Around the World with a King

by William N. Armstrong

  AT early dawn on the 4th of March we steamed up the Bay of Yedo. To the westward we caught a faint glimmer of the snow-clad summit of sacred Fusyama rising in a truncated cone 13,000 feet from the level plain. Though in our little kingdom there were mountains of nearly the same height, with several a thousand feet higher, not one of them rose as abruptly or as symmetrically from the sea or plain. The many small fishing-villages along the coast, and the fleets of oddly rigged sampans, marked a thickly settled country.

  The King hesitated to display the royal standard, for the suite advised him that if no notice was taken of it he would have voluntarily humiliated himself. For the same cautious reason we sent no notice of the royal intention to visit Japan, but had requested a fellow passenger, who was a resident of Yokohama, to secure for us lodging at one of the hotels. But the captain wished to announce the fact that he carried a distinguished person, and as the King's inclination coincided with his desire, Robert, the valet, extricated the royal standard from its canvas bag, and it was soon flying at the main truck. We did not expect that under the circumstances it would receive a salute.

  While we leaned over the rail looking at the Bluffs, or foreign settlement of Yokohama, we saw a number of warships in the harbour; seven Russian, two British, one French, and three Japanese. It was an imposing line of sea-fighters, stretching for a mile before the city. They rode at their anchors in silence and without a sign of life. As our steamer crossed the bows of the first ironclad, a Russian, there was-a sudden discharge of saluting guns from her batteries. At the same moment the Hawaiian flag was broken out on the mainmast. Swarms of sailors sprang aloft and manned the yards, that is, stood, in line along them, each man extending his arm to the shoulder of the next one. As if by magic the ship was dressed from stem to stern with the flags of all nations. The report of the first gun was followed slowly by a royal salute of twenty-one guns, and our royal standard was dipped in response. Within a minute we passed the bows of the next warship. From her mainmast also the Hawaiian flag was unfurled, her crew also manned the yards, the ship was dressed with flags as had been the Russian, and the slow discharges of her saluting guns swelled the volume of noise. The royal standard on the "Oceanic" was again dipped in response, and as we crossed the bows of all the warships in succession, the same ceremonies were repeated. The crews mounting and manning the yards, cheering as we passed; the roar of two hundred and seventy-three cannon; the smoke rising in clouds and rolling away in dense volumes toward the bay; the innumerable flags with which the war-ships were dressed, appearing and disappearing in the smoke,—made an extraordinary and brilliant scene, and a startling one, because unexpected. The King stood impassive, lifting his hat as we passed each vessel, while our royal standard dipped in response.

  The anchor chain of our steamer had hardly ceased its rattling when a boat from the Japanese warship "Mikado" reached the gangway. An admiral, six other naval officers, and two Imperial Commissioners, from his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan, all in full uniform, boarded our steamer, and asked, with due official etiquette, to be presented to the King of Hawaii. This was done by our Chamberlain. The Imperial Commissioners stated that they had been commanded by his Imperial Majesty to receive and welcome his Majesty the King of Hawaii, and invite him to be the Emperor's guest so long as he remained in the Empire. The King towered above them with his large stature, received them easily and gracefully, and replied that it would please him to become the guest of the Emperor. After a brief conversation he was asked, with his suite, to enter the boat of a warship, and be conveyed to one of the Emperor's palaces near the city of Yokohama. He remained for a few moments to receive the calls of the admirals and commanders of the British and French warships. We were not prepared for this very splendid reception; we were in the negligent clothing of travellers eagerly in search of bath-tubs, but the King stood impassive in this group of brilliantly dressed officials, making no apology for his appearance, for a king never apologises. We entered the boat of the warship; the royal standard of Hawaii was fixed in her bows, and a launch towed us to the landing. As the boat drew close to the shore we noticed great crowds on the docks, and long lines of troops in the street. When the boat touched the landing, the strains of "Hawaii Ponoi" burst from the shore. This unexpected compliment from the Emperor's military band, this music of our own country in a strange land, upset us instantly, and a snivelling monarch, with a snivelling suite, uncovered, our Japanese escort uncovering also, until the anthem ended.

