The concessions obtained from the Japanese by the Treaty of Yeddo were not, in some important particulars, so considerable as those which had been made by China in the Treaty of Tientsin. It was, however, a material advance on all previous treaties with Japan, and it opened the door to the gradual establishment of relations of commerce and amity between the people of the West and that of Japan, which might become, as Lord Elgin hoped and believed, of the most cordial and intimate character, 'if the former did not, by injudicious and aggressive acts, rouse against themselves the fears and hostility of the natives.' [Sidenote: Retrospect.] _August 30th.--Eleven A.M._--We are again plunging into the China Sea, and quitting the only place which I have left with any feeling of regret since I reached this abominable East,--abominable, not so much in itself, as because it is strewed all over with the records of our violence and fraud, and disregard of right. The exceeding beauty external of Japan, and its singular moral and social picturesqueness, cannot but leave a pleasing impression on the mind. One feels as if the position of a Daimio in Japan might not be a bad one, with two or three millions of vassals; submissive, but not servile, because there is no contradiction between their sense of fitness and their position. [1] Not so, however, in the actual work of negotiating. In a despatch of later date he writes: 'I was much struck by the business-like manner in which they did their work; making very shrewd observations, and putting very pertinent questions, but by no means in a captious or cavilling spirit. Of course their criticisms were sometimes the result of imperfect acquaintance with foreign affairs, and it was occasionally necessary to remove their scruples by alterations in the text which were not improvements; but on the whole, I am bound to say that I never treated with persons who seemed to me, within the limits of their knowledge, to be more reasonable.'--See also _infra_, p. 270. CHAPTER XI. FIRST MISSION TO CHINA. THE YANGTZE KIANG. DELAYS--SUBTERFUGES DEFEATED BY FIRMNESS--REVISED TARIFF--OPIUM TRADE--UP THE YANGTZE KIANG--SILVER ISLAND--NANKIN--REBEL WARFARE--THE HEN-BARRIER-- UNKNOWN WATERS--DIFFICULT NAVIGATION--HANKOW--THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL--RETURN-- TAKING TO THE GUNBOATS--NGANCHING--NANKIN--RETROSPECT--MORE DELAYS-- TROUBLES AT CANTON--RETURN TO HONG-KONG. MISSION COMPLETED--HOMEWARD VOYAGE. [Sidenote: Delays.] Arriving at Shanghae on the 2nd of September, Lord Elgin found that the Imperial Commissioners whom he came to meet had not yet appeared, and were not expected for four or five weeks. All this time, therefore, he was obliged to remain idle at Shanghae, hearing from time to time news from Canton which made his presence there desirable, but unable to proceed thither till the arrangements respecting the Treaty were completed.