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 tofQAl 
 
 HISTORY OF THE MISSIONS 
 
 JAPAN AND PARAGUAY. 
 
 CECILIA MARY CADDELL, 
 
 Author of "the snowdrop," "the miner's daughter," 
 " tales of the festivals," etc. 
 
 Ttf eto Yorft: 
 
 D. & J. SADLIER & CO., 164 WILLIAM STREET. 
 
 BOSTON! — 128 FI D E R AL-S TKK E T . 
 
 MONTREAL I 
 
 CORNER OF NOTRE-DAME AND ST. FRANCIS XATIER STREETS. 
 
 81 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The history of the brief existence of Christianity in Japan, 
 and of the terrible persecution by which it was utterly ex- 
 tirpated in that island, is at once a melancholy and a glo- 
 rious episode in the annals of the Church. In the Japanese 
 we behold the most highly-gifted of the Asiatic races of 
 modem times receiving the Gospel with a joy and a fervour 
 which remind us of primitive ages, when thousands in one 
 single day would run at the divine call to fill the apostolic 
 net, and when the multitude of the faithful, serving God 
 with one heart and one soul, resembled rather the chosen 
 few who in later days have left the crowd to follow the 
 higher path of evangelical perfection, than the mass of ordi- 
 nary believers. But if the Japanese excite our admiration 
 in their willing reception of gospel-truth, and their fervour 
 in obeying its precepts and counsels, no less, or rather still 
 more exalted are the feelings with which we must regard 
 the spirit in which they met the fiery trial which came upon 
 them. Kever in the times of the old pagan persecutions 
 was a more glorious spectacle exhibited of men, women, and 
 children, rushing to claim the martyr's palm, and seeking 
 sufferings and torments as others seek honours and plea- 
 sures. 
 
 Still the history has its melancholy page, and all the 
 more dark and gloomy for the glory which had preceded. 
 In this fair and promising land the Church has ceased to 
 be, as utterly as if the Cross had never been planted on her 
 shores ; nay, a far sadder case is hers ; for not pagan ignor- 
 ance alone, but bitter prejudice and hatred, now close her 
 gates against the good tidings of salvation ; and the Chris- 
 tian cannot so much as put one foot upon her soil without 
 denying his faith by trampling on the sign of his redemp- 
 tion. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 It is, we may say, almost an exceptional instance in the 
 history of Christianity, to see a nourishing Church thus 
 completely extirpated from the soil where it had blossomed 
 and borne such rich and golden fruit. True it is, that 
 Churches once abundantly blessed have been turned into 
 desolation, as in the case of various cities and even whole 
 regions of Asia Minor ; but there corruption, and degeneracy, 
 and lukewarmness, and the spirit of heresy and schism, had 
 preceded the storm ; and when the day of trial came, and 
 the blast of persecution was let loose, the tree fell, for it 
 was already rotten at the core. It excites in us, therefore, 
 more sorrow than wonder, when we behold no longer those 
 Churches of the East, once burning lights, which the be- 
 loved disciple addressed in accents of solemn warning. 
 Their candlestick is removed. God threatened ; and He has 
 made good His word. But far otherwise was the case of 
 Japan. She expired in the fervour of her first love ; and in 
 this, perhaps solitary instance, we seem to look in vain for 
 the fulfilment of the proverb, that the blood of the martyrs 
 is the seed of the Church. The secret of this severe dispen- 
 sation is with God. Humanly speaking, however, we seem 
 to see one reason to account for so sad a failure : the delay 
 in the formation of an indigenous clergy. It has been the 
 custom of the Church, from the apostolic age downwards, to 
 proceed to the establishment of a native clergy whenever 
 and as soon as it has been possible and prudent so to do. Ex- 
 perience has fully confirmed the wisdom of this measure ; 
 and no Church has been fouud to possess that inherent 
 strength which can alone guarantee its permanence, while 
 served only by foreign pastors. Let but a persecution arise 
 sufficiently severe and continuous to expel and annihilate 
 the missionaries, — and such was the policy successfully car- 
 ried out by the Japanese government, — and their unhappy 
 and helpless flock, however numerous and zealous, left to 
 themselves, or rather in the hands of the ruthless enemies of 
 their faith, may, it is true, suffer and die in the first genera- 
 tion, but must dwindle away in the second. Without sacra- 
 ments, save the one initiatory rite ; without ministry, with- 
 out teachers, — it can only be a question of time how soon 
 the light of faith must become utterly extinguished. 
 
 Doubtless the heroic fathers who planted the gospel in 
 Japan saw, or thought they saw, reasons for the delay, the 
 consequences of which were so disastrous. We ought to be 
 slow to blame saintly men who sealed their mission in blood 
 and tortures ; yet may we be allowed to regret that any ob- 
 
PR K FACE. Vll 
 
 stacle should have been, or have been felt to be, sufficiently 
 great to stand in the way of so important an object. The 
 intelligence of the Japanese disposition, and the fer- 
 vour and zeal displayed by numbers of the converts in per- 
 forming every Christian work but such as a participation 
 in the ministry would have alone qualified them to under- 
 take, would appear to have furnished great facilities for the 
 formation of a native priesthood. "In the first centuries 
 of Christianity "(we quote a modern historian of the Church), 
 " in the apostolic ages, men would have constrained these 
 good Japanese lords to become priests and even bishops, and 
 to be the pastors of those of whom they had been the rulers 
 or kings, as in the case of St. Denys the Areopagite, Synesius 
 of Ptolemais, St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Germanus of Aux- 
 erre." And again he observes, " Christianity had flourished 
 in Japan for twenty or thirty years ; it held a dominant po- 
 sition in several provinces and kingdoms. The Japanese 
 Christians gave proofs of wonderful intelligence and virtue. 
 Moreover, conformably to the Council of Trent, it would 
 have been easy in the space of thirty years to have established 
 some seminary to train for the priesthood those admirable 
 children whom we have seen become the apostles of their 
 families, and whom we shall behold running to martyrdom 
 as to a festal holiday." Indeed it appears from a speech of 
 some Japanese ambassadors sent to Rome, that such was 
 the project and desire of the great pontiff Gregory XIII., 
 as they even speak of them as being already founded. We 
 can, however, discover no trace of any seminary actually 
 existing, except some of a secular character for the nobles. 
 A small number of Japanese priests were ordained previous 
 to the ruinous persecution which extirpated the missionary 
 fathers, aud for a time preserved the last sparks of the faith 
 in silence and in shade ; but this native clergy, having no 
 bishops, were unable to perpetuate themselves by fresh ordi- 
 nations, and the veterans of the priesthood died without 
 successors. 
 
 In the year 1709, an Italian priest, Dr. Sidotti, landed 
 from Manilla on the Japanese coast, made many proselytes, 
 and suffered a cruel death after a lingering imprisonment. 
 Other heroic missionaries, possibly Spaniards from the Phi- 
 lippines, may have trod the same glorious path, and sought 
 the crown of apostleship without any other witness than 
 God and His angels. Be this as it may, it is asserted by 
 Coreans who frequent the seas of Japan, that a tradition of 
 the faith is still sacredly preserved anions the people like a 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 treasure hidden away in the secret recesses of the land. 
 Ma;/ the prayers of these forlorn sheep arise to the Great 
 Pastor of souls, and mingle with the intercessory voices of 
 Japan's countless martyrs, and the devoted sons of St. Igna- 
 tius, who by word and example taught them to die for the 
 faith ! What may not be hoped for a land which possesses 
 the descendants of so many heroes of the Cross, whose blood 
 must plead so powerfully before the throne of mercy for 
 their unhappy country ! 
 
 Hitherto there has been no change in the religious 
 condition of Japan ; the laws excluding strangers are still 
 rigorously enforced. But circumstances have lately arisen 
 which seem to evince a disposition on the part of the Ja- 
 panese to lay aside their contempt for Europe. Their 
 princes are said to learn the Dutch language, and to seek 
 information respecting our sciences and arts. Perhaps this 
 same curiosity may lead them to become acquainted with 
 that religion which lies at the foundation of European 
 civilisation. Nor will this conjecture appear improbable, 
 when we are told, that in 1820 certain Japanese repaired to 
 Batavia for the purpose of purchasing books of Catholic 
 theology and devotion. But anyhow, the inhospitable ex- 
 clusiveness of this great nation cannot prevent its fishermen 
 from holding communication with the adjacent coasts ; 
 and Christianity, conveyed to Rome by a fisherman, may 
 surely not despair of re-entering Nangasaki and Miako. 
 
 There are two modes of access open ; one from the 
 coast of Corea, that land which has been so recently hal- 
 lowed by the blood of such glorious martyrs, and whose 
 catechists may ere long convey the priests of Holy Church 
 to the shores of Japan. The other is from the islands of 
 Loo-Choo, adjoining and tributary to Japan, to which our 
 missioners have already pushed forward their outposts : once 
 more has the See of Peter summoned a bishop to occupy 
 this remote and perilous post ; and when Rome sounds the 
 advance, it is the signal of conquest. Surely, if Dioclesian 
 decreed himself the title of " exterminator of Christianity," 
 and yet neither by the skill of his jurists nor by the power 
 of his legions was able to uproot the Cross from one single 
 province of the empire, the faithful will be long ere they 
 suppose that what Roman tyrants failed to effect has been 
 accomplished by the Dairi of Japan. And what hopes may 
 not be entertained of a nation in which the Christian reli- 
 gion shall appear, not as a strange and alien rite, but as 
 the hereditary faith of a people whose fathers are invoked 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 at its altars, and the memorials of whose martyred kindred 
 surround the Cross of the Saviour !* 
 
 The history of the missions of the Jesuits in Paraguay 
 offers to us another of those subjects of mingled joy and 
 sorrow with which the annals of the Church abound. If it 
 is sweet to contemplate the well-nigh paradise upon earth 
 which, even upon Protestant testimony, the Jesuit Fathers 
 created in the wilds of South America, in the 'face of the 
 bitter opposition which the avarice and jealousy of their 
 countrymen were continually throwing in their way during 
 the century and a half of their apostolic labours among 
 the Indians, sad indeed is it at last to witness the triumph 
 of the evil passions of men calling themselves Catholics, 
 in the expulsion of those holy religious who were the 
 guardian-angels of the poor savages of Paraguay. 
 
 If any proof were required of the incalculable benefits 
 which, even as respects their temporal prosperity, the Je- 
 suits conferred on the native races which they took under 
 their protection and fostering care, it may be read in the 
 fact, that the flourishing settlements which they founded 
 dwindled away when the good influences which had nur- 
 tured them were withdrawn. The tract of country occu- 
 pied by their missions was fertile and populous under their 
 sway in the middle of the last century ; the principal re- 
 ductions containing each 30,000 souls, the smallest 5000 
 or 6000 ; whereas before the year 1825, the whole Indian 
 population of those regions had been reduced to a few 
 thousand inhabitants. Nevertheless it is asserted, " that 
 no part of the interior of South America has so large a por- 
 tion of the soil under cultivation as Paraguay. The abori- 
 gines, too, owing to the unremitting care of the Jesuits for 
 a period of eighty years, have almost entirely adopted the 
 agriculture and the arts of Europe, as far as they are fit for 
 a nation inhabiting a country different in climate and other 
 natural features."t If such be the results of the Jesuit 
 rule, when but the wreck of what it effected remains, 
 what might not by this time have been the state of the 
 Indian Christian population of the interior of South America? 
 Incalculable is the loss to the unhappy aborigines, and to 
 America herself. Paraguay formed a nucleus of civilisation, 
 the bounds of which were continually widening as long as 
 
 * Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, vol. x. p. 21 5, &c. 
 + Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- 
 ledge, — article " Paraguay." 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 the Jesuits were suffered to prosecute their good work by 
 the conversion and humanisation of fresh fierce and roving 
 tribes. 
 
 It has been sometimes made matter, if not of reproach, 
 at least of detraction from the praise awarded on all hands 
 to the Jesuits in Paraguay, that, although they preserved 
 their neophytes in innocency and peace while they abode 
 among them, yet that they kept them, like children, in 
 leading-strings, and consequently failed to communicate to 
 them that manly strength of character and capability of 
 self-guidance and self-government which might have ena- 
 bled them to stand alone when their first teachers and go- 
 vernors were withdrawn. Thus the very circumstance we 
 have alleged in testimony of the beneficial influence exerted 
 by the Jesuits, is adduced as a proof of some radical defi- 
 ciency in their system. We think, however, that such cen- 
 sure has been expressed without due consideration of the 
 character of the savage races with whom they had to deal. 
 Let us hear the Protestant historian Sismondi : " In Ame- 
 rica they (the Jesuits) had succeeded in persuading savage 
 tribes, who before roamed at large through the forests, to 
 adopt a fixed habitation. They had taught them, along 
 with the first elements ot' religion, the first acts of civil life ; 
 they had induced them to build villages and churches, to 
 cultivate fields, and to acquire property The mis- 
 sionaries had solved that exceedingly difficult problem, in 
 which Europeans have ever since invariably failed, to make 
 savages adopt a civilised life. Our accumulated experience 
 ought to be continually increasing our admiration for the 
 success of the Jesuits. They employed only kindness, 
 charity, and a paternally providential care ; others have 
 desired to educate savages by instruction, emulation, com- 
 merce, industry; and they have communicated to them the 
 passions of civilised nations before the reason which could 
 control and the discipline which could restrain them. 
 Throughout the whole world the contact of European na- 
 tions — English, Dutch, French — with savages has caused 
 them to melt away like wax before a blazing fire. In the 
 American missions, on the contrary, the red race multiplied 
 rapidly under the direction of the Jesuits. Their Indians — 
 so it has been said — were only big children. Grant it ; after 
 their expulsion, the Spaniards, Portuguese, English, and 
 French have made tigers of them."* 
 
 * Histoire des Fran§ais, t. 29, c. 54. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 That the Indians were but great children we have no 
 disposition to deny; but was it possible, in the first instance, 
 to make any thing else of them ? It must be remembered, 
 that the red men of the forests of Paraguay were not, like 
 the Japanese, pagans only and barbarians, as compared to 
 Europeans, but they were savages. Between the state of the 
 savage and the mere barbarian the difference is immense. 
 The disposition of the savage, in its most favourable speci- 
 mens, exhibits most of the characteristics of childhood ; nor 
 did the Guarani and his kindred tribes form any exception 
 to the rule. They had much of the quickness and aptitude 
 of children — the retentive memories, the impressible imagi- 
 nations, the pliable faculties ; they had also the docility, 
 simplicity, and confiding faith. Such, at least, were the 
 good qualities which religious training and kindness deve- 
 loped in the soil of their hearts ; for in their wild and 
 pagan state the characteristics of the furious beast overlaid 
 those of the artless child. Now we have seen by the con- 
 fession of the Protestant Sismondi — and his assertion is 
 fully borne out by history — that it is impossible to make 
 the savage leap the intellectual and moral space which 
 separates him from the civilised man ; brought into rude 
 contact with him, he acquires from him only his vices and 
 a more deadly instrument of warfare. He obtains his gun- 
 powder and his brandy : he adds drunkenness to ferocity. 
 What more ? He perishes away before the white man, even 
 where the latter does not raise his hand to help on his de- 
 struction. 
 
 Clearly the education of the savage is a difficult, a deli- 
 cate, and a lengthened task : it is not the work of a day, 
 nor a year, nor even of a generation ; and if the Jesuits, 
 who had effected so much, had not as yet effected more, is 
 the blame to be laid upon them ? Rather, is it not to be 
 attributed to those who arrested a process, hitherto so suc- 
 cessful, midway in its course ? Is it not much more fair to 
 suppose that they who, enlightened by that true wisdom 
 and penetration which divine grace, and the discipline of a 
 holy life, alone confer, had so well understood the human 
 heart, in the degraded condition of savage life, as to induce 
 them to take the first and most difficult steps in the career 
 of civilisation, would have also been fully equal to their 
 task as time went on, and have adopted whatever modifica- 
 tions had been needed to raise the Indian, socially aud 
 intellectually, to the level of his European brethren ? 
 The signal failure which has accompanied all attempts to 
 
Xll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 force civilisation, wholesale and full-grown, as it were, upon 
 the savage, is a corroboration of the wisdom of the course 
 they adopted with such brilliant results — results to which 
 alone can, in their measure, be compared those which their 
 brethren achieved in California ; a work, unhappily, cut 
 short like that of Paraguay in the full tide of its success, 
 and ere the world could see the perfect ripening of the fruit 
 which these matchless husbandmen, and their worthy suc- 
 cessors, the sons of St. Francis and St. Dominic, had reared 
 in the desert, which was already blossoming like a rose 
 under their cultivation and care. 
 
 E. H. T. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FAGS 
 
 Description of Japan ; its climate, productions, form of govern- 
 ment. Manners and customs of the people, and their reli- 
 gion. F. Francis Xavier is sought at Malacca by one of the 
 natives ; two Jesuit Fathers go to Kangoxima ; their recep- 
 tion ; go on to Miako, the capital ; but presently return to 
 Amanguchi. The -work of conversion begins. F. Francis 
 is invited to Bongo ; success with the king, and in contro- 
 versy with bonzes; is recalled to India. Other Missionaries 
 sent in his place. Two bonzes converted in Bongo. Re- 
 markable constancy of children. The first martyr of the 
 Japanese Church, a female slave in Firando. The Mission- 
 aries re-assemble in the kingdom of Bongo .... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The bonzes of Frenoxama. Father Villela's voyage to Miako. 
 Extraordinary conversion of two principal bonzes. Success 
 at Saccay. The Kumbo's leve"e. Nobunanga restores the 
 Kumbo's family at Miako, and destroys the bonzes of Fre- 
 noxama ; conspiracy against him defeated ; his magnificent 
 tournament ; his favourable disposition towards Christianity 22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The castle of Ekandono. Sumitando, king of Omura ; his zeal 
 tempered with discretion. Father Torres goes to Vocoxiuva, 
 and settles theise. Conversion of Sumitando and thirty 
 nobles. Conspiracy against him defeated. Jesuits settled 
 at Nangasaki. Conversion of the king of Arima. Christi- 
 anity introduced into Goto. The king's son converted . 39 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TAOS 
 
 Deaths of Fathers Torres and Villela. Father Cabral appointed 
 Superior of the Missions. In Omura Christianity is formally 
 recognised as the religion of the State. Conversion of the 
 second son and the nephew of the King of Bongo. The 
 Queen threatens to murder the Fathers. Conversion of the 
 King, who abdicates in favour of his son. Conversion of the 
 King of Arima. An embassy to the Pope is determined 
 upon 59 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Two Japanese princes and two nobles start with Father Valignan 
 for Rome. Their arrival at Goa, at Lisbon, at Madrid, and 
 finally at Rome. Their reception by the Pope. Their return 
 to Japan. Important changes during their absence. Death 
 of Nobunanga. His successor begins to persecute the Chris- 
 tians. Death of King Francis and King Bartholomew. Exile 
 of Justo Ucondono. Decree for the banishment of the Je- 
 suits 77 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 Cambacundono sends an expedition to Corea to rid himself of 
 his Christian subjects. Recal of Justo Ucondono. Death of 
 Con3tantine. Arrival of Franciscan missionaries. Their im- 
 prudent conduct. The first bishop of Japan arrives. Mar- 
 tyrdom of Franciscan fathers, three Jesuits, and two children 
 at Nangasaki. Death of Cambacundono. Execution of 
 Augustine, and of the Queen of Tango 93 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Persecution of the Church in the kingdom of Figo. Charity of 
 the Bishop and Jesuit Fathers. Martyrdom of Japanese 
 nobles, with their wives and families. Persecution in Firando 
 and Arima. Heroic martyrdoms of children and others . 11* 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Treachery of Dutch Protestants. General persecution of the 
 Christians. Heroic conduct of Christian virgins. The Jesuits 
 
CONTENTS. XVU 
 
 PAGE 
 
 and others banished from Miako. Exile and death of Justo 
 Ucondono. More fierce and universal persecution. Particu- 
 lars of the sufferings of the martyrs at Cochinotzu, Nanga- 
 saki, Miako, and elsewhere 135 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sufferings of the clergy. Diminution of their number, and 
 consequently of the Christians generally. Martyrdom of 
 Fathers Paul, Angelis, and others ; some at the stake, others 
 in freezing water, and others by unheard-of tortures. The 
 sulphurous waters of Ungen. Death of the Xoguno. He 
 is succeeded by a still more cruel tyrant. Treachery of the 
 Dutch. Portuguese merchants forbidden to land ; murder 
 of Portuguese ambassadors. Last efforts of Jesuit mission- 
 aries, who are all martyred. Final extinction of Christianity. 
 Present state of Japan l£5 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Description of Japan ; its climate, productions, form 
 of government. Manners and customs of the 
 people, and their religion. F. Francis Xavier is 
 sought at Malacca by one of the natives ; two 
 Jesuit Fathers go to Kangoxima ; their reception ; 
 go on to Miako, the capital ; but presently return 
 to Amanguchi. The work of conversion begins. 
 F. Francis is invited to Bongo ; success with the 
 king, and in controversy with bonzes; is recalled to India. 
 Other Missionaries sent in his place. Two bonzes converted in 
 Bongo. Remarkable constancy of children. The first martyr 
 of the Japanese Church, a female slave in Firando. The Mis- 
 sionaries re-assemble in the kingdom of Bongo. 
 
 
 ^HPSf HE kingdom of Japan, situated on the 
 
 rh ffiSg (T most eastern part of the coast of Asia, is 
 
 C\j61 1 ^ — ^11 composed of many islands, said to have 
 
 been discovered by Fernandez Pinto and 
 
 his companions in 1542, thoug-h various 
 
 other navigators of that adventurous period 
 
 likewise lay claim to the discovery as their 
 
 own. These islands are described as very 
 
 rugg-ed, interspersed with barren tracts, 
 
 deep valleys, and lofty mountains, many of 
 
 which are covered with snow all the year 
 
 round. The climate varies from excessive 
 
 heat in summer to as intense a cold in winter. Some 
 
 of the mountains are volcanic, and mineral spring's are 
 
 abundant ; those of Ung-en, of which such fearful use 
 
JAPAN. 
 
 was made in times of persecution, being- of the tempe- 
 rature of boiling water. Japan likewise possesses gold, 
 silver, and copper mines, with abundance of coal, brim* 
 stone, and naphtha. 
 
 The country is divided into sixty or seventy small 
 states, governed by kings, who, in their turn, are subject 
 to the double authority of the Dairi and Kumbo-Sama ; 
 the first being at the head of the spiritual, the second 
 of the temporal sovereignty of Japan. For many hun- 
 dred years the former united both these offices in his 
 own person; but in 1585 one of his generals forcibly 
 divided them with him, taking to himself the more 
 tangible authority comprised in the dignity of Kumbo, 
 while he left to his late chief just so much of its shadow 
 as a spiritual supremacy under such circumstances might 
 be supposed to contain. From that time the Dairi has 
 been practically a cipher in his own dominions : he 
 dwells, indeed, in a magnificent palace, and is sur- 
 rounded by such homage and reverence as might be 
 offered to a god ; but the actual power is exercised by 
 the Kumbo, who makes and unmakes the kings of the 
 various petty states at his pleasure; for though their 
 office seems to be partly hereditary, yet since they are 
 accountable to him for all their actions, he can always 
 either transfer them to another kingdom, or deprive 
 them of royalty altogether. Death, however, is the 
 more usual punishment inflicted on them for any mis- 
 conduct, whether real or imaginary, of which they have 
 been guilty. The Kumbo has only to sign the order 
 for the execution, and the culprit considers it a point 
 of honour, not only to submit without a murmur, but 
 to escape the hands of the headsman by inflicting the 
 sentence on himself. As soon as he receives it from 
 the officer appointed to superintend its execution, ho 
 invites all his friends and acquaintances to a feast, after 
 which he makes a farewell speech, draws his sword, 
 and inflicts a first wound upon himself, — the deed being 
 generally completed by a favourite relative or confi- 
 dential servant. This mode of death is considered so 
 
CH. I.j JAPAN. 3 
 
 honourable, and therefore so desirable, that the very 
 children are instructed to use their weapons gracefully 
 for the purpose ; and the habit of suicide thus induced 
 was probably one of the severest temptations of the 
 Christian martyrs, who even while exercising* that 
 highest degree of courage which consists in passive 
 endurance, were yet often taunted with cowardice for 
 not shortening- their sufferings by a voluntary death. 
 
 As a nation, the Japanese resemble the Chinese, not 
 only in face and figure, but likewise in many of their 
 customs and traditions. They are said to be intelligent, 
 brave, and honest; but, on the other hand, they are 
 proud, cruel, vindictive, and luxurious, — covetous of 
 honours and of wealth, and intolerant of poverty, which 
 being considered as a punishment inflicted by the gods, 
 always presupposes crime in him who endures it. Poly- 
 gamy is permitted and practised to a great extent : the 
 women are frequently bought, and may at any time be 
 returned after marriage ; an occurrence which neither 
 entails disgrace on the one party, nor is considered sin 
 in the other. In religious opinions they were divided, 
 at the time to which our history belongs, into several 
 sects ; one of which believed in the existence of a Su- 
 preme Being ruling over innumerable inferior deities, 
 towards whom, as his deputies in the affairs of men, 
 its worship was more especially directed. The up- 
 holders of this opinion professed likewise the immortal- 
 ity of the soul, and the fact of reward and punishment 
 after death ; dogmas most emphatically denied by the 
 opposite party, which consisted chiefly of the great men 
 about court, to whom the idea, of future retribution 
 might probably be any thing but agreeable. The 
 priests, however, of all these various sects were called 
 indiscriminately bonzes. These men lived in commu- 
 nities, and affected great apparent sanctity of life ; but 
 in private they yielded to every species of debauchery 
 and excess, — a fact amply attested by the confessions of 
 such of their number as embraced Christianity, and 
 well known even to the heathens themselves, who vet 
 
4: JAPAN. 
 
 submitted to their extortions from a superstitious belief 
 in their influence with the gods. 
 
 This short sketch of the belief and practice of the 
 Japanese will suffice to show how repugnant to all their 
 preconceived habits and ideas were the maxims of the 
 Gospel. To men accustomed to look upon suicide as 
 heroic courage, and to reckon riches and pleasures as 
 though they were virtues, the poverty, meekness, and 
 chastity inculcated by the precepts of Christianity 
 would have been preached in vain without that especial 
 gift of mission which is the prerogative of the Catholic 
 Church, — the mark by which you may know her among 
 thousands, and that which Christ Himself conferred 
 upon her in those memorable words addressed to her 
 first founders : " Go and teach all nations, baptising 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost.' 7 Without this crowning gift, 
 Xavier himself, for all his zeal, his eloquence, his piety 
 and learning, and though his efforts had been backed 
 by the treasures of the Indies, must infallibly have 
 failed. But with it, poor, unknown, a stranger, and in 
 rags, he succeeded in preaching the Cross of Christ 
 before the thrones of the most luxurious monarchs of 
 the East ; and the blood-stained annals of the Church 
 which he founded bear witness to the deep conviction, 
 the constancy and courage of those who at his bidding 
 renounced the pride and luxury and false wisdom of the 
 world, to embrace the folly of the Cross by becoming 
 the servants of a crucified God." 
 
 Wonderful are the ways of the Almighty, and in- 
 scrutable as wonderful ! The conversion of China, for 
 which the Apostle of the Indies had so long and so ar- 
 dently sighed, was denied to his prayers ; while that of 
 Japan, of which apparently he had never even dreamed, 
 was given to him unasked. China was the object of 
 all his wishes and aspirations, — the promised land of his 
 spiritual ambition. It was in his dreams by night and 
 his thoughts by day, — the subject alike of his penance 
 and his prayers ; when a young Japanese, tormented by 
 
CH. I.J JAPAN. 5 
 
 remorse of conscience for a crime committed years ago, 
 and forgotten probably by every body but himself, ar- 
 rived at Malacca, where the Saint then was, and throw- 
 ing himself at his feet, besought of him that peace and 
 pardon which his native bonzes had been unable to 
 bestow. The great heart of Francis exulted at the 
 prospect of winning another empire to the banner of his 
 Divine Lord ; while his vivid faith saw in the sinner who 
 had thus sought him from afar a direct ambassador 
 from Heaven, which had doubtless pursued this youth 
 with the fear of retribution, not for his sake alone, but 
 also to effect the conversion of the idolatrous nation 
 represented in his person. 
 
 Frequent conversation with Anger, — for such was the 
 name of the Japanese, — only confirmed him in this first 
 opinion. The deep feeling*, the tender piety, and above 
 all, the earnest pleadings of this poor heathen in favour 
 of his countrymen, that they also might be enlightened 
 by the gift of faith, were arguments which the zeal of 
 Francis could not resist : but he had to contend with 
 innumerable obstacles before he could put his project 
 into execution; and it was not until two years after- 
 wards, that, on the Feast of the Assumption (1549), he 
 and his chosen companion, Father Cosmas de Torres, 
 landed at Kangoxima, the birthplace of Anger, who, 
 under his new name of Paul de St. Foi, accompanied 
 the fathers as their guide and interpreter to the nations 
 of Japan. 
 
 By a sing*ular arrangement of Divine Providence, 
 stress of weather had compelled the captain to put in 
 at this port, — the only one in the whole kingdom where 
 they could have hoped for a favourable reception ; and 
 here their first success was more than enough to con- 
 firm their most sanguine expectations. Not many 
 hours elapsed before the Japanese convert was sent for 
 to the palace, and questioned concerning the strangers 
 whom he had not only brought to the city, but lodged 
 in his own house. Paul was in the first fervour of his 
 conversion, and he answered by a vivid explanation of 
 
JAPAN. 
 
 the mysteries of the Christian faith, winding- up his ac- 
 count of the Incarnation by exhibiting" a picture of the 
 Blessed Mother and her Divine Child, which he had 
 brought with him from the Indies. Both the earnest 
 manner of the convert and the miracles which he an- 
 nounced, had already touched them with awe and wonder ; 
 but when they looked upon this picture, which was to 
 them as the visible illustration of his mysterious words, 
 such an untold reverence filled their hearts, that all 
 bowed down before it, — king- and queen and courtly 
 heathens involuntarily doing' it homage on their knees. 
 
 Then they naturally desired to know more of the 
 strange bonzes, from whom he had heard of these 
 wonders ; and the best part of the following- nig-ht 
 was spent by Francis at the palace, explaining- the 
 articles of the faith. Both the king- and queen listened 
 to him with delight; they were never weary of express- 
 ing- their astonishment at the charity which had brought 
 him so far for their salvation ; and the permission he 
 craved for the free preaching of the Gospel was readily 
 granted. Paul had already converted his mother, wife, 
 and children ; but after these, the first person baptised 
 by Francis was a poor man, who, under the name of 
 Bernard, soon became illustrious by his virtues ; as if 
 God wished to confound the pride and mammon-wor- 
 ship of the Japanese, by taking His first-fruits from 
 that very class which they most hated and despised. 
 Other converts speedily began to flock to the standard 
 of the cross ; but the bonzes had already taken the 
 alarm. A religion which preached poverty as its 
 noblest possession, and chastity as the highest virtue of 
 the human heart, would soon, if suffered to succeed, 
 have ruined their credit and retrenched their revenues ; 
 so they raised such a storm at court against it, that 
 Francis was fain to shake the dust from off his feet, and 
 to seek a less ungrateful soil wherein to sow the seed 
 of the Divine Word. 
 
 Leaving the little handful of Christians already 
 made under the guidance of Paul, he and Father Torres, 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 7 
 
 with liis poor convert Bernard, took the way to Firando. 
 His heart was yearning- towards Miako, the capital of 
 the whole empire, and the resort of all the great and 
 learned of the nation. This, he thought, would be the 
 best point from whence to diffuse the Gospel through- 
 out the various cities and kingdoms subject to its con- 
 trol. Hither therefore he directed his steps, in the 
 depth of winter, without guide or money, ill-clad, and 
 with only a little parched rice, which the faithful Ber- 
 nard carried in the wide sleeve of his oriental garment, 
 for his means of subsistence on the road. 
 
 Mountains were scaled, rivers forded, and forests 
 traversed, with the indomitable resolution which was 
 so especially the characteristic of the Saint. Shelter 
 was every where denied them by the inhospitable Ja- 
 panese ; and they often lost their way amid the pathless 
 wilds through which the}' were compelled to wander. 
 Once, when they were completely entangled in a wood, 
 they were overtaken by a horseman, who agreed to 
 conduct them through it, on condition that Francis 
 should carry the box which contained his luggage. 
 Such an offer suited too well the humility of the Saint 
 to be rejected, and he joyfully followed his guide, who 
 trotted on through thorn and thicket at a rapid pace, 
 regardless of, or perhaps even rejoicing in, the sufferings 
 of his victim. The livelong day was spent in this un- 
 natural exertion ; and when towards evening his com- 
 panions came up to the place where the horseman had 
 finally left the Father, they found him lying on the 
 ground, his legs so swollen and his feet so cruelly cut 
 and bruised, that they were oblig'ed to rest for several 
 days before they could continue their journey. 
 
 Miako was gained at last, with its stately streets 
 regularly crossing- each other at right angles, its six 
 hundred thousand inhabitants, and its five hundred 
 temples dedicated to the worship of the idols; — a great 
 and populous city, seated in a spacious plain, sheltered 
 and half-surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills. The 
 capital of a mighty empire, it was the centre alike of 
 
8 JAPAN. 
 
 religion, of learning-, and of commerce, in Japan. The 
 palace of the Dairi formed a kind of academy for the 
 cultivation of science and the fine arts; and the city 
 itself was famed for its manufactures of silk and porce- 
 lain, for its highly-refined copper, well-tempered steel, 
 and its works in g-old and silver; while every coin 
 in circulation throughout the Archipelago was struck 
 at the imperial mintage of Miako. To win such a 
 city to the empire of Jesus Christ would have been 
 truly an achievement worthy of Francis ; and yet 
 his first reception in it might hardly have seemed to 
 hold out any hope of reward for the perils he had en- 
 countered in its behalf. Rebuffs, however, for the sake 
 of Christ, are not merely precious for His love's sake 
 in the eyes of His saints, but are likewise coveted by 
 them as an earnest of future success in every enterprise 
 undertaken for His glory ; and of these Francis drank 
 freely in the city of the 'Dairi. On the road hither he 
 had been twice nearly stoned to death by the idolaters, 
 against whose superstitions he had inveighed ; but here 
 he was met by that cold contempt, which is harder to 
 bear than open violence to the loving heart. His poverty 
 precluded him from an audience either with the Dairi 
 or the Kumbo ; neither rich nor poor would listen to his 
 sermons ; and it was all in vain that, with indefatigable 
 perseverance, he wandered up and down the city, and 
 through the towns and villages beyond its suburbs, 
 preaching and catechising- from morning until night, 
 and crying out, in the excess of his tenderness and love, 
 " Deos, Deos, Deos !"* until the very children learned 
 the word, and used to hoot it after him in derision as 
 he passed. 
 
 Fourteen days were thus spent at Miako ; on the 
 fifteenth he turned his back upon the haughty city, 
 
 * Francis always expressed himself by the Portuguese word 
 Deos ; fearing that if he employed any of those in common 
 use among the Japanese, they might confound the idea of the 
 Divinity with that of their Kami and Chadotschi, the idols to 
 which they were generally applied. 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 9 
 
 and passed on to Amanguchi, a town not far distant, 
 and taking its name from the kingdom over which it 
 presided. Mistress of some of the most productive 
 silver mines then known in the world, and with the re- 
 putation of being the richest and most dissolute city in 
 Japan, the Saint had vainly preached to its inhabitants 
 on his way to Miako ; yet now, on his return, he had 
 better success.- The Portuguese merchants (who, to 
 their honour be it recorded, were ever the most generous 
 and zealous promoters of every effort to christianise 
 Japan,) procured him an audience with the king ; and 
 he, whether from feelings of admiration, or in order to 
 put his guest's disinterestedness to the test, offered the 
 Saint a large sum of money. Francis refused it ; and 
 on being asked what the king could offer that would be 
 more acceptable to him, " Nothing," he answered, " ex- 
 cept leave to preach the true God in your dominions." 
 
 Charmed with an integrity to which he could find 
 no parallel among the native bonzes, the king not only 
 granted this request, but likewise gave a place of resi- 
 dence to himself and his companions, with a piece of 
 land for the erection of a church. Still the work of 
 conversion did not progTess. Courtly favour might 
 give leave for the sowing of the seed, it could not force 
 it to take root and blossom ; and though, men flocked 
 to Francis by night and day, and though they filled 
 the house in which he lived, and followed him through 
 the streets, and crowded round him and his companions 
 whenever they preached in public, yet it was evident 
 that they were prompted more by curiosity than 
 devotion. The fathers were continually harassed by 
 questions that were proposed solely with a view to 
 affront or perplex them, and not accompanied by any 
 desire for more serious instruction ; until at length that 
 change of heart, which neither the smiles of the king 
 nor the eloquence of Xavier had been able to accomplish, 
 was effected by the grace of God rewarding* an act of 
 heroic humility on the part of one of the companions of 
 the latter, a brother of the Society of Jesus, of the name 
 
10 JAPAN. 
 
 of Fernandez. This holy man was preaching- in one of 
 the most frequented parts of the city, when a person in 
 the crowd spat derisively in his face. The spectators 
 were indignant at this wanton brutality; but Fernandez 
 himself merely took out his handkerchief, wiped his 
 face, and then, without betraying the slightest emotion, 
 proceeded with his sermon. It was but the forbearance 
 of a moment; yet it proved to be the germ from whence 
 numberless conversions were afterwards to spring. A 
 nobleman, who happened to be present, sought Francis 
 on the spot, declaring that a religion which inspired 
 such patience under injury could only have been taught 
 by heaven. Many others followed his example; and in 
 the course of the ensuing year no fewer than three 
 thousand of the natives were instructed and received 
 baptism at the hands of the Saint. 
 
 By this time, the king of Bongo, who was destined 
 hereafter to play so considerable a part in the history of 
 the Church of Japan, had heard of the stranger bonze 
 whom Portuguese ships had brought to his shores ; and 
 being anxious to know something more accurately about 
 the wonderful religion he had come so far to announce, 
 sent him a pressing invitation to the capital of his king- 
 dom. Nothing could have been more acceptable to the 
 zeal of Francis, ever on fire to carry farther and far- 
 ther still the standard of his Lord : he left Father Cos- 
 mas de Torres to supply his place at Amanguchi, took 
 a tender leave of the new Christians there, and set out 
 for Funay, the capital of Bongo, carrying a marble 
 altar-stone, a chalice, and other articles for the cele- 
 bration of Mass, in a knapsack on his shoulders. The 
 Portuguese merchants who resided in the city received 
 him with royal honours ; and as soon as the king heard 
 the guns which they fired to salute him, he despatched 
 a second letter of invitation, of which the following is a 
 portion : 
 
 " Father bonze of Chmchicogin (the Japanese word 
 for Portugal), may your happy arrival in my estate 
 be as pleasing to your God as are the praises of 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 11 
 
 his Saints. God hath not made me worthy to com- 
 mand you ; so I only earnestly request you to come 
 before the rising- of the sun. Meantime, prostrate 
 before your God, whom I acknowledge for the God of 
 all gods, I beg Him to make known to the haughty of 
 the world how much your poor and holy life is pleasing* 
 to Him, to the end that the children of the flesh may 
 no longer be deceived by the false promises of the 
 earth. Send me news of your health, that joy may 
 give me a good night's repose, until the cocks awaken 
 me with the welcome news of your visit." 
 
 This curious epistle, which, with all its eastern 
 strangeness of phraseology and flattery, contains so 
 much of Christian truth, that it suggests itself to us as 
 an inspiration from above, was carried by a prince of 
 the blood royal, with thirty lords in his train. '" 
 
 They were conducted on board the ship where 
 Francis was now staying ; and when they beheld the 
 homage which every one paid to him, they could not 
 resist the conclusion, "that the God of the Portu- 
 guese must needs be great indeed, since this bonze, 
 poor though he was, could yet command the respect of 
 the wealthiest of his nation." After these envoys had 
 performed their commission and departed, the Portu- 
 guese besought Francis to allow of their accompany- 
 ing him with due honours to the palace; urging the 
 necessity both of showing this proud people the reverence 
 Christians ever felt for their priests, and also of con- 
 founding the bonzes, who had every where described 
 him as a miserable wretch, clothed in rags, and covered 
 with vermin. Xavier was most unwilling to part even 
 with the externals of his beloved poverty, but at length 
 humbly yielded his own opinions to their very strong 
 desire; and the next morning they set out in grand 
 procession from the ship, the boat which brought them 
 being lined with the fairest China tapestry, and a band of 
 music playing until they reached the shore. They were 
 met at the landing by a deputation from the king; but 
 Francis refused the litter which had been provided for 
 
12 JAPAN. 
 
 his accommodation, and the}' all went on foot to the 
 palace; the captain of the ship walking- bare-headed 
 before him, and five Portuguese following-. One of 
 these bore a book (the catechism) in a white satin bag 1 5 
 another, a fair picture (as the old chronicler calls it) of 
 our Lady, wrapt up in red damask; a third, the priest's 
 slippers; a fourth, his cane; and the last a magnificent 
 parasol, such as in Japan is used only for persons of the 
 highest distinction. 
 
 In this order they proceeded through the city; and 
 being* met at the palace-gates by the captain of the 
 king's guard at the head of five hundred men, were 
 conducted into a large hall, filled with Japanese nobles 
 in their richest dresses. Here a little child, who had 
 been appointed to the office, being- led forward by 
 a venerable old man. saluted Francis, and bade him 
 welcome to the kingdom ; after which he led him to 
 another apartment, to receive a similar compliment from 
 •the young- sons of the nobility; and from thence, by a 
 terrace made beautiful and fragrant by the bloom of 
 its orang-e-trees, to a gallery hung- with tapestry and 
 curious paintings, where the highest nobles of the land 
 were in waiting* to receive him. Two steps more, and 
 he was in the presence of the king. Xavier instantly 
 prostrated ; but, to the astonishment of all spectators, 
 the king- himself bowed down before him, and then 
 raising- him up, made him sit beside him. Before the 
 interview was concluded, Francis was invited to dine 
 with his majesty; and strange indeed it must have been, 
 in a country where eticpiette is so jealously preserved, 
 to see this poor strang-er seated at the king's own table, 
 while the native nobles and the wealthier Portuguese 
 remained in the royal presence, according to custom, 
 humbly on their knees. 
 
 From that day he became a frequent visitor at the 
 palace ; for the king, admiring the virtues which lie 
 preached while he practised, and practised while he 
 preached, delighted in his presence and holy conver- 
 sation. Here, however, as at Kangoxima, the bonze? 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. V6 
 
 were speedily roused to a sense of the danger threaten- 
 ing 1 their institutions. At first the}' tried to av aken 
 the superstitions terrors of the king-; but finding that 
 he only laughed at their prognostications of evil, they 
 shut up all the temples of the gods, and excited the 
 people to rise against the Portuguese, whom they 
 taught them to consider as the cause of this necessary 
 precaution. The latter, alarmed for their personal 
 safety, took refuge on board their ship; but Francis 
 positively refused to follow their example. Nothing 
 could induce this faithful shepherd to abandon the flock 
 which he had so recently gathered into the fold of his 
 Lord ; so the ship put off to sea without him ; but the 
 first panic was no sooner over than they were seized 
 with remorse at having left him in such imminent peril, 
 and the captain returned alone to seek him on shore. 
 There, indeed, he found him, in a poor hut, surrounded 
 by all his faithful Christians, who were well content 
 to die, provided they might do so in the very arms as 
 it were of their spiritual father ; but to all the well- 
 meant exhortations of the Portuguese, Xavier only 
 answered, " God forbid I should abandon the flock ■ 
 which He has given to my care. You hesitate to leave 
 me, thinking yourself bound to save your passengers at 
 all risks; and shall I be less careful for souls redeemed 
 by the precious blood of Jesus Christ X or what re- 
 proaches may I not expect from Him, if I forsake them 
 at a moment when they are in danger of losing their 
 lives, and yet worse, their faith? You say you love 
 me, and I believe you ; yet you almost seem to contra- 
 dict your words when you try to rob me of the mar- 
 tyr's crown, which I have come from the farthest 
 ends of the earth to seek. 1 ' The Father lifted his eyes 
 to heaven, and pronounced these words with so much 
 earnestness and devotion, that the other could not 
 refrain from tears. He returned to the ship, and told 
 his crew they might do as they liked, but for his own 
 part, he would live and die with the man of God. 
 There was not a man among them but instantly sub- 
 
14 JAPAN. 
 
 scribed to this resolution. The ship put back into har- 
 bour ; but almost before they could reach the land, the 
 king- had taken such vigorous measures with the rioters, 
 that peace and order were soon restored. 
 
 Foiled in this attempt, the bonzes next had re- 
 course to other measures 5 they petitioned the king- for 
 a public disputation with the stranger on their respec- 
 tive religions. It was granted ; and after a controversy 
 of five days, the king declared from his throne, with 
 the unanimous consent of the whole assembly, that the 
 religion of the stranger bonzes was more conformable 
 to truth, reason, and good sense, than that of their 
 opponents. These last retired, uttering a thousand im- 
 precations against the prince, who, on his part, utterly 
 regardless of their indignation, conducted Xavier, with 
 every demonstration of respect and esteem, and amid 
 the plaudits of the multitude, back to his abode. 
 
 The Portuguese were now ready to sail ; and 
 Francis, who had received letters requiring his presence 
 in the Indies, repaired to the palace to take leave of 
 the king-. He had often bravely and openly reproved 
 that monarch for the wickedness of his private life, and 
 now he could not part from him for ever without re- 
 newing his protest, and warning him of the danger he in- 
 curred by persisting in his vices. He spoke with the fer- 
 vent energy of a saint, and with the courage which only 
 a saintly spirit would have dared to use in a country 
 where life and death were at the bidding of the monarch, 
 and a word too much or too little might have set the 
 seal of martyrdom on his doom. He bade him remem- 
 ber, that if he were a king, he was likewise a man; that 
 if his subjects were accountable to him, he also was 
 accountable to God, who would judge him with as 
 much, oi- yet more severity than the meanest of man- 
 kind. He asked him what answer lie could give at 
 the last day, when lie should be reminded that Christ 
 had sent His ministers to him from the farthest ends 
 of the earth with overtures of peace, and that he had 
 rejected and scorned the proposition; and, in conclu- 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 15 
 
 sion, lie besought him, with words of fire flowing- from 
 the very inmost recesses of his burning heart, to listen 
 to the voice of his Creator speaking- through his lips; 
 and instead of stifling- the g-ood sentiments with which 
 he had been inspired, to change his life at once, and 
 become a Christian; adding-, that he should die content 
 if he could but hear on his return to the Indies that 
 the king- of Bong-o had been the first crowned head in 
 Japan upon which the baptismal waters of salvation 
 had been poured. The king- was much moved by this 
 discourse, which Francis pronounced with great ma- 
 jesty and devotion, ending- it by kissing- his majesty's 
 hand, and humbly thanking- him for all his favours. 
 
 On the 20th March, 1551, he sailed from Bong-o, 
 to which he never returned; but he was not on that 
 account unmindful of the dear converts he had left 
 behind him, and almost the last act of his life was the 
 despatching a fresh supply of missionaries, with Father 
 Balthazar Gago at their head, to the assistance of those 
 already labouring- in Japan. They arrived about eight 
 months after his own departure, and were received by 
 the king with the same kindness he had always shown 
 to Xavier himself; but for the present they made no 
 long stay in his dominions, proceeding at once to Aman- 
 guchi, where they were anxious to confer with Father 
 Torres on the affairs of their mission. One can con- 
 ceive the joy which these g;ood fathers felt on their 
 first meeting in the distant land to which they had 
 come, for no other end than the salvation of souls and 
 the glory of God, and with no other earthly hope than 
 to see both the one and the other promoted by their 
 labours. 
 
 The festival of Christmas being close at hand, they 
 resolved to celebrate it with all possible pomp and glad- 
 ness, adorning the chapel as well as they could, and 
 inviting all their converts to assist at the midnight 
 Mass, which was sung by Father Torres. The new 
 Christians were charmed with this most lovely feast, 
 the commemoration of God's tenderest gift of love to 
 
16 JAPAN. 
 
 man ; and the night was spent in deep devotion : while 
 on the following day they were all invited to dine with 
 the fathers, in token of the peace and charity which 
 reigned among 1 them. The college was thronged on 
 tne occasion; and, contrary to all the usages of Japan, 
 the rich and noble not only mixed indiscriminately with 
 their poorer brethren in the faith, but entering- into the 
 true spirit of the festival, chose to honour the poverty 
 in which Christ was born by waiting- on them at the 
 banquet. 
 
 These Christmas festivities being* concluded, the 
 fathers separated for their several missions, leaving* 
 Father Torres still at Amanguchi, which had been as- 
 signed to his superintendence ; but not long- after their 
 departure, one of the civil wars by which Japan is so 
 frequently convulsed broke out in that city : the streets 
 ran with the blood of the contending* factions ; and the 
 converts, fearful for the life of their pastor, besought 
 him to withdraw. For more than a month he resisted 
 their entreaties; yet he could not be unconscious that 
 while missionaries were so few in number, the life of 
 each one in particular was of inestimable value for the 
 success of their undertaking; so at last he consented 
 to retire, on condition of being recalled the instant that 
 peace should be re-established in the kingdom. That 
 night was spent in hearing the confessions of these fer- 
 vent converts ; and the next morning all, men, women, 
 and children, accompanied him several leagues out of 
 the city, receiving* his blessing in tears of gratitude and 
 sorrow before he took his final departure for Bongo. 
 
 It should be mentioned, however, that, previous to 
 these events, he had had the happiness of converting 
 two of the bonzes most renowned for learning and 
 wisdom in Japan. They had long been in the habit of 
 attending his public instructions, and had already con- 
 ceived an earnest admiration for the religion which he 
 preached, when one day hearing him mention St. Paul, 
 t!;ey asked some questions which induced him to give 
 them a slierht sketch of the conversion and labours of 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 17 
 
 the Apostle. Charmed with the account, and no longer 
 able to conceal his conviction, the most celebrated of 
 the two bonzes, instantly turning' round to the audi- 
 ence, exclaimed, u Behold, Japanese ! I also am a 
 Christian ! and as I have hitherto imitated a Paul by 
 my opposition to Jesus, so will I follow him henceforth 
 by preaching 1 to the heathens. And you, my friend," 
 he added, turning' to his companion, " come with me ; 
 and since together we have disseminated error, now 
 together let us teach the truth." Even as he was 
 speaking-, the grace from on high which had been poured 
 on his own heart filled to overflowing' the breast of his 
 companion. Together they knelt before Father Torres, 
 imploring baptism, and together they received it in sight 
 of that great multitude ; one being called Paul, and the 
 other Barnabas, in memory of the incident which had 
 thus led to their publicly declaring themselves Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 From that moment it became the dearest object of 
 their devotion to emulate the zeal and labours of their 
 namesakes; more especially he who had received the 
 name of Paul sought to copy in himself the life of the 
 Apostle : he fasted most rigorously, lay on the bare 
 g-round with a stone for his pillow, rose to pray at mid- 
 night, and at break of day went out into the villages 
 to preach. In this occupation he possessed an ad- 
 vantage even over the Jesuit fathers who directed his 
 labours : for he not only preached the faith as eloquently 
 as themselves, but having been a bonze, he could like- 
 wise, without fear of contradiction, lay bare the impo- 
 sitions of his former associates. It was probably for 
 this reason that he was sent with Father Balthazar, in 
 the year 1557, to preach before the king* of Firando ; 
 and among the thousands they converted during this 
 mission was a noble lord, a relative of that monarch, 
 whom the father baptised by the name of Anthony. 
 His wife and son followed his example ; and at a later 
 period all three distinguished themselves by their courage 
 and constancy in maintaining the faith. For the pre- 
 c 
 
18 JAPAN. 
 
 sent they employed themselves with diligent zeal in its 
 propagation. Anthony was governor of two islands 
 near Firando, where the missionaries prosecuted their 
 labours with such happy results, that in a short time 
 the entire population was converted, and three churches, 
 which were put in the charge of the most fervent of the 
 converts, were erected for their use. To these voluntary 
 sacristans was also assigned the religious teaching of the 
 children, who, under their care, soon became as pious 
 and well instructed as their elders. Nothing, indeed, 
 is more wonderful in the history of the Church of Japan 
 than the courage and devotion every where displayed 
 even by the youngest of its children. In the times of 
 persecution we shall frequently find them smiling amid 
 torments which, unsupported by Divine grace, the bravest 
 of men would have been unequal to endure. Of them 
 it may be truly said, that they were indeed prevented 
 by the grace of God, receiving the faith as readily as 
 they kept it steadily, and being often beforehand with 
 the missionaries themselves in their desire for instruc- 
 tion. During this very mission of Firando, a young 
 child came to seek baptism of Father Villela (who had 
 been sent in the place of the bonze Paul) ; it was pro- 
 mised him on condition of his learning a portion of the 
 Christian doctrine or Catechism. " But, father," he 
 answered, smiling, " I know it already." Upon exa- 
 mination this was found to be the case ; nor would he 
 leave the spot until the father (judging that God alone 
 could have breathed such earnestness into the heart of 
 a child) had granted his request. No sooner had the 
 baptismal waters touched his brow than the boy seemed 
 changed from an almost infant into an Apostle, preach- 
 ing the faith with such successful zeal in his own home, 
 that only a few days afterwards he brought his whole 
 family in triumph to be baptised like himself. 
 
 Unfortunately the labours incurred at Firando proved 
 too much for the strength of the converted Paul (Paul 
 the bonze, as he was usually called); and feeling his 
 last end approaching, with the consent of his superiors, 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 10 
 
 he retraced his steps to Bongo, that lie might die in. 
 the arms of Father Torres, his first instructor and 
 spiritual father in the faith. The good old man re- 
 ceived him with tears of tenderness and compassion; 
 and having- administered to him all the last rites of the 
 Church, he had the consolation of seeing* him die in 
 sentiments of most fervent devotion, the sweet names 
 of Jesus and Mary lingering- on his lips up to the very 
 last moment of his existence. 
 
 His departure from Firando was soon followed by 
 that of the fathers who had been his companions on 
 that mission. Father Balthazar went to preach at Fa- 
 cata ; and a commotion against the professors of the 
 Christian faith soon afterwards induced the king, not- 
 withstanding- the remonstrances of Prince Anthony, to 
 command the departure of Father Villela likewise. He 
 obeyed, exhorting the converts to patience and for- 
 bearance. But his submission by no means diminished 
 the persecution- for no sooner was it known that he 
 had left the city, than the bonzes rushed to the 
 churches, and encouraged by the favour or indifference 
 of the king, pulled down the altars, burnt the crosses, 
 tore the pictures into a thousand pieces, and did all in 
 their power either to provoke the Christians to revenge, 
 or to bring them back once more to the worship of 
 their idols. Their efforts were all in vain; not a single 
 convert yielded to the temptation, or forgot the lessons 
 of constancy, peace, and forgiveness which had been 
 inculcated by the fathers; and thus, by their heroic 
 firmness, they won for Firando the honour of giving the 
 first martyr to the Church of Japan. A cross had been 
 erected on a hill outside the city ; and there, since the 
 spoliation of their churches, they had been in the habit 
 of meeting for their public devotions. A Christian 
 slave who frecpiented these assemblies was threatened 
 by her master with death, if she persevered in the prac- 
 tice. She modestly answered, "that a good Christian 
 feared not death ; but that while she would ever be 
 careful of her duty to her earthly master, she could not, 
 
20 JAPAN. 
 
 therefore, forget that which was owing' to her God." 
 The next day she went out as "usual, and lie awaited 
 her return with a drawn sword in his hand. The gene- 
 rous Christian at once saw and accepted her doom, and 
 kneeling- quietly before him, he cut off her head at a 
 single blow. The Christians buried her with great so- 
 lemnity; and far from being' terrified by her fate, they 
 were never weary of thanking- God for the constancy 
 with which His servant had suffered, and of encourag'ing' 
 one another to follow her example. 
 
 Father Balthazar and his companions very narrowly 
 escaped a similar fate at Pacata. The bonzes drove 
 them with contumely from the city: but before they 
 could get clear of the country they fell into the hands 
 of some heathens, who robbed them of all they pos- 
 sessed, stripping- them even of the clothes which they 
 wore, and debating- in their very presence as to the 
 propriety of putting- them to death. Finally, they were 
 shut up in a miserable cave, where they were left with- 
 out food or light, until, by the help of some Christians, 
 they succeeded in escaping- to the kingdom of Bong-o. 
 There they were received in triumph and rejoicing-, 
 the inhabitants of the capital going forth to meet them, 
 with wine and fruit for their refreshment, and thanks, 
 deep and fervent, to Almighty God for the protection 
 which, in the hour of their utmost need, He had so 
 visibly accorded to His servants. 
 
 Troubles or persecutions had now reunited in Bong-o 
 the very same fathers who, only six years before, had 
 met at Amang-uchi with such a goodly prospect of suc- 
 cess before them ; but however deeph r they might feel 
 this untoward chang-e in their affairs, they had far too 
 much of the true missionary spirit in their bosoms to 
 lose either courage or perseverance. They were driven 
 back, but not defeated; delayed, but not disheartened; 
 and while waiting until a wider field should be again 
 opened to their exertions, they occupied themselves 
 with zeal and efficiency in promoting the cause of re- 
 ligion in the narrower vineyard feo which Providence 
 
CH. I.] JAPAN. 21 
 
 for the present had limited their labours. For this pur- 
 pose they dispersed .themselves throughout the cities 
 and villages of the kingdom of Bongo, every wh 
 preaching- and converting' thousands, braving alike the 
 anger of the bonzes and the prejudices of the people ; 
 and three noble hospitals, erected at this time in the 
 city of Funay, bear witness to the holy indiiference to 
 all personal considerations of safety with which, even- 
 in the darkest hour of defeat, they could press the most 
 unpalatable doctrines of the Christian religion upon the 
 minds of a proud and irritable nation. These hospitals 
 were destined for the reception of foundlings, of lepers. 
 and of the sick poor, — three classes of persons for whom 
 the Japanese had hitherto been taught, both by the 
 laws of their country and its religious institutions, to 
 entertain feelings not only of utter indifference, but of 
 profound contempt. No wonder, then, that the heathens 
 marvelled at a charity universal as the faith which had 
 called it into being; or that the king was filled with 
 still higher admiration when, declining the pecuniary 
 aid which he offered to themselves, the Jesuit Fathers 
 besought him to bestow it on these holy institutions ; 
 or that the converts, charmed at this unexpected mode 
 of exercising that tenderness which the very name of 
 Jesus had already generated in their bosoms, should 
 have applied themselves to the solace of the sick with 
 a sweetness- and devotion, which was perhaps almost a 
 higher panegyric on the religion of love they had em- 
 braced, than the most eloquent oration ever preached 
 among them in its honour by their spiritual fathers. 
 
22 JAPAN, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The bonzes of Frenoxama. Father Villela's voyage to M'x&ko. 
 Extraordinary conversion of two principal bonzes. Success at 
 Saccay. The Kumbo's levee. Nobunanga restores the Kumbo's 
 family at Miako, and destroys the bonzes of Frenoxama ; con- 
 spiracy against him defeated ; his magnificent tournament ; his 
 favourable disposition towards Christianity. 
 
 It will be remembered that Miako was alike the object 
 of the dearest aspirations of Francis ; and the place 
 where, to all human appearances, his efforts had met 
 with the most signal defeat. But it was not so in the 
 eyes of God. The seed which the Saint had sown, amid 
 opprobrium and insult, had fallen upon a hard soil ; it 
 lay dormant indeed for a time, but now it was about to 
 spring* up, and to yield fruit hundredfold to his succes- 
 sors in the harvest. 
 
 Very near the city lay the mountain of Frenoxama, 
 famous as the principal gathering-place of the bonzes, 
 and the residence of the Jaco, their spiritual pontiff. 
 At one time they are said to have possessed no fewer 
 than three thousand monasteries within its precincts; 
 but even before the arrival of the Jesuits in Japan, the 
 number had been gradually reduced to six hundred. 
 At the head of one of these houses was an old man of 
 great reputation for sanctity and learning; and vague ru- 
 mours reached him, slowly and by degrees, of a stranger 
 bonze who had preached a new doctrine in Miako and 
 its neighbourhood. The little that he heard made him 
 long to hear yet more; and filled with astonishment at 
 the sublime wisdom which he could discern even in 
 such fragments of Xavier's discourses as were repeated 
 to him by others, he wrote to Father Torres, beseech- 
 ing him to visit Frenoxama, and assuring him that 
 nothing but his age and infirmity prevented him from 
 
CH. II.] JAPAN. 23 
 
 proceeding- at once to Bongo, to be instructed in the 
 faith. The father would have gladly accepted this 
 unlooked-for invitation, but he also was too much 
 broken by years and labours to venture on such a jour- 
 ney ; he sent therefore in his stead an exposition of the 
 Christian doctrine in Japanese characters for the further 
 instruction of the bonze, and as soon afterwards as he 
 could, he despatched one of his brethren to complete 
 his conversion. 
 
 Father Villela was the Jesuit chosen for this mis- 
 sion; so he shaved his head and beard, — without which 
 disguise it would have been impossible to gain admit- 
 tance to any of the monasteries of the mountains, — and 
 then took shipping for Miako. Innumerable were the 
 disasters which he encountered on his way. Almost on 
 starting, he had refused to join the sailors in a super- 
 stitious offering to their gods : and from that moment 
 every possible misfortune that occurred, every foul 
 wind, or rising tempest, or unwelcome calm, was attri- 
 buted to the divine indignation against this impious 
 traveller. They certainly did what they could on their 
 own account to avenge the insulted feelings of their 
 idols ; for they retrenched his provisions, beat him like 
 a slave, abandoned him for ten days together on a de- 
 sert shore, exposed to every vicissitude of wind and 
 weather, and finally landed him far away from his des- 
 tination, which they left him to seek in the best way that 
 he could. After this, it was in vain that he sought a 
 passage onboard any of the remaining ships in the har- 
 bour. His ill fame had gone before him, and no one 
 would run the risk of his presence; nor was it until every 
 other vessel had put out to sea that he obtained a pas- 
 sage in a little bark, which, ill fitted as it was for so 
 long a voyage, succeeded in landing him safely twelve 
 leagues from Miako, on the 29th November, 1559. 
 
 His first thought was for the poor bonze who had 
 first invited him ; but when he reached the mountain, 
 he found to his inexpressible sorrow that the old man 
 was dead. The bonze, however, who had succeeded 
 
24 JAPAN, 
 
 him in his office, and probably in some of his opinions 
 also, gave a most consoling- account of his death ; for 
 to his latest breath he professed his belief in the mys- 
 teries Father Torres had unfolded to him by letter, de- 
 claring- that he renounced his idols, and died a Christian 
 in heart and soul. At the request of this successor, 
 Father Villela preached to the other bonzes of the 
 mountain; and then, going* straight to Miako, he 
 and his companion spent ten days in prayer, fasting-, 
 and mortification ; after which, having- as he hoped ob- 
 tained the blessing of Heaven on his labours, he took 
 his station in the market-place, holding- aloft the Cross 
 of Christ, and calling- upon all to come and hear the ex- 
 position of His Gospel. He was eloquent and learned, 
 as well as holy ; and it was soon universally acknow- 
 ledged that, in each of these particulars, the European 
 bonze far surpassed any of the native worthies of Fre- 
 noxama. All the learned, the idle, and the curious of 
 the nation flocked eagerly to hear him, while the de- 
 feated bonzes prepared to assail him with their usual 
 weapons of calumny and fraud. 
 
