The effort made by English merchants to open a trade with the Japanese was made only a little after this time. Indeed, it is said that the report brought back by the Dutch in the _Red Lion_ concerning Adams’ presence and influence in Japan, gave the impulse which started an expedition under Captain John Saris in January, 1611. Saris was an old adventurer in the East, and therefore fitted to encounter the varied experiences of his proposed trip. He carried a letter from James I., then king of England, to Ieyasu the retired shōgun. At Bantam on his way he found that Adams’ first letter,(252) contained in the collection of his letters, and dated October 22, 1611, had just been received by the English merchants. It encouraged Saris to push on in his expedition. He arrived at Hirado, June, 1613, where the daimyō welcomed him and immediately sent off a special messenger to the shōgun’s court to summon Adams to their aid. He came at once, and by his advice Captain Saris with a party set out to pay his respects to the retired shōgun. He gives an interesting account(253) of this journey and visit, which resulted in a charter of privileges(254) for the London East India Company to trade in any port of the empire. Having arranged to his great satisfaction this important matter he returned to Hirado, where he established a factory to serve as the basis for future English trade. In this, however, he encountered no little opposition from the Dutch traders, who had a factory in the same place. For while these enterprising nations, who had been allies in the days of the Armada, could combine very readily in opposition to the Spanish and Portuguese, it was not easy for either of them to look on complacently while the other secured for itself superior advantages in the matter of trade. Captain Saris tried to come to some agreement with his rivals, so that the prices of commodities might be kept up, but he was compelled to see the Dutch factory, in order to crowd him out of the field, putting the goods which they had for sale at prices which were ruinous to both. Having established matters, however, on as satisfactory a footing as he could arrange, and having left his comrade, Captain Cocks, in charge of the English factory, he sailed for home.