JAPAN AND MEXICO.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume xxxii, Issue 8375, 23 May 1911, Page 1

JAPAN AND MEXICO.

A good deal is being written, just now with regard to Japan's designs upon the Pacific and her hopo of gaining sure footing upon the American continent. Much of this is probably exaggerated, but it is at any rate .interesting to recall what happenedWs far back as 1601, when the .spacious days of great Elizabeth were not fully ended and New England and Virginia were young settlements struggling for existence against adverse conditions. In that year Japanese envoys reached Lucon, in the Philippine Islands, bearing rich presents for the Spanish Governor, and asking permission to carry a certain number'of the 15,000 Japanese settled in Manila over to Mexico. But the Spaniards distrusted these bearers of rare offerings, fearing their rivalry in commerce (even at this early date), and accordingly refused the request. Nine years later the Governor of the Philippines, Don Rodrigo. de Vivero, while journeying to Mexico, was wrecked im the coast of Japan, and reached his destination in a Japanese vessel with the aid of a Japanese crew.

In 1613 an important mission composed of high dignitaries and traders left Japan for America, reaching Mexico early in the following year. The Spanish Viceroy received them courteously, and after a round of festivities they continued their voyage to Havana and thence to Andalusia. In October, 1615, the travellers were-re-ceived by Pope Paul V., having in the meantime been converted to the Christian faith. After a further odyssey the pilgrims at last reached home in 1620, to find themselves suspect of treason and the objects of anti-Chris-tian persecution, which was then raging fiercely. Shortly afterwards all European missionaries were driven from the country. Foreigners were forbidden to stay in il, while natives were refused permission to leave under any pretext. The door thus ," banged and bolted" remained firmly closed until the middle of last century well within the memory of many men still living. And, oddly enough, Mexico was the first country to grant to Japan improved treaty conditions as recently as 1889, her example being quickly followed by the United States.—-" Westminster Gazette."