and that the Tokugawa
chief made even more earnest endeavours than Hideyoshi to
differentiate between Christianity and commerce, so that the fate of
the former might not overtake the latter. Ieyasu, indeed, seems to
have kept three objects steadfastly in view, namely, the development
of oversea trade, the acquisition of a mercantile marine, and the
prosecution of mining enterprise. To the Spaniards, to the
Portuguese, to the English, and to the Dutch, he offered a site for a
settlement in a suburb of Yedo, and had the offer been accepted,
Japan might never have been closed to foreign intercourse. At that
time the policy of the empire was free trade. There were no customs
dues, though it was expected that the foreign merchants would make
liberal presents to the feudatory into whose port they carried their
wares. The Tokugawa baron gave plain evidence that he regarded
commerce with the outer world as a source of wealth, and that he
wished to attract it to his own domains. On more than one occasion he
sent an envoy to Manila to urge the opening of trade with the regions
in the vicinity of Yedo, and to ask the Spaniards for expert naval
architects. His attitude is well shown by a law enacted in 1602:

"If any foreign vessel by stress of weather is obliged to touch at
any principality or to put into any harbour of Japan, we order that,
whoever these foreigners may be, absolutely nothing whatever that
belongs to them, or that they may have brought in their ship, shall
be taken from them. Likewise, we rigorously prohibit the use of any
violence in the purchase or sale of any of the commodities brought by
their ship, and if it is not convenient for the merchants of the ship
to remain in the port they have entered, they may pass to any other
port that may suit them, and therein buy and sell in full freedom.
Likewise, we order, in a general manner, that foreigners may freely
reside in any part of Japan they choose, but we rigorously forbid
them to propagate their faith."

In the year 1605, the Tokugawa chief granted a permit to the Dutch
for trade in Japan, his expectation being that the ships which they
undertook to send every year would make Uraga, or some other place
near Yedo, their port of entry. In this he was disappointed. The
first Hollanders that set foot in Japan were eighteen survivors of
the crew of the wrecked Liefde. These men were at first placed in
confinement, and during their detention they were approached by