"That Dartmouth is a natural harbour of considerable extent, with a sufficient depth of water at all times of tide for ships of the greatest draft, and with ample room for a considerable number to lie afloat completely sheltered from all winds.

"That no other harbour in the Channel can compete with it as affording equal accommodation, with the exception of Portsmouth, Portland, and Plymouth, and even these ports must under many circumstances be inferior to Dartmouth for the protection of disabled vessels.

"In order to confirm the opinion of your memorialists as to the value and character of the harbour of Dartmouth, they respectfully solicit attention to the Report of the Committee appointed by your lordships, in the year 1840, to inquire as to the comparative advantages afforded by different ports in the Channel as ports for the departure and arrival of the West India, Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Gibraltar Mails, wherein it is stated, Having therefore given the fullest consideration to all that has been adduced in support of the claims of Southampton, Portsmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth, Devonport and Falmouth, and having most anxiously and deliberately viewed the whole question in its various bearings, &c., we beg to state our opinion that Dartmouth will be found the most eligible port wherein the mails to and from the West Indies, &c., may be embarked and landed.' And again, In the entrance to Dartmouth from the westward the "Home Stone" is in the way, and in approaching from the eastward the "Ledges" must be avoided; but upon these dangers we need only state our conviction that with no great amount of lighting and buoyage the harbour may be rendered most easy of access to steam vessels by night and by day. Any other port which might have been chosen by us, would have required the same assisting guides, and some to a much greater extent. There is an abundant depth of water in the channel to and within the harbour of Dartmouth, and from the contracted state of the former, vessels, when at anchor in the latter, are, in the most comprehensive meaning of the expression, "landlocked." The rise of tide is ample and the strength of its stream moderate.'

"Not alone as a convenient port to the passing trade does Dartmouth recommend itself to especial notice, but from the still higher consideration that in the event of a war it must, from its peculiar position, and its great aptitude for a naval station, become most valuable to our merchant ships as a refuge from the storm and a retreat from the enemy; as well as one of the national harbours of defence and aggression in the Channel.

"Such being the case, your memorialists, holding as they do so large a stake on the shores and in the neighbourhood of the Dart, cannot close this part of the subject without stating with all deference, and with all possible submission, their intense alarm that so accessible a harbour should remain in its present utterly defenceless state. But on so momentous a question as the national defences of the country, your memorialists do not presume to enter further than merely to re

fer to their own position, now become so assailable through the introduction of steam to vessels of war.

"Your memorialists beg leave to draw the attention of your lordships to the fact, that the claims of the harbour of Dartmouth for your consideration, are not so much based on its merits as a private trading harbour, as of one of refuge and defence from its commanding position in the Channel; a distinction which they cannot press too strongly, inasmuch as it has not required any tolls or harbour dues for its maintenance and improvement. As a harbour of refuge, your memorialists invite the attention of your lordships to the opinion given by the late Committee of the House of Commons upon that most important subject. Their report says,- Now it appears to your Committee that the principle which distinguishes private trading harbours from harbours of refuge, and which points them out to be the objects of local and private enterprise, is that they are constructed principally in reference to the wants and convenience of such localities; whereas harbours of refuge upon our open coast are constructed not for the use of any individual port or community, but for the use of all the shipping, both British and foreign, frequenting or passing our coast; and it seems, therefore, to your Committee that the entire community of the country and the Government, stand in the same relation to harbours of refuge as individual communities and corporations stand in relation to private trading harbours.'

"Without presuming to dictate to your lordships how best this object may be attained, your memorialists beg leave most respectfully to state what from their local knowledge and experience appears to them to be most urgently required.

"1.-That from the peculiar formation and uniformity in appearance of the adjacent high lands on both sides of the harbour, overlapping as it were one another, the entrance thereto is frequently very difficult to recognize; your memorialists therefore are of opinion that if a lofty and substantial beacon or day mark was built in some commanding position on the East side of the entrance, this serious difficulty in making the harbour, so much complained of by strangers, would be entirely removed.