 It is curious to observe how these modern heathens 
 unconsciously imitated the heathens of ancient times, 
 by preferring precisely the same charges against the 
 Christian name as the Romans had. done some fifteen 
 hundred years before. Similarit} r of calumny surely 
 argues similarity in the doctrine that has called it forth ; 
 and when we find the Jesuit preachers of Japan accused 
 as devourers of men's flesh, suckers of blood, and mur- 
 derers of infants, it is impossible not to identify the Eu- 
 charistic Sacrifice at Rome in the first four centuries 
 with that of Japan in the sixteenth, as the common 
 source and cause of these horrible accusations. Neither 
 in the first case nor in the last could people listen to 
 them unm'oved ; the inhabitants of Miako soon shrank 
 from Father Villela as they would have shrunk from a 
 murderer and a monster ; and as nobody would any 
 longer give him a lodging, he and his companion were 
 obliged to take up their abode in a ruined shed. Here 
 
CH. II.J JAPAN. L'O 
 
 he lived for three months, in the depth of winter, with- 
 out bed or fire, exposed to all weathers, for the hut was 
 roofless ; feeding- on roots, sleeping' on the ground, in 
 constant peril of his life, steeped to the lips in suffering 
 and insult, — for the very children were never weary of 
 abusing- him as a man-eater ; yet, spite of all these out- 
 ward miseries, cling-ing- with supernatural tenacity to 
 the mission which Xavier himself had been compelled 
 to abandon, and resolved to shed his blood in Miako or 
 to win it to his Lord. 
 
 What could resist such courag-e and perseverance ? 
 His very life seemed a greater miracle than the relig-ion 
 that he preached. By degrees the people became con- 
 vinced of his innocence ; the nobles again flocked to 
 hear him ; a church was built, a residence bought, 
 and all seemed going- on to the utmost of his wishes, 
 when one day a rumour ran through the city that two 
 bonze? (they were magicians too, as well as bonzes) had 
 been deputed by the Kumbo to examine into the pre- 
 cepts of the Christian religion, and to decide whether 
 or not it was compatible with the safe government of 
 the kingdom. Impartiality was not to be expected 
 from such judges as these. The Christian converts 
 gave up all for lost; and at their recpiest Father Villela 
 withdrew a few leagues out of the city, in order to avoid 
 the insults which the bonzes, intoxicated by their hopes 
 of certain success, were already heaping on the pro- 
 fessor- of the Christian religion. Truly the ways of 
 God are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. 
 While the one party was thus glorying in its expected 
 triumph, and the other was weeping for its anticipated 
 defeat, Divine Providence led one of the future umpires 
 into the presence of an unlettered Christian (for such 
 he seems to have been) of the name of James. The 
 bonze questioned him concerning his religion : at first 
 James was unwilling to reply; but finding that his 
 silence was misinterpreted into the possession of secrets 
 which it was unlawful to betray, the generous Christian 
 spoke boldly out ; and following the inspiration that was 
 
26 i.wax. 
 
 given him, he poured forth a long- and eloquent oration 
 on the immortality of the soul, the punishment of the 
 wicked and reward of the good, — these being precisely 
 the doctrines most frequently denied by the anti-religion- 
 ists of the court. Contrary to every expectation, the 
 bonze listened to him with profound attention ; and no 
 sooner had he concluded, than he bade him fetch the 
 Jesuit father, adding, that if the scholar could speak 
 with such sublimity, what mighty things might he not 
 learn from the master! James lost not a moment in 
 going* to Saccay, where Father Villela then was ; but 
 when he had declared his mission in the full assembly of 
 the faithful, neither pastor nor people could believe in its 
 reality. Notwithstanding this incredulity, however, the 
 father would willingly have obeyed the summons, but 
 that the Christians positively forbade him* and one of 
 the Jesuit brothers was despatched in his stead. Three 
 days passed, and nothing was heard of Miako or the 
 messenger. The Christians foreboded evil; and an- 
 other was about to be despatched to discover his fate, 
 when he made his appearance with the joyful tidings 
 of a successful mission. According to the account he 
 brought, the bonze-umpires were only awaiting the 
 father's arrival to be received into the Church *. and as 
 they were among the most powerful lords of the court, 
 there was little doubt that very many others would 
 follow their example. When he had ceased speaking, the 
 assembled Christians lifted up their voices, weeping, and 
 thanking* God for that infinite power over the human 
 heart by which He had changed the fiercest enemies 
 of the Church into its most zealous defenders. As for 
 Father Villela, he lost not a moment in setting out for 
 Miako, where he found every thing just as Brother 
 Lmuence had described; and by the influence of the 
 converted bonzes, an imperial edict was afterwards 
 obtained for the toleration of the Christian faith, which 
 soon began to justify the anticipations of Francis, 
 and to diffuse itself rapidly over the adjoining king- 
 doms 
 
CH. II.] JAPAN. 27 
 
 Saccay had already received it previously to the 
 late troubles, Father Vil'lela having- been invited 
 thither by the governor of the town ; and that noble- 
 man, after having* been baptised himself, fitted up a 
 room as a church, where the father and his companion 
 preached twice a day, converting many of the inhabit- 
 ants, and even a portion of the garrison. The world 
 wondered to see these last exchange the license and 
 libertinism of a garrison-life for the modesty and devo- 
 tion of the Christian profession ; but they wondered yet 
 more at the precocious sanctity of the nobleman's chil- 
 dren. The boy was not fourteen when he received bap- 
 tism ; and being naturally of a gracious appearance, the 
 candour and modesty which from that moment beamed 
 on his brow made his beauty almost angelic ; while his 
 young heart was so replenished by the Holy Ghost, 
 that he already began to imitate in his life the virtues 
 and austerities of the saints. His sister Monica deserves^ 
 to be yet more particularly mentioned, as the first 
 maiden on the records of Japan who consecrated herself 
 to God in the holy state of virginity. He Himself had 
 inspired her with this desire at the instant of baptism; 
 and in order to obtain grace for a state which she knew 
 must expose her to the persecution of relations and ridi- 
 cule of friends, she began a practice from that moment 
 of fasting three times a week, and spending several 
 hours daily in meditation on the Passion of our Lord ; 
 and in this course she persevered for many years, until, 
 having obtained the consent of her parents, and the ap- 
 probation of the Jesuit father who at that time guided 
 her conscience, she joyfully cut off her hair, and bound 
 herself by vow to that holy state which, like the saints 
 of old, she had chosen from her childhood. 
 
 But we must return to Miako, where Father Villeia, 
 no longer hampered by the opposition of the govern- 
 ment, threw himself into the labours of the mission with 
 all the zeal of a true son of St. Ignatius. By day he 
 was always preaching and hearing confessions, without 
 intermission; while his nights were devoted to the trans- 
 
28 JAPAN. 
 
 lation of Catholic books into the Japanese language, of 
 which he was by this time become a perfect master. 
 Such unmitigated toil soon wrought upon him the effect 
 of years; and when at last Father Froes was sent to his 
 assistance, he wondered to see him, at the age of forty- 
 two, grey-haired and broken down like a man of four- 
 score. 
 
 The new missionary chanced to arrive about the 
 season when the great lords and princes of Japan pay 
 their yearly homage and tribute to the Kumbo, who 
 receives them as a divinity, cross-legged, and without 
 giving any sign of recognition, save when he conde- 
 scendingly waves his fan to any one whom he more 
 particularly desires to honour. 
 
 Father Villela was in the frequent habit of attend- 
 ing this levee ; and he now took with him Father Froes, 
 habited in surplice and stole, and wearing over these, 
 in honour of the occasion, a cloak of ' linsey woolsey' 
 edged with a golden fringe. Poor enough it must have 
 been, for all its tinsel trimmings; and yet it seems to 
 have particularly taken the fancy of the Kumbo; for after 
 they had left his presence, he sent a special messenger 
 to request another view of the father bonze's "line 
 cloak." " I know not," says the chronicler, with won- 
 derful naivete, "what there could have been in this 
 garment, — which I am credibly informed was made b} r 
 the father himself, and lined with old stuffs of divers 
 colours, — to make it worthy the attention of a prince in 
 possession of all that was beautiful and precious in Ja- 
 pan ; but as I cannot believe he could really admire a 
 patched and parti-coloured cloak, I must conclude it 
 was not the article itself, but the newness of the fashion, 
 which made him covet to see it." Possibly it was those 
 very patches and parti-colours which caused it to be 
 an object of curiosity to the most luxurious monarch in 
 Japan; but however this may have been, it was safely 
 returned after half an hour's examination, -and its owner 
 conducted to the mother of the Kumbo, whom he found 
 surrounded by her ladies in a kind of oratory adorned 
 
CH. II.] JAPAN. 29 
 
 with a statue of the god Amida, richly diademed, and 
 with a golden glory on his head. History does not 
 tell us whether she also took a fancy to the wonderful 
 cloak; hut at all events she received both the fathers 
 very graciously, offering- them cha in cups of precious 
 metal, and xacane, a kind of sweetmeat much prized 
 in Japan, which she condescendingly presented with her 
 own hands at the end of little sticks. 
 
 A very short time after this interview, the Ivumho 
 was deprived of his crown and life by one of those sud- 
 den revolutions which render the history of Japan so 
 changeful and perplexing ; and during- the anarchy 
 which followed, the fathers were banished, and compelled 
 to retire once more to Bongo. According- to the bar- 
 barous custom of the country, the Kumbo's family were 
 included in his destruction ; one only escaped the general 
 massacre, and he took refuge at the court ofNobunanga, 
 king of Boari. Nobunanga was brave, powerful, and 
 ambitious, — the best general and ablest politician in 
 Japan ; yet probably, in the first instance, it was rather 
 pity for an injured prince than any ulterior designs in 
 his own favour that induced him to take the part of 
 the royal exile, and to send an army under Yatadono, 
 the general of his forces, in pursuit of the rebels. Hav- 
 ing succeeded in raising' a considerable force, the latter 
 did not seek to avoid the contest; for whatever the people 
 might think of the murder of their monarch, they had 
 no wish to see their country in the hands of a stranger, 
 especially of one so ambitious and powerful as Nobu- 
 nanga was reported to be. For a considerable time the 
 two armies la}' encamped within sight of each other; 
 the Christian squadrons on either side being- plainly dis- 
 tinguished from the rest by the cross on their standards, 
 and the medals engraved with the name of Jesus on 
 their helmets. It was winter; and Christmas night find- 
 ing them in the midst of these warlike preparations, to 
 the infinite astonishment of the heathens, the Christian 
 warriors, by mutual consent, laid down their arms ; and 
 entering the town of Saccay, confessed and communi- 
 
30 JAPAX. 
 
 cated, and attended to all the religions services of the 
 Church ; after which they dined, friends and foes tog-e- 
 ther, in the house of Father Froes, and then separated 
 in peace and good-will to their several encampments. 
 
 The battle which ensued terminated in favour of 
 Nobunanga's forces; and with his accustomed despatch, 
 that monarch brought the new Kumbo to Miako, and in 
 full court expressed his gratitude to the general through 
 whose prowess he had been enabled to accomplish this 
 triumph. Upon this hint Vatadono spoke ; his brother 
 was about to become a Christian, he himself was one 
 in heart already, and for all the services he had ren- 
 dered Nobunanga, he only craved the recal of the Jesuit 
 fathers. A bonze present ventured to suggest the 
 danger of this measure; but Nobunanga hated the 
 bonzes, and despised their idols : he answered there- 
 fore with words of cutting scorn ; and by his express 
 permission Father Froes was speedily restored to his 
 forsaken church. Vatadono took him directly to visit 
 the king, whom they found on the drawbridge, super- 
 intending the new works of a palace he was building* 
 for the Kumbo. He received them most graciously, 
 making Father Froes cover his head on account of 
 the intense heat of the sun ; and after a conference of 
 two hours, during which he inveighed frequently and 
 fiercely against the wickedness and hypocrisy of the 
 bonzes, he gave him full permission to preach the 
 Gospel throughout the kingdom, and so dismissed him. 
 
 From that time the father made it a matter of 
 courtesy to visit occasionally at the palace; and on one 
 of these occasions Nobunanga caused him to dispute 
 publicly with a celebrated bonze on the immortality 
 of the soul, and expressed himself afterwards extremely 
 satisfied with the arguments of the father. This was 
 sufficient to excite the jealousy of his antagonist; and in 
 his thirst for vengeance, he not only obtained a license 
 from the Dairi to kill the father wherever he could find 
 him, but likewise contrived by secret intrigue so to 
 wind himself into Nobunanga's favour, that during a 
 
CH. II.] JAPAN. 31 
 
 temporary absence of that monarch from Miako, he 
 was created chief minister of the kingdom, with a 
 power scarcely inferior to that which had been assigned 
 to the Kumbo. Such an appointment would have been 
 fatal to the interests of religion ; and Vatadono advised 
 Father Froes to follow the king to his present abode, in 
 order to make a representation of the ill conduct of the 
 bonze. This advice was taken; and the father found 
 Nobunanga surrounded by his nobles : he instantly left 
 them, however, to give him a most kind reception; and 
 then, being inordinately vain of his riches and grandeur, 
 insisted on showing him all over his palace. There 
 was no refusing so gracious an offer ; so on they went, 
 through halls, chambers, galleries, cabinets, and offices, 
 " which," says the historian, " the very lords would 
 never have seen, had it not been for the father." No- 
 bunanga even introduced him without ceremony into 
 the apartments of his children, and of the ladies of his 
 household, discoursing all the while about the ill-man- 
 nered bonze, and affairs at Miako. After this vain- 
 glorious promenade, the father was invited to take 
 some refreshment ; a little dwarf was made to dance 
 for his amusement; and the king "whispering the 
 young prince," one of the royal children presented both 
 the stranger and his majesty with a cup of tea, the 
 highest honour that can be done to an inferior in Japan. 
 That night he remained by especial invitation at the 
 palace, and the next morning was dismissed with such 
 a letter to the Dairi as put an end to all the vindictive 
 projects of his foe, who being afterwards discovered in the 
 commission of enormous crimes, would certainly have 
 been condemned to die, had not his spiritual chief inter- 
 ceded in his favour. As it was, he was stripped of all 
 his dignities and possessions ; and from being one of the 
 richest, was reduced to the condition of the meanest in 
 Japan. 
 
 It is melancholy to relate, that Vatadono, the ori- 
 ginator and generous promoter of all these advan- 
 tages to the Church, was never personally enrolled 
 
32 
 
 JAPAN. 
 
 among her children. He was at his own fortress, and 
 actually under instruction for baptism, when his estates 
 were unhappily invaded by a neighbouring* lord ; and in 
 the engagement that ensued he was left dead on the 
 field. The Christians mourned for him as for their 
 father and protector; but most of all Father Froes was 
 inconsolable, because he had died without baptism ; 
 nevertheless he trusted that, for his good intentions, 
 and for the services he had so pre-eminently rendered 
 to religion, Almighty God in His goodness would ex- 
 tend His mercy to him. 
 
 Soon after his death, Nobunanga resolved to de- 
 stroy the bonzes of Frenoxama, who on every occa- 
 sion had endeavoured to thwart his plans and effect 
 his ruin; and for this purpose he marched an army 
 to the foot of their mountain. The terrified solita- 
 ries endeavoured to propitiate him with a large sum of 
 money, while at the same time they sought to rouse 
 his superstitious fears by representing the sanctity of 
 the spot he had invaded ; but Nobunanga, with all the 
 hard irony of his nature, sent them word "that he 
 needed not their money; and that as to the sanctity of 
 Frenoxama, if their gods were really the bonzes' friends, 
 they would doubtless protect them ; but if, on the con- 
 trary, they were foes, he himself would avenge their 
 quarrel." True to his word, the mountain was instantly 
 surrounded; troops of soldiers climbed its precipices, 
 and entering the monasteries, put all to fire and sword. 
 Some of the wretched bonzes cast themselves head- 
 long from the rocks; others took sanctuary in the 
 temple, or sought concealment in the caves and grottos. 
 But Nobunanga had taken his measures too surely to 
 allow a chance of escape. He burnt the temple, with 
 every other building on the mountain ; sent his men 
 into all its holes and caverns, as if he had been chasing 
 wild beasts; and finally succeeded so well in his scheme 
 of vengeance, that not one of those who dwelt on Fre- 
 noxama was left to tell the tale of its destruction. 
 Satisfied with this wholesale butchery, he then retired to 
 
CH. II.] JAPAN. 33 
 
 his own kingdom, leaving the Kumbo to play monarch 
 for a time at Miako; though he took care to reserve ail 
 the real authority of that office to himself. 
 
 But in spite of this assumed moderation, the vast 
 power he really possessed, and the magniiicence in 
 which he lived, excited the jealousy of the surrounding 
 princes, six of whom entered into a conspiracy against 
 him. Before they declared open war, however, they 
 were very anxious to obtain possession of a certain for- 
 tress, which, from its strength and position, would be 
 invaluable to their cause. This fortress was governed 
 by Justo Ucondono, who, with his father Dairi, was 
 a most fervent Christian; but after some negotiation, 
 he was unhappily persuaded into sending his children 
 to the court of the conspirators as hostages for the safe- 
 keeping of the castle. Nobunanga was much too far- 
 seeing a politician not to be soon aware of the con- 
 spiracy that was on foot : and having just the same 
 reasons for wishing to retain the castle which his ene- 
 mies had for desiring to gain it, lie sought to wrest it 
 from Justo Ucondono by force of arms. Failing in this, 
 he had recourse to strata gem. Knowing the governor 
 to be a true-hearted Christian, and one, therefore, who 
 would probably prefer the interests of religion to any 
 worldly advantage which could be offered to himself, 
 he sent him word, that if the fortress were not in- 
 stantly surrendered, he would kill the Jesuit fathers, 
 burn the churches, and root the very name of Christian 
 out of his dominions. It were vain to attempt a de- 
 scription of the agony of Justo in this terrible dilemma. 
 If he surrendered, his children would be sacrificed to 
 the rage of the conspirators ; if he held out, he knew 
 too well that Nobunanga also would be as good as his 
 word, and that all the Christians of the kingdom would 
 be involved in one common ruin through his means. 
 Thus torn to pieces by his fatherly tenderness on the 
 one side, and his anxieties for religion on the other, 
 he wrote to Father Organtin (who had. now succeeded 
 Father Froes on the mission), imploring -his advice. 
 
34 JAPAN. 
 
 That father recommended the matter earnestly to God; 
 and then going to the fortress, told him that as No- 
 bunaifga was, in fact, his sovereign, it was his duty to 
 obey his orders in preference to those of any other mon- 
 arch; but at the very mention of the. word obey, the 
 governor's wife and mother broke in upon the confer- 
 ence, and poured forth such bitter lamentations over 
 the probable fate of his children, that he became yet 
 more undecided than before; and at a late hour the 
 father took his leave, without having- succeeded in effect- 
 ing- any arrangement. After his departure, the wretched 
 man felt more miserable than ever; his love for his chil- 
 dren, the tears of his wife and mother, were rending- his 
 heart; but the ruin of religion, the massacre of the fa- 
 thers, and persecution of the Christians, which he fore- 
 saw would be the inevitable consequences of his present 
 conduct, were yet more terrible thoughts to bear. In 
 the agonising conflict which ensued, he retired to his 
 cabinet, fell on his knees, and after a short but fervent 
 prayer, rose like a second Abraham, prepared to sacrifice 
 all he held dearest in the world to the dictates of con- 
 science. That very night he was at the court of No- 
 bunanga, who received him with unexpected kindness; 
 but the father's heart was heavy for his children, and 
 no princely favour could give him comfort, until at 
 length he heard that his father, Dairi, had gone to the 
 court of the conspirators, and with infinite difficulty 
 had succeeded in obtaining- the surrender of the hos- 
 tages. He was finally restored to the government of 
 the fortress, the conspirators were defeated in open 
 battle, and two of their kingdoms being confiscated for 
 their treachery, were added to those already in No- 
 bunang-a's possession. 
 
 Some of these- kingdoms he now parcelled out to 
 his sons. He had long* since entirely set aside the poor 
 Kumbo, depriving him even of the shadow of greatness 
 which he had formerly possessed ; and then, either in- 
 toxicated by success, or with a view to the conciliation 
 of the other princes, he resolved upon giving a kind 
 
CH. II.] JAPAN. 35 
 
 of national tournament in honour of his victories. In 
 order to make it as magnificent as possible, a royal pro- 
 clamation forbade the attendance of any lord who was 
 unable to go to the most extravagant expenses in his 
 equipment ; and on their part, hoping to win the favour 
 of a monarch who was now considered invincible, the 
 princes vied with each other in the splendour of their 
 arrangements and the prodigality of their presents to 
 the royal donor of the i'ete. The general of the forces 
 made gifts to the amount of fifty thousand ducats; 
 another spent twenty thousand on his own equipment ; 
 a third made his appearance with fifty footmen dressed 
 in the most sumptuous silks of China; while Justo 
 Ucondono changed the colours worn by his train, and 
 the fashion of their garments, no less than seven times 
 in the course of the day. The procession was opened by 
 seven hundred cavaliers, with their attendants in rich 
 liveries ; then came Nobunanga's three sons, shining in 
 gold and jewels ; after them the monarch himself, sur- 
 rounded by innumerable officers and attendants, moimted 
 on a superb war-horse, and looking as if a shower of 
 precious stones had fallen on his garments. " It was 
 not difficult," says the chronicler, " to distinguish him 
 in that crowd ; for he showed himself by the majesty of 
 his presence and the lustre of his garments, china-silk 
 wrought in precious stones, with a scarf of inestimable 
 value cast across his shoulders; the housings, bridle, 
 and frontlet of his horse were all of silver and gold, the 
 reins were set in pearls, and the stirrups of pure gold; 
 a thousand cavaliers of the royal household followed, 
 and as soon as the king entered the lists the air was 
 rent with the acclamations of the multitude. Then the 
 gentlemen of the tournament ranged themselves in their 
 respective positions, running two and two and three and 
 three against each other. The royal princes greatly 
 distinguished themselves by their prowess; but to No- 
 bunanga, who ran last, the victory was awarded." 
 And the good old chronicler assures us he deserved it 
 for his dexterity, never for a moment seeming to sus- 
 
36 JAPAN. 
 
 pect the possibility of his owing" it to the adulations 
 and slavish fears of his subjects. 
 
 Nobunaj (in the year 1581) on the 
 
 st pinnacle of his ambition : the monarch of 
 thirty-two kingdoms, and by the power such enormous 
 possessions conferred, the virtual ruler of all. Feared 
 even more than he was hated, he did what he pleased ; 
 showered kingdoms undisputed on his children, mas- 
 sacred the bonzes without opposition wherever he could 
 find them ; and patronised the foreign preachers with- 
 out regarding 1 the murmurs of that heathen priesthood, 
 or the superstitious terrors of their fond adherents. 
 Yet, though he certainly entertained a strong feeling 
 in favour of the Christian religion, he never became a 
 Christian himself. Possibly ambition had blinded him 
 to desires of aught but material greatness ; or he hesi- 
 tated to exchange the voluptuous life of a heathen 
 .monarch for the stern morality of the Christian's creed; 
 or allowing both these circumstances their proper weight, 
 we shall probably find a third, and a far more insur- 
 mountable obstacle to his conversion, in the hard in- 
 credulity as to the honesty of any priesthood, which 
 his thorough knowledge of the hypocrisy of the bonzes 
 had rooted deeply in his heart. Any suspicion of the 
 motives of the preacher would of course cast a reflec- 
 tion on the religion which he preached; and that No- 
 bunanga, notwithstanding the honourable testimony 
 which he ever bore to the virtues of the fathers, could 
 never entirely divest himself of some doubt as to the 
 ruling principle of their conduct, the following anec- 
 dote will sufficiently prove. 
 
 Father Organtin had been paying him a visit at the 
 palace ; and after a private interview of considerable 
 duration, the king caused the great doors of the audi- 
 ence-chamber to be thrown open, exclaiming, so that 
 all those without might hear, " Prepare your wives 
 and children to receive the faith, for the arguments of 
 these foreign bonzes are irresistible." Then, turning 
 to Brother Laurence, the companion of the father, he 
 
CH. II.] JA PAX. 37 
 
 bade him prove to all assembled both the unity of God 
 and the fact of retribution after death. The brother 
 obeyed; and while the hearts of all present were thrill- 
 ing' beneath the torrent of eloquence which flowed from 
 his lips, Nobunanga took him by the hand, and once 
 more, and as if by an irresistible impulse, led him and 
 the father into his private apartments. There, far from 
 the curious eyes and ears of his courtiers, he conjured 
 them to say without reserve or falsehood whether they 
 really believed the things which they taught, adding* 
 that several bonzes who held in public the doctrines 
 upon which Brother Laurence had been discoursing-, 
 had acknowledged to him in private that they believed 
 in reality nothing* of the kind, merely fostering- such 
 fancies in the people under the idea of promoting* the 
 public welfare. Then Father Organtin, with a grave 
 and serious countenance befitting the solemnity of his 
 words, vowed by all he held sacred, by the might and 
 majesty of God Himself, that he had never preached 
 one iota of doctrine in Japan which he did not as firmly 
 believe to be true as if he had seen it with his own eyes; 
 and taking a geographical card which chanced to lie on 
 the table, he pointed out the distant land from whence 
 he had come, the many perils he had encountered on 
 the way, the hardships, the insults, and even dangers 
 in the midst of which he was daily living at Miako, 
 and insisted upon the folly and madness of which he 
 would have been guilty if he had endured all this, and 
 more, merely for the propagation of a ridicidous fable in 
 which he did not himself believe. 
 
 - The king listened with profound attention, and 
 when Father Organtin concluded by touching sweetly 
 and eloquently upon the certain hope of heaven which 
 cheered him on through his earthly labours, Xobunanga 
 could bear it no longer, but giving way to a burst of 
 uncontrollable feeling, he declared he was so enchanted 
 with the father's words, that he could hardly make up 
 his mind to allow his departure from the palace. That 
 one moment of hesitation was perhaps the turning-point 
 
38 JAPAN. 
 
 in his career. Grace had knocked loudly at Lis heart, 
 or why was he so unwilling 1 to allow the father to leave 
 him ? It had knocked ; but he would not open. Pride, 
 and the love of pleasure, and cold infidelity, with all 
 its train of ung-enerous suspicions, were in the citadel 
 before it ; and he would not drive them hence for its 
 admittance. The call was unheeded, the impulse 
 checked ; and sadly and reluctantly, but still without 
 an effort to retain him, he suffered his faithful monitor 
 to depart. So the die was cast, the g-ood inspiration 
 gone for ever; and Nobunang-a, for all his pride of in- 
 tellect and scorn of the bonzes' knavish superstitions, 
 closed his reig-n at last by a mandate compelling- his 
 people to such a monstrous act of gross idolatry, as 
 would have disgraced the rule of the least enlightened 
 of his ancestors. 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN 39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The castle of Ekandono. Sumitando, king of Omura ; his zeal 
 tempered with discretion. Father Torres goes to Vocoxiuva, and 
 settles there. Conversion of Sumitando and thirty nobles Con- 
 spiracy against him defeated. Jesuits settled at Nangasaki. 
 Conversion of the king of Arima. Christianity introduced into 
 Goto. The king's son converted. 
 
 When Francis and his companions took their depar- 
 ture from Kangoxima, to seek for a more hospitable 
 city as the theatre of their labours, chance led them 
 beneath the towers of a lonely fortress, seated on a steep 
 rock, and so entirely surrounded by a broad deep moat 
 as to be utterly inaccessible excepting* by a drawbridge. 
 Francis paused as he passed ; and no sooner was he 
 descried from the lofty roof, than a servant was des- 
 patched with a kind and courteous message from the go- 
 vernor of Ekandono (for this was the name of the castle), 
 and a request that he and his way-worn companions 
 would enter and take some refreshment. The true re- 
 freshment of Fiancis, like that of his Divine Master, 
 was "to do the will of Him who sent him, by making 
 perfect His work ;" and so well did he accomplish it on 
 this occasion, that before he left the fortress he had in- 
 structed and baptised the wife of its chieftain, together 
 with his eldest son and seventeen soldiers of the garri- 
 son. Among- these last was a venerable old man, whose 
 prudence and virtue had caused him to be respected 
 by the others as a father. To him Francis confided 
 the care of this unlooked-for little flock, giving* him for 
 their further- and more complete instruction a written 
 form of baptism, an abstract of our Saviour's life, an 
 exposition of the creed, the litanies and penitential 
 psalms, together with a table of Church festivals through- 
 out the year; all in the Japanese lang-uag-e. He like- 
 wise, with the consent of the governor, selected a spa- 
 
40 JAPAN. 
 
 cious apartment for the. religious exercises of the faith- 
 ful ; and bidding the old man assemble them there at 
 stated times, particularly on Fridays and Sundays, for 
 prayer and pious reading*, he gave them his last bless- 
 ing, and so departed. 
 
 Thirteen years passed slowly by, and no other mis- 
 sionary had as yet approached that solitary fortress, 
 to quicken the piety or renew the instruction which 
 these good neophytes had so scantily received. St. 
 Francis, their only father in the faith, was gone to his 
 reward, "exceeding great," in heaven; the other mis- 
 sionaries were sent perforce to the crowded cities and 
 more important kingdoms which demanded their aid; 
 but Father Torres had never forgotten these poor people 
 or their generous eagerness to receive the faith; and 
 at last, finding that he had no chance of being able to 
 spare a priest for the purpose, he sent one of the lay 
 brothers to visit them instead. This time there was no 
 need to wait until a servant came with an invitation to 
 enter. The Christians knew him at once to be of the 
 same calling as the holy man who years before, with his 
 saintly looks and words of fire, had won them so hap- 
 pily to the knowledge of the true God; eagerly and 
 joyfully therefore they crowded round him, making a 
 thousand inquiries after their dear father ; and when 
 they heard that he was dead, women and children, young 
 men and old, all together burst into tears. Brother 
 Almeida did what he could to console them, telling 
 them of the holy and happy death of St. Francis ; while 
 they on their part showed him the book of doctrine and 
 the discipline which he had left behind him, and which 
 they had ever preserved as most precious relics. 
 
 The old man who had been appointed as their direc- 
 tor was also dead; but Almeida soon discovered that 
 under his guidance they had not only preserved the fer- 
 vour and innocence of their conversion, but had likewise 
 preached the faith so effectually, both by word and ex- 
 ample, that during the two or three days he remained 
 among them no fewer than seventy of their brethren 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 41 
 
 solicited baptism at his hands. The son of the gover- 
 nor, who had been baptised by Xavier, was now placed at 
 their head, Almeida associating- with him in this charge 
 a young- Japanese of rare piety and attainments, and 
 afterwards the author of an abridgment of the Scriptures, 
 which proved of infinite utility in the young- Church of 
 Japan. He it was who, when the brother asked him, 
 " What he would do if the king' should command him 
 to abjure his religion?" made that answer, no less re- 
 markable for its fervent zeal than for the nice appre- 
 ciation of the requirements of the Christian law which 
 it so clearly implied : u My father, thus in such a case 
 would I reply to my king* : ' Do you wish, king ! 
 that I should be faithful and true to your service, 
 moderate, patient, and obedient, mindful of your inte- 
 rests and forgetful of my own, full of charity to my 
 neighbour, and of forbearance to all who injure or op- 
 pose me ? Command me, then, to be a Christian ; for 
 only from a Christian can such virtues reasonably be 
 expected.' " The noble sentiments expressed in this 
 speech were shared by every member of the garrison, 
 and the governor himself was the only man among 
 them who remained a heathen. Even he was an infidel 
 only in appearance; for he promised the brother that he 
 would become a Christian as soon as he could do so 
 without exciting- the displeasure of the king. We 
 know not whether the grace thus rashly rejected was 
 ever offered him again, Almeida having been obliged 
 to depart almost immediately afterwards, in conse- 
 quence of letters which Father Torres had received from 
 Sumitando, the king* of Omuro. 
 
 This prince was the son of the king of Arima ; but 
 his father had abdicated some time previously in favour 
 of his eldest son; he was himself called to the king- 
 dom of Omuro by the general consent of its nobles, their 
 last monarch having died without leaving- any legiti- 
 mate heir to the crown. Sumitando was generous, 
 noble-minded, and renowned for courage; and he had 
 reigned for some years, honoured and beloved by all 
 
42 JAPAN. 
 
 his subjects, when a Japanese book, written by Father 
 Villela in answer to the objections of the bonzes, 
 chanced to fall into his hands. The light of truth seems 
 to have flashed at once without a shadow of doubt 
 on that ingenuous mind, and it is impossible to read 
 his history without feeling* that he rose from this first 
 perusal of the Christian argument with a Arm and un- 
 compromising- resolution to become a Christian himself. 
 Prudence, however, was happily blended with that great 
 firmness of purpose which was the chief characteristic 
 of this prince. He knew the opposition which the 
 Christian preachers had every where met with from the 
 bonzes ; he knew how, in the first instance, they had 
 been compelled to leave Kangoxima, how afterwards 
 they had been imprisoned, and beaten, and barely es- 
 caped with their lives at Firando ; how the multitude 
 had been hounded on to their destruction at Miako ; 
 and how even at Bongo, under the very eye and smile 
 of the king himself, their liberties and lives had been 
 often imperilled by the hatred of the bonzes, who 
 raised tumult after tumult in order to drive them from 
 the city. He knew all this, and therefore he resolved 
 to pave the way for their peaceful reception in his own 
 dominions, by representing to his council the advantages 
 which would accrue to the nation from traffic with the 
 Portuguese ; and when he saw that they were perfectly 
 alive to the importance of this measure, lie wrote with 
 their consent to Father Torres, offering his countrymen 
 the port of Vocoxiuva as a convenient place for the 
 landing* of their goods ; while at the same time he 
 seized the opportunity of privately inviting him to send 
 some of his religious to settle in the same town. 
 
 This was the business upon which Almeida had 
 been recalled ; but, reflecting on the immense import- 
 ance which such an acquisition might prove to the in- 
 terests of religion, Father Torres afterwards resolved, 
 spite of his age and infirmities, to go to Vocoxiuva him- 
 self, which he accordingly did in the year 15G2. Under 
 his auspices a church was speedily erected ; and no 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 43 
 
 sooner was it known that a father was in the town, 
 than the Christians of Firando and the neighbouring* 
 \ingdoms flocked thither in crowds. Many of these 
 poor people had been more than a year without any 
 opportunity of attending* their religious duties, so that 
 Father Torres was occupied nig-ht and day in hearing* 
 their confessions * for they were so engrossed by these 
 pious exercises as almost to live in the church, regard- 
 less alike of sleep and of refreshment. Their fervour 
 was still further increased during the holy season of 
 Lent ; and on Good Friday they accompanied the 
 father, clothed in sackcloth, and with crowns of thorns 
 upon their heads, to erect a large cross upon a neigh- 
 bouring* mountain ; the men scourging themselves with 
 disciplines, and the women shedding tears of sorrow, as 
 they went along. Then with Easter came a change in 
 their devotions; and as they had hitherto endeavoured 
 to show their sorrow for sin, and their sympathy with 
 their Saviour by voluntary chastisement and penances, 
 so now, in the true spirit of the Church, they sought to 
 unite themselves to the joy of His resurrection by join- 
 ing* in the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, crowned 
 with flowers and clad in their richest and most costly 
 apparel. The Blessed Sacrament was carried by Father 
 Torres beneath a magnificent canopy* and as they 
 neared the port, and the ships of Portugal fired a royal 
 salute, the good old man burst into tears of joy, to 
 think how the cross of Christ was at length honoured, 
 and His name adored, amid a people who, for so many 
 ages, had set up the worst passions of the human heart 
 as the objects of their wildest worship and most pas- 
 sionate admiration. 
 
 Up to this time Sumitando seems to have taken no 
 notice of the fathers, in order probably that he might 
 avoid rousing the jealousy of the bonzes ; but he now 
 paid a visit to Vocoxiuva, and Father Torres immedi- 
 ately waited on him, begging him to dine at their house, 
 as the king of Bongo was occasionally in the habit of 
 doing*. The invitation was graciously accepted ; and the 
 
44 JAPAN. 
 
 Portuguese merchants, who were at that time in port, 
 not only helped the hospitality of the fathers by pre- 
 paring a mag-nificent feast, but by waiting- themselves 
 on his majesty as he sat at their table. This important 
 matter happily concluded, Father Torres conducted Su- 
 mitando to the church, where he was almost ravished 
 out of himself by a picture of the Virgin Mother and 
 her Divine Child, whose beauty exceeded any thing" 
 that he had ever before seen in his kingdom. 
 
 One of the brothers conversed with him for some 
 time on the subject of the Christian law: and Father 
 Torres presented him with a gilded fan which had been 
 brought from Miako, and upon which was painted the 
 sacred Name of Jesus, with a cross above and three 
 nails beneath. The king- earnestly desired to know the 
 meaning- of these cyphers ; and Brother Fernandes ex- 
 plained to him that it was the sacred Name of Jesus, 
 which Father Torres earnestly wished should be en- 
 graved on his majesty's heart, seeing- that it contained 
 many mysteries, the knowledg-e of which was needful 
 to salvation. Sumitando took his leave ; but in his an- 
 xiety to know more, he was ag-ain at the father's house 
 directly after supper ; and after giving- him a short ex- 
 planation of the creed, Brother Fernandes told him the 
 history of Constantine the Great, and of the cross which 
 appeared in the skies when he was about to give battle 
 to his enemies. A king- himself, and with the spirit of 
 a hero burning- in his bosom, the quick mind of Sumi- 
 tando seized at once upon this story and made it his 
 own. Before he left that night he had learned to make 
 the sig-n of the cross ; and the next morning- he sent a 
 nobleman to tell Father Torres that he would become a 
 Christian as soon as an heir was born to his crown; that 
 to do so before would only create disturbance, and 
 hinder the real progress of religion ; and therefore he 
 besoug-ht him to pray to God that his desire on this 
 head rnig-ht be speedily accomplished. In the meantime 
 he craved leave to have a cross embroidered on his royal 
 robes, in order to show that it was indeed engraven on 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 45 
 
 his heart : for so great was the reverence which he al- 
 ready felt for the sign of our redemption, that without 
 an express permission to that effect, he would not ven- 
 ture to carry it publicly about him. In order to esti- 
 mate to the full the heroism of this request, we must 
 bear in mind that the death of the cross was the worst 
 punishment of the meanest felons in Japan, just as it 
 had been in days of old among- the Romans. It was, 
 therefore, no trifling proof of sincerity in the converts, 
 that they could bear to see this emblem raised aloft 
 in their churches; but that a king, and one, too, so 
 lately instructed in the faith, and who had not yet re- 
 ceived the grace of baptism, should have reverenced it 
 so highly as to wish to bear it upon his person, betokens 
 an inward change such as nothing but a miracle of Di- 
 vine grace could have effected. So it was, however; 
 and having received a favourable answer from Father 
 Torres, he caused a splendid cross of gold to be made, 
 which he hung round his neck when he went to visit 
 his brother the king of Arinia, at whose court he spoke 
 so eloquently in favour of the true religion, that the 
 latter also resolved to become a Christian as soon as he 
 had terminated a war in which he was then eng-aged. 
 
 Some months after this, Sumitando once more made 
 his appearance at Vocoxiuva. and in a private interview 
 told Father Torres, that his queen having- given him 
 hopes of an heir to his crown, he was resolved to defer 
 his conversion no longer, and had therefore come with 
 thirty of his lords to ask for baptism at his hands. 
 When the good father heard this declaration, he could 
 not refrain from crying out with the aged Simeon, 
 " Now, Lord, Thou dost dismiss Thy servant according 
 to Thy word, in peace ;" and then, following up the idea 
 in his own words, he told the king, that since his life could 
 never again give him such another joy as he was feel- 
 ing at that moment, he would henceforth ask nothing 
 more of God, save that he might soon depart in peace ; 
 and for the rest, he earnestly prayed that his majesty 
 might prove in very deec? the Constantine of Japan, 
 
46 JAP AS. 
 
 rivalling that emperor henceforth in goodness, as he 
 had hitherto done in courage. The greater part of 
 that night Father Torres spent in tlie diligent instruc- 
 tion of the royal neophyte and his train ; and very 
 early on the next morning these latter repaired to the 
 church, where they found the father and his assistants 
 waiting to receive them. They first repeated the Credo 
 upon their knees ; then rising, they all extended their 
 arms, as it is the custom of the Japanese to pray, and 
 Father Torres gave them a short but earnest exhor- 
 tation ; after which he administered the sacrament of 
 Baptism to them, beginning with the king. To the 
 latter he gave the name of Bartholomew, by which 
 title we always henceforth find him distinguished in the 
 ecclesiastical annals of his kingdom. Then Sumitando, 
 rising from his knees, bore testimony to the sincerity 
 of those who had been baptised with him. Perhaps 
 he feared that the fact of their being his attendants 
 might cast suspicion on their motives in accompanying 
 him to the font ; and he therefore sought to anticipate 
 the calumny by pledging himself, with all the unsus- 
 pecting frankness of his nature, for their future fidelity 
 to their religious engagements, assuring Father Torres, 
 with an earnestness quite touching in an Eastern des- 
 pot, that though he knew they loved him, yet was he 
 very certain they would never have done for his sake 
 what they had that day done for the sake of God. 
 When he left the church on that memorable morning, 
 Sumitando, or Bartholomew, as we must henceforth 
 call him, was so filled with the joy and consolation of 
 the Holy Ghost, that he would willingly have passed 
 days and nights in conversing upon spiritual matters 
 with the father ; but war had been declared against 
 him as well as against his brother, and to his great 
 regret he was obliged to depart at once. 
 
 It was a sacred custom among the Japanese never 
 to set out on a military expedition without having first 
 demanded success of " Mantiffen/' the god of war in 
 Japanese mythology, a divinity usually represented as 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 47 
 
 wearing- a helmet, and having" a cock with open wings 
 by way of a crest. The troops were regularly drawn 
 up before its temple, and every soldier salaamed cere- 
 moniously, lowering 1 his arms and kissing- his standard 
 as a token of homage and adoration. Great then, we 
 are told, was the astonishment of all, when on the very 
 evening succeeding his baptism ; Bartholomew rode up 
 to the temple, and set his army in battle-array around 
 it. They did not know his thoughts ; they did not 
 know how the recollection of the heathenish idola- 
 tries which he had himself formerly perpetrated before 
 its walls, so filled him with indignation for the de- 
 frauded glory of the living God, that he came hither 
 only to trample and destroy. They knew it soon, how- 
 ever; for entering the temple with some of his officers, 
 he commanded the soldiers to break down the less 
 esteemed idols, while he himself, seizing on ManthTen, 
 hacked and hewed at it with his own sword, until he 
 had cut off its head. Arrived at the sent of war, he 
 took care to profess himself a Christian, by wearing a 
 white robe, upon which the Name of Jesus, a cross, and 
 three nails (the favourite devices of his fan), were em- 
 broidered in gold: and whenever his more warlike occu- 
 pations would allow it, he occupied himself in instruct- 
 ing any who asked it of him, from the highest officers 
 to the lowest soldier of the army, in the mysteries of 
 religion. These he afterwards sent for baptism to the 
 Jesuit fathers who visited the camp; and peace was 
 no sooner restored, than he set about destroying all the 
 idol temples in his dominions, without any regard to the 
 murmurs of the bonzes, whose anger he had formerly 
 been so anxious to deprecate. 
 
 Every day also he fed great numbers of the poor of 
 his dominions, waiting upon them himself with a cha- - 
 rity which showed how completely the sweet humility 
 of the Christian had superseded the proud fastidious- 
 ness of the princely heathen. A similar feeling' caused 
 him likewise always to lay down his sword and poniard 
 (a mark of deep submission among the Japanese,; when- 
 
48 JAPAN. 
 
 ever he went to visit Father Torres ; nor would he ever 
 accept of a seat set apart from the rest of the congre- 
 gation in church, refusing* it on the ground that " all 
 Christians as Christians were equal to himself;" so in- 
 tuitively had he seized upon that grand principle of the 
 Christian law, which teaches that all men are alike 
 in the sight of God, excepting so far as their own 
 actions may tend to raise or lower them in the scale. 
 The queen's aversion to the faith was for a long time 
 the only cloud upon his joy ; and when at length she 
 declared herself desirous of instruction, he was so en- 
 chanted, that in his warm-hearted zeal he went himself 
 to Father Torres to acquaint him with the change. 
 
 But not all the goodness and virtue of the king 
 could reconcile a portion of his subjects to the destruc- 
 tion of their idols, and the open scorn which he seemed 
 to take pleasure in exhibiting towards their superstitions. 
 On one occasion, when he was called upon to worship 
 the statue of his predecessor, as the kings of Omura 
 had always been in the habit of doing before him, he 
 was so indig-nant, that he dragged it from its costly 
 shrine and bade them cast it on the fire. Another 
 time he gave great offence by refusing to join in a su- 
 perstitious feast which his countrymen used to offer once 
 a year to their deceased relatives and friends. On the 
 eve of this festival, most of the citizens leave the town 
 and ride forth to the place where the dead are supposed 
 to assemble. There they courteously salute the spirits 
 of the departed, inviting them to come and take some 
 refreshment in the city; after which they return in 
 company, the living and the dead together ; the former 
 conversing all the way as if they really believed the 
 latter were in their presence. The procession is headed 
 by torches, and the city is illuminated in its honour; every 
 house is gaily lighted, and every table magnificently 
 spread, places being carefully left for the invisible guests ; 
 for the Japanese imagine the soul to be still sufficiently 
 material in its nature to be capable of deriving nourish- 
 ment from the more subtle portions of the food. After 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 49 
 
 dinner, they g*o and visit the tombs of those whom they 
 believe they have been entertaining- ; the night is spent 
 in running- to and fro throughout the city ; and the next 
 evening* the souls are reconducted in procession to the 
 place whence they came. The whole country is lighted 
 up, in order that they may not lose their way; and the 
 rooms where they are supposed to have been are care- 
 fully beaten with sticks, ostensibly to prevent any dull 
 spirit from linsrerin^ behind and so becoming embar- 
 rassed as to how to regain its companions, but aiso, it 
 would seem, from an unwillingness to meet face to face 
 a solitary ghost, at a moment when their courage was 
 unsupported by good cheer and numerous companions. 
 It is difficult to imagine a superstition more absurd in 
 itself, or more likely to be productive of riot and dis- 
 sipation in its mode of celebration ; but although, in 
 order to avoid any imputation of stinginess towards 
 the dead, Bartholomew fed in their stead some thou- 
 sands of the living poor of his dominions, he could not 
 escape the indignation which the bonzes (the only real 
 losers by his departure from the ancient customs,) every 
 where excited against him. 
 
 Rebellion is the natural consequence of such a state 
 of feeling in any kingdom constituted like that of Ja- 
 pan. Accordingly certain lords of the court conspired 
 to drive Bartholomew from the throne ; and in order to 
 conceal their real design, they feigned a desire of be- 
 coming Christians. The king, however, could not be 
 persuaded that men hitherto noted for their hatred of 
 religion should so suddenly be inspired with a desire to 
 embrace it ; and he warned Father Torres against re- 
 ceiving them without long trial and preparation. "We 
 are not told whether they ever went so far as really to 
 ask for baptism ; but while the affair was pending, they 
 arranged every thing for the intended rebellion, and the 
 king of Firando was engaged to make war on Arima, in 
 order to prevent that monarch from coming to the as- 
 sistance of his brother. Father Torres was destined to 
 be the first victim ; they therefore persuaded the king 
 
 E 
 
50 JAPAx\. 
 
 that lie ought to be invited to the approaching- baptism 
 of the queen, and Don Lewis, a Christian nobleman, 
 was sent to invite him. The feast of the Assumption 
 was close at hand when he arrived at Vocoxiuva, and 
 on that day Father Torres was to take his final vows 
 as a Jesuit. Being* far advanced in years, and very 
 anxious to set the seal on his religious profession before 
 he died, he resolved not to depart for Omura until after 
 he had done so. On the appointed day the church was 
 crowded both with natives and Portuguese to witness 
 the ceremony ; and when the venerable old man, whom 
 many among- them had seen g-row grey in the service of 
 the mission, fell on his knees before Father Froes, and 
 pronounced his vows with many tears, and all the fer- 
 vour of one who is accomplishing the last desires of his 
 heart, none could refrain from joining their tears with 
 his. Immediately afterwards Father Froes fell ill, 
 which caused the departure of Father Torres to be again 
 deferred. The conspirators in consequence became 
 alarmed: and Don Lewis being despatched once more 
 with a most urgent message, Father Torres resolved 
 to start the next morning. But while recommending' 
 his journey that day in the Mass to 'God, he felt a sud- 
 den desire to put it oil a third time ; and Lewis was 
 again obliged to depart without him. 
 
 The devout marvelled, and many Christians were 
 almost scandalized, thinking the old man was grown 
 weary of labour ; but the event showed that a higher 
 than human wisdom had thus arranged it ; for on his 
 way back, Lewis was attacked by the conspirators, who, 
 never doubting that Father Torres was in his com- 
 pany, cut the whole party to pieces without mercy, 
 and then marching back to Omura, openly unfurled 
 the standard of revolt. Bartholomew was besieged in 
 his own palace; but brave, strong, and full of confi- 
 dence in that God whose cause was identified with his 
 own, he cut his way sword in hand through his ene- 
 mies, and sought a temporary refuge in a forest near 
 the city. There he lay, concealed alike from friend 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 5J 
 
 and foe, and only cared for by a poor Chinese, who 
 brought him his daily food; but escaping* afterwards 
 to a fortress near Omura, he was instantly beleaguered 
 by the army of the rebels. The better to palliate their 
 conduct, they offered to lay down their arms if he 
 would renounce the u upstart religion" which he had 
 embraced, and forbid it for the future throughout his 
 dominions; but he boldly sent them word that they 
 might rob him of his kingdom, but not of his faith ; 
 for that he valued the Cross above the crown, the title 
 of Christian above that of king- ; nevertheless, that 
 they should not conquer without a struggle; for he 
 was resolved to hold out to the last, nothing- doubting* 
 but that in the end the God in whom ' he trusted 
 would grant him the victory over all his foes. 
 
 Such an answer was not likely to conciliate his 
 enemies, who now pushed the siege with redoubled 
 vigour. But Bartholomew held bravely out; he knew 
 not that any one was coming to his assistance, yet he 
 would certainly have died fighting on the ramparts, 
 rather than have yielded an inch of ground to his assail- 
 ants. Such was the state of affairs on both sides, when 
 one morning an army in battle-array was seen slowly 
 winding down the distant hills. For a time, there was 
 fear and hope and anxious questioning on either side 
 as to which party the advancing hosts were intended 
 to relieve. But Bartholomew at least was not long 
 in doubt: he knew the standard to be his father's. 
 The old man himself was coming to his aid ; for, 
 sternly as he hated the Christian creed, he would not 
 consent to see the crown torn from the brow of his 
 son by men whose pretended zeal for the religion of 
 their fathers was, as old Xengandono was well assured, 
 nothing but a mask for the concealment of their own 
 ambitious designs. Bartholomew, encouraged by his 
 father's approach, unfurled his standard emblazoned 
 with the Cross, and confidently promising vicorv to 
 his men beneath that all-conquering sign, rushed out 
 upon the foe. Xengandono fell upon them at the 
 
52 JAPAN. 
 
 same moment from behind ; and thus attacked both in 
 front and rear, the rebels soon fled in dismay, leaving 
 Bartholomew not only master of the field, but undis- 
 puted monarch of the kingdom of Omura. 
 
 The first use Bartholomew made of his recovered 
 authority was to reward the poor Chinese, who had 
 been faithful to him when his fortunes were at the 
 worst. His second was to settle the Jesuits at Nan- 
 gasaki; for recent events seem to have given him a 
 sort of insight into the future, and the facilities offered 
 by this seaport town for escape from Japan in case 
 of necessity, made it, he thought, a desirable residence 
 for the fathers. 
 
 Encouraged by his brother's example, the king of 
 Arima soon afterwards became a Christian; and he would 
 have proceeded to repress idolatry throughout his domi- 
 nions, had not God, whose designs are inscrutable, taken 
 him out of the world while yet in the first fervour and 
 innocence of his baptismal regeneration. He died in 
 sentiments of the deepest gratitude for the blessing he 
 had just received, and embracing the crucifix which 
 the bonzes vainly strove to tear from his dying' grasp. 
 Unfortunately his son was still a mere child ; and for 
 a time, at least, his infidel tutors compelled him both to 
 persecute Christianity and worship idols ; but at length, 
 his uncle Bartholomew interfering, he not only became 
 a most zealous Christian, but a munificent benefactor 
 to the religion he had embraced. This, however, did 
 not occur until many years after the death of his father; 
 for it was only in 1580 that he received baptism at the 
 hands of the visitor-general of the Japanese missions, 
 and in the same year he founded a college and semi- 
 nary in the city of Arima; the one for the Jesuit Fathers, 
 the other for the youthful nobility of the kingdom, 
 whose education he from that time forward placed 
 under their immediate superintendence. 
 
 With equal variations of fortune, though without 
 any such decided co-operation on the part of the court, 
 Christianity was about the same time introduced into 
 
CH. III.J JAPAN. 53 
 
 the kingdom of Goto. The king- himself was the first to 
 ask for missionaries from Father Torres, — a proceeding 
 by no means uncommon in the early annals of religion 
 in Japan; for the Christian law wrought such a change 
 for the better in the morals of the people (as the king* 
 of Satzuma, himself a heathen, explicitly declared in 
 his letter to the provincial), that many sovereigns, how- 
 ever unwilling* to submit themselves to its restraints, 
 were yet anxious enough to impose them on their 
 subjects. Father Torres happened to have no priest 
 at his immediate disposal at the moment when tins 
 request was made ; so he sent Almeida and Lewis, two 
 Jesuit brothers, instead. They arrived in the city of 
 Goto in the year 1566, and were most graciously re- 
 ceived at the palace; a couple of saloons were arranged 
 for their public audience, separated from each other 
 by a thin screen of tapestry, behind which the queen 
 and her ladies could see and hear without being seen ; 
 and there, in the presence of four hundred lords, with 
 the king himself seated on his throne, Lewis preached 
 against the plurality of gods with so much force and 
 eloquence, that the audience was mute with amaze- 
 ment, and the king* himself only ventured to express 
 his delight by slight gestures of the hand. "When 
 this brother had finished speaking, Almeida rose, and 
 offered to answer any objections that might be made 
 against the discourse; but the king, replying in the 
 name of all, declared with a burst of genuine emotion, 
 that " he believed in one God, Creator and Lord of all 
 things ;" and rising instantly from his throne, the as- 
 sembly was dissolved. Unfortunately, that very even- 
 ing the king fell ill ; and the bonzes every where pro- 
 claimed his illness to be a proof that their gods were 
 not stocks and stones, as the brothers had declared, 
 but on the contrary, the mighty dispensers of life and 
 death, who now inflicted this punishment on the king 
 for having lent a favourable ear to the blasphemers 
 of their power. They said that some counter-charm 
 was needed to undo the spell which the enchanters (for 
 
54 JAPAN. 
 
 such they termed the Jesuit brothers) had put upon the 
 monarch; so the sacred books of Xaca were brought 
 in grand procession from the temple, and a few pas- 
 sages, accompanied by sundry strange contortions of 
 the body, were read over the sick man. The brothers 
 awaited the event with considerable anxiety ; for if, on 
 the one hand, the king now recovered, it would be at- 
 tributed to the incantations of the bonzes, while if, on 
 the other, he died, the odium would infallibly be cast 
 upon them, and they would run no small risk of being 
 torn in pieces by the people, who w r ere passionately 
 attached to their sovereign. In this emergency they 
 had recourse to God, who alone could extricate them 
 from their dilemma; and while at prayer, Almeida 
 thought an interior voice spoke to his soul, bidding 
 him go himself and heal the king', putting all his 
 confidence in Heaven. He followed this suggestion, or 
 inspiration, call it which you will; and having some 
 knowledge of medicine from his long attendance in the 
 hospitals, went boldly to the palace and offered to- 
 prescribe. The patient w r as none the better for the 
 religious ceremonies of the bonzes ; so as a last re- 
 source Almeida's assistance was thankfully accepted, 
 and with such good success, that five days afterwards 
 recovery was complete. The queen and the young 
 prince went themselves to thank him for his services, 
 and the king* gave him leave to continue his sermons. 
 But the superstitious fear excited by the bonzes had 
 not yet subsided; and they took such good care to 
 keep it alive, that the people unanimously refused to 
 attend. Almeida therefore wished to depart ; but un- 
 willing to lose him, the king issued a proclamation, 
 not only commanding the attendance of his subjects, 
 but promising to assist himself with his eldest son at 
 the conferences of the Christian bonzes. This put 
 an effectual check to the panic : conversions followed 
 thick and fast upon the renewal of the sermons; and 
 the country was in a fair way of being converted alto- 
 gether, when the revolt of one of his vassals compelled 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 55 
 
 the king- to summon his troops to oppose him. Before 
 he took the field, lie wished the officers to swear fide- 
 lity after the idolatrous fashion of Japan ; that is to 
 say, by partaking- of wine which had been offered to 
 the idols, with heavy imprecations against any one 
 failing- in allegiance. The general-in-chief was himself 
 a Christian; and in order to comply with the custom, 
 and yet at the same time to save his conscience, he 
 said aloud on taking the cup, that he was only going' 
 to drink his majesty's health; but another less com- 
 promising spirit, knowing how many might be led 
 astray by such an example, sternly bade him beware 
 how he drank of that idolatrous mixture; and then 
 turning to the king, he frankly told him "that such 
 an oath was considered unlawful by the Christians; 
 but that if they were allowed to swear by the true 
 God and Lord of all things, they w r ould one and all 
 fight for him to the very last drop of their blood, and 
 neither fear nor interest should force them from their 
 allegiance." The king*, so far from being* offended by 
 this generous freedom of speech, instantly gave the 
 permission demanded, and the Christians took an oath 
 of fidelity in presence of Brother Almeida ; who then 
 gave to each a little picture of our Lord and His Bles- 
 sed Mother, exhorting them to do their duty bravely 
 and to call with confidence upon these holy names in 
 the hour of battle. The combat that soon afterwards 
 ensued was long and bloody ; but it ended in favour 
 of the king, who had good cause to cong*ratulate him- 
 self on his toleration towards Ins Christian soldiers; 
 since the very heathens were fain to confess, that to 
 their courage and conduct the glories of the day were 
 principally owing. 
 
 After this event the converts became more than ever 
 anxious to have a priest resident among them ; and in 
 compliance with their wishes, Father John Baptist de 
 Monti was sent to them. He baptised Prince Lewis, 
 the king's eldest son, and was soon afterwards succeeded 
 on the mission by Father Alexander Valignan, who re- 
 
66 JAPAN. 
 
 ceived into the Church the wife of that prince, with 
 seventeen of her ladies. The bonzes were furious at this 
 important accession to the ranks of a religion which 
 they detested • and they threatened the king" so openly 
 with rebellion, that although in the first instance he had 
 offered no opposition to his son, he no^v strongly urged 
 him either to renounce the faith altogether, or at least 
 to conceal it for a time j adding-, by way of inducement 
 to this course, that he might still remain a Christian at 
 heart, even while outwardly complying with the observ- 
 ances of the heathens. To this advice the young prince 
 nobly replied, "That much as he regretted being a 
 cause of annoyance or danger to his father, yet he 
 should be unworthy to be called his son, if, through any 
 baseness or want of courage, he dared not openly profess 
 what he inwardly believed ; and that as he would far 
 rather forfeit his kingdom than betray his faith, so he 
 was quite willing, if nothing less would content the 
 rebels, to give up both that and his life in the quar- 
 rel." The king admired this courage • but he had not 
 strength of mind to imitate it, and an edict was issued 
 commanding* all his subjects under pain of death to re- 
 turn to the worship of the idols. By this decided mea- 
 sure he hoped to appease the discontented bonzes, and 
 to shame his son into following* the example of the other 
 Christians, who would, he never doubted, gladly save 
 their lives at the expense of their religion. No sooner, 
 however, was the sentence published than the converts 
 flocked in crowds to the church, as a sort of public 
 protestation against any denial of their faith; and Don 
 Lewis himself took his station in the porch, thus en- 
 couraging them to martyrdom both by words and ex- 
 ample. Father Valignan preached to them from the 
 pulpit on the same subject ; and when he told tliem of 
 the martyrs of the primitive Church, their enthusiasm 
 was excited to such a pitch, that, as if with one voice, 
 all that mighty multitude exclaimed, " they would die 
 in the cause." The very children shared in the general 
 enthusiasm ■. and, dressed in their best apparel, they in- 
 
CH. III.] JAPAN. 57 
 
 sisted on remaining in the church, hoping- thus to attain 
 with their parents to the honours of martyrdom. One 
 little fellow clung' to his mother, crying', "Do not die 
 without me, for I also will go to heaven ;" and another 
 told Father Valignan, " that if the soldiers sought to 
 kill him first, he would place himself betwixt them and 
 the father, so that they could not pierce the one with- 
 out destroying the other." 
 
 When the king' heard that Don Lewis was with the 
 other Christians in the church, he was sorely puzzled ; 
 for he neither dared to put his former threats into exe- 
 cution, lest his own son should be involved in the mas- 
 sacre, nor yet could he allow Ins authority to be thus 
 set at defiance with impunity. He was still wavering 
 between the two extremes, when Father Valignan stood 
 at the foot of his throne to plead the Christians' cause, 
 and like the good shepherd of the gospel, to offer his 
 own life for that of his Hock. He told the king that if 
 the Christians indeed were criminal for adoring one true 
 God and one only, he must be much more guilty for 
 having induced them to do so ; and therefore he prayed 
 his majesty to be content with his life, and to spare the 
 blood of his own subjects and children, whom he would 
 always find the foremost to obey him, so long as no- 
 thing was demanded against God and their conscience. 
 The king was much touched by this generous proposal ; 
 but he had not the strong' mind of a Bartholomew 
 to decide for himself, and therefore laid the matter 
 before the council of his nobles. Happily they also 
 were struck with admiration at the magnanimity of the 
 father ; and courage being prized by them above all other 
 virtues, they unanimously resolved not to condemn a 
 man who had thus fearlessly offered to sacrifice his 
 life for the good of the people. No one was better 
 pleased with this decision than the king himself; and 
 thus encouraged by his nobles, and naturally inclined 
 to mercy, he rescinded his late edict against the Chris- 
 tians, and peace and joy were restored to the kingdom. 
 
 His son soon afterwards succeeded him on the 
 
58 JAPAN. 
 
 throne, and no further religious persecution took place 
 at Goto until after the death of that prince, an event 
 only too speedily followed by those imperial edicts 
 issued at Miako, beneath which the entire fabric of the 
 Christian Church, so recently given to Japan, was des- 
 tined to be then, and to this very hour, totally sub- 
 merged 
 
CH. IV. j JAPAN. 51) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Deaths of Fathers Torres and Villela. Father Cabral appointed 
 Superior of the Missions. In Omura Christianity is formally re- 
 cognised as the religion of the State. Conversion of the second 
 son and the nephew of the King of Bongo. The Queen threatens 
 to murder the Fathers. Conversion of the King, who abdicates 
 in fa%-our of his son. Conversion of the King of Arima. An 
 embassy to the Pope is determined upon. 
 