  Now for the first time in the history of this Empire one of the kings of Christendom was on her soil. The royal party walked a short distance between lines of troops to a public office near the landing. Many officials were presented to the King; confections and wines were served. An imperial carriage, brought from Tokio by railway, drove to the door, and the King, with his suite and the Emperor's Chamberlain, entered it. Both sides of the streets, for a mile or more, were lined with troops, and behind them were crowds of people, silent and stolid; to them it was a rare sight. Intertwined Japanese and Hawaiian flags appeared on nearly all the slight frame houses fronting on our line of march. We were slowly driven, through the thickly settled part of the city of Yokohama, to a grand house or palace on rising ground overlooking the city; built for the convenience of the Emperor's guests. It was furnished with exquisite articles of Japanese art, but European beds, chairs, sofas, and bureaus had been added for the comfort of foreign guests. A retinue of servants put us in our chambers, and we were left to ourselves. Mr. Nagasaki, the Imperial Chamberlain, was graduated at the College at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and, with a romantic faith in the future of his country, was an apostle of American ideas. The Emperor had assigned to him the duty of attending the King while he remained in the country.

  The succession of surprises was now suspended for a few hours. The suddenness of this spectacular reception dazed me. We lit cigars and sat down in the King's bedchamber and looked at each other.

  "Maikai no!" ("Very good!") said the King. "What do you think about it?" he asked.

  "I do not think," I replied; "I am confused; there comes into my head every moment the story of the American humourist who relates how a farmer on the remote prairie returned home after a few days' absence to find his home burned by the Indians, his stock run off, and his wife and children butchered. He gazed for a moment at this desolation, and exclaimed, 'This is too redicklus!'"

  But we were impatient to know the reason for this grand reception, and at luncheon the Imperial Chamberlain told us that the Imperial Consul-General in San Francisco had telegraphed that the King would visit Japan. The government consulted the diplomatic corps, especially Mr. Bingham, the American Minister at the Japanese Court, and it was advised that the existence of a treaty between Hawaii and Japan placed the Japanese government under an obligation to receive the Hawaiian King as it would receive the monarch of any country under treaty and friendly relations with Japan. We had not realised the force of this obligation when we left our islands, and besides, if it was an obligation, it might not be a strict one, or it might be ignored. But the King was prepared to "straddle" in the matter of rank, and was ready to appear in his proper character as king, or incognito as prince. And as to our national anthem, our clever consul in Japan, Mr. R. W. Irwin, a great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, had, with the sagacity of his illustrious ancestor, ferreted out a copy of the music, owned by a lady who had been a missionary in Hawaii, and had furnished it to the imperial band-master.

  The government of Japan was well aware of the importance of the Hawaiian Islands, situated at the cross-roads of the Pacific Ocean, while its treaty with the little kingdom gave the latter the arbitrary and "extra-territorial" power which the European nations held in the treaty ports of Japan. Besides, her trading ships and navy found the port of Honolulu most convenient.

  The Emperor, therefore, commanded that the first visit to Japan of one of the kings of a nation of the brotherhood to which his own nation did not belong should be cordia
l and memorable.

  Our luncheon was served in the European style. There is nothing which a French chef. can cook which a Japanese cannot successfully imitate. The meats and vegetables were perhaps inferior to those used in Europe; for the Japanese consume little meat, and their vegetables are of a different kind from those commonly used in Europe and America.

  We were now allowed to rest during the day, after the serious business of the reception by the Emperor on the morrow had been arranged. The details were with much deference submitted by the Imperial Chamberlain to the King, and he approved of them. These arrangements were novel, for there was no precedent for the reception of a foreign monarch; but the etiquette of European courts was closely followed. The Governor of the Province of Kanagawa called in the evening, but etiquette forbade general presentations until the monarchs had exchanged visits.

