o do before the issue of the edict against
Christianity by Hideyoshi."

The inference which it is intended should be drawn from these remarks,
taken with the context, is clear; namely, that, had the Jesuits been
left alone to prosecute the work of evangelizing Japan, the ultimate
result might have been very different. However, this was not to be.

Hitherto, for a period of forty-four years, the Jesuits had it all their
own way in Japan; latterly, by virtue of a bull issued by Pope Gregory
XIII in 1585--the date of the appointment of the first bishop and of the
arrival at Rome of the Japanese mission--and subsequently confirmed by
the bull of Clement III in 1600, by which the _religieux_ of other
orders were excluded from missionary work in Japan. The object of these
papal decrees was, it seems, to insure the propagation of Christianity
on a uniform system. They were, however, disregarded when the time came,
and therefore, for a new influence which was brought to bear upon
Christianity at this date--not altogether for its good, if the Jesuit
accounts may be credited--we must look to the arrival of an embassy from
the Governor of the Philippines, whose ambassador was accompanied by
four Franciscan priests.

These new arrivals, when confronted by the Jesuits with the papal bull,
declared that they had not transgressed it, and defended their action on
the ground that they had come attached to an embassy and not in the
character of missionaries; but they argued at the same time, with a
casuistry only equalled by their opponents, that, having once arrived in
Japan, there was nothing to hinder them from exercising their calling as
preachers of Christianity.

The embassy was successful, and Baptiste, who appears to have conducted
the negotiations in place of the real envoy, obtained Hideyoshi's
consent to his shrewd proposal that, pending the reference to Manila of
Hideyoshi's claim to the sovereignty of the Philippines, he and his
brother missionaries should remain as hostages. Hideyoshi, while
consenting, made their residence conditional on their not preaching
Christianity--a condition which it is needless to say was never
observed.

Thus, at one and the same time, the Spaniards, who had long been
watching with their jealous eyes the exclusive right of trade enjoyed by
the Portuguese, obtained an opening for commerce, and the Franciscans a
footing for their religious mission.

It was not long before the newly-arrived m