 While Christianity was making- gradual progress at 
 Miako under the protection of Nobunanga, and was yet 
 more rapidly becoming* the dominant religion in other 
 kingdoms of the country, beneath the faith or favour of 
 then respective nionarchs, each and all of these flourish- 
 ing missions were destined to sustain a heawy blow, in 
 the death of him to whom they might almost be said 
 to have owed then existence ; for if St. Francis Xavier 
 has won the title of its founder, surely Father Torres 
 may as emphatically be styled the nursing-father of 
 the young Church of Japan. During the twenty years 
 and upwards which he laboured in that country, he had 
 united the austere virtues of an anchorite with the 
 active labours of a missionary's life ; making his innu- 
 merable journeys bnrefoot, even in the depth of winter, 
 and never in all that length of years using any other 
 food than roots and herbs, or rice boiled in water. But 
 he who had baptised 30,000 infidels with his own hand, 
 who had founded fifty churches, besides many semina- 
 ries and colleges for the better dissemination of the 
 faith, had long been sinking beneath the labours which 
 these multifarious offices entailed, and the austerity of 
 life by which they had been accompanied. Year after 
 year he had written to Rome, imploring a successor in the 
 conduct of the missions ; and when at length, in 1570, 
 Father Cabral landed at Sequi in that capacity, the 
 
CO JAPAN. 
 
 saintly old man whom he superseded could only soy 
 again, as he had said before, on another but scarcely 
 to him more joyful occasion, " Now, Lord, Thou dost 
 dismiss Thy servant, according- to Thy word, in \>- 
 And in peace indeed he went, with the thoughts of the 
 thousands he had given to God to gild the memories of 
 the past, and shed a glowing 1 glory on his eternal 
 future ; at a moment, too, when the star of the Church 
 of Japan was at its brightest, and before one of its rays 
 had been quenched in that sea of blood in which ail its 
 beauty and its radiance were destined finally to set. 
 Heaven in its mercy took him to his rest while yet reli- 
 gion was tolerated at Miako, and more than tolerated, 
 even cherished and supported, by the monarch of Bongo 1 , 
 when Omura had almost declared itself Christian, and 
 Arima and Goto only awaited a favourable moment to 
 do the same. With the prospect before him of successes 
 such as these to crown the cause for which he had toiled 
 and suffered, lived and died, surely the prayer of his 
 heart must have been fulfilled, and his end must have 
 been full of peace. He was taken ill only a few weeks 
 after the arrival of his successor, — as if he had but waited 
 that event for the consummation of his own sacrifice ; 
 and having prepared himself by a general confession 
 for the reception of the last sacraments, he was carried 
 from the church, where the holy viaticum had been ad- 
 ministered, to his chamber, — there, amid the tears and 
 lamentations of his religious, to yield his pure soul to 
 God, on the 2d of October, 1570. He was buried at 
 Sequi, where he died, and his panegyric was preached 
 by Father Villela ; but perhaps his best eulogium may 
 be found in the fact, that of all the Jesuit College at 
 Goa, every one of whose members had offered them- 
 selves to accompany St. Francis, the Saint had singled out 
 Father Torres as the most worthy to share in the merits 
 and labours of the new mission of Japan. His death 
 had been preceded about four years by that of John Fer- 
 nandez, the brother chosen by St. Francis as his second 
 associate in the enterprise, and to whom the Japanese 
 
CH. IV.J JAPAN. 61 
 
 Clmrcli was nearly as much indebted for its early pro- 
 gress and prosperity; and it was followed a few months 
 afterwards by that of Father Villela, who had been re- 
 called from Japan only to expire in India, exhausted by 
 labour even more than by years. 
 
 Father Cabral commenced his mission as Superior 
 by a general visitation of the several churches, going- 
 first to Miako, and from thence to Mino where Nobun- 
 anga, then at the zenith of his g-reatness, received him 
 with courtesy and kindness. From Mino he passed 
 on to Facata, and from thence to Amanguchi, the 
 Christians of both places hailing- his arrival with ex- 
 ceeding* delight. The inhabitants of the latter city were 
 among- the first converts of St. Francis Xavier ; and 
 though it was full twenty years since they had even seen 
 a priest, they had preserved in all their original fresh- 
 ness and fervour the sentiments of religion they had 
 imbibed from their teacher. Being without any suit- 
 able building* as a public church, a private chapel had 
 been arranged in the house of one of the faithful, and 
 here they assembled every Sunday and holiday for 
 prayer, pious reading, and the collecting- of alms for the 
 relief of the poor ; and it is well worthy of observation, 
 that under God much of this happy state of things was 
 owing to the diligent exertions of a poor blind man, who, 
 as he earned his bread by playing- the flute from door 
 to door, had many opportunities hoth of kindling the 
 faith in hearts where as yet it had no existence, or of 
 rekindling* it in those where it had begun to grow cold. 
 Many others, poor like himself in all but charity and 
 faith, were associated with him in this labour of love ; 
 and as an instance of the wonderful blessing which at- 
 tended their efforts in the cause of religion, Father 
 Cabral tells us of a nobleman who came to be baptised 
 during this very visitation, and who frankly acknow- 
 ledged that he owed his conversion to the instructions 
 of a poor man, an itinerant vendor of combs and needles. 
 Matthew, for this was the name of the comb-selling 
 Christian, made it a point of conscience to discourse 
 
02 JAPAN. 
 
 upon religion in every house which lie visited with his 
 wares ; and this nobleman, happening- to hear him one 
 day speaking* on the subject, was so much struck by 
 the force of his reasoning*, that on his return home he 
 immediately cast all his idols into the fire. His friends 
 were greatly alarmed, for they thought he must be 
 mad 5 but, with a surer instinct, the bonzes guessed 
 that he was about to become a Christian, and made 
 their complaint to the governor of the city. Fortu- 
 nately the governor was no friend of the bonzes ; for 
 he only laughed at their indignation, and dismissed the 
 accused with a friendly admonition to do his duty by 
 the state, whatever might chance to be his religious 
 opinions. 
 
 Numbers of similar or still more extraordinary con- 
 versions occurred both before and during Father CabraPs 
 residence at Amanguchi; nor had he less cause to be 
 satisfied with the progress which religion was making 
 in the kingdom of Omura. It is true, indeed, that 
 Bartholomew had only just succeeded in quelling a 
 second insurrection, less formidable than the first, yet 
 having its origin in the same inveterate hatred of the 
 Christian religion ; but never for a moment had he 
 wavered in the faith, or lost trust in himself or con- 
 fidence in God. " Now we shall conquer," he exclaimed, 
 on hearing that the rebels had set fire to a church; 
 " for they make war upon God, not upon us. Now we 
 shall conquer." And so, indeed, it proved. The rebel- 
 lion was completely crushed ; and, more powerful than 
 ever, Bartholomew went publicly to meet Father Cabral, 
 and to conduct him in triumph to the capital of his 
 kingdom. A less resolute character might have been 
 deterred by these repeated insurrections from any fur- 
 ther prosecution of his designs ; but Bartholomew only 
 found in them fresh motives for promoting the inter 
 Almighty God, to whose especial interposition he attri- 
 buted his victories. No sooner, therefore, was he rein- 
 stated on his throne, than, assembling the great council 
 of the nation, he told them without any circumlocution 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 63 
 
 that it was his will that ail the idols in his dominions 
 should be destroyed ; for that lie should be the most 
 ungrateful of creatures, if he any longer permitted such 
 an insult to be offered to God, after the signal protec- 
 tion lie had just received at His hands. The princes 
 readily agreed to the proposal ; and thus Omura was 
 the first kingdom in Japan where Christianity was for- 
 mally recognised as the religion of the state, and ido- 
 latry altogether abolished. A magnificent church was 
 built in memory of this event : and after Father Cabral 
 had baptised the queen and the remaining- members of 
 the royal family, he returned to Bongo, whither he 
 had been recalled by a special messenger from court. 
 
 Thoug'h the kins- of that country had hitherto al- 
 ways refused to become a Christian; though he had 
 studiously absented himself from the public instructions 
 of the fathers, and had even resolutely applied himself 
 to the study of the different sects among' the bonzes (in 
 hopes, as he afterwards acknowledged, of finding* suni- 
 cient reason among- them to preclude the necessity of 
 changing- his creed), — yet he had never ceased to favour 
 the progress of the Christian religion throughout his 
 dominions, nor withdrawn that protection from the mis- 
 sionaries which, from his friendship for St. Francis, he 
 had accorded in the beginning. Even when lie himself, 
 during the earlier part of their residence at Funay, was 
 driven from thence by an insurrection of his lords, 
 and the fathers who remained in the city did so at the 
 peril of their lives, being openly threatened with death 
 by the bonzes of the victorious party, yet he did not 
 forsake them. If he could no longer protect them, at 
 least he did what he could to show his feelings in their 
 favour by repeated messages of sympathy and kindness; 
 and no sooner had he regained possession of the city, 
 than, utterly regardless of popular opinion, he went at 
 once to the Jesuit College, and invited himself to cele- 
 brate his triumph by dining with the fathers. The 
 result of such an intimacy might easily have been fore- 
 seen : though he himself had not yet resolved upon 
 
64 JAPAN. 
 
 changing 1 his religion, others of his family were more 
 open to conviction; and when, according- to the custom 
 of the country, he wished his second son to hecome a 
 honze, the young- prince indignantly refused, alleging 
 that he was a Christian in heart already, and would 
 sooner die than be made a partaker in the hypocrisy of 
 that idolatrous priesthood. The queen, whose hatred 
 of every thing- Christian had won her the sobriquet of 
 Jezabel the second, was furious ; but the king was far 
 less angry than perplexed. He had already built a mag- 
 nificent monastery, and set aside vast revenues for the 
 maintenance of the future bonze ; and more than all, 
 he felt that his people would look to him for the enforce- 
 ment of the law. Yet he loved his son most passion- 
 ately ; and having the highest opinion of the Christian 
 code of morality, he was satisfied that should the boy 
 become a Christian, he would in all probability be far 
 more submissive to his elder brother (the state reason 
 for making him a bonze) than if compelled against his 
 will to enter the priesthood of a religion in which he no 
 longer believed. Accordingly, Father Cabral was re- 
 called from Omura, the young- prince was intrusted to 
 his care for instruction, and not very long after he 
 was publicly baptised in the church at Vosuqui, the 
 king his father being present at the ceremony, and re- 
 maining uncovered and on his knees during the whole 
 of the service ; after which he celebrated the event the 
 same evening by a magnificent banquet. But the 
 queen was implacable. She sent her son word that 
 he must no longer consider himself as her child, forbid- 
 ding him -even to appear in her presence ; but Sebastian 
 (for this was the name the young prince had taken in 
 baptism) only answered, " That he was indeed grieved 
 at her resolution; but that he trusted the Mother of 
 God would henceforth supply her place, so that he 
 should certainly be no loser by the change." 
 
 The conversion of one so young in years and so 
 high in rank made a deep impression, and was speedily 
 followed by many other conversions, both among* the 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 65 
 
 native nobility and the royal princes of the adjoining' 
 kingdoms. ."lost of the former were men of Sebas- 
 tian's own age, and the city was soon edified by the 
 visible change which took place in their manners. The 
 better to keep I fervour, the 
 
 fath m into a congregation 
 
 under the na o Lady. Th 
 
 met eve:-". rs ; 
 
 after which th : debating society, dis- 
 
 puting for and against the Christian religion, and using 
 for : -e ail the objections and sophistries of the 
 
 bonzes. By this means they soon acquired so great a 
 facility in uments of their opponents, 
 
 that it was. said r. • latter would enter the lists 
 
 against them : and when the king's eldest son put this 
 to the test by setting- several of the most learned of the 
 bonzes to argue with his own Christian page, he was 
 obliged to confess, though a heathen himself, that the 
 latter had won the day. 
 
 queen's vexation at the conversion of her son 
 was greatly increased by that of her adopted nephew, 
 which followed almost immediately afterwards. The 
 son of a nobleman at M .' y° ViTl ~ man na d early 
 
 been adopted by her brother Chicata, and in this posi- 
 tion had so entirely won the esteem both of the queen 
 and her husband, that they were on the point of giving 
 him one of their daughters in marriage, when he re- 
 vealed his intention of becoming* a Christian. At first 
 Chicata made no opposition; but urged at length by 
 the fury of the queen, he took advantage of the ab- 
 sence of the king- on a hunting* expedition to send for 
 the youth, and gave him his choice, — either to renounce 
 Christianity, or to return to his private station at Miako. 
 Most perfect was the spirit of self-sacrifice in which this 
 worldly-minded proposition was met by his adopted son. 
 " He was grieved," he said, " at the sorrow of his father. 
 Fear of this v had too long withheld him from 
 
 an earlier declaration of his feelings. But now, if it 
 needs must be, he was ready to renounce all ; — the af- 
 
 F 
 
66 JAPAN. 
 
 fection of liis father, a marriage and position which 
 princes might have envied, and to return to the poor 
 and lowly lot from whence he had been taken ; for no 
 worldly happiness or advantage could be put in compe- 
 tition with his duty to his God." But having* said thus 
 much in vindication of his conscience, Chicatora im- 
 plored his father in the most tender and affectionate 
 terms not to chive him from his side, hut rather, like 
 a true parent, to prefer his eternal interests to those 
 which were merely temporal, by asserting- his right to 
 choose for himself in a matter which related solely to 
 the former ; and he concluded this touching- address by 
 a solemn promise that on all other subjects his father 
 should receive from him even more than the duty and 
 obedience of a child. Chicata was moved by these 
 generous sentiments; but his sister leaving- him little 
 choice, Chicatora was sent to prison, and carefully ex- 
 cluded from all communication with the Jesuit fathers. 
 Notwithstanding" their vigilance, however, Father Cabral 
 contrived to send him a letter, exhorting- him to perse- 
 verance ; and by the same means Chicatora conveyed 
 him an answer, expressive of his sorrowful anxiety lest 
 he should die, or be put to death, without having- had 
 the happiness of being- baptised. For a while he was 
 left in prison • but afterwards the queen and her brother 
 recalled him to court, where they did their utmost to 
 compensate by indulgence for the ill-treatment he had 
 hitherto received at their hands ; nay, in the hope of 
 shaking his resolution, the} r , with the most cruel inge- 
 nuity, tried each opposite method in turn ; one while 
 tempting him to despair by renewed severities, at ano- 
 ther endeavouring to seduce him from his fidelity by 
 the allurements of criminal pleasure. 
 
 One day, while thus at liberty and exposed to 
 the last and far more dangerous temptation — that of 
 sensual indulgence, he rushed to Father Cabral, con- 
 juring him by all that was sacred no longer to defer 
 his baptism ; and the father, feeling indeed that in such 
 a perilous position he would not be justified in refusing 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 67 
 
 a grace which was so much needed and so urgently 
 asked for, at once complied with his request. It was 
 the eve of St. Mark, but Chicatora was baptised by 
 the name of Simon, which in Chinese signifies "in- 
 structed by a master." In the excess of his joy, he 
 transgressed the bounds of prudence by appearing* at 
 court immediately afterwards with a rosary, as a kind 
 of profession of faith, suspended from his neck. The 
 queen took fire at this open defiance of her will ; Simon 
 was once more sent to prison ; and Chicata went to 
 Father Cabral, imploring- him to persuade the boy to 
 conceal his religion for a while, promising-, in his own 
 name and in that of the queen, all sorts of favours in case 
 of compliance, and threatening- death to the fathers and 
 destruction to their churches if they refused. To all this 
 Father Cabral answered, " That he would rather shed 
 the last drop of his blood, and see every Christian 
 church in the kingdom reduced to ashes, than counsel 
 or sanction so impious a treachery ; that as to being 
 allured by his promises or moved by his threats, the 
 Jesuits had not left the riches and pleasures of Europe 
 to seek those of Japan ; voluntary poverty was the 
 portion which they had chosen for themselves upon 
 earth: their only real treasure was in heaven; and 
 should he have a mind to put them in possession of 
 that, he need not be at the trouble of assembling- his 
 troops, for that the fathers would always be found at 
 home, both ready and willing- to die the moment he 
 signified his wishes to that effect." 
 
 Chicata retired in a g-reat fury ; and, fully believing 
 that he meant to put his threats into execution, Father 
 Cabral assembled his brethren in church, there solemnly 
 to offer to God the sacrifice of their lives whenever He 
 should choose to demand it at their hands. His an- 
 ticipation proved correct. Chicata almost immediately 
 afterwards ordered out his troops, giving- them an es- 
 pecial warrant for the massacre of the fathers; but 
 rumours of his proceedings had already gone through 
 the city, and the church was speedily surrounded by a 
 
68 JAPAN. 
 
 body of Christian cavaliers, who came armed to the 
 teeth to defend or to die with their spiritual fathers. 
 The Jesuits would willingly have declined their as- 
 sistance; but to every remonstrance the high-spirited 
 soldiers only replied, "that they were come, not to rob 
 the fathers of the crown of martyrdom, but to share it 
 with them ; that the king- not being- there to decide be- 
 tween them, and Chicata being* a mere private indivi- 
 dual like themselves, they neither could nor would allow 
 him to insult with impunity God and His Church." 
 
 It was vain to oppose them, so they were suffered 
 to remain at the post which they had chosen; but by 
 this time the same enthusiasm had spread far and wide 
 throughout the city, and at an early hour of the night 
 the watchers in the church were again disturbed by a 
 loud knocking" at the gates. No one doubted but that 
 the enemy were come. The cavaliers sought their 
 arms ; the fathers prostrated themselves before the 
 altnr; but on opening the doors, the disturbers proved to 
 be only a number of ladies of the highest rank, who had 
 come as Christians to die with their fathers, brothers, 
 and husbands in the church. Such an action would 
 have been a wonderful display of courage and fidelity 
 any where ; but in Japan, where women are brought up 
 in all the jealousy of eastern seclusion, thus to come in 
 the darkness of the night, without attendants, and 
 through unfrequented streets, in quest of martyrdom, 
 showed a courage as marvellous to the heathen as it 
 was edifying to the Christian, and which afterwards 
 proved abundantly fruitful in the conversion of the 
 former. Of course the fathers did what they could to 
 induce them to go home; but with no better success 
 than they had had with their lords. Sebastian, how- 
 ever, the king's son, they at last succeeded in persuad- 
 ing to retire ; though he did so only with the intention 
 of returning the instant the church should be attacked. 
 
 It is not told us whether Chicata repented of his 
 hasty resolution of vengeance, or whether he was afraid 
 of putting it into execution after these public demonstra- 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 69 
 
 tions; but it is certain that the assault which he con- 
 templated never took place ; and while vainly waiting" 
 for it, Sebastian contrived to have an interview with 
 Simon. They met by appointment at a place outside 
 the city, the royal prince coming- to the interview with 
 a train of noble cavaliers, the poor prisoner attended 
 only by a couple of pages. They had long* been united 
 by the closest bonds of friendship ; and the meeting* of 
 David and Jonathan, those matchless friends of Scrip- 
 ture, could hardly have been more affecting*. Simon, 
 who was still almost a boy, wept as he mourned over 
 the severity of his father, and implored his friend, by 
 the bonds of religion, the ties of friendship, and every 
 thing* he held sacred, to assist him in his miserable con- 
 dition. Sebastian promised all; and then they parted, 
 the one to his voluntary prison, and the other to the 
 palace. There, with the lament of Simon yet ringing- 
 in his ears, Sebastian spoke so openly and vehemently 
 of the cruelty practised on his friend, that, between 
 vexation and alarm, the queen and her brother des- 
 patched a messenger to the kin<r, accusing- the fathers 
 of having* induced the people to conspire ag-ainst him, 
 and to set Sebastian on the throne in his stead. 
 
 The young- prince hearing' of this, thought it neces- 
 sary to go to his father, both for his own justification 
 and that of the Jesuits ; on his arrival, however, at the 
 king-'s hunting-ground, the latter assured him that all 
 explanation was unnecessary, since he knew too well 
 the g-ood conduct of the fathers to believe any thing- 
 evil against them. On the other hand, the only answer 
 which he vouchsafed to the messeng-er of his queen was 
 couched in the shape of a stern rebuke to her brother, 
 whom he commanded instantly to release Simon from 
 prison and restore him to the palace; for that, if Chi- 
 cata rejected him as a child, he, the king*, would still 
 continue to acknowledg-e him as a nephew and a son. 
 
 The intelligence conveyed by this double embassy 
 caused the king- to return almost immediately to Vosu- 
 qui, for the purpose of enforcing* obedience to his orders; 
 
70 JAPAN. 
 
 but the queen still persisted in refusing* her consent to 
 the marriage of Simon with her daughter ; and weary 
 of her obstinacy, the king, who was at length resolved 
 to have his own way in the matter, sent Simon for 
 present protection to the Jesuits at Funay, and then pro- 
 ceeded to settle all his domestic disputes by means of a 
 divorce. 
 
 Our readers are already aware that this was no 
 very difficult affair in Japan. His majesty had merely 
 to choose another wife, and then send a command to 
 the ex-queen to depart from the palace. So secretly 
 had the whole affair been managed, that she was ut- 
 terly ignorant of the second marriage of her spouse, 
 until drums and trumpets announced it to the city ; and 
 she was rejoicing in her triumph at having expelled 
 Simon from the court, when the royal messenger ar- 
 rived with the tidings of her own disgrace. 
 
 From that moment peace was restored both to the 
 king and the kingdom, and the progress of the former 
 towards the Christian religion became marked and de- 
 cided. The new queen and her daughter, who was 
 espoused to Sebastian, were already catechumens ; and 
 by his majesty's desire, Father Cabral attended every 
 day at the palace to give them further instructions. 
 He himself was always present at these lectures; and 
 it was soon observed, first, that he had begun to fast 
 every Friday and Saturday ; then, that he said the 
 rosary every day ; and at last, that certain little idols, 
 towards which -he had always hitherto testified the ut- 
 most devotion, had been destroyed by his orders. Still 
 his ultimate intentions remained untold, until one day, 
 calling one of the Jesuit brothers into his chamber, 
 he declared that, if he had not hitherto become a Chris- 
 tian, it was not from want of willingness or of devo- 
 tion, but that he had thought it his duty first to search 
 into all the sects of his native land, to discover if aught 
 like the truth was to be found among them ; that the 
 deeper he had penetrated into their mysteries, the less had 
 he found to content the conscience or satisfy the soul ; 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 71 
 
 that this seemed to him to he the prerogative of the Ca- 
 tholic Church alone, and therefore he was resolved to he- 
 come a Christian; but in order to do so without disturb- 
 ing- the peace of the kingdom, he had determined to ab- 
 dicate in favour of his eldest son. Then, as if this open 
 declaration had all at once kindled the desires of his 
 soul beyond the power of restraint, be bade the bro- 
 ther hasten Father Cabral to the palace; and no sooner 
 had the latter made his appearance than, standing- hum- 
 bly in the midst of his court, he demanded baptism at 
 his hands, adding that he would take the name of 
 Francis, since he felt sure he owed to the prayers of 
 that departed Saint his present anxiety to become a 
 Christian. Father Cabral warned him, that when once 
 he was received into the bosom of the Church he 
 would no longer be permitted the liberty of divorce ; 
 to which the king only replied by taking- an oath on 
 the spot, that he would remain for ever faithful to her 
 whom he had lately espoused. He was then solemnly 
 baptised by the name of Francis,' on the 28th of August, 
 1578, in the fiftieth year of his age. And so great was 
 the change which instantaneously took place in his soul, 
 that he, who for twenty-seven years had been himself 
 constantly vibrating between truth and error, now, as 
 he left the church, could not refrain from tears at the 
 sight of his idolatrous subjects, nor avoid expressing 
 a somewhat naive astonishment that any one could hear 
 of the true God, and not hasten at once to worship and 
 adore Him. 
 
 In his eagerness to cultivate to the utmost the talent 
 which he had received, he lost no time in resigning the 
 government into the hands of his son, and in hastening 
 the preparations for his own departure from Bongo. 
 He had chosen himself a residence in the adjoining pro- 
 vince of Jugo, where he intended to build a town, 
 which should be inhabited solely by Christians, and 
 should be g-overned by laws of a very different charac- 
 ter from those of Japan. His arrangements for this pur- 
 pose being at length completed, he left Vosnqui to take 
 
72 JAPAN. 
 
 possession of his new abode on the feast-day of his patron, 
 the holy father St. Francis ; and such was the joy and 
 exultation of his soul, that his journey seemed rather 
 the progress of a victorious monarch than the depar- 
 ture of one who had abdicated his throne. Banners 
 and streamers of snow-white damask, embroidered with 
 crosses of red and gold, floated from the masts of the 
 galle}' in which he sailed, and all the vessels of the 
 little fleet that followed were gaily adorned in a similar 
 fashion. 
 
 His son accompanied him to the frontiers of the 
 kingdom, and then they parted ; King- Francis pursu- 
 ing his way quietly to Jugo, and the prince returning* to 
 Vosuqui, there to assume the heavy yoke of a despotic 
 government over a fickle and uncertain people. He had 
 listened to his father's parting- admonitions with every 
 appearance of respect and submission, and showed him- 
 self in the be^-inninu' both anxious and willing to follow 
 in his footsteps. No sooner was he properly inaugu- 
 rated into his new dignity, than he presented a house 
 and colleg-e to the fathers, and put himself under 
 their instructions for baptism ; though he delayed the 
 actual reception of that sacrament until he should have 
 succeeded in conciliating- certain lords of the infidel 
 party, — an arrangement to which his father, when con- 
 sulted on the subject, very willingly assented, having 
 probably a more intimate knowledge of his son's real 
 disposition than the young man had as yet accpiired for 
 himself. 
 
 The baptism of King Francis, and the anticipated 
 conversion of his son, were the first intelligence which 
 greeted Father Valignan, when, in 1579, he once more 
 landed at Cochinotzu, as visitor-general of the mis- 
 sions of Japan ; but his joy in these happy events was 
 soon clouded by grief for the misfortunes which fell 
 upon both princes, and the faithlessness which was 
 thereby elicited in one. 
 
 Taking advantage of the abdication of its monarch, 
 and of the discontent of the infidel party, the King of 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 73 
 
 Satzuma declared war upon Bongo ; and Jugo, the 
 province King* Francis had reserved for himself, was 
 the first object of his attack. Chicnta was deputed to 
 make head against the enemy, which he did at first 
 with considerable snccess; but, grown careless by re- 
 peated victories, he at length suffered himself to be 
 taken at a disadvantage, and notwithstanding' the pro- 
 digies of valour by which he and his adopted son en- 
 deavoured to retrieve the fortunes of the day, it was 
 irrevocably lost. For one brief instant, indeed, Simon 
 had almost succeeded in turning- the tide of battle in 
 their favour; but from the vantage-ground which he 
 had gained, he saw his father struggling amidst a num- 
 ber of enemies, wounded and worn out by the fatigues 
 of the fray; and forgetful of every thing else, the 
 son of his love and his adoption fought his way sword 
 in hand back to the spot, succeeded in bringing him 
 to a place of comparative safety, and then, covered with 
 wounds, fell dead at his feet. Maddened at this sight, 
 Chicata rushed once more into the midst of the fight, 
 seeking a death which he was not destined to find ; for 
 though wounded and carried as dead from the field, he 
 finally recovered, and lived to experience that sense of 
 disgrace which is the keenest torture of a haughty 
 mind, and which in Japan ever attaches itself to the 
 idea of defeat. 
 
 King Francis was now obliged to abandon Jugo 
 and retreat to Vosuqui. The bonzes every where 
 proclaimed the indignation of their idols as the cause of 
 these disasters, and for a moment the fathers almost 
 feared that such might be their effect on the feelings 
 of the king' himself-; their apprehensions, however, 
 were quite groundless, for, on the contrary, he met 
 this sudden reverse of fortune with the constancy of a 
 great mind and the submission of a g-ood one. " Hap- 
 pen what may," he said, " I have become a Christian, 
 never to change. God only knows the manner of life 
 which I had traced out for myself at Jugo; but since 
 He has willed it otherwise, it is for Him to command, 
 
74 SATAN. 
 
 and for me to obey.'" After his arrival at Vosuqui, full 
 of these heroic sentiments of self-sacrifice, he applied 
 himself more diligently than ever to the care of his 
 salvation, drawing- the ties of religion yet closer around 
 him, in proportion as he felt himself loosened from those 
 or' earth. Night and morning- he made a meditation on 
 the Passion of his Lord, and said the beads doily in 
 public with his family ; he confessed and communicated 
 every week, and his fasts and austerities became so 
 frequent and severe, that the fathers ventured to re- 
 monstrate with him on the subject; but he silenced them 
 by replying, " that for the very reason they alleged, and 
 because he was old and declining towards the grave, it 
 was needful for him to make the most of his time, by 
 giving good example to his subjects, and doing penance 
 for the sins and enormities of his past life." 
 
 While the abdicated monarch thus adhered to his 
 principles with a constancy which showed how entirely 
 lie had " counted the cost" before lie embraced them, 
 his son weakly and shamefully abandoned the faith 
 without a single effort to defend it. The lords of the 
 infidel party had refused to march against the enemy un- 
 til he had sworn by the Kami and Chadotschi to restore 
 the ancient worship of the kingdom; and in a moment 
 of fear and infatuation he consented to take the oath. 
 
 The apostasy availed him little : the King- of Sat- 
 zuma carried every thing- before him; and the prince 
 was driven from province to province, and from city 
 to city, until his monarchy of only a few months' 
 standing* was almost entirely wrested out of his hands 
 in the same number of clays. Nothing- could exceed 
 the anguish of King* Francis at this terrible news. It 
 was not the disgrace which had fallen upon his arms, 
 nor the cities which had been lost to the enemy, nor 
 the empire which, after having-, with a fortune un- 
 paralleled in Japanese history, retained its integrity for 
 full thirty years, he now saw shivered to piece 
 was the perfidy of his son which cut him to the quick, 
 and caused him in the privacy of his own chamber, un- 
 
CH. IV.] JAPAN. 75 
 
 prompted "by the fathers, or by aught save the faith 
 and firmness of his own heart, to make a solemn vow to 
 God, " that though even the Jesuit who had brought 
 him to the knowledge of His holy name should renounce 
 it, and though the Christians of Europe should cast it 
 forth from their heart-, and though (which he believed 
 to be impossible) the Pope, the head and guardian of the 
 faith, should prove a traitor to his trust, and deny it, 
 yet would he himself, standing alone in the midst of 
 the ruins of Christendom, continue to confess, acknow- 
 ledge, and adore Him, r:.e one true God and Creator of 
 the universe, even as at thai very moment he confessed, 
 acknowledged, and adored Him, without doubt or hesi- 
 tation as to a single article of the creed which had been 
 proposed to his acceptance." 
 
 -The displeasure of his father, and the ill-success of 
 his own plan of expediency, made a deep impression on 
 the prince; but, dispirited and ashamed, it was some time 
 before he could bring himself either to disavow his act, 
 or to seek the presence of King Francis. Matters, how- 
 ever, soon became so desperate, that no other course was 
 left him than to solicit the assistance of the latter; 
 and the old king once more took the reins of govern- 
 ment into his own hands. He left his retreat very 
 unwillingly ; but once having done so, he brought all 
 his old wonted energy and decision to bear upon the 
 crisis : he banished the lords whose evil counsel had so 
 nearly ruined his son, reunited the scattered elements 
 of the army, drove the Satzumans beyond the fron- 
 tiers, and having thus restored peace to the kingdom, 
 and the kingdom to his son, retired again to his private 
 residence at Vosftiqui. 
 
 The prince, on his part, taught by sad experience, 
 not only expressed unbounded contrition for the past, 
 but promised on all future occasions to guide himself 
 entirely by the advice i>f his father ; and precisely at 
 the moment when this reconciliation was effected be- 
 tween them, Father Valignan returned from his tour of 
 inspection, in the course of which the young king of 
 
76 JAPAN. 
 
 Arima had followed the example of his father and uncle 
 by becoming- a Christian. Indeed, such abundant evi- 
 dence of the rapid progress of Christianity had every 
 where greeted the eyes of the Father- Visitor, that he 
 purposed going to the Pope, and representing to him 
 the spiritual necessities of the country, as to both pastors 
 and seminaries, in the missions committed to his care. 
 No sooner were his intentions made public, than the two 
 king? of Bongo, with those of Arima and Omura (Lewis 
 of Goto was already dead), resolved to add a. solemn 
 embassy of their own, for the purpose of laying- at the 
 feet of his Holiness the homage and obedience of the 
 Christian king's of Japan. 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 77 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Two Japanese princes and two nobles start with Father Valiguan 
 for Rome. Their arrival at Goa, at Lisbon, at Madrid, and 
 finally at Rome. Their reception by the Po]^e. Their return to 
 Japan. Important changes during their absence. Death of 
 Nobnnanga. His successor begins to persecute the Christians. 
 Death of King Francis and King Bartholomew. Exile of Justo 
 Ucondono. Decree for the banishment of the Jesuits. 
 
 THREE-and- thirty years had now elapsed since St. 
 Francis Xavier, with his one Japanese convert, Paul de 
 St. Foi, had landed at Kangoxima; and the result of 
 Father Valignan's visit of inspection sufficiently proved 
 that in this short period the number of Christians had 
 increased to 150,000, while the Jesuits had probably 
 not a hundred religious of their order to meet the 
 spiritual wants of this vast multitude, — scattered as it 
 was at wide intervals throughout the country, — still less 
 to follow \:t) any of those providential circumstances 
 which continually invited them to the formation of new 
 missions. 
 
 With Christianity rapidly prog-res sing- in the coun- 
 try, the Father-Visitor saw at once, that no importa- 
 tion of foreign missionaries could ever he made suffi- 
 ciently large and continuous to supply the demand ; he 
 therefore conceived the idea of forming a native priest- 
 hood, from which the ranks of the Europeans might he 
 occasionally recruited in the beginning, and by which, 
 in the end, their necessity would he altogether super- 
 seded. 
 
 A proper foundation for seminaries and colleges was 
 the first essential towards carrying out this plan ; the 
 second was a resident bishop, by whom native students 
 could be ordained, without the risk of life or loss of time 
 and money which rendered the supply from the Indies 
 so difficult and precarious. Reference to Rome was 
 
78 JAPAN. 
 
 needed for this last condition; and Father VaFgnan im- 
 mediately perceived that the intended embassy would 
 add an incalculable weight of evidence to any repre- 
 sentations which he could himself make on the subject. 
 Both he and all the other fathers felt that the actual 
 presence of these foreign princes would give the Pope 
 and their religions brethren of Europe a better idea, of 
 the importance of the kingdom which had been added 
 to the Church, than any mere verbal description could 
 convey ; while, on the other hand, they thought it by 
 no means undesirable that the Japanese, who considered 
 themselves to be, next to the Chinese, the greatest and 
 wisest nation in the world, should learn something of 
 the wisdom and greatness of the countries from whence 
 their new code of religion was derived. 
 
 For both these reasons, then, he willingly undertook 
 the somewhat onerous charge of the embassy, which 
 was intended to consist of two young princes, Mancio, 
 nephew and representative of Francis, king of Bongo, 
 and Michael, who went in the name, and under the au- 
 thority, of Arima and Omura. To these were subse- 
 quently added two other nobles, Julian and Martin, 
 none of the four being more than sixteen years of age, 
 but wise and prudent, Ave are told — as indeed their sub- 
 sequent conduct sufficiently proved — beyond their years. 
 It happened, unfortunately, that all these ambassadors 
 had lost their fathers; and who could blame their 
 mothers if, terrified at the prospect of so long and peril- 
 ous a voyage over tempestuous seas, and to an unknown 
 people, living in countries distant, in their ideas, as the 
 farthest ends of the earth, they did all in their power 
 to dissuade their sons from the proposed undertaking. 
 The day of their departure was indeed a day of lamen- 
 tation and sorrow. The poor mothers wept over their 
 sons as if they had already lost them ; and though Fa- 
 ther Valignan did what he could to re-assure them, they 
 still remained inconsolable, and he felt that their grief 
 and desolation doubled his responsibilities in the safe- 
 guard of their sons. 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 79 
 
 It had been previously arrang-ed that, in order to 
 facilitate their journey, and escape the observation of 
 pirates, who abounded in those unfrequented seas, they 
 should travel without an}' such train as would otherwise 
 have befitted their rank. Father Valignan therefore 
 took only a few of their pages, with a Jesuit father 
 and brother, to assist them on their voyag-e ; and thus 
 attended, they sailed from Nangasaki on the 25th of 
 February, 1582. Their faith and courage were destined 
 to be severely tried ; for even in the commencement of 
 their voyage they were overtaken by a tremendous 
 storm, which for seven days and seven nights kept them 
 in hourly expectation of shipwreck and death. Father 
 Valignan was sorely distressed on the'r account, and 
 divided his time between prayer to God, who alone 
 could deliver them from this imminent peril, and endea- 
 vours by counsel and exhortation to prepare the youth- 
 ful travellers for the worst that might befal them. 
 That worst, however, never came ; but though the tem- 
 pest ceased, they still had to encounter innumerable 
 other difficulties and dangers before they succeeded in 
 reaching- Goa. There they were received by the Por- 
 tuguese viceroy of the Indies with all imaginable cour- 
 tesy and kindness ; nor was this favourable feeling- in 
 their regard confined in its exhibition to the palace, for 
 they were welcomed to the city by universal public re- 
 joicings. The archbishop showed them every fatherly 
 attention in his power ; and the Jesuit fathers sent a 
 deputation of their scholars to congratulate them on 
 their arrival, — a compliment with which the young am- 
 bassadors appear to have been particularly delighted. 
 
 It was not yet the season for the departure of the 
 European ships; and while awaiting- that event, the 
 Japanese princes took up their abode at the Jesuit Col- 
 lege, where they learned, to their infinite disappointment, 
 that Father Valignan would be unable to accompany 
 them further, having been appointed provincial of the 
 Indies during his absence in Japan. Father Rodriguez, 
 however, had bec-n named to conduct them to Rome in 
 
80 JAPAN. 
 
 his stead, and they soon became as much attached to him 
 
 f had hitherto been to liis >r. Thevi 
 
 himself selected the .best and strongest vessel which sailed 
 from Gon that year for their passage ; and be; ' 
 magnificent gold chain and reliquary which lie pre 
 to each, he placed three thousand crowns at their dis- 
 posal for the expenses of their journey. The voyage to 
 Europe proved as fortunate as that to the Indii 
 been the contrary; and without any adventure worth 
 recording", they cast anchor in the Tagus on the 10th 
 of August, 1584, just two years after their departure 
 from Nangasaki. 
 
 Intelligence of their approach had already been con- 
 veyed by one of the fast-sailing vessels of the Indian 
 fleet; and Lisbon was prepared to receive them in the 
 most magnificent manner. From motives of prudence, 
 however, Father Valignan had forbidden any public de- 
 monstration in their honour at iirst ; and, worn out by 
 the fatigues of their long voyage, the princes themselves 
 were only too glad to take refuge from all ceremonial 
 in the professed house of the Jesuits. The morning 
 after their arrival they waited on Cardinal Albert, the 
 governor of the kingdom, to whom they presented a 
 cup of horn, fashioned in their own country, and richly 
 set in silver. The few following days were spent in 
 examining all that was most superb in the way of 
 churches and palaces that the city could boast of; and 
 then from Lisbon they went to Ebora to visit the arch- 
 bishop. It chanced to be the feast of the Exaltation of 
 the Cross, and he invited them to assist at the cere- 
 monies in his church. Immense multitudes flocked 
 hither to behold them ; and when they entered the 
 sacred building the whole congregation burst into tears 
 of joy to see them bow down before the altar, — ambas- 
 sadors as they were from a heathen nation, and sent 
 hither in its name and at its bidding, to acknowledge 
 before heaven and earth the universal sovereignty of 
 the one true God. 
 
 The next point of interest in their travels was Ma- 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 81 
 
 drid. Philip II. received them in the midst of his 
 family, embracing* them affectionately, and bidding; his 
 children do the same. As they had arrived at the 
 palace about the time of evensong', he invited them to 
 attend it in the royal chapel, and they were seated 
 directly in front of the altar, " in order," says the old 
 historian, " that the court might have a good view of 
 their persons;" but rather, we may be allowed to hope, 
 that they might themselves have a good view of the 
 altar. By the king's orders they were afterwards taken 
 to see every thing' most worthy of notice in Ma*drid and 
 its environs, — the Escurial, the arsenal, the treasure- 
 rooms, with their incalculable wealth of jewels, &c. 
 &c. ; and on their final departure for Italy, Philip came 
 in person to take leave of them at the colleg'e, his royal 
 munificence following* them even to the port from whence 
 they were to sail, their journey through the rest of his 
 dominions being* made entirely at his expense, and the 
 largest vessel in his fleet having* been fitted out by his 
 orders for their voyage. Their passage through Italy 
 was one triumphant progress from beginning to end, 
 until, wearied out by all these stately honours, the young 
 princes literally pined for the moment when, at the feet 
 of Gregory XIII., they should have accomplished the 
 real object of their travels. That Pontiff himself, who 
 seems to have had some forebodings of his approaching 
 death, was not less anxious for their arrival; but impa- 
 tient as all parties were, the strangers were compelled 
 to travel slowly, on account of the illness of one of 
 their number. They were still at two days' journey 
 from the city, when the general of the Roman forces 
 met them with several troops of cavalry for their escort ; 
 but as they were anxious (probably from motives of 
 devotion) to make their entrance as privately as pos- 
 sible, they preferred doing so by night, and without 
 any attendance. 
 
 The precaution availed them little ; all Rome was 
 eagerly awaiting their arrival; multitudes met them 
 even at the gates, and conducted them in triumph to 
 
 G 
 
82 JAPAN. 
 
 the professed house of the Jesuits, where the general 
 Claudius Acqua Viva, at the head of 200 of the society, 
 was ready to receive them. 
 
 They were led directly to the church, and the Te 
 Deum was intoned, the ambassadors remaining* pros- 
 trate at the foot of the altar ; nor could Julian, ill as he 
 was, be induced to retire; so anxious were they, one and 
 all, to thank God for this happy and perhaps almost 
 unlooked-for fulfilment of their enterprise. 
 
 The Jesuits would have preferred introducing 1 them 
 to the Pope in private; but finding- that they came as 
 accredited agents from the kings of Japan, Gregory 
 chose rather to give them a public reception, with all the 
 honours usually accorded to the ambassadors of crowned 
 heads. The day after their arrival was accordingly 
 fixed upon for the ceremony, and Julian insisted on 
 joining the procession. He had not proceeded far, how- 
 ever, before, becoming too weak to sit on horseback, he 
 would have been compelled to return, had not a noble- 
 man taken him into his carriage, and driven him at 
 once to the Vatican. Gregory received him with the 
 most fatherly expressions of tenderness and joy, giving 
 him bis benediction over and over again ; and finally 
 succeeded in prevailing on him to retire before the com- 
 mencement of the Consistory, promising that he would 
 call another as soon as he should be sufficiently recovered 
 to attend it. 
 
 The rest of the ambassadors were met at the vine- 
 yard of Pope Julius II. (the spot from whence all great 
 ceremonies commenced in those days) by the Bishop of 
 Imola, who came thither to compliment them on the part 
 of the Pope. A procession was then formed by the 
 light troops and Swiss guards leading the way, followed 
 by the carriages of the Spanish, French, and Venetian 
 ambassadors, and by all the Roman princes and nobles 
 on horseback. Among these last rode the Japanese am- 
 bas Eiders, immediately preceded by the officers of the 
 Pope's household. Mounted on magnificent chargers, 
 and dressed in their native fashion, they formed, of 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 83 
 
 course, the principal object of attraction for the day. 
 Nothing 1 , we are told, could be more splendid than their 
 attire, more grave and noble than their mien and bear- 
 ing*. Three long- robes, one over the other, the ground of 
 dazzling' whiteness, embroidered with birds, flowers, and 
 foliage, exquisitely wrought and of singular brilliancy 
 in the colouring, were partially open in front, and 
 crossed on the breast by a scarf of the same material, 
 knotted behind in the fashion of a belt. Their feet were 
 sandalled ; their wide sleeves reached only to the elbow ; 
 and their swords and sabres, of the finest tempered steel, 
 were richly encrusted, both sheath and handle, with 
 pearls, precious stones, and figures variously designed 
 in enamel. Their features were no less foreign and 
 striking than their garments; but there was an inno- 
 cence on each youthful brow, and a noble modesty 
 in every look and attitude, which yet more effectually 
 won for them the involuntary admiration of all be- 
 holders. 
 
 Mancio Ito, as chief of the embassy, rode first; and 
 as the foot of his charger touched the Bridge of St. 
 Angelo, the guns of the castle fired a salute. They 
 were answered by those from the Vatican ; and long ere 
 the warlike echoes had died away, a strain of delicious 
 music filled the air, and it was amid a flood of harmony 
 that they drew bridle at last before the gates of the 
 Vatican. 
 
 In the Sala Regia, and surrounded by his cardinals, 
 Gregory XIII. was waiting to receive them; and pros- 
 trate before his Holiness, and holding* the credentials of 
 their respective monarchs each in his own hand, the 
 ambassadors declared in a few and simple words the 
 object of their mission, namely, to acknowledge, in the 
 names of the kings of Japan, the Pope as Christ's vicar 
 upon earth, and to tender to him their homage and 
 obedience, as head of the Universal Church and pastor 
 of all Christian people. They spoke, of course, in Ja- 
 panese, and Father Mesquita acted as interpreter; but 
 the sight of these stranger-princes, so young in years 
 
M JAPAN. 
 
 yet so strong" in faith, and the knowledge of the diffi- 
 culties and dangers through which they had come, 
 spoke a language that needed no translation. Moved 
 almost to tears, the Pope, as they knelt to kiss his feet, 
 raised and embraced them with so much affection, that 
 they afterwords said they were more touched by his 
 evident tenderness than by all the honours which they 
 subsequently received. 
 
 These preliminaries over, they were conducted to a 
 platform, where they stood with uncovered heads while 
 the letters of then several chiefs, translated in like 
 manner by Father Mesquita, were read to his Holiness; 
 and an address, called an obedience, which was usual 
 on similar occasions, was then spoken in their name by 
 one of the fathers. After a gracious answer from the 
 Pope, they were once more conducted to the foot of the 
 throne, when they were saluted and embraced by the 
 Cardinals present. Conversation was for some time 
 carried on through the medium of their interpreter; and 
 to the many questions put to them concerning- their 
 country and their travels, they answered with a wisdom 
 and presence of mind absolutely marvellous in persons 
 so young- and unused to the ceremonies and scenes in 
 which they thus suddenly found themselves the prin- 
 cipal actors. They dined that day at the Vatican, and 
 afterwards had a long- and private interview with the 
 Pope, who questioned them most minutely as to the 
 state of Christianity in Japan; and more than once the 
 good old man shed tears of joy at the rapid pro- 
 Lad so evidently made. He promised a foundation for 
 the seminary which Father Valignan had already com- 
 menced at Funay, assigning at once a revenue of 4000 
 crowns for that purpose. This was at a later interview, 
 and was almost the last official act of the Pope, for 
 only a few days afterwards it pleased God to call Gre- 
 gory to Himself; but he thought of his dear Japanese 
 to the last, and even an hour before his death sent a 
 messenger to inquire after the health of young- Julian. 
 Me was mourned by these poor strangers as they would 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 85 
 
 have mourned for a father; for they not only revered 
 him as a spiritual superior, but had learned to love him 
 as an earthly protector. 
 
 The new Pope, Sixtus V., did what lie could to con- 
 sole them, by showing- the same unvarying- kindness 
 they had received from his predecessor. By his order 
 they were ranked with the other ambassadors when 
 assisting* at his coronation ; and he not only promised 
 a future bishop to the Church of Japan, but also con- 
 firmed the grant in favour of its seminaries, and added 
 two thousand crowns to the four already set aside for 
 that purpose by Gregory. 
 
 A sum of three thousand more was also assigned 
 them for the personal expenditure of their journey 
 homeward ; and prior to their leaving Rome, Sixtus pro- 
 posed to confer on them the knighthood of the Golden 
 Spur, an honour which he thought would be particu- 
 larly acceptable to princes of a warlike and chivalrous 
 nation. Accordingly the ceremony took place on the 
 eve of the Ascension, in the presence of all the foreign 
 ambassadors and native nobility of Rome. The Pope 
 himself presented the sword and girdle, the ambassa- 
 dors of Prance and Spain buckled on the spurs ; and 
 then Sixtus, throwing- the golden chain around their 
 necks, gave a hearty embrace to the new knights, who 
 thanked him for the favour he had conferred upon them, 
 and pledged themselves solemnly to maintain the faith 
 at the peril of their lives, — a pledge which, in the 
 after-years of persecution, they all faithfully redeemed. 
 Their last public appearance was in the Capitol, where 
 the citizens of Rome, both princes and people, met 
 to present them with the patricianship of the city, the 
 patents to that effect being made out on coloured parch- 
 ment, and stamped with a seal of gold. 
 
 Their progress back through Italy was made in 
 much the same state as before. They were particu- 
 larly pleased with Venice, which, with its magnificent 
 palaces, churches, and public buildings of all descrip- 
 
SO JAPAN. 
 
 tions, its streets of water and crowds of gondolas, must 
 have appeared to their eastern imaginations as a veri- 
 table creation of the talisman of the genii. Fifty of its 
 senators, clad in their scarlet robes of office, were waiting 
 to receive them and to conduct them in a barge, hung* 
 with crimson velvet, to the city; and after an inter- 
 view with the doge, during which they presented him 
 with a sword and dagger, the workmanship of their 
 native land, they were taken to see the public build- 
 ings, the precious merchandise, and various manufac- 
 tories of the queen of the Adriatic. Among these last 
 they were particularly interested in the glass-works, 
 that article being altogether unknown at that period in 
 Japan. Short as was their stay in A^enice, time was 
 found to have their pictures taken; and these were 
 afterwards hung up in the great hall of council, among 
 the ducal riders of the city. The annual procession 
 also, which had been put off' until after their arrival, was 
 celebrated with more than ordinary magnificence in 
 their honour. Among the historical representations 
 exhibited on the occasion, they were wonderfully sur- 
 prised and delighted to discover a picture of their own 
 presentation to the Pope, which, having now become a 
 fact of history, was made, by a delicate flattery on the 
 part of the Venetian contrivers of the fete, to take a 
 conspicuous place among the pageants of the day. 
 
 In the midst of all these pleasures and attentions, 
 so fascinating and full of danger to the young, and 
 so flattering to the feelings of a naturally proud and 
 haughty people, the youthful princes, we are told, pre- 
 served a steadfast piety and modesty of demeanour 
 which made them objects of real admiration to all who 
 approached them. Grave and simple as ever, they pur- 
 sued their way, pleased with the honours and grateful 
 for the pleasures, but as undazzled by the one as they 
 were uncontaminated by the other; contriving, even 
 in the midst of the world, to lead the lives almost of 
 religious; confessing and communicating every week, 
 
CH. V.J JAPAN. 8? 
 
 and allowing' neither business nor amusement to pre- 
 vent their daily devotions and attendance at Mass, or 
 their punctual examination of conscience at night. 
 
 Europe had now unrolled all her shining- treasures 
 to their eyes, and among* her Catholic nations, making- 
 it a pleasure as well as a duty, had done (says an his- 
 torian of those times) "the honours of the whole Chris- 
 tian world to them, as to the representatives of the 
 infant Churches of the East;" so with hearts weary 
 of wandering-, and satiated with sight-seeing, yet filled 
 to overflowing- with the religious inspirations which 
 they had gathered on the way, they prepared to return 
 to their native land. 
 
 Lisbon was their point of departure, as it had been 
 that of their arrival ; and they were joined at Goa by 
 Father Valignan, who would yield to no one the plea- 
 sure of restoring' them to their parents, and who there- 
 fore accompanied them to Japan. 
 
 Many and unlooked-for were the changes which had 
 taken place in that country during- their absence : but 
 the greatest and most unfortunate of all for the interests 
 of Christianity was the death of Nobunanga. That 
 proud and luxurious chief had gone on from one degree 
 of prosperity to another, until, almost forgetting that lie 
 was man, he sought like Nabuchodono?or to be wor- 
 shipped as God ; and he who had formerly scouted the 
 teaching of the bonzes, who had scorned their idola- 
 tries and set at nought their superstitions, now caused 
 himself to be proclaimed the only Lord of Nature, and 
 Creator of the Universe. A magnificent temple was 
 built in his honour; thousands of the almost innumer- 
 able divinities of Japan were brought together to be 
 grouped within it ; and a stone, with the arms of Nobu- 
 nanga engraved upon it, was set up in the midst, to 
 which, as the representative of that monarch, and under 
 the name of Xanthi, the adoration of the people was 
 commanded to be paid. Not a Christian obeyed the 
 summons ; but on the day of inauguration vast multi- 
 tudes of heathens flocked to the ceremony, which was 
 
88 JAPAN 
 
 performed on a scale of extraordinary magnificence, the 
 king's eldest son, and future possessor of his throne, be- 
 ing- the first to do homage to the idol of his father. 
 
 This crime seems to have filled up the measure of 
 his iniquities in the sight of Heaven, and to have brought 
 his worldly greatness to a close. A conspiracy was 
 soon afterwards formed against him ; and, betrayed by 
 one of his own creatures, he and his eldest son perished 
 miserably in the conflict that ensued. Whether he died 
 by his own hand, according to the ordinary custom of 
 the Japanese under such circumstances, or whether he 
 was consumed in the flames of his own palace, which the 
 rebels burnt to the ground, has never been ascertained. 
 
 Faxiba, the general of his army, rose to avenge him, 
 and by the aid of Justo Ucondono defeated the rebels ; 
 but instead of restoring the government to the children 
 of the late monarch, he assumed it himself, under the 
 title of the Cambacundono, or Sovereign Lord, — a dignity 
 which had formerly been considered even more exalted 
 than that, of the Kumbo. Such political transitions 
 were far too common to create much opposition- and 
 being cunning as well as brave, Cambacundono soon 
 found means of augmenting his authority, until it greatly 
 exceeded the utmost which Nobunanga had ever pos- 
 sessed. 
 
 It is painful to have to record, that the ill-conduct of 
 the young king of Bongo, the degenerate son of King- 
 Francis, was the primary cause of this dangerous addi- 
 tion to a power already too great for the well-being of 
 the empire. Instead of fulfilling his promise of becom- 
 ing a Christian, he had not long been left in sole p 
 sion of his dominions before he began to lead a most 
 dissolute life, falling from one criminal excess into an- 
 other, until lie concluded, not merely by persecuting the 
 Christians, but, under a false imputation of treason, pur- 
 suing his brother Sebastian with a degree of barbarity 
 which has left a too probable suspicion of fratricide at- 
 tached to his name. The double scourge of pestilence 
 and war was the terrible chastisement of his sin. A 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 89 
 
 plagiie broke out and laid desolate the land, while at the 
 same time, the king of Satzuma invading- his territories, 
 the unlucky prince would have found himself once more 
 disinherited, if Camhacundono had not interfered by 
 sending- an army under Simon Condera to his assistance. 
 Simon was a zealous Christian, and he did not reinstate 
 him on his throne without rebuking- him severely for his 
 wicked conduct ; until, moved by his reproaches, or by 
 those yet harder to bear of his own conscience, the re- 
 stored prince made up his mind to become a Christian in 
 earnest, and was according-ly baptised by the name of 
 Constantine. 
 
 A second reconciliation with his father followed this 
 event; the old man received him kindly, but his heart 
 was utterly broken ; he never thoroughly recovered this 
 last disgraceful proof of his son's inconstant and dan- 
 g-erous disposition ; and a slig'ht illness, from which no- 
 thing- serious was apprehended in the beg-inning*, proved 
 fatal to a constitution enfeebled by sorrow as much as 
 by ag-e. He died, as he had now for many years been 
 living-, in the purest sentiments of faith and devotion ; 
 never during- his illness did he speak of any thing- but 
 God, the world appearing* to be as completely blotted out 
 of his memory as if all the days of his life had been spent 
 in the desert. His demise had been preceded by that 
 of Bartholomew, the first Christian king- of Japan, who, 
 faithful and fearless as he had ever been in his life, was 
 not less heroic in the hour of death. " Who are these 
 Sanchez and Linus V he said to one of his attendants, 
 who in the moment of his ag-ony wished to speak to 
 him of his sons. " Did I not forbid any one to talk to 
 me save of Jesus and of Mary ?" And with these sweet 
 names upon his lips he expired, having- previously ad- 
 dressed a moving* exhortation to his children, "to be 
 faithful to religion, obedient to their elder brother, and 
 tender and affectionate to then 1 mother in her declining- 
 years." 
 
 With these two princes, the peace of the Church 
 may be said to have been buried. The power which 
 
90 JAPAN. 
 
 Cambacundono bad both asserted and shown in restor- 
 ing- Constantine to bis throne, led to a more uncon- 
 ditional submission of the other princes of Japan than 
 had ever been given to their chief monarch before ; and 
 although this unlimited authority was not at first directed 
 against the Christians, yet in the end it proved fatal to 
 them, by constituting the private edict of the monarch 
 the universal law of the land, whereas in former times 
 it could scarcely have been put into execution in the dif- 
 ferent kingdoms without the approbation and assistance 
 of their several rulers. 
 
 In the beginning of his reign, Cambacundono was 
 far from being unfavourable to religion, and the chief 
 officers of the emperor were most of them Christians ; 
 Justo Ucondono being governor of Tagatiki; Simon Con- 
 dera, general of the army ; and Augustin, a most zeal- 
 ous and distinguished convert; chief admiral of the fleet; 
 many of the ladies of the queen's household, whom 
 Cambacundono singularly respected for their virtue and 
 modesty, were also Christian; and he was even heard to 
 say that he would himself be a convert to the new reli- 
 gion, if it were but a little more indulgent to poor 
 human nature. But the devil seldom allows his vota- 
 ries to stop half-way in their career, and the u human 
 nature" which prevented Cambacundono from embracing 
 Christianity led him at last to oppose it with war to the 
 knife. 
 
 Some Christian ladies of Arima refused to become 
 the inmates of his seraglio ; and the bonze who had un- 
 dertaken this infamous commission, revenged himself 
 for the scorn with which his proposition had been re- 
 jected, by representing the Christians in general as being 
 in a state of revolt. By a refinement of malice, he 
 pointed his insinuations more especially against Justo, 
 as being one of their principal leaders; and the gover- 
 nor of Tagatiki instantly received an imperial com- 
 mand to renounce his religion, or to retire from the king- 
 dom. " Tell the Cambacundono," said the noble Chris- 
 tian, "that Justo is ready to lay down his office and 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 91 
 
 his life ; but lie dare not forget bis allegiance to bis 
 God." Tbis was enough for a jealous and despotic 
 king ; Justo's government was given away on the spot, 
 and be prepared to leave the country a beggar and an 
 exile. The banishment of a nobleman is generally ac- 
 companied in Japan by that of every other member of 
 bis family, except in the case of Christians, who could 
 always escape the penalty by renouncing- the faith. 
 When, therefore, Justo went to acquaint his father with 
 the sentence which had been pronounced against them, 
 the old man lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, 
 thanking God for having chosen them to be the first 
 examples of fidelity in His service, adding that only one 
 thing more was to be desired or prayed for, namely, 
 that they might all have the happiness likewise of shed- 
 ding their blood in the cause. Both the wife and chil- 
 dren of Justo shared in these heroic sentiments* the 
 Christian officers of his household also, while they wept 
 over his sentence, besought permission to share it with 
 him • but this their lord declined, urging them, on the 
 contrary; to retain their service under the emperor, since 
 any defection from it would only confirm his suspicions 
 of the loyalty of the Christians. The very heathens 
 lamented the misfortunes of this good man ; many of 
 the kings even offered him shelter in their dominions • 
 but Justo refused them all, probably fearing to involve 
 them in the same ruin with himself. The first few 
 months of his banishment he therefore spent in wander- 
 ing with his family through forests and over mountains, 
 without any permanent shelter, and deprived almost of 
 the common necessaries of life. At length his friend 
 and former convert, Augustin, succeeded in persuading 
 him to take refuge in his states ; and the emperor, some 
 time afterwards softening a little towards him, sent him 
 into more honourable exile in the kingdom of Tango. 
 
 The conversion of the queen of that country was the 
 consequence of his residence at its court. Beautiful and 
 highly endowed herself, her husband was unhappily a 
 man of brutal habits and violent temper. Justo tried in 
 
92 JAPAN. 
 
 vain to convert him ; but though the monarch would 
 not follow his counsels, he at least repeated them to his 
 wife, who, struck by the sublimity of the doctrines thus 
 casually and imperfectly brought to her knowledge, be- 
 came extremely desirous of further instruction. This 
 was no easy matter to accomplish; for the jealous 
 passion of her husband kept her (especially during his 
 absence) almost a prisoner to the palace. One day, 
 however, she managed to leave it in disguise ; and going 
 straight to the church, begged for baptism of the father- 
 superior, who chanced to be there at the moment. He 
 guessed her to be a person of rank from her intelligent 
 conversation and dignified demeanour ; but feeling un- 
 certain of her disposition, he put her off until a later 
 period. The next day she wrote to him by one of her 
 ladies, requesting a solution of some of her doubts ; and 
 from that time she never missed a day in sending some 
 one or other of her attendants for further instructions, 
 until by this means they were all of them converted. 
 Astonished and delighted at this unexpected result, she 
 became more than ever anxious to obtain the same 
 blessing for herself; and as it was just at the com- 
 mencement of the persecution, and there was little 
 chance of his being able to confer it upon her in person, 
 the father-superior commissioned one of her ladies to 
 baptise her in his stead. The lady chosen for this pur- 
 pose was rich and beautiful, and destined in marriage 
 for one of the greatest nobles of Japan ; but after per- 
 forming the sacred rite, she felt herself so raised above 
 all the honours of the earth by having been the ad- 
 ministrator of a life-giving sacrament, that she made 
 a vow of chastity on the spot, and cut off her hair as 
 a sign of her entire renunciation of the world. The 
 queen herself, who was baptised by the name of Grace, 
 was destined to suffer a continual martyrdom at the 
 hands of her husband, who hated the Christians, and 
 was furious with her for having adopted their tenets. 
 He loved her indeed too well to divorce her ; but during 
 the thirteen remaining years of her life, he treated her 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN, 93 
 
 with inconceivable cruelty, frequently holding* a drawn 
 sword to her bosom to terrify her into renouncing- the 
 Christian religion. Grace, however, always persevered 
 in the same answer, that he might take her life, but he 
 could not force her to betray her faith ; and the sequel 
 proved that she had not miscalculated her strength, for 
 in the early times of the persecution she was one. of the 
 first to set the seal of martyrdom on her fidelity. There 
 is still extant a beautiful letter written by her to one 
 of the Jesuit fathers, in which she expresses her joy at 
 their resolution of remaining- in the country, and gives 
 an account of the baptism of her infant son, who, being 
 at the point of death, suddenly recovered his health on 
 the reception of the sacrament, which was administered 
 to him by Mary, the lady who had performed the same 
 office for herself, and whom for this reason she was in 
 the habit of calling- her spiritual mother. 
 
 The banishment of Justo was followed by an edict 
 against the Jesuits, who were commanded to return to 
 India within six months after its promulgation. 
 
 They immediately assembled at Firando ; and it was 
 there unanimously agreed that rather than abandon 
 their neophytes they would die at their posts, though 
 in order to avoid all unnecessary cause of offence, it 
 was resolved that the churches should be dismantled, 
 and service performed for the futnre in the private 
 houses of the Christians. No sooner was this resolu- 
 tion known, than, with only one exception, all the Chris- 
 tian chiefs contended with generous eagerness for the 
 hazardous honour of sheltering them in their dominions. 
 
 That exception was the king of Bongo. Constan- 
 tine, thus tried again, again was found to waver ; and 
 as at such a moment to waver is to fall, he had no 
 sooner complied with the imperial mandate by banish- 
 ing the Jesuits, than he proceeded on his own account 
 to persecute his Christian subjects, and finally made Ins 
 appearance at the court of Cambacundono with a little 
 idol round his neck in token of apostasy. To his ex- 
 treme mortification, the emperor repaid his meanness by 
 
94 JAPAN. 
 
 contempt, while the other kings, who had had the 
 courage to hazard all for their principles, were soon 
 afterwards received by him with courtesy, if not with 
 favour. 
 
 Matters had proceeded only thus far, when the Ja- 
 panese ambassadors arrived at Goa ; and in order to 
 avoid the indignation of the emperor, instead of return- 
 ing* as a Christian priest, Father Yalignan resolved to 
 present himself as the accredited ambassador of the vice- 
 roy of the Indies. 
 