"2. That the result of Capt. Sheringham's survey of the port, executed in 1853, under the orders of the Board of Admiralty, has been the discovery of a highly dangerous and sharp pointed rock, called the Pin, having, it is reported, as little as 13 feet water only over it at low water, situate nearly a mile from the harbour's mouth in the middle of the fair way. Your memorialists humbly submit that it is most desirable that the character of this rock should be accurately ascertained, with the ultimate object of removing, if practicable, so much of it as would be necessary to insure a sufficient depth of water over it for large ships.

"3.-That other dangerous ledges were discovered in the progress of the aforesaid survey to the eastward of the Castle Ledge, the position of which it is essential should be accurately marked by placing a buoy near the West Rock.

"4.-Your memorialists beg to draw the attention of your lordships to the fact that the existing light at the Battery Point was established by private enterprise, and is found to be hitherto more than self-supporting by a voluntary tax of a farthing a ton; but although the present light is of immense value and benefit to vessels entering the port, your memorialists submit that it is far from being all that is requisite for the safe navigation by night of so important and greatly frequented a harbour as Dartmouth; and your memorialists further state with all due deference and respect, that it appears to them to be highly inexpedient that so great a responsibility as the charge and control of a refuge harbour light should rest with a private body, powerless to enforce a tax for its support, and not legally answerable for its due preservation and efficiency.

"In conclusion, your memorialists submit with every hope and humble confidence their respectful memorial for your lordships favourable consideration."

The foregoing arguments are so formidable, that we do not see how the claims of Dartmouth can be forgotten.

JAPAN A CENTURY AGO.

"We extract the following interesting remarks on Japan from an old work in the possession of Mr. George Peacock, F.R.G.S., of Starcross, entitled, the Universal Traveller, published by Mr. Salmon, and printed for Richard Baldwin at the Rose in Paternoster Row, MDCCLII.]

Japan was not known or even heard of in this part of the world for upwards of forty years after America was discovered by Columbus, and then by mere accident. Antonio de Moto, a Portuguese Commander, being driven upon the coast by a storm, in a voyage towards China, in the year 1542, was the first European that arrived there; soon after which, the Portuguese began to traffic with the Japanese, and had the sole trade thither for upwards of sixty years, when the English and Dutch arrived here. However, the Portuguese still continued to trade thither, and having introduced their missionaries, made great numbers of popish proselytes until the year 1630, when the Japanese Government, apprehending that the Portuguese were in a conspiracy against the State, massacred or banished all the Christians, and determined never to admit any more of that religion into their country except the Dutch. What could be the reason of this severity against the Christians, cannot be determined; but it seems probable that the preaching up the Pope's supremacy, and suggesting that he was superior to all earthly monarchs, and ought to be obeyed rather than their temporal prince, gave the Dutch a handle to insinuate to the Court of Japan that they were about to absolve the people from their allegiance, and persuade them to acknowledge

the Pope for their sovereign: it was thought prudent therefore to massacre the Portuguese and their disciples before they became too numerous. It is generally said, indeed, that the Dutch were permitted to trade with Japan, when all other Christians were excluded, because they denied their being Christians, trampled upon the cross, and expressed the utmost detestation of the Christian religion: and there may be some truth in this. The Dutch would stick at nothing to monopolise the trade of these islands.* The Dutch knew that the English were Protestants, and as far from espousing the deposing doctrines as themselves, and more devoted to their lawful princes; but they could never have procured the English to have been excluded the trade to Japan, if they had not represented that the English, as well as the Portuguese, were tainted with the same pernicious principles. Certain it is, whatever motives the Japanese were governed by, no other Europeans are permitted to trade thither but the Dutch; nor have the Portuguese much reason to clamour at the Hollanders' crafty insinuations, who had practised the like arts before, in order to monopolize that rich traffic; for the Portuguese themselves had represented all other people who came to trade there as pirates and robbers to prejudice the Japanese against them. The Japanese are so jealous even of the Dutch, that when any of their ships arrive they take off their rudders, sails, and guns, and carry them on shore, until they are ready to sail, and their factors and people are shut up in the little island of Disnia, which is not two miles round, being parted from the city of Nangasaque by a little channel or strait of the sea. The people in the island assigned to the Dutch are not allowed fire or candle in the night time, or permitted to come into the city of Nangasaque for eight months of the year, and when the ship arrives not a man is suffered to come on shore till an express is sent up to Court and returned, and then the crews of the several ships are mustered

