Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/509

-«  OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. 466 loss of this valuable portion of the population, and the governor who carried the measure into effect brought upon himsdi' ^niblic odium. Such hcis been the nature of the intercourse be- tween the Spaniards of Manila and the Chinese. On the arrival of the English, in 176^, their ani- mosity was again excited, and in the sketch which I shall give of that affair, the present subject will be briefly renewed. The same circumstance of vicinity which has occa^ sioned so great an intercourse between the Philip- pines and China, connected them also more intimate- ly with the other great maritime nations of Eastern Asia, than the rest of the Archipelago, particular- ly before the dangerous ambition of Europeans compelled those nations to have recourse to the re- strictive and precautionary policy which is now so generally adopted by them. Among these, the most distinguished were the Japanese. Prior to their strange resolution to se- clude themselves from the world, as the only prac- ticable security against European invasion, they were found, like the Chinese, freely navigating and trading in all the countries of the Archipelago, and were chiefly distinguished from that race by a cou- rage as remarkable as the pusillanimity of the latter. Almost from the establishment of Manila, the Ja- panese traded with it, and the richest articles for do- mestic consumption, or for the more extensive mar- VOL. ir. G g