 They landed at Nangasaki in 1590, and found the 
 kings of Arima and Omura waiting to receive them. 
 Hither also soon came the king of Bongo; but instead 
 of meeting him in the manner he expected, Mancio Ito 
 reproached his royal cousin with his apostasy, and re- 
 fused to hold any communication with him so long as 
 he remained the declared enemy of religion. Constan- 
 tine had alread}^ begun to repent of his conduct; in- 
 stead, therefore, of being offended at this noble freedom, 
 he besought his young relative to speak to Father Va- 
 lignan on his behalf; and this time, at least, he seems 
 to have been really sincere, for during the remainder of 
 his life he remained perfectly steadfast and fervent in 
 his adherence to the Church. 
 
 An audience with the emperor was less easily ob- 
 tained ; but having' at last received permission to that 
 effect, Father Valignan made his entry into Miako, at- 
 tended by many of the Portugiiese merchants, and by 
 the young princes his companions, who were robed for 
 the occasion in the European dresses which had been 
 presented them by the Pope. Cambacundono had sent 
 horses and litters for their better accommodation ; and 
 he received them very graciously, appearing to be de- 
 lighted with the presents of the viceroy, and inquiring 
 very minutely of the princes concerning their travels. 
 He was much pleased by their performance on some 
 European instruments of music, and even offered to take 
 Mancio Ito into his service ; but having other projects than 
 those of courtly ambition in his heart, the young prince 
 
CH. V.] JAPAN. 95 
 
 respectfully declined the proffered honour. Notwith- 
 standing' all this apparent cordiality however, Camba- 
 cundono could not be induced to rescind any of his late 
 edicts, and Father Valignan was obliged to depart from 
 Miako without having- accomplished the chief object of 
 his mission. 
 
 During- all the time of his residence there he had 
 been allowed perfect freedom in the public exercise of 
 his priestly functions ; and the Christians, who had for 
 some time been deprived of any spiritual aid, save such 
 as the fathers could render them in secret, had flocked 
 to him in crowds. 
 
 From Miako lie proceeded with the Japanese am- 
 bassadors to Arima and Omura, to deliver to the re- 
 spective monarchs of those kingdoms the letters and 
 presents which had been sent them by the Pope ; and 
 then, having- fulfilled the last duty entailed upon them 
 by their mission to Koine, these young- princes revealed 
 to Father Valignan their intention of entering the So- 
 ciety of Jesus. He was probably already aware, in some 
 measure at least, of their design; for they had mentioned 
 it to Father Acqua Viva at Rome, who had required only 
 the consent of their parents as the condition of their 
 acceptance by the Society. 
 
 They were therefore immediately admitted into the 
 novitiate, and subsequently became active missionaries 
 in their native hind ; one cf them surviving- almost to 
 the latter days of the persecution, and sealing- his re- 
 ligious profession in his blood. 
 
 This affair being arranged, Father Valignan prepared 
 for his final departure, having- gained nothing- from the 
 emperor save permission for a certain number of the 
 Jesuits to remain a few months longer at Nangasaki. 
 
 Even this was not to be considered in the light of a 
 concession, Cambacundono detaining- them there only 
 as hostages for the safe delivery of the letters and pre- 
 sents which he destined for the viceroy, and which, a 
 doubt having been thrown on the validity of the em- 
 bassy, he fancied Father Valignan would never present. 
 
96 jArAir. 
 
 He also chose another of the Jesuits, whom he attached 
 to his court in quality of interpreter, and he seems to 
 have afterwards conceived a strong' personal friendship 
 for this father (Rodriguez hy name), who remained in 
 constant personal attendance upon him during* his life, 
 and to whom we are indebted for an account of his 
 death. Limited and ungracious as these permissions 
 were, they were yet far too valuable to be refused; and 
 having- secretly dispersed the remaining' Jesuits through 
 the king-doms of the Christian king's, Father Valig'nan 
 reluctantly took his leave of Japan, and returned to tho 
 charge of his Indian provinciate. 
 
CH. VI.] JAPAN. 97 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Cambacundono sends an expedition to Corea to rid himself of his 
 Christian subjects. Eecal of Justo Ucondono. Death of Con- 
 stantine. Arrival of Franciscan missionaries. Their imprudent 
 conduct. The first bishop of Japan arrives. Martyrdom of 
 Franciscan fathers, three Jesuits, and two children at Nan- 
 gasaki. Death of Cambacundono. Execution of Augustine, and 
 of the Queen of Tango. 
 
 Cambacundono did not take possession of the throne 
 of Nobunanga without being* smitten by the same am- 
 bition which had preceded the fall of that monarch. 
 Having received the homage of the Japanese as their 
 king, he desired, like his predecessor, to be adored also 
 as their god. More subtle, however, though perhaps 
 less daring, than Nobunanga, he saw that, in order to 
 obtain the object of his unhallowed ambition, he re- 
 quired not only such an amount of foreign conquest as 
 might seem to entitle him to claim it, but likewise the 
 total annihilation of the Christian converts, who had 
 already sufficiently shown that they would never be ac- 
 cessary to this great national sin; and he thought to ac- 
 complish his twofold purpose by declaring' war against 
 Corea, — all the posts of honour, and, of course, of danger, 
 being conferred upon the leaders of the Christian move- 
 ment. Augustine was therefore made generalissimo of 
 the expedition ; Simon Condera was placed next to him 
 in dignity; and the kings of Arima, Omura, Bongo, and 
 many others, were all put into positions of distinction 
 more or less prominent. The leaders being Christians, of 
 course the bulk of the army was Christian likewise, as 
 each chief brought his own subjects into the field; and 
 thus the wily emperor calculated that in any case his ob- 
 ject would be effected ; for if the expedition failed, the 
 Christians as a body would be cut to pieces ; and, on 
 the other hand, if it should prove successful, he might 
 
 H 
 
98 JAPAX. 
 
 fairly demand the coveted honour of a statue for him- 
 self, while the newly acquired territories would present 
 an easy mode of expatriating* the conquerors, under 
 colour of rewarding their services by the governments 
 of Corea. 
 
 At first he had intended taking* an active part in 
 the enterprise himself; and in order to obviate the dan- 
 gers of a regency, had conferred his present title and 
 authority upon his nephew, while he took that of the 
 Teigo-Sama to himself. By and by, however, a not 
 unnatural jealousy of the new Cambacundono seems to 
 have induced him to change his plan ; and as he could 
 not with any show of justice deprive his nephew of a 
 title which he had voluntarily conferred, he got rid of 
 him in the usual Japanese fashion, by a legalised murder; 
 the friends and followers of the unhappy victim, and 
 even his little children, not being exempted from this 
 barbarous sentence. 
 
 While deeds of darkness such as these detained this 
 would-be divinity in Japan, the Christian warriors in 
 Corea were endeavouring to unite the duties of reli- 
 gion with the necessary distractions of a time of war ; 
 and for this purpose they invited some of the Jesuit 
 fathers to join the expedition, both for the conversion 
 of the people against whom they were going to fight, 
 and for the instruction of the soldiers whom they com- 
 manded. The zealous missionaries were only too happy 
 to embrace an opportunity for the still more extensive 
 propagation of the faith, and under their auspices the 
 camp soon became a house of prayer: nor did the Chris- 
 tians fight less bravely, because devotion had superseded 
 the ordinary dissipations of military life. Battles were 
 won, forts and cities were taken, every where the Coreans 
 fled before them ; each fresh despatch became merely an 
 announcement of a fresh success ; and at length, in 
 his gratitude and joy for a new empire acquired with 
 such marvellous rapidity, Teigo-Sama recalled Justo 
 TJcondono to court. Their meeting was curious, and 
 characteristic of the customs of the nation. "Justo," 
 
CH. VI.] JAPAN. 99 
 
 said the emperor, on perceiving the disgraced chieftain 
 once more in his chamber of audience, " I have not seen 
 you for a long- time ; but now I have work for you to 
 do." With a profound reverence Justo professed him- 
 self always at his majesty's service; he was then in- 
 vited to a great banquet, and all his honours and pos- 
 sessions were given back to him. Thus, without fault 
 or forgiveness, accusation or acquittal, as he had been 
 ruined", so was he now restored; the emperor's good 
 pleasure being sufficient reason for both. 
 
 Strange to say — and a striking commentary it is upon 
 the shortcoming's of human wisdom — nenrly at the same 
 moment when Justo so unexpectedly recovered all that 
 he had lost for the sake of the faith. Constantine, after 
 perpetually playing* the traitor to his principles, was 
 as suddenly robbed of all for which they had been 
 bartered. Having incurred the displeasure of the em- 
 peror by some misconduct in the Corean war, he was 
 stripped of his dominions, and condemned to a dreary 
 exile in the court of the king of Satzuma, the deadly 
 enemy of his throne and house ; but though he never 
 recovered his former position in the world, yet he had 
 the far greater happiness of being enabled to make some 
 compensation for the cowardly backslidings of a former 
 period of his life by the religious steadiness of his de- 
 clining years. Indeed, from the hour of his last recon- 
 ciliation to the Church by Father Valignan, he had never 
 shown any symptom of his former weakness : his life 
 was henceforth formed on a model of every Christian 
 virtue, and he died at last in sentiments of contrition 
 and devotion worthy of the son of the good king 
 Francis. 
 
 Notwithstanding the services of the Christians in 
 the Corean war. the penal laws were still in force ; but 
 as in the first instance they had been the result of a 
 mere ebullition of temper on the part of the emperor, 
 he might, and probably in course of time he would, 
 have either ignored or abolished them, had it not been 
 for the inconsiderate boasting of a Spanish captain, who 
 
100 JAPAN. 
 
 showing on a map the vast extent of his sovereign's 
 possessions, and being questioned as to the mode of 
 their acquisition, represented it as entirely the work of 
 the missionaries, who first contrived, he said, to convert 
 the people, and then easily induced them to submit to 
 the king whom they served. It is hard to say whether 
 malice or folly were the motive of this speech; but 
 whichever it was, it produced a suspicion in Teigo- 
 Sama's mind which could never afterwards be eradi- 
 cated, — a suspicion which he bequeathed as an heir-loom 
 to has successors, however widely they might differ in 
 policy or in blood, and which unhappily to this very day 
 exercises its baneful influence upon Japan, in the form 
 of a law prohibiting* the admission into the kingdom of 
 any professor of the Christian faith. 
 
 Another circumstance also happened about this time, 
 which tended to confirm and foster this suspicion, once 
 engendered : this was the line of conduct pursued by 
 some Franciscan friars who arrived from the Philippine 
 Islands. They had been induced to take this step by 
 a designing impostor, who hoped by their means to open 
 the ports of Japan to the commerce of Spain, and con- 
 trived to persuade them, therefore, that the emperor 
 was most anxious for their presence in his dominions. 
 It was true, indeed, that Pope Gregory XIII. had is- 
 sued a Bull prohibiting any other missionaries save the 
 members of the Society of Jesus from labouring in 
 Japan ; and though this was done at the time in oppo- 
 sition to the wish of the Jesuits themselves, yet the 
 event showed the wisdom by which the Holy See had 
 been guided; for notwithstanding that the Franciscans 
 brought piety and zeal, and every other qualification 
 which could fit them for the task, yet they not only 
 produced confusion in the mission, by their ignorance of 
 the customs and peculiarities of the people with whom 
 they had to deal, but, by the persecution which their 
 imprudence excited against it, they became the acci- 
 dental causes of its final extinction. At first, it was an 
 anxious question of debate among the Franciscans, whe- 
 
CH. VI.] JAPAN. 101 
 
 ther Pope Gregory's decree was binding' on them • but 
 being- already in possession of a Bull of Pope Sixtus V., 
 which authorised them to preach throughout the Indies, 
 in which the} 7- considered Japan to be included, and 
 burning with zeal and desire to carry the Name of Jesus 
 to the most distant quarters of the globe, they succeeded 
 at last in persuading themselves that, the prohibition 
 having been issued under very different circumstances, 
 they were justified in supposing, that under the present 
 more favourable aspect of affairs it would not have 
 been enforced. In this their zeal misled them; yet who 
 shall blame the ardour of these simple and earnest men ? 
 If, in the fervour of their zeal, they overstepped the 
 nice limits of that obedience which is the only safe 
 guide in religious undertakings, yet we must not forget 
 that he who led them on was the very first to lay down 
 his life in the cause, and, now a martyr, pleads for us 
 in heaven. 
 
 The Franciscans presented themselves at the court 
 of Teigo-Sama as the accredited envoys of the governor 
 of the Philippines ; and underneath the shelter of their 
 ambassadorial character they were permitted to settle 
 at Miako, but only on condition of refraining from every 
 attempt at assembling the people, either for preaching 
 or prayer. No sooner, however, had they taken pos- 
 session of their new house, than they proceeded to do 
 both, with every addition of circumstances that could 
 give publicity to their conduct. It was in vain that 
 their predecessors in the mission warned them that they 
 were risking the safety of the whole Christian Church ; 
 in vain that the very heathens themselves remonstrated 
 with them on the folly of calling the emperor's atten- 
 tion to their as yet hardly tolerated residence in the 
 country. Their pure religious zeal found ample en- 
 couragement in the great body of the people, who, ever 
 careless of consequences, and only rejoicing in the oppor- 
 tunity of assisting once more at the public services of 
 the Church, eagerly nocked to hear them ; and charmed 
 at the sight of so much piety, and ignorant of the real 
 
102 J A PAX. 
 
 dispositions of the emperor, the Franciscans were not 
 unnaturally led to conclude that the timidity of the 
 Jesuits had put an unnecessary check upon the fervour 
 of their converts. 
 
 To counteract any ill effects, therefore, from this 
 fancied over-caution, they thought it necessary to ex- 
 tend their own sphere of action as much as they could ; 
 so from Miako they went to Osaka, and from thence 
 to Nangasaki, where the Jesuits received them with 
 the utmost cordiality, though the ill effects of their 
 imprudence were soon felt in the town. Hitherto, not-' 
 withstanding the penal laws, the fathers in that city had 
 contrived, by a system of most consummate prudence, 
 to pursue their ministerial functions undisturbed. Un- 
 der their care iSangasaki had become emphatically the 
 Christian town of Japan, and only a little later its inhabi- 
 tants celebrated the conversion of its last pagan citizen 
 by an especial festival ; but the arrival of the new mis- 
 sionaries cast a shadow over their smiling prospects; 
 the public services in their church excited suspicion; 
 and the Christians were prohibited, by sound of trumpet, 
 from attending- Mass or sermon, or even from praying 
 at a great cross which had been erected outside the 
 walls. The friars themselves were banished ; and they 
 retired to Osaka, having refused the refuge which had 
 been generously offered them by the Jesuits. 
 
 After their departure, things gradually returned to 
 their former state, a result greatly facilitated by the 
 conversion of the governor. He was a young man of 
 great talent and powers of mind; and having once found 
 himself compelled by his position to act against the 
 Christians, he thought it only consistent with justice to 
 ascertain what was the real nature of their tenets, — an 
 inquiry which ended in his soliciting baptism himself. 
 The doctrine of the Incarnation seems to have particu- 
 larly struck him, by the marked contrast which it pre- 
 sented to the favourite hero-worship of the Japanese; 
 for, as he shrewdly remarked, there was nothing incon- 
 sistent or inconceivable in the idea of a God becoming 
 
CH. VI.] JAPAN. 103 
 
 man for the creatures He had made ; while, on the con- 
 trary, to attribute divinity to men, often the worst and 
 most wicked of their species, was an act as destructive 
 to morality as it was repugnant to sense. 
 
 About this time, Peter Martinez, the new Bishop of 
 Japan, arrived at Nangasaki with his coadjutor. Steps 
 were soon taken by the principal Christians to secure his 
 reception at court; and, after some little demur, he was 
 permitted to pay his respects to the emperor, who showed 
 him the same kindness and consideration which he had 
 uniformly exhibited towards the Jesuit fathers whenever 
 brought personally into contact with them, and which 
 seemed very strongly to characterise his subsequent perse- 
 cution of the Christians as the effect rather of a mistaken 
 diplomacy than of any real hatred of the Christian faith 
 and its professors. The period of the Bishop's arrival in 
 Japan may b*e considered as the breathing-pause between 
 the commencement of persecution and its final adoption. 
 The sword had been unsheathed ; but, except in a few 
 isolated cases, it had not as yet drunk the blood of the 
 Christians; and under the prudent guidance of the new 
 Bishop, united to the personal consideration which the 
 emperor entertained for the Jesuits individually as well 
 as collectively, it is possible that he might even now 
 have been induced to sheath it again, had not the Fran- 
 ciscan missionaries still continued to act in such open 
 defiance of his orders, that he became more and more con- 
 vinced they were really plotting the ruin of his throne ; 
 and with the words of the Spanish captain, their country- 
 man, yet ringing in his ears, it is scarcely to be wondered 
 that he should have resolved upon the most summary 
 measures for ridding himself of their presence. Guards 
 were set by his command over both their house and 
 that of the Jesuits ; and this order being misrepresented 
 as a general persecution of the Christians, it was every 
 where hailed by them with feelings of exultation and 
 joy. Justo Ucondono rode at once to the Jesuits 
 house, to congratulate them on their good fortune ; and 
 the two sons of the Governor of Miako likewise entered 
 
104 JAPAN. 
 
 the city for the express purpose of sharing- the fate of 
 their brethren in the faith. 
 
 The elder of these two princes having- assembled his 
 servants to acquaint them with his resolution, they all 
 agreed, in the words of St. Thomas, to " go and die 
 with him ;" and on his objecting to one who was a re- 
 cent convert, and who, he feared, might hardly endure 
 the trial, the poor man made such earnest remonstrances, 
 that at last he was allowed to accompany them. The 
 younger brother, fearing his father's safety might be 
 compromised by the religion of his children, went to 
 acquaint him with the fact of his conversion ; and an 
 alfecting interview took place, during which the go- 
 vernor, with something of the spirit of an ancient 
 Roman, told his son "that passionately as he had 
 always loved him, and indeed still loved him, yet he 
 would put him to death with his own hand if the em- 
 peror should give him an order to that effect." Not 
 less firm, but with the firmness of a Christian spirit as 
 opposed to that of a heathen, was the young man's re- 
 ply. " He had revealed his religion," he said, " to se- 
 cure, not his own safety, but that of his father; and 
 whether he met his death by the actual hand of the 
 latter, or only by his order, he would still have a double 
 debt of gratitude to pay to him ; one for the temporal 
 life he had hitherto enjoyed, and now a second and 
 still greater, for that eternal life which he was about 
 to receive through his means." Having said thus 
 much, they parted ; the son returned to his anticipated 
 fate in the city, and the father to his wife, with whom 
 he lamented over his unhappy fate; for that if a mas- 
 sacre of the Christians should be ordered, he would cer- 
 tainly be condemned, by virtue of his official duties, to 
 be the executioner of his own child. 
 
 Nor were these mere isolated instances of courage 
 
 and resolution. Every where the Christians prepared in 
 
 me undaunted spirit to breast the waves of that 
 
 persecution which was destined to sweep them from 
 
 the face of the earth ; and no sooner was it known that 
 
Oil. VI.] JAPAN 105 
 
 Teig'o-Sama desired to have a census of his Christian 
 subjects, than men, women, and children flocked into 
 Miako to inscribe their names upon the list, hoping 
 thereby to win for themselves a martyr's crown. Va- 
 rious interesting anecdotes are told of the heroism dis- 
 played upon this occasion; and among- them we find a 
 curious instance of the mingling- of the old pagan pride 
 with the new-born zeal of the Christian convert in the 
 history of a good old man called Andrew. He had 
 been a renowned warrior in his day; and now, in the 
 eightieth year of his age, and the first of his conver- 
 sion, he was most anxious to die for Jesus; but he 
 could not understand the necessity of dying as Jesus 
 had died, that is to say, without remonstrance or resist- 
 ance; passive endurance was as yet but simple cowardice 
 in his eyes ; " he would die, indeed," he said, " right 
 gladly with the good fathers who had brought him to 
 a knowledge of the Christian religion ; but first he 
 would avenge their quarrel, kill all he could, and then, 
 and not till then, would he lay down his life for Christ." 
 In vain his son assured him, that if lie would merit the 
 martyr's crown he must not resist the sword ; the old 
 warrior could not comprehend this doctrine; and he had 
 worked himself up into a fit of real indignation at the 
 fancied cowardice proposed to him, when he chanced to 
 enter an apartment where his daughter-in-law was em- 
 ployed with her Christian servants in making garments 
 of that peculiar kind which the Japanese always wore 
 in the hour of execution ; and when, in answer to his 
 inquiries, they told him, half in jest and half in earnest, 
 that they were preparing these robes to die for Jesus, 
 his simple honest heart was so touched by their patient 
 resolution that he burst into tears, declaring that he 
 also would die as they did. 
 
 In truth, however, the emperor had not as yet made 
 up his mind, either to injure the Jesuits, or to shed the 
 blood of the Christians wholesale ; and this he caused to 
 be intimated to the Bishop, accompanied by an express 
 declaration, that his edict was directed solely against 
 
IOC JAPAN, 
 
 the Spanish Franciscans. In fact, almost immediately 
 
 afterwards the friars were condemned to lose their 
 ears and noses, and then to he crucified; and, as a 
 warning 1 to the great body of the Christians, twelve of 
 those who were most in the habit of frequenting- their 
 church were included in the same sentence, as were also 
 some young- children, a Jesuit father, and two Jesuit 
 novices, who chanced to he in the house at the moment 
 it was surrounded. These last might possibly have 
 been released upon proper representation of the case 
 to the emperor ; but it was considered dangerous to 
 try the experiment, lest his indignation should be 
 roused against the whole body, if he found that any 
 among them had been in communication with the 
 friars ; and the Provincial was reluctantly obliged to 
 leave them to their fate. The prisoners suffered the 
 amputation of a portion of their ears in the high town 
 of Miako, the governor, by a rare exercise of clemency, 
 having remitted the more barbarous mutilation contem- 
 plated by the sentence ; and some of these bloody tro- 
 phies being afterwards carried to the Father Superior of 
 the Jesuits, he burst into tears, partly of compassion, 
 but most of joy, while, offering them up to God, he 
 uttered these touching words : " Behold, Divine 
 Saviour, these first-fruits of our labours in Japan. 
 Grant that this blood, poured forth upon the earth, may 
 make it fruitful in faithful souls, who shall glorify Thy 
 Name in this unknown and distant cmarter of the 
 globe." 
 
 While this scene was passing in the college, the 
 martyrs themselves were conducted in carts about the 
 city, their sentence being carried upon long poles be- 
 fore them. Far, however, from the insults and deri- 
 sions which usually accompanied similar processions, 
 the crowd had nothing but respectful sympathy to offer 
 to the present victims; many were even moved to tears 
 as the cart containing the children passed along, and they 
 were seen standing together with their hands tied behind 
 them, and their little faces bathed in blood, while with 
 
en. vi.J japan. 107 
 
 their innocent voices they still sang hymns in honour 
 or* their God. 
 
 Father Peter Baptist, the Superior of the Francis- 
 cans, and a man possessing every virtue except pru- 
 dence, preached continually to the people as they went 
 along ; so also did Paul Miki, the Jesuit, who even 
 converted two of his guards in the course of this circuit. 
 Nangasaki was the town destined for their execution, 
 and hither they were soon afterwards despatched ; but 
 so badly mounted and so poorly clad, that but for the 
 voluntary charity both of heathens and Christians, they 
 must have died on the road from the inclemency of 
 the weather. 
 
 None of the Jesuits were permitted to accompany 
 them ; even the Bishop was obliged to send his bless- 
 ing by proxy ; but one of the fathers managed to meet 
 them before they arrived at Nangasaki ; and a halt, 
 contrived by the friendly governor -for this very pur- 
 pose, enabled him both to receive their general confes- 
 sions and the vows of the Jesuit novices, who were 
 most anxious to be admitted into the society before 
 their execution. Rodriguez also, the emperor's inter- 
 preter, was happy enough to obtain an interview with 
 the prisoners ; and Father Peter Baptist, in a spirit of 
 humility most touching and edifying at a moment when 
 all around were honouring him as a future martyr, 
 asked pardon of the Jesuit, on his knees, for the injury 
 which he now felt that he and his brethren had brought 
 upon the mission. Father Rodriguez was not to be 
 outdone in humility, therefore he also demanded par- 
 don of the Franciscans in the same lowly posture, on 
 behalf of his society, if haply any thing had been either 
 said or done on its side contrary to Christian charity; 
 and the two fathers then embraced each other with the 
 tenderest expressions of affection and esteem. The con- 
 demned Jesuits likewise thanked the Franciscans so 
 fervently for the share which they hnd had in this 
 happy consummation of their labours, that the guards 
 were filled with wonder, exclaiming almost in the very 
 
108 JAPAN, 
 
 words of those Roman soldiers who led Valerian and 
 his brother to their doom : " What manner of men 
 are these, who go to destruction as others to a banquet 
 or a ball ! Whoever saw so much suffering* and so 
 much joy? A hymn of triumph and a felon's death." 
 They might well ask the question ; and greatly must 
 their astonishment have increased when, upon drawing" 
 near to Nangasaki, the crosses destined for the exe- 
 cution became visible on the mountain-heights; for at 
 the sight of this new Calvary the martyrs burst into 
 fresh exclamations of joy and devotion, and little 
 Lewis more especially; seeing three crosses smaller than 
 the rest, eagerly inquired which was to be his, em- 
 bracing it, as soon as he reached the spot, with as much 
 eagerness and affection as even the apostle St. Andrew 
 had testified for his. 
 
 The boy was only twelve years of age, and might 
 easily have escaped when first taken at the convent; 
 but he preferred dying with the fathers to living with- 
 out them. Nor was this a mere momentary impulse of 
 love or of enthusiasm. Every one of these poor chil- 
 dren remained firm from first to last, notwithstanding- 
 the severe trial to which their constancy was put, botn 
 during the many days that elapsed after the cruel mu- 
 tilation practised upon them at Miako, and in the 
 weary journey and protracted preparations for their 
 final execution. In vain did the parents of one of 
 them beseech him to have pity on their grey hairs, 
 and to purchase safety at the price of his religion; in 
 vain did the governors themselves alternately offer life 
 to Lewis and to Anthony, with promises even of fa- 
 vour and promotion, if they would but abandon their 
 faith : entreaty and proposal were unhesitatingly re- 
 fused ; and baffled and disappointed, the tempter: 
 at length compelled to leave the children to their fate, 
 witli their older but not more heroic companions. 
 
 The Japanese mode of crucifixion is not that which 
 was suffered by our Lord, and which we naturally as- 
 sociate with the name. The victim is merely fastened 
 
en. vi.] japax. 109 
 
 to his cross by the hands and arms, and by an iron 
 ring- passing* round the neck so as to keep the head in 
 an erect position ; and a sharp lance then driven into 
 the heart extinguishes life in a moment. Such was 
 the death which the martyrs were now to endure ; and 
 lying- each upon his own cross, they waited for the 
 moment when they were to be lifted up on high. 
 Troops had been ranged round the foot of the hill in 
 order to prevent any but the nearest relations of the 
 martyrs from approaching* the spot ; but the vast 
 plains extending* from that point to the city were 
 thronged by a dense mass of people, come to witness the 
 execution. At first a solemn silence reig*ned through- 
 out that mighty multitude; every voice was hushed, 
 every heart and eye were fixed upon the fatal spot; but 
 when, at a given signal, the crosses were raised, and the 
 martyrs were seen hanging* each from his own cross, 
 with an executioner at his side, ready to strike the 
 fatal blow, the feelings of nature could no longer be 
 repressed, and from the plains below there rose a mourn- 
 ful cry that reached even to the ears of the dying* saints. 
 They respond ed not to the lamentation ; on the con- 
 trary, Father Peter Baptist began the Bencdlctus, and 
 at the sound of his voice the others took up the strain, 
 and continued it to the end with a devotion which quite 
 electrified the spectators. The children then asked Fa- 
 ther Peter to sing* with them the Laudate pticri ; but 
 absorbed in profound contemplation, he heard them 
 not; and they sang it therefore themselves, never ceas- 
 ing* until their innocent voices were hushed in death. 
 They were all struck nearly at the same moment, and 
 all met their fate with the same courage and constancy 
 as they had shown from the beginning ; but Paul Miki 
 seems more especially to have died in a spirit of de- 
 votion to the Passion of our Saviour. He it was who 
 had petitioned for this reason that they might be ex- 
 ecuted on a Friday; and having obtained this request, he 
 had also the consolation of dying with the very words 
 of Jesus on his lips ; exclaiming, u Into Thy hands I 
 
110 JAPAN. 
 
 commend my spirit" almost simultaneously with the 
 blow which sent him to his God. 
 
 No sooner was it known that the martyrs had actu- 
 ally expired, than all the scenes of the old Roman mar- 
 tyrdoms were renewed in their regard. A poor wretch 
 who, through fear or shame, had basely denied his re- 
 ligion, was reconverted on the spot; and taught by the 
 same unerring- instinct which had led the children of 
 the infant Church to seek the relics of the honoured 
 dead, often even at the risk of their own lives, the Japanese 
 converts now forced the barriers, and bursting through 
 every obstacle, tore off portions of the martyrs' robes, 
 and dipped veils and handkerchiefs in their gaping 
 wounds, until the governor was obliged to double the 
 guards, in order to remove the people to a distance.* 
 
 The blow which this martyrdom inflicted on the 
 Church was speedily followed by a fresh importation of 
 Christian warriors into the Corea, and by a new edict for 
 the banishment of the Jesuit fathers. Their churches 
 were every where destroyed ; such colleges as they had 
 been allowed to retain in the dominions of the Christian 
 kings were broken up, and the students scattered to 
 their several homes ; and, forced at length to yield to 
 the storm, the provincial had actually named some of 
 the least useful members of the society to be sent back 
 to India, in hopes of being thus enabled to retain the 
 others without incurring' the suspicions of Teigo-Sama, 
 when that monarch died. The last part of his reign 
 had been far less fortunate than its commencement. 
 Corea, won by the blood and treasures of his Christian 
 subjects, had been lost again by some unhappy failure 
 in his negotiations for peace — a failure chiefly to be 
 attributed to the delay which his absurd vanity had 
 caused him to make for the more magnificent reception 
 of the Chinese ambassadors who had been deputed to 
 treat at his court on the subject. Almost at the same 
 time, Japan was devastated by frightful storms and by 
 
 * These first martyrs of Japan were canonised by Pope Urban 
 VIII., and their festival is celebrated on the 5th of February. 
 
CH. VI.] JAPAN. Ill 
 
 a succession of earthquakes, one of which destroyed the 
 magnificent city and palace he had built for himself; 
 
 so that he, the mighty and unapproachable monarch, 
 the would-be conqueror of the world, and candidate for 
 the honours of divinity, was forced to fly in the midst 
 of the night from the ruins of his own abode; and with 
 no other apparel than such as he chanced to be wearing 
 at the moment, to seek for safety in the kitchen of a 
 slave. But no warning- reached his conscience, no 
 misfortune lowered his pride. As he had lived, so did 
 he die. Father Rodriguez, his interpreter, was with him 
 to the last, but he tried in vain to rouse him to the con- 
 templation of eternity ; even in the ag-onies of death the 
 ruling- passion of his life was strong within him, and his 
 soul was engrossed by his anxiety to secure the succession 
 to his son, a boy of about eleven years of ag-e, and to pro- 
 cure for himself the honour of being- placed among- the 
 idols of Japan. The latter wish was far more easy of ac- 
 complishment than the first. As soon as he had expired, 
 a temple was erected ; a statue which during* his lifetime 
 he had had the vanity to have modelled after his own 
 likeness was set up in it for adoration, and he was placed 
 among* the Chadotschi under the title of the new god 
 of war. Nothing could have been more favourable to 
 the Christian religion, or more fatal to the cause of 
 idolatry, than this gross act of adulation to the departed 
 monarch. The tradition of his life was yet fresh in 
 the memories of men. Every one knew him to have 
 been ambitious, debauched, cruel, proud, and sordid; 
 and naturally concluding that if he were indeed a 
 £tting object of adoration, the idols among whom 
 he had been placed must probably have been of the 
 same character as himself, thousands embraced Chris- 
 tianity who had hitherto been deaf to every argument 
 of the fathers. 
 
 The death of Teigo-Sama put an end to the Corean 
 war ; and the Christian princes being thus restored to 
 their own dominions, religion began to breathe freely 
 again. Churches were rebuilt, colleges re-established, 
 
112 JAPAN. 
 
 and tliing-s were soon nearly upon the same footing 
 as they had been in the days of Nobunanga ; but, un- 
 fortunately, the despotic and fluctuating' nature of the 
 government of Japan rendered every interval of peace 
 to the Church fleeting and uncertain as the g'lories of an 
 April day. 
 
 The young* prince being* still in his minority when 
 liis father died, Teigo-Sama had appointed a regency, 
 consisting of a chief governor, with forty-nine of the 
 inferior kings to act as his assistants. This singular 
 form of government was apparently chosen in order 
 that the number and mutual jealousies of the persons 
 thus strangely associated might act as a check both 
 upon the ambition of the reg*ent and upon that of 
 one another; and if the experiment was not altogether 
 successful, it showed at least the sagacity which had 
 foreseen and endeavoured to remedy the danger. 
 
 The regent commenced his government under the title 
 of the Deifn-Sama; but it soon became so manifest that 
 he intended to usurp the crown altogether, that Angus- 
 tine, Gibonoscia, and others of the governors, who, 
 having taken an oath of fidelity to the young prince, 
 were resolved to keep it, leagued together against 
 him. The good fortune of the admiral, however, had 
 at length departed; in the first pitched battle which 
 took place, the combined forces of the governors were 
 utterly defeated, and Augustine taken prisoner. For a 
 moment he had a violent temptation to disappoint his cap- 
 tors by suicide, an act so common and so admired among 
 his fellow-countrymen; but the law of God forbade 
 it, and the Christian chief put back the thought, and 
 with a nobler courage submitted to his fate. He was 
 led at once into the presence of the Prince of Budsen, 
 one of the generals in the victorious army, who had 
 formerly been his bosom friend. The prince was so 
 affected at the sight of the fallen chief, that he burst 
 into tears, and was unable to speak. Augustine saw 
 that he was weeping', and raising his head with great 
 dignity, addressed him thus : " Sir, you know what I 
 
CH. VI.] JAPAN. 113 
 
 once was, and you see what I have now become. I 
 have therefore nothing* new to say, and but one request 
 to make at your hands." 
 
 The prince was silent ; he thought Augustine was 
 going' to ask his life, which he knew to be forfeited to 
 Deifu-Sama's vengeance; and therefore he made no 
 reply. The prisoner guessed the cause of his em- 
 barrassment, and hastily went on to say, " It is not my 
 life that I ask ; had not the law of God forbidden it, I 
 had never been brought alive into your hands to-day. 
 All I crave is a Jesuit father who may prepare me to 
 die as a Christian should. 1 ' 
 
 Natural as this request might seem, it was refused 
 by Deifii-Sama, to whom it was referred; and thus left 
 destitute of all human succour, Augustine threw him- 
 self upon the mercies of God with such a generous con- 
 fidence, that, far from quailing before the prospect of 
 an ignominious death, he rather exulted in the thought 
 of being thus brought into closer imitation of his Lord 
 and Saviour. 
 
 When therefore he and his former friend Gibonoscia, 
 with another of their companions in misfortune, were 
 led to execution, mounted on pitiful horses, and exposed 
 to all the jeers and insults of the mob, it needed not 
 to ask who was the Christian, and who the heathen? 
 The faith in which they severally had trusted was 
 written upon their very faces. Filled with the human 
 pride inculcated and cherished by their idolatry, the 
 heathens were so overwhelmed by the shame of their 
 situation — a shame which for them had no hidden value 
 to compensate for its exterior bitterness — that they 
 covered their faces with their hands, and wept like men 
 in the depths of despair; while Augustine, on the con- 
 trary, as the disciple of a religion which places humilia- 
 tion above honour, and gives to virtue in disgrace a 
 precious consciousness of its resemblance to the Re- 
 deemer of mankind, not only met every insult with 
 the calmness of one who felt that nothing but sin could 
 really lower him in the eyes of God or the estimation 
 I 
 
114 JAPAN. 
 
 of good men, but with an air and manner which showed 
 alike his vivid hope of future bliss and the greatness of 
 his present consolation. 
 
 To a faithful Christian, despatched by the Jesuit 
 fathers to assist him in the hour of death, he declared 
 that he died not only content, but full of joy ; for having 
 confessed and communicated before going into battle, 
 he had since done all that had been suggested to him 
 as a fitting preparation for this solemn occasion. Some 
 of the bonzes then wished to perform in his favour 
 certain superstitious ceremonies usual on such occasions; 
 but rejecting their twice- oifered services with scorn, he 
 took a picture of our Lady into his hands, and set it 
 three times upon his head — -a mark of the greatest 
 honour and esteem that can be paid to any thing or 
 person in Japan. In fear, in trembling, and in tears, 
 his companions died; but when his turn was come, with- 
 out any change of countenance or of colour, he fell upon 
 his knees, and earnestly recommended his soul to God ; 
 his head was severed from his body while the words 
 " Jesus ! Mary !" the invariable death-cry of the Japa- 
 nese Christians, were yet trembling on his lips. Thus 
 perished this great man, — a hero in the estimation of 
 the world, a saint in the eyes of the Church. From 
 the first hour of his conversion to the day of his death, 
 he had been the unwearied promoter of the Christian 
 religion, and its most zealous and fearless defender 
 against the machinations of its enemies. His military 
 talents, his hig'h renown, his wealth and power, — all had 
 been devoted to this one great object; and he died at 
 last because, scrupulous of the oath which he had taken 
 to one prince, he opposed every attempt at usurpation 
 on the part of another. His wife and daughter found 
 a temporary asylum with the Jesuits at Nangasaki, 
 who offered them hospitality at the peril of their own 
 lives; but instead of resenting this act of gratitude to 
 their departed benefactor, Deifu-Sama seemed almost to 
 give it the sanction of his own approbation by after- 
 wards granting a free pardon to these ladies, who had 
 
CH. VI.J JAPAN. 115 
 
 been involved by the laws of the country in one com- 
 mon ruin with their father and husband. 
 
 The Queen of Tango was the only other Christian of 
 note who perished in this unhappy war. Her husband 
 had sided with Deifu-Sama ; but when he went to join 
 his army, he gave the cruel order that his wife should 
 be put to death if the enemy's forces approached near 
 enough the city to make it likely that she should fall into 
 their hands'. Grace seems to have been nearly idolised 
 by all who were about her ; when therefore the near 
 neighbourhood of the enemy rendered it imperative to 
 put the king's sentence into execution, those appointed 
 to the fatal deed fell upon their knees, and with many 
 tears declared their mission, as well as their intention 
 of destroying* themselves as soon as it should be accom- 
 plished. Far from being either astonished or dismayed, 
 the queen adored profoundly that Divine Providence 
 which mercifully called her from a world that had no 
 charms for her ; and then, seeking to console her hea- 
 then servants, who were howling and tearing their hair 
 with every sign of savage despair, she softly said: a O 
 my children, be not afflicted ! Death to a Christian 
 soul is but the passing from a temporal life to one that 
 is eternal. Do therefore your master's orders without 
 fear or sorrow ; but remember that God forbids you to 
 lay violent hands on yourselves, and I, your queen, for- 
 bid it likewise. Rather embrace the Christian religion ; 
 and then indeed I shall die content." 
 
 Unhappily, this advice was too contrary to their no- 
 tions of honour and fidelity to be at all acceptable to 
 those who heard her; and in the name of all the others, 
 the captain of the band declared that nothing- should 
 induce them to accept a religion which forbade the tri- 
 bute of affection they had determined on paying to her 
 memory. 
 
 Seeing all her arguments were in vain, the queen 
 retired to her oratory to pray, while they employed 
 themselves in filling the outer chambers of the palace 
 with gunpowder. This done, and the prayers of the 
 
116 JAPAN. 
 
 queen concluded, she took a tender and affectionate 
 leave of all her women ; and loosing- herself the silken 
 rohes from off her neck, she submitted to her fate with 
 the same calmness and serenity which she had shown 
 throughout every portion of this trying- scene. Her 
 reluctant executioners reverentially cast a silken mantle 
 over the body, and then setting* fire to the train of 
 powder which had been laid, they and every other in- 
 mate of the palace perished in the terrible explosion 
 which ensued. 
 
 The king- her husband lamented her death with a 
 g-rief as extravagant as thoug-h he had not been himself 
 the author of her doom ; and hearing- that the Jesuits had 
 collected some half-burnt bones, supposed to be those 
 of the murdered queen, with the intention of giving 
 them decent interment, he ordered them to perforin a 
 funeral Mass for her at Osaka. The church was hung 
 with black, and a chapelle ardente being placed before 
 the altar, the Mass was sung with so much majesty and 
 devotion, that the king, who with all his nobles was 
 present, declared that the ceremonies of his native 
 bonzes were far inferior to those in use among the 
 Christians. He was also much struck by the disinte- 
 restedness of the Jesuit fathers, to whom he presented 
 a large sum of money, but which they immediately 
 afterwards distributed among the poor : and from that 
 time he gave free permission to all his subjects to pro- 
 fess the Christian religion ; though he never attempted 
 to embrace it himself, — being one of those instances so 
 often to be met with in the history of Japan, and, alas, 
 not less frequently in that of the world at large, of men 
 who see the truth, admire and confess it, and yet live 
 and die without making it tbci>- own. 
 
CH. VII.] JAPAN. 117 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Persecution of the Church in the kingdom of Figo. Charity of the 
 Bishop and Jesuit Fathei-s. Martyrdoms of Japanese nobles, 
 vrith their wives and families. Persecution in Firando and 
 Arima. Heroic martyrdoms of children and others. 
 
 The death of Augustine and his compeers effectually 
 repressed any further attempt against the power of 
 Deifu-Sama ; and thus left to pursue his ambitious 
 designs unchecked, he no longer hesitated to take the 
 title of the Kumbo-Sama, which had never been in use 
 since the days of Nobunanga. Though the com- 
 mencement of his reign was not marked by persecution, 
 yet it is evident that the speech of the Spanish captain, 
 which had poisoned the mind of his predecessor ag-ainst 
 the Christians, still rankled darkly and silently in his 
 own; for however kindly he might express himself 
 towards individual professors of that religion, he never 
 could be persuaded either to repeal the persecuting laws 
 of Teigo-Sama, or to interfere with such of the inferior 
 monarchs as chose to put them into execution. In this 
 way hundreds of the best and noblest of Japan perished 
 under the jurisdiction of men scarcely their superiors, 
 and often only their equals, through some caprice of 
 fortune, or of imperial favour, which had put them in 
 possession of a conquered kingdom. 
 
 The king of Figo led the way in the ranks of the 
 persecutors by a sentence of outlawry against his Chris- 
 tian subjects, who, in consequence of this sentence, 
 were driven from their houses and deprived of all office, 
 revenue, and rank ; while the food and shelter which 
 the people of their own nation were forbidden to give 
 them, they were, by a most fiendlike ingenuity, pro- 
 hibited under pain of death from seeking elsewhere. 
 It is plain that death itself would have been almost a 
 
118 JAPAN. 
 
 mercy, compared to the miseries entailed by such a pe- 
 nalty as this; nevertheless cold, hunger, fatigue, and 
 death itself with its attendant horrors, all were endured 
 without a murmur for the sake of Christ; and at last, 
 at the end of six months, the sufferers were permitted 
 to go and seek the hospitality of their brethren at Nan- 
 gasaki, where they were received with the utmost ten- 
 derness and affection, the Bishop and his clergy (the 
 Jesuits) devoting to their support all the alms that 
 native Christians or foreign princes had offered for 
 their own. 
 
 Scarcely had the exiles reached this hospitable asy- 
 lum ere another edict was published in Figo, command- 
 ing all the remaining Christians to repair to the house 
 of a bonze appointed for the purpose, and in his presence 
 to perform a certain ceremony, which was to be con- 
 sidered as a declaration of their belief in his teaching. 
 Death was to be the penalty of a refusal ; and two noble- 
 men, named John and Simon, were chosen as examples 
 of severity to the rest. Both were friends of the governor, 
 to whom the order had been intrusted, and he did what 
 he could to save them. " If they would but feign com- 
 pliance with the king's decree," or " have the ceremony 
 privately performed at their own houses," or " bribe the 
 bonze to allow it to be supposed he had received their 
 recantation," — each of these alternatives was as eagerly 
 urged as it was indignantly rejected ; and when a band 
 of ruffians dragged John to the bonze's house, and set 
 the superstitious book which was to be the token of his 
 apostasy by main force upon his head, he protested so 
 loudly and vehemently against the violence done to his 
 will, that nothing remained but to sentence him to 
 death. The execution took place in the presence of 
 the governor ; and from the chamber, still reeking 
 with the blood of one friend, he went to the house of 
 the other on a similar mission, and with equal reluct- 
 ance. 
 
 Simon was quietly conversing with his mother when 
 the governor entered; and the latter could not refrain 
 
CH. VII.] JAPAN. 119 
 
 from weeping" as he besought that lady to have pity 
 upon them both, and by advising- compliance with the 
 king's commands, to spare herself the angiiish of losing 
 a son, and himself that of imbruing- his hands in the 
 blood of a friend. Touching- as was the appeal, it 
 was made in vain; for in her answer the Christian 
 mother proved true to her faith j so that the governor 
 left the house, indignantly declaring that by her obsti- 
 nacy she was guilty of the death of her son. Another 
 nobleman entered soon afterwards, charged with the 
 personal execution of the sentence. This was no unusual 
 method of proceeding-, since every Japanese nobleman, 
 strange to say, may at any moment be called upon to 
 officiate in such cases, it being* a favour often granted 
 to persons of rank to die by the hand of a friend or a 
 servant, rather than by that of the ordinary headsman. 
 Jotivava was a friend of Simon's, and he proceeded 
 with what heart he might to his sad and revolting duty. 
 Knowing his errand well, Simon received him with an 
 affectionate smile, and then prostrated himself in prayer 
 before an image of our Saviour crowned with thorns, 
 while his wife and mother called for warm water that 
 he might wash, — a ceremony the Japanese always ob- 
 serve upon joyful occasions. Tears of natural regret 
 would now indeed even in the midst of this generous 
 exultation ; and Agnes, falling upon her knees, besought 
 her husband to cut off her hair, as a sign that she never 
 would marry again. After a little hesitation, he com- 
 plied with this request; prophesying, however, that she 
 and his mother would soon follow him to heaven ; and 
 then, accompanied by the three Giffiaques, or officers of 
 the Confraternity of Mercy, whom he had summoned to 
 be present at the execution, they all entered the hall 
 where it was intended to take place. Michael, one of 
 the Giffiaques, carried a crucifix • the other two bore 
 lighted torches ; and Simon walked between his wife 
 and mother, while his disconsolate servants brought up 
 the rear. An unhappy renegade met them at the en- 
 trance to take leave of Simon ; but struck by the con- 
 
120 
 
 JAPAN. 
 
 trast between his own conduct and that of the martyr, 
 he burst into tears, and was unable to speak. Most 
 eloquently did Simon urge him to repentance, uncon- 
 sciously using- almost the very words of his Divine 
 Master, as he bade him weep, " not for his own ap- 
 proaching fate, but for the fell apostasy by which he, a 
 renegade, had rendered himself guilty of hell-fire ;" 
 then distributing his rosaries and other objects of de- 
 votion as memorials among his friends, he refused to 
 give to the apostate a single bead, urgently as he be- 
 sought it of him, unless he would make a solemn pro- 
 mise of repentance and amendment. 
 
 The condition was at length accepted, and Simon 
 joyfully returned to his prayers. He and his friends re- 
 cited the litany ; and then, bowing before a picture of 
 our Saviour until his forehead touched the ground, the 
 nobleman who acted as executioner took off his head at 
 a single blow. It fell at the feet of one of the Gimaques ; 
 but his mother, with the courage of a Machabee, took 
 it in her hands, exclaiming, " dear head, resplendent 
 now with celestial glory ! happy Simon, who hast 
 had the honour of dying for Him who died for thee ! 
 My God ! Thou didst give me Thy Son ; take now this 
 son of mine, sacrificed for the love of Thee !" After 
 the mother came poor Agnes, weeping some softer 
 tears over the relics of her husband ; and then, fore- 
 seeing that her own death would speedily follow 
 upon his, she and her mother betook themselves to 
 prayer, the three Gimaques remaining in attendance 
 in order to be able to assist at their execution ; and, in 
 fact, twenty-four hours had not elapsed before it was 
 told them they were to die; the officer who came to 
 acquaint them with their sentence bringing with him 
 Magdalen, the wife of John, and Lewis, a little child 
 whom the latter had adopted as his own, both of whom 
 were condemned to a similar fate. 
 
 With eager joy the prisoners embraced each other, 
 praising, blessing, and thanking God, not only that 
 they were to suffer for Jesus, but also that they were 
 
CH. VII.] JAPAN. 121 
 
 to suffer on a cross like Jesus ; and then, robed in their 
 best attire, they set off for the place of execution in 
 palanquins which the guards had provided for the pur- 
 pose. The Giffiaques walked at their side ; but small 
 need had they to offer motives for constancy to these 
 heroic souls, burning- with the desire of martyrdom, and 
 eager to enter the path by which their nearest and 
 dearest had already ascended to heaven. Jane, the 
 mother of Simon, besought the executioner to bind her 
 limbs as tightly as possible, that she might thus share 
 the anguish which the nails inflicted upon those of 
 Jesus ; and she preached from her cross with so much 
 force and eloquence, that the presiding officer, fearing 
 the effects of her words upon the people, had her stabbed 
 without waiting for the rest of the victims. Lewis and 
 Magdalen were tied up next. They bound the child so 
 violently that he could not refrain from shrieking ; but 
 when they asked him if lie was afraid to die, he said he 
 was not ; and so they took and set him up directly op- 
 posite his mother. For a brief interval the martyr and 
 her adopted child gazed silently on each other ; then, 
 summoning all her strength, she said, " Son, we are 
 going to heaven : take courage, and cry, ' Jesus, Mary !' 
 with your latest breath." And again the child replied, 
 as he had done before when, on leaving their own 
 home, she had made him a similar exhortation, " Mother, 
 you shall be obeyed !" The executioner struck at him 
 first, but missed his aim ; and more than ever fearing 
 for his constancy, Magdalen exhorted him from her 
 cross, while Michael, standing at its foot, spoke words 
 of comfort to him. But the child needed not their 
 urging; he did not shriek again, nor did he shrink, 
 but waited patiently until a second blow had pierced 
 him through and through ; and the lance, yet reeking* 
 with his blood, was directly afterwards plunged into the 
 heart of his mother, whose sharpest pang had pro- 
 bably already passed on the instant when the son of 
 her love expired before her. And now the fair and 
 youthful Agnes alone remained, kneeling, as when she 
 
122 JAPAN. 
 
 first had reached the place of execution; for no one had 
 yet had the courage to approach her. Like the heads- 
 man of her namesake, the loveliest child of Christian 
 story, her very executioners could only weep that they 
 were bid to mar the heauty of any thing so fair ; their 
 hands were powerless to do their office ; and finding- at 
 last that no one sought to hind her, she went herself 
 and laid her gently and modestly down upon her cross. 
 There she lay, waiting .for her hour, calm and serene 
 as if pillowed on an angel's bosom, until at length 
 some of the spectators, induced partly by a bribe 
 offered by the executioner, but chiefly by a bigoted 
 hatred of her religion, bound her, and lifted up her 
 cross, and then struck her blow after blow, until be- 
 neath their rude and unaccustomed hands she painfully 
 expired. For a year and a day the bodies were left to 
 hang upon their crosses, as a terror to all others of the 
 same religion ; but Christians were not wanting to watch 
 the blackening corpses, and, with a love like that of 
 Respha, the mother of the sons of Saul, to drive from 
 thence the fowls of the air by day, and the beasts of the 
 field by night ; and finally, when the period of prohi- 
 bition was expired, reverently to gather the hallowed 
 bones to their last resting-place in the church of Nan- 
 gasaki. 
 
 The Giffiaques were the next who felt the tyrant's 
 rage. The governor himself urged on their punish- 
 ment, for the loss of his friends had made him furious ; 
 and, attributing it entirely, as indeed it was entirely to 
 be attributed, to the fact of their religion, he resolved to 
 wreak his vengeance upon all others who professed it. 
 One difficulty he had, however, in the full accomplish- 
 ment of his desire, namely, that no punishment which 
 he could devise for his victims was too dreadful to be 
 accepted by them with alacrity and joy. " What shall 
 I do with these men?" lie cried, in a kind of savage 
 perplexity upon being told that the Giffiaques had ra- 
 ther courted than evaded their imprisonment : " Death 
 they rejoice in, as in the acquisition of an empire, and 
 
CH. VII.l JAPAN. 123 
 
 they go to exile as a slave to freedom. The cross is a 
 royal throne, which they mount with pleasure and oc- 
 cupy with pride. I will therefore contrive for them a 
 fate which shall make death, under any form whatever, 
 a boon to be desired, but not to be attained." Within 
 the city -walls there was a prison which the king' Lad 
 constructed for the reception of his debtors. Open on 
 every side, its inmates were exposed both to the curious 
 gaze of the passing' crowds and to the alternate suf- 
 fering- of heat and cold, as summer or winter revolved 
 over their heads. There, huddled tog-ether in this en- 
 closure, the prisoners lay, not upon mats, nor yet upon 
 the damp cold earth, which in comparison would have 
 been a mercy, but upon heaps of horrid filth, the accu- 
 mulation of many years ; for by a hideous cruelty of 
 invention, the monster would never permit the cleans- 
 ing- out of these loathsome places, hoping- by the hor- 
 rible condition of their dung-eon to extort a speedier 
 payment from his victims. Into this den of suffering 
 the governor cast the three Christians whom he had 
 selected for his prey, never doubting- that they would 
 be soon subdued by the anguish of a life more terrible 
 than the most lingering- and painful death ; and so for 
 years the GinSaOjUes lingered on, breathing this infected 
 air — pillowed, sleeping and waking, on the loathsome 
 dung which matted all the pavement, feeding upon 
 such dry crusts and filthy water as their jailors chose 
 to give them ; until at length one among them died, 
 and then the tyrant, weary of such willing victims, 
 commanded the other two to be cut in pieces. 
 
 According to the usual custom of Japan, their chil- 
 dren were condemned to suffer with them • and how- 
 ever hateful such a practice must appear to the natural 
 heart of man, yet was it ever to the martyrs a most wel- 
 come boon 5 for theirs was a Christian as well as a pa- 
 rental love, teaching them to set the spiritual above 
 the temporal welfare of their children, and therefore 
 rather to rejoice in, than simply to meet with calm sub- 
 mission, that double condemnation which, by uniting the 
 
124 JAPAN. 
 
 fate of their little ones with their own, snatched them 
 from any future chance of perversion, and put them at 
 once in possession of their heavenly kingdom. 
 
 One of these little victims was sleeping- when they 
 came to fetch him: he was only six years old, and 
 so tiny, that he had to run as fast as he could in order to 
 keep up with the soldier who conducted him to execu- 
 tion ; yet, so far from being* frightened at his fate, he 
 even gazed without dismay on the disfigured corpses 
 of his father, uncle, and cousin, who had all suffered 
 ere he reached the spot ; and then, kneeling- down and 
 joining- his hands tog-ether, looked up smiling- in the 
 face of him who was to lay him at their side. That 
 look disarmed his executioner. The man suddenly 
 sheathed his sword, declaring that he had not the 
 heart to perform his office ; and when two others 
 sought to do it for him, they also burst into tears as 
 that innocent smiling- face met their downward gaze ; 
 nor was the deed accomplished until a common slave, 
 compelled by force to the odious duty, literally hacked 
 and hewed the poor infant to pieces. 
 
 While these scenes, and scenes like these, were con- 
 stantly recurring- at Fig*o, the kingdom of Firando, 
 where persecution had first commenced, and where it 
 never could be said to have entirely ceased, was like- 
 wise giving its quota of martyr-triumphs to the Church; 
 Damian, the blind man of Amang-ucchi, whom we have 
 honourably mentioned in a former chapter, being al- 
 most the first to lay down his life for the faith. From 
 the time when the Jesuit fathers were forcibly driven 
 out of that city, the entire management of the infant 
 mission had devolved upon this poor old man, whose 
 life was henceforth passed in preaching-, catechising 
 and baptising-, visiting the sick, and burying the dead, 
 and doing- as much of the work of a zealous missionary 
 as could be accomplished by any one lacking- holy or- 
 ders. This was sufficient for the tyrant, and Damian 
 received his choice between Christianity and death on 
 the one hand, and on the other, apostasy and life, with 
 
CH. VII.J JAPAN. 125 
 
 all that could make life most desirable to the heart of 
 man. 
 
 The brave old Christian was not long- in making' 
 his choice ; and he died for a testimony to the faith, as 
 he had lived for its propagation, his body being" cut to 
 pieces, in order to prevent the other Christians from 
 collecting- his relics for more honourable interment. 
 
 His death was the signal for innumerable other 
 massacres in this and other kingdoms of Japan; but 
 nowhere was the heathen enmity more unrelentingly 
 displayed than in the once flourishing- and Christian 
 king-dom of Arima. The king' of that country had 
 indeed caused all his children to be brought up Chris- 
 tians ; but the eldest, Michael, by no means responded to 
 the care and anxiety which had been lavished upon him. 
 Mean, heartless, and ambitious, he possessed less of the 
 convictions of a Christian convert than of that lust of 
 power and worldly honour which especially distinguished 
 his heathen ancestors, — a passion which ultimately caused 
 him to stop at no means, however base and wicked, 
 whereby he mig-ht be enabled to gratify his desires. 
 
 Actuated by this double motive, he divorced his 
 legitimate wife for the purpose of espousing- the daughter 
 of the Kumbo ; the old king, Christian though he was, 
 weakly and wickedly connived at this intrigue, and had 
 to mourn for the rest of his days over the mingled sin 
 and folly of his conduct; for Michael, false to his father 
 as he had been treacherous to his God, did not hesitate 
 to use his new wife's influence at court in order to wrest 
 the government of Arima out of his hands. This reverse 
 brought the old monarch to his senses. Like another 
 David, he confessed that he had sinned ; and acknow- 
 ledging that the God upon whose laws he had trampled 
 had dealt justly by him, he accepted his sentence with- 
 out a murmur, and led a most exemplary and penitential 
 life in the exile to which his son had consigned him. 
 By and by, however, the latter, fearing- lest some future 
 change of fortune might restore him to the Kumbo's 
 
126 JAPAN. 
 
 favour, obtained from that monarch an order for his 
 execution. 
 
 The choice of suicide, ns the more honourable mode 
 of death, was given to him ; but the king* made on 
 answer worthy of his better days : " He wanted," he 
 said, " neither courage nor resolution to die by his own 
 hand: but the law of God forbade it, and he chose rathe* 
 to pass -for a coward in the eyes of men than to prove 
 really a rebel in the sight of God." 
 
 There was no priest to soothe and encourage him in 
 his dying* moments ; but his wife Justa remained with 
 him to the last, exhorting- him continually to repentance 
 and to confidence in God. Before he died he wrote a 
 letter to his wicked son entreating* his forgiveness (as if 
 he were the injurer and the- other but his victim); and 
 then, having caused the history of the Passion .to be 
 read aloud, he submitted with patience and firmness to 
 his fate. 
 
 Michael might now appear to have rid himself of 
 the only lawful claimant of his power; but he was timid 
 and suspicious, as tyrants ever are, and lie could not 
 forget that he had still two brothers, who, though as 
 yet but infants, might one day live to avenge their 
 father's quarrel and to take possession of his throne. 
 They were the children of a second marriage, and there- 
 fore only half-brothers to the unnatural Michael; the 
 eldest, Francis, was not more than eight years old, and 
 the youngest little better than an infant; but, thanks 
 to the training of their mother, Justa, they possessed a 
 strength of purpose in the matter of religion which 
 might have put older and better instructed Christians to 
 the blush. " Why will you not denounce the God of the 
 Christians ?" demanded Michael's heathen wife, pausing 
 in the midst of the treacherous caresses she was lavish- 
 ing on Francis : but the boy only answered, " that he 
 would rather die ;" and, again, when the youngest was 
 urged to put aside the beads which he wore about his 
 neck, he replied, "that he would not, lest people 
 
CH. VII.] JAPAN. 127 
 
 should say he had renounced the faith."' Answers 
 such as these soon set the seal upon their fate. Michael 
 felt, or fancied, that with such a strong- bias in favour 
 of the Christian religion, the eyes of all others of that 
 persuasion (and it numbered already almost the entire 
 population of the kingdom) would he fixed upon them 
 as upon their legitimate chieftains. There could he no 
 truce to his jealous fears while they were living, and so 
 they were condemned to die. But while he resolved 
 upon the deed, he yet shrank from the odium which it 
 would attach to his name; and for full two months 
 they were kept immured in the vaults of his own 
 palace, before he ventured to issue the order for their 
 execution. 
 
 We are indebted to a Christian servant, by name 
 Ignatius, for a touching account of their last moments, 
 as he afterwards gave the story to the Jesuits at Nan- 
 gasaki. Accustomed as all Japanese children are from 
 their infancy to the idea of murder, probably they had 
 all along had some presage of their own future fate; for 
 the entire period of their imprisonment seems to have 
 been spent by them in fasting and in prayer. Often 
 their guards could scarcely prevail upon them to eat 
 sufficient for the preservation of life; and the very 
 night upon which they died, Francis subjected himself 
 to an additional abstinence, in punishment for some 
 word or action wliich he fancied had been unkind to 
 his keeper. Long also after his little brother was fast 
 asleep, moved as it seemed by some hidden impulse, 
 he continued to watch in prayer, until, yielding- at length 
 to the remonstrances of his faithful friend IgTtatius, 
 the little prince prepared for rest. First, however, he 
 paused in prayer before a pious picture ; and Ignatius, 
 knowing what was going to happen, seized the op- 
 portunity to praise the practice of recommending the 
 soul to the Blessed Virgin as if it was to be called to 
 its account that very night. Quick as lightning the 
 child acted upon the suggestion, and said aloud, " By 
 the passion and death of Jesus Christ, be mindful of 
 
128 
 
 JAPAN. 
 
 me this night, Mary ! Mother and mistress of my 
 heart, to you I commend both body and soul, and I 
 put my eternal safety into your hands." 
 
 So beautiful and appropriate was this impromptu 
 prayer, that it must have seemed as an inspiration to 
 his awe-struck listener ; but he might, not reveal his 
 emotion ; and when the child had taken holy water, and 
 laid himself down to sleep with the sweet names of 
 Jesus and Mary yet trembling* on his innocent lips, 
 Ignatius left the room, unable to endure the cruel 
 tragedy which he knew was about to follow. Next 
 morning, when he returned to his post, he found both 
 the infants lying drowned in their own blood ; but, 
 with a merciful cruelty, the executioners had stabbed 
 without arousing them from their slumbers, so that 
 they passed from life to death before they had even 
 feared or fancied that a murderer was at hand. 
 
