It is not necessary to our purpose to follow the early brilliant successes and the disastrous ending of the invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi. Both nations displayed their characteristic virtues and faults during this period of intercourse by way of conflict—the knightly courage and arrogant overconfidence of the Japanese, the passive power of resistance and the weakness and political corruption of the Koreans. But as to the invasion itself our sympathies must remain with Korea; it was without sufficient warrant, conducted incautiously, and more disastrous in its result to the invaders themselves than to the country which they had, for the time being, desolated. By the courage and skill of Admiral Yi and by the assistance of China, the forces of Japan were finally, after a period of seven years, so reduced that Hideyoshi, at the point of death, recalled them; and the war came to an end in 1598. The terms of peace agreed to were on the whole humiliating to the Japanese. The great Iyeyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Dynasty, took measures, repeatedly and patiently, to renew those relations of a promising friendly character which had been dissolved in hatred by the invasion of Hideyoshi. He sent repeated embassies to Korea, restored prisoners that had been led captive at the time of the Taiko’s invasion, and spared no pains to make the Koreans understand that a decided change of policy had taken place in the Japanese Government toward their country. _From his time onward, the official treatment given to Korea by Japan has been conspicuous, as compared with the example furnished by other civilized countries under similar trying conditions, for its fairness and its friendliness._ This fact becomes amusingly obvious when we compare the way in which the claims for tribute from Korea have been made by the two countries, China and Japan. Under the Tokugawas the nominal sovereigns paid the bills; but the Korean tribute-bearers (_sic_) had a largely free junketing expedition of three months’ duration at the expense of the Japanese. Under the Manchu Dynasty, however, the tribute fixed for annual payment took a very substantial shape; it included 100 ounces of gold, 1,000 ounces of silver, 10,000 bags of rice, 2,000 pieces of silk, 10,000 pieces of cotton cloth, 10,000 rolls (50 sheets each) of large-sized paper, and other less important items. Even then, it can be seen, the Chinese greatly excelled the Japanese in their business ability. Moreover, when the Koreans pleaded that the payment of tribute to China had so impoverished them that they could not render what was due to Japan, the Japanese forgave them the obligation (A.D. 1638).[11] Nor was this the last time in which the forgiveness of debts was exercised toward the Korean Government in a manner unaccustomed between nations of conflicting interests.