Page:The Truth about China and Japan - Weale - 1919.djvu/38

 fully defend the frontier of the Empire; let it be your study to act worthily of your position as our minister: practise moderation and self-restraint; cherish gratitude for the Imperial favour so bountifully bestowed upon you; change not your fidelity; be humbly guided by our admonitioncadmonitions [sic]; continue always to follow our instructions.

Respect this!

Death, however, prevented Hideyoshi from dealing with a matter of great historical interest. Other influences were at work demanding close attention.

Already, before this turning-point in Far Eastern history, the white man had suddenly appeared on the scenes and by his presence changed the whole course of events.

In 1542 a Portuguese junk on a voyage from Siam to Macao was blown from her course and fetched up off the coasts of Satsuma province. The mariners were well-received. Great curiosity was excited by their arquebuses, arms of any sort always delighting the Japanese; and these arquebuses were rapidly copied and used against the Koreans and the Chinese in the Hideyoshi expedition. The Portuguese sailors carried back the tidings of their discovery with