During the excitements which followed the expulsion of the Portuguese, a
second effort to enter Japan was made by the English; but, owing, it is
supposed, to the interference of the Dutch, this attempt was wholly
unsuccessful. In 1673, the East India Company despatched another vessel,
which was also received with distrust. The Japanese had learned, through
the Dutch, that the English king, Charles II., had allied himself by
marriage to the royal family of Portugal. On this account, and on this
only, the Japanese declared that no English ship could be admitted. Two
other equally fruitless attempts were made in 1791 and 1803. In 1808, an
English ship of war, by showing Dutch colors, gained entrance to the port
of Nagasaki, where, instead of peaceably deporting himself, the captain
began by capturing the Dutch officials who came on board, and setting at
defiance the requisitions of the Japanese. This English ship had been
cruising after the Dutch traders, England and Holland being at war at the
time, and, failing to meet them, the captain concluded they had eluded him,
and sought them at Nagasaki. A plan to attack the ship and burn it was
devised by the Japanese, but before it could be carried out the Englishman
had sailed. Conscious that his dignity was forfeited by this invasion, the
Japanese governor of Nagasaki, notwithstanding he was in no wise
censurable, in pursuance of the national custom, immediately destroyed
himself, and his example was followed by twelve of his subordinate
officers.
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