e "Japan," by
Brinkley.

ULTIMATE ATTITUDE OF IEYASU TOWARDS CHRISTIANITY AND FOREIGN
INTERCOURSE

From what has been written above it will have been evident that each
of Japan's great trio of sixteenth century statesmen--Nobunaga,
Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu--adopted originally a tolerant demeanour
towards Christianity, and an emphatically favourable attitude towards
foreign commerce. The causes of Hideyoshi's change of mood are
tolerably clear, but it is not possible to analyse the case of Ieyasu
with certainty. That the Tokugawa baron strongly patronized Buddhism
might be regarded as a sufficient explanation of his ultimate
hostility to the foreign faith, but cannot be reconciled with his
amicable attitude at the outset. The more credible explanation is
that he was guided by intelligence obtained direct from Europe. He
sent thither at the end of the sixteenth century an emissary whose
instructions were to observe closely the social and political
conditions in the home of Christianity. The better to accomplish his
purpose this envoy embraced the Christian faith, and was thus enabled
to carry on his observations from within as well as from without.

It may be easily conceived that the state of affairs in Europe at
that time, when recounted to Ieyasu, could scarcely fail to shock and
astonish the ruler of a country where freedom of conscience may be
said to have always existed. The Inquisition and the stake; wholesale
aggressions in the name of the Cross; a head of the Church whose
authority extended to confiscation of the realms of heretical
sovereigns; religious wars, and profound fanaticism--these were the
elements of the story told to Ieyasu by his returned envoy. The
details could not fail to produce an evil impression. Already his own
observation had disclosed to the Tokugawa chief abundant evidence of
the spirit of strife engendered by Christian dogma in those times. No
sooner had the Franciscans and the Dominicans arrived in Japan than a
fierce quarrel broke out between them and the Jesuits--a quarrel
which even community of suffering could not compose. "Not less
repellent was an attempt on the part of the Spaniards to dictate to
Ieyasu the expulsion of all Hollanders from Japan, and an attempt on
the part of the Jesuits to dictate the expulsion of the Spaniards.
The former proposal, couched almost in the form of a demand, was
twice formulated, and accompanied on the second occasion by a
scarcely less insulting o