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week . " Gualberto" made part of them ; the greater number of the rest were m " Madoc " This I could not do novr ; and an increased fastidiousness , or sense of imperfection will not account for all , or even half , the differences ; the inclination for the effort is wanting , which is a strong indication that the power no longer exists . On looking again at the other passages we had marked for extract we find them too trivial , let us then at once proceed to the real amusement of these volumes—the notes of the editor . From the final note to the fourth volume we assume that Mr . Warter has been roughly handled by these " hirelings of the press "—the critics . This is the note ; the capitals are Mr . Warter ' s . — In volumes which comprehend so wide a field of literature as these do , there will probaMy be many mistakes which I have overlooked . Where any such are found , I shall feel very much obliged to any courteous and competent scholar who will communicate with ine . On the publication o / Southet ' s Common Place Books I made a similar request , —and I do not forget , but wish to record , the courteousness of the Bishop of London , who , amidst the multiplicity of his engagements , found time to notice it . So different u the genius of a great Scholar from that of Men-milliners in literature ,
Quibus ingenium est immansuetumquejertimqve . If Mr . Waiter overlooks mistakes and you courteously point them out to him , you are a scholar ; but if you wickedly point them out to the public , he brands you as a man-milliner in small caps . Mr . Warter seems to have an affection for this typographical emphasis ; and very ludicrous is the mysterious emphasis with which he refers to a collection of materials made by Southey : — All these collections are in my possession . As a mercantile speculation Messrs . Longman and Co . did not consider that the publication would answer . It bedes
ITS TIME . The drollest of Mr . Warter ' s notes are those in which he displays at once his erudition and autobiographical expansiveness . He is extremely anxious that the public should know him to be a man of " diversified reading in many languages , " and on the slightest provocation he draws from his erudite stores . ° Thus , if Southey happens to say , " Indignation may make good verses , " Mr . Warter , who has accomplished that rare feat of erudition , the reading of Juvenal , kindly quotes the passage to which Southey alludes , for the benefit of men-milliners who could not possibly have suspected the allusion . But Icelandic is Mr . Warter ' s forte—as imbecility is his faille Southey says , " I find the Portuguese Ama in my Danish dictionary Amme a nurse ; " whereupon John Wood Warter , with mingled pathos , autobiography , and erudition , adds this note : — It is Icelandic , also . See Rask ' Icelandic Dictionary ( poor Rask , whom I followed to his grave !) , and the Specimen Glossarii to the JSdda , vol . ii . p . 562 , ed . 4 to . 1818 .
We can enlarge the reader ' s knowledge and entertainment on this subject . " The word is German also . Vide Flabberschnurz Die Amme und ihre Verhaltniss zum Menscheit : eels G-nmdlegung einer Social Politik . Kleinfahrt , 1833 . Poor Flabberschnurz ! we never knew him , or gladly should we have followed him to his grave . We passed through Kleinfahrt once , but it was in the Malleposty and our stay was therefore not long enough to found a solid friendship . His works are before us . "«—In this style much valuable autobiography may be made to relieve erudition . Mr . Warter is a master of the style . Southey mentions that two Danish poets have sent him their works ; and as Mr . Warter believes the English public to be intensely interested in any small fact about himself which it may be his humour to reveal , he gives this note : — With Oehlenschlilger I was intimate , and his works are all before me . Ingemann was rarely in Copenhagen whilst I -was there . His talents may have been less , but his genius was more refined than that of Oehlenschlager .
Is not that perfect ? " His works are all before me . " "What then ? In"emann was rarely in Copenhagen when that city had the misfortune of possessing Mr . Warter , and this the public may be glad to know—for Ingemann ' s sake ! Mr . Wartcr is fond of assuring us that somebody ' s works are " before him , " as if that were eminently interesting ; and on one occasion when Southey alludes to Cotton Mather , this autobiographical editor says : — I will thank the reader to correct the mistake in Vol . II . p . 264 . I wonder how I overlooked it , as he is a great favourite , as all oddities are , with me . In Mr . Warter ' s diversified readings in various languages the syntax of his own may have gone astray , so that the note just quoted must not be criticised by a public grateful for the revelation respecting Mr . Warter ' s love of oddities . Wo will close our Antfiologia Warteria with a charming specimen . Southey , speaking of his daughter ' s contempt of Downs , says that when she "rows older she will learn to enjoy all scenery ; and the husband of that daughter , in editorial capacity , adds this note : —
It ia just as her father predicted ! This day , 7 th Sept ., 1855 , on leaving West Tarring , as she looked from the railway station on the chequered light and shade on Citssbury , she exclaimed , How beautiful are those Downa ! "
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THE AMERICAN EXPEDITION TO JAPAN . Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan , in 1852 , 1853 , and 1854 , under the Command of Commodore . J / . C . Perry . By F . L . Hawkes , D . I ) ., L . L . D . TrUbner . Tins , the official narrative of a state expedition , is the most important work that has been produced , during the present century , on Japan and its sister regions . It has been compiled from the records of the squadron , —the diaries of the commodore , the captains , flag lieutenants , and scientific supernumeraries . Dr . Hawkes , the historian of the voyage , is a competent writer
who had prepared himself for his special task by general studies on the politics , commerce , social laws , and external relations of the Japanese Empire—an envniro which , for two centuries , has been the veritable Asian mystery . The Portuguese , who conquered so far along the Indian coasts ; the Spaniards , who founded n grent vieeroyulty in the Eastern waters ; the French , who trampled over the Cnrnutic and Bengal ; the Russians , who have detached vast territories from China " , the Dutch , who wield the clustered sceptres of a hundred Asiatic islands , had failed to accomplish that which Terry and his companions have accomplished in Japan . What the Portuguese and the English once onjoyod , and what the Dutch have continued to enjoy under the most humiliating conditions , the Americans have thrown