 Meanwhile Michael proceeded every day to commit 
 fresh acts of cruelty against the Christians of Arima. 
 Under the guidance of his chief minister Safiori, who 
 in his turn was plotting for the crown, of which Michael 
 himself had robbed his father, he had already pulled 
 down the churches, overthrown the crosses, sent hun- 
 dreds of the principal Christians into exile, and banished 
 the Jesuit fathers, to whose influence he attributed their 
 constancy in the struggle; and having thus, as he 
 hoped, destroyed every landmark to which they could 
 confidently look for guidance, he published an edict 
 commanding them all to embrace idolatry or die. At 
 the first mutterings of the coming storm, the Christians, 
 by general consent, had enrolled themselves in a con- 
 fraternity, styled especially " of martyrs," because, be- 
 sides the usual practices of prayer, fasting, and penance, 
 common to all similar associations, the members pledged 
 themselves to suffer loss of property, banishment, or 
 martyrdom itself, faithfully and joyfully, for the Name 
 of Jesus. This confraternity afterwards extended itself 
 over other parts of Japan; and it was even adopted by 
 the little children, who were destined to play nearly as 
 
CH. VII.] JAPAN. 129 
 
 prominent a part in the coming- persecutions as their 
 parents themselves, and to whom it was therefore given 
 by the Jesuit fathers, with rules and practices adapted 
 to their tender year?. repared and strengthened 
 
 for the struggle, the Christians waited in patient cou- 
 rage its commencement; and they had not long to 
 wait. A celebrated bonze was sent for to Ariina, avow- 
 edly for the purpose of reconverting* the Christian re- 
 cusants to the religion of their fathers ; but his sermons 
 were unattended, or attended by those who went less to 
 listen than to refute- nor would the Christians even 
 visit him without having- their beads suspended from 
 their necks, — a circumstance which caused him all the 
 deeper mortification that the wearing* of a rosary was 
 always considered by the Japanese as most unequivo- 
 cal declaration of Christianity. In vain the king* com- 
 manded, and the queen received the missionary bonze 
 with every pos ible reverence and submission at the 
 palace ; the very ladies of her court refused obedience. 
 They would not even hearken to the teacher of idola- 
 try; their precious rosaries still sparkled on their necks; 
 and imprisonment, ill-usag*e, and starvation, were all 
 employed without success to compel them to retract 
 their spirited determination. 
 
 Thus foiled and defeated at the very footsteps of his 
 throne, Michael sent for a nobleman of the name of 
 Thomas, renowned for his prowess both by sea and by 
 land, and with every art of persuasion in his power, 
 sought to induce him to yield obedience to his orders. 
 The blunt soldier listened impatiently to the miserable 
 sophisms of his chieftain, and then flatly told him, that 
 as a soldier would be deserving* of death for deserting* 
 his colours, so he should consider himself the most des- 
 picable of human beings, if for fear or favour of earthly 
 monarch he could desert that King* of kings to whom 
 on the day of his baptism he had sworn allegiance; 
 ending* (so great was his indignation that he could not 
 contain himself) with a rough speech, to the effect that 
 he hated traitors as he hated treason, and would prefer 
 & 
 
 . 
 
130 JAPAN. 
 
 death itself to the baseness of committing- the one, or of 
 being" associated with the other. Such a speech to such 
 a man the Christian well knew could only be uttered at 
 the hazard of his head ; no sooner, therefore, had he 
 left the royal presence, than he sent for one of the Je- 
 suit fathers, then lying- hid in the city, and prepared 
 himself for death. When urged by his friends, for his 
 own sake, and for the sake of his family, who would 
 otherwise be involved in his ruin, to seek safety by 
 flight, he answered with characteristic spirit, " that so 
 far from flying- martyrdom, he would go to the end of 
 the earth to seek it ; and that he loved his children alii 
 too well to think of depriving them of a blessing which 
 he coveted for himself above the empire of the world." 
 _/ The next day the governor of the city invited him 
 
 to dinner (so strangely do they manage these affairs in 
 Japan) ; and Thomas, well aware of his approaching 
 fate, took an affectionate farewell of his wife and chil- 
 dren before accepting the ominous invitation. While 
 he sat at table, his host presented him with a sword, 
 asking his opinion as to its capabilities for the decapi- 
 tation of a human head. Thomas, looking at it care- 
 lessly, pronounced it well made, and fitted for such a 
 work ; whereupon the governor, receiving it out of his 
 hands, stabbed him dead on the spot. A few hours 
 afterwards his brother, quite as uncompromising a 
 Christian as himself, suffered a similar fate; his mo- 
 ther Martha and his two young sons were also con- 
 demned ; while his wife and daughter were, by a caprice 
 of mercy, or perhaps of cruelty, exempted from the sen- 
 tence. Very different from the ordinary effects of such 
 opposite judgments were the feelings elicited by them 
 on the present occasion : those who were to die blessed 
 God, in an ecstasy of pious joy, that He had culled 
 them to suffer for the faith ; while she who was to live 
 — a widow, and now all but childless — gave way to an 
 agony of grief at the double loss she was destined 
 to endure. While she wept over her cruel lot, Martha 
 called her grandchildren, and embracing them tenderly, 
 
CH. VII.] JAPAN, 131 
 
 told them, that as their father had died for Jesus Christ, 
 so she and they were now to do the same, and then to go 
 and live with him in heaven. The children quietly an- 
 swered, " that there was nothing' which they wished for 
 better ;" asking', at the same time, " when it was to be." 
 " Just now," she said ; " so go and take leave of your 
 mother, and prepare yourselves for death." With smil- 
 ing- countenances, the children hastened to obey; and 
 having- distributed their toys among their playfellows, 
 and made some parting- presents to then 1 nurses, they 
 clothed themselves in the white robes which Martha 
 had taken care to provide for the occasion, and knelt 
 before their mother, saying-, " Adieu, dear mother ; we 
 are going to be martyred." She was weeping- at the in- 
 stant as if her very heart would break ; but fearing to 
 discourage her children, or cast the shadow of her own 
 maternal grief over their coming hour of trial, she em- 
 braced them, saying, u Go, dear children ; and remem- 
 bering Him who died for you, tread courageously in 
 the footsteps of your father and your uncle. Behold 
 them stretching- out their arms to help you; behold 
 the saints and angels with crowns prepared to set upon 
 your heads ; behold Jesus Christ Himself inviting you 
 to His most sweet embraces ; and when you reach the 
 place of execution, show yourselves to be indeed His 
 followers by your contempt of death. Fall on your 
 knees, loosen your collars, join your hands, bow down 
 your heads, and cry out Jesus ! Mary ! with your latest 
 breath. Oh, how wretched am I that I cannot be with 
 you in that hour !" Then, hiding her face in the arms 
 of her little ones, the poor mother burst into an uncon- 
 trollable fit of weeping, moving the very soldiers to such 
 compassion, that, feartul of yielding to their feelings, 
 they tore the children from her embraces, and almost 
 threw them into the palanquin which was to convey 
 them and their grandmother to the place of execution. 
 During the short transit thither, that venerable Chris- 
 tian took care to occupy the little victims in prayer and 
 pious ejaculations ; nor did she cease her guardian-care 
 
1313 JAPAN. 
 
 when they reached the fatal spot; for she stood and saw 
 them one by one butchered before her eyes, and then, 
 advancing- with a grave and stately pace, she in her 
 turn submitted to the sword. 
 
 After this execution, eight of the principal citizens 
 of Arima were summoned to the presence of their king-, 
 and there commanded to abjure the faith; while he, 
 persecuting- tyrant as he was, had the face to tell them 
 that he only required an external submission, since he 
 too was in heart a Christian like themselves, though 
 compelled for the present by the emperor's orders to 
 conceal his faith. Five out of the eight agreed to this 
 infamous proposal ; but four of them afterwards sincerely 
 repented. The others were not to be cajoled out of their 
 convictions, and were consequently condemned with their 
 families to the penalty of fire. As soon as their sen- 
 tence was made known atNangasaki, one of the Fathers 
 came privately to Arima to give spiritual succour to 
 the captives, and thousands of Christians also nocked 
 from every part of the country to witness their execu- 
 tion. 
 
 Never before perhaps had the Church presented 
 such a spectacle to the world ; and possibly never will 
 she offer such another again. For three whole days 
 that vast multitude remained camped in the open fields, 
 patiently waiting for the execution of their brethren : 
 but their presence struck terror into the heart of the cra- 
 ven king ; and dreading lest they should either rescue 
 the prisoners or seize upon the town, he faltered in his 
 purpose. It never occurred to him that they of whom 
 he reared such things would as soon have thought of 
 robbing him of his material crown as of depriving the 
 martyrs of their palm; they had, in fact, been careful 
 to come without, even their ordinary weapons of defence, 
 in order to avoid the possibility or a doubt as to their 
 peaceable intentions ; and no sooner did they suspect 
 the cause of the delay, than some of the gravest of their 
 number waited on the governor to explain that they 
 were merely there to witness the ceremony, and to 
 
CH. VII.J JAPAN. 133 
 
 promise that there should he neither tumult nor resist- 
 ance if they were permitted to remain. Thus encouraged 
 •and reassured, preparations for the martyrdom went on 
 apace. A wide plain just heneath the castle of the 
 town was chosen for the purpose; the prisoners were 
 confessed and communicated by a Jesuit father; and 
 on the day appointed they came forth, dressed in their 
 robes of ceremony, and with their hands tied behind 
 their backs, accompanied by upwards of 40,000 Chris- 
 tians, bearing- lights in their hands and garlands on 
 their heads, and singing the Litanies of our Blessed 
 Lady as they went along. Among the victims was a 
 boy not more than eleven years old, and a young girl 
 called Magdalen, who having already made a vow of 
 virginity, had always led a life holy and pure as that 
 of the martyr- virgins of old. 
 
 These children, as well as their elder companions, 
 all affectionately embraced the stakes to which they 
 were afterwards tied; then Gaspar, the chief of the 
 Confraternity of Martyrs, unrolling a banner upon which 
 was displayed a figure of the Son of God, bound like 
 themselves to a pillar, made them a brief exhortation 
 to perseverance ; and even as he was speaking, fire was 
 set to the piles of combustible materials, which had been 
 laid at a considerable distance from the martyrs, for the 
 cruel purpose of prolonging then' tortures. As the first 
 gleam of this fearful element of death shot upwards to 
 the skies, the entire multitude fell with one accord upon 
 their knees ; and still, as the fire drew near its victims, 
 the plain re-echoed with the oft-repeated " Jesus ! Mary !" 
 — " Jesus ! Mary !" of the spectators, who sadly struck 
 their breasts in penance for their own sins, and to obtain 
 the grace of perseverance for their brethren. Nearer 
 and nearer yet it hurried ; but even above the roar of 
 the rapidly-approaching flames, and the sighs and 
 lamentations of those who watched them, the voice of 
 the martyrs might be heard, praising God, and ani- 
 mating each other to constancy and courage. At length 
 the fiery sea had reached them, and their cords were 
 
134 JAPAN. 
 
 burst ; and then every eye was riveted on the child, tc 
 see whether he would stand of his own free will in that 
 burning- scorching* furnace. A moment's pause — he 
 leaves his stake ; but it is only to run through the 
 dense flames, until he has reached and flung his arms 
 around his mother ; while the young- Magdalen avails 
 herself of her freedom to stoop to the burning embers, 
 and, picking up the living- coals, set them as a garland 
 of roses on her head. She died almost in the very 
 effort ; but the mother of the child James, with a he- 
 roism of even perhaps a higher order, found strength 
 in the midst of her own tortures to speak words of cou- 
 rage to her little one, until death released them from 
 their sufferings. The flames had scorched the bodies, 
 but had not consumed them ; and they were carried 
 off, together with the blackened and half-burnt stakes, 
 as precious relics by the assembled Christians. The 
 bodies were laid to rest in the church of Nangasaki ; 
 where over their honoured graves was afterwards erected 
 a monument, telling* alike of their heroic end, and call- 
 ing upon all who read to follow in their footsteps. 
 
 The tiger had now thoroughly tasted blood ; and he 
 hesitated no longer. Execution after execution followed 
 in Arima ; until the infatuated Michael was deluded into 
 resigning his kingdom to the Kumbo, and demanding 
 another in its stead. The arch-traitor who guided his 
 counsels had led him to believe that by this manoeuvre 
 the emperor would be induced to assig*n to him a larger 
 and wealthier government : but the result only proved 
 the folly of the king and the acuteness of his adviser ; 
 for Michael, to his inexpressible mortification, was re- 
 manded to an inferior kingdom, — while that of Arima 
 v as bestowed upon Safiori, who from first to last had 
 ' < en plotting his destruction. 
 
CH. VIII.] JAPAN. 135 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Treachery of Dutch Protestants. General persecution of the Chris- 
 tians. Heroic conduct of Christian virgins. The Jesuits and 
 others banished from Miako. Exile and death of Justo LJcon- 
 dono. More fierce and universal persecut on. Particulars of 
 the sufferings of the martyrs at Coch notzu, Nangasaki, Miako, 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 The year 1614 dawned darkly on the prospects of the 
 Church of Japan ; for with it commenced that direct 
 imperial persecution, which, however it might now and 
 then be modified by circumstances, yet never really 
 ceased its efforts, until by the stake or by the sword, 
 by the boilng waters of Ungen or the frozen rivers of 
 Xindai, the last germs of Christianity had been rooted 
 out of the soil. Up to this period the Kumbo had been 
 content, by a nicely-adjusted system of neutrality, to 
 countenance, without absolutely authorising, the cruel- 
 ties of the inferior kings ; but unhappily the events of 
 each succeeding year had added strength and consist- 
 ency to his own suspicions of the Christians. The 
 Spanish captain had by his boasting cast the seed; 
 the vast and ever-increasing possessions of his nation 
 in the Indies and elsewhere had fostered it in the bud ; 
 but to the Protestants of Holland was reserved the 
 honour or the infamy of carefully cherishing into fullest 
 vigour that fell upas-tree of suspicion, beneath whose 
 deadly shade the Christianity of Japan was destined to 
 expire. 
 
 Never, perhaps, since that dark hour when Christ 
 Himself was sold for silver to the Jews, had the doctrines 
 which He came to teach been betrayed more deliberately, 
 or in a more wholesale manner, than upon this occasion. 
 For the wicked, or perhaps only the inconsiderate word 
 of one of her careless sons, Spain had given in atone- 
 
136 JAPAN. 
 
 raent the blood of her missionaries, the treasures of her 
 kings, the charities and prayers of thousands of her 
 people. Portugal might boast that Christianity was 
 indebted for the very fact of its existence in Japan to 
 the zenl and exertions of her merchant-princes. They 
 it was who had brought Anger to the feet of Xavier, 
 and Xavier himself to the court of the Satsumian mon- 
 arch ; they it was who had reverently escorted him 
 into the presence-chamber of the almost inapproachable 
 Kumba; they it was who had put back to Bongo to 
 rescue or to die with their saintly missionary, when 
 wind and tide had already carried them far from the 
 murderous machinations of the bonzes; and finally, they 
 it was too, who, not once only, but on many occasions, 
 setting the interests of Jesus above those of their own 
 material commerce, left a rich and luxurious city to 
 traffic at a poorer port, in order that they might thereby 
 encourage the liberal sentiments of the ruler in the one 
 case, or repress by motives of personal gain the perse- 
 cuting designs of a despot in the other. The glory of 
 Portugal may have gone out of her, and the names of 
 such men as the Gamas and Alvarez may no longer be 
 inscribed on the annals of her kingdom ; but the virtues 
 of the dead are not to be effaced by the degeneracy of 
 the living; and wherever honest history is read, or truth 
 prevails over the distorted fictions of prejudice and error, 
 the crime of treading out the expiring- embers of Chris- 
 tianity in Japan will be a stain on the shield of Holland; 
 while of the Portuguese it must still be written, that 
 but for their fostering charity, and unprompted and 
 most disinterested zeal, thousands of noble-hearted mar- 
 tyrs would never have won their palms, and thousands 
 and tens of thousands of saintly and most faithful Chris- 
 tians would have lived and died, and been gathered to 
 their fathers, unsanctified by the saving waters of bap- 
 tism, unblest by the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. 
 Had the Dutchmen been heathens, there might have 
 been something to reprobate, but nothing to wonder at 
 in their conduct; but they were Christians, pledged 
 
CH. VIII J JAPAN. 137 
 
 by that name, and by all which that name implies, to 
 the belief that faith in the Redeemer is necessary to 
 salvation ; yet they acted towards Christianity the part 
 of Judas, and for the same mean motive ; and it was an 
 evil hour for the Japanese, and for their children, and 
 their children's children, when love of lucre brought 
 the money-minded men of Protestant Holland to traf- 
 fic on their shores. Small chance had they with their 
 cloth, and cheese (which latter the Japanese never eat), 
 and their other useful but homely wares, of winning' 
 the favour of this luxurious people from the ships of 
 Spain and Portugal, laden as they ever were with the 
 treasures of the Indies ; and no sooner did they become 
 cognisant of this fact, than, with a worldly wisdom as 
 far-seeing as its morality was detestable, they resolved, 
 if they could not successfully compete with their rivals, 
 treacherously to drive them from the market altogether. 
 
 The unlucky saying of the Spaniard had long since 
 become a sort of bye-word in the nation ; and quite as 
 patent to the people were the suspicions it had engen- 
 dered in the minds of their rulers. The Dutchmen (and 
 there was an Englishman among them too) seized upon 
 the calumny, and plying the Kumbo with false and exag- 
 gerated tales of the ambition of the King of Spain, mali- 
 ciously represented the missionaries to be mere political 
 emissaries in his pay, saying that they were men so noto- 
 rious for intrigue as to have been long since banished 
 from England, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and, in fact, 
 from every country where the monarch valued his 
 authority, or wished to keep possession of his crown. 
 This foul slander speedily produced its proper and ex- 
 pected fruit. 
 
 If Christian kings feared Christian priests, what had 
 not he, an idolater, to dread from their machinations ? 
 And if Christian kings were not ashamed to drive 
 Christian priests out of their dominions, why should he, 
 the emperor of a heathen land, ruling too over bonzes 
 most hostile to their teaching, hesitate to do so also ? 
 In fact, he did not hesitate. Persecution was almost 
 
138 JAPAN. 
 
 instantly resolved on; but as it was found, on mqrriry, 
 that the palace itself was filled with Christians, he was 
 obliged to commence the projected work among the 
 members of his own household. Fourteen of those 
 more immediately in attendance on his own person or 
 that of the queen, were driven into banishment ; and 
 among- them was that Corean Julia, who from the 
 desolate rock to which she was exiled, wrote such won- 
 derful things to the Jesuit fathers of the consolation 
 with which her soul was overflowing in the midst of 
 her desert ; and Didaques, a young* man of such holy 
 mind and innocent manners, that his very name had 
 passed into a proverb for purity among the heathens ; 
 and to say that such a one had become a " Didaques/' 
 was only the familiar mode of expressing that he had 
 passed from the vices of a heathen court to a more 
 edifying and exemplary way of living. 
 
 The first blow was now struck ; and in the Kumbo's 
 present disposition but little was needed to ensure its 
 repetition. The attendance of the Jesuit fathers at the 
 execution of a Christian criminal gave great offence, 
 and a hasty order was immediately issued for the 
 burning alive of every person who would not conform 
 to the religion of the state. Miako, like the palace, 
 was filled with converts ; and the next morning innu- 
 merable stakes, set by the Christians each at the door 
 of his own dwelling, gave notice that nearly half the 
 population of the city would rather die than deny the 
 faith. The execution of the sentence would have made 
 a desert of Miako ; it was not even to be thought of, 
 and every effort was therefore made to reduce them by 
 other means to obedience. Bribes, threats, and strata- 
 gems, were tried alternately, and tried in vain ; and then 
 followed every possible species of violence short of the 
 actual infliction of death. Men, women, and children 
 of every age and rank, were tied naked into sacks par- 
 tially filled with sharp straws and other wounding 
 substances; and after having been carried about the 
 town upon men's shoulders, exposed to the jeers and 
 
CH. VIII.] JAPAN. 139 
 
 insults of the mob, were thrown aside with as little 
 ceremony as if they had been indeed sacks of straw, 
 being- sometimes left for more than twenty-four hours 
 at a time exposed to the cold and biting- air of winter, 
 piled and huddled one upon another in such a careless 
 fashion, that many of them narrowly escaped with life. 
 This disgraceful treatment was practised towards even 
 certain pious women who had taken vows of chastity 
 and lived in community, spending* their time in deeds 
 of charity and devotion. Moreover, with that hatred of 
 all that is holy and pure which from the days of Cain 
 to the present hour has been the tribute that vice ever 
 pays to virtue, a still deeper ignominy was reserved for 
 these pure virgins, — the same that had been prepared 
 for some of the Christian virgins of ancient Rome. But 
 He who had clothed an Agones with a halo of light to 
 defend her against those who sought to rob her of her 
 dearest treasure, was not wanting to these Christian 
 maidens of Japan, who so earnestly invoked His help. 
 He did not indeed interpose miraculously in their behalf: 
 but He inspired them with a courage still more miracu- 
 lous ; and when the tempters came to seek their prey, 
 they found them so bleeding and disfigured by the 
 wounds which they had inflicted on their own faces, that 
 in horror and disgust they were fain to withdraw. Such 
 scenes as these were afterwards frequently repeated in 
 other parts of the empire, not merely upon religious 
 women, but also upon those whose social ties still re- 
 tained them in the world ; and always and in all places 
 every attempt to degrade them was met by those de- 
 fenceless beings in the same undaunted spirit of resist- 
 ance which had saved them at Miako ; while on the 
 other hand, in one or two instances it elicited acts of 
 apostasy from men, who, although they had heroically 
 endured scourge and torture in their own persons, yet 
 lacked the necessary faith and courage to endure the 
 insults heaped on their wives and daughters. 
 
 Enraged at finding himself foiled in every attempt by 
 the constancy of the Christians, the Kumoo proceeded 
 
140 JAPAN. 
 
 to banish them by hundreds, not merely out of Miako, 
 but out of Japan ; and in this sentence" the Jesuit and 
 Franciscan fathers were formally included. Fortunately 
 most of the former, in anticipation of some such event, 
 had been dispersed throughout the country in various 
 disguises : but it was impossible for those living- openly 
 in the college to evade it ; and a sad day it was, both 
 for them and for their flock, when they found themselves 
 forced to depart from a Church, which in sunshine and 
 in storm they had now governed for upwards of fifty 
 years. Fifty years it was indeed since Father Villela had, 
 by his heroic patience, won the city to his mission ; and 
 though during this long lapse of time the Jesuits had oc- 
 casionally been compelled to leave it, the intervals of their 
 absence were so few, and of such short duration, that 
 they could not be said to have ever really relinquished 
 it. They had dwelt there in peace, even when persecution 
 was rife in other kino-doms of the country ; and their 
 college, which had existed since the days of Nobunanga, 
 had become the resort alike of all classes of Christians 
 as well as of heathens, — of the rich as well as of the 
 poor,— of men of courtly lives, as well as of those of 
 learning or of commerce. Some sought them for the 
 knowledge of Jesus Christ ; others for instruction in 
 mathematics and astronomy, — sciences for which the 
 Society has ever been justly renowned ; indeed, so great 
 was the thirst of the Japanese for learning, that if the 
 Jesuits had chosen to throw aside their missionary cha- 
 racter, and to apply themselves entirely to the work of 
 secular instruction, they would have easily succeeded in 
 monopolising to themselves the highest honours and 
 emoluments of the state. That they did not do so is at 
 once the sign and seal of their missionary vocation, 
 and the only answer needed to the foul slander of their 
 calumniators, both ancient and modern.* 
 
 * The Japanese still retain an earnest desire to acquire that 
 knowledge which is denied them by the exclusiveness of their 
 government and customs. Even within the last lew years, a Dutch- 
 man, named Laxman, was bribed into pledging himself to remain 
 among them ; and he is probably at this moment residing at Ycddo, 
 
CH. VIII.] JAPAN. 141 
 
 Such was the respect and reverence in which they 
 were held even by their most determined enemies in the 
 court of Japan, that they were permitted to say a fare- 
 well Mass publicly in their church, and afterwards to 
 receive the adieus of their sorrowful Hock. Vast multi- 
 tudes attended upon this occasion- and when High Mass 
 was over, the Jesuits proceeded to the mournful cere- 
 mony of stripping- the altars, the people weeping- piteously 
 all the while, and the fathers nearly as broken-hearted 
 as themselves. All was at length removed that could 
 tempt to sacrilege; the sacred vessels and robes of 
 ceremony were confided to the care of such of the Chris- 
 tians as could best be relied on, the church-doors 
 flung- open for all who might choose to enter ; and the 
 next morning the fathers, under a guard of soldiers, 
 were far on their way to Nangasaki, where Safiori had 
 gladly undertaken the task of their embarkation. At 
 that town they were joined by such numbers of prisoners, 
 both clerical and lay, collected from all parts of the 
 country, that finally sixty-three Jesuits, with a crowd 
 of converts of every age, sex, and condition, were em- 
 barked for Macao; while twenty-three others, besides 
 a proportionate number of Franciscans, Dominicans, 
 and Augustinians (for each of these orders had now 
 missions in Japan), were despatched to the Manillas. 
 
 With these last went Justo Ucondono and his fa- 
 mily, again in poverty and disgrace for the sake of Jesus 
 Christ : but this time with the additional hardship of a 
 sentence of exile from his native shores. Most of the 
 missionaries with whom he was embarked returned at 
 different intervals, and in various disguises, to Japan. 
 He remained at the Manillas, where he had been re- 
 ceived by the governor with all the courtesy and affec- 
 tion due to a man of such tried and eminent merit ; 
 though so natural to his own true-hearted zeal did his 
 conduct appear, that to the last clay of his life he never 
 
 the present capital, employed in the construction of charts, and 
 making astronomical observations. What would not such a people 
 have done for the missionaries, whose lahours were gratuitous I 
 
142 JAPAN. 
 
 could understand why or wherefore such honour had 
 been lavished upon him. " I have done nothing* for 
 the King of Spain/' he was wont to say with a kind of 
 blunt simplicity; "why then should I look for favours 
 at his hand V And when the governor offered to procure 
 a pension for him, he answered, with all the true instinct 
 of a martyr, " That he never would consent to receive 
 again at the hand of man that which he had abandoned 
 in spirit as well as in fact for the love of God." So 
 also, when a little while afterwards he lay upon his 
 deathbed, he set the seal and crown upon a life of self- 
 denial and devotion in these noble words, his last and 
 only legacy to his children : " I bequeath them nothing, 
 and I recommend them to no man's care ; it is enough 
 of riches, and enough of honour, that they have suffered 
 for the faith of Jesus Christ." And in sentiments such as 
 these he breathed his last, surrounded by the best and 
 noblest of whom the Manillas could boast; the go- 
 vernor of the island, with the chief officers of his suite, 
 bearing his body to the gTave amid honours which 
 would have better suited a monarch than a private 
 man, if that man had not been Justo Ucondono banished 
 for the faith. 
 
 In the same year (1614) in which this wholesale 
 banishment took place, the Christians had to mourn for 
 the death of Lewis Cerquiera, Bishop of Japan. He had 
 succeeded to this office on the demise of Peter Martinez, 
 with whom he came over, and whose coadjutor he had 
 been ; and he is said to have literally died of a broken 
 heart for the ruin that had fallen on the infant Church 
 committed to his love and care. It is true, indeed, 
 that from the first he had undertaken the task in times 
 of great difficulty and danger; but at the period of his 
 arrival, though there was much to discourage, there had 
 also been much to strengthen and to cheer his heart. 
 From Nangasaki, where he had fixed his residence, 
 he had succeeded in making innumerable journeys to 
 the most distant parts of the kingdom ; and whither- 
 soever he went, thousands had flocked around him for 
 
CH. VIII J JAPAM. 143 
 
 instruction and confirmation. No kingdom or city was 
 too distant, no road too untrodden, no mountains too 
 high or too rugged to be accessible to his zeal ; and 
 when he returned from these weary wanderings, he 
 could sit down at Nangasaki, and feel that there at 
 least Almighty God had the entire homage of all hearts ; 
 for not only was it wholly inhabited by Christians, but 
 the five parishes into which it was divided were go- 
 verned by native pastors, the truest test of the conver- 
 sion of a people, and one which only the Catholic Church 
 has ever succeeded in presenting to the world in the 
 history of the propagation of the Christian faith. 
 
 Sadly had this lair scene changed within the last 
 few years, and rapidly had all that was brightest and 
 best disappeared from the picture. At the moment of 
 the bishop's death, the emperor had fulminated his final 
 edict against the Christians. Figo, Amanguchi, and 
 Firando were already dejuged in their blood ; Nanga- 
 saki was the head-quarters of Safiori, their implacable 
 foe, and an army of ten thousand men had been let. 
 loose upon Arima, to exterminate religion by fire and 
 sword. Whenever any of these troops were sent into a 
 district, a judgment-seat, surrounded by a palisade, was 
 set up in the most public place of the city ; the best 
 known among the Christians were then dragged by the 
 hair and cast into the enclosure, thrown upon the ground, 
 trampled under-foot, beaten until they were half-dead, 
 and their legs, by a cruel contrivance, broken between 
 two pieces of wood; the most intrepid were then put to 
 death, and their bodies, being cut into pieces, were cast 
 to the birds of prey. At Cochinotzu sixty Christians 
 were taken, five and five at a time, with their hands 
 tied behind them, lifted high up into the air, and then 
 dashed upon the ground with so much violence, that 
 blood gushed from the ears, eyes, and mouths of the 
 sufferers. Many of them were dreadfully lacerated, 
 others had all their bones broken ; and as if this were 
 not already sufficient torture, they were afterwards 
 pricked and pierced with sharp instruments all over their 
 
144 JAPAN. 
 
 bodies. The governor all the while was exhorting them 
 with affected compassion to spare themselves further 
 torments by renouncing- their religion; but when he 
 found that they were deaf to his entreaties, he proceeded 
 to inflict a new punishment,, so horrible that it is diffi- 
 cult to conceive the cruelty of the mind by which it was 
 invented. The victim being made to lie flat on the 
 ground, a stone, which four men could scarcely lift, was 
 placed on his back ; and then, by means of a pulley, 
 with cords attached to the legs and arms, he was raised 
 from the earth in such a manner that the body was bent 
 completely backwards, the limbs cruelly crushed and 
 broken, and in many instances the eyes forced out of 
 their sockets ; the fingers and toes of the victims were 
 then cut off', the teeth knocked out, and if the eyesight 
 yet remained, it was now destroyed. Many were not 
 beheaded until death had indeed become a mercy; 
 while others, less fortunate, after undergoing a yet 
 further mutilation of their persons, were compelled in 
 the" midst of their agony to climb up and down a flight 
 of stairs for the amusement of their tormentors ; after 
 which they were consigned to the care of their friends, 
 until one by one, as the strength of their constitutions 
 more or less prolonged the struggle of death, they 
 passed from their painful martyrdom to the crowns 
 prepared for them in heaven. 
 
 The bloody scenes of Cochinotzu were only a 
 sample of those which likewise desolated Aria, Obama, 
 Simabara, Swota, and every other city of note in the 
 kingdom of Arima; but more especially the capital, 
 where Safiori presided in person over the cruelties which 
 he had invented for his victims. For a little while, 
 however, he was interrupted in this pleasant pastime 
 by the revolt of Fideyori, the son of the late emperor, 
 who had at length resolved upon asserting his right to 
 the crown ; but the subsequent defeat and death of that 
 unfortunate prince putting an end to the war, Safiori re- 
 turned to Arima, again to attempt the eradication of a re- 
 ligion which had become thoroughly fixed and rooted in 
 
CH. VIII.] JAPAN. 145 
 
 the hearts of the people. His success, however, not 
 keeping' pace with his zeal, he was finally disgraced, 
 and his kingdom given to another. Meanwhile, in the 
 second year of the persecution, the Kumhosama died, and 
 was succeeded by his son, under the title of the Xoguno, 
 who proved to be a far more dangerous and inexora- 
 ble foe than any who had as yet been opposed to the 
 Christians. More cruel in disposition, more determined 
 and prompt in action, and gifted with far more acute- 
 ness and penetration, he seized at once upon a truth 
 which his father had only recognised when dying', 
 namely, that whatever number of Christians he might 
 put to death, he would never succeed in extirpating 
 their religion so long as one Christian priest was left in 
 the country to fortify the confessors, to animate the 
 martyrs, and to baptise and instruct the infidels, whom 
 each fresh deed of heroism, instead of deterring, gathered 
 by hundreds into the Church. The shepherd must be 
 smitten if the sheep were to be dispersed ; — such was the 
 deep and deadly policy contained in the late Kumbo's 
 deathbed exhortation; and from that hour, though 
 merciless butchery was still the portion of all the 
 Christians, the chief weight of the Xoguno's arm fell 
 upon their pastors. The law by which he proceeded to 
 effect his purpose bore a considerable affinity to that 
 enforced in England nearly at the same time, and with 
 a similar intention. To prevent any further addition 
 from without to the number of the missionaries already 
 in the kingdom, all the ports of Japan were irrevocably 
 closed against the vessels of Europe, with the exception 
 indeed of Nangasaki and Eirando, which were always 
 under the rigid surveillance of the officers of the Xoguno. 
 It was also made death to be convicted as a priest, or to 
 be discovered in the exercise of priestly functions ; death 
 to introduce a priest into the kingdom, and death to 
 give him shelter; death not only to the person so exer- 
 cising hospitality, but likewise to his ten next neighbours, 
 with their innocent wives and children, — a reward being 
 generally offered for the discovery of those who, in any 
 L 
 
146 JAPAN. 
 
 of these ways, should have incurred the penalties of the 
 law. From that hour the life of each individual priest 
 was at the mercy of every one to whom he had heen 
 previously known; while the lives of those who sheltered 
 him were equally liable to be forfeit to the curiosity or 
 cupidity of such of their neighbours as might chance to 
 discover the fact of their delinquency. Immediately 
 upon the promulgation of this edict, many of the mis- 
 sionaries, in order to avoid compromising- the safety of 
 their brethren, left the towns, and went out to dwell in 
 the woods and deserts ; and in this way one of them 
 lived for twenty years, like a veritable St. John the 
 Baptist, in the wilderness; while others took up their 
 abode in caves, grottoes, deserted stables, or cupboards 
 and cells constructed for them by the faithful in the 
 recesses of their own houses, without other light than 
 such as a chance chink in the boards mig-ht give, or 
 other food save that which at rare intervals could be 
 conveyed to them by those to whose charity and courage 
 they were indebted for their shelter. In these hiding- 
 places they were often compelled to remain for several 
 weeks together ; one of them dwelt during the intensest 
 heat of summer no less than sixty days in just such a 
 cell as we have described ; but at night they used to 
 sally forth to visit and instruct their Hocks, to baptise 
 children and converts, to anoint the sick and dying, 
 and, in short, to do as much of their missionary duties as 
 their cramped and perilous circumstances would admit of. 
 But the^ eyes of the whole nation were upon them ; and 
 though care and caution might avail them for a time, 
 sooner or later the tyrant was certain of seizing on his 
 prey. To Father John Baptist Machades, a Jesuit, and 
 Father Peter, a Franciscan, the honour was accorded 
 of taking the first place on this long list of priestly vic- 
 tims. The former was going to Omura by order of his 
 superior, when he and his catechist were made prisoners 
 at Goto, and sent by sea to the capital. Contrary 
 winds, however, detaining them at Canomi, the magis- 
 trates of that place received Father Machades on his 
 
CH. VIII.] JAPAN. 147 
 
 landing- with every mark of courtesy and kindness. An 
 unrestricted communication was permitted with the 
 Christians, who flocked to him in crowds * and after the 
 due administration of the Sacraments he made them a 
 most spirit-stirring* address, in the course of which he 
 told them, that even so early as seven years of age he 
 had been moved by some secret impulse to a strong* 
 desire of preaching* the Gospel to the Japanese. 
 
 These duties having* been fulfilled, the father re- 
 turned of his own accord to his prison on board the ship. 
 But so great was the veneration inspired by his virtues, 
 that the very sailors refused to bind him as he wished; 
 and thus unshackled, and almost unwatched, he re- 
 mained until he arrived at the prisons of Omura. There 
 he found a Franciscan father lying* under the same sen- 
 tence of death as himself; and great was the jubilee 
 with which these holy missionaries greeted each other 
 in their dung-eon, and sweet and holy the conferences 
 which they often held together upon the subject of their 
 approaching martyrdom. And when at length the man- 
 date came, and they knew that they were to die that 
 night, Father Peter told, in his simple-hearted gladness, 
 how he had made this the object of all his prayers ever 
 since he had entered the prison ; while in the same spirit 
 of holy exultation, Machades declared he had known 
 three really happy days in his life, that on which he had 
 entered the Society, that on which he had put on chains 
 for Jesus Christ, and now this, incomparably the hap- 
 piest and most glorious of all, on which his name was 
 to be inscribed among the martyrs of the Church. They 
 both declined the food which the Prince of Omura, 
 with a touch of unwonted courtesy towards Christians, 
 sent them before nightfall ; and then, having previously 
 confessed and communicated each other, they set out 
 to the place of execution, — each carrying his crucifix 
 and exhorting the crowd as they went along, until the 
 final moment came, when each affectionately embraced 
 the other, and then in peace and joyfulness submitted 
 to his sentence. Theirs was the first execution of 
 
148 JAPAN. 
 
 priests which had taken place since the days of Tei- 
 go-Sama ; and probably it was this fact, coupled with the 
 long- train of future evils which it unfolded to their 
 vision, that caused a grief so overwhelming" among- the 
 Christians present on the occasion as to excite the pity 
 of the executioners themselves, and to induce them to 
 permit their carrying away the bodies of the martyrs 
 unmolested. 
 
 About the same time six other religious commenced 
 a still longer captivity in the prisons of Omura. Three 
 were Dominicans, one a Franciscan, and the two others 
 Jesuits, Father Charles Spinola, and Ambrose Fer- 
 nandez, a Brother of the Society. When first they were 
 taken prisoners they had been thrown for greater se- 
 curity into a sort of subterranean cave, where they lay 
 huddled together and deprived of light ; nor was their 
 condition much improved by their removal to a prison, 
 which, like all similar buildings in Japan, left them ex- 
 posed to the changes of the weather, and in which, by 
 another cruel regulation, they were so scantily supplied 
 with food and clothing that many of them frequently 
 fainted away from weakness and exhaustion. Even 
 their jailors were sometimes moved to pity, and per- 
 mitted the Christians to enter with food ; but this con- 
 nivance being discovered by their superiors, they were 
 compelled to swear that it should not happen tip-;! in. 
 One of them, however, was a Christian; and as lie 
 refused to swear by Xaca and Amida, the unlawful 
 oaths administered to his companions, he met with a 
 martyr's fate on the following morning. Thus effect- 
 ually deprived of every succour from without, the pri- 
 soners nevertheless contrived to lead a life of angelic 
 happiness within the walls of their dreary prison. Every 
 day the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, meditation, and 
 pious reading, succeeded each other with as much regu- 
 larity as if they had been still in the cloistered security 
 of a religious house ; nor were their voluntary austerities 
 suspended, because mingled of necessity with all the in- 
 voluntary hardships of a convict's life. The discipline 
 
CH. VIII.] JAPAN. 149 
 
 was in frequent use among' them, and even their scanty 
 food was considerably retrenched by their frequent fast- 
 ings • while during- the four years he remained a cap- 
 tive, Father Spinola always wore a hair shirt, which he 
 never could be prevailed upon to lay aside, even during" 
 the many and severe illnesses consequent upon the pri- 
 vations of his prison. All his religious life, indeed, had 
 been marked by the same persevering* practice of per- 
 sonal austerity. During his long residence in Japan 
 he had lived entirely upon rice and ill-boiled herbs, nor 
 had he ever allowed himself the use of fruit ; although 
 in the summer-season of that eastern climate it is not 
 only one of the greatest of luxuries, but almost one of 
 the necessaries of life. From his childhood also he had 
 dreamed of martyrdom as other children dream of 
 pleasures and of toys : it was this which drew him to 
 Japan as soon as he had finished his studies for the 
 priesthood ; it was this which made him, however in- 
 dulgent and considerate for others, so uniformly severe 
 to himself- and it was this which, on his first entrance 
 into the prisons of Omura, forced him to exclaim, in all 
 the overflowing- fervour of his spirit, " Behold the place 
 of my rest : here will I abide, because I have chosen 
 it." " 
 
 It was not until the close of the year 1622, that an 
 order arrived for the removal of these religious and 
 other Christian prisoners to Nangasaki, and for their 
 subsequent execution. They were thirty in number 
 as they marched out of Omura • and, partly by sea and 
 partly by land, each with a rope round his neck,* and 
 
 * The binding of a Japanese prisoner is by no means a simple 
 or painless affair. Cords of about the thickness of a finger are used 
 in the first instance, and these are overlaid by others much 
 smaller, and, of course, more painful. They are fastened by a 
 regulated number of knots and nooses round the breast, neck, and 
 arms ; the hands are bound together, the elbows nearly touch each 
 other, and all the ends of these various ties are united to one long 
 cord held by the executioner. The slightest effort to escape thus 
 brings the elbows completely into contact ; and tightening the 
 uoose round the neck of the unhappy prisoner almost to strangula- 
 tion, effectually prevents him from accomplishing his object. 
 
150 JAPAN. 
 
 an executioner at his side, the} 7 went on their way to 
 the old city of the Christians. It was not considered 
 prudent that they should enter Nangasaki, so the 
 inhabitants went forth in multitudes to meet them, and 
 flinging- themselves at their i'eet, begged with many teara 
 their blessings and their prayers; and thus" escorted, 
 the martyrs stood at length upon that high hill be- 
 tween the city and the sea, where just twenty-six years 
 before the martyrs of Teigo-Sama had accomplished 
 their doom. A moment of suspense followed. Some 
 victim or spectator was yet wanting to the solemnity; and 
 every eye was directed towards the town, from whence 
 a troop of persons might be descried approaching, — 
 men, women, and children ; thirty of the former, with, 
 of course, a far larg'er proportion of the latter. Eyery 
 doubt as to the ultimate destination of this company 
 soon vanished, when it was seen that they were dressed 
 in their robes of ceremony, and with looks of glad- 
 ness and of holy joy were ascending to the calvary of 
 the Christians. One of the new-comers had been guilty 
 of giving shelter to a missionary ; the others were his 
 ten next neighbours, with their families, besides the 
 wives and children of some previous martyrs ; and of 
 this almost incredible number of victims, amounting to 
 upwards of a hundred, some were to be beheaded, while 
 others were to perish by the slower martyrdom of fire. 
 A throne had been erected overlooking this scene of 
 slaughter ; and when the governor had taken his seat 
 upon it, those who were to undergo the sentence of fire 
 were fastened to their stakes, but loosely, in order 
 that they might escape if only they chose to apos- 
 tatise, and then the executioners prepared to decapitate 
 the others. Among these last was Isabella, the widow 
 of the man in whose house Father Spinola had been 
 taken captive, and her son Ignatius, a child now about 
 four years old, but at that time a new-born infant, 
 whom he had baptised on the very evening before his 
 arrest. From the stake to which he was already 
 bound, the father had been exhorting both natives and 
 
CH. VIlI.j JAPAN. 151 
 
 Portuguese to perseverance, telling- them, almost in a 
 spirit of prophecy, that they need not look for any ces- 
 sation in the persecution, which would go on increasing 
 in fury from day to day ; when chancing to see Isahella 
 standing- in the crowd, and anxious for the fate of her 
 child, he suddenly cried out, " Where then is my little 
 Ignatius ?" The mother held him up, exclaiming, 
 " Here he is, my father, ready and glad to die for 
 Jesus;" and then addressing the infant, she bade him 
 ask the blessing of the good father, who in the waters 
 of baptism had conferred upon him a spiritual life in- 
 finitely more precious than that which he was now 
 about to forfeit for his God. Instantly the little crea- 
 ture fell upon his knees, joining his tiny hands together, 
 as if he would supplicate the blessing of the father. 
 So touching in its simplicity was this little scene, that 
 the crowd, already interested by the movement of the 
 mother, now broke into such open murmurs of compas- 
 sion, that they were obliged to proceed at once to the 
 execution, in order to prevent the possibility of any 
 attempt at a rescue. Two or three heads had already 
 fallen close by the child's side, and now his mother's fol- 
 lowed ; yet it was observed that he neither shrank nor 
 changed colour, but his turn being next, he fell upon his 
 knees, loosened (for there was no one to do the office 
 for him) with his infant but untrembling fingers the 
 collar that would have impeded the aim of the exe- 
 cutioner, and without a cry or murmur submitted to 
 the sword. 
 
 The remaining victims were speedily despatched; 
 and their heads having been placed opposite to such of 
 their companions as were to die at the stakes, fire was 
 set to the piles of wood by which the latter were sur- 
 rounded. With the usual diabolical ingenuity of the 
 Japanese pagans, the faggots had been placed full five- 
 and-twenty feet from the stakes ; and whenever the fire 
 was seen to gain too fast upon its victims, water was cast 
 upon it, that inch by inch they might taste the full 
 agony of the sentence to which they had been con- 
 
152 JAPAN. 
 
 demned. Many of them died from the mere effects of 
 the heated atmosphere; — among others, Father Rimura, 
 a Japanese priest, after having- lived for full three hours 
 in the midst of the flames ; and Father Spinola also, 
 whose body was afterwards found unhurnt, and wrapped 
 in his soutane, which was literally glued to the flesh by 
 the combined action of the heat and of the water which 
 had been cast upon his person. 
 
 Terrible beyond expression as their sufferings must 
 have been, two only of this heroic company showed 
 the slightest symptoms of being even conscious of 
 its anguish. Both were Japanese, and very young; 
 and both simultaneously, and as if from an absolute 
 physical inability to endure such frightful torture 
 any longer, rushed out of the flames, and threw them- 
 selves at the feet of the governor, imploring his mercy. 
 They did not, however, ask for life ; they asked only 
 for an easier and quicker death. But, poor as the 
 boon was, it was denied them, save upon the condition 
 of apostasy, which they would not accept ; and again 
 they were flung back into the flames. 
 
 This martyrdom, which was distinguished among 
 the Japanese as the " Great Martyrdom," on account 
 both of the rank and number of its victims, had been 
 preceded by another at Miako, which took place under 
 circumstances of peculiar barbarity. One of the victims 
 was in daily expectation of giving birth to a child; 
 nevertheless she was included in the sentence which 
 sent her husband, a nobleman of the highest rank, and 
 their six young children, with upwards of forty other 
 Christians, to the stake. 
 
 The tragical situation in which she was placed had, 
 however, no terrors for this heroic woman. She em- 
 ployed her prison-hours in preparing robes for herself 
 and her children to wear at their execution; and when 
 she was brought to the destined place, calmly, and 
 without assistance, she stepped from the cart, and, throw- 
 ing a rich mantle over her shoulders, prepared to suffer 
 with a modesty and composure that won her the ad- 
 
CII. VIII.] JAPAN. 153 
 
 miration of all beholders. It was dark night before 
 fire was set to their several piles ; but as soon as the 
 smoke had cleared away, the martyrs were seen by the 
 light of the bright flames amid which they stood, with 
 eyes fixed on heaven and forms motionless and erect, 
 as though they had been figures chiselled out of stone. 
 
 In very horror the spectators were silent, and the 
 stillness and hush of death was upon the midnight air, 
 when suddenly from out of that fiery furnace a flood 
 of melody was poured, — men and Avomen and children 
 singing the praises of the living God as sweetly, and 
 with notes as true, as though the red and thirsty flames 
 had been but the dews of heaven upon their brows. 
 The sighs and prayers of the assistants, which could no 
 longer be repressed, the shouts and execrations of the 
 soldiers and executioners soon mingled with this death- 
 song ; and these, and the dark night, and the fierce fire 
 that illuminated its gloom, now flashing intolerable 
 light upon the victims, now glancing lividly on the pale 
 faces and shrinking forms of the densely-packed spec- 
 tators, altogether formed a union of sights and sounds 
 that alternately swayed the feelings to terror and com- 
 passion. But tlie music of that marvellous choir died 
 gradually away; and the sudden failing of each glad- 
 some voice, the silent sinking of each upright form, 
 telling that another and yet another had yielded to 
 their doom, was marked by the watchers with redoubled 
 lamentations ; though their tenderest sympathies were 
 still reserved for the mother dying in the midst of her 
 little ones. 
 
 From the cross to which they had bound her, 
 Thecla (for such was her name) still kept her eyes 
 fixed upon her children, animating them by gentle 
 smiles and words of comfort to suffer well ; while the 
 youngest, an infant only three years old, she held with 
 almost superhuman courage in her arms during the 
 whole of the terrible scene that followed. Her own 
 anguish had no power to extort a single sigh from hur 
 lips ; but those who watched her wept to see the use- 
 
154 JAPAN. 
 
 less efforts which she made to diminish the sufferings 
 of her babe. She caressed it, soothed it, hushed its 
 cries, wiped away its tears, sought with ber own hands 
 to shelter its tender face from the terrible contact of 
 the fire, and died at last with the little victim so closely 
 folded to her bosom, that it was almost impossible to 
 separate the mother and the child. 
 
 These martyrdoms are only specimens of those 
 which during- this period continually took place in 
 Japan. Some Christians were crucified, others burnt, 
 others beheaded; numbers again branded upon the cheeks 
 and forehead with the sign of the cross, their fingers 
 and toes cut off, and their eyes forced out ; and thus 
 maimed and helpless, they were sent back to their fa- 
 milies, who (to their honour be it written) never failed 
 to receive them with all the more pride and affection, 
 the more deeply and hideously they had been disfiguftjtf 
 for the sake of Jesus. 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 155 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sufferings of the clergy. Diminution of their number, and con- 
 sequently of the Christians generally. Martyrdom, of Fathers 
 Paul, Angelis, and others ; some at the stake, others in freezing 
 water, and others by unheard-of tortures. The sulphurous 
 •waters of Ungen. Death of the Xoguno. He is succeeded by a 
 still more cruel tyrant. Treachery of the Dutch. Portuguese 
 merchants forbidden to land : murder of Portuguese ambas- 
 sadors. Last efforts of Jesuit missionaries, who are all martyred. 
 Final extinction of Christianity. Present state of Japan. 
 
 The law which the Xoguno bad introduced against the 
 Christian priesthood, soon began to tell rapidly and with 
 fatal effect upon their numbers, and of course upon the 
 prosperity of the Church committed to their keeping-. 
 So long' as there were left missionaries enough to aid 
 them, neither lire nor sword had prevented the progress 
 of religion among the infidels ; and even in the first 
 three years of the persecution, when the panic might be 
 supposed to be at its height, it has been calculated that 
 no less than 15.000 persons were received into the bosom 
 of the Church ; but now, thinned by persecution from 
 within, and prevented by the rigid enforcement of the 
 recent regulations from all recruiting from without, each 
 new casualty among the fathers left a larger field with 
 less assistance to the labours of the survivors : whole 
 kingdoms came at length to be confided to the care of 
 a single man ; and in pursuance of such widely-extended 
 duties, the missionary had to travel unceasingly from 
 city to city, and from province to province, — his journeys 
 rendered doubly tedious by the necessity of being per- 
 formed at night, while in the daytime he was forced to 
 conceal himself in hiding-places so cramped and miser- 
 able as rather to exhaust than to recruit the strength. 
 Those more especially who were devoted to the task of 
 instructing the exiled Christiana underwent almost in- 
 
106 JAPAN. 
 
 credible hardships ; for they had continually to travel 
 over rugged rocky mountains, through pathless forests 
 and deep valleys, filled in the winter-time with snow, in 
 order to reach the objects of their charitable zeal, who, 
 "ed from the rest of the empire by a long chain 
 of nearly inaccessible mountains, dwelt amid the silent 
 snows and treeless deserts of a distant and inclement 
 province, literally the Siberia of Japan ; or, still less 
 happy, were distributed as common slaves, to labour in 
 the mine.- with which that part of the country abounded. 
 Stricken down by the pressure of such work as this, 
 many a man with apparently years of strength and la- 
 bour in his yet unexhausted frame became suddenly 
 old before his time, and decrepit and useless on the 
 mission. Sickness and death in some cases supervened; 
 and aided by such casualties as these, the Xoguno had 
 less difficulty than might have been expected in carry- 
 ing out his favourite scheme for the extirpation of the 
 priesthood. He likewise received considerable assist- 
 ance from the Dutch, who, unprincipled and treacherous 
 as ever, continued to play their accustomed part, and 
 to sacrifice to their unhallowed love of gain the lives not 
 only of the missionaries themselves, but those of the 
 sailors who brought them over, and of the suffering 
 Christians for whose consolation they had come. A 
 Japanese convert of the name of Joachim had received 
 two missionaries in the guise of merchants on board his 
 junk; but the Dutch, suspecting the real nature of their 
 profession, seized upon the vessel, and delivered her and 
 her crew to the proper authorities at Firando, declaring 
 at the same time their suspicions as to the concealment 
 of a priest among the passengers. This event occurred 
 some short time before the execution of Father Spinola 
 and his companions, and they were brought from their 
 dungeon to be confronted with the suspected religious. 
 The condition to which this venerable company of con- 
 fessors were by this time reduced excited compassion 
 even in the minds of the men who w 
 place others in a similar position. 
 
CH. IX.J JAPAN. 157 
 
 Father Spinola was already known to the Dutchmen 
 as the scion of one of the noblest families in the German 
 empire. The blood of a long- line of heroes flowed in his 
 veins : his father had not only been a favoured friend 
 of the Emperor Rodolph II., but had also held one of 
 the highest offices about his person ; and they could not, 
 without some natural touch of pity, see such a man in the 
 position of a common criminal, manacles on his hands, 
 the bones protruding 1 from his discoloured skin, his robe, 
 a soutane, tattered and unwashed, and himself living- in 
 a den where they would never have dreamed of even 
 stabling- their horses. Such at least is the account 
 which they themselves have left us of their own feel- 
 ings. Yet faint and fleeting- must have been this passing- 
 emotion of compassion, since it does not appear to have 
 had an}' effect on their conduct ; for even during- the 
 present trial, they were so bent on retaining- at all 
 hazards the favour of the Xogamo, that on the recap- 
 ture of one of the prisoners who had contrived to escape, 
 the}' actually g-ave expression to their joy by a discharge 
 of artillery. In the end both the fathers whom they 
 had discovered declared their priesthood ; but this con- 
 fession did not prevent the execution of their companions. 
 The relig-ious were burnt, the crew to a man decapitated 
 at Nangasaki, and Father Spinola and his companions 
 remanded to their dungeon, which they never ag-ain left 
 until they were led to execution. Their martyrdom, 
 as already stated, took place on the 10th of Septem- 
 ber. On the 12th, rive more relig'ious were burnt at the 
 stake; on the 15th their catechists followed in the -.hup 
 path ; and on the 1st of November Father Paul Peter 
 Navarre, with two other missionaries, encountered a 
 similar fate. He had been recognised some months be- 
 fore by a heathen soldier, who broug-ht him prisoner to 
 Sima-bara ; but instead of being- consig-ned to the com- 
 mon g-aol, as so many of the religious had been, he was 
 confided to the care of nine Christians, whose lives 
 would have been forfeit in the event of his escape. 
 Every liberty at all consistent with a state of durance 
 
158 JAPAN. 
 
 was permitted him ; he was allowed to celebrate Mass 
 every day, to communicate freely both with he: 
 and Christians, and to preach and administer the •■ 
 merits without restriction. The governor, to whose 
 humane interference he was indebted for such favours, 
 was himself very desirous of an interview with the father, 
 and sent him a present of some fruit, accompanied with 
 many civil reg-rets for his detention, as well as w 
 intimation that he would willingly have overlooked his 
 presence in the country (as he had already done tint of 
 many others of his brethren), had it been possible to do 
 so with any chance of safety to himself. After these 
 preliminaries he sent for Father Paul to his house, 
 where, in the course of a long and interesting- conversa- 
 tion, he chanced to touch upon the much vexed question 
 of free will, asking-, as the Japanese heathens were con- 
 stantly in the habit of doing-, " Why, if God created all, 
 He should permit any to be lost C The father answered, 
 that "God indeed had made all men to be happy by 
 means of holiness, but He would not compel them ; for 
 then their service would but have been that of slaves, 
 and He would have been deprived of their more honour- 
 able homage as free men. He had given them all ne- 
 cessary means for working 1 out their salvation ; and even 
 by human institutions they would stand condemned if 
 t ley abused such gifts. For, sir," he added, more 
 directly addressing the g*overnor, '"do not you yourself 
 discriminate between the rebel and the true man; and 
 while you think it just to punish the former, do you not 
 til o consider it as only fair to reserve all your rewards 
 and favours for the latter?" The governor acknow- 
 ledged lie was right, requested a copy of the apology 
 which the father had composed on tl.e part of the 
 Christians, and then reluctantly bade him adieu, declar- 
 ing his belief "that there was neither happiness nor 
 salvation out of the pale of the Catholic Church." 
 
 Father Paul hoped much from this interview for the 
 conversion of the governor; but he never deceived him- 
 self for a moment as to the ultimate result of his own 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. lol) 
 
 imprisonment ; and by the patli of voluntary suffering, 
 
 by tasting, hair shirt, and discipline, he endeavoured to 
 fit himself for the steady endurance of any torture which 
 might be his portion in the hour of trial. Before that 
 hour came, however, he had many tedious months to 
 linger as a. captive; hut at length his sentence was pro- 
 nounced, and he listened to it with a smiling countenance, 
 observing, that " he was only too happy in being allowed 
 to attest with his blood the truth of that faith which for 
 six-and-thirty years he had been preaching to the Ja- 
 panese ;" adding, " that he had no reason to complain of 
 the Xoguno, and still less of his kind friend and bene- 
 factor the Governor of Sima-bara." It is said, that the 
 latter could not refrain from tears when these woids 
 were reported to him ; but he had no power either to 
 hinder or retard the sentence, and on the l^t of Novem- 
 ber, alter having- said his last Mass, weeping all the 
 time for very joy, Father Paid was led to execution 
 barefoot, his hands tied behind him, and accompanied 
 by the destined companions of his martyrdom, namely, 
 two Jesuit fathers, and a boy called Clement, who had 
 hitherto acted as his catechist, and who now walked 
 before him singing the litanies, with a countenai.ee so 
 angelic and serene, that the very heathens marvelled to 
 behold him. They di< d at the ^take with the same 
 constancy winch both by woid and look they had ex- 
 hibited from the beginning; and in 'he following \ ear 
 Father Angelis, a Jesuit also, with fifty Christians, 
 some of whom were clergy, underwent a similar sen* 
 tence. He might Lave escaped it he had el osen to do 
 so, for he was absent when they can e to seek him at 
 his lodgings; but understanding that tie safety oi i.is 
 host was compromised by hi- non-appearance, he volun- 
 tarily surrendered to the officers of the Xoguno, — a 
 measure which unfortunately ensured Lis own destruc- 
 tion without saving the life of Lis friend, who was con- 
 demned to sutler at the same time with himself. 
 
 The sentence was carried into execution at Jedo ; 
 the lather, with his clerical companions, and Faramon, a 
 
160 JAPAN. 
 
 Japanese nobleman, who had already lost all his fingers 
 and toes and been branded in the lace for the name of 
 Jesus, being- conducted to the stake on horseback, while 
 the other Christians walked ; the latter were like- 
 wise executed first, either for the purpose of aggravat- 
 ing the sufferings, or of shaking* the constancy of the 
 principal victims. If the latter were the object, the 
 attempt failed most signally ; for when their hour of trial 
 came, they stood in the midst of the flames with as 
 much composure as if they had been breathing' a tem- 
 perate atmosphere. The execution of Faramon made a 
 deep impression throughout the country, on account both 
 of his exalted station and of his previous suffering's in 
 the cause of religion. Before they bound him to the 
 stake, he made a short address to the spectators, ap- 
 pealing* for the truth and earnestness of his convictions 
 to his loss, of fortune and of courtly favour, his banish- 
 ment of fourteen years, and his bodily mutilation. He 
 added that he had not embraced the religion which 
 had cost him so dear, without having* both thoroughly 
 sifted its doctrines and convinced himself, by careful 
 examination, of the falsity of those which were taught 
 by the bonzes. 
 
 The great majority of the martyrdoms hitherto re- 
 corded had been accomplished by fire ; but now a diffe- 
 rent mode of torture was to be pressed into the service. 
 Water was called into requisition ; and Father James 
 Caravail, with several lay Christians, was the leader of 
 many heroic confessors who perished from cold. They 
 were left, in the first instance, for three hours in freez- 
 ing* water, during* which time one of them died ; the 
 rest being* carried back to prison and threatened with 
 the martyrdom of fire in case of perseverance, cried out 
 with one voice : " Oh, happy we, to pass through lire 
 and water to the place of our repose !" Instead of the 
 stake, however, the next day they were again placed 
 up to their necks in water ; while, the better to tempt 
 them to apostasy, tents, warm baths, and comfortable 
 clothing were made ready on the banks of the pool, 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN, 161 
 
 and as near as possible to the spot where their sentence 
 was to be earned into execution. As the clay advanced, 
 the water froze more and more ; and heavy drifts of 
 snow beating- continually upon them, added greatly to 
 their agony. Scarcely able to endure it any longer, 
 one among- them sobbed heavily for breath : but Father 
 Paul hearing- it, cried out, " Have patience, son ■ for yet 
 a little while, and these torments will be changed into 
 everlasting- repose/' At the sound of the fathers voice, 
 and his cheering- words, the poor victim regained his cou- 
 rage, and soon afterwards happily expired, at the very 
 moment when another, reduced to a similar extremity, 
 exclaimed, " Father, my course is nearly finished." 
 "Depart, then," replied the latter; "'depart in peace 
 to God, and die in His holy grace." Thus one by 
 one they perished in this icy grave; and at length the 
 father, who through the live-long- day had cheered his 
 fellow-martyrs to the combat, was left to suffer and to 
 die alone. Night had already closed-in heavy and chill 
 around him ; and with the exception of his guards and 
 some i'e'w faithful Christians, none were there to watch 
 him, for the spectators had all retired to their comfort- 
 able homes, and it was not until just midnight that, 
 after fifteen hours of stern endurance, he bowed himself 
 down to the frozen wave, and placidly expired. This 
 martyrdom took place in the year 10*24, and shortly 
 afterwards four more religious were burnt at Faco; in 
 June of the same year the provincial of the Jesuits, with 
 eight of the Society, perished in a similar manner: and 
 in the following- month Lewis Xanch, a Dominican, was 
 put to death at Omura. 
 
 We have mentioned these executions of priests with- 
 out alluding- to the almost weekly massacres which took 
 place among- the lay converts, merely to show the viru- 
 lence and success with which the missionaries were now 
 every where pursued : and when it is remembered that 
 at the commencement of the persecution there were, 
 besides the Jesuits, but a few secular priests and about 
 30 religious of other orders, in Japan, and that no 
 
 M 
 
162 JAPAN. 
 
 reinforcement had succeeded in reaching them from 
 without, words will not he needed to point out the 
 deadly nature of the blow which the Xoguno was at 
 last inflicting- on the Church. Having- said thus much, 
 however, upon the fate of the religious, it would be a 
 crying- injustice to the rest of the Christians to pass over 
 their sufferings altogether in silence. 
 
 The Xoguno having- once explicitly declared him- 
 self opposed to their religion, the inferior monarchs, as 
 a matter of course, vied with each other in their efforts 
 to uproot it. It was only on an express condition to 
 that effect that Bugendono, the new governor of Nan- 
 gasaki, had been installed in that office; and taunted con- 
 tinually by his rivals for courtly favour with his little 
 success, he employed himself day and night in the in- 
 vention of more ingenious barbarities to effect his pur- 
 pose. The object being- rather to produce apostasy 
 than death, every species of torture was made as slow 
 as possible in its execution, and w-.is generally eked out 
 with intervals of rest and refreshment — a thousand times 
 more dangerous to the perseverance of the victim than 
 the sharpest continued agony. Some were placed in 
 deep pits, and there nearly buried alive; while execu- 
 tioners appointed for the purpose, slowly, and with blunt 
 weapons, sawed off sometimes the arms and sometimes 
 the head, salt being- thrown on the bleeding wound to 
 sharpen its anguish; physicians were also at hand, 
 whose business it was to prolong- the life of the sufferer 
 for as many days as possible, by carefully ascertaining 
 the amount of his physical strength, and administering 
 cordials when it was beginning to fail. Others were hung' 
 with their head downwards in a pit, where, with the 
 necessary precaution of occasional bleeding-, they were 
 made to exist for a considerable time in all the suffer- 
 ings of an apoplexy; while others again, by menus of 
 a funnel forced far down into their throats, were com- 
 pelled to swallow enormous rpiantities of water, which 
 was afterwards forced out of the body by violent pres- 
 sure. Even the Dutch, themselves more than half the 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 1C3 
 
 authors of these evils, speak with horror of the deeds 
 which they witnessed at Firando. The nails of the 
 victims were violently wrenched off, holes bored into 
 their leg's and arms, great morsels of flesh torn out of 
 their persons by the insertion of hollow reeds which 
 were turned round like a screw, burning- brimstone 
 and sulphur forced by long- tubes up their noses ; and 
 they were, besides, frequently compelled to walk about 
 with executioners holding* lighted torches close to their 
 persons. Nor were these cruelties inflicted singly, or 
 upon solitary and more noted delinquents. By tens, 
 by fifties, by hundreds at a time, they were assembled 
 for their trial ; one torture rapidly succeeding another, 
 and each new one being- so cunningly contrived, that 
 the slightest word of complaint, the most trivial move- 
 ment of resistance when pain had become almost in- 
 tolerable, was to be considered as a signal of apostasy, 
 and was greeted by cries of " He is fallen ! he is 
 fallen !" — the favourite and most significant words by 
 which the heathen expressed at once the fact of a 
 Christian's recantation, and their own opinion of the 
 weakness through which he had succumbed. 
 
