Around the World with a King

by William N. Armstrong

  CHAPTER X

  Departure for Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki — The Emperor sends Imperial Commissioners with His Guest — Japanese Evolution — Kobe, and the Old Capital of Kioto — Mistakes about the King's Identity — Visit to Osaka — Attempt to Dine Incognito at Japanese Inn — The Disguise Penetrated — Visit to an Old Missionary in Kobe — The Inland Sea — Salutes — The King's Reflections — Favours Buddhism — At Nagasaki — Japanese Navigation — Promiscuous Bathing — Imperial Commissioners Leave at the Boundary of the Empire — Chinese and Japanese Morality — The Steamer Coaled by Women and Children.

  AFTER a visit1 of ten days, filled with splendid and extraordinary imperial hospitality, we left Tokio with the same grand ceremony with which we entered it. On reaching Yokohama, the Imperial Princes and many members of the court bade the King good-bye at the gangway of the steamer. The warships dipped their flags; but the yards of the Russian ships were "crossed" in mourning for the dead Tsar; and salutes were not fired.

  We embarked for Kobe and Nagasaki in one of the steamers of the Mishi-Bishi Company. But the hospitality of the Emperor had not yet ended. Three Imperial Commissioners attended us. It was their office to remain with the Emperor's guest until he reached the boundaries of the Empire. One of them was an old nobleman of high rank, with a kind and genial face, whose history was full of startling incidents.

  As we moved quietly toward the great Inland Sea of Japan I reflected on the strange and unexpected events of the last ten days. Our abode had been in the altitudes, the upper air of Oriental royal life, but we had now descended by a parachute to the common ways and stood on the deck of a trading-steamer. One act in the comedy of "The Royal Traveller" had closed. What would be the scenes and incidents of the next? As we smoked our cigars in a quiet conference we could see how circumstances had shaped for us this splendid reception in Japan, but we could not conceive any reason why any other people should recognise, beyond the merest civilities, the existence of such a small nation as Hawaii. My own pleasure in this generous reception was that it had brought me face to face with the reconstructors of a great empire. Christendom calls these men pagans, but by the worldly standard they measure well as statesmen. There is before them a more difficult task than that of the founders of the American Constitution. For these founders took the existing wise and wholesome laws, political habits and usages of the people, and with little innovation shaped them into a great Constitution. They simply grafted better stock on the healthy roots of self-government, already deeply fixed in the soil. But the Japanese statesmen, Saigo, Ito, Inouye, Okubo, and Katsu, with the aid of the Emperor, are placing a modern and parliamentary structure of government upon a narrow, and ancient, foundation of absolute feudalism. They will be ranked among the leaders of men if within one hundred years their plans are successful. To-day they are only at the dawning of their new civilisation. Griffith, one of their ablest and most impartial historians, gives them this high praise: "The noblest trait in the character of the Japanese is his willingness to change for the better when he discovers his wrong or inferiority."

  The King and the suite were now members of the conspicuous military Order of the Rising Sun, and upon the King's asking the nature of our obligations as such members, I, as his law officer, instructed him that if the Emperor of Japan demanded his active assistance in the event of war he might be obliged to order out our Hawaiian fleet of double war-canoes to protect the Japanese fleet; but that the question was one which should be submitted to a conference of nations.

  On landing at Kobe the royal party went by train to the ancient capital and city of Kioto. The Governor of the city received us and led us through the ancient palace of the Mikado. The grounds were excellent examples of Japanese skill in gardening; the palace and the buildings connected with it were richly furnished, but simple in construction, for it was one of the rules of Shintoism, the State religion, that the Mikado should lead a simple life.

