and appreciate the defense of the Catholic religion and of the poor Indians.” But one other feature of Philippine history needs here to be mentioned ere we pass from the period. This is the constant disposition on the part of the natives to revolt against the government of Spain. For instance, in 1622 we find the natives of Bohol in full rebellion, both on account of the tyranny of ecclesiastics and of the weight of the taxes. In 1629 a similar revolt occurred in Northeastern Mindanao. Twenty years later a very serious rebellion took place in Pamar, under a chief called Sumoroy. When the Spanish commander sent to the rebels demanding Sumoroy's head, they sent him back a pig's head. In 1660 the inhabitants of the province of Pampanga revolted against the command to cut down timber for their masters. And to take one example from the eighteenth century, in 1744 there was a rebellion against a certain Jesuit priest who was in the habit of having parishioners arrested for absenting themselves from Mass. All this goes to show that, whatever advantages the Spanish had brought to their distant Asiatic dependencies, they had certainly not contributed the inestimable boon of peace. The outcome of a wholly unsatisfactory situation we shall see in the developments of a later time. CHAPTER IX PORTUGAL'S SUCCESSORS IN THE EAST It is with some sense of the need for apology that we take up still another chapter of the story of European relations with Asia, instead of Asia's own history independent of foreign contacts, rich as that history is in materials for every sort of study. But it will be obvious that most of the complications in Asia to-day are the result of those very intrusions on the part of Europe which we are describing, hence we must add to the story of Portuguese and Spanish adventure in the East the record of still more far-reaching and persistent penetration. First of all must come some brief account of the Oriental exploitations of the Dutch. Though not so early as Great Britain in the general effort to break a way to Cathay by sea, Holland must in several other respects be regarded as the pioneer in successfully challenging the monopoly of Spain and Portugal in the trade of the Farthest East. As early as 1565 the Dutch had established a "factory' (trading station) on the North Russian route to China, but had made little use of it. In 1593 came a series of attempts by Holland to force the Northeast Passage. In this enterprise William Barents had a distinguished place. On his third voyage he reached Spitzbergen in great cold, poverty, misery, and grief. He was forced to stay all winter in Nova Zembla, and died on his return voyage home. The name "Barents Sea," given to the Arctic Ocean north of Europe, should of 1 Died 1597. The house in which he wintered was discovered in 1871 and part of the journal in 1875. course not be confused with Behring1 Sea north of the Aleutian Islands. By this time Antwerp had become an important international port, and the schools of cartography at that city and at Bruges may be regarded as indications of the seriousness of the Dutch in challenging the validity of the Papal edict. More important still was the stimulus given by the work of John van Linschoten,2 who had lived from 1583 to 1589 in the household of the Portuguese archbishop at Goa, and was thoroughly aware of the opportunities for trade which the East offered to the adventurous. Linschoten was at least determined his countrymen should hear of these, and the publication of the Itinerario2 was like a trumpet call to English as well as Dutch, for the book did not long remain untranslated. A keen struggle ensued to take advantage of the opening. The Dutch expeditions began as early as 1595, and we read of five separate ones in 1598. The nation was intoxicated with dreams of Oriental wealth when Van Neck returned with freight beyond anything the shareholders had anticipated. Fifteen expeditions were launched before 1601. Then, in 1602, by action of the States General, all associations formed for trade were merged in the Dutch East India Company. One of the ships which left Holland, part of "a fleete of five sayle," in 1598, was De Liefde (The Charity), piloted by the famous Englishman, Will Adams. Separated from the rest of the fleet by storms somewhere off the coast of Spanish America, this vessel came on to Japan and reached the neighborhood of Nagasaki on April 19, 1600. The newcomers, Hollanders and Englishman alike, were bitterly opposed by the Portuguese, who regarded them as rebels and pirates. But with time playing into their hands, they were satisfied with the respite gained for them by the favor of Iyeyasu, the new Sho 1 Vitus Behring, or Bering, 1680-1741. 21563-1611. The Itinerario was translated into English and German in 1598, into Latin (twice) in 1599, and into French in 1610. The letters of Will Adams have been published several times. See N. Murakami's Letters Written by English Residents in Japan. gun. At the same time they pushed their fortunes shrewdly and let slip no opportunity for wooing the interest of the Japanese. They commenced the importation of all kinds of monsters and curious animals; nothing was too whimsical or too ridiculous, so long as it attracted attention. Nevertheless, they made mistakes, especially in their request, after Iyeyasu's death, for a renewal of their letters-patent. This request was considered unnecessary and a reflection on the good faith of the Japanese. The letters were granted, but on less advantageous terms. The relation of the Dutch to the establishment of the English factory at Hirado will be mentioned presently, but it may be well to tell the story of Dutch influence now as far as the settlement of Deshima. The Hollanders were not overscrupulous in their efforts to make gain out of Japanese opposition to Christianity and to the Portuguese. Their part in the terrible massacre of Shimabara in 1638 is nothing to be proud of. Dr. Kaempfer, the Dutch historian, comments as follows: "By this submissive readiness to assist the Emperor in the execution of his designs with regard to the final extinction of Christianity in his dominions, 'tis true indeed that we stood our ground so far as to maintain ourselves in the country and to be permitted to carry on our trade, although the court had then some thoughts of a total exclusion of all foreigners whatever. But many generous and noble persons at court and in the Empire judged quite otherwise of our conduct, and not too favorably for the credit we had thereby endeavored to gain.' The head of the Dutch factory, Koeckerbecker, found it sufficient excuse to say he must “save at any price the commerce of Japan." Yet, after all this complacency, the Dutchmen all but shared the total exclusion of foreigners which became the policy of Iyemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun. They purchased immunity by submission to the most humiliating conditions. For example, in 1638 they consented to demolish the warehouses at Hirado, for the double reason that they were, in Japanese 1 See Kaempfer, vol. II, p. 173. eyes, too handsome and too solidly constructed, and because there was reference to Christianity in the A.D. prefixed to the date on the front. The Dutch history naïvely remarks: "The better we deserved of them, the more they seemed to hate and despise us." Then, in 1641, the merchants were forced to accept the little island in the harbor of Nagasaki, called Deshima,' two hundred yards long and eighty broad, which had already been connected by a small stone bridge with the mainland in anticipation of its occupation by the Portuguese. Here the Hollanders found at once their secure commercial foothold and their prison. The island was enclosed "with pretty high deal boards, covered with small roofs, on the top whereof is planted a double row of pikes." From this they were suffered to emerge only once a year, to make the ceremonial visit, with presents, to the Shogun. Kaempfer says: "So great was the alluring power of Japanese gold, that rather than quit the advantage of a trade, indeed most advantageous, they willingly underwent an almost perpetual imprisonment, for such in fact is our stay in Deshima, and chose to suffer many hardships in a foreign and heathen country, to be remiss in performing divine service on Sundays and solemn festivals, to leave off praying and singing of psalms in publick, entirely to avoid the sign of the cross, the calling upon Christ in the presence of the natives, and all the outward marks of Christianity, and lastly, patiently and submissively to bear the abusive and injurious behavior of these proud Infidels towards us, than which nothing can be offered more shocking to a generous and noble mind."2 After this the Dutch, restricted first to seven ships annually and eventually to one, did no more than barely keep unbroken the thread of Japanese contact with the West, until the coming of the modern era. We have, in trying to preserve a compact story of the Dutch relations with Japan, outrun our narrative in other respects. The achievements of Holland, as one of the two great Protes 1 For a full description of Deshima, see Kaempfer, vol. II, pp. 174–184. |