measures in the seventeenth century, which resulted in the closing of all ports except that of Canton, and even at that port foreign intercourse was conducted under very onerous conditions.[1]
From the beginning European commerce encountered two serious obstructions. The emperor and the ruling classes recognized no equality in other nations, and all who held intercourse with them were regarded as subjects of vassal nations, and their envoys as tribute-bearers. This led to very humiliating demands upon foreigners, and in part explains the early conflicts. The Europeans, also, in their contact with the Chinese officials, found in existence a system of bribery and corruption which constituted a heavy tax upon trade, and was the cause of much dissatisfaction.
The experience of the Japanese with the early European voyagers and merchants was somewhat different from that of the Chinese, but it ended even more disastrously to the newly established relations. The Island Empire was discovered by the Portuguese navigator Pinto in 1542, and he was soon followed by merchant vessels, which met with a welcome from the native princes, and within a few years a profitable trade was maintained. The Portuguese were followed by the Spaniards, who were likewise freely admitted. The first Dutch vessels came in 1600, reaching Japan in distress. The captain returned to Holland to report on the new found land of trade, but the pilot Adams, who was an
- ↑ 1 The Chinese, Davis, 28, 32; Narrative of Voyages, by A. Delano, Boston, 1817, p. 531; China and the Chinese, by Rev. J. L. N. Nevius, New York, 1869, p, 299; A History of China, by S. Wells Williams, edited by F. W. Williams, New York, 1897, p. 55.