  We occupied three carriages in driving about the city, but they were no longer imperial. As we were not in uniform, and no special effort was made to distinguish the King from his suite, the many thousands of people who filled the streets, but opened a passageway for us, were unable to pick out the King. Some of them pointed to the Chamberlain as the King, some of them looked at me. At one place our carriages were separated for a few moments and drove through different streets. For a few moments I received the adoration of the people, many of them bowing to the ground, to the amusement of the Imperial Commissioner by my side, who said the mistake would cause much discussion among the people for many years, as to the complexion of the King: some would insist that he was a white man, and others that he was a dark man. The sensation of being received as a monarch is not a disagreeable one; but it is quickly succeeded by the feeling that you are, even innocently, imposing on the crowd. It is not convenient to rise in the carriage and say, "The man you are looking after is around the corner."

  After some presentations of local authorities to the King, in the Governor's residence, the royal party returned by train to the city of Osaka, where there was another reception in the residence of the Governor of that province, and a visit to the Mint followed. While in the street we were suddenly asked to leave the carriages and mount jinrikishas.

  The King, while in Tokio, said he would like to visit a common inn of the country, but etiquette forbade the guest of the Emperor from entering one in Tokio. In the distant city of Osaka, however, it was arranged that he should, incognito, visit and dine in one of them. After riding some distance and walking through a narrow street we entered a common inn on the bank of a river, and quietly went to the dining-room as if we were foreign tourists of note. Royal etiquette was now carefully put aside, and the King was placed on the floor at an inferior seat. The dinner was, however, an elaborate one, and the geisha girls were extremely pretty and graceful. After serving the dishes, with the usual bowing to the floor which is customary before the higher classes, there was dancing and music. The dancing resembled that of the Hawaiians, but was not so "abandoned." Believing that our identity was well concealed, one of the Japanese officials asked a geisha, "Do you know who these people are?" She replied promptly "that one of them was the King of the Hawaiian Islands." We had been betrayed. After dining for several hours we hurried to the train, for it was then nine o'clock in the evening; and we arrived at Kobe at midnight. The King called at once upon Mrs. Gulick, a venerable missionary residing in Kobe, who was for many years a missionary in the Hawaiian kingdom. The house was filled with Japanese Christians who wished to see the King of a Christian nation.

  He was then received by the Governor and the Consular Corps at midnight, and shortly after resumed the voyage to Nagasaki. The trip through the Inland Sea seemed to be through a lake with an ever-receding boundary. The hundreds of islands, many of them pyramidal in form, were so thickly grouped as to cut off the sight of a channel before us, and, with the mountains on either hand, formed a vast amphitheatre, a lake enclosed by mountains. The steamer moved directly toward what seemed an impassable barrier of hills, but a slight turn revealed a sheet of water, and beyond this another apparent barrier. While steaming the next morning over the unruffled water, we passed a British cruiser; our royal standard was raised, and the cruiser hoisted the Hawaiian flag and fired a salute of twenty-one guns. The report of the guns struck the surrounding hills, and the echo gave the effect of a double salute.

  The King now gave to the Imperial Commissioners some of his reflections. The Buddha temples had greatly pleased him. Their bizarre architecture and gaudy ornaments were more attractive to him than the severe, cold, church buildings which the Puritanism of New England had erected in his kingdom. He said such temples would adorn the beautiful valleys of his islands, and suggested to me correspondence with my colleagues in the government on the subject of introducing Buddhism to his people. He consulted the Imperial Commissioners about the probability of securing priests; but they did not encourage him. He told me that h
e believed in reincarnation, though I do not think he understood it clearly. But I respectfully replied that to carry on reincarnation on a working scale in his kingdom would require large numbers of tigers, snakes, hippopotami, wildcats, monkeys, and other dreadful creatures, into which the souls of the believers could enter and be reincarnated; that each soul, according to the true doctrine, passed through five hundred reincarnations before it received a ticket for a reserved seat on the everlasting lotus-flower, and it would take many beasts to give every soul a chance; so that if he really desired to introduce Buddhism to his people he should, on the tour, buy up the contents of bankrupt or superfluous menageries which were offered for sale, take them home, and turn the animals loose in his kingdom, in order that they might co-operate with him in the establishment of Buddhism in Hawaii. Thereafter the King said confidentially to the Chamberlain that the Minister had trifled with a matter which deeply interested him, but he would pursue the subject on reaching home. I knew that his desire was a temporary fancy which would pass off with new sights, and that he would probably be in favour of formally introducing Confucianism when we reached China; for in fact the Chinese male Confucianists then exceeded in numbers all the male Christians in his kingdom.

