Hirado. The castle was taken by assault on the 12th of April,
1638, after a siege which had lasted one hundred and two days, and about
seven months from the breaking out of the rebellion. By special orders
from Yedo the insurgents captured in the castle were to the last man,
woman, and child put to death.(221) The father of Shiro, the young leader,
was crucified, and Shiro himself was decapitated, and his head exposed for
seven days on the great pier at Nagasaki. The daimyo, whose misgovernment
had brought on this rebellion in Amakusa, was stripped of most of his
territories, and he was so intensely hated in what remained to him that he
committed _hara-kiri_. The daimyo of Arima, whose misconduct and neglect
had driven the _samurai_ farmers into their fatal rising, was also
permitted to take his own life.

The help, which the Dutch rendered in this siege, exposed them to much
vituperation. Naturally, the Jesuit historians have taken a very
unfavorable view of the Dutch share in this sad transaction. Dr. Geerts in
his defence of the Dutch argues: "Koeckebacker did no more than any one
else of any nationality would probably have done in the same difficult
position.... His endeavor was to preserve from decline or destruction the
interests intrusted to him, and this was done at the smallest possible
price.... Moreover, the letters of Koeckebacker clearly show that the
Japanese government did not ask the aid of the Dutch in the persecution of
Christians, as has often been asserted by foreign authors, who have not
taken the trouble to inform themselves thoroughly on the subject, but they
requested the guns and the aid of the Dutch vessel for the purpose of
subduing rebellious subjects.... There could be no valid reason for
Koeckebacker to refuse the pressing request for aid, and consequently he
agreed to give assistance, as every wise man would have done in his
place.... Koeckebacker did not take part in the general massacre which
followed on the 11th of April, when the fortress of the rebels was taken
by the imperial troops, as he left with his ship for Hirado on the 12th of
March, leaving the guns behind in Arima. Had it been in his power to
prevent such a general massacre after the fortress had been taken, and the
rebels were prisoners, he would no doubt have done so."(222)

This frightful termination to the rebellion, followed as it was by severe
and persistent measures against Christians everywhere, was apparently the
de