cut off, they were promenaded from town to town
in a cart, finally entering Nagasaki on horseback, each bearing the
sentence of death on a breast-board.

On a high ground, near the city and the port, in front of the Jesuits'
church, these 26 persons were crucified and stabbed to death with
lances, in expiation of their political offences. It was a sad fate for
men who conscientiously believed that they were justified in violating
rights and laws of nations for the propagation of their particular
views; but can one complain? Would Buddhist missionaries in Spain
have met with milder treatment at the hands of the Inquisitors? [32]

Each Catholic body was supposed to designate the same road to
heaven--each professed to teach the same means of obtaining the
grace of God; yet, strange to say, each bore the other an implacable
hatred--an inextinguishable jealousy! If conversion to Christianity
were for the glory of God only, what could it have mattered whether
souls of Japanese were saved by Jesuits or by others? For King Philip
it was the same whether his political tools were of one denomination or
the other, but many of the Jesuits in Japan happened to be Portuguese.

The Jesuits in Manila probably felt that in view of their opposition
to the Franciscan missions, public opinion might hold them morally
responsible for indirectly contributing to the unfortunate events
related; therefore, to justify their acts, they formally declared
that Pedro Bautista and his followers died excommunicated, because
they had disobeyed the Bull of Pope Gregory XIII.

The general public were much excited when the news spread through
the city, and a special Mass was said, followed by a religious
procession through the streets. The Governor sent a commission to
Japan, under the control of Luis de Navarrete, to ask for the dead
bodies and chattels of the executed priests. The Emperor showed no
rancour whatsoever; on the contrary, his policy was already carried
out; and to welcome the Spanish lay deputies, he gave a magnificent
banquet and entertained them sumptuously. Luis de Navarrete having
claimed the dead bodies of the priests, the Emperor at once ordered
the guards on the execution ground to retire, and told Navarrete
that he could dispose as he pleased of the mortal remains. Navarrete
therefore hastened to Nagasaki, but before he could reach there,
devout Catholics had cut up the bodies, one carrying away a head,
another a leg, and so for