THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, BEING A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF LONDON, NOVEMBER THE 13TH, MDCCCCVII I KNOW that I need make no apology for bringing before your notice this evening a matter which is of no little concern in our relations with Japan, from the point of view of the past, as well as from that of the present and the future. It is one in which our allies have shown the deepest and most generous interest, although it is certainly also one in which it is far more a duty for us to show zeal than for them. Although it has been my fate for many years to address various audiences on various subjects, never before have I attempted to put my hand in the purses of my hearers: never before have I preached anything resembling a charity sermon. To-night I stand before you a beggar, abashed indeed, though not ashamed; for the cause which I plead is a good one: I ask you to cooperate with our Japanese friends to perpetuate the memory of Will Adams, the first Englishman who ever set foot in Japan, and who lived and died there in circumstances so bewilderingly romantic that Defoe, had he known of them, might have been inspired to write a second "Robinson Crusoe." There are, it is true, no footprints on the sand; there is no "Man Friday." It is the simple tale of a sturdy British seaman, who, after going through perils innumerable, landing on a foreign shore, won by his honesty and force of character the respect and affection of those among whom the caprice of Fate had cast his lot, earning from the ruler of the land honours which had never been conferred before upon a Western man, and which no man has ever attained since. For some two centuries and a half Adams' tomb had been forgotten and hidden by an undergrowth of trees and shrubs; it was discovered in 1872 by Mr. Walter, and it is now proposed to maintain it for all time, appointing as its custodian an old sailor or soldier. For this purpose, and for the maintenance of the tomb itself, an endowment is necessary. The Japanese have subscribed most liberally, but more money is still wanted. The British Ambassador, Sir Claude Macdonald, is exerting himself in the cause, and he has asked me to promote its interests on this side. I thought, therefore, that I could not do better than enlist the sympathy of the Japan Society. Will you help? you help? Will you do what you can to prevent the tomb of the gallant Will Adams from the risk of falling into ruin? Of the giants who made the glory of Queen Elizabeth's reign, none were more conspicuously worthy of admiration than the seadogs who manned her ships and carried her flag in triumph to the uttermost parts of the earth. In those days there were no floating palaces, no Lusitanias or Mauretanias in which men may set at naught the wildest ravings of the Atlantic. In mere cockle-shells they faced the rage of wind and wave. In craft of 140 tons, of 70 tons, and in one case even, if my memory serves me right, of 30 tons, trusting in God and in their own stout hearts, they sailed into the unknown space. That the Western land existed, that indeed they knew; the problem had been solved a century earlier. But there were no elaborate surveys, no perfect charts pointing out every hidden terror, every rock and shoal and treacherous current in every possible harbour. Only think how the dangers of the crushing icebergs were magnified for those pigmy vessels ! Yet it is only fair to say that the ship measurements of those days must have been very different from those of our time. A ship of the size of those of the old mariners, measured by our standard, could not have held the number of men that they carried with them, let alone the stores and outfit. We have accurate information as to the proportion of men to tonnage in the five ships which composed the fleet in which Will Adams sailed the Hope, 250 tons and 130 men; the Faith, 150 tons and 109 men; the Charity or Liefde, Will Adams' ship, 160 tons and 110 men ; the Fidelity, 100 tons and 86 men; the Good News, 75 tons and 56 men. This, however, is a matter into which it is no part of my purpose to inquire. It is only interesting in connection with the subject which is before our meeting as being one more proof of the difficulties which our old seamen had to encounter. The Raleighs, the Drakes, the Frobishers, the Howards of Effingham, and how many more! All these were great men who built up the seaglory of England, and made this little island the mother of vast States. But in spite of all their great and noble achievements, there was not one of them who went through more wondrous changes |