 Under circumstances such as these, it is not so won- 
 derful that many failed, as that hundreds and thousands 
 persevered to the end, winning their crown by a long- 
 suffering and patience which, even in the primitive 
 Church, were never surpassed. Men offered themselves 
 willingly to every torture which Eastern ingenuity 
 could devise, or reckless disregard of human life put 
 into execution. Women looked calmly on while their 
 infants perished, and then followed with gladness and 
 joy in the same path to glory. At a city near Omura, 
 a brave Christian plunged his hand into the burning- 
 coal?;, and never withdrew it until commanded to do so 
 by the tyrant who had taunted and dared him to the 
 deed; while at Firando fifty young Christians were 
 made to kneel naked upon living embers, on the express 
 understanding that the most involuntary expression of 
 pain should be considered as apostasy; and having by 
 
164 JAPAN. 
 
 their unflinching- firmness baffled the closest scrutiny of 
 those who watched them, were sent back to die, half 
 roasted as they were, to their several homes. In one 
 place eig'hteen infants were put to death in the pre- 
 sence of their parents ; at another, a child only seven 
 years old, suspected with the rest of his family of the 
 concealment of a priest, lived for as many days in the 
 midst of the torture they inflicted upon him, without 
 once flinching* or failing- in his heroic resolution. To 
 each fresh invention of their cruelty he only answered, 
 probably to avoid being* betrayed into imprudent dis- 
 closures, " Jesus, Mary ! Jesus, Mary ! How I long* to 
 be in heaven with my God !" Nor could other words be 
 extorted from his lips, even when, in their despair of 
 succeeding-, they cut open the little creature's shoulders, 
 and poured boiling* lead into the wound; and finally, he 
 and his family were burnt alive, without a sing-le one 
 among- them having* been induced by weakness to g-ive 
 evidence against the priest. 
 
 Opposed to constancy such as this, every ordinary 
 mode of torture must have seemed only useless and un- 
 meaning-; but at length Bug-endono hit upon another, and 
 one so barbarous in its nature, that no tyrant, however 
 cruel or ferocious, who had hitherto ruled in Japan, had 
 ever thought of inflicting* it on the most guilty of his 
 subjects. 
 
 Between Nang*asaki and Sima-bara lies a mountain, 
 bald, bleak, and treeless, whitening- beneath the masses 
 of cinders with which it is every where covered, and 
 with a thick and stifling* smoke, which can be seen at a 
 distance of several leag-ues, for ever rising* from its sum- 
 mit. The soil that covers its steep ascent is every where 
 soft and spongy, often burning* and trembling beneath 
 the footsteps : while so strong* is the smell of sulphur 
 which it continually exhales, that it is said no bird can 
 live, or will even attempt to fly within breathing- dis- 
 tance of its tainted atmosphere. Deep and unfathom- 
 able pools of boiling- water lie hidden amid the clefts 
 and fissures which split this gloomy mountain into 
 
CH. IX.j JAPAN. 165 
 
 peaks and precipices of various sizes ; but one, deeper 
 and more unfathomable than all the rest, instead of 
 water, is filled with a mixture of sulphur and other 
 volcanic matter, which seethe and bubble and boil 
 within its dark abyss, emitting' all the while so horrible 
 a stench as to have gained it the title of the " Mouth 
 of Hell." One drop alone of this fearful fluid is suffi- 
 cient to produce an ulcer on the human flesh ; and 
 when Bugendono thought on the terrible nature of the 
 chastisement he could thus inflict, and upon the fear 
 and superstition with which the Japanese always re- 
 garded the sulphurous waters of Unsen, and the mys- 
 terious cavern in which they were produced, he felt that 
 he could not have hit upon a more efficient or infallible 
 means for the intimidation of the Christians, and the 
 extirpation of their creed. At the very time when he 
 came to this resolution, there chanced to be dispersed 
 throughout Arima a band of faithful confessors, upon 
 whom all his previously-invented tortures had been 
 tried in vain; and for this reason the governor con- 
 sidered they would prove the Attest objects for his new 
 experiment. Paul Uciborg was the chief, both for cou- 
 rage and virtue, of this troop of victims ; and he had 
 already witnessed the massacre of every member of his 
 family, down even to the youngest of his children, 
 who, in company with fifteen other Christians, had been 
 thrown into the sea, after having first suffered every 
 possible cruelty that could barbarously be inflicted upon 
 them. 
 
 " Which shall I begin with?" asked the executioner, 
 as he approached the two youngest of Paul's children 
 for the purpose of chopping oft their fingers. 
 
 " That is your affair, not mine," the old Christian 
 answered bluntly, probably to conceal a softer feeling. 
 " Cut off which and as many as you please." 
 
 " And, oh !" sighed the little Ignatius, as, in the 
 very spirit of the brave man his father, he watched his 
 brother's fingers falling joint by joint beneath the knife 
 of the executioner; " how beautiful your hand looks. 
 
166 JAPAJf. 
 
 my brother, thus mutilated for the sake of Jesus Christ; 
 and how I long- for my own turn to come !" 
 
 The child who made this exclamation was but five 
 years old ; yet, without shedding a tear, he afterwards 
 endured a similarly protracted amputation, and then 
 silently and unresistingly suffered himself to be cast into 
 the ocean. The father and about twenty of the re- 
 maining- Christians, who were reserved for a, different 
 fate, were, after the massacre of their companions, 
 brought back to shore ; although so frightfully crip- 
 pled, from the mutilations they had already undergone, 
 that one at least of their number was compelled to he 
 carried to his house in a kind of coffin on men's shoul- 
 ders. The governor had hoped that their ghastly ap- 
 pearance would terrifv others from following their ex- 
 ample ; but he soon found that Jesus Christ was more 
 easily and more eloquently preached by such wounds 
 and such deeds as theirs, than by any words that could 
 be uttered; and in his vexation at the numbers who 
 flocked to them for edification and encouragement, he 
 condemned them, as we have seen, to the boiling" sul- 
 phurs of Unsen. 
 
 As the little company of martyrs approached its 
 terrible chasm, one among* them, at the bidding* of the 
 executioner, and in the spirit of an Appolonia, rushed 
 forward at once, and fiung* himself into its depths ; but 
 Paul, with a more measured courage, commanded the 
 others to restrain their zeal; while to the heathens who 
 taunted him with cowardice, he contented himself by 
 saying*, "that they were not masters of their own lives, 
 which God having* given, God alone had a right to 
 take away; and that in reality there was more real 
 courage in calmly waiting* the approach of death, than 
 in rushing* into its arms in such a way as to put an end 
 to all its terrors in a moment." Silenced by this an- 
 swer, so calm and noble in its genuine Christian courage, 
 the executioners proceeded to their duties ; and having 
 tied each of the martyrs by ropes, in order to prevent, 
 their falling entirely into the chasm, one by one they 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 167 
 
 lowered them into it? seething- contents. Some were 
 destroyed at a single plunge; others, by being quickly 
 withdrawn, were reserved tor the torment of a second 
 immersion; but old Paul, who suffered last, and who 
 had excited the hatred of" the heathens by the courage 
 with which it was believed he had inspired his com- 
 panions, they managed, with dexterous cruelty, to let 
 down three several times into the abyss before life was 
 altogether extinguished ; and each time as he rose to 
 the surface he was heard to exclaim : " Eternal praise 
 be to the ever adorable Sacrament of the Altai- !'' 
 
 After this first trial of its power, the scalding- sul- 
 phurs of L nsen became a favourite mode of torture for 
 the Christians. Men, women, children, and infants 
 were sent hither in crowds. Some expired after a 
 single plunge ; others after two or three successive 
 immersions; others, again, and the greater number, 
 were with a more elaborate cruelty sprinkled with the 
 boiling- liquor day after day, often for a period of thirty 
 days together, until their bodies were one mass of sores 
 and vermin, and they died from the effects of this uni- 
 versal ulceration. 
 
 " Alas ! what more can they do against you V* 
 asked a compassionate heathen, as he removed the 
 mantle which had been cast over one of these victims, 
 and discovered the mass of rottenness and corruption 
 which lay hidden beneath. 
 
 " You can cut open my back," answered the stern 
 old Christian, " and pour the boiling sulphur into the 
 wound ; hundreds of other torments there are also 
 which you may inflict upon me, and which I can bear 
 with gladness for my God." 
 
 Unhappily, excepting for their own salvation, all 
 this suffering and courage was of no avail. As fast as 
 one tyrant disappeared from the scene, another more 
 cruel and ferocious still stepped into his place. The Xo- 
 guno died; and he was succeeded by his son, who took 
 the title of the To-Xoguno, as an intimation that he 
 considered himself greater than his father, — an assump- 
 
108 JAPAN. 
 
 tion which he probably justified both to himself and to 
 his subjects by the increased barbarity with which lie 
 pursued the Christians, who fell in greater numbers 
 during- his reign than during- any which had pre- 
 ceded it. 
 
 Bugendono likewise perished by a painful and un- 
 natural death ; but untaught by the terrible nature of 
 the chastisement which had fallen upon his predeces- 
 sor, Unemondo, the new governor of Nangasaki, ap- 
 peared to have no dearer wish than to surpass, or, 
 it' that were not possible, to equal him in ferocity. 
 The end of that great persecutor of the Christians is 
 indeed too remarkable to be passed over in silence; and 
 it hardly seems rash to consider it as a judgment of 
 Divine Providence, that the immediate instrument of 
 his own death should have been the very torture which 
 he had himself invented for the Christians. The sul- 
 phurous waters of Unsen were, when reduced to a 
 moderate degree of heat, occasionally used for medi- 
 cinal purposes; and hither, therefore, Bugendono caused 
 himself to be carried for the cure of a disease by which 
 he was tormented ; but unable in the frenzy of his fever 
 to calculate the proper temperature at which they 
 should be used, he compelled his attendants to put 
 him in immediately after they had been brought fresh 
 from the chasm, and his body was in an instant so com- 
 pletely par-boiled, that the flesh literally fell from the 
 bones before he could be taken out. His death, striking 
 as was the coincidence by which it had been accompa- 
 nied, appears to have made no impression upon those 
 who were fast following- in his footsteps. With fi i 
 sword the To-Xoguno so inexorably pursued his path, 
 that in the third year of his reig-n (1633), from July 
 to October alone, no fewer than sixteen priests, be- 
 sides several religious, principally Jesuits, fell into the 
 hands of the governor of Nangasaki. Among the 
 victims of this four-months' slaughter, we find the 
 names of Father Iscida, a Japanese Jesuit, and of Fa- 
 ther Julian Nicaura, the last survivor of the ambassa- 
 
CH. IX.) JAPAN. 169 
 
 dors to Rome ; some of his companions having pre- 
 ceded him by martyrdom, while others had died, it is 
 supposed, by a natural death. The history of this no- 
 ble Japanese reads almost like an epitome of that of 
 the Church which he had so zealously served. He had 
 seen it almost in its dawn under the care and teaching- 
 of the first successors of St. Francis ; he had endea- 
 voured to promote its best interests by his embassy to 
 Koine ; he had afterwards devoted himself to its service 
 in the Society of Jesus ; and now, after forty-three years 
 of unmitigated toil, of prayer and preaching-, of wander- 
 ing- from province to province and from kingdom to 
 kingdom, sometimes in his unceasing- search for souls, 
 at others in his efforts to elude his pursuers ; worn to a 
 very shadow, broken down and crushed as much by his 
 bitter sorrows as by his life-long- labours for his perse- 
 cuted brethren, — he sealed at last his religions profession 
 in his blood, dying- by the trial of the pit, after four 
 nights and days of heroic endurance of its torture. Se- 
 bastian Vieyra was another of the more remarkable vic- 
 tims of this blood-stained year. He had been sent to 
 Rome about ten years before for the purpose of repre- 
 senting- the disastrous state of the Japanese Church to 
 the Pope ; Jmt when at length he knelt at the feet of 
 Urban VIII., he was so moved at the recollection of the 
 deplorable tale which he had to tell, that he burst into 
 tears, and for a considerable time was unable to speak. 
 The Holy Father received him with much tenderness 
 and concern, animated him by his conversations to con- 
 stancy and courage, and finally dismissed him with 
 letters of condolence to his suffering- brethren, as well 
 as with a promise of exerting- the Papal power to the 
 utmost to procure a supply of missionaries for their ex- 
 piring- Church. This last, however, proved unfortunately 
 a nearly impossible undertaking'. It was easy enough 
 to find priests willing- to go ; but the question as to how 
 they were to be introduced into the kingdom was one 
 not admitting of so ready a solution. Nor was it until 
 
170 JAPAN. 
 
 the year 1632 that Vieyra himself, with all the advan- 
 tages that his previous knowledge of the language and 
 customs could give him, succeeded in landing, dis 
 us a common sailor, on the most desolate art of the 
 coast. Twelve months afterwards, he and four other 
 Jesuits were arrested at Osako, and brought prisoners to 
 Jedo. The To-Xoguno did not see him himself, be- 
 cause the admission of a condemned prisoner into the 
 imperial presence was always considered tantamount to 
 granting him pardon ; but as he fell extremely curious 
 about his journey to Europe, he sent confidential per- 
 sons day alter day to question him on the subject. 
 Vieyra' s answers stimulated his curiosity, and probably 
 caused him to feel an anxiety to preserve his life; for 
 every possible means were attempted to procure his 
 apostasy ; and one day especially we are told that they 
 brought him into a ro m filled with all kinds of instru- 
 ments of torture, bidding him choose between them and 
 the religion which the emperor wished him to embrace. 
 His hands \ ere unbound, and ink and paper given bim 
 that he might write his answer, which he did in a few 
 spirited words, to the effect, that although he would 
 always submit to the temporal authority of the To- 
 Xoguno, he could not accept his spiritual supremacy; 
 and that threats were useless to frighten, or promises to 
 allure him to any other line of conduct ; since neither 
 the one nor the other could have any effect on the soul, 
 which was, as it ought to be, the chief, or rather the 
 only object of his solicitude. A little later he wrote 
 down a short formula of the Christian religion which 
 the emperor had requested him to make, and which, after 
 the hitter had perused with great attention, he could not 
 forbear exclaiming : " This European is a man of won- 
 derful mind ; but if what he says of the [mmortality of 
 the soul be true, what will become of ?/.s hereafter"" 
 
 So deep, in fact, was t ] .\r impression made upon his 
 mind by this paper, that the enemies of Chriftianity 
 put every engine into play in order to accomplish the 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 1?J 
 
 dentil of a man who seemed but too likely to lead 
 their imperial master into a path diametrically opposed 
 
 to their private interests and inclinations. With some 
 difficulty they succeeded; and m conformity to his sen- 
 tence Vievra was huner tor four days with his head 
 
 downwards in the pit: but the executioners, at the end 
 of that time, finding him still strong- and lull of life, 
 placed him over a large fire, which speedily reduced him 
 to as 
 
 His execution took place in 1634 ; and when, in the 
 following year, the Portuguese anchored as usual off 
 Nangasaki, they found a kind of wooden island, with 
 two rows of houses on it, floating before the town, and 
 connected with it by means of a bridge. It was called 
 the " Island of Desiina," and had been constructed 
 during their absence at the instigation of the Dutch, 
 for the express purpose of preventing the possibility of 
 their setting foot upon the land. Here they were to 
 reside during their stay in Japan, and to transact the 
 exchange of their merchandise; while the same edict 
 which sentenced them to this ignominious treatment, 
 likewise prohibited their displaying any crucifix or re- 
 ligious image by which Christianity might be recalled 
 to the minds of the people. The utter banishment in- 
 cluded in this sentence put a final blow to the hopes of 
 the Christians, by depriving them of every chance of 
 future pastors ; and thus, exposed at once to all the tor- 
 tures that the murderous policy of their enemies could 
 devise, and deprived at the same time of the support 
 and consolation which only religion had power to bestow, 
 it is not wonderful that at last they yielded to despair, 
 and openly revolted against their rulers. With the as- 
 sistance of Dutch artillery, this ill-digested movement 
 was speedily put down ; and the result proved as fatal 
 to the Portuguese as to the native Christians them- 
 selves ; for the former having been unjustly accused by 
 their rivals of having privately instigated the people to 
 rebellion, they were banished in a lit of imperial indig- 
 nation, not only out of Japan, but even out of the Isle 
 
172 JAPAN. 
 
 of Desima, in which they had hitheito been permitted 
 to reside. 
 
 No subsequent representations or entreaties, either 
 of the Portugiiese merchants or of their Viceroy in the 
 Indies, could induce the To-Xog-uno to rescind this re- 
 solution; from that hour every attempt at negotiation 
 was steadily resisted; and so strictly did he adhere to 
 the very letter of his edict, that when a solemn em- 
 bassy wns sent by the government of Portugal to treat 
 with him on the subject, the universal law of nations 
 was disregarded, and both the ambassadors themselves, 
 and the crew of the vessel which had brought them over, 
 were condemned without mercy and executed on the spot. 
 Fourteen only of the latter were reserved to tell the 
 tale of the martyrdom of their companions; for martyrs 
 they were, since they were offered their lives on condition 
 of apostasy ; and when the little party of the survivors 
 were sent back to India, they were put in charge of a 
 chest into which the Japanese had collected all the bones 
 of their slaughtered compatriots, while upon the lid they 
 had printed an inscription to the effect, "That so long- 
 as the sun shone upon the earth, no Christian should 
 be permitted to land in Japan ; and that if King- Philip 
 (of Spain) himself, or the very God of the Christians, 
 or even their own Great Xaca, the chiefest and highest 
 of their especial idols, were to disobey this order, they 
 should be made to pay for their presumption with their 
 heads." 
 
 Unfortunately, neither the banishment of the Portu- 
 guese nor the murder of their ambassadors was suf- 
 ficient to allay the jealous suspicions of the emperor; 
 and it was probably somewhere about this time that the 
 ceremony of the Jesumi was instituted. The name is, 
 apparently, a corruption of " Jesus and Mary," the in- 
 variable rallying* cry of the Japanese converts ; and 
 the ceremony itself consisted simply in trampling under 
 foot a crucifix, or image of the Madonna, which was 
 carried from house to house by officers appointed for 
 the purpose. Such an act was considered equiva- 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 173 
 
 lent to a formal recantation ; for the heathens con- 
 cluded — and who shall marvel at their conclusion.'' — 
 that they who were willing" to dishonour the effigy, 
 could have no real feeling- of honour for the original, 
 and therefore that they could not be Christians, that is 
 to say, they could not be believers in the Divinity of 
 Christ, if they found in this faith no motive for rever- 
 ence to His image or to the image of His Mother. 
 Death was to be the portion of those who should refuse 
 thus to trample on the likeness of their Saviour; and 
 death was accordingly inflicted upon vast multitudes of 
 Christians who remained true to their creed. The time 
 had, in fact, arrived, when the light of faith, so rapidly 
 enkindled b} r the prayers and preachings of St. Francis, 
 was to be as rapidly extinguished in the blood and tears 
 of his spiritual children; and sad and distressing to all 
 the better feelings of the heart as are the scenes through 
 which we have been compelled to wade in pursuing- the 
 downward course of the Church he founded, still is 
 there one high thought, one dominant fact presiding 
 over all to encourage and console. That thought is of 
 the grace of God, and that fact the wonderful power 
 which the grace of God so exercises over human nature, 
 as out of its weakness to bring forth strength, and out 
 of its bitterest passions sweetness, and out of the same 
 materials that went to the formation of a Nero or a 
 Teigo-Sama creates an Agnes or a Francis Xavier. For 
 never, perhaps, in the long history of the world, had 
 the miraculous workings of Divine grace been more 
 triumphantly vindicated, than in this outbreak of the 
 Gospel through the heathen realm of Japan. Beneath 
 its sweet and saving influence men born to a tradition 
 of lies, and nurtured in the indulgence of the worst 
 passions of their nature, — proud, effeminate, luxurious, 
 and revengeful, — suddenly became chaste, humble, mor- 
 tified, and forgiving. The rich, who had been in- 
 tolerant of poverty, as if it had been the badge and 
 banner of a felon's fate, now grew to be loving and 
 
174 JAPAN. 
 
 reverent to the poor, as the representatives of Jesus upon 
 earth. Haughty nobles, who had looked upon suicide as 
 but a dignified escape from the hands of the executioner, 
 now patiently awaited their death, as it pleased their 
 tormentors to dole it out to them by inches ; and courtly 
 philosophers, who had hitherto ignored eternity, because 
 they dared not look on the retribution which it threat- 
 ened to their crimes, were now ready and willing to 
 suffer every torture that could be inflicted upon them 
 for the sake of the sure hope of heaven that was 
 laid up in their hearts. Nor was it men alone who 
 thus proved themselves brave in the hour of trial : 
 women were every where found to equal, sometimes 
 even to surpass them in stoical endurance; and little 
 children became as strong men in the heroic resolution 
 with which they accepted sufferings at the hands of 
 their ruthless persecutors. 
 
 Many, indeed, among the people fell off, as might 
 have been expected; but God was glorified in thou- 
 sands, who at the stake or upon the cross, beneath the 
 sword of the headsman or in the sulphurous waters 
 of Unsen, proved themselves worthy disciples of a cru- 
 cified Saviour; while among the clergy, whether native 
 or foreign, only two or three failed in the hour of trial. 
 The rest, as they were taken, laid down their lives, one 
 by one in succession; concealing themselves, as they 
 were in duty bound, as long as they could, for the 
 sake of their flocks, but going calmly and gladly to 
 the scaffold the instant that Providence seemed plainly 
 to lead them to its foot. 
 
 To say nothing of the secular clergy, and of the re- 
 ligious of different orders, who fell nearly every man 
 at his post, it is calculated that no fewer than four 
 hundred members of the Society of Jesus perished in 
 the course of those thirty years of persecution in Japan; 
 and of this vast number of victims one, and one alone, 
 proved unfaithful to his trust; while even his place was 
 instantaneously filled by another, who, burning with 
 
en. ix.] japan. 170 
 
 zeal for the glory of God, and suffering- mortal anguish 
 for the shame and scandal which such an apostasy had 
 brought on the Church, the priesthood, and the Si 
 of which he was a member, actually came from tl 
 west for the express purpose of taking* the post which 
 the renegade had abandoned, and of blotting- out the 
 stain of the perjury in his own blood. Mastrilli was 
 the name of this heroic religious, and his wish was 
 speedily fulfilled; for he and his companion, a man as 
 brave and self-devoted as himself, perished 1 
 sword, after having- been tempted in vain to apo 
 by the trial of the pit. Possibly their prayers it was, 
 and the merit of their martyrdom, which finally won 
 for their apostate brother the gift of his conversion; and 
 which moved him, after many years of struggle with 
 himself, to deliver himself up to the authorities of Nan- 
 g-nsaki, with the declaration that he was a Christian, and 
 ready and willing- to sign and seal that declaration with 
 his blood. He was instantly committed to the trial of 
 the pit, and perishei at the age of ninety, after r'o'ir 
 days' patient endurance of the self-same torture which, 
 in Iris young-er and more vig-orous years, he had been 
 unable to support for about the same number of hours. 
 Full nineteen years elapsed between the failure of his 
 first trial and the triumphant conclusion of his hist ; and 
 daring- that space of time each succeeding- attempt of 
 European missionaries on Japan is but the history of a 
 martyrdom and a g-rnve. 
 
 Jn 1643, Father Rubino, a Jesuit, with four com- 
 panions, succeeded in landing- at Satzuma; but they had 
 not been two days in the country before they were 
 arrested — made to suffer, first the torment of water (as 
 it has been already described) every day for several 
 months, then that of fire, which, by means of lighted 
 torches, was applied all over their persons, the wounds 
 being systematically healed for the purpose of renewing- 
 the application; and at the close of nearly a year of 
 unceasing- suffering- and unwearied patience, they were 
 condemned, as a last resource, to the trial of the pit. 
 
170 JAPAN. 
 
 So vivid was the joy with wliicli they all listened to 
 this sentence, that, fancying- its purport had been mis- 
 understood, the governor caused it to be read over 
 again; but they, perceiving- his mistake, assured him 
 they were -already well aware of its contents, and that 
 the g-ladness he had seen on their faces was but the 
 natural expression of the feeling with which they con- 
 templated their approaching- union with their God. 
 They all remained firm to the end : one of them living 
 for no less than nine days in the nearly unendurable 
 torture to which they had been condemned; and their 
 death was soon followed by that of Father Marcpiez, 
 another Jesuit, with four companions, also of the Society, 
 who were arrested almost as soon as they had set foot 
 upon the shore. They were brought by their captors 
 to Jedo, where they were confronted with some of the 
 Dutch dealers, who had been sent for from Nangasaki 
 to ident ifv them as priests, and to whom we are in- 
 debted for our account of their trial and martyrdom. 
 " The Jesuits/' says Haren, " were seated on mise- 
 rable mats; their faces pale and emaciated, eyes dim 
 and sunk deeply in their heads, hands blackened and 
 purpled, and bodies all bruised by the horrible tortures 
 to which they had been already subjected. They an- 
 swered with great courage and frankness to the ques- 
 tions proposed by their judges, and their limbs being- 
 sawn off, one by one, by order of the To-Xoguno, such 
 of them as did not sink at once under the torture Mere 
 carried back to prison, where they speedily expired." 
 
 The martyrdom of John Baptist Sidotti is the last 
 which we find on record in the annals of Japan. He 
 seems to have heen attracted to this perilous mission 
 from his earliest youth; and after employing himself 
 for many years in the study of the Japanese language, 
 he obtained a mission from the Pope to go and preach in 
 that kingdom. Two more years were spent at Manilla 
 in order to perfect his knowledge of the language; and 
 his design becoming public, every facility was afforded 
 him for carrying it into execution, — a ship being even 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 177 
 
 fitted out for his use by the governor of the Philip- 
 pines. He was already within landing-distance of 
 Japan, when a fishing-boat hove in £ da native 
 
 idolater, who had accompanied them on their v< 
 lit to try and bribe its crew into silence, 
 does not appear to have been successful, for when he 
 returned to the ship he did all he could to dissuade Si- 
 dotti from his enterprise; hut after long and earnest 
 prayer, the latter told the captain that this was the 
 moment for which he had so ardently sighed ; and that 
 being* in sight of Japan, nothing should prevent him 
 from attempting to land, — since he did not rely for 
 success upon his own strength, but rather upon the 
 grace and goodness of God, and upon the prayers of 
 those who had already shed their blood on its soil. 
 
 Finding it impossible to dissuade him, the captain 
 proceeded to make arrangements for landing him at 
 night ; and in the mean time Sidotti employed himself 
 in writing letters and in making a short exhortation to 
 the crew, in the course of which he asked their pardon 
 for any scandal he might have given, and for any defi- 
 ciency in the religious instruction they had received at 
 his hands. It could have been but humility alone which 
 had prompted this request; for his life on board, as well 
 as every where else, had been most saintly, and the chief 
 portion of his time had been employed both earnestly and 
 efficaciously in leading the crew to virtue. His last act 
 on board was to kiss, in unfeigned lowliness of spirit, the 
 feet of all; and towards midnight he and the captain de- 
 scended into the boat which was to convey them to land. 
 During their short transit Sidotti was deeply absorbed in 
 prayer ; but as they touched the shore, he threw himself 
 on his knees and devoutly kissed the ground, thanking 
 God for having brought him at length to this land, the 
 object of all his wishes and his prayers. The captain 
 accompanied him a little way in shore ; and when it was 
 necessary to separate, he forced a few pieces of gold upon 
 his acceptance, in hopes of its enabling him to propitiate 
 the Japanese, and then affectionately took his leave. 
 
178 JAPAN. 
 
 He had not done so a minute too soon for Iris own safety; 
 for iris boat had scarcely reached the ship before Sirio'tti 
 was a prisoner and on his way to Nangasaki. There, like 
 his predecessors, he was confronted with the Dutch, who 
 describe him as a tall pale man, with black hair, and 
 about forty years of age. He wore a Japanese robe, 
 and a chain, from whence a crucifix depended, was 
 hanging from his neck; his Rosary was in his bands, 
 which were manacled at the wrist, and he carried a 
 couple of books under Jris arm. As he understood 
 Japanese, there was no need of an interpreter: and his 
 answers were perfectly frank and open as to the nature 
 of his intentions in coming- to Japan. After many ques- 
 tions upon this subject, they asked him if he were aware 
 of the laws against the landing- of the Spaniards and Por- 
 tuguese, to which he also replied in the affirmative ; but 
 added, that they did not apply to him, as he was an 
 Italian. At this juncture of the conversation, observing 
 some of the spectators busy with the bag- which con- 
 tained the vessels for the celebration of Mass, he inter- 
 rupted himself to beg* that no irreverence might be 
 offered to them -a request that was instantly, and in a 
 very decorous manner, complied with. He was after- 
 wards sent to Jedo, where he lingered in captivity for 
 a considerable number of years ; but as he contrived to 
 convert nearly every one who approached him, he was 
 at last immured in a cavity from four to five i'eet in 
 depth, his food being* supplied him through an opening* 
 at the top; and after lingering on for some time in 
 inconceivable agony, he expired at last from the effects 
 of this protracted torture. 
 
 From the hour of his death no Christian missionary 
 has ever set his loot in the kingdom of Japan. The 
 Dutch alone have permission to approach its shores; 
 but, by a singular retribution, they have themselves 
 been banished to that Isle of Desima which their in- 
 trigues had caused to be erected for their rivals; and 
 their trade, which, even in the face of Portuguese com- 
 petition, had enabled them to send seven or eight ships 
 
CH. IX.] JAPAN. 179 
 
 to the Japanese market, has g-radually dwindled into 
 such total insignificance, that in Bell's System of Geo- 
 graphy we find it stated that two at the outside now 
 suffice for its demands. Commerce was then, as it is 
 now, their only object,- and in pursuance of its sordid 
 gains they have been content to leave Japan to its 
 idol-worship, without thought or effort to win it to 
 the knowledge of the living God. This was their 
 compact with its imperial ruler- and this compact 
 they both then and since have rigidly observed. Not 
 only did they leave the heathen to be heathen still ; but 
 in the very hottest of the persecution they either aided 
 (as we have already seen) the emperor in his murderous 
 designs against the Christians, or sat still in supreme 
 indifference, suffering him without remonstrance to 
 root out the Christian religion by the extermination 
 of his people, — banishing, burning, drowning, and be- 
 heading-, and carrying his jealous hatred into the very 
 realms of death itself, by digging up the bones of the 
 martyred dead, and scattering them abroad on the 
 waters of the ocean. 
 
 With all his efforts, however, and those of his suc- 
 cessors, it is very doubtful whether Christianity is even 
 at this instant entirely extinct in Japan. It had spread 
 too widety, and been too deeply rooted in the hearts of 
 the people, to be entirely forgotten in the course of a 
 few generations ; and accordingly, even so late as the 
 eighteenth century, a Jesuit missionary in China tells us 
 of certain holy pictures, painted upon porcelain, which 
 the Chinese had been then recently in the habit of manu- 
 facturing for the markets of Japan. And later still, an 
 author of the present day assures us that the Japanese 
 possess a knowledge of the ten commandments which, 
 whatever may be their own theory on the subject, they 
 evidently must have derived from the Christian tradi- 
 tion ; while the Chinese, whose opinion — as their nearest 
 neighbours, and the most closely associated with them 
 both by commerce and by customs — is worthy at least 
 of considerable attention, were not very many years ago 
 
180 JAPAN. 
 
 impressed with the idea that Christianity, instead of 
 being- defunct, was merely dormant among- the people. 
 Nor even now at the eleventh hour is the Catholic 
 Church unmindful of this once fair and flourishing- 
 portion of her heavenly inheritance ; but from the east 
 and from the west, from China and from India, and 
 from the distant shores of France — always the great 
 depot of missionary workmen — zealous and devoted men 
 are ever on the watch for a favourable moment to fol- 
 low in the footsteps of St. Francis Xavier, and to raise 
 again the cry of salvation by which he once gathered 
 its multitudes around the banner of the cross. So strict, 
 however, is the blockade, and so severe are the regula- 
 tions by which every avenue of the country is closed, 
 that all attempts have hitherto proved in vain ; and in 
 the mean time terror and tyranny have effectually re- 
 pressed every outward demonstration of Christianity. 
 Heathenism in its lowest form broods darkly over the 
 benighted land ; and the ceremony of the " Jesumi," 
 renewed year after year at ISangasaki, if it bear witness, 
 by the suspicion it indicates, to an element of true re- 
 ligion still existing in the nation, gives also, alas! a 
 melancholy testimony to the fact, that not one is left 
 with enough of Christianity or enough of courage to 
 confess to the existence of the living God, there on 
 the very spot where thousands laid clown their lives 
 for Him, in the days when the Church which His Son 
 had commissioned to teach all nations shed the light of 
 faith over the realms of Japan. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SPANIARDS AND INDIANS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Character of the Spanish colonists. The system of encomi- 
 enda. First missionary efforts. Arrival of the Jesuit Fa- 
 thers. Their labours and successes among the Indians 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 SEARCH FOR SOULS. 
 
 The Jesuits oppose the enslaving of the natives. Appeal to the 
 king. Manifesto of the Fathers. Rapacity of the colonists. 
 The first "reductions," and the first martyrs. Renewed 
 contentions. Second appeal to the home government, 
 which supports the Jesuits. Expulsion of the Fathers from 
 Assumption 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 Paraguay. Character and habits of the natives. The work of 
 conversion and civilisation. Description of a reduction. Its 
 internal government. Occupations of the missionaries. 
 Regulations as to property and commerce . . . .27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 
 
 Church, schools, workshops. &c. Feast of Corpus Christi. Di- 
 versions. Religious and moral habits of the people Their 
 zeal for the conversion of their brethren. Arrival of fresh 
 missionaries. Ravages of the small-pox . . 42 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE MAMELUKES OF ST. TATTL'S. 
 
 PAG* 
 
 St. Paul's. Lawlessness of its inhabitants. Their treachery 
 and cruelty to tho Indians. Attack on the reductions. 
 First migrations. Courage and determination of the mis- 
 sionaries. Crimes of the "Mamelukes." The Fathers re- 
 solve to evacuate the reductions 56 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 
 
 Disasters and sufferings of the emigrants. Spaniards continue 
 to molest the old reductions. Flight of the inhabitants. 
 Renewed attacks of the Mamelukes. The Indians, allowed 
 the use of fire-arms, defeat the marauders. New s- ttle- 
 ments. Intrepidity of the missionaries. Bernardin de Car- 
 denas, Bishop of Assumption. His charges against the 
 Jesuits. The fable of the gold-mines. Insurrection of the 
 colonists quelled by the Christian natives . . . .70 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FINAL BLOW. 
 
 Martyrdoms of FF. Ortiz and Solinas. Success of F. de Arce\ 
 Martyrdoms of FF. Cavallero, de Arce, Blende, Sylva, 
 Maco, and thirty neophytes. Antequera usurps the govern- 
 ment ; persecutes the Jesuits. His repentance and death. 
 Rebels a second time defeated by the Christian Indians. 
 Renewal of charges against the missionaries. Martyrdom 
 of F. Lizardi. Treaty of exchange between Spain and Por- 
 tugal ; forced emigration of the natives. Persecution and 
 decoration of the Jesuits. Present state of Paraguay. 
 Review of the labours of the Society in that country . . 84 
 
Character of the Spanish colonists. The system of 
 encomienda. First missionary efforts. Arrival 
 of the Jesuit Fathers. Their labours and suc- 
 cesses among the Indians. 
 
 'OWEVER dark the record of 
 Spanish crime in the settle- 
 ments of South America, how- 
 ever frightful the cruelties and 
 oppressive the tyranny exercised upon the 
 unhappy natives, no one cm read the history of those 
 times with an unprejudiced mind, and still consider the 
 government of the mother-country as being entirely or 
 even greatly responsible for them. From Charles V. 
 of Austria to Philip V. of the Bourbon dynasty, the 
 Spanish monarchs, in fact, invariably took the part of 
 the oppressed against the oppressor ; and all their 
 general regulations, as well as all their especial direc- 
 tions to their vice-regal representatives in the colonies, 
 tended alike to the restriction of the power of the con- 
 quering Spaniard, and to the amelioration of the con- 
 dition of the conquered native. That such humane 
 endeavours should have proved a failure might have 
 been a cause for wonder had it occurred in the present 
 
y PARAGUAY. 
 
 day, when facilities for communication have so greatly 
 lessened the difficulty of legislating for a distant people; 
 hut that such should have heen the case in those times 
 appears the almost inevitahle consequence of the dis- 
 tance of the countries to govern and to he governed, 
 the dangers and delay attendant on the communication 
 between them, the total ignorance of the people for 
 whom they were thus called upon to legislate, but, 
 more than all the rest, the vicious character of those to 
 whom the Spanish monarch was perforce compelled to 
 delegate his power. 
 
 For it happened then, as it very possibly might have 
 happened even now, that while the good, the just, and 
 the noble-minded remained quietly at home, the idle, 
 the unprincipled, and the desperate, those, in a word, 
 who had lost their fortunes by extravagance, or their 
 characters by excess, sought to repair the one or to 
 redeem the other by a greedy search after gold or a 
 reckless pursuit of adventure in the new world. Men 
 such as these would under any circumstances have 
 thought but lightly of infringing' the law ; many of 
 them, in fact, had often done so even in their native 
 land. What wonder, then, that with broad seas be- 
 tween them and the legal punishment of their misdeeds, 
 intrenched moreover amid the rocks and fastnesses of 
 the untrodden regions they had made their own, they 
 should have defied with impunity every effort to con- 
 trol their actions ; or that the history of the Spanish 
 colonies should in consequence have become one long 
 scene unrolled of rapine, murder, and rebellion ; of 
 governors not only defeated in their attempts at re- 
 storing order, but deposed, murdered, or sent home 
 blackened by calumny, to die in a dungeon; of bad 
 men gaining the upper hand by means which the good 
 were too scrupulous to employ; and of barbarities exer- 
 cised on the unhappy natives, beneath which, if they at 
 times revolted, they much oftener pined and drooped 
 and faded away, until the red Indian had well-nigh dis- 
 appeared from the land which his fathers had possessed 
 
CH. I.] SPANIARDS .AND INDIANS. 3 
 
 in peace, and which for untold centuries they had called 
 their own. 
 
 The fatal policy of distributing' the Indians enco- 
 mienda among- the Spaniards no doubt tended greatly 
 to increase the suffering's of that unhappy race, by 
 giving something of the force of law to an appropria- 
 tion of native labour which would otherwise have been 
 stigmatised as an act of private injustice. By the 
 regulations of this system, a certain number of Indians 
 were, for a given term of years, parcelled out to in- 
 dividuals, who for two months in .every year had a 
 right to their personal service, besides exacting- an 
 annual tribute from them ; and in return, the master, 
 or " commander," as he was most usually called, was 
 bound to see to the comfort and instruction, both religi- 
 ous and secular, of the natives confided to his care. As 
 originally designed by the crown, these conditions were 
 by no means unmerciful; and had they been carried 
 out by the colonists in a similar spirit, would undoubt- 
 edly have led to a much more rapid civilising* and 
 Christianising' of the Indian population than could 
 otherwise have been accomplished. It may, and in- 
 deed it must, be objected to the system, that the labour 
 being- compulsory, their state was in fact nothing* short 
 of slavery. But, on the one hand, we must remember 
 that it was desig-ned for men who, without this restric- 
 tion as to time, would in all probability have attempted 
 and effected a life-long- servitude of the native ; and on 
 the other, it is surely an open question whether in 
 reality it may not have been a more humane and equi- 
 table mode of dealing* with the Indian than that of 
 driving* him by main force from his possessions, or 
 cheating- his childish simplicity into the exchange of 
 the broad lands that God and nature had bestowed 
 upon him for beads, and gewgaws, and trumpery trin- 
 kets, — to say nothing of the deliberate dulling of in- 
 tellect and shortening of life by the fatal gift of brandy 
 (the fire-water of the savage), in order to blind him 
 more effectually to the ruinous nature of the bargain 
 
4 PARAGUAY. 
 
 he was contracting-; all which have been the notorious 
 practices of other nations, and more modern and (so to 
 speak, by courtesy) more liberal times. 
 
 Whether, however, the means adopted were judici- 
 ous or the contrary, most certainly the object of the 
 Spanish government was chiefly directed to the tem- 
 poral and eternal welfare of the people so suddenly and 
 unexpectedly confided to its care ; but, unhappily, it 
 never was in a condition to command that rigid adher- 
 ence to its regulations which was absolutely necessary 
 to insure success. Cruel and rapacious, and divested 
 of all save the externals of religion, the Spaniards 
 thought of nothing higher than the rapid acquisition of 
 wealth by every means within their power. In such 
 hands as theirs the system of assignment rapidly de- 
 generated into a positive slavery ; and the natives either 
 died by hundreds beneath the imposition of unaccus- 
 tomed burdens, or, scandalised by the vices and revolted 
 by the cruelty of their owners, confounded at length 
 the religion which their masters professed with the vices 
 which they practised, and resolutely adhered to that 
 idolatry which had become to them the badge of free- 
 dom, while Christianity was identified in their eyes with 
 a state of servitude. In vain Charles V. and his suc- 
 cessor Philip endeavoured to regulate and prevent 
 these disorders ; in vain an officer was appointed whose 
 especial charge it was to investigate the treatment of 
 the Indians, and to deprive of authority and office all 
 who abused or trespassed on their weakness ; the dis- 
 tance of the mother- country proved an insuperable bar 
 to any real or permanent redress, and sixty years had 
 rolled away since the first possession of the land, and 
 nothing effectual had yet been done to advance the 
 cause of civilisation, or to establish the empire of Jesus 
 Christ upon the old idolatries of its heathen occupants. 
 
 It was not that the Catholic Church was idle or in- 
 different; the historian of Peru and Mexico, uncatholic 
 and anticatholic as he is, has yet most truly said, " The 
 effort to Christianise the heathen is an honourable cha- 
 
CH. I.J SPANIARDS AND INDIANS. 
 
 racteristic of the Spanish conquests. The Puritan, with 
 equal religious zeal, did comparatively little for the 
 conversion of the heathen, content, as it would seem, 
 with having- secured to himself the inestimable privilege 
 of worshipping* God in his own way. Other adven- 
 turers who have occupied the new world have often had 
 too little regard for religion themselves to be very soli- 
 citous about spreading* it among the savag-es. But the 
 Spanish missionary from first to last has shown a keen 
 interest in the spiritual prospects and welfare of the na- 
 tives. Under his auspices churches on a magnificent 
 scale have been erected, schools for elementary instruc- 
 tion founded, and every rational means taken to spread 
 the knowledge of religious truth ; while he has carried 
 his solitary mission into remote and almost inaccessible 
 regions, or gathered his Indian disciples into communi- 
 ties like the g'ood Las Casas in Cumana, or the Jesuits 
 in California or Paraguay. At all times the courageous 
 ecclesiastic has been ready to lift his voice against the 
 cruelty of the conqueror, and the no less wasting- cu- 
 pidity of the colonists ; and when his remonstrances, as 
 was too often the case, have proved unavailing, he has 
 still followed, to bind up the broken heart, to teach the 
 poor Indian resignation under his lot, and to light up 
 his dark intellect with the revelations of a holier and 
 happier existence." 
 
 All this, and a great deal more besides, did the 
 Spanish missionaries in behalf of the poor Indians ; but 
 how were they to succeed in their appointed mi-sion 
 where every thing tended to neutralise their efforts ! 
 How were they to convince the savage of the paramount 
 importance of religion, when he saw among his rulers 
 no anxiety except for gold ? How were they to press 
 upon him the necessity of patience, purity, meekness, 
 and humility, when pride, rapacity, cruelty, and revenue, 
 were the chief characteristics displayed for their imita- 
 tion ? Or how were they to tell of the glory of a sou] 
 absolved from sin, while the body ot the hapless listener 
 was wasting- and withering- away in chains provided by 
 
O PARAGUAY. 
 
 the professors of the doctrine which the}' preached ? It 
 was, in fact, a hopeless task, so long- at least as they 
 could neither promise indemnity to the Christian convert, 
 nor even prevent the very fact of conversion being made 
 a pretext for enforcing- the odious slavery of the cncomi- 
 enda; and, forced unfortunately by their position to me- 
 diate continually between the opposing- parties, to preach 
 patience on the one hand, and forbearance on the other, 
 they gradually but surely lost the confidence of both j 
 the Indian dreading- them as being of the nation of the 
 oppressor, while the Spaniard hated them as the defend- 
 ers of the oppressed. Where the Spanish foot had never 
 trod, or the Spanish tongue never had been heard, there 
 the missionary had a fairer chance; crowds would 
 fearlessly g-ather round him, and won by the beauty of 
 the doctrine he preached, would gladly and eagerly 
 receive baptism at his hand. But the Christian priest 
 was too often, even in his own despite, made the pioneer 
 of the Spanish soldier ; as sure as his track was on the 
 mountain, so sure was the searcher of gold to be in his 
 footsteps ;.. and peace and order vanished as he came. 
 The Indian was consigned to the slavery of the mines ; 
 his wife and children, }'et more unmercifully, sold to 
 the highest bidder in the market; and the unhappy 
 missionary, balked of the fruit of all his labours, was 
 fain to seek out a more distant people, or to remain and 
 break his heart, and wear out his whole existence, in 
 stemming the tide of vice, which gave the poor savage 
 but too plausible an excuse for returning or cleaving to 
 the superstition of his fathers. 
 
 It was plain that in a contest such as this no isolated 
 efforts of zeal would avail to victory. A body of men 
 was needed, who would not only scatter seed, but watch 
 its growth; in other words, who would gather the neo- 
 phytes into congTegations, and alike defend them from 
 Spanish tyranny and keep them aloof from Spanish 
 crime. The secular clergy and Franciscan friars were 
 far too few in number fully to carry out a work like 
 this; and at length Francis Victor, the Dominican 
 
CH. I.] SPANIARDS AND INDIANS. 7 
 
 Bishop of St. Michael's, finding- himself almost without 
 priest or religious whom he could send upon the mission, 
 addressed himself to the Societ}- of Jesus for their aid. 
 They had not, however, waited for this summons to 
 visit South America, having* been sent to Lima some 
 time before by the burning- zeal of Borgia, the third, 
 and after the saintly founder of the Society, the greatest 
 of its generals. In that city they had built a church 
 and college; and while Father Portilla stirred the 
 masses of the people by his mig'hty eloquence, Father 
 Lewis Lopez devoted himself to the instruction of the 
 negroes ; and the rest went forth among* the natives, 
 attended the hospitals, and made themselves all thing's 
 to all men that they mig*ht win all to Christ. 
 
 Gladly these apostolic men accepted the invitation 
 of the Bishop to enlarge the theatre of their labours; 
 the success of their missions more than realised his ex- 
 pectations; the Bishop of Tucuman sought them likewise 
 for his diocese; and in 1586 they were received, with 
 almost regal honours, in the city of Santiago. The 
 governor himself, with all his officers, and the chief 
 nobility of the city, came out to meet them ; they were 
 conducted through streets adorned with triumphal 
 arches and strewn with flowers ; crowds assembled to 
 greet them as they passed ; and weeping for joy, the 
 Bishop himself embraced and blessed them, and led them 
 to his cathedral, where a Te Deitm was intoned in 
 thanksgiving for their arrival. Well might the old 
 man weep for joy ; five secular and a few regular clergy 
 being the utmost he had hitherto been able to command 
 for the instruction of the vast and reckless population 
 over which he ruled; while he himself was all but sink- 
 ing beneath the responsibilities of his position, and his 
 anxious endeavours to fulfil them in his own person. 
 Although the Jesuits felt themselves more especially 
 called to the conversion of the heathen, they saw that 
 all their efforts in that direction would be in vain, if the 
 poor natives were still to be corrupted by the example 
 of those above them in station and intelligence ; they 
 
8 PARAGUAY. 
 
 therefore commenced their labours by a mission among 
 the Spaniards. It succeeded almost beyond their hopes; 
 for a time at least the latter were won to holier lives ; 
 and the Indians, seeing" the g'ood effect which had been 
 produced by the preaching- of the Fathers upon their 
 rulers, willingly submitted in their turn, and flocked in 
 crowds to hear them. Two of the missionaries had by 
 this time qualified themselves to address them in a lan- 
 gurige they understood ; and after having- preached for 
 some days to the Indians of the town, they went forth 
 to those who were scattered through the district, when 
 upwards of seven thousand neophytes, fervent and well- 
 instructed, soon rewarded their zeal. They were placed 
 under the care of a secular priest, and xhen one of the 
 Jesuits returned to Santiago, while others proceeded by 
 invitation of the Bishop to Cordova, and Father Monroy 
 and a lay brother preached with great success to the 
 nation of the Omaguacas. They were a fierce and in- 
 domitable people, who had twice destroyed the town 
 of Jujuy, and proved themselves on many other occa- 
 sions the dangerous and untiring foes of the young colo- 
 nies of Spain. But when, after infinite trouble, Father 
 Monroy had succeeded in inducing them to enter into a 
 treaty of peace with the latter, he had the vexation of 
 finding- his exertions made worse than useless by the 
 folly of the Spaniards, who enticed two of their caciques 
 into the town, and immediately threw them into prison. 
 They were released at last on the earnest expostulations 
 of Monroy ; but he could not prevent the natural dis- 
 trust which took possession of the Indians, and feeling- 
 indeed too certain that it would be impossible to keep 
 them in the practice of the precepts of Christianity, 
 when Christians, alas ! were themselves ever ready to 
 corrupt them by example, or to irritate them by cruelty, 
 lie led the whole tribe to a spot nearer Tucuman, where 
 he delivered them to the care of a secular priest, while 
 he himself returned to the mission. 
 
 The Jesuits were received at Assumption, the chief 
 city of Paraguay, with as much joy and gratitude m 
 
CH. I.] SPANIARDS AND INDIANS. 9 
 
 had greeted them at Santiago ; and there Father Sa- 
 lonio commenced a mission, while Fild and Ortega 
 embarked upon the Paraguay for the country of the 
 Guaranis. These people were not perhaps absolute 
 idolaters, since Charlevoix assures us that they acknow- 
 ledged but one God; however, their notions on the 
 subject were extremely vague and uncertain, and they 
 neither offered .sacrifice nor possessed any established 
 form of worship. They dwelt, for the most part, in the 
 province of Guayra, which is fertile though unhealthy, 
 and abounds in serpents, vipers, and other formidable 
 and disgusting reptiles. The Fathers penetrated into 
 its most hidden depths and wildest fastnesses, and then 
 went back to Assumption to tell their Superior that 
 they had seen two hundred thousand human beings, 
 who, with a little care and trouble, might speedily be 
 gathered into the fold of Christ. They found the 
 plague raging in the capital on their return ; but this 
 circumstance only gave fresh impetus to the zeal of the 
 Jesuits, who, not content with their labours for the 
 Spaniards, went fearlessly among the Indians, and had 
 the happiness of bringing hundreds of dying creatures 
 to the knowledge of the true God in the very hour of 
 their entrance upon eternity. Grateful for the charity 
 with which at every risk to themselves the Jesuits had 
 lavished assistance upon them in their utmost need, the 
 Spaniards now showered unasked-for favours upon them, 
 besides building a house and church for the society 
 both at Villa Iiica and Assumption. So great was 
 the enthusiasm at the latter place, that the inhabitants 
 of the colony all vied with each other in lending a 
 helping hand; women of the highest rank brought their 
 riches and their jewels, the poor bestowed their labour 
 without payment, and when the Fathers besought them 
 to moderate their zeal, they only answered, that as they 
 were working for Jesus Christ, they could not be afraid 
 of doing too much. 
 
 In fact, they had ample cause for gratitude to the 
 Fathers. It was not alone the spiritual assistance 
 
10 PARAGUAY. 
 
 which they were ever ready to offer to all alike, whether 
 among- the rich or poor, hut the Spaniards soon dis- 
 covered that the Jesuits were their hest defence against 
 the resentment of the natives, when their own cruel 
 treatment had lashed them into rebellion. Thus when 
 a troop of Spaniards had suffered themselves, while 
 marching- ag-ainst a party of revolted Indians, to be 
 decoyed into a deep defile where they were completely 
 at the mercy of their foes who were in possession of 
 the heights, Father Barsena, who had been journeying 
 under their escort, came at once and effectually to the 
 rescue. Alone and unaided he sought the encampment 
 of the savag*es, climbed the rocky ascent from whence 
 they were preparing- to rush down upon his countrymen, 
 and spoke to them with so much force and elocpience, 
 that he induced them to suffer the Spaniards to pass 
 without further molestation. This success appears to 
 have given a new direction to his zeal; for separating 
 himself from his countrymen, he remained for some time 
 preaching to these people, who, fierce by nature, and 
 doubly fierce by their habits of intoxication, yet listened 
 to him with respect, and thus received the first germs 
 of religion which with time were to develop into per- 
 fection. From their tribe he passed on to the nation 
 of the Lulles, and from thence to the Red River, where 
 being joined by other missionaries, he was recalled in 
 consequence of his great age and infirmities to Cuzco, 
 in Peru. The last of the Incas lay dying in that city 
 — dying, it may be, less of actual disease than of his 
 crown despoiled, his kingdom taken, his people ruined, 
 and his country, enslaved. Such a conversion would be 
 a fitting crown and conclusion to an apostleship of life- 
 long labour in the land ; so the aged Father thought ; 
 and his zeal kindling, he sought out the dethroned 
 and dying monarch, spoke to him of the Christian's 
 God and the Christian's hope of heaven with all the 
 fervour and unction of a saint in his novitiate, heard 
 him, at length, abjure the idolatry of his fathers, 
 poured the waters of baptism on his brow, received his 
 
CH. I.] SPANIARDS AND INDIANS. 11 
 
 parting' breath, and having- thus procured him an 
 eternal crown in place of the temporal one of which his 
 own white nation had deprived him, went home him- 
 self to die. 
 
 A little while previous to these events, Father Ro- 
 mero had been appointed provincial ; and after preaching" 
 for some time in and about the city of Assumption, and 
 from thence to Cordova and Santa Fe, he advanced, in 
 company of a Spanish gentleman named Jean de Abra, 
 into the country of the Diaguites ; a people who adored 
 the sun, offering* in its honour feathers which they had 
 previously consecrated, according- to their fashion, by 
 dipping- them in blood. The Father was received with 
 much cordiality until a certain day, when he was inter- 
 rupted in his preaching' by a band of hostile savages, 
 painted and adorned after the manner they adopt when 
 about to enter on the trial and torture of a captive. In 
 all probability they hoped to inspire terror ; but they had 
 mistaken their man. Father Romero merely interrupted 
 his discourse for a moment, to command the new comers 
 to bow down in adoration of the living* God, who, as 
 their Creator, had a right to exact such homage from 
 them. His intrepidity probably saved his life; and 
 instead of the attack, which had evidently been medi- 
 tated, the Indian chief merely declared, in a tone of 
 haughty defiance, that the white men might, if they 
 pleased, degrade themselves in such manner; but that 
 neither he nor his people would stoop to such dishonour, 
 and would still continue to worship according* to the 
 traditions of their fathers. 
 
 After this protest against the Christian's creed the 
 savages withdrew, leaving Romero and his companion 
 in hourly expectation of a rising, to which they would 
 infallibly have fallen victims; but after a night passed 
 in prayer and preparation, to their great astonishment, 
 the angry chief made his appearance to apologise for 
 his conduct of the evening before, and to promise in his 
 own name and that of his nation greater docility for the 
 future. In fact, that very day upwards of a thousand 
 
12 PARAGUAY. 
 
 Indians accepted Christianity ; and all was proceeding' 
 well, when the avarice of the colonists once more nearly 
 mined the mission of the Fathers; for, hearing- that the 
 Tribe had solicited baptism, and fancying- that, because 
 they were willing- to embrace Christianity, they were 
 likewise willing- to become their slaves, they attempted 
 to distribute some of them encomienda; and the In- 
 lians, indig-nant and surprised, at once revolted, declar- 
 ing- that Christianity was a snare and a pretence ; and 
 that the Spaniards merely sent their priests before them 
 r.o reconnoitre, in order that they themselves might ul- 
 timately step in and possess themselves of the land. 
 ■''But it never shall be so!" they cried: " rather than 
 submit to slavery and the white man's prison, we will 
 fall upon these black-robes and tear them to pieces as 
 traitors and seducers." And so indeed they would have 
 done, had not an old savage, who had attached himself to 
 the Fathers, succeeded at last in calming- the tumult ; and 
 th.? first effervescence of popular feeling- over, Romero 
 had no difficulty in making* them comprehend the dis- 
 interestedness of his own intentions towards them, and 
 his freedom from every thing- like collusion with the colo- 
 nists. He concluded by giving- them a solemn promise, 
 that the relig-ion which he preached should never be 
 made a pretext for depriving- them of liberty — a promise 
 afterwards nobly to be redeemed by the Society to 'which 
 he belong-ed ; b it at what cost to its members and its 
 own reputation thn \story will sufficiently make mani- 
 fest. 
 
13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SEARCH FOR SOULS. 
 
 The Jesuits oppose the enslaving of the natives. Appeal to the 
 king. Manifesto of the Fathers. Rapacity of the colonists. 
 The first " reductions," and the first martyrs. Renewed con- 
 tentions. Second appe.il to the home government, which sup- 
 ports the Jesuits. Expulsion of the Fathers from Assumption. 
 
 The favour which- the Spaniards had hitherto displayed 
 towards the Jesuits was chiefly owing to the marvellous 
 ii.fi uence every where exerted by these apostolic men 
 over savages who had hitherto resisted both force and 
 persuasion. It was a favour selfishly bestowed for the 
 sake of the benefit which they hoped it would confer on 
 themselves, and just as selfishly withdrawn the moment 
 they found that the benefit they sought would be abso- 
 lutely and unconditionally denied them by the Fathers. 
 Up to the moment of the settlement of the latter at 
 Assumption, the colonists had reckoned with confidence 
 rpon their assistance; first for taming- the natives, and 
 then for (hawing- them into the slavery of the enco- 
 n.ienda. But they little knew the men with whom 
 tl ey had to deal, or the spirit that guided the Chris- 
 tian missionary. Themselves for the most part soldiers 
 of fortune, they could not forgive the boldness which 
 stepped between them and their prey ; and blinded by 
 avarice and intoxicated with success, they could as little 
 perceive the wisdom of a course which, if followed out 
 according to the suggestions of the Jesuits, would have 
 given to Spain a new race of subjects, and to her co- 
 lonies servants instead of slaves — friends instead of 
 enemies, more terrible in their desultory warfare than 
 whole armaments of civilised foes. For although, in- 
 deed, the savage could never hope finally to win the 
 day against the might and power of Spain, he yet could, 
 
14 PARAGUAY. 
 
 and often did, destroy hundreds in his unforeseen attacks, 
 and his blows unhappily fell full as much upon defence- 
 less women and children as upon the mailed and armed 
 aggressors. It is lamentable to be compelled to acknow- 
 ledge that a handful of men, for the most part unedu- 
 cated and of ill repute both in their old country and 
 their new one, as the colonists too often were, should 
 yet, by the peculiarities of their position, have been able 
 to embarrass at least, if not to frustrate, all the designs 
 of a merciful government, and all the efforts of the Ca- 
 tholic clergy, who alone were either willing or able to 
 carry them into execution. Here, however, as else- 
 where, the spirit of the Church, which pleaded for the 
 liberty of the Indian, found itself in direct antagonism 
 to the spirit of the world, which advocated his slavery ; 
 and here, as elsewhere, the Church has been blamed tor 
 what the world has done, and the Jesuits, who acted 
 only on her inspiration, have been accused, in the for- 
 mation of their Indian congregations, of the pride and 
 avarice of which the world, represented by the Spanish 
 colonists, was actually guilty in opposing their foun- 
 dation. 
 
 Peace, even in outward seeming, could not, of course, 
 be expected long to subsist between parties so diametri- 
 cally opposed to each other; the one being ever deter- 
 mined to oppress, and the other to oppose oppression. 
 Father Torrez gave the first offence at Cordova by re- 
 fusing to treat the Indians employed in building his 
 church as slaves, and insisting on paying them at the 
 same rate and in the same way as European workmen ; 
 and not long afterwards Father Loreneana, in the city 
 of Assumption, was guilty of a yet graver and more 
 unpardonable misdemeanor in the eyes of the Spaniards. 
 The Indians of the neighbouring country had revolted; 
 and the officer sent to suppress the insurrection, instead 
 of searching out the real offenders, fell upon a party of 
 defenceless natives who had taken no share whatever in 
 the rising, and, loading them with chains, drove them like 
 wild beasts into the capital, where they were sold pub- 
 
CH. II.] SEARCH FOR SOULS. 15 
 
 licly as slaves. It was not in the nature of an honest 
 or true-hearted man to witness such a scene unmoved. 
 From the slave-market, where he had seen the crea- 
 tures for whom Jesus Christ had shed His blood put 
 up like cattle to auction, Father Lorengana came burn- 
 ing; with indignation to the church, and mounting the 
 pulpit (he had already tried the effect of private expos- 
 tulation in vain), denounced the injustice, and threatened 
 the vengeance of heaven upon the offenders. They 
 heard him without reply ; the boldness of the net for a 
 moment silenced all opposition, and even elicited the 
 applause of the people ; but when the first enthusiasm 
 had passed away, they began to look upon it with other 
 eyes ; and to feel that, so long as the Jesuits were there 
 to oppose them, they would never be able to put in 
 execution their favourite and short-sighted schemes for 
 the acquisition of wealth, by enslaving the Indian nations 
 in the fullest and most unerpiivocal sense of the word. 
 
 Little cared these true sons of Loyola, however, for 
 the persecution which they had thus excited. They 
 might, indeed, and must have felt most keenly the 
 difficulties thrown so recklessly in the way of the con- 
 version of the natives ; but for themselves, they had 
 done their duty, and could with confidence leave the 
 result to Providence. The citizens of Cordova rose 
 against them in a body, and driven first from that city, 
 and then from Santiago, they retired to St. Michael's 
 without other regret than such as was necessarily oc- 
 casioned by the interruption of their mission. At the 
 latter town they were received with kindness, and per- 
 mitted to found a college and preach to the neighbour- 
 ing nations; but even there they could not entirely 
 check the rapacity of the Spaniards, and they had too 
 often the misery of seeing the poor Indians carried off, 
 while they were in the very act of preaching to them, 
 to be sold in the slave-market. Such a state of things 
 was not to be quietly endured by really Christian men, 
 and much less "by really Christian priests. They ap- 
 pealed to the home government ; the King of Spain an 
 
16 PARAGUAY. 
 
 swered by a letter which did equal honour to his head 
 and his heart. In it he declared, "that the only yoke 
 he intended for the natives was the yoke of Jesus Christ; 
 for he wished to have subjects and not slaves ; to rescue 
 the Indians from the slavery of their own passions, not 
 to subject them to those of other men ; and therefore, 
 except in the event of aggression on their parts, he 
 positively forbade any save the missionaries from at- 
 tempting to reduce them, since they alone could do so 
 in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the spirit of the 
 Christian religion." 
 