open to the world . This they have done , in spite of an opposition that was not confined to the East , but which was exasperated by jealousies in Europe , by the intrigues of the Dutch , -who have never established a genuine Oriental dominion , but who subsist upon privilege , prohibition , and the least reputable arts of trade . With characteristic ingenuity , they sought to anticipate the United States commissioner , and , forseeing that linder the pressure of British , American , and Russian demonstrations , foreign commerce must be admitted into Japan , endeavoured to procure its admission upon terms favourable to their ancient monopoly . They represented Perry ' s visit as an invasion , circulated rumours of treason and danger , set afloat every conceivable suggestion that was likely to thwart the American enterprise . But to no purpose . Commodore Perry , with as much , policy as decision , negotiated a treaty , and removed the Solomon ' s Seal that had condemned six
generations of Japanese to stupor and immobility . But observe the process . The United States acquire California . ^ From California they gaze across the Pacific dttthe Oriental islands . Between the eastern and western extremities of Asia , they see the double dominion of the English and the Dutch-England on the Continent , Holland in the Archipelago , the English and the Russians pressing upon China , a rich empire open in Japan , with the limpet colony of Holland clinging to its shores . A direct trade , therefore , was established between the Chinese ports and the western ports of the Republic ; but the Japanese group lay between , teeming with population , celebrated for its riches , known to be isolated only by the action of an outworn bigotry . The American squadron , after an interesting voyage—supplying Dr . Hawkes with materials for two hundred and fifty pages of picturesque and
lively narrative—reached the Bay of Yeddo , in Japan , in July , 1853 . The decks were cleared for action : the guns were shotted ; small arms were handed round ; sentinels were posted , as though an engagement were in view . But the spectacle of a steamer , coming up straight against the wind , amazed the Japanese , and sufficed to hold them in awe . The fortified horns of the bay were passed , and four American ships took up their station close to land . The usual drama -was enacted : guard-boats , grandees , standardbearers , helmetted officials , in red , blue , and variegated robes , swarmed over the waters , and formed a fantastic picture . The objects of the mission were explained . Then ensued the inevitable delay , protracted by Eastern formality , insincerity , and vacillation . Commodore Perry had prepared for his voyage , as Dr . Hawkes prepared for his book , by familiarizing himself with the history and character of the people—a strange idea for a
diplomatist—and knew something more of the East than of dusky forms and white draperies and songs by starlit rivers . He was determined to be as absolute as forbearing , and If the imperial functionaries insisted upon etiquette , to insist upon etiquette with the imperial functionaries . He taught them at once , that if Americans were not to touch Japanese soil without permission and without surveillance , neither should Japanese touch American ships uninvited and uncontrolled . Here was a basis of operations . The people respected their visitors , and even Oriental governments are in the habit of receiving unacknowledged suggestions from the people . In future , the representatives of the empire met the representatives of the republic with flattering pomp . But every artifice of evasion was exhausted . The court objected to the particular form in which the American message had arrived , desired to transmit its reply to another port , wished to invite the friendly intervention of the Dutch : in vain . Perry would deliver his credentials to the emperor himself , or to an imperial commissioner . The commissioner , therefore , was nominated , and , in full audience , received the
President ' s letter on shore . In this missive the Japanese were informed that the United States of America reached from sea to sea , that Oregon and California lay , across the ocean , opposite to Japan , and could be reached in eighteen days ; that California produced sixty millions of golden dollars annually , and that , while Japanese commodities would be valued in America , American dollars might be useful in Japan . That auriferous allusion enlivened the yellow counteiriino . es of the island , officials , though they received the American proposals with mi ' . te reserve . It was not long , however , before certain incidental concessions proved that the double influence of ships and dollars had operated upon the inipeiliil mind . Nevertheless , Perry ' s first visit ended without leading to any positive insult . He was noi more than eighteen days in the Japanese waters , and dia £ vot stay for the answer of the government . But he obtained the right of anvrhorcge free from the presence of guard-boats ; he had extorted from the court the deputation of a high official to treat with him ; he had surveyed the Bay of ifeddo , under its batteries , and had established amicable , though indirect relations with the people .
Towards the close of 1852 the Japanese Emperor died . Various acts of violence against American citizens had strengthened the claim of the United States to new and definite relations with Japan . In the spring of the following year , therefore , a second squadron arrived in the Bay of Ycddo . This time Perry was instructed to obtain explanations from the government respecting its treatment of American sailors , and to declare that no such proceedings would in future be tolerated ; to open one or more ports by treaty , and , if necessary for the enforcement of these demands , to occupy the main island ofLoo-choo , a dependency of the empire . A larger naval force now lay in the Japanese waters ; the officials wore moro _ deferential ; arrangements were made for formal conferences on the subject of the proposed treaty .
This treaty was practically negotiated in a house built near the shore of yoku-hnma Bay ; within short range lay in line of battle the nine ships of tho squadron , their guns pointed towards the populous town of Kanagawa . Three princes of tho empire and a body of the highest nobles hero met the commodore , who inarched to tho doors of the Treaty House with a full guard of marines , three banners flying , and an imposing staff of officers attending him . Among the earliest proceedings was tho delivery of tho United States presents to tlio Emperor and to his great functionaries—a locomotive engine , tender , passengor-car , and rails complete , now in full work , to the infinite astoniahincut of tho natives ; a telegraph apparatus ; implements and arms of various kinds ; a set of Audubon ^ a works ; tea , Irish potatoes whisky , wine , fruit , and perfumery . From thia benignant
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July 19 , 1856 . ] THE IiEAPER . 689
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1856, page 689, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2150/page/17/
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