in the course of time the Japanese
leaders turned against the priests and leaders of the new religion and
undertook to obliterate everything Christian from their civilization.

They placed a price upon the head of every Christian. They made what
they called footplates, a plate about the size of a shoe sole with a
picture of Christ upon it. When a person was brought whom they
suspicioned as being a Christian they put this footplate down and
commanded the accused one to stamp it. If this was done freely the
person was allowed freedom, for they said no Christian would step on the
face of Christ. If the accused one refused to do this the horrors of his
torture were so great that death was a release. The writer of these
lines has seen some of those old footplates that have been preserved to
this day.

Stone signboards were placed along the highways of Japan upon which were
written: "So long as the sun shall continue to warm the earth, let no
Christian be so bold as to enter Japan; and let all know that the King
of Spain himself, or the Christian's God, or the great God of all, if he
dare violate this command, shall pay for it with his head." I saw one of
these old signboards on exhibition in a museum in Tokyo. Japan closed
her ports, established a deadline around her domain and allowed no
ships to land, shut out the world and became a hermit nation.

It was the eighth of July, 1853, that a fleet of vessels boldly crossed
the forbidden line and dropped anchor in what is now known as Yokohama
harbor. It was Commodore Perry and the stars and stripes were waving
from the ship masts. At once there was great excitement on shore and
soon boats with men wearing swords were along the ships' sides trying to
explain that they were on forbidden territory.

The men in the small boats were told emphatically that only the highest
official could come on board. One of the men represented that he was
second in rank and when he was allowed to come on board Commodore Perry
refused to see him. After a parley this Japanese officer was made to
understand that the expedition bore a letter from the President of the
United States to the Emperor of Japan and that it could be delivered
only to the officer of the highest rank. When the Japanese officer
produced the notifications warning all ships against entering the port,
the lieutenant refused to receive them.

Returning to the shore the officer came back to the ship in an hour or
two saying that