At this time, political and religious strife was almost universal in Europe, and the quarrels of the various nationalities followed the buccaneers, pirates, traders, and missionaries to the distant seas of Japan. The protestant, Dutch, and English stirred up the hatred and fear of the Japanese against the Catholics and finally against each other. Spaniards and Portuguese blackened the character of their rivals and as vigorously abused each other when it served their interest. All of which impelled the shrewd Japanese to contrive how to use them one against the other, and art which they still understand. All foreigners, but especially Portuguese, then were slave-traders, and thousands of Japanese were bought and sold and shipped to Macao, in China, and to the Philippines. The daimio, Hideyoshi repeatedly issued decrees threatening with death these slave-traders, and even the purchasers. The seaports of Hirado and Nagasaki were the resort of the lowest class of adventurers from all European nations, and the result was a continual series of uproars, broils, and murders among the foreigners.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
