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THE decree was written on wooden tablets about three feet long and posted all over the country. Although these tablets were taken down some years ago when the decree was revoked, many of them are still preserved. The ancient edict referred to below as heretofore decreed" was as follows: "So long as the sun shall warm the earth, let no Christian be so bold as to come to Japan; and let all know that the King of Spain himself, or the Christian's God, or the great God of all, if he violate this command, shall pay for it with his head.”

THE DECREE OF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT AGAINST CHRISTIANITY IN 1865

TRANSLATION

"The prohibition of the Christian religion is to be enforced as heretofore decreed. The worship of the 'depraved religion' is positively forbidden. By order of the Government. 3rd month, 4th year of Keio [1865]. "The above regulations are to be strictly enforced. By order of the Inugami Prefecture."

THE attitude of the Japanese people as a whole toward the Emperor is still based on a profound belief in his Majesty's divine origin. This gives an unusual weight and impressiveness to every utterance which he addresses to his subjects, and lends peculiar force to the recent Imperial Rescript on the subject of the new treaties. In this his Majesty recites the long and careful negotiations which have been undertaken with reference to these treaties, beginning more than twenty years ago, his own deep interest in the subject and his great gratification at the accomplishment of his purpose by the taking effect of the treaties on July 17 and Aug. 4. He assures his people of his heartfelt satisfaction in the achievement of his longcherished aim, "which, while it adds materially to the responsibilities of our empire, will greatly strengthen the basis of our friendship with foreign countries." And he expresses his earnest wish that his subjects should enter into his own sentiments in "the great policy of opening the country, and all unite with one heart to associate cordially with the peoples from afar, thus maintaining the character of the nation and enhancing the prestige of the empire." The editor of the Japan Daily Mail assures residents of other countries that the significance that such expressions must convey to Japanese readers can scarcely be overestimated, and they have evoked comments of a very strong and favorable character from the leading Japanese journals and will come with the force of an irresistible command to the whole nation.

In addition to this forcible and decisive imperial language on the operation of the new treaties, the Marquis Yamagata, Minister President of State, or Prime Minister, has issued a notification to the Cabinet substantially to the same effect, urging that every power of the Government should be used to give due effect to the treaties. His language is clear and comprehensive. He says: "It is of course beyond question that any rights and privileges accruing as a result of treaty revision should be duly asserted. But there devolves upon the Government of

this empire the responsibility, and upon the people of this realm the duty, of protecting the rights and privileges of foreigners, and of sparing no effort that they may one and all he enabled to reside in the country confidently and contentedly. It behooves all officials to clearly apprehend the August intentions, and to pay profound attention to these points." In addition to this, the Count Kabayama, the Minister of State for Education, has issued general instructions to the local gov ernors, and also to those in charge of the Government schools, calling special attention to the hostility toward foreigners which has prevailed in Japanese educational circles the past few years and directing that every effort shall be made that students should be properly controlled and not allowed to violate propriety by cherishing the sentiments of petty arrogance which have largely prevailed among the student class of Japan since the war with China, and that they shall, if possible, be prevented from behaving toward foreigners in the violent manner which has recently been manifested so often. The reason given for this is that such conduct will bring the educational instruction of the country into disregard and destroy the prestige of the country abroad.

As far as the Emperor and high officials of Japan are concerned, the Imperial Rescript and documents accompanying it are all that could be expected or desired. They will undoubtedly have an immense influence upon the people of Japan and will go far towards counteracting any jealousy or hostility toward foreigners which have existed in the past. The taking effect of the new treaties, with these official documents which accompany them, must be considered as inaugurating a new era in Japan, and they cannot fail to have a most profound and largely beneficial influence upon the commercial, the social, and it is to be hoped upon the religious development of the country. In the face of these documents every friend of Japan feels more confidence than ever in its future high standing among the nations of the world.

hristianity in Japan. Since the new treaties went into force in Japan on July 17 and Aug. 4, conflicting reports have been received as to the probable effect of the new regime on Christianity and Christian missions in that country. A sensational dispatch was sent to the daily papers from Seattle, evidently by some one unfamiliar with affairs in Japan, giving a strict construction to the language of the treaties according to which all religious worship is under the direction of a special officer, and nothing can be done without his consent. This is true, but only in the sense as in other countries that all social matters are required to conform to law, and the Japanese authorities hastened to give assurance that there is no intention of using the law to embarrass Christian worship, which would be subject only to the same regulations as other religious services. The latest report is that the Japanese Government intends to recognize Christianity as on the same plane with Shintoism and Buddhism, and give Christian ministers and missionaries the same standing in the state as the priests of those religions. From the current of events in the higher circles of Japan during the last few years and the attitude of the Gov

NDER Spain the government of the Philippines included the Ladrones, Carolines and Palaos, but in the late treaty with the United States these were left to the former country, with the exception of Guam in the Carolines. The special interest of Americans therefore is centered upon the Philippines, which includes Luzon, the Visayan group, Mindanao and the Jolo or Sulu Archipelago.

These islands are a memorial of Magellan, who discovered them in 1521 and was killed by the natives on the small island of Maitan April 27 of that year. Magellan named his latest discovery Lazarus, but later the present name was adopted, after Philip II., perhaps the most noted of the rulers of Spain. The total area of the Philippines is 140,000 square miles, or about the same as the Japanese Empire, but the population is only 8,000,000, or less than one-sixth of that of Japan, and about equal to that of the states of Illinois and Indiana. The islands number more than one thousand, but of these only about a dozen are of a size sufficient to maintain any considerable population. Luzon is the largest, having an area of 44,400 square miles, and holds more than one-half of the whole population of the group. There are many small tribes scattered among the various islands, but the only peoples of importance as far as numbers are concerned are the Tagalos, numbering 3,000,000 and occupying the islands of Luzon and Mindoro, and the Visayans, peopling the central or Visayan group, estimated at 2,500,000. These tribes with a few others are counted as Roman Catholics, making a nominal Christian population of about 6,000,000, while 300,000 are Mohammedans and the remainder pagans. All native Filipinos are of Malay type, small in stature, and darker than mulattoes.

The natural resources of the Philippines are immense, with mines of coal and iron as well as other minerals, and an abundance of all the products of the tropics. Cotton, sugar, rice, hemp, coffee and tobacco and the dense forests of valuable woods are the chief wealth of the islands.

But a small part of the group was ever conquered by Spain, which, after capturing a few of the larger towns on the more important islands, left the rest of the territory practicallly independent under the native rulers, claiming a nominal sovereignty over the whole but having little real power outside of small areas on the coast. This, indeed, is the history of civilized government in all the islands of Malaysia. The nature of the country, the unhealthfulness of the climate, and the density of the jungle and forest affording impenetrable retreats to the natives, render a complete conquest of these islands impossible to a civilized race. But all the advantages of sovereignty and commerce are had by holding the ports and controlling trade, while allowing the natives to live under their own rulers and according to their own customs on terms similar to those already arranged with the Sultan of the Sulu Archipelago.

While the larger part of the Filipinos are counted as Christians and many are devout adherents of the Roman Catholic Church, the condition of multitudes of the people outside of a few cities is little above paganism, and even the more intelligent