  The delicate subject of the exchange of speeches was disposed of by the understanding that none should be formally made; we were relieved of the dreary incident of the two sovereigns pulling manuscripts out of their pockets and reading high-sounding phrases to each other. My royal master, who was, as I have said, familiar with royal etiquette, now instructed his suite regarding their attitude and behaviour. The Chamberlain needed none, for he had been long in his Majesty's service. I, the Minister, however, was an untutored American who until lately had been denied the priceless blessings of royal associations, and, unless well instructed, there was danger that I might commit an error like that of an American Minister to Austria, who at an imperial reception discovered an empty chair which he innocently occupied, though, as he was later informed, it had been reserved for the Emperor. The King directed me to stand at his right, and closely watch the conduct of the Prime Minister of Japan, with whom my rank was equal. As I was about to wear a sword for the first time, he warned me against allowing it to get between my legs.

  I noticed that the valet, Robert, had strongly impressed the lower Japanese attendants with the dignity of his office of "Standard-Bearer," and, instead of occupying servants' quarters, was placed in a richly furnished room, with an attendant.

  By the order of the Governor of Kanagawa there was an exceedingly grand display of fireworks during the evening. Just as the darkness closed on the last of the fiery devices, the deep rich tones of the bell of a Buddhist temple rose from a distance, and seemed to fill the air with a solemn sweetness. I recalled with no pleasant feeling how the orthodox bell-makers of New England, in my early days, mixed the harshness of the old theology with the bell-metal, so that the bell-tongue struck "salvation" on the saving side of its rim, and then swung angrily through its arc till it struck "damnation" on the opposite side. Here the air was filled with a sweet melody that suggested final rest,—if one manages, that is, to struggle through the five hundred monstrous reincarnations which the faithful enter before they reach the eternal repose upon the lotus-flower.

  CHAPTER V

  Visit to the Emperor at Tokio — Reception at the Plaoe — The Empress — A Lady in Waiting — Comparison of the Emperor and the King — Lodged in the Palace of the Enriokwan — Robert the Valet Falls Again — The Royal Feather Cloak — The Emperor Returns the King's Visit — Dinners, Luncheons, and Receptions — An Imperial Prince Always Present with the King — Reflections.

  THE following morning we dressed for the imperial reception. When I put on my gorgeous trappings for the first time, with sword and cocked hat, I was as much absorbed in it as the Chinese pirate who at his execution was kindly supplied by a British officer with a pair of English boots, which so engaged his attention that he showed a culpable indifference to his own hanging.

  At ten o'clock the imperial carriage with its mounted escort was at the door, and we entered it with the Emperor's Chamberlain, followed by another with the Imperial Commissioners. We took the imperial railway car at the station and arrived in Tokio in an hour. There a large number of officials received us, and led us to a room decorated with flowers, where confections and wine were served. There was the same quiet in the room, though it was filled with officials in uniform, as if the Emperor himself were present: the same respectful, and what many, who fail to understand the Japanese nature and custom, would regard as abject, service. One of the Imperial Princes now appeared, and, after his presentation to the King, declared that by order of the Emperor he was to attend his Majesty during his stay in the Empire. The King, with the Imperial Prince, now entered one of the Emperor's open carriages, while the Chamberlain and I entered another. As the carriages moved into the street they were surrounded by a large body of lancers. The railway station was decorated with Hawaiian and Japanese flags, and along the route of travel toward the Emperor's palace, a distance of four miles, these countless flags, intertwined, decorated the houses. The troops lined both sides of the streets, and behind them, as in Yokohama, the people were massed, silent, sober, and deeply interested. An ancient custom, recently forbidden by the government, required the people to prostrate themselves on the approach of the Mikado. The new order of things directed the people simply to bow respectfully. Many of them seemed to be quite uncertain as to their duty in the presence of a foreign king. All, however, bowed low, some even to the ground.