  From several remarks made by my royal master I suspected that the common belief of the Japanese in the divine origin of the Emperor had strongly affected him, and he was planning the culture of a similar belief among his own people regarding himself. The Chamberlain and I saw symptoms of his scheme in his declaration one day that the kings of Hawaii descended from the akuas (gods), but that the missionaries had denied it. To establish or revive this belief among his superstitious subjects would be a ringbolt to which he could fasten his throne. On his return home he attempted this as a means of strengthening the loyalty of his people to himself, which was never over-strenuous.

  Entering the landlocked harbour of Nagasaki, the royal standard was again raised, and six warships gave a royal salute. The Russian admiral put at the King's disposition his steam launch, and he was received by the Governor of the province. Among his callers was the Yankee captain of a Japanese steamer, who had been in that service for twelve years. He illustrated the ancient and even modern art of navigation in the empire by a story of a Japanese steamer commanded by a German captain, who, after leaving port, set the course of the vessel to the north and then went to his cabin. Waking up during the night, he noticed that "the stars were not right." He looked at the compass and saw that his vessel was heading South. He rushed out, and, demanding an explanation, was gravely told that the Japanese officers, being in doubt about the course he had directed, had at once consulted the cook, who declared that the foreign captain was in error, whereupon they had promptly reversed the ship's course. From time immemorial the cook has been the chief person on a Japanese junk. Kinglake, recounting his travels in Greece, says he found the cook of a Grecian trading-vessel the most important person on board; he did not hesitate to overrule the captain.

  In Nagasaki we noticed the promiscuous bathing of the sexes in public; it had been forbidden in Tokio and Yokohama as a concession to European sentiment. I asked one of the Imperial Commissioners why a sensitive people had permitted such a practice. He replied that it was a time-honoured custom; and that on the other hand many Japanese who had been in Europe were equally shocked at the ballet, which they looked upon as positively vulgar and indecent. This was also the opinion of a Chinese Minister at the Court of St. James, who wrote to his government that he had great aversion to the dresses with low necks which the British Queen "commanded" should be worn by ladies on State occasions. The Japanese vernacular press also, I noticed, severely condemned the nude, in art and sculpture, of Christendom; which leads me to think that if Pilate on the judgment-seat of morality should ask, "What is modesty?"-the moralist of Christendom would fall into contradictions and confusion for answer.

  The "Tokio-maru," to which we were now transferred in order to reach Shanghai, was coaled by the passing of baskets from the coal-heaps to the vessel's bunkers, by the little brown women and tiny brown children who stood in lines and earned about six cents a day. We steamed out of the harbour with the noise;! and smoke of more royal salutes.

  At the distance of a marine league from the shore the boundaries of the empire were reached; the engines were stopped, and the Japanese Imperial Commissioners, having finished their mission of escorting the King to the boundaries, took leave of him and returned to Nagasaki and Tokio. Our royal standard dipped three times in honour of the Emperor's representatives; and they carried the King's last words of thanks to the Emperor for his unbounded hospitality.

  Footnote

  1 The result of this visit was an emigration of Japanese labourers to the Hawaiian Islands, where they are employed in the sugar plantations. At the present time (1903) they exceed in numbers all other races in the islands, being many thousands in excess of the native inhabitants and Anglo-Saxons, and their native-born descendants will in the future largely furnish the backbone of the territorial community.

