The native record of events concludes by stating that in 1858 treaties were concluded with five nations--American, English, Dutch, Russian, and Portuguese--and that silver boos were exchanged for dollars. That in 1859 the Regent, Ee Kamong no kami, was assassinated; and the following year was that year in the cycle in which, recurring once in sixty years, it is permitted to women to ascend Fusiyama. The history of the empire is now brought down to a very important era, when relations with European nations are about to be reopened, but, in comparison with her past experience, at a great disadvantage to Japan, in so far as she had to meet foes greatly in advance of herself in the practical application of scientific investigation to the art of war, and when she allowed herself further to be outwitted in the diplomacy of treaty-making. The wars and animosities of European powers had for a long time drawn them away from the East and concentrated their attention nearer home; and the history of their withdrawal from the Eastern Seas is that of the struggle among European nations for the supremacy of the sea. The English retired from Japan as a field of trade about the year 1623. The hatred of Holland to Spain and Portugal gave vigor to her efforts, and she drove their ships from the East, and remained in possession of the field, such as it was. By driving away competitors, however, the Dutch undermined their own position, and deprived themselves of support, moral as well as physical, and fell gradually into a position of contemptible dependence for the retention of a worthless trade. France appears to have made a feeble attempt, at the time when Colbert was Minister, to open up a trade with Japan, under the advice probably of Francis Caron, who had been Dutch commissioner at Nagasaki. In Chardin’s Travels may be seen a letter addressed to the envoy, giving most minute instructions as to his conduct and treatment of the Japanese. Some of these might even be read with benefit by envoys of the present day. “You shall keep your finest clothes, and which you have never wore in Japan, as shall likewise those of your retainers, till you are brought to court, and till the day of your audience. As soon as you shall arrive there, you shall cause your retinue to provide themselves with little leather pumps and slippers. The floors of the houses are covered with tapestry in Japan, for which reason you must put off your shoes when you enter them, and have some without quarters that you may quit them with greater ease.” The United States of America came late into the field in Japan, but it may be said that the national action toward Japan has had a wider cosmopolitan influence than any other act since the Declaration of Independence.