New-York tribune., 1900-07-29
THE CATHOLICS IN JAPAN
A PARALLEL FOR THEIR PRESENT POSI-
TION IN CHINA
REIGN OF THE JEsU1Ts IN THE SUNRISE KING
DOM IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVEN
TENTH CENTURIES

Many students of the Chinese situation look
upon the aggressive position which the roman
Catholic missionaries assumed In that country
nc one Of the chief causes for the trouble Ed
ward Runge who, the representative OF
New-York business concern, lived in Peklng
and Tien-Tsin many years, and who became
well acquainted with the natives and their
methods said that the arrogant demeanor or the
Catholic priests toward the natives cannot fall
to attract the attention of any observer
.nThev have certain rights" he said "in the
courts and the protection which they give 10
the Catholic converts always eXcites jealousy
and envy and does much to create bad blood
As missionaries these Catholics are far superior
to the Protestants, for they go to China to stay
there and to live among the people. They
know the language and are in close touch with
the people for whom they do much in the way
of taking care of their orphans and teaching
all who wish to take advantage of the oppor-
tunity afforded them. But when they cease TO
be missionaries and go into politics and inter-
fere with matters of State and set themselves
up as high dignitaries, they create trouble"
DIR. MACARTHUR'S VIEW THE SAME.
The Rev DR. Robert S. Macarthur takes the
same view OF the matter and charges the Cath
olic missionaries with much of the trouble. He
said in recent sermon:
Those missionaries who combine civil author
ity with their religious instruction are parlly
responsible for the condition OF things IN emma
/ was in China five years ago and examined the
conditions the spot. L also nave the teSti-
mony of missionaries on the ground at thlS
moment They declare that the bishops secure
the release of their converts when brought be
fore the courts, and that the authority OF the
French Consul is often invoked to emphasize
the demands of the priests and blshops. me
same thing is going on in the PhlnppiheS a'
the present time. These things lead 10 uprlS-
ingS.
VrLo Of affairs brought
about by the Roman Catholic missionaries in
Janan several hundred years ago. according to
some historians and the tactics of the men VINO
preached religion and practsed politics ana
much toward keeping the doors OF Japan closeo
to the outer world.
Roman Christianity lasted in Japan from I'4-
to 1857 The greatest progress was mace uu'-
ing the reign of Pope Alexander VI, who blsected
the known world, and gave one half including
America, to Spain and the Eastern halI' win
Asia and its archipelagoes. to Portugal. Francis
Xavier was laboring in the interests CT the
Jesuits at Malacca when he met a japanese
from whom he heard about the riches of his
country and the disciple of Loyola conceived
,he idea Of converting the people of the garden
island Xavier baptized the japanese refugee
named him Paul, and in 1349 landed at hago-
shima the capital of Satsuma, and there AaVler
began his work in the direction of making con
verts to the Roman Catholic Church. tie
travelled through the provinces preaching, with
the aid of an Interpreter, and after year ne
had made so much progress that he expressed
the ambition to go to the Imperial capital
Kioto, and there advocate the claims OF Christ
Of Mary and of the Pope"
In 1881 there were two hundred churches and
one hundred and fifty thousand native Chris
tians in Japan. In 1888 embassy of four
young noblemen was sent to the Pope to declare
themselves the spiritual as well as political vas
sails of the Holy See They returned in 1870
with seventeen additional Jesuit fathers.
one Of the greatest friends of the Catholics
at that time was Nabunaga, the Mkados Min
lister who hated the Buddhist priesthood and
openly patronized the Jesuits in order to dis |
comfort the Ruddhists. 1t his object to |
destroy the political power OF the Buddhist |
priests This friend was killed, and the power
of the Jesuits waned. Quarrels between Jesuits !
and Franciscans, who had also come TO do their |
share Of missionary work, were also harmful to
the cause of Christianity. II 1911 the news
came from Sado, where thousands OF Christian |
exiles had been sent TO work in the mines, that
a plot had been discovered by which native con
verts and the foreign emissaries hoped to re
duce Japan to the position of a subject State.
SHIPPED OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
proclamation issued in January 1914
branded the priests triple enemes-of the
country, of the Kami and of the Buddhas-and