  CHAPTER XI

  The Yellow Sea — The King Wishes to See the Emperor of China — Decided to be Impracticable — Shanghai — Received by the Taotai — An American Negro in China — A Large Steamer Placed at the King's Service — The Boy and the "Cannibal King" — Departure for Tientsin — Danger from Pirates — The Peiho River and the Taku Forts — "Blood is Thicker than Water" — Received at Tientsin by the Taotai and Viceroy Li Hung Chang's Secretary — Difficulties About Visiting Pekin — The King Only a Foreign Devil — Calling on the Viceroy — Li Asks Questions and Smokes — The Viceroy Returns the King's Call and Asks More Questions — His Opinion About the Japanese — People Gather to See the "Black Foreign Devil" — Dinner with the Viceroy — The Viceroy's Son — Chinese Democracy — Presents from the Viceroy.

  WE now steamed over the Yell ow Sea. While in Tokio the King had intimated to one of the Imperial Commissioners that he intended to visit the Emperor of China, then a lad. With diplomatic reserve his purpose was not discouraged, but the suite were told that it would create complications. Our reception in Japan had modified his modesty; nor did he realise the strained relations between the Chinese and foreign governments. He finally told his suite of his intention, but they strongly opposed it.

  We arrived at Shanghai at noon. No notice of the King's purpose to visit China had been officially given; if it had it would have created consternation in the Yamen at Pekin. No royal salutes were fired as we entered the Woosung River; we were now among a people indifferent and perhaps unfriendly to us. We dropped suddenly from the pinnacle of royal hospitality to its base, and the royal standard lay dejectedly in its canvas bag. The American Consul-General, however, called on the King, who had taken lodgings in the "Astor House." He unwisely urged him to visit Pekin and be the first of foreign kings to enter the Forbidden City.

  No diplomatic corps resides in Shanghai, but the taotai or mayor of the place was notified by the American Consul of the arrival of the King. The following day he appeared in a sedan chair, with a large retinue preceding and following him; while runners, with the beating of gongs and loud cries, notified the spectators to make the way clear. We observed at once the fine physiques, clear eyes, and intelligent faces of the men of the higher classes, but there was the inscrutable physiognomy which Europeans cannot penetrate. He said that he desired to honour the King of a foreign country, and asked if the King would condescend to dine with him. The invitation was accepted, but the dinner was postponed until after our return from Tientsin.

  The manager of the China Merchants Steamship Company, which owned a fleet of thirty-six large steamers and looked for trade in the Pacific, had already sent several vessels to the Hawaiian group. In order to make favour with the King he placed at his Majesty's disposal a large steamer, the "Pautah," for the trip to Tientsin. The manager was a fine American negro who had shown much ability when employed by the American Legation in Pekin; he was not only well educated, but sp
oke several languages, including Chinese; his father was a negro preacher in Washington, D. C. He had married a handsome English girl in Shanghai, who was an artist; but his marriage to a white person had much incensed the Americans living in Shanghai, though it was cordially approved by the English, Germans, and French residents. He caused some cabins of the "Pautah" to be refurnished and made provision for a sumptuous table. Though the steamer was on the regular line of travel between Shanghai and Tientsin, he refused to permit any persons to take passage in her, reserving this great vessel for the exclusive use of the King and suite; she became, therefore, for this trip, the private yacht of the royal party. The cost was great, but the shrewd Chinese no doubt expected favours in their future trade with Hawaii.

  On the morning of our landing in Shanghai, an American lad who lived in the Astor House showed great curiosity to see a "live king." He dressed himself neatly and waited near the door of the King's chamber. An American living in the city, who knew the lad, warned him against getting within the King's reach, for he said, "He is the King of the Cannibal Islands, and is uncommonly fond of roasted little boys." The little fellow disappeared instantly, but returned in a few moments covered with mud. The gentleman who had warned him asked his reason for rolling in the dirt. He replied, "The King would not eat a dirty boy."