silver, and copper, of the last of which there is undoubted abundance in
Japan, and probably no small quantity of the first.
But with this introduction of commercial relations, the Portuguese soon
introduced also priests of the religion they professed. In 1549, seven years
only after the discovery, Hansiro, a young Japanese of some rank, had found it
necessary to fly from his country, on account of a homicide, and had gone to
the Portuguese settlement of G oa. on the Malabar coast. Here he encountered
ecclesiastics of the church of Borne, by whom he was converted to the
Christain faith and baptized. He was enterprising and shrewd, and soon
convinced the Portuguese merchants of Goa that they might establish a
profitable trade with Japan, and assured the Jesuits that they also might
find a rich harvest of souls in the Empire.
The Portuguese hastened to act on both his suggestions; a ship was
loaded with goods and presents and sent to establish a permanent trade with
Japan; while, for the accomplishment of the second object, some of the
Jesuit priests were ready enough to embark. Among them was that
remarkable man, Francis Xavier, who possessed in an eminent degree many
of the most important qualifications of the Christian missionary. To talents
of a very high order he added a zeal and enthusiasm rarely equalled, and a
courage never surpassed. The thought of the perils attending the mission,
so far from disheartening him, served only to strengthen his resolve to
undertake it. On board the ship returned the young Japanese convert who
had suggested the undertaking. On arriving at the province of Bungo all
were received with open arms, and not the slightest opposition was made to
the introduction of either trade or religion. No system of exclusion then
existed, and such was the spirit of toleration that the government made no
objection to the preaching of Christianity. Indeed the Portuguese were
freely permitted to go where they pleased in the Empire, and to travel, by
land or sea, from one end of it to the other. The people bought the goods
of the merchants and listened to the teachings of the missionaries. The
labors of the last were very successful, for it is but justice to Xavier and
the first missionaries to say that they were most exemplary men—humble
virtuous, disinterested, and very benevolent. Possessed of some medical
skill, they used it kindly and gratuitously among the sick, and were deservedly
viewed by the people as friendly and superior men, whose lives were
devoted to doing good. They meddled with no public affairs; unmolested
by the government, they troubled not themselves about its administration;
and imitating the example of the devoted Xavier, they modestly and uneeas-
ingly pursued the appropriate duties of their holy calling only. In fact,
they loved the Japanese. "With one voice the early missionaries speak in
terms of strong affection when they describe the docile and good disposition
of the Japanese. Xavier says : “ I know not when to cease in speaking of
the Japanese. They are truly the delight of my heart.”
This eminent man went from Japan to China in 1551, and in 1552 died
at Shan Shan, on the Canton river, not far from Macao. He left behind
him, however, among his beloved islanders, some very able and excellent
men, and churches were built and converts made by thousands.
Nor were the commercial relations of the new comers less prosperous.
They could readily obtain the commodities they wished for the Japanese
market from their establishments at Macao and Goa. The profits they
made on their European merchandise were commonly one hundred per cent.;
so that, as Ksempfer has said, if their commercial prosperity had continued
but twenty years longer, Macao would have been so enriched from Japan
that it would have surpassed all that was accumulated in Jerusalem during
the reign of Solomon. As one of the old writers expresses it, the Portuguese
obtained “ the golden marrow ” of Japan. In fact they had but to proceed
prudently and they would ere long have been the dominant race in Japan.
Many of them had married the daughters of the wealthiest Christian Japa-
nese, and no other nation of Europe could have driven them from their strong
position.
I t was about the year 1566 that the Portuguese first called the attention
of the reigning prince of Omura to the superiority of the harbor of
Nagasaki over the ports they were accustomed to frequent; and it was at
their suggestion that a settlement was formed there. Bungo, Firando,
(Firato,) and Nagasaki were the principal places of commercial business.
But all this prosperity was destined to have an end, and we are sorry to
say it was occasioned by the ecclesiastics themselves. Had the work begun
by Xavier and his companions been left in the hands of men like themselves,
we very much doubt whether the severe Japanese laws prohibiting
Christianity in the Empire would ever have existed. But these prudent,
inoffensive, and laborious men were soon outnumbered by swarms of Dominican,
Augustinian, and Franciscan friars from Goa and Macao, who were
attracted by the flattering accounts of the remarkable success of the Jesuits.
They had not labored in making the harvest, they were ready enough to go
and reap it. The Franciscans and Dominicans quarrelled with each other,
and all the orders quarrelled with the Jesuits. In vain did the latter implore
them to profit by their experience, to be discreet and suppress their
strife, to respect the laws and usages of the country. In vain did they
represent that their conduct would prove fatal, not merely to their own
hopes and purposes, but even to the progress, possibly to the continuance in
Japan of Christianity itself. All was of no avail. To the Japanese convert
was presented the strange spectacle of one ecclesiastic quarrelling with
another, of one body of priests intriguing with heathens to defeat another;
while even the poor native Christian labored to reconcile the feuds and
rivalries of these consecrated belligerents