* In Dean Swift's admirable satire, Gulliver's Travels, in the voyage to Laputa the authorities at Jeddo were instructed to allow Gulliver to pass the gates of the city without the usual ceremony of trampling on the cross. "I answered, as I had before determined, that I was a Dutch merchant shipwrecked in a very remote country whence I had travelled by sea and land to Luggwagg, and then took shipping for Japan; where I knew my countrymen often traded, and with some of these I hoped to get an opportunity of returning into Europe. I therefore most humbly entreated his royal favour to give order that I should be conducted in safety to Nangasac: to this I added another petition that for the sake of my patron the King of Luggwagg, his Majesty would condescend to excuse my performing the ceremony imposed on my countrymen of trampling upon the crucifix, because I had been thrown into his kingdom by my misfortunes without any intention of trading. When this latter petition was interpreted to the Emperor, he seemed a little surprised; and said, he believed I was the first of my countrymen who ever made any scruple on this point, and that he began to doubt whether I was a real Hollander or not; but rather suspected that I must be a Christian; however, for the reasons I had offered, but chiefly to gratify the King of Luggwagg by an uncommon mark of his favour, he would comply with the singularity of my humour." Chap. xi.-G. P.

before the Japanese commissary and their names called over, to see if the account given in by their officers is right. In the mean time, the Dutch are allowed to carry up a present to the Emperor at Jeddo, and receive another of his Majesty for the Company, which journey usually takes up three months; after which, they receive permission to trade in a very limited manner; and there is a kind of fair kept in the city of Nangesaque, and the island of Disnia, for six weeks, and then the Dutch are confined again to the island, and suffered to have no correspondence with the Japanese, except with the wenches they hire to cohabit with them, till the shipping returns the next season.

As the land of Jesso lies North of Japan, and is by some conjectured to be contiguous to it, this is a proper place to mention it, though we know little more of it than that there is such a country. As to the reports we have of the natives being savages, that their skins are hairy, and that in many respects they resemble wild beasts, such fables are not to be minded; for upon the discovery of every country the traveller seldom fails to furnish us with a race of monsters. Captain Saris, who commanded an English East India ship, that traded to Japan, assures us we are imposed on in these relations, and ought to give no credit to them; that the inhabitants of Jesso do not differ from those of Japan, either in their stature or complexion; that the people in the South were civilised, and traded with Japan, and that they made their payments for their clothing and other goods in gold dust, and that there was a town in Jesso named Matzimory, where the Japanese had a garrison. It has been supposed by some, that this land of Jesso extends so far to the North-East, that it is contiguous to America, or at least that there is a very narrow strait between Asia and America.* This hypothesis, I presume, was advanced in order to account for the peopling of America from the Eastern Continent; but surely there is very little colour for such a supposition. The authors of this opinion were very unfortunate in imagining that the two continents were contiguous on this side, since they are divided by a vast ocean, in most places 10,000 miles over, and in no part has it been found so little as 3,000 miles over. As the English have had no commerce with Japan for upwards of one hundred years, and we can receive no intelligence from thence but what the Dutch are pleased to give us, a letter from an English East India Captain to his friend in England, when we were allowed a free trade to that kingdom, may give us a juster account of the state of it than anything that has been communicated to us since; the substance whereof is as follows:

Sir,-I arrived at Firando, one of the islands of Japan, on the 11th of June, 1613. It is situate in 33° 50′ North latitude, a little West of

Yesso, the northernmost of the Japanese Group, is here no doubt confounded with Saghalien and Kamskatka, so little was known of the science of remote eastern geography in the early and middle periods of the eighteenth century. The gold dust mentioned might probably have been brought from the South:eastern side or Altaic range of the Uralian Mountains, down the River Amoor by Russian traders.-G. P.

NO. 3.-VOL. XXVIII.