who procured for them a letter addressed to the King of Holland, which they duly conveyed back 1 See Letters of William Adams, Hakluyt Soc.

to Amsterdam.

This letter contained an undertaking for the safety of all Dutch subjects who came to Japan for purposes of trade, and supplies the first approach to a treaty given by the Japanese. It suggested, among other things, that the King of Holland should send a ship or two to trade with Japan each year, and the Dutch duly conformed to this proposal by sending a small ship the following year (1611).

In 1613 Captain John Saris, a merchant seaman who had seen much of the Pacific, arrived at Hirado, where he was well received by the Daimyo. Aided by William Adams, he made excellent progress with the Japanese, and succeeded in negotiating a charter enabling the East India Company to trade with any Japanese port. He also established a store at Hirado, notwithstanding the opposition of the Dutch, who resented the competition of the British trader.

In 1617 the East India Company took advantage of the Japanese charter, and despatched a fleet of vessels to trade with that country. But considerable friction ensued with the Dutch traders, and, after a series of attempts to open up the country, the British ships were withdrawn. The departure of the English naturally gratified their Dutch rivals, who, realising that they were masters of the situation in Japan, sought to utilise the opportunity by extending their trading sphere elsewhere. In 1624 accordingly a Dutch fleet set sail for Macao, but was repulsed by the Portuguese, who refused to permit a landing. This incident started that rivalry between the Dutch and Portuguese which continued so virulently and so long, and resulted in the expulsion of the latter from Nagasaki in 1640.

Commercial relations between Great Britain and China date from 1634, in which year Captain Weddell reached the mouth of the Canton river, which he explored as far up as the city of the same name. His visit did not lead to any immediate result, inasmuch as he was ill received; but the accounts he brought back with him of the country and its possibilities were largely instrumental in bringing

EARLY ENGLISH TRADE WITH CHINA 21

about the subsequent relations between England and China.

In 1655, Russia, having established her dominion over the greater portion of Siberia, sent a mission to the Emperor of China with the object of establishing friendly relations with that country. The Russians were well received at Peking, but refused to perform the kow tow,1 which it was explained they would have to undergo before the emperor, in token of his superiority to the Russian Tsar; and returned to Siberia without having received an audience. In 1675 the Tsar Alexis determined to despatch another mission to China, on the chance that the newly throned emperor would accord a more friendly reception than his predecessor had done. He appointed one Nicolas Spayfarik his ambassador, and he set out for Peking with a large retinue. The Russian envoy was met by a Chinese mandarin at Tsitsihar, and conducted with great ceremony thence to Peking, where he was received with high honour. He returned to Moscow in 1676 after a most successful embassy, charged with letters from Kanghi to the Tsar.

The attention drawn to China by the narrative of Captain Weddell, and the arrival of the first parcel of tea in England in 1660, had served to direct public attention to the trading possibilities of the Far East. The outcome of this was the determination of the East India Company to make efforts to trade with China, and agents were despatched to Canton in 1680 charged with the taking of measures for the development of commerce with the Celestials, instructions which were carried out with an intelligence and ability which assured immediate success.

While England was thus engaged in her first serious attempt to develop commercial relations with China, Russia set herself a similar task. In her opening up of Southern Siberia, Russia had more than once been confronted by the Chinese, under whose rule a great portion of the territory claimed by Russia had been. The result

1 The kow-tow is a form of abasement in which a suppliant prostrates himself.

was a series of collisions which rendered the despatch of additional bodies of men necessary to Siberia. On the accession of Ivan V. and his brother Peter, in 1682, the joint Tsars determined to seek a friendly understanding with China; and to this end they despatched, in 1685, two trusted councillors, Nikifor Venukof and Ivan Fafarof, to the Chinese capital. These emissaries duly arrived in the celestial city, assured Kanghi of their master's good intentions, and announced the speedy arrival of a fully qualified envoy, who would be charged with powers for the delimitation of the Russo-Chinese frontier.

The special envoy chosen for the allotted task was one Fedor Alexievitch Golovin, who left Moscow accompanied by a regiment of militia on the 20th January, 1686. He was preceded by a courier to proclaim his coming, and he travelled surrounded by every suggestion of state. The expedition wintered near Yeniseisk, and proceeded in the early spring to Selenginsk, whence was despatched a messenger to arrange a place of meeting with the Chinese officials. Considerable delay ensued owing to the troubled state of the frontier and the lack of promptitude on the part of the Chinese; and Golovin, mindful of his dignity, sent a letter direct to the Chinese emperor, written in Russian and Latin, expressing his desire to settle the frontier question, and requesting that no more time should be wasted. On the 18th May Golovin received notification that the Chinese envoys specially nominated by the emperor, would meet him at Nerchinsk. Various delays occurred after this appointment, but eventually the representatives of the two empires met at Nerchinsk in August, and after a good deal of difficulty a treaty was negotiated which settled the frontier question for the time being.

The treaty of Nerchinsk is noteworthy on account of its being the first convention arrived at between China and another Power. It is further interesting, in that it supplies one of the few instances in which Russia has forgone territory she had previously occupied. Its provisions need not be dwelt on in detail, inasmuch as they have all of them long since been nullified by more recent treaties. In

TREATY OF NERCHINSK

23

general spirit, the conditions agreed on restore a considerable portion of the land recently occupied by Russia in China, and decreed the demolition of a fort which had been erected by Russia at Albazin.1

The terms of the treaty of Nerchinsk were faithfully carried out. Russia demolished the offending fort, and withdrew across the rivers Kerbechi and Argun, and Golovin returned to Moscow, where he was received with great distinction.

Three years after the signing of the treaty of Nerchinsk Peter, who now ruled alone, decided to send yet another mission to China. During the frontier struggles which had preceded the signing of the treaty, a number of Russian soldiers had been taken prisoners by the Chinese. These had been conveyed to Peking, where they had been well treated, and where they formed a colony in the north east corner of the city. The Russians had been indulged with many acts of consideration, being allowed to build a church for themselves, which they had dedicated to St. Nicholas. It was understood that these Russians were without a priest, and it was largely in the hope of being able to minister to their spiritual needs, that Peter decided to despatch an emissary to the court of Kanghi. The person chosen for the mission was General Eberhard Ysbrand Ides. He reached Peking in 1693, was well received by Kanghi, and succeeded in obtaining permission for a priest to reside in the celestial capital to minister to the Russians there.2

In 1707 Russia seized the peninsula of Kamchatka, and this act so terrified the Chinese that they hastened to take measures which would, they believed, effectually prevent their neighbour tampering with any of their own territory. The garrisons along the Manchurian frontier were strengthened, and a series of regulations introduced for the purpose of preventing communications between the natives and the Russians across the border. Chinese subjects were forbidden to emigrate, and the right of

1 See Appendix B.

2 Three Years' Travels from Moscow Overland to China, by E. Y. Ides. Trans. 1706.