V
THE OPENING OF JAPAN
The march of events in the first half of the nineteenth century made it clear that Japan could not long continue the policy of seclusion which it had successfully maintained for two centuries. That policy had, however, served a useful purpose both for Japan and China. We have seen that it had been adopted because of the arrogant and aggressive conduct of the European nations in their early intercourse. Following the maritime discoveries of the fifteenth century, the commercial nations had shown an utter disregard of the proprietary rights of the people of the East. Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and Russia had at their pleasure appropriated large areas of territory both on the continent of Asia and the islands of the Pacific.
The remoteness of China and Japan from Europe made them the last prey of the spoilers. The observant traveler and savant Humboldt, in visiting the Isthmus of Panama a hundred years ago, impressed with its geographic influence, wrote: "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."[1] But in addition
- ↑ Humboldt's Political Essays on the Kingdom of New Spain, book i. chap. ii.