  Tokio is a city of castles and moats, formerly the military encampment of the Shoguns and their great retainers. The carriages passed over many bridges spanning these moats, until, after a journey of four miles, the bugle announced our arrival at Akasaka, the palace of the Emperor. The etiquette of European courts requires a monarch to receive a visiting monarch at the threshold of his palace. The Emperor left his audience-hall and awaited the King in a room close to the entrance of the palace. The King stepped out of the carriage, and with the Imperial Prince entered this room, in the centre of which the Emperor stood alone. The suite, with officers of the imperial household, followed, and remained a few feet distant from the monarchs. They shook hands-an unusual proceeding on the part of the Emperor-and, through an interpreter, who stood in a bowing attitude behind the Emperor, conversed for several minutes. The Emperor then looked toward his own Chamberlain, and I, as the next in rank, was presented to him, and the presentation of the King's Chamberlain followed. The Emperor then turned, and with the King by his side walked briskly through several richly furnished halls to the audience-room. The Emperor walks alone when before his people; the Empress is never at his side; the belief in his divine origin permits no person in the Empire to appear to be his equal, and the Empress follows him. But for the first time in his own reign, and in those of his predecessors, he walked by the side of his kingly guest.

  In the audience-chamber the Empress (called by the nation Kogo-Sama-"Empress of Spring") sat near 4 table covered with richly embroidered silk. She was magnificently dressed in Japanese costume, though she urges the ladies of her court to adopt European styles, and does so herself in informal ceremonies. Her face was enamelled, and her lips and eyebrows were stained with cosmetics. The Emperor, "Son of the Heavenly Light-Giver," presented the King to her. She did not rise, but returned the King's salutation with the least movement of her head and eyes. The Emperor raised his eyes, and the Imperial Chamberlain presented me, and then our Chamberlain, to her Imperial Majesty. She recognised us with the same slight movement of the head. The Emperor and the King then sat down, while the large body of courtiers, in full uniforms, and we of the King's suite, stood at a short distance. There was no attendance by the ladies of the Court, but I noticed some cautious peeps from behind the screens. I had observed a pretty Japanese girl, in a Parisian dress and a Gainsborough hat, standing by the side of the Empress. The lips of the Empress moved, and her voice was hardly above a whisper. The young lady bowed low, so as to catch the sound. Then, turning to the King, with the clear, charming accent of a well-bred Englishwoman, she said:

  "Your Majesty, her Imperial Majesty welcomes you to this country. She hopes that you have had a pleasant voyage."

  The King replied that the voyage was a long but a pleasant one. He made no
reference to his struggle in the lee scuppers of the "Oceanic." The young girl bowed to the Empress and interpreted the reply. The lips of the Empress again moved, and the girl translated the words in charming English to the King. The Empress hoped that he would enjoy his visit in Japan. The King replied that he should. The pretty interpreter, the daughter of Count Inouye, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had recently returned from England, where she had been for some years at school.

  Lacquer trays, with confections, were now placed on the table, but were not touched; it is the custom to send these articles to the residence of the guest after his departure. The Emperor and the King now rose and stood beside each other. The Emperor was slightly above the average height of his race; his complexion was dark, and his face an open one; his forehead was unusually high; his eyes black and penetrating; nor did he look like one who would put himself entirely in the hands of his Ministers; his dress was a European military uniform, and the breast of his coat was decorated with Orders. The King, with a complexion unusually dark for a Hawaiian, towered above him, graceful, imperturbable. The contrast was striking; but the inscrutable face and eye of the Emperor disclosed the stronger character. The gossips of the court, as we soon learned, admired the large size and excellent manners of the King. Now the Emperor's subjects believed that he was the son of Ama-Terasu, the sun-goddess, with a lineage running back for twenty centuries. In former days, they believed, he was a sacred dragon, and their historians warned the people to behave, "lest their troubles ruffle the Mikado's scales." I ventured seriously and respectfully to ask one of the members of the Court, who had been educated in Europe, if the higher classes accepted this belief in the Emperor's divine origin. He replied,—"Certainly, why not? Your people believe that Adam and Eve were made out of dust; you run the human race back into a mud-hole. We believe that a ruler of people has a more creditable origin than that."