After the Portuguese came the Spaniards, who appear to have been satisfied with the Philippine archipelago, rather than provoke a conflict with the Portuguese.  The Chinese they had little reason to dread, as the superiority of their arms would have enabled them to seize portions of the seacoast, though not to conquer the Empire as easily as they did the Mexicans and Peruvians.  Perhaps, too, they were debarred by the same authority which divided the Western continent between the two Iberian powers.  The Chinese becoming too numerous at Manila, the Spaniards slaughtered them without mercy, as if in retaliation for the blood of their cousins, or taking a hint from the policy of China.

In 1622 the Dutch endeavoured to open trade with China, but their advances being rejected, doubtless through secret opposition from the Portuguese, they seized the Pescadores, and later established themselves on Formosa, whence they were eventually expelled by Koxinga, a Chinese freebooter.

The church founded by Corvino at Peking perished in the overthrow of the Mongols.  The Portuguese traders disapproved of missions, as tending to impose restraint on their profligacy and to impart to China the strength that comes from knowledge.  The narrow [Page 138] policy of the Mings, moreover, closed the door against the introduction of a foreign creed.  Yet it is strange that half a century elapsed before any serious attempt was made to give the Gospel to China.  In 1552 St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, arrived at Macao.  He and his fellow Jesuits were indirect fruits of the Protestant Reformation—­belonging to an order organised for the purpose of upholding and extending the power of the Holy See.  After wonderful success in India, the Straits, and Japan, Xavier appeared in Chinese waters, but he was not allowed to land.  He expired on the island of Shang-chuen or St. John’s, exclaiming “O rock, rock, when wilt thou open?”

Ricci, who came in 1580, met with better success:  but it cost him twenty years of unceasing effort to effect an entrance to Peking.  Careful to avoid giving offence, and courtly in manners, his science proved to be the master-key.  Among the eminent men who favoured his mission was Sue of Shanghai, whom he baptised by the name of Paul.  Not only did he help Ricci to translate Euclid for a people ignorant of the first elements of geometry, but he boldly came to the defence of missionaries when it was proposed to expel them.  His memorial in their favour is one of the best documents in the defence of Christianity.  Among the converts to the Christian faith there are no brighter names than Paul Sue and his daughter Candida.