refathers, and that all this would
bring about the dismemberment of his Empire and the overthrow of his
dynasty. Not only had Taycosama abstained from persecuting foreigners
for the exercise of their religious rites, but he freely licensed the
Jesuits to continue their mission in Nagasaki and wherever Catholics
happened to congregate. He had permitted the construction of their
temples, but he could not tolerate a deliberate propaganda which
foreshadowed his own ruin. [31]

Pedro Bautista's designs being prematurely obstructed, he took his
passage back to Manila from Nagasaki in a Japanese vessel, leaving
behind him his interpreter, Fray Jerome, with the other Franciscan
monks. An Imperial Decree was then issued to prohibit foreign priests
from interfering with the religion of Japanese subjects; but this law
having been set at naught by Bautista's colleagues, one was arrested
and imprisoned, and warrants were issued against the others; meanwhile
the Jesuits in Nagasaki were in no way restrained.

The Governor of Nagasaki caused the Franciscan propagandists to be
conducted on board a Portuguese ship and handed over to the charge
of the captain, under severe penalties if he aided or allowed their
escape, but they were free to go wherever they chose outside the
Japanese Empire. The captain, however, permitted one to return ashore,
and for some time he wandered about the country in disguise.

Pedro Bautista had reached Manila, where the ecclesiastical dignitaries
prevailed upon the Governor to sanction another expedition to Japan,
and Bautista arrived in that country a second time with a number of
Franciscan friars. The Emperor now lost all patience, and determined
not only to repress these venturesome foreigners, but to stamp out
the last vestige of their revolutionary machinations. Therefore, by
Imperial Decree, the arrest was ordered of all the Franciscan friars,
and all natives who persisted in their adhesion to these missionaries'
teachings. Twenty-six of those taken were tried and condemned to
ignominious exhibition and death--the Spaniards, because they had come
into the country and had received royal favours under false pretences,
representing themselves as political ambassadors and suite--the
Japanese, because they had forsworn the religion of their ancestors
and bid fair to become a constant danger and source of discord in the
realm. Amongst these Spaniards was Pedro Bautista. After their ears
and noses had been