his edict of 1587 converted
into a stern reality. The governor of Nagasaki received orders to
send away all the Jesuits, permitting only two or three to remain for
the service of Portuguese merchants.

The Jesuits, however, were not to be deterred by personal peril.
There were 125 of them in Japan at that time, and of these only
eleven left Nagasaki by sea in October, 1597, though the same vessel
carried a number of pretended Jesuits who were, in reality, disguised
sailors. This deception was necessarily known to the local
authorities; but their sympathies being with the Jesuits, they kept
silence until early the following year, when, owing to a rumour that
Hideyoshi himself contemplated a visit to Kyushu, they took really
efficient measures to expel all the fathers. No less than 137
churches throughout Kyushu were thrown down, as well as several
seminaries and residences of the fathers, and, at Nagasaki, all the
Jesuits in Japan were assembled for deportation to Macao in the
following year when the "great ship" was expected to visit that port.
But before her arrival Hideyoshi died, and a respite was thus gained
for the Jesuits.

FOREIGN POLICY OF THE TOKUGAWA FAMILY

It has been confidently stated that Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded
Christian nations and Christian propagandists with distrust not less
profound than that harboured by Hideyoshi. But facts are opposed to
that view. Within less than three months of the Taiko's death, the
Tokugawa chief had his first interview with a Christian priest. The
man was a Franciscan, by name Jerome de Jesus. He had been a member
of the fictitious embassy from Manila, and his story illustrates the
zeal and courage that inspired the Christian fathers in those days.
"Barely escaping the doom of crucifixion which overtook his
companions, he had been deported from Japan to Manila at a time when
death seem to be the certain penalty of remaining. But no sooner had
he been landed in Manila than he took passage in a Chinese junk, and,
returning to Nagasaki, made his way secretly from the far south of
Japan to the province of Kii. There arrested, he was brought into the
presence of Ieyasu, and his own record of what ensued is given in a
letter subsequently sent to Manila:

"'When the Prince saw me he asked how I managed to escape the previous
persecution. I answered him that at that date God had delivered me in
order that I might go to Manila and bring back new colleagues from
there--preache