 Upon the receipt of this letter, both the governor 
 and the Bishop of Paraguay resolved to put every 
 future attempt at the conversion of the Indian tribes 
 entirely into the hands of the Jesuits, who had all along 
 proved themselves such fearless and zealous advocates 
 of the cause of freedom. Joseph Cataldino and Simon 
 Maceta were the Fathers named for this expedition; but, 
 true to the principles adopted by their order, they would 
 not leave the city of Assumption without publicly de- 
 claring their determination to oppose henceforth, in the 
 king's name, and at any cost to themselves, every at- 
 tempt upon the liberty of their converts. "We will 
 make them men and Christians,'' they said, " but never 
 slaves. They are not a conquered people, and therefore 
 you have not even a conqueror's claim upon them. It 
 is permitted neither to you to deprive them of their 
 freedom, nor to us to be accessory to the fact. The 
 law of God and the law of nations alike forbid it, and 
 therefore we will not do it ; but what we can and ought 
 to do, that we promise we will do. We will show them 
 the beauty of peace and order ; we will teach them 
 that the abuse of liberty is the worst of slaveries ; we 
 will make them comprehend the advantages of living 
 beneath a well-ordered government, and we hope to see 
 the day when these poor savages will learn to bless the 
 hour in which they adopted the religion of Jesus Christ, 
 and became the servants and subjects of a Christian 
 nxnarch." 
 
CH. II.] SEARCH FOR SOULS. 1? 
 
 Just and noble as were these sentiments, they found 
 no echo in the bosoms of the men to whom they were 
 addressed; and then the Jesuits went yet further. They 
 pressed upon their consideration the slower but much 
 more certain advantages to be derived from the system 
 they wished to pursue. They asked what hud become 
 of the thousands of Indians who had disappeared since 
 the discovery of Paraguay; and while they proved that 
 the fearful mortality which had swept them from the 
 face of the earth could be attributed only to the in- 
 human manner in which they had been overtasked and 
 overburdened, they touched on the improbability of the 
 conquerors being able to keep the land in cultivation, if 
 the conquered were no longer in existence to till the 
 soil. 
 
 But it was all in vain. They were speaking to men 
 hardened by avarice, and, by the very pursuit to which 
 they had devoted themselves, narrow-minded and short- 
 sighted even as respected their OAvn interests ; and feel- 
 ing that all their arguments were thrown away, the 
 Fathers at length resolved upon prosecuting their mis- 
 sion elsewhere, and by assembling the Indians in distant 
 villages to guide them to civilised life and to God, far 
 from the interference and bad example of their country- 
 men. They left Assumption for the purpose ; but the 
 report of their undertaking went every where before 
 them, and by the time they reached Villa Rica the fer- 
 ment was at its height. Not a man in all that city 
 could be ' found to guide them on their way ; and a 
 cacique of the tribe they were going to visit having 
 come into the city for the purpose of doing so, he was 
 thrown into prison, whence he was not liberated until 
 threat as well as remonstrance had been employed. 
 Then, and not until then, the Fathers proceeded on 
 their way. Sailing down the Paranapane (or " river of 
 misfortune," as it is called in the Indian language), they 
 reached at length the spot where the Pirapa discharges 
 itself into its cedar-shudowed waters, and there they 
 found two hundred Guaranis Christians, fruits of the 
 
18 PARAGUAY. 
 
 former mission of Fathers Ortega and Fild. Advanc- 
 ing a little further up its banks, they came upon rip- 
 wards of twenty other villages, some already Christian- 
 ised, and others well disposed to receive the faith. To 
 them the Fathers represented the advantages of dwelling* 
 in community, as well for the greater facilities thus 
 acquired for instruction, as for the better protection of 
 their liberty against both colonists and heathen natives 5 
 and they had actually agreed upon joining the above- 
 mentioned Guaranis, in order to form one settlement 
 with them, when it was discovered that a Spaniard who 
 had followed the Jesuits by way of aiding in their 
 labours had secretly decamped, carrying with him for 
 the slave-trade many women and children belonging to 
 the tribe. It is easy to imagine the indignation of the 
 poor Indians ; for they naturally concluded that the Je- 
 suit Fathers were implicated in the transaction, and the 
 latter had much difficulty in vindicating themselves 
 from so injurious a suspicion. Indeed, it is most won- 
 derful how they ever acquired the confidence of the 
 Indians, identified as they were both by blood and 
 language with men who had no god but gold, no law 
 but their own interests, no mercy in war, no truth or 
 even justice when at peace. God alone could vindicate 
 His Church amid such deeds of treachery ; and that He 
 did so is most certain ; for the poor natives learned at 
 length to discriminate between the Spaniards and their 
 pastors, and, while they loathed and feared the one, to 
 trust entirely and to love the others. The storm which 
 the wickedness of the runaway Spaniard had raised 
 died gradually away, and with an admirable faith in the 
 fair dealing of the Fathers, the Indians allowed them- 
 selves to be conducted to the spot where the other 
 Guaranis were already assembled. It was the first of 
 those Christian congregations which, under the name 
 of t reducciones,' or ' reductions,' gave so many true- 
 hearted children to the Catholic Church, and so many 
 faithful vassals to the crown of Spain : it was called 
 1 Loreto/ — fitting name for an establishment destined 
 
CH. II.] SEARCH FOR SOULS. 19 
 
 to be the nursing-cradle of the faith of Christ in a land 
 where as yet no knee had ever bowed to do homage to 
 His name. 
 
 The fame of this young- city, and of the wisdom 
 and mercy with which it was governed, soon spread 
 abroad among the tribes; and Indian after Indian Hocked 
 into it for protection, until it grew ^o much too E-mail 
 for its population, that the priests were compelled to 
 found consecutively three additional settlements for the 
 disposal of the surplus. Encouraged by this success, 
 they threw themselves into their work with redoubled 
 energy, straining every nerve to gather the heathen 
 yet more and more entirely into their new foundations. 
 They searched the land from north to south; in the 
 day-time fainting beneath the ardours of a tropical sun, 
 and at night tormented almost to madness by the mos- 
 quitoes, and crowds of nameless stinging insects which 
 that warm and humid atmosphere brings forth. Now 
 they wandered singly, or in pairs, over wilds and deserts, 
 where they were liable to become the prey of ferocious 
 cannibals or ravenous wild beasts. Anon amidst forests 
 swarming with poisonous reptile life, and where vege- 
 tation grew so rank, that, hatchet in hand, they had to 
 cut their way through the dense and tangled masses 
 which every where obstructed their steps, and veiled 
 the very light of heaven above their heads — in a coun- 
 try too where earthquakes are of everyday occurrence, 
 and hurricanes so terrible, that the mightiest monarch 
 of the forest falls prostrate beneath their fury ; where 
 the lightning blinds by a vividness, and the thunder 
 rolls with a continuity of sound, of which we, the chil- 
 dren of a more temperate climate, can form but a faint 
 conception ; and where, in the rainy season, such floods 
 pour down from the skies, and the rivers rise so sud- 
 denly, that travellers in those days were often up to 
 the waist in water, or compelled to take refuge in some 
 lofty tree, or to sleep on the mud which the retiring 
 tide left bare. 
 
 More than once the Fathers narrowly escaped with 
 
20 PARAGUAY. 
 
 their lives from these terrible inundations. Upon one 
 occasion, we are told that Father Ortega, after wading 
 for some time up to his middle in water, was compelled, 
 with his companions, to seek safety in a tree. For 
 three nights and days the tide continued rising" ; and 
 they suffered first from hunger, and then from weak- 
 ness and exhaustion, while thunder and lightning', and 
 an impetuous wind, which never ceased, added new 
 and appalling- terrors to the natural horrors of their 
 position. The wild beasts of the forest, too, came flock- 
 ing round their place of refuge ; serpents of all kinds, 
 rattle-snakes, and vipers, were floating on the waters; 
 and one enormous reptile actually coiled itself round a 
 branch close to the one to which Father Ortega was 
 clinging. For a little while he watched his fearful 
 neighbour, expecting every moment to be devoured; 
 however, the bough most fortunately broke beneath its 
 weight, and it floated away in a different direction. 
 But his own personal perils were not his worst anxiety; 
 for, in the hurry of their first alarm, the Indians who 
 accompanied him had unhappily chosen a tree much 
 too low for safety ; and their despairing cries, as from 
 time to time they were forced to retreat from the rising 
 flood higher and higher still among its branches, came 
 faintly to his ears across the raging waters, and pierced 
 his heart with sorrow. So it went on until midnight 
 of the third day; and then one of the Indians, swim- 
 ming to the foot of the tree, besought him to come to 
 the assistance of his countrymen, most of whom were 
 dying. The Father prepared to do so; but he first 
 bound his poor catechist, who had no longer strength 
 to hold on by himself, to the strongest bough that lie 
 could discover; and then throwing himself into the 
 waters, struck out for the tree where his poor com- 
 panions were expiring. They were almost at their last 
 gasp by the time that he arrived, and only clinging to 
 the branches by a hist long effort of desperate exer- 
 tion : happily lie was able to climb into the tree; and 
 in that strange and perilous position, with the wild 
 
CH. II.] SEARCH FOR SOULS. 21 
 
 winds raging- round him, and the stormy waters surg- 
 ing- at his feet, he received their confession of faith, 
 and baptised them one by one ■ and one by one, with 
 a single exception, they dropped into the flood, and 
 were seen no more. Having thus done his duty, as 
 none but a Catholic priest can do it, he returned to his 
 catechist; and the waters soon afterwards retiring, they 
 were able to pursue their way. But Ortega bore with 
 him a trophy of that glorious day in a wound, which, 
 as it never healed, became a source of suffering and 
 merit for him to the last day of his life. 
 
 Even perils such as these were, after all, far less ter- 
 rible and revolting to human nature than those which 
 awaited the Fathers who undertook to preach to the 
 cannibal Indians. The four reductions already founded 
 had, by the peace and comfort which reigned among 
 them, become objects of desire to all the other tribes, 
 and one of these applied to the governor for pastors to 
 form them into a congregation. They were notorious 
 cannibals, and even the Bishop hesitated to send among 
 them any of the few missionaries whom he could com- 
 mand, and whom he felt he should thus be devoting to 
 almost certain death, without any adequate success to 
 compensate for their loss. In this dilemma the governor 
 sought out Father Torrez, and told him that he had 
 no longer any hope save in the zeal of his religious. 
 He was answered on the instant. Torrez assembled 
 all the Fathers in the college, and communicated to 
 them in a few words the fears and misgivings of the 
 Bishop ; then fixing his eyes on Loreifbana, the rector, 
 he added, " My Father, as the Lord once said to Isaias, 
 'whom shall I send, and who will go?'" Instantly, 
 flinging himself at the feet of his provincial, the rector 
 answered in the words of the same prophet, " Here I 
 am; send me." Father Torrez raised and embraced 
 the grey-haired man, already grown old in the labours 
 of the mission ; the whole city was in admiration of his 
 courage ; and accompanied by a young priest of the 
 society, who was only too happy at being* permitted to 
 
22 
 
 PARAGUAY. 
 
 join him, Father Lorencana set out on his perilous en- 
 terprise. 
 
 They built themselves a hut and a chapel, the walls 
 .of mud, the roofs constructed of leaves and branches; 
 and there they took up their abode in the very midst of 
 the " tolderias," or wigwams, of the cannibals Whom 
 they were sent to convert. A year passed slowly on, 
 and save certain schemes for the massacre of the mis- 
 sionaries, which happily were discovered in time to be 
 prevented, nothing- of any consequence occurred. Then 
 the conversion of two chiefs created a sensation among-, 
 the people ; a woman, with her daughter, sought bap- 
 tism ; but her husband, against whose express prohibi- 
 tion she had acted, sought out a heathen tribe, and in- 
 duced them to attack one of the Christian nations, de- 
 claring that nothing less than the blood of the last 
 Christian Indian, served in the skull of the last of the 
 Christian priests, could satiate his revenge. Happily 
 his ferocious wish was never to be gratified ; the Chris- 
 tians were successful in the struggle that ensued, and 
 numbers of his own tribe becoming converts, Lorencana 
 removed them for safety higher up the country, where 
 a church was built and a new reduction formed under 
 the name and patronage of St. Ignatius. 
 
 It was the fifth in order of foundation ; and while 
 Lorencana was engaged in its completion, Father Gon- 
 zales, after working wonders among the Indians resident 
 on the banks of the Parana, undertook to ascend the 
 Uruguay from^ts mouth to its source. This river, of a 
 thousand miles, rises as a tiny rivulet among, the Sierra 
 do Mar, the mountain sea-range of the kingdom of Bra- 
 zil ; and under the name of Pellotas, runs for a consider- 
 able distance westward, between banks of massive and 
 high-pointed rocks. It afterwards assumes the name of 
 the Uruguay ; and as it proceeds, innumerable smaller 
 streams swell its waters, until it becomes a great and 
 mighty river, navigable for large vessels even up to the 
 Salto-grande, or great fall, which lies half-way between 
 the Yuicui and the Rio Negro, the largest and most 
 
CH. II.] SEARCH FOR SOULS. 23 
 
 important of its tributary streams. Upon these lonely 
 waters Gonzales embarked with a few Indian compa- 
 nions to act as guides ; and although he did not fully 
 accomplish all that he had undertaken, nevertheless, as 
 it so frequently has happened to others of his brethren, 
 he laid open a vast extent of unknown country to the 
 future investigation of the colonists. The province called 
 Tape, situated between Brazil and the Uruguay, was 
 the chief scene of his labours. The Indians of this dis- 
 trict, who were a branch of the Guaranis and spoke 
 • their language, were naturally of a mild and gentle dis- 
 position ; but dwelling- in a mountainous country, they 
 possessed all the love of freedom inherent in moun- 
 taineers. This at first made them, unwilling- to listen, 
 to Gonzales ; but he had no sooner succeeded in con- 
 vincing them that their freedom would be safe in his 
 hands, than every repugnance at once vanished, and 
 they nocked in crowds to hear him. Of all the nations 
 of South America, they proved, in fact, the most docile 
 in their reception of the Gospel, and the most faithful in 
 their adherence to it. Their reductions became so nu- 
 merous on the banks of the Uruguay, that they have 
 given their name to all the other Christian establish- 
 ments in that province; and thus Father Gonzales, 
 with the loss (as it happened) of no other lives than 
 his own and those of his two companions, first explored 
 this vast extent of country, and then reduced it to the 
 dominion of the Spanish crown. 
 
 Recalled by his superiors, he was obliged for a time 
 to leave the new reductions to the care of his two com- 
 panions ; and when he returned in the following year, 
 it was only (in the strictest sense of the word) to give 
 his life for the flock which had been intrusted to his care. 
 The reductions were attacked by a party of pagans ; 
 and as neither he nor the other Jesuits who were with 
 him would consent to abandon their spiritual children, 
 they were killed in the melee which ensued. Another 
 Father was soon afterwards sent to supply their place, 
 and he also was stoned to death by the same Indians; 
 
24 PARAGUAY. 
 
 but this time the murder was avenged ; for the Chris- 
 tian inhabitants of the other reductions being joined by 
 a troop of Spanish horse, tog-ether they attacked and 
 defeated their savage foes, recovered the bodies of the 
 martyred Fathers, brought them in triumph to the city 
 of Assumption, and there interred them with every mark 
 of honour and respect. 
 
 It is not surprising that the wonderful facility with 
 which their reductions had hitherto been formed should 
 long ere this have suggested to the Jesuit Fathers the 
 idea of a Christian republic, where, far from the dwell- 
 ings and evil doings of the colonists, the spirit of the 
 primitive Church might be revived among the fresh 
 young nations of the newly-discovered world. Reason 
 enough they had, too, for wishing to remove the work 
 in which they were engaged out of the reach of Euro- 
 pean interference, long experience having taught them 
 that it was absolutely impossible ever thoroughly to 
 convert the natives while in the immediate proximity 
 of their Spanish masters; their illegal and tyrannical 
 claims on the services of even the most independent of 
 the tribes, their cruelty to all, their crimes, by which 
 they gave the lie direct to the religion they professed, — 
 any of these singly and alone would have been sufficient 
 reason for making the contemplated separation; but 
 all together they rendered it indispensable to success. 
 Formal application had already been made to Philip 
 III. of Spain ; and following the example of his prede- 
 cessors, who had each cast the weight of his authority 
 on the side of liberty and religion, he answered the re- 
 monstrance with a rescript, by which the Jesuits were 
 authorised not only to preserve their converted Indians 
 from the yoke of the encomienda, but also to with- 
 draw them entirely into congregations, so as to separate 
 them effectually from all contact with the settlers. 
 The mere rumour of this permission was quite sufficient 
 to rouse the indignation of the Spaniards ; but, secure 
 in their good intentions, the Jesuits remained firm, and 
 to every menace and accusation only answered, that with 
 
CH. II.] SEARCH FOR SOULS. 25 
 
 the Indians already in the possession of the colonists 
 they would not interfere ; for they were painfully con- 
 vinced that their labours, at least for the present, would 
 be thrown away on men whom evil example had cor- 
 rupted and cruelty made desperate ; and that their en- 
 deavours would be best bestowed on those who had 
 either never yet been in subjection to the Spaniards, 01 
 bad flung* it off altogether. But, reasonable as their 
 answer was, it could not satisfy the suspicions of the 
 avaricious settlers; and to such a height did their discon- 
 tent arrive, that at last Francis Alfaro was sent as visitor 
 from Spain to arbitrate between the contending* parties. 
 He approached the city of Assumption by water; 
 and as his bark glided through the devious windings of 
 the broad and silvery Paraguay, he was met by a troop 
 of Christian Indians. Their vessel was adorned with 
 gTeen boughs and flowers, and they came perhaps in 
 the hope of winning* his sympathy and protection for 
 their people. The young Indian who commanded the 
 party paid his compliments with grave self-possession 
 and respect, and invited the visitor, who was accom- 
 panied both by the Governor of Paraguay and by the 
 Provincial of the Jesuits, to finish the journey in his 
 boat. This they accordingly did ; and on reaching the 
 shore, they were met by the father of the young Indian 
 chief, who was himself one of the caciques of the nation, 
 and who brought his youngest son, a boy of about 
 two years old, to be baptised by Father Torrez. The 
 Spanish visitor kindly accepted the office of godfather 
 on the occasion, a much easier one than that which had 
 brought him to the city ; for the practice of the encowi- 
 enda had worked itself into such a system of abso- 
 lute slavery, that not even the authority of the king, 
 nor the representations of the bishop, nor the efforts of 
 the governor and magistrates, had hitherto been able to 
 repress it. Nevertheless Alfaro did his duty ; and after 
 a long and patient investigation of the circumstances of 
 the case, published a decree by which the enslaving of 
 the Indians was peremptorily forbidden; but the oppo- 
 sition to this decision was of so violent and of so threat- 
 
26 TARAGUAY. 
 
 ening* a nature, that, for a time at least, he was obliged 
 to modify it, by permitting- the enforced labour of the 
 Indians for the space of one month, on condition of their 
 receiving- proper and equitable wages during* the rest of 
 the year. Very unwilling- was he to make even this 
 concession • and he took care to adhere to the terms 
 of the royal rescript, by excepting* from its operations 
 all such Guarani and Guaycuru Indians as had been 
 already converted, or should hereafter be converted by 
 the Jesuits. He also wished to assig*n to the latter the 
 same salary as was usually given to the secular priests j 
 but Father Torrez, considering* it too much for religious, 
 refused to accept of more than a fourth part of the sum. 
 This disinterestedness won him a short-lived popularity 
 among* his countrymen •, but it passed away as suddenly 
 as it had appeared ; and Aliaro had scarcely turned his 
 back upon the city ere its inhabitants rose and expelled 
 the Jesuits, as the authors, or at least the originators, of 
 the decree which had galled them to the quick. 
 
 Not long* afterwards, however, one of the citizens, 
 touched with remorse, waited on the governor, and in 
 presence of nil his slaves, whom he had commanded to 
 accompany him, promised not only to adhere faithfully 
 to the conditions prescribed by the decree, but for the 
 future to treat the Indians rather as his children than 
 as his slaves or servants. So noble a recantation of 
 error naturally produced a reaction in public opinion ; 
 the Jesuits were recalled to Santiago and Cordova as 
 well as to Assumption, and, for a time at least, the poor 
 natives received a more Christian treatment at the 
 hands of their Spanish masters. It was, indeed, but a 
 passing* gieam of sunshine in the midst of gathering 
 clouds ; but, such as it was, the natives felt that they 
 owed it entirely to the firmness with which the Jesuits 
 had advocated their cause ; and little wonder was it 
 that those who were already Christians should cling* 
 with even greater love and confidence than before to 
 their holy protectors, or that those who yet wandered 
 unreclaimed and unconverted should earnestly invite 
 them to come and settle among* them. 
 
27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 
 
 Paraguay. Character and habits of the natives. The work of eon- 
 version and civilisation. Description of a reduction. Its internal 
 government. Occupations of the missionaries. Regulations as 
 to property and commerce. 
 
 The Paraguay, or the " crowned river/' which is the 
 signification of the word in some of the Indian dialects, 
 rises in 13£° south latitude ; passing- through the rich 
 Brazilian territories of north Grozzo and Cuyaba, it 
 receives the Pilcomaya and the Vermejo on its way, 
 waters the province to which it gives its designation for 
 a -distance of six hundred miles, and then loses its name 
 and identity near the city of Corrientes, in the waves of 
 the Parana. 
 
 Very fair and fertile is the land which lies between 
 these sister rivers. The wide savannahs, sheltered by 
 trees and watered by innumerable rivulets, are of as 
 deep and emerald a green as the pasture-lands of Eng- 
 land; hills and gently swelling eminences, bright in 
 every variety of tint that forest-tree and flowering shrub 
 can give them, now slope gently down into smiling 
 valleys, or gird anon the still deep lakes that so often 
 come like a beautiful surprise upon the traveller, and 
 shroud them from all save the blue of heaven which 
 lies mirrored in their bosom. The palm-tree, with all 
 its eastern associations of grandeur and of beauty, lifts 
 its stately head upon the sultry plains ; there too the 
 orange yields its twofold gift of fruit and flower, and 
 the fig-tree unfolds its dark-green leaf, and offers the 
 thirsty wayfarer its delicious fruit, without price or 
 trouble ; while the hills are every where clothed with 
 the noblest and most useful trees that South America 
 
28 PARAGUAY. 
 
 can boast. The algarroba, equal in appearance and 
 value to the British oak, and the lapacho, said to be 
 more durable than either ; the urand-ig-irac, as beau- 
 tiful as rosewood; the yerba-tree, the tatayiba, or 
 wild mulberry; the palo de vivora, which in its rind 
 and juice presents an infallible cure for the most deadly- 
 serpent's bite ; the cebil and curupac, excellent for the 
 purpose of tanning- ; the aromatic cinnamon ; and 
 then, for underwood, the white flowering acacia ; the 
 paradise-tree like mountain ash, with its blossom of 
 exceeding- frag-rance, and its clusters of rich amber 
 berries ; the incense-tree, yielding- the odour of the pas- 
 tilla, the palo santo with its sweet-scented gum, — these 
 and a thousand others make thickets of bloom and 
 sweetness under the more lordly forest-trees, and the 
 passion-flower twines its wreaths from bough to bough, 
 and many-coloured parasites deck the highest trees 
 with flower and foliage not their own, and the delicate 
 air-plant, hanging* from solitary rock or thunder-riven 
 stump, floats along the breeze and fills it with the 
 odour of its pendent blossoms. Creatures beautiful or 
 dangerous, or both together, stalk through these gor- 
 geous woods ; squirrels leap and monkeys chatter 
 among the twisted branches 5 the puma, vulgarly called 
 the lion, and the ounce, or tiger of South America, 
 crouch in its lonely jungles ; and every form of reptile 
 life is there, in its moist marshy places, from the deadly- 
 rattlesnake and boa constrictor to the cobra or cule- 
 bras de bejuco, which looks so like the tree from whence 
 it takes its name, that the unwary traveller, mistaking 
 it for a withered branch, has all but grasped it in 
 his hand ere he discovers his fearful error. But the 
 woods of South America are all astir with animal life ■ 
 and it would take pages only to name the insects, birds, 
 and reptiles that towards evening fill the air with a 
 murmur of harsh sounds, until it almost seems as if 
 every leaf were a living thing, and had lifted up its 
 voice to swell the discord. Azaro describes no fewer 
 than four hundred new species of the feathered tribe 
 
CH. III.J FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 29 
 
 inhabiting- Paraguay : the eagle and the vulture haunt 
 its cliffs ; swans, black and white, and red flamingoes, 
 bathe themselves in its limpid waters ; and every variety 
 of the parrot tribe, from the cockatoo to the paroquet, 
 with fire-flies and bright- winged humming-birds, glance 
 like living- gems among- the dark foliage of its forests. 
 
 It was in the yet untrodden and uncultivated places 
 of this fair land that the Jesuits for the most part 
 settled their reductions; and in the year 1629 they 
 had already succeeded in founding- about twenty-one ; 
 some in the province of Guayra, or on the banks of the 
 Parana, and others again on the river Uruguay ; when 
 the appearance of a new enemy in Guayra threatened 
 to undo all that had been already done, and to drive 
 back the converted Indian to his coverts, with a yet 
 fiercer hatred for his European oppressors burning in 
 his bosom than had ever been there before. 
 
 Instead, however, of proceeding at once to this dis- 
 astrous era in their history, it will perhaps be interesting' 
 to the reader to give a succinct account of the mode in 
 which the Jesuits commenced these foundations, and of 
 the laws and regulations by which they afterwards 
 moulded them into civilised societies. It has been 
 already said, that from first to last the obstacles they 
 had to contend with were innumerable; and if the most 
 insurmountable arose from the bad conduct and rapacity 
 of the Spaniards, there was much also in the habits and 
 character of the Indians themselves to add difficulty to 
 the undertaking. Unused to any authority save the 
 loose rule of an elected chief, whose power could always 
 be eluded by removing from the tribe ; accustomed to 
 roam without restraint the woods and fastnesses of their 
 mighty land, its deserts at once their cradle, their 
 dwelling-place, and their grave, — it was equally difficult 
 to convince them of the advantages of a settled mode 
 of life, or to accustom them to the habits of industry 
 entailed by its adoption. Their religion was of the 
 vaguest kind ; but for the most part they believed in a 
 supreme Deity and in the after-existence of the soul ; a 
 
•30 PARAGUAY. 
 
 fact sufficiently proved by the care with which they 
 left bows and arrows and provisions in the grave, in 
 order that its occupant might be able to supply his own 
 wants in the world to which he had departed. Their 
 priests were called u maponos," and were usually em- 
 ployed also as physicians ; but, as a general rule, they 
 had no external form of worship; and while some among 
 them adored the devils or idols which they called 
 manacicas, and others worshipped the sun and moon, 
 all were superstitious, consulting the songs of birds and 
 the cries of certain animals as auguries to guide their 
 conduct. It has been sometimes said, that the American 
 savage held an indistinct tradition of the redemption, 
 believing in the incarnation of one who should fill the 
 world with miracles, and afterwards ascend into heaven; 
 but how far this idea, if they had it, is to be traced to 
 their intercourse with the Spaniards, it is impossible 
 now to ascertain. 
 
 They lived chiefly upon fish, roots, honey, and 
 whatever animals they could snare with the lasso, or 
 shoot with bow and arrows. Hunting was, therefore, 
 one of their chief occupations ; while war, as a necessary 
 consequence of their being" divided into innumerable 
 small tribes, might be as correctly designated their 
 principal amusement ; and the prisoners taken on these 
 occasions being for the most part killed and eaten, they 
 united the natural recklessness of the savage for human 
 life with the fierce thirst for human blood which belongs 
 exclusively to the cannibal. The European, therefore, 
 who went unprotected among them was continually in 
 peril of that fate, the most revolting of any to the mind 
 of man; but not for a moment did this consideration 
 retard the footsteps of the missionary, or shackle the 
 freedom of his actions for the conversion of souls. 
 With his Breviary for his only treasure, and a staff, 
 headed by a cross, for his only weapon, sometimes with 
 a few converted Indians as interpreters and guides, at 
 others with only a lay brother or a second Jesuit to 
 bear him company, he set forth upon his mission. His 
 
CH. III.] FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 31 
 
 food was roots and fruits, or a few liandfuls of maize, 
 which he carried about his person ; his bed the ground, 
 or a slender mat to protect him from the bites of the 
 reptiles, with which those wild places abound ; and he 
 had to climb up steep and rocky mountains, to wade 
 through fens and pathless morasses, to pass as best he 
 might over lakes and rapid rivers, or to cut his way 
 through miles of dense primeval forest, before he could 
 reach the savages whom he wished to convert and save. 
 As he drew near their haunts, various and ingenious, 
 and trying alike to mind and body, were the expedients 
 by which he endeavoured to assemble them around him. 
 Sometimes taking advantage of their known love for 
 music, he would go singing through the woods; and 
 when they were drawn to him by the sounds, the pious 
 canticle would be exchanged for an exhortation, in 
 which he set forth his motives for coming among them, 
 and briefly but clearly explained the principal articles 
 of the Christian creed. More frequently, however, the 
 Jesuits drove herds of cattle, sheep, or goats, sometimes 
 across two or three hundred leagues of country; and 
 this plan had a double advantage in it ; for it not only 
 enabled them to lure the Indians to them by the pro- 
 spect of plenty, but also to stock the settlement and to 
 support them in it until they could be persuaded to 
 labour for themselves. u Give us to eat," they would 
 often cry, " and we will stay with you as long as you 
 like."' And in order to be able to do so, and thus to 
 convince them of the advantage of living in community, 
 the Jesuits found it necessary both to supply them with 
 food in the first instance, and by hard and downright 
 personal labour to pi-ovide for their wants duiing the 
 course of the next year. 
 
 Many of these religious men had been born to wealth 
 and station in the luxurious cities of their native land, 
 or they had been educated in the haunts of science, and 
 had won applause in the chairs of universities; but now, 
 putting aside all love of learning and all thought of 
 comfort, they hesitated not to make themselves seem 
 
32 PARAGUAY. 
 
 poor and unlettered, for the sake of Jesus Christ and 
 their love of souls ; and so they set to work in earnest, 
 cleared the forest, ploughed the land, sowed barley, 
 maize, beans, pulse, hewed down mighty trees, and 
 brought them for building purposes to the settlement — 
 in one word, became herdsmen, masons, carpenters, 
 labourers, hewers of wood and drawers of water, while 
 the Indian with folded arms looked gravely on, and the 
 Spaniards openly mocked the folly of an undertaking 
 which, because they would not nobly share it, they 
 stupidly chose to pronounce impossible. But time 
 went on, and proved the right. Example was powerful 
 where precept must have foiled ; and when after har- 
 vest-time the savage tasted the fruits of a toil which he 
 had witnessed, but had wisely not been compelled to 
 share, he began really to comprehend something of the 
 advantages which might accrue to himself from a settled 
 scheme of life and labour. From that moment the 
 work of civilisation had commenced ; and won first to 
 order and then to God, the Indians soon took their 
 natural places in the colony as its workmen and me- 
 chanics, while their venerable teachers were enabled to 
 return once more to their own vocation, — the salvation 
 of souls. The first care both of pastor and of people 
 was the church, which in the beginning was built of 
 wood, but in better times of stone ; and though at first 
 they were content to make it simply decent, they were 
 at a later period enabled by the talents of their neo- 
 phytes to render it magnificent — at least in the eyes 
 of those for whom it was intended. After a time, in- 
 deed, the natives became themselves the best artificers , 
 and among the statues and pictures, often royal gifts, 
 which were sent from Europe, the work of the poor 
 Indian held no unhonoured place in the church of his 
 own reduction. 
 
 The form of the village which in time grew up 
 around this sacred building was alwa} r s the same, the 
 church and college of the missionaries forming one side 
 of a large square, and the other three being composed 
 
CH. III.] FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 33 
 
 of Indian huts with corridors built in front to protect 
 them from the wind and rain. From every comer of 
 this square, streets, straight and uniform in appearance, 
 diverged in right angles ; workshops, storehouses, and 
 granaries, being- added as their need was felt. The 
 burying- ground, enclosed by a wall, and planted with 
 palm, cypress, and various kinds of flowering* shrubs, 
 was always situated near the church ; and a broad walk, 
 marked out by oranges and citrons, with a large cross at 
 either end, and one in the centre at which funeral pro- 
 cessions usually halted for the singing- of psalms, led to 
 a chapel, where Mass was said every Monday for the 
 repose of the dead. Thus constituted, the village was 
 surrounded by the chacaras or plantations of the Indian, 
 while in and every where about the settlement were 
 scattered little chapels, for the purposes of processions, 
 connected with the church and with each other by broad 
 avenues of pine-trees, palm, and orange. 
 
 When once the mission was thus founded and set 
 a-going, two Jesuits were appointed to minister to its 
 necessities ; the one being always in the capacity of a 
 parish-priest, and the other acting merely as his assist- 
 ant. Each of them was chosen in the first instance by 
 his own superior, who presented three names to the 
 governor, the latter having the power to select between 
 them, subject, however, to the acceptation of the Bishop: 
 but, generally speaking, both these functionaries waived 
 their legal rights in favour of the provincial, who might 
 be supposed best to understand the qualifications of 
 his subjects for the particular missions upon which he 
 was about to send them. Nor was the priest thus 
 chosen absolute even in the fastnesses which he was 
 given to rule; for he was subject to the superior of 
 the missions, whose duty it was to visit them continu- 
 ally, and who in turn was placed under the authority of 
 the provincial. 
 
 Both the Jesuit Fathers and their neophytes like- 
 wise acknowledged, with the rest of the faithful, the 
 jurisdiction of the Bishop in whose diocese their reduc 
 D 
 
34 PARAGUAY* 
 
 tion happened to be placed. This prelate visited them 
 occasionally for the purpose of administering- Confirm- 
 ation, and would more frequently have done so had 
 it not been for the expense and difficulty attendant on 
 such journeys ; having- often to travel for the purpose 
 upwards of six hundred miles throug*h a desert where 
 not a villag-e or dwelling-house was to be seen, where 
 too he had to carry his provisions with him, and to elude 
 the attacks both of cannibals and of wild-beasts. The 
 neophytes, indeed, did all they could to lig-hten the dif- 
 ficulties of his visitation ; they often sent an escort to 
 meet him and guide him through the most unfrequented 
 passes ; and besides furnishing- him with provisions, they 
 have been even known to lay down roads in order to 
 facilitate his approach. It was high festival- time all 
 during- his stay among- them 5 nor were the Jesuit Fa- 
 thers less rejoiced upon the occasion, it having- fre- 
 quently happened that they themselves requested and 
 almost insisted upon his presence, as the only means of 
 clearing- themselves from the unjust suspicions which, 
 as years went on, spread so far and sank so deeply as 
 to be often found even in the highest places of govern- 
 ment, whether ecclesiastical or lay. With whatever feel- 
 ings, however, the Bishop himself may have occasion- 
 ally entered the reductions, he never left them without 
 sentiments of the highest admiration, and even tears of 
 joy and gratitude to Almighty God, who had made use 
 of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to change the 
 poor wanderers in woods and devourers of their own 
 kind into practical Christians and good and useful ser- 
 vants of the state. Nothing, in fact, more moderate or 
 judicious could have been devised than the systems by 
 which these results had been brought about, nothing- 
 more calculated to promote the true interests of the 
 mother-country by the peaceful and permanent cultiva- 
 tion of the new, and nothing certainly more likely to 
 ensure the true liberty and conversion of the Indian him- 
 self, who, but just reclaimed from his native forest, would 
 have been unable to reap the full benefit of the civili- 
 
CII. III.J FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 35 
 
 sation to which he had been introduced without the 
 slow and certain guidance of a Father's hand. 
 
 It has often been asserted, indeed it is almost always 
 presupposed by authors inimical to the Society, that 
 the Jesuits ruled their neophytes without any reference 
 to the imperial power of Spain ; yet so far was this 
 from being* the case, that the Indians to a man acknow- 
 ledged the Spanish monarch as their sovereign, and 
 paid a settled tribute like any other subjects. The sum 
 was indeed small, and payable only by those who had 
 reached their twentieth and had not attained their fif- 
 tieth year ; but the trifling nature of the tribute is not 
 to be ascribed to any want of loyalty on the part of 
 those who paid it, but rather to the clemency of the 
 kings of Spain, who in this and all their other transactions 
 with the reductions invariably showed a generous and 
 truly royal wish to facilitate the conversion of the na- 
 tives by relieving them as much as possible of the burden 
 of dependence. It was for this intention likewise, and 
 at the especial petition of the Jesuit Fathers, that he 
 constituted the Indians under their charge his own im- 
 mediate vassals, by which means he freed them from 
 the cruel and ruinous slavery of the encomienda, no 
 Spaniard haying a right to exact personal service from 
 any one holding land directly under the authority of 
 the crown. Gladly also, when that system had been 
 found a failure, would he have extended the same im- 
 munity to the other Indians of the country; but the evil 
 was too widely spread and too deeply rooted to admit 
 of a remedy so simple. It had been tried and had failed 
 already in the hands of more than one visitor despatched 
 by the court of Spain, and experience proved that the 
 Jesuits were right from the very outset; and that it was 
 only where the Indian convert could be kept completely 
 from all contact with the colonist, that he had the 
 slightest chance of escaping the yoke of slavery. 
 
 If, however, the king reaped but little material 
 wealth from the actual tribute of the Indians, he found 
 his account in other ways, and by less oppressive means. 
 
36 PARAGUAY. 
 
 They always held themselves in readiness to do him 
 service ; and whether for public works or for war, the 
 governor was at any time able to levy from them bodies 
 of five or six thousand men, who during- the whole period 
 of their engagement were clothed and supported by 
 their own reductions, without costing* the government 
 a single piastre. 
 
 The civil government of the reductions was carried 
 on by native officials ; the cacique, corregidor, and al- 
 caldes being- always chosen from the Indians, who were 
 found to submit much more readily to a power which 
 had thus the appearance, at least, of having- originated 
 among- themselves, although, of course, its acts and 
 decisions were guided and overruled, and especially in 
 the beginning, by the Fathers of the mission. Of 
 these last one always remained in the village for the 
 care and instruction of the resident neophytes ; while 
 the other made excursions into the country, to super- 
 intend the Indians who were at work upon the plan- 
 tations, and to instruct such as were hindered by this 
 occupation from being- present at the public catechising*. 
 Attendance upon the sick was also one of the most 
 unceasing- and arduous of the duties of both priests ; for 
 newly reclaimed as the Indians were, and unaccustomed 
 to the habits of civilised life, they were not only more 
 than usually predisposed to contract disease, but every 
 disease told" with more than usual certainty upon their 
 enfeebled constitutions; — once, in fact, that it took pos- 
 session of their frames, they seemed to have no power 
 to resist it. Even in healthy or comparatively healthy 
 times, there were always from two to three hundred sick 
 in any reductions which contained eight thousand souls ; 
 but if fever or small-pox (the fatal g-ift of Europe) once 
 set in among* them, every home became filled with sick 
 and dying* ; hundreds were swept away in the course of 
 a few hours, and there have even been not unfrequent 
 instances of the total depopulation of the district. On 
 such occasions every work of spiritual or corporal mercy 
 fell, as a matter of course, into the hands of the priest. 
 
CH. III.] FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 37 
 
 Day by day, and one by one, lie visited his patients, 
 each being- as anxiously cared for and as tenderly con- 
 soled as if there were not hundreds of unfortunates 
 around him who were all to be the recipients of the 
 same special and ungrudging kindness. It was, more- 
 over, a necessary duty of the priest to see that the 
 dwellings of the sick were kept "with due regard to 
 cleanliness ; their food and medicine were prepared at 
 his own house, often even administered with his own 
 hands ; in short, he had to watcli over the sick, to pre- 
 pare the dying- for their approaching end, and not unfre- 
 quently to dig their graves. Compassion for the sick was 
 not a spontaneous virtue among the Indians ; they liad 
 too great a dread of disease to show much tenderness to 
 the sufferer, and where there was any likelihood of 
 infection, especially where there was even a suspicion 
 of small-pox, they almost invariably fled the spot ; mo- 
 thers deserting their very children rather than run the 
 risk of this loathsome malady. Both upon the civilised 
 Indian, therefore, and his wilder brethren of the woods 
 the fearless self-sacrifice of the Jesuits worked with 
 wonderful effect ; and in spite of their terrors, the yet 
 unconverted savages would crowd round and about a 
 pestilence-stricken village, watching- the deeds of a 
 charity such as had never been seen in their land be- 
 fore, and which often won them to the faith when 
 prayers, instructions, and exhortations had failed of 
 any effect. The other occupations of the missionaries 
 consisted chiefly in performing the public congrega- 
 tional services, saying Mass, catechising, leading the 
 rosary and night-prayers, giving instructions in the 
 several schools for boys and girls, superintending the 
 adults in the workshops and plantations ; all which, 
 with close and frequent attendance in the confessional, 
 not only filled up every hour of the day, but often 
 trenched deeply on those of the night. 
 
 Community of goods had been established as a first 
 great principle in the scheme of the reductions, both 
 because it brought these Christian societies into a closer 
 
38 PARAGUAY. 
 
 conformity with the primitive Church, and also because 
 it acted as a salutary check upon the natural indolence 
 of the Indian, who, if left to his own resources, would 
 soon have been reduced to beggary ; whereas by be- 
 ing* made answerable to the commonwealth for the 
 result of his labours, that body took care, for its own 
 sake, that he should contribute his quota to the general 
 store. 
 
 However, the Fathers did not allow this rule to be 
 carried so far as to deprive their neophytes of that 
 spur to industry which undoubtedly exists only in the 
 possession of private property. To every Indian, there- 
 fore, was assigned a piece of ground for his own especial 
 cultivation; and as he held it rent-free and with the 
 sole condition of his } r eariy tribute to the king, he was 
 rich just in proportion to the diligence with which he 
 tilled it. At the commencement of the sowing season 
 he received a certain allowance of seed, with the obli- 
 gation of returning exactly the same quantity after 
 the time of harvest : a pair of oxen was likewise lent 
 him under a similar stipulation of returning them ; this 
 precaution being rendered absolutely necessary by the 
 fact, that had the natives considered them as their own 
 they would infallibly have killed and eaten them in 
 any accidental distress that might have occurred. So 
 great, indeed, was their natural dislike of labour, and 
 their propensity to supply their wants by the readiest 
 expedient which presented itself at the moment, that it 
 was found necessary in the beginning to appoint over- 
 seer, chosen from the most trustworthy and consci- 
 entious of the Indians themselves, not only to over- 
 look the labour of the others, but also to see that the 
 cattle lent them were neither injured by over-work and 
 want of care, nor, as has been already said, killed to 
 supply the exigences of a day. As a further precaution 
 against poverty or waste, a large portion of the best 
 and most fruitful land that could be found in the reduc- 
 tion was set aside to be worked, under the direction of 
 steady natives, by the children of the village, who, with 
 
CH. III. J FIRST FOUNDATIONS. 39 
 
 so fertile and productive a soil, could easily supply by 
 numbers what they might want in strength. 
 
 This plantation the Indians called tupambae, or ' the 
 possession of God/ because its produce was always stored 
 up in the public granaries, from whence it was afterwards 
 distributed by the Jesuits themselves to the sick, the 
 orphan, and new comers, to those who from one cause 
 or another had failed in their own harvest, and to those 
 who by the nature of their trade were incapacitated 
 from attending to tillage themselves. Out of this fund 
 were likewise paid the expenses of those who were ne- 
 cessarily absent, either on the affairs of the colony or 
 by requisition of the king ; for, besides the large bodies 
 of men frequently levied for the service of the latter, 
 hundreds of Indians were compelled to reside for months 
 at a time in the Spanish towns, in order to barter their 
 native productions for the merchandise of Spain. With- 
 out such an exchange the royal tribute could hardly 
 have been paid, nor could the cultivation of land have 
 proceeded to any very satisfactory extent ; for Paraguay 
 contained no mines ; and iron, the most essential of 
 all, being imported entirely from Spain, was, after every 
 effort to supply the deficiency, so scarce and so dear as 
 considerably to retard all tillage and to hinder the in- 
 troduction of many manufactures in which the Indians 
 would otherwise probably have excelled. In exchange 
 for these articles, and others almost as desirable and 
 useful, the natives brought Paraguay-herb, — a leaf em- 
 ployed for the purposes of tea, and to this day, under 
 the name of mate, an article of incessant consumption 
 in South America, — tobacco, honey, fruits, hides, furs, 
 cotton, sarsaparilla, bark, and rhubarb; the medicinal 
 qualities of the two latter, which are indigenous in 
 Paraguay, having been early discovered and made 
 known by the Jesuits. Hafts constructed for the pur- 
 pose bore these and other productions of their province 
 down their mighty rivers to Buenos Ayres, Santa Fe, 
 and other Spanish towns, where factories had been es- 
 tablished by the different reductions. The Indians em- 
 
40 PARAGUAY. 
 
 ployed upon this service were absent for months; and 
 out of the sums thus raised they purchased every thing- 
 needed by their reduction, having- first, as a matter of 
 course, paid the yearly tribute, which was always de- 
 livered at the capital of the province and into the hands 
 of an officer appointed for the purpose. Of this tribute, 
 however, the king- could in reality be said to receive 
 only a portion ; since out of it he not only paid the 
 salaries of such missionaries as he sent to America, but 
 likewise set aside a sum for the purchase of drags 
 for the reductions, for the wine and oil (both broug-ht 
 from Europe, and expensive) which were needed in the 
 church, as also for a bell, and all the sacred vessels 
 required for the altar, which he invariably presented to 
 each new reduction. 
 
 The mercantile arrangements of every settlement 
 were necessarily in the hands of the Indians themselves ; 
 therefore, after reading, writing-, and the industrial arts, 
 the children were always carefully taug-ht accounts, and 
 instructed in the value of money, besides receiving- an 
 insight into the nature and amount of the public 
 revenue. 
 
 In the beginning- of their missions the Jesuits found 
 the dialects of South America as numerous as its tribes; 
 but they wisely resolved upon employing- only one lan- 
 g-uag'e as a mode of communication throughout their 
 reductions, and having* fixed on the Guarani for the 
 purpose, it was taug-ht in all their schools, and has thus 
 become the lang-uag-e of the country, where it is uni- 
 versally spoken to the present day. In addition to this, 
 the children were taught to read and understand Spanish, 
 though not to speak it, the missionaries fearing- it would 
 promote that facility of intercourse between the old 
 race and the new which they had found by past experi- 
 ence to be so fatal to the latter. For the same reason 
 also they always chose out wild and unaccustomed 
 places for their intended mission ; and in order yet 
 more entirely to enforce the separation of the nations, 
 they obtained a rescript from the Spanish monarch by 
 
CH. III.j FTRST FOUNDATIONS. 41 
 
 which all Europeans were forbidden to visit the reduc- 
 tions without an order from the governor or the bishop, 
 or to remain for more than three days. Of course both 
 these functionaries were themselves exempted from the 
 effects of this regulation, which, therefore, could have 
 had no tendency (whatever has been pretended) to leave 
 the Jesuits with absolute authority over the reductions. 
 It simply effected what they intended, which was, to 
 restrict the intercourse of the colonists generally with 
 their converts ; but with all their care and caution, they 
 could not always prevent the latter from being- mal- 
 treated or misled by the former; nor could they en- 
 tirely obviate the scandal, or the yet worse contusion 
 between vice and virtue, which residence in the Spanish 
 towns sometimes occasioned in the minds of the poor 
 Indians. " How can you tell us," some of them once 
 exclaimed to their missionary on their return from 
 Buenos Ayres, "that modesty or charity are offended 
 by such and such an action, when we have seen white 
 men do it over and over again without compunction ?" 
 " Alas, my children," the poor Father could only an- 
 swer, " I can but tell you that we preach to the white 
 men the selfsame doctrine that we preach to you. It 
 comes from God, and is therefore as unalterable as 
 Himself; and if the Spaniards observe it not, they 
 must give account at the tribunal of the Sovereign 
 Judge, who will severely punish their neglect. Be you, 
 however, faithful thereto, and you will be wiser than 
 the Spaniards, inasmuch as you will secure to your- 
 selves the reward promised to such as, knowing the 
 holv law of God, have the grace and happiness to keep 
 it."" 
 
42 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A DAT IN THE REDUCTIONS. 
 
 Church, schools, workshops, &c. Feast of Corpus Christi. Di- 
 versions. Religious and moral habits of the people. Their zeal 
 for the conversion of their brethren. Arrival of fresh mission- 
 aries. Ravages of the small-pox. 
 
 When a stranger, with letters authorising his visit, 
 made his appearance in any of the reductions, lie was 
 received in the church by the superior of the mission, the 
 hell was rung', and the children and such as were within 
 practicable distance being assembled, a Te Devm was 
 intoned in thanksgiving for his safe arrival — no un- 
 meaning ceremony, where the journey had necessarily 
 been performed amid every danger that wood and wild 
 could present. This done,- the traveller was conducted 
 to his lodgings; and if these were assigned to him in 
 the house of the superior, he was waited upon, with 
 equal modesty and attention, by youths who were being 
 educated for the priesthood, and in this, as in all things 
 else in that grave abode, would find the regularity and 
 recollection of monastic life. 
 
 The morning after his arrival, a bell would summon 
 him to church ; and if he stood for a moment at the gate 
 of the sacred building to watch the people assembling 
 in the gTeat square, he would see the men range them- 
 selves on one side, in their poncios and Spanish waist- 
 coats, all of white on working- days, but of various 
 colours on occasions of festivity, and the women on the 
 other, in the long flowing garment called a tipoi, fas- 
 tened by a g-irdle round the waist and made of wool or 
 cotton, according to the season, but always of the same 
 snowy hue; while, suspended from a band drawn tightly 
 round the forehead, he would perceive many a little in- 
 
OH. IV.] A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 43 
 
 fant quietly reposing' on its mother's shoulders; and in 
 all this crowd of men and women he might watch and 
 watch, and still detect nothing-, in word, or look, or 
 gesture, inconsistent with the sacredness of the service 
 at which they were about to assist. When Mass was 
 over, perhaps one of the Jesuit Fathers would conduct 
 him to the chacaras, or plantations, where the men were 
 engaged at work, and thence to the schools, in which 
 the girls were being* taught to spin and sew, the boys 
 initiated in various trades, and all instructed in reading-, 
 writing', and arithmetic; and when he had looked and 
 wondered at these young savages, so patiently submit- 
 ting- to the unwonted discipline of school, and endea- 
 vouring- to master the tasks which had been set them, 
 then possibly he would be led into the interior of the 
 college, and made familiar with all its mysteries. Usually 
 it was a long- low building*, overlooking- a garden in the 
 rear, and containing-, not only the store-rooms and gra- 
 naries belonging- to the reduction, but also the work- 
 shops, where the various mechanics were employed at 
 their trades. There, as he wandered from room to 
 room, he would find tailors, weavers, joiners, shoe- 
 makers, and carpenters, all cheerfully engaged in their 
 several avocations; and if his visit happened to be paid 
 upon a Monday, he would witness the distribution of 
 cotton among* the women and g'irls, for the purpose of 
 spinning; whereas if, on the contrary, it chanced to be 
 a Saturday, he would see the same cotton brought back 
 spun and ready for the loom of the weaver. Books, 
 too, he would find in plenty ; and not merely such as the 
 Fathers might be supposed to have provided for their 
 own use, but such as were suited to the capacity of their 
 neophytes, and which were amply supplied by means of 
 a circulating library established in one of the most cen- 
 tral reductions, whence volumes were forwarded to the 
 rest; medicines being distributed in a similar manner by 
 means of a medical establishment in the same reduction. 
 It is easy to suppose that our stranger would have 
 been tempted also to visit the Indians in their own 
 
44 PARAGUAY. 
 
 abodes; and in those huts, built of mud, and roofed with 
 reeds and brandies, he would have found it no bard 
 task to make himself acquainted with all the simple 
 arrangements of their daily life; the hammock, care- 
 fully folded and put away in the day-time, its owner 
 being- then content to sit cross-legged upon the floor; 
 the hollowed stone for pounding* maize and manioc, and 
 all the still less artistic contrivances for culinary pur- 
 poses. 
 
 During- these and similar investigations, the day 
 would wear almost imperceptibly away; and with the 
 setting- of the sun he would hear the sound of a bell 
 once more, and once more see the children trooping- to 
 the church for a second catechism, a first having already 
 been given in the morning. The adults would then 
 come in for rosary and night-prayers, and such of the 
 children as had been employed in the tupambae would 
 be assembled in the great square, to receive a certain 
 allowance, probably an extra one, of provisions, which 
 they were permitted to carry home to their families. 
 Should Saturday and Sunday form any part of the 
 stranger's visit, he would be astonished, perhaps, as well 
 as edified, at seeing these poor savages, who so lately 
 had known nothing of the law of conscience, and who 
 in all they said or did had been guided by their animal 
 propensities alone, now crowding to the confessional 
 with every mark of fervour and contrition; but when, 
 on the following day, he watched them approaching 
 the sacred banquet of the Eucharist, for which many 
 had prepared themselves by days of deep recollection 
 and devotion, and oftentimes by acts of heroic volun- 
 tary mortification, the results of which were visible in 
 the very expression of their countenances, he might be 
 tempted to exclaim, in gratitude and delight, "I con- 
 fess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, be- 
 cause Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones. Yea, 
 Father, for so it hath seemed good in Thy sight." 
 
 Did the stranger's visit take place on the eve of 
 
CH. IV.] A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 45 
 
 some great festival, he would observe how, by a judi- 
 cious mingling- of amusement with the routine of their 
 daily lives, the Fathers contrived to reconcile their neo- 
 phytes to a scheme of labour which otherwise would 
 have been all but unendurable to the indolence of their 
 nature. If the feast happened to be that of the titu- 
 lar saint of the reduction, the inhabitants of two or 
 three of the nearest settlements would come with their 
 pastor, corregidors, and caciques at their head, to cele- 
 brate it with their friends ; the priests also from these 
 reductions would share the labours of the confessional 
 with the pastors of the particular mission, that any who 
 had a difficulty in going- to their own superiors might 
 have the opportunity of confession — a wise regulation, 
 which the Jesuits were always careful to carry out yet 
 more entirely, by sending* supernumerary clergymen 
 through all their reductions on the occasion of a jubi- 
 lee, or great indulgence. 
 
 If, however, the festival were that of Corpus Christi, 
 each reduction would celebrate it at home, and it would 
 be proclaimed at noon of the preceding day by blast of 
 trumpet and beat of drum; bonfires and rockets, of 
 which the Indians were passionately fond, would illumi- 
 nate the village in the evening, and bands of children 
 might be seen dancing gaily to the sound of musical in- 
 struments, which were made by the neophytes themselves, 
 and on which many of them played with great taste and 
 feeling. In the midst of these anticipatory rejoicings, the 
 preparations for the morning's festival would still be going 
 steadily on, many of the Indians, in fact, having occupied 
 themselves with them for weeks. Some, with their 
 bows and arrows, had killed tigers and other beautiful but 
 formidable animals, whose rich and robe-like skins were 
 needed to lay as carpets of tapestry before the altars ; 
 others, with the lasso, had succeeded in securing their 
 prey alive, and with these, carefully chained and guarded, 
 it was the delight of the Indians to grace their proces- 
 sions — much, perhaps, in the spirit in which conquerors 
 of old caused their war-captives to follow their triumphal 
 
46 PARAGUAY. 
 
 car. Altars, on which the Blessed Sacrament was to 
 repose, triumphal arches, beneath which It was to pass, 
 had been erected at intervals along- the broad avenues 
 of the reduction; and both had been adorned with all 
 that nature lavishes of beautiful and sweet in those 
 southern climates. There were garlands of the grace- 
 fill passion-flower, and boughs of silvery acacia ; wreaths 
 of violets and magnificent white lilies mingling* with 
 the golden fruit of the orange-tree and the lime. Pine- 
 apples every where scattered their delicious odour, and 
 bunches of tamarinds and clusters of ripe bananas dis- 
 played their deeper hues among the purple fruitage of 
 the vine, as it trailed its graceful foliage over the trel- 
 lis-work of the arches. Perhaps a gazelle, bright- eyed 
 and gentle, might be discovered feeding amid all this 
 wealth of beauty; or a young smooth tiger might 
 startle the visitor with its fiery glances ; or, from the 
 perch to which they were fastened by a long string, 
 some of the rarest and most beautiful of the feathered 
 tribe might describe airy circles above his head. The 
 eagle, with its eye of light, and its cream-coloured 
 rival, the king of the vultures, would certainly be there; 
 and the pato real, with its rich and varied plumage, 
 and clusters of humming-birds and paroquets, flashing- 
 back the sun -rays from their ruffled wings in tints 
 brighter than the brightest jewels the mine can boast ; 
 and when the blue night of the south had closed over 
 all, myriads of luminous insects, fire-flies, like wander- 
 ing stars or sparks of winged fire, would sweep along 
 the summer air, and settling ever and anon, on flower 
 and fruit and thick-wreathed foliage, make them glitter 
 as if powdered with dust of diamonds. 
 
 The streets through which the procession was to 
 pass would also be carpeted with flowers and herbs of 
 sweetest odour. The nouses on either side, like arch 
 and altar, would be decked with garlands, or hung with 
 tapestry, wrought in that beautiful feather-work then 
 deemed no mean present even for the king of Spain, so 
 rich and various were the colours, and so strange and 
 
CH. IV.J A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 47 
 
 wonderful the skill with which they were blended to- 
 g-ether; and each neophyte would be careful also to 
 place before his door baskets containing* maize, roots, 
 herbs, grain, every thing*, in fine, which was to be sown 
 or planted in the course of the ensuing* year, that the Lord 
 Himself might bless them as He passed along*. Within 
 the church there would be the smoking of perfumes, and 
 the sprinkling of sweet waters, flowers scattered on the 
 pavement, and lights innumerable burning on the altar. 
 At the conclusion of High Mass a volley of musketry 
 would announce the setting forth of the procession, and 
 the Blessed Sacrament would be borne through the 
 streets beneath a canopy, upheld by the chief Indians 
 of the reduction, while the others followed in regular 
 order, company after company, but all, men, women, 
 and children, lifting* up their voices (and the Indians 
 ever sing most sweetly) in hymns of joy and welcome 
 to the living* Jesus. 
 
 When the religious services of the day had been 
 wound up with Vespers, the Indians would assemble in 
 the great square, where sports of various kinds soon 
 engrossed all their attention. Shooting at a mark, 
 trials of skill with the sling and lasso, were always of 
 the number; but the "sortija," or riding at a ring, was 
 the favourite amusement, as it argued no small share 
 of address and courage in those who were successful. 
 The preparations for this sport were very simple, con- 
 sisting* merely in a sort of door-way made just wide 
 enough for the passage of a man and horse, with a ring- 
 suspended by means of a long cord from the upper 
 portion of the frame. At this the horseman rode full 
 speed through the door; and to him who carried off the 
 ring at the point of his wooden dagger was adjudged 
 the prize. It would seem as if the memory of the old 
 festivities in the reductions still lingered among the 
 people ; for to this day the Indians of Paraguay delight 
 in acting mysteries such as once were popular among 
 our own countrymen, and continue, in fact, to form 
 one of the chief religious amusements of the German 
 
48 PARAGUAY. 
 
 peasants. A stage is erected in the open air ; trees, or 
 the branches of trees, are made to constitute the scenery; 
 and here the Indians, both men and women, perform 
 various passages in the life of Christ, and with a simple 
 propriety too (as we are told by an eye-witness) which 
 could hardly have been looked for among- actors so 
 untaught. In all probability this amusement was in- 
 troduced by the Jesuits, in order to familiarise their 
 neophytes with Scripture story; but whether this were 
 the case or not, one thing* at least is certain, that at 
 the close of such a festival as has been described, the 
 stranger would have retired without detecting one in- 
 toxicated person, or having* heard one ang*ry word ; and 
 must fain have acknowledged, that after a day of excite- 
 ment such as might have set all the hot Indian blood 
 boiling* in their veins, he had seen those poor neophytes 
 retire in peace and prayer to their homes, leaving no 
 scandal of word or deed to mar the innocent recollections 
 of the day. 
 
 Nor is this a fancy picture, or one descriptive merely 
 of some particular period in the history of the reduc- 
 tions. Bishop after Bishop came, visitor after visitor 
 was sent from Assumption or from Spain; and in no one 
 single instance did they leave the scene of their in- 
 quiries without bearing ample testimony both to the wis- 
 dom and disinterestedness of the rulers, and to the piety 
 and innocence of those who were subject to their govern- 
 ment. Great care and diligence of course were needed, 
 and especially in the beginning, to prevent any relapse 
 into habits in which these poor savages had indnlged 
 without remorse or check dining the greater portion of 
 their lives; and it was, moreover, needful that such vigil- 
 ance should be exerted in a way sufficiently judicious 
 to prevent its becoming either irksome or irritating to 
 those who were its objects. Innumerable, consequently, 
 but still as wise as they were innumerable, were the 
 precautions adopted by the Jesuits. The Indians gene- 
 rally married at an early age; an arrangement for which 
 the Fathers have been sometimes blamed by those who 
 
CH. IV.] A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 49 
 
 did not consider the weighty reasons that induced them 
 to authorise this custom. One family alone was allowed 
 under every roof; the sexes were also always kept 
 separate at church, proper persons, called zelators, be- 
 ing* appointed to watch over their conduct there ; and 
 at night sentinels patrolled the village, who were not 
 only intended to give warning of the approach of ene- 
 mies or wild-beasts, but whose further and far more 
 important duty it was to arouse the pastor should any 
 scandal or disorder occur during their watch. The 
 regidor, however, was always considered the chief 
 guardian of the morals of the reduction ; and if any 
 offence causing public scandal was committed during 
 the week, it was his office to declare it in church on the 
 following Sunday, and to inflict the merited chastise- 
 ment on the offender. 
 
 But these, after all, were merely external restraints, 
 and would, as the Jesuits were well aware, have proved 
 totally insufficient for the end in view, if left without 
 the support of religious principle. It was necessary that 
 they should love virtue and hate vice for the sake of 
 God, and because He has commanded the one and for- 
 bidden the other. To effect this great object, they ac- 
 customed their neophytes to the practice of frequent 
 confession, and succeeded in inspiring them with such 
 reverence for the Blessed Sacrament, and such an ex- 
 alted idea of the purity required for communion, that 
 the preparation these poor Indians made was often al- 
 most as heroic and sublime as any thing we read of in 
 the lives of the saints. Their spiritual Fathers like- 
 wise taught them to sanctify their work by the sing- 
 ing of pious canticles ; and by these and other similar 
 means effectually impressed them with so deep a 
 sense of the continual presence of God, and so lively a 
 consciousness of His love for them, that they were 
 ever found quite as unwilling to offend Him in the 
 lonely desert as in the midst of the crowded city. 
 When business, therefore, took them from their homes, 
 neither example nor persuasion could induce them to 
 
 £ 
 
50 PARAGUAY. 
 
 swear, or drink, or do any tiling- else which they knew 
 to be displeasing- to God ; and instances are on record 
 of their reproaching* Spaniards with their violations of 
 the Divine law, saying* that " nothing* good came from 
 Spain excepting* wine, and even that by their wickedness 
 they turned into poison." Cruelty and revenge, the nor- 
 mal vices of the savage, were naturally the most difficult 
 to be uprooted; but even here so marvellous was the 
 success of the Jesuits, that, generally speaking* (for it 
 is true there were exceptions), hereditary feuds and en- 
 mities entirely ceased ; the Christian Indian learnt to 
 look upon every neophyte as a brother, whatever the 
 tribe to which he might belong*, and as such was ever 
 ready to assist him ; so that if the harvest failed in one 
 of the reductions, the rest would vie with each other in 
 making up the deficiency. 
 
 Yet this charity, great as it was, was surpassed by 
 that which they exhibited towards their pagan brethren. 
 They would submit to any amount of trouble or ill-usage 
 for the sake of converting even one. If a wild Indian 
 was induced to visit the reduction, they would receive 
 him with every demonstration of joy. The more savage 
 he was, the more prepossessed against them, the more 
 cordially did they welcome him, the more tenderly did 
 they treat him, because they felt that the greater was 
 the hardness of his heart, the greater was the manifes- 
 tation of love required to win it. They would lodge, 
 clothe, feed him, give him the best of all they had, 
 spend hours in teaching and instructing* him j and the 
 day of his conversion, if he was converted, was always 
 one of unaffected rejoicing to the whole reduction. The 
 cannibal Indians were frequently in the habit of selling 
 such of the children of their conquered foes as they did 
 not devour, and these the Christians eagerly purchased ; 
 maize, corn, manioc, cloth, all being liberally offered in 
 exchange. If boys, these rescued little ones were con- 
 fided to the care of the cacique, or chief of the reduc- 
 tion, to be brought up as Christians ; if girls, they were 
 given to the most exemplary and well-instructed of the 
 
CH. IV.] A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 51 
 
 women for a similar purpose $ and when they were old 
 enough to support themselves, they each received a 
 house and plot of ground, and were admitted to every 
 other privilege enjoyed by the original inhabitants of 
 the settlement. Another of the favourite duties of the 
 neophytes was to accompany their pastor in his search 
 for souls ; and in this they were often of the greatest 
 use, because the wild Indians were far less suspicious 
 of their missionary visitant when he thus came to them 
 in company with some of their own nation. 
 
 But if, as it often happened, no Jesuit could be 
 spared to accompany them, they would take this office 
 on themselves; and as soon as the great rains were 
 over, a troop of neophytes, with their cacique at then- 
 head, would prepare to leave the reduction, in order to 
 announce the Gospel to their heathen brethren. First, 
 however, they confessed and communicated ; then, after 
 obtaining the advice and last blessing of their pastor, 
 they set out upon their pious errand, taking with them 
 a sufficient store of provisions to prevent their being a 
 burden to the objects of their charitable interest. 
 
 They went in the spirit and desire of martyrdom, a 
 fate which in fact they often encountered, either through 
 the hardships of the journey or at the hands of their 
 own countrymen ; but wherever a friendly tribe received 
 them, there they gave full scope to their loving zeal. 
 With touching earnestness they would explain over and 
 over again the object of the Jesuits in coming among 
 their people, assuring each and all (in order that there 
 might be no misapprehension on the subject) that it was 
 not to enslave the Indian, but to render him happy in 
 this life and eternally happy in the next ; and then they 
 would speak of God with such burning eloquence and 
 overflowing fervour, that they often returned to their 
 reduction followed by hundreds of poor heathens, who, 
 thanks to the charity which had thus sought them out 
 in the desert, soon became as devout and well-instructed 
 Christians as those who had brought them to the settle- 
 ment. Sometimes it happened that the number thus 
 
52 PARAGUAY. 
 
 collected was far too great to admit of their being* re- 
 ceived as permanent dwellers in the reduction ■ and in 
 this case their instructors would gladly furnish all that 
 was needed for the founding- of a new one ; not only 
 supplying- corn, cattle, and clothing* from their own 
 stores, but giving* what to an Indian was much more 
 difficult to bestow, their personal and active co-opera- 
 tion in the labour. 
 
 The neophytes who, whether from disposition or 
 other circumstances, were unequal to such rough 
 apostleship, gladly made themselves useful in a differ- 
 ent way ; for example, in teaching their language to 
 the newly-arrived missionaries, resolutely overcoming 
 their natural indolence and dislike to trouble in order 
 to accomplish their task with greater speed and effici- 
 ency • and one instance in particular is recorded of a 
 cacicpie who literally spent his days in translating 
 certain books which he thought would enable the 
 Jesuits to enter more readily and prosperously on their 
 career of Christian conquest. 
 
 Burning with such zeal as this for the conversion of 
 their nation, it was only natural they should hail any 
 accession to the number of the missionaries with grati- 
 tude and delight. Some of the neophytes were gene- 
 rally sent to conduct the new-comers to their destina- 
 tion ■ on such occasions they always intoned the Te 
 Deitm for their safe arrival, and with such an unaffected 
 expression of real feeling, that Father Cajetan Cattaneo, 
 fresh as he was from the exercises of a religious house, 
 tells us he could not behold them sink upon their knees 
 at the verse Te ergo qucesumus without being touched 
 to the very heart. This occurred in a court of the 
 Jesuits' College at Buenos Ayres, whither they had 
 been sent to meet him; and severely was their devotion 
 tested, and triumphantly did it stand the test, in the 
 course of the journey homewards. Their route lay up 
 the river, and at first all things went smoothly ; safely 
 but slowly, on account of the innumerable sandbanks 
 and rocks that lurk beneath those waters, they coasted 
 
CH. IV.] A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 58 
 
 along- the Plata and the Uruguay, making- sail only in 
 the day-time, and at night-fall tying their balsas* to 
 a tree while they landed to cook their supper ; never 
 failing, however, first to arrange an oratory of g-reen 
 boug-hs, where they sung- the Litany of our Lady and 
 the Ave Maris Stella, and recited the rosary and night- 
 prayers. In the same rustic chapel prayers were said 
 the next morning- before starting ; and so they went on 
 from day to day, until, on approaching the reduction of 
 St. Michael's, the small-pox broke out suddenly among 
 them. One died ; a Spaniard charitably took charge 
 of two others, and conveyed them to his plantation, a 
 little distance up the country ; but as it was by no 
 means certain that the infection was stayed, a messen- 
 ger was despatched to the next reduction with a re- 
 quest for a fresh supply of provisions, in case they 
 should be compelled, as "they feared, to encamp in the 
 wilderness. Then they went on with all the speed 
 they could, travelling- all day long, and sometimes more 
 than half the night ; but the disease had taken steady 
 hold, and it was in vain to endeavour to outstrip it. 
 Four natives were attacked at once ; they were imme- 
 diately parted from the others and put into a separate 
 canoe, and those who managed it made to follow in the 
 rear ; but the precaution was of no avail. Again four- 
 teen were stricken ; — with such a number of sick it 
 was impossible to proceed. Yet the alternative was 
 sufficiently appalling-. A hundred leagues lay still be- 
 tween them and the next reduction, and there was no 
 hope of provisions nearer ; for the wild Indians fled in 
 dismay the moment they were aware of the danger. 
 Moreover, only one of the priests understood the Indian 
 language, the other religious being all young mission- 
 aries from Spain; and it became a cpiestion of grave 
 import whether he should proceed with those who were 
 still well enough to travel, or whether he should stay 
 with such as were to be left behind. If he went for- 
 ward, the poor sufferers would die unaided ; and yet, if 
 * Vessels formed by lashing two open boats together. 
 
54 PARAGUAY. 
 
 he remained, the others, some of whom doubtless carried 
 the disease about them, would be compelled to meet it 
 without religious assistance. In this dilemma, ten of the 
 Indians voluntarily offered themselves to attend upon 
 their dying- brethren. Their services were gladly ac- 
 cepted ; Father Ximenes halted with them for a time, 
 administered the Sacraments both to attendants and to 
 patients, prepared the latter for their approaching" end, 
 comforted, instructed, and consoled the whole party, 
 and then set off to join the squadron in advance. Hap- 
 pily the brave Indians whom he had left behind, nobly 
 facing- death in the cause of charity, were enabled to 
 save half the number of those whose charge they had 
 undertaken. These, when convalescent, they placed on 
 board a couple of canoes ; and having* buried tiieir dead, 
 crept slowly up the river in order to overtake the main 
 body of the travellers. In the end they succeeded ; al- 
 though no sooner was this great duty accomplished and 
 their charge surrendered, than they fell sick themselves, 
 and all save one perished of the very disease from which 
 they had rescued their brethren; as if God, in His lov- 
 ing- approbation of their conduct, could wait no longer, 
 but must needs call them to Himself, in order at once 
 to reward them for a charity which till then was al- 
 most unprecedented among- their people. 
 
 All this time the small-pox had never ceased its 
 ravages even for a day ; and thus, burying their dead 
 as they passed along, the strong and the sick went on 
 together until they arrived at a pass of the Uruguay 
 called the " Itu." Here they gave up this vain night 
 from death. A hundred and seventy were stricken with 
 the disease together; and nothing remained but to land 
 in earnest, to separate the sick from the hale, to build 
 straw-huts for the shelter of the sufferers, and to des- 
 patch another messenger in the direction of Yapeju for 
 the purpose of hastening the supplies which were ex- 
 pected from that reduction. They arrived only just in 
 time to prevent starvation, and two months more were 
 bpcnt perforce in the desert, during which the Indians 
 
OH. IV.] A DAY IN THE REDUCTIONS. 55 
 
 died by dozens, but always in sentiments of fervour and 
 devotion equally surprising and consoling" to the Fathers 
 who attended them. At the end of that period the 
 malady abated ; and the Father Superior, whom they 
 had at length succeeded in acquainting with their situ- 
 ation, came to their assistance. In a very short time 
 he had arranged and provided all things for their prompt 
 departure ; the convalescent he made to travel slowly, 
 in order that their quarantine might be completed be- 
 fore reaching the reduction ; but those who had escaped 
 infection were of course glad to proceed as rapidly as 
 they coidd. The new missionaries were of the latter 
 number; and they had soon the happiness of arriving* at 
 Yapeju, where they were received with rejoicing pro- 
 portioned to the dangers and sorrows amidst which 
 their journey had been accomplished. In that single 
 voyage from Buenos Ayres to the reductions upwards of 
 a hundred Indians had perished ; and it may give some 
 notion of then* zeal to say, that out of all that number 
 there was not one who did not expire rejoicing* in the 
 thought, that he died in the act of introducing fresh 
 missionaries into the country for the conversion and 
 civilisation of his heathen brethren. 
 
 The preceding* sketch was necessary, in order to 
 afford the reader some insight into the principles on 
 which the reductions were founded, and the regula- 
 tions by which they were afterwards permanently esta- 
 blished. We will now return to their general history, 
 and describe the formidable foe by whom for a long 
 time not only their peace and prosperity were disturbed, 
 but their very existence as a self-governing institution 
 was threatened. 
 
56 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUL'S. 
 
 St. Paul's Lawlessness of its inhabitants. Their treachery and 
 cruelty to the Indians. Attack on the reductions. First migra- 
 tions. Courage and determination of the missionaries. Crimes 
 of the "Mamelukes." The Fathers resolve to evacuate the re- 
 ductions. 
 
 In one of the provinces of Brazil, and twelve leagues 
 from the seaport town of San Vincente, once stood the 
 city of Piratininga, or St. Paul, the capital of the 
 district to which it gave its name. Built upon a nearly 
 inaccessible rock, hemmed in on one side by mountains 
 almost as precipitous as the height from whence it 
 looked frowning* down upon the plains beneath, and on 
 the other by the deep and impenetrable forest of " Per- 
 nabacaba," its inhabitants could issue forth at any mo- 
 ment to levy supplies upon the adjoining- country, or 
 stand at bay behind the impregnable walls of their 
 rock-built fortress. With such facilities both for of- 
 fence and defence, it was doubly unfortunate that they 
 should have been the very worst of the worst colonists 
 who had yet visited the new world. At first, between 
 free men and slaves, they barely mustered four hun- 
 dred inhabitants ; but the unchecked license in which 
 they lived soon drew numbers within their walls, which 
 became an asylum for the refuse of all nations — Portu- 
 guese, Spaniards, Englishmen, Dutchmen, the last al- 
 ways preponderating, — all, in fine, who had left Europe 
 to escape the punishment due to their crimes, or to fol- 
 low the lawless desires of their own hearts, Hocked to 
 St. Paul's; and when their numbers grew from hun- 
 dreds into thousands, the citizens flung off the yoke, 
 and even the semblance of the yoke, of lawful authority, 
 
CH. V.] THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUL'S. 57 
 
 and declared themselves independent of the Portuguese 
 crown. Nor had that kingdom the power to dispute 
 the claim; for with their unscalable rock, and their 
 abundant supply of arms and ammunition, as well as 
 the power which they possessed of manufacturing- the 
 latter whenever it was needed, they could easily have 
 bidden defiance to a far larger force than any which 
 the nominal monarch of their half-wild territory could 
 have brought to bear against them. 
 
 Hence it shortly came to pass that they lived as if 
 they were no longer accountable either to God or to 
 man. They scorned the peaceful arts, as they were 
 scorned of old by the warlike Spartans. Such lands as 
 they possessed were cultivated by slaves, and for the 
 rest they trusted to war and pillage ; the slave-trade, in 
 all its naked and appalling reality, being their principal 
 resource. The slave-market of Janeiro was stocked by 
 these marauders. From their city of refuge, where 
 they dwelt on high with the eagles, they would rush 
 down suddenly upon the plains, surround the tolde- 
 rias, or cluster of wigwams, which constituted the 
 village of the Indians, carry off the able-bodied men 
 for slaves, apportion tflit the young' girls and women 
 among themselves, and put the rest without pity to the 
 sword. Even the other colonists of America were not 
 safe from these attacks ; whenever and wherever they 
 could be assailed with impunity, they met with quite 
 as little mercy at their hands as the Indians themselves. 
 The fame of the Paulistas for cruelty and wickedness 
 soon spread far and wide, until, instead of the name 
 which they had taken from their adopted city, they 
 came to be designated as the " Mamelukes/' a title 
 significant both to Spaniard and to Portuguese of all the 
 horrors of sacrilege, robbery, and murder, which every 
 where marked the track of these dreaded freebooters. 
 
 The Paulistas had thus become the scourge of the 
 land; and all, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Indians 
 alike, had learned to tremble at their name, when the 
 Jesuits appeared in the adjoining province, and by 
 
68 PARAGUAY. 
 
 commencing- their mission both in Spanish America 
 and in Brazil itself deprived them of the great source 
 of their riches — the unrestricted power of catering' for 
 the slave-trade. For wherever the Jesuit came, he 
 broug-ht with him the germs of civilisation and of order. 
 If the wild Indians gathered round, him, they were 
 safe, as far as the law of nations could make them so ; 
 they were men, and had the rights of men, and could 
 neither he bought nor sold at the will of the European. 
 This the rescript of the Spanish monarch had declared, 
 and this the Jesuits every where enforced in a way that 
 few others in their position would have ventured to 
 adopt. If their neophytes were stolen from them, they 
 followed them to the very camp of the marauder, to 
 beg or buy them from the ruthless enslaver ; or they 
 appealed from tribunal *o tribunal, from America to 
 Europe, from the viceroy in Peru to the monarch at 
 Madrid, and from the monarch at Madrid to the judg- 
 ment of the world. They left the extortioner no peace, 
 for they every where published the wrongs of the red 
 man and the injustice of the white ; and if every man's 
 hand was at length raised to strike them, if every man's 
 voice uttered evil tilings against them, if they were 
 finally driven from their reductions upon charges which 
 all the world proclaimed, but which nobody could prove, 
 it is yet impossible to study dispassionately the history 
 of the times in which they lived, and of the men amidst 
 whom they dwelt, and not to feel that, from first to 
 last, the real quarrel of the American settlers with the 
 Jesuit Fathers was, that they set themselves against 
 the illegal slavery of the natives. 
 
 The inhabitants of St. Paid were not the men to 
 bear reproach and opposition tamely. In the end they 
 expelled the Jesuits from their city; but at first they 
 seem rather to have resorted to stratagem than to have 
 appealed to the strong argument of war. Probably, 
 with all their recklessness, they had some hesitation at 
 the commencement in carrying bloodshed and havoc 
 into settlements protected alike by the united flags of 
 
Cll. V.J THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAULAS. 59 
 
 Portugal and Spain, and by the sanction of the Church 
 to which, in name at least, many of them belonged. 
 The device which they hit upon was as ingenious as it 
 was cruel; for it enabled them not only to decoy the 
 Indians into their net, but to persuade them that they 
 owed their detention to the machinations of the Jesuit 
 Fathers— the real and only protectors of their freedom. 
 Sometimes they would wander in little groups through 
 the country, planting crosses, making presents to the 
 savages, conversing with them in the Guarani language, 
 which was the most generally understood by both par- 
 ties ; and when they had persuaded them to settle with 
 them in some quiet spot, they led their victims into the 
 vicinity of St. Paul's, when fetters and fire-arms did 
 the rest; or the captain of the Mameluke party, leaving 
 his men crouching among the tall thistles and under- 
 wood of the plain, would issue forth alone, clad in the 
 garb of the Jesuits — the " black-robes," as the Indians 
 called them — and drawing- them towards him by the 
 magic of the name of Christ, he would speak kindly 
 and gently to them; until a sufficient number having 
 been collected, the preconcerted signal was given, and, 
 his men rushing in, the poor natives were surrounded 
 and carried off fettered for the market before they had 
 even dreamed of a defence. Some of the victims thus 
 ensnared generally made, or perhaps were permitted to 
 make, their escape ; and these, returning to their brethren 
 in the reduction, would tell how the false black-robe had 
 spoken peace with his lips when there was war in his 
 heart, and how he had filled their ears with caressing 
 words of love and kindness only that he might lure 
 them with greater certainty to their doom ; and with 
 darkening brow and wrathful spirit his savage audience 
 would sit and listen, until they rose in their frenzy to 
 massacre their spiritual fathers ; or else, — and it seems 
 almost too sad a tale to tell it, — they fled in sorrow 
 and dismay, to seek, amidst wood and wild and in 
 ceaseless roving, that safety for themselves and for 
 their children which they felt they never could look 
 
60 PARAGUAY. 
 
 for among Christian men, since the treacherous black- 
 robe, in his garb of peace, had proved as cruel as the 
 soldier in his coat of mail. 
 
 The suspicion thus created was the greatest difficulty 
 with which the Jesuit had to contend ; but he con- 
 tended perseveringly and successfully. At whatever 
 risk or danger to himself, he left no means unemployed 
 to disabuse the poor Indians of their false impressions. 
 If they sought to kill him, he bowed cheerfully to the 
 stroke; if they were taken captive, he moved heaven 
 and earth to procure their freedom ; if they fled from 
 him in hatred and dismay, he pursued them with a love 
 which in the end was sure to overcome all fear, and to 
 restore to him the confidence and veneration of his 
 flock. Alas ! it too often happened, that when he had 
 thus, with infinite pain and labour to himself, persuaded 
 his scared children to return, trembling but reassured, 
 to the life of industry which had been so cruelly inter- 
 rupted, the Mamelukes, emboldened by impunity, came 
 down upon them in undisguised and open warfare, to 
 rob, to burn, to murder, and make captive, sending the 
 Indian once more wailing to the woods, and dashing all 
 the hopes of the missionary to the ground at the very 
 moment when they seemed certain of fulfilment. These 
 dealers in flesh and blood were not long content with 
 the scanty supply of slaves which their stratagems could 
 procure them, they soon brought fire and sword to aid 
 them in their traffic; while the Spaniards, glad at any 
 price to have the storm averted from themselves, shame- 
 fully stood aloof, and waited the issue of the unequal 
 contest. So completely, indeed, were they blinded by 
 their prejudices, so entirely, even in those early days, 
 had they learned to regard the Jesuits with suspicion, 
 and to consider the missions a check upon their avarice, 
 — that they could not, or at least they would not see 
 the real value of these settlements, which, interposing 
 directly between them and their foe, might, if properly 
 supported, have been made an almost insuperable bar- 
 rier to his further advances. The Indians, therefore, 
 
CH. V.] THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUL'S. 61 
 
 were left to defend themselves, and that too without 
 even the ordinary weapons which necessity demanded ; 
 for, with its usual narrow-minded misgiving's, the colonial 
 government had forbidden the use of fire-arms in the 
 reductions ; and it was not until years of expostulation 
 had been wasted, and thousands "had perished through 
 the vain delay, that this cruel edict was finally re- 
 scinded. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the young- colonies in 
 Brazil were easily destroyed ; and the reductions of 
 Guayra were the next to be attacked. In the universal 
 consternation which prevailed, at first no defence was 
 attempted or even thought of, and reduction after 
 reduction went down before the invader. At length, 
 laden with captives, the Mamelukes appeared before 
 Incarnation ; but at the first note of danger, Montoyo, 
 who was then provincial, rushed to the spot, arrested 
 the flying Indians, exhorted them to turn and rescue 
 their captive brethren ; and while hastily arming them 
 for the fight, despatched Mendoza, the Jesuit Father 
 of the reduction, to try and negotiate with the foe. 
 A shower of arrows and a volley of musketry greeted 
 his approach to the hostile camp. The Father was 
 wounded, and a neophyte killed at his side; but still 
 undaunted, he sought out the robber-chieftain, told him 
 to his face, and in the midst of his Mamelukes, that 
 he was outlawed alike of God and man, and then, as- 
 sembling the Indian captives, he cut their bonds, and 
 actually carried them off in the face of the whole 
 arm}' ; the very boldness of the act, and perhaps some 
 lingering respect for the character of the priesthood, 
 preventing the troops from attempting to oppose him. 
 An interview between the provincial himself and the 
 Mameluke captain followed, and the latter was ulti- 
 mately induced to withdraw his troops ; but it was 
 only for a time. In the course of that very year the 
 governor of Paraguay passed through the reductions 
 at a moment when nine hundred Mamelukes and two 
 thousand wild Indians, their allies, were known to be 
 
62 PARAGUAY. 
 
 assembled at St. Paul's, and only waiting* his departure 
 to rush down upon the missions. Yet the provincial, 
 who had dared so much already, in vain implored him 
 to send troops to their assistance. With fair words, 
 and unmeaning- congratulations upon the vast amount 
 of good which he acknowledged had been effected, 
 he passed on from the threatened province to the city 
 of Assumption ; and the Jesuits were left to defend their 
 neophytes if they could, or to perish with them if 
 they failed. 
 
 The day of strife was hastened by an accident. A 
 poor prisoner had contrived to escape from St. Paul's ; 
 and having- sought protection at St. Anthony's, Father 
 Mola, the pastor of that mission, refused to give him up. 
 In revenge the Mamelukes fell upon his congregation, 
 killed numbers at the very foot of the altar, to which 
 they had fled for refuge, and carried off hundreds into 
 captivity. A few of the wretched inhabitants succeeded 
 in escaping to Incarnation ; others, sullen and despair- 
 ing, withdrew into the woods ; and there, seized with 
 the old maddening suspicion of the treachery of the 
 Jesuits, they rushed out to seek Father Mola, with the 
 intention of putting him to death. They found him 
 sitting among the ruins of the reduction, and plunged 
 m the deepest grief; j r et he had to argue long and 
 seriously with these unhappy creatures before he could 
 convince them of the injustice of their suspicions. AY 1 1 en 
 this was once effected, they became amenable to reason ; 
 and prevailing upon them to abandon their desolated 
 home, he led them first to St. Michael's, and afterwards 
 further still to the colony of the Incarnation. Father 
 Mansilla, of the former reduction, followed him soon 
 after with such of his neophytes as he could persuade 
 to move. Many, however, refused to accompany him, he 
 returned therefore as soon as he had left the fugitives in 
 safety ; and as the Mamelukes were then approaching, 
 he at length induced them to retire and seek safety in 
 the woods. Hardly had they made their escape, when 
 their village was sacked and burned by the foe ; yet, 
 
CH. V.] THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUL'S. 63 
 
 painful to relate, the indignation of the poor bewildered 
 creatures fell on the very man to whom they owed their 
 deliverance, and Father Mansilla narrowly escaped their 
 vengeance with his life. The accusation which had 
 been brought against Father Mola was renewed in re- 
 gard to this good religious ; the Mamelukes, to further 
 their own nefarious designs, took care to propagate it 
 in every direction ; and as these were all young colonies, 
 and neither sufficiently grounded in the faith nor suf- 
 ficiently convinced of the real motives of the Fathers 
 to be invulnerable to suspicion, it had its full effect 
 upon the inhabitants of St. Michael's. With some 
 difficulty Mansilla succeeded in removing their mis- 
 givings, and the Mamelukes passed on from the de- 
 struction of their reduction to that of Jesu-Maria. 
 From the latter place they carried off a crowd of cap- 
 tives. The Fathers resolved upon a rescue; but the 
 enemy being* far too numerous to be attacked by any 
 body of Indians they could at the moment have raised 
 against them, they determined, instead of fighting, to 
 follow the Mamelukes into Brazil, and to remonstrate 
 with the captain-general of that province respecting 
 their conduct. 
 
 The fugitives were soon overtaken; but at the sight 
 of his poor neophytes drooping alike with sorrow and 
 fatigue, one of the Fathers could contain himself no 
 longer, and rushing*, in spite of the muskets that were 
 pointed at him, and the insults and blows that were 
 showered upon him, into the midst of the captives, he 
 embraced them one by one, loudly demanding in pathetic 
 accents either that they should be restored to freedom, 
 or that he should himself be permitted to share their 
 chains. Some of the Mamelukes reviled, some threat- 
 ened, many scoffed at him as a madman ; and one alone 
 in all that number was moved by pity to give up to 
 him such of the captives as had fallen to his share, under 
 promise, of course, of a future ransom. This success did 
 but encourage the Father to greater efforts ; and see- 
 ing the cacique Guiayvara among the prisoners, he put 
 
64 PARAGUAY. 
 
 the chain that bound him round his own neck, declaring* 
 he would not take it thence until he had obtained his 
 freedom. The Mamelukes grew angry, and in the dis- 
 cussion that ensued he was more than once on the point 
 of having- his brains blown out ; but his determination 
 and his utter indifference to danger won the day, and 
 the cacique and a certain number of the other Indians 
 were at last surrendered. Guiayvara was astonished, 
 as well he might be ; he had long- been wavering* be- 
 tween his idol-worship and the Christian creed, nnd 
 during* all that period of irresolution had behaved with 
 the utmost barbarity to this very Father. But now, 
 as he felt the chains fall from his limbs, he threw him- 
 self in a very passion of gratitude at his benefactor's 
 feet; and when he was afterwards sent home under 
 the security of an escort, he could only satisfy his 
 deep consciousness of the debt he owed him by going 
 from reduction to reduction, every where proclaiming 
 the charity of the Father, and exonerating his brethren 
 of the Society from all suspicion of collusion with 
 their foes. 
 
 In the meantime the Mamelukes, finding their cap- 
 tives disappearing through the intervention of this good 
 Father, resolved to rid themselves of his presence, and 
 decamped one day without him. He fell back upon 
 Father Mansilla, who had been left a little in the rear; 
 and after a short consultation, they resolved still to 
 follow in the distance. There was no room for hesi- 
 tation about a path, the route lay clear before them, 
 marked out by the dead and dying; and on they 
 went, their footsteps every where arrested by the sick, 
 the helpless, and the weak, whom the Mamelukes had 
 dragged as far as they could, and when they could 
 drug them no further, had left to perish in those dismal 
 wilds. The Fathers did all that was in their power for 
 each unhappy group : they baptised the catechumens, 
 confessed the neophytes, consoled all with the hope of 
 a future life ; but they could not remain with any, for 
 their mission called them onward still. On to those 
 
CH. V.] THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUL'S. 65 
 
 who, perchance at no great distance, lay dying- the same 
 miserable death; on to those who, yet more unhappy, 
 should live to reach the city of the captives, where chains 
 and cruelty would destroy the body, and despair or bad 
 " example too probably kill the soul j on even further still, 
 from St. Paul's itself to the slave-market of St. Paul's 
 — the city of Janeiro — there to lay before the governor 
 the outrages and wrongs that had been heaped upon 
 their people. They reached it at length, exhausted by 
 fatigue and sorrow : yet even there they might not 
 linger ; for the governor was at All Saints'*, and to him 
 the authorities of the port referred them. He may 
 have had trhe wish — it is not very clear that he had the 
 power — to aid them 5 though he received them kindly, 
 and appointed a commissary to repair with them to St. 
 Paul's to assist in obtaining the liberation of the In- 
 dians. A commissary, without troops to enforce his 
 orders, was little better than a mockery at St. Paul's. 
 The inhabitants refused him admittance 5 the Jesuits 
 who accompanied him were cast into prison : nor was 
 it without earnest expostulation on the part of their 
 provincial that their deliverance was effected; yet when 
 at last they returned to their reduction, it was only to 
 find their neophytes — those for whose sake and for 
 the sake of whose kindred they had endured all this 
 toil and grief — possessed with the same injurious sus- 
 picions against them as had before prevailed in the 
 other reductions ; and it required all the eloquence of 
 their past labours, and all the indignant remonstrances 
 of Guiay vara, to restore to them the confidence of their 
 flock. 
 
 It would be but a sad and weary repetition, to tell 
 of all the reductions that one after another fell a prey 
 to the Mameluke invaders. The wretched inhabitants 
 were driven from place to place; and except to ne- 
 gotiate their liberation, or to rescue them by force 
 from the foe, their pastors never left them ; following 
 still to heal the wounded heart, and to bind up the 
 broken reed, and to keep alive the light of faith, 
 
00 PARAGUAY. 
 
 which, amid cruelties such as these, might well be 
 supposed to burn dimmer in their bosoms. In one 
 other instance the poor victims rose against their spi- 
 ritual father; but he succeeded in escaping- into the 
 woods, where some of his brethren had taken refuge 
 with the remnant of their neophytes. He found both 
 pastors and people overwhelmed with affliction ; and in 
 all that multitude there was not one who had not to 
 mourn the loss of a wife or husband, sister, son, or 
 daughter — either carried off in chains, or murdered in 
 cold blood before their eyes. Nevertheless, they built 
 themselves huts, and sowed what grain they could col- 
 lect; for they thought that at least in that vast solitude 
 they might hope to remain at peace ; but the corn had 
 scarcely sprouted, when the Mamelukes were once more 
 upon their track, and once more they were compelled 
 to fly. These disasters, and many others as bad or 
 worse, at length convinced the Fathers that the work 
 of civilisation which they had undertaken was simply 
 impracticable so long as they remained in the vicinity 
 of St. Paul's. Their neophytes might, indeed, and 
 often did, defend themselves eflectually for a time ; but 
 it was not possible that a professedly rural population 
 should be ultimately successful against men who were 
 for ever in the saddle, whose only occupation was fight- 
 ing, and who gained their livelihood by the spoils of 
 war. Sometimes the Mamelukes marched upon the 
 reductions in open guise of battle ; at others they broke 
 suddenly out of ambush, or obtained admittance under 
 false colours and on feigned pretences. Not a day or 
 an hour in which they might not be concealed within a 
 few minutes' march of the mission. They came down 
 like a whirlwind on the labourers in the sowing or the 
 harvest time; or they surprised them in the festive 
 meeting, or burst upon them in the hour of prayer. 
 No Indian could feel certain that he should reap what 
 he had sown, or inhabit the house which he had built ; 
 nor could he reckon, either for himself or for his wife 
 or children, upon one hour of freedom beyond the one 
 
CH. V.] THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUl/s. 67 
 
 which he was actually enjoying ; and, lest the picture 
 that has heen drawn be considered an exaggeration, it 
 maybe as well to add, that in the official account of the 
 state of the province, called especially De Missiones, it 
 is expressly declared by Commissioner Albear, that in 
 one year (1630) no fewer than sixty thousand Indians, 
 and those for the most part torn from the reductions, 
 were publicly sold in the slave-market of Janeiro. 
 
 It was plain, that with such an enemy in the vici- 
 nity and perpetually on the alert, the Indians never 
 could remain in peace; and after much mature consi- 
 deration, the Jesuit Fathers finally resolved to trans- 
 plant their people to a safer distance. One or two of 
 the younger reductions were first removed : the inha- 
 bitants were recent converts, and much opposed to the 
 measure, some even absolutely refused to stir ; but they 
 paid dearly for their obstinacy, by subsequently falling 
 into the hands of the Mamelukes. In fact, it became 
 more and more apparent from day to day that the 
 whole line of missions as originally laid down must be 
 entirely and irrevocably abandoned. An army of Ma- 
 melukes was pressing on to Villa Rica ; another swarm 
 of these banditti had appeared on the southern coast of 
 Brazil, threatening ruin to the Spanish settlements in 
 that quarter, as soon as it had overleaped the barrier of 
 the missions ; and after one more futile effort to obtain 
 assistance from the commandant of Villa Rica, who, 
 indeed, by this time had quite enough to do on his own 
 account in keeping the enemy in check, the provincial 
 finally resolved upon evacuating the reductions of Our 
 Lady of Loreto and St. Ignatius, which, having been 
 hitherto unmolested, had been the chief refuge of the 
 Indians from the ruined missions. 
 
 Both these colonies were situate on the Pirapa; and 
 as they were the last to be abandoned, so they had 
 been the first to be established in the province of 
 Guayra. Both, therefore, by this time vied with the 
 Spanish towns m the size and beauty of their public 
 buildings and the order and cultivation of the sur- 
 
68 PARAGUAY. 
 
 rounding- chacaras ; while in both the inhabitants hnd 
 become thoroughly Christianised, most of them having 
 been born in the bosom of the Church, and all well 
 gTounded both in faith and practice. Of their fidelity 
 to their religion they were now to give a signal proof ; 
 for, in truth, it was no light sacrifice they were called 
 upon to make. To leave the settlements when they were 
 only just beginning- to taste the fruits of their industry ; 
 to begin again that life of toil and privation which had 
 already cost them so dear ; to go forth once more into 
 the wilderness, and cultivate anew its arid wastes, and 
 that too with only a bare possibility of reaching their 
 destination alive, and a certain prospect of danger and 
 misery to be encountered in the attempt, - - all this 
 would have been a trial to the faith of any people ; but 
 to the Indians, so indolent by nature, so deficient in 
 foresight, and so prone to look no further than the 
 exigencies of the hour, the struggle must have been 
 terrible indeed. Yet, when Father Cataldino assem- 
 bled them in the grand square and announced the re- 
 solution to which his superiors had arrived, instead of 
 murmuring and resisting, as the Indians of the younger 
 settlements had done, they with one accord consented 
 to the measure, as the only means that remained for 
 preserving their faith and freedom. " To you, our 
 black-robe Fathers," so they replied by their most an- 
 cient chieftain, " to you we are indebted for our know- 
 ledge of the worship of the Almighty Father, and all 
 the blessings that knowledge has bestowed upon us. 
 You have made us Christians, — to you we look that 
 we may so continue ; and therefore, wherever you, our 
 Fathers, go, we, your children, most willingly will fol- 
 low. What if hunger, and thirst, and weariness befal 
 us? you will give us of the Bread of Life, and our hun- 
 ger will be assuaged ; and in the strength of that Sa- 
 crament our toils will be forgotten. And if our loved 
 ones fail us, if our aged fathers and mothers, our young 
 wives and tender babes, sink beneath the sorrows of 
 the journey, we shall know that they have but gone to 
 
CH. V.] THE MAMELUKES OF ST. PAUl/s. 69 
 
 the great Father a little sooner than He would other- 
 wise have called them; and we will not weep for them 
 in their graves, — we will rather follow them in our 
 thoughts to heaven, and rejoice with them in their 
 gladness." 
 
 Such, without exaggeration, was the noble spirit in 
 which these poor Indians met the proposition to aban- 
 don their smiling homes ; and then, with a holy insensi- 
 bility, which the resistance offered by their countrymen 
 under similar circumstances proved to be not the effect 
 of constitutional indifference, but an act of supernatural 
 virtue, they returned for the last time to their dwell- 
 ings, stripped them of all that could tempt the rapacity 
 of the enemy, packed up the ornaments and sacred ves- 
 sels of the altar, and followed the Jesuit Fathers, first 
 to the banks of the Parana, and afterwards, as they 
 had promised, wherever they chose to lead them. 
 
70 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 
 
 )isasters and sufferings of the emigrants. Spaniards continue to 
 molest the old reductions. Flight of the inhabitants. Kenewed 
 attacks of the Mamelukes. The Indians, allowed the use of fire- 
 arms, defeat the marauders. New settlements. Intrepidity of 
 the missionaries. Bernardin de Cardenas, Bishop of Assump- 
 tion. His charges against the Jesuits. The fable of the gold- 
 mines. Insurrection of the colonists quelled by the Christian 
 natives. 
 
 Threatened as they were on the one hand by the 
 Mamelukes, on the other by the wild Indians, as cruel 
 and as fierce ; menaced even by the jealous avarice of 
 the Spaniards, who could not see without alarm, as it 
 bore on both their present and future interests, the 
 fatal depopulation of the country which such wholesale 
 emigration must produce, — the retreat of so large a band 
 of fugitives was certainty a measure beyond all sober 
 calculation of success, and as such may by many have 
 been stigmatised at the time as rash and ill-advised. 
 It was, however, inevitable ; and, moreover, it was 
 planned with a foresight, and conducted with an energy, 
 a courage, and a perseverance, that, had its projectors 
 been warriors or statesmen instead of simple ministers 
 of the Gospel, would have won them honourable men- 
 tion in the history of the world. 
 
 Beautiful from its source to its conclusion, — beauti- 
 ful, but full of dangers, is the river to which they were 
 about to trust their fortunes. Forests, — the glorious 
 forests of America, — clothe a great portion of its banks, 
 presenting to the dazzled eye every tint of colour, from 
 the sober green of the primeval forest to the bright 
 blue and scarlet, snowy white, and imperial purple of 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 71 
 
 the brilliant parasites that climb the trees and over- 
 top them ; the cayman lurks by the sedgy shores, and 
 tigers are even found amid the endless wild-flowers and 
 shining* evergreens of the thousand clustering- islands 
 that fling* gTace and beauty over its waste of waters. 
 Often, too, after the rainy season, when the river rises 
 and becomes as tumultuous as a storm-rocked ocean, 
 fragments of these islets are detached from the parent 
 soil; and being* kept tog-ether in a solid mass by the 
 thick interlacing* of the rooted shrubs, g-o wandering- 
 down the tide like g-ig-antic baskets of flowers and foliage 
 committed to its keeping* ; nay, it has sometimes hap- 
 pened that a tig-er has been made an unwilling* traveller 
 on the "canielote," as these floating* gardens are called; 
 and tradition even records how one of these fierce tenants 
 of the woods, after a journey of uncounted leagues, 
 arrived safely at Monte Video, where he gravely stepped 
 on shore to the unspeakable astonishment of the terri- 
 fied beholders. Upon the banks of this fair river, but 
 much nearer to its source than to its junction with the 
 Paraguay, the Jesuits with their neophytes encamped ; 
 and here they remained for weeks incessantly employed 
 in building* balsas by means of strong bamboos. Seven 
 thousand at last were finished, no smaller number be- 
 ing sufficient for their transport ; and in these they em- 
 barked then* neophytes, men, women, and children, only 
 just in time to escape the vengeance of the Mamelukes, 
 who were already on their track. Fair winds and 
 sunny skies cheered them in their enterprise until they 
 reached the Salto-grande, or great cataract of the Pa- 
 rana, where the river rolls impetuously over eighteen 
 leagues of rocky barricade, roaring all the while like 
 thunder, dashing its spray to the very clouds, and 
 sweeping all before it as it leaps madly down into the 
 dark and boiling abyss below. Here they were com- 
 pelled to disembark; and three hundred empty balsas 
 were launched upon the rapids, in hopes that some 
 among them, clearing the fall uninjured, might enable 
 them to proceed without further delay upon their voyage. 
 
72 PARAGUAY. 
 
 For one breathless moment of suspense the light skiffs 
 seemed to play and tumble on the seething* waters ; then 
 they were suddenly' lifted over; and when the spec- 
 tators looked again, they beheld them dashed into a 
 thousand pieces, and floating* in fragments far away on 
 the stream below. All hope of continuing their voyag*e 
 being thus destroyed, the remaining boats were per- 
 force abandoned; and every man took his staff and 
 bundle, every woman her most helpless child ; and so, 
 with stout yet saddened hearts, they set off for the foot 
 of the cataract, where all their toil and trouble were to 
 commence again. 
 
 For eight whole days they wandered thus, feeding 
 on roots and berries, and such wild game as their arrows 
 could bring down, and drinking of the chance torrent 
 by the way, or of dew deep garnered in the cool cup- 
 like leaves that grow beneath the shadows of the forest. 
 No accessible path lay parallel to the river ; nothing 
 therefore remained for them but to plunge boldly inland, 
 their route taking them sometimes over sands burning 
 beneath the rays of the southern sun, sometimes along* 
 precipices where one false step would have dashed them 
 to their doom; but oftener still through dense and tangled 
 forests, where trees, the growth of a thousand years, 
 were laced and interlaced with creepers which, thick 
 and strong as the cables of a man-of-war, yielded no 
 passage excepting to the hatchet; and when at last, and 
 after the loss of numbers who died by the way of famine 
 and fatigue, the poor wanderers reached their destina- 
 tion, it was only, as has been said, to begin again the 
 work of preparation on which so much time and toil 
 had already been expended. With weakened* forces 
 and diminished hopes they had again to encamp for 
 weeks, while they cut down trees, and fashioned them 
 to their purpose, burying* hundreds all the time whom 
 starvation and overwork had hurried to the g*rave. In 
 defiance, however, of difficulties and disasters, the re- 
 quired number of balsas was in the end completed ; and 
 then the Fathers arranged the march by dividing the 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT OX THE PARANA. 73 
 
 Indians into three large bodies, of which the first was 
 to penetrate yet further inland, the second to coast 
 along- the river, and the third to float slowly down its 
 waters. To these last the easiest lot might seem to 
 have been apportioned ; yet it was not so in fact, as the 
 river-passage included many dangers from which the 
 others would be exempted. The great fall, indeed, had 
 been passed ; but, besides sunken rocks and cross cur- 
 rents occasioned by the islands, there were frequent 
 rapids, smaller than the first, yet perilous withal; 
 and many a boat was sunk, and many a life was lost, 
 ere they succeeded in reaching their destination. 
 Patience and perseverance, however, had their reward ; 
 and the Jesuits had at last the satisfaction of seeing 
 their scattered neophytes assembled on the banks of the 
 Jubaburrus, a little stream flowing westwards into the 
 Parana. 
 
 They had been watched with jealous eyes, plotted 
 against, thwarted as much as it was in the power of their 
 enemies to thwart them, — all, indeed, but attacked up- 
 on the road ; and if something of honourable pride were 
 mingled with the first consciousness of success in the 
 bosom of Montoya, the projector and chief director of 
 the expedition, it was soon overpowered by a feeling* of 
 sadness when he came to muster the survivors, and 
 found that, out of the vast multitudes who had peopled 
 the old missions of the Guayra, there were but some 
 few poor thousands left to answer to the call. Happily 
 they had been guided by Providence to a fair and fertile 
 territory ; although, with all their endeavours, they had 
 much privation to endure until the coming of the har- 
 vest, — the Jesuits meanwhile doing what they could to- 
 wards supplying the wants of their neophytes by devot- 
 ing to the purchase of corn and cattle the salaries they 
 received as missionaries of Guayra. And now it was 
 that the Spaniards might have learned at last, had they 
 been capable of receiving the lesson, the real value of 
 those reductions which they had so ungenerously re- 
 fused to defend ; for no sooner was this barrier removed 
 
74 PA HAG U AY. 
 
 than their own immediate possessions were overrun by 
 the Mamelukes, conjointly with hosts of pagan Indians, 
 who were only too happy to avenge their own wrongs 
 by helping- the Christians to destroy one another. Pro- 
 vince after province was laid desolate, city after city 
 became the scene of their depredations, and both Cividad 
 and Villa Rica were sacked and destroyed, notwith- 
 standing the heroic efforts of the Bishop of Assumption, 
 who went out himself to intercede in their behalf ; and 
 nevertheless, untaught by all that had come and gone, 
 the Spaniards, incredible as it may seem, still continued 
 to harass the reductions which remained, by laying claim, 
 on all sorts of unjust pretences, to the personal services 
 of the inhabitants. Once, twice, they asserted these 
 pretensions, the third time they drove the Jesuits from 
 their missions, and replaced them with secular priests ; 
 who, although actuated by the same good-will towards 
 the Indian converts, did not possess the same power for 
 their protection as the Fathers of the Society, whose 
 authority was derived direct from the throne itself. 
 
 The experiment had well-nigh proved fatal to the 
 reductions. Terrified at the prospect of the slavery 
 which they felt too surely to be in preparation for them, 
 the inhabitants every where fled into the desert ; and 
 when at a little later period the royal audience of La 
 Plata commanded the restoration of the Jesuits, it cost 
 the Fathers far more time and trouble to lure back the 
 frightened and indignant savages to their homes than 
 it had taken to assemble them in the beginning. Pre- 
 vious, however, to this decision, the Jesuits had ap- 
 pealed both to Rome and to Madrid against the assaults 
 of the Mamelukes and the iniquities of the slave-trade, 
 Father Tano having* been sent to the one court, and 
 Montoya to the other. Both returned with favourable 
 answers, the rescript from Spain containing an especial 
 clause, by which all Indians converted by the Jesuits, 
 whether of the province of Tape or of the Parana and 
 Uruguay, were declared immediate vassals of the crown, 
 and as such invested with the same immunity from 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 75 
 
 personal service as was already enjoyed by the Guarani 
 Indians. The amount of tribute to be paid by the re- 
 ductions was settled at the same time ; although, in con- 
 sequence of the poverty resulting" from recent disasters, 
 it was not actually levied until the year 1649, just nine 
 years after it had been regulated by law. The publica- 
 tion of this edict caused immense commotion, and the 
 more so because, over and above the especial privileges 
 conferred upon Indians converted by the Jesuits, it ab- 
 solutely forbade and declared unlawful all buying- and 
 selling of natives for the future. The merchants raved 
 against the Jesuits as the authors of this blow to the 
 slave-trade ; while, on their part, the Fathers declared to 
 a man that they would do their duty, and resolutely en- 
 force the law by every means in their power. So furi- 
 ous was the excitement, that their college at Janeiro 
 narrowly escaped being sacked ; they were violently ex- 
 pelled from that of St. Paul's ; Montoya found it neces- 
 sary to retire for a time to Buenos Ayres; and the 
 vicar-general nearly lost his life in the tumult which 
 followed his promulgation of the law. 
 
 In the midst of all these commotions the Mamelukes 
 had not been idle ; and, encouraged by their successful 
 destruction of the Spanish towns, the}' pushed on to 
 such of the reductions as had hitherto escaped their 
 fury. At that of St. Theresa, after having despatched 
 their prisoners to Brazil, and done all the mischief in 
 their power, they had the audacity to request the Jesuit 
 Father of the ruined mission to say Mass for them in 
 the church. It was not an opportunity to be neglected ; 
 he accordingly consented ; and the instant the Divine 
 Sacrifice was concluded, he ascended the pulpit, and 
 there upbraided them in the strongest terms for their 
 unchristian conduct. The barbarians listened to him 
 unmoved ; they were too far gone in wickedness to be 
 either excited to anger or softened to repentance by a 
 recapitulation of their crimes ; and the only symptom 
 they gave of a better feeling, was the presenting the 
 Father who had so earnestly addressed them with the 
 
76 PARAGUAY. 
 
 Indian acolyths who had served him at the altar. The 
 reductions on the Uruguay were the next to suffer; 
 although, being- numerous and long-established, they 
 made a vigorous defence. But the struggle was too 
 unequal. The neophytes would not make use of poi- 
 soned arrows, nor could they lessen the number of tiie 
 foe by killing such captives as they could not prevent 
 escaping — a practice constantly and unscrupulously re- 
 sorted to by the Mamelukes. Fire-arms likewise, as it 
 has been already observed, the Indians were not per- 
 mitted to possess ; and thus, forbidden to wag-e war in 
 a Christian manner, and unwilling to do so after the 
 fashion of savages, they were necessarily placed at a 
 serious disadvantage. Retreat became the only alter- 
 native ; and this time the Jesuits secured the safety of 
 their colonies by locating them in that part of the 
 province (entre Ilios) which, being surrounded by the 
 Parana on the one side and by the Uruguay on the 
 other, possesses a natural barrier against all invasion. 
 About the same time also Father Montoya, after in- 
 numerable negotiations, succeeded in obtaining an edict 
 from Philip IV. permitting the use of fire-arms in the 
 reductions ; and from that period a feeling of confidence 
 both in the government and in themselves seems to 
 have grown up among the Indians, and given them new 
 vigour in their own defence ; we consequently hear 
 less and less of the Mamelukes as our history proceeds. 
 The neophytes fought bravely, and repeatedly repulsed 
 them ; and in one of the last great battles in which they 
 measured their strength with these inveterate enemies 
 of their race, succeeded in so thoroughly routing them, 
 that the death of Father Alfaro, who had been shot in 
 cold blood before the action by a Mameluke soldier, 
 was terribly avenged. 
 
 Having thus given good proof of their valour, and 
 exhibited a discipline and steadiness in war in which 
 the Spanish mercenary was often deficient, the Indians 
 were continually called upon to serve in the king's 
 army ; and in more than one rebellion of the province 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 77 
 
 the governor owed its suppression in a great measure 
 to their strength and numbers. All this, however, 
 was the work of time; and while the consolidation 
 and defence of the reductions already established gave 
 full occupation to not a few of the Jesuit Fathers, 
 others were as actively employed in the formation of 
 new settlements. Father Antonio Palermo, in company 
 with a party of fervent neophytes, had already coasted 
 along- the Parana, and returned with a multitude of 
 converted Indians, whom he speedily placed in a new 
 reduction ; others sought out the poor Indians who had 
 fled to the woods and deserts from the fury of the 
 Mamelukes, and were in danger of relapsing into their 
 primitive barbarism ; while other.-, again, at the earnest 
 request of the Bishop of Tucuman, endeavoured to carry 
 the Gospel into the wilds of Chaco. The nature of this 
 country rendered it particularly difficult of access, its 
 vast and trackless plains, which in summer were one 
 arid waste, being in winter flooded like a sea. The 
 savages themselves were cannibals, and, as a matter of 
 course, the first party of Jesuits who ventured among 
 them were put to death, one of their companions having 
 first been devoured before their eyes ; but the two who 
 followed had better success. These were the Fathers 
 Pastor and Cerqueira, and they resolved first to seek 
 out the Abipones, who dwelt on the eastern extremity 
 of the desert; but falling in with a tribe of the Mata- 
 ranes by the way, they succeeded by kind and gentle 
 perseverance in winning their confidence. Nor did the 
 Abipones themselves prove less accessible to kindness, 
 although they were among the fiercest and most in- 
 tractable of the American savages, being" absolutely in 
 a. state of primeval wildness when Father Pastor thus 
 succeeded in penetrating into their haunts. No sooner 
 did they perceive him coming from afar, than they 
 hastened to meet him ; and with skins spotted and 
 painted according to their notions of a warrior, eyes 
 darting wild and ferocious glances, hair long, matted and 
 dishevelled, and clubs and javelins, which they whirled 
 
78 PARAGUAY. 
 
 with savage outcries round his head, they rushed in 
 upon the Father, and surrounded him and his com- 
 panions on all sides. Had he shown any sign of alarm, 
 he would probably have been murdered on the instant ; 
 as it was, he explained to them his errand, at the same 
 time declaring his confidence in God and in their good 
 faith as simply and as quietly as if they had been but a 
 band of children whom he had interrupted in their play. 
 The effect was magical. Fear would have provoked 
 violence, defiance would have insured it ; but such calm 
 and intrepid courage astonished and overawed them, as 
 a thing which they had never witnessed before, and 
 which surpassed their comprehension; and throwing 
 down their weapons, they welcomed their visitor with a 
 shout of joy. From that moment he was their guide, 
 their councillor, and their chosen friend. He instructed 
 them in the rudiments of civilisation; he taught them 
 to abhor their savage banqueting on human flesh ; he 
 studied the bent of their minds and dispositions, and 
 succeeded at last in at least partially reconciling them 
 to the settled life of the converted Indians. 
 
 So far every thing had proceeded prosperously; when, 
 unfortunately, the numbers of the Jesuits, at all tinges 
 too small for the work in which they were engaged, 
 were still further diminished by an order from the 
 Council of the Indies forbidding any save Spanish sub- 
 jects to preach in the colonies of Spain. This restric- 
 tion was caused entirely by the intrigues of those who 
 sought by all ways ano^means to hinder the formation of 
 new reductions, seeing- that they invariably became so 
 many harbours of refuge from the iniquities of the slave- 
 trade. It was subsequently rescinded ; but in the mean 
 time it operated with fatal effect alike upon the colo- 
 nists by whom it had been prescribed, and upon the 
 Indians, who were the immediate sufferers ; for the 
 result was so greatly to reduce the Jesuits in number, 
 that, in order to supply the wants of the old reductions, 
 it was found necessary to withdraw Father Pastor from 
 those whom after so much risk and trouble he was 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 79 
 
 just beginning' to civilise* They parted from liim with 
 tears, and for days and months looked anxiously for 
 his return 5 but indignant at last at the long- delay, 
 they became the worst enemies the Spanish colonists 
 had yet encountered, and taught them by sad experi- 
 ence all the inestimable advantages that might have 
 resulted from the establishment of permanent reduc- 
 tions in their deserts. They had not yet, however, 
 given this terrible lesson to the Spaniards, when the 
 enemies of the Jesuits received an important addition 
 to their ranks in the person of Bernardin de Cardenas, 
 the new Bishop of Assumption, who threw all the 
 weight and influence of his position into the scale in 
 favour of the slave-trade. He was a man of brilliant 
 talents, but irrepressible ambition j possessed of every 
 quality calculated to gain popularity with the multi- 
 tude, and never scrupling to prostitute his highest gifts 
 to win their adulation. An informality in his conse- 
 cration had rendered it in the opinion of many null and 
 void ; and the question of its validity having been re- 
 ferred by himself to one of the colleges of the Jesuits, 
 they were conscientiously compelled to declare against 
 it. From that moment he never ceased attempting by 
 open violence or secret intrigue to drive them from the 
 city. The governor, a weak but conscientious man, in 
 vain endeavoured to oppose him 5 nature had especially 
 gifted him for the office of a demagogue, and he became 
 the idol of the colonists. He addressed himself at once 
 to the one darling- interest of their narrow hearts, and 
 worked up afresh all the old leaven of jealousy that lay 
 fermenting in their bosoms by denouncing the Jesuits 
 us the Quixotic apostles of Indian liberty. It was pre- 
 cisely their best title to the love and admiration of all 
 good men 5 but it was also, and Don Bernardin knew 
 it well, that which excited the fear and hatred of every 
 slave-holder in the land. One hint was sufficient for 
 such an audience ; and when he had succeeded in tho- 
 roughly rousing the passions of the multitude, he sud- 
 denly assumed an air of inspired authority, declared 
 
80 PARAGUAY. 
 
 aloud his hypocritical regrets for the step he was com- 
 pelled to take, and then and there excommunicated the 
 whole body of the Jesuits, forbidding- the faithful to 
 hold further intercourse with them. The governor at- 
 tempted to interfere ; but the citizens to a man sided 
 with their Bishop. He had promised them the slave- 
 service of the Indians as soon as the Jesuits should be 
 driven from their reductions ; he had hinted, more- 
 over, at gold-mines, which, according* to him, lay hidden 
 in their missions; and the idea was far too tempting 
 to these worshippers of mammon to be easily relin- 
 quished. They rose as by one accord in defence of the 
 man who had called up these golden visions before their 
 eyes; and it was by force alone that Don Gregorio 
 succeeded in the end in expelling him from the city 
 which he had demoralised by his ambition and scan- 
 dalised by his crimes. 
 
 But the serpent had left his sting behind him. He 
 had whispered of gold-mines ; and gold-mines of course 
 the colonists ever afterwards clamorously affirmed to 
 be actually existing among the mountains where the 
 Jesuits had fixed their abodes. Henceforth no story 
 was too ridiculous for promulgation, or too extravagant 
 for belief; and no witness, however despicable his cha- 
 racter, but was regarded as trustworthy, so long as he 
 gave his testimony in favour of this imaginary El-do- 
 rado. One man actually deposed on oath that he had 
 met an Indian bearing three large sacks of gold upon 
 his shoulders, being a present from the provincial of the 
 Society to the colleges of Cordova and Assumption. 
 The governor treated this base perjurer with the con- 
 tempt which he deserved, dismissing him with a satirical 
 assurance that he was greatly edified by the disinter- 
 estedness of the provincial, who out of so large a trea- 
 sure had reserved nothing for himself; and at the same 
 time gently hinting his suspicions, that had his informer 
 been similarly circumstanced, he would hardly have 
 practised as much self-denial. Notwithstanding this 
 summary dismissal of the subject on the part of the 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 81 
 
 governor, the report had spread too far and sunk too 
 deep to be thus easily disposed of. It had reached the 
 ears of the Council of the Indies, and had even found 
 an echo in the bosoms of the chief ministers of Spain 
 itself; it was therefore necessary , if only for the sake 
 of the accused, that it should be sifted to the bottom. 
 So the Society thought and felt ; and they offered ac- 
 cordingly to evacuate the reductions with all their In- 
 dians, in order to leave them more thoroughly open to 
 the investigation of their foes. This proposition was 
 not accepted in the letter, but an officer was appointed 
 to visit the reductions in which the gold-mines were 
 supposed to be concealed; and although the man 
 who pretended to have seen them, and who was to be 
 brought to the spot as a witness, contrived to make his 
 escape on the way, the visitor still proceeded, and never 
 left the scene of his scrutiny until he and his assistants 
 had searched both hill and valley in vain for gold. A 
 second and a third commission to the same place, to 
 other places, to every place, in fact, pointed out by 
 the maintainers of the golden theory, were at different 
 times appointed, but always with the same result; and 
 after years thus spent in useless investigations and ha- 
 rassing suspicions, some of the most vehement accusers 
 of the Jesuits, unwilling to die, as thej had lived, in 
 the propagation of a lie, deposed upon their death- beds 
 to the utter falsity of the accusation, and the sordid 
 motives for which it had been invented. The innocence 
 of the Jesuits was thus clearly established ; but the con- 
 secjuences of the accusation were not so easily to be 
 undone. Calumny against any body of men almost 
 invariably proves an undying thing; and such it now 
 became to them. A slur had been cast upon their 
 labours in behalf of the poor Indians — a slur most 
 perseveringly maintained by those who best knew its 
 falsehood ; the love of riches and the love of power had 
 been put forward as their motives for deeds which the 
 love of God could alone have prompted, and His power 
 alone have made successful ; and from that moment 
 Q 
 
82 PARAGUAY. 
 
 they were watched by the Council of the Indies, and 
 by an ever-increasing- party in the court of Spain, with 
 a jealousy which never rested until it had expelled them 
 from their missions. 
 
 The immediate result, however, of the inquiries was 
 to reinstate the Jesuits in the good opinion both of the 
 home government and of the local authorities, and peace 
 was restored between them and their traducers ; but it 
 was only for the moment. By a most ill-timed courtesy, 
 Don Bernardin was permitted to return from exile ; and 
 the governor dying- suddenly, the Bishop, with his usual 
 promptitude, seized upon the government, and drove the 
 Jesuits from the city. Against this violence they pro- 
 tested, by naming Father Nolasco. Superior of the Order 
 of Mercy, as their judge-conservator, to examine into 
 the charges preferred against them $ and his sentence 
 in their favour having been confirmed b} r that of the 
 royal audience of Chareas, and by the decision likewise 
 of the commissary-general, whom the King of Spain 
 had deputed to judge between them, they were restored 
 by royal command to their college, and Don Bernardin 
 deposed from his bishopric by the Pope, who bestowed 
 it in 1666 on Don Gabriel de Guillestoqui. Even six 
 years before this restoration to their rights, the Fathers 
 of the Society had had an opportunity, and had not re- 
 fused it, of doing signal service to their enemies. The 
 Indians in and about the city of Assumption had risen 
 in a body against their Spanish masters, and after mas- 
 sacring the principal inhabitants in cold blood, had 
 taken possession of the town. There was no time, had 
 there been the means, for the raising of troops, and the 
 governor was forced to fly; but his situation was no 
 sooner made known in the reductions than a body of 
 neophytes were sent to aid him ; with their assistance 
 the insurrection was quelled, the Spaniards delivered 
 from their peril, and the governor enabled to return in 
 peace to his rained city. The conduct of the Indians 
 on this occasion was, or at any rate ought to have 
 been, an unanswerable argument in favour of the sys- 
 
CH. VI.] THE RETREAT ON THE PARANA. 83 
 
 tern which the Jesuits had so earnestly advocated. The 
 Indians of the cncomiendas were in open and successful 
 insurrection when the Indians of the reductions fought 
 in favour of peace and order side by side with men who, 
 far as the poles asunder from them in country, habits, 
 and education, yet possessed an overwhelming claim 
 upon their sympathy and co-operation in the Christian 
 creed which they professed in common. 
 
 But although the enslaved Indians had been thus 
 subdued, those who were yet unreclaimed from pagan- 
 ism continued to harass the Spaniards in all directions. 
 Force of arms and peaceful treaty were equally unavail- 
 ing. If they were defeated on the eve, it was only to 
 do battle again on the morrow ; and if they made peace 
 when compelled by reverses to simulate friendship, it 
 was but to break it the moment that the chances of war 
 were in their favour. The false policy of the colonists 
 now reacted fatally upon themselves ; for as the Indian 
 had found neither faith nor honest dealing among- them, 
 so he would give them neither faith nor honest dealing 
 in return. In this dilemma, the governor turned for 
 assistance to the Jesuits ; two of them instantly under- 
 took a mission of peace, and throwing themselves into 
 the midst of the savages, pledged their word for the 
 present sincerity of their countrymen. It was enough : 
 the Jesuits, at least, had been always true to their pro- 
 fessions, and the Indians could not refuse to believe them 
 now. A truce for six years was offered and accepted, 
 and this time the savages kept their word; for they 
 had pledged it to men who never had, and, well they 
 knew, who never would deceive them. The Spaniards 
 profited by this long interval of repose to repair their 
 late disasters; and the Jesuits also put it to use in 
 another fashion, by penetrating deeper into the woods 
 and wilds of Paraguay than they ever had done before, 
 and thus giving wider extension to their schemes for 
 the conversion and civilisation of the natives. 
 
84 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FINAL BLOW. 
 
 Martyrdoms of Fathers Ortiz and Solinas. Success of Father de Arce". 
 Martyrdoms of Fathers Cavallero, de Arce, Blende, Sylva, Maco, 
 and thirty neophytes. Antequera usurps the government ; per- 
 secutes the Jesuits. His repentance and death. Rebels a second 
 time defeated by the Christian Indians. Renewal of charges 
 against the missionaries. Martyrdom of Father Lizardi. Treaty 
 of exchange between Spain and Portugal ; forced emigration of 
 the natives. Persecution and deportation of the Jesuits. Present 
 state of Paraguay. Review of the labours of the Society in that 
 country. 
 
 It will be remembered, that after Father Pastor's first 
 successful attempt with the fierce savages of Chaco, he 
 had been compelled, by an unfortunate diminution in the 
 number of the missionaries, to withdraw from his new 
 reductions; and that the Indians, thus deserted, had 
 become the most deadly enemies with which the Spanish 
 colonists had yet been called upon to contend. For 
 nearly twenty years the province of Tucuman was con- 
 tinually devastated by their incursions ; and although 
 the Jesuits had tried again and again, they had never 
 succeeded, during all that period, in recovering the con- 
 fidence so unhappily forfeited. However, in the year 
 1683, with which the present chapter opens, two of the 
 Fathers, Ruiz and Solinas, with a zealous ecclesiastic 
 of the name of Ortiz de Zarate, set forth from Jujuy for 
 the purpose of once more resuming the interrupted mis- 
 sion. In sixteen days they reached the " Santa/' called 
 par excellence "the Mountain of Chaco," which on clear 
 days commands an unbroken prospect of the coun- 
 try towards which they were directing their steps ; yet 
 when they attained the summit, although the sun was 
 bright above their heads vast dense clouds of mist, roll- 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 85 
 
 ing beneath their feet, shut out the landscape entirely 
 from their view. It was a fitting* omen for the com- 
 mