Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 3.djvu/145

 authority, and thirdly, against the political intrigues of which the Christians accused themselves and of which he had long suspected them. It is worth while to observe these facts carefully, for they lie at the root of all Japan's foreign intercourse.

Iyeyasu, the Tokugawa chieftain, who succeeded to the work of domestic pacification already carried within sight of completion by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, did not at first give any clear indication of the course that he intended to pursue towards the Padres and their following. But there can be no doubt that the Christian problem had attracted his keen attention long before the full control of administrative affairs came into his hands. No Japanese statesman could afford to ignore a question which was producing not only widespread disturbance, but also a startling change in the relations between the classes. In all times, one of the results of Roman Catholic propagandism in Oriental countries has been to remove the converts beyond the unchallenged control of the civil authorities and to elevate their spiritual guides to the rank of secular protectors. The members of the Christian community learn to believe that their conversion differentiates them from the mass of their unregenerate nationals, and opens to them a tribunal of appeal against any exaction or injustice to which the latter may be exposed. Modern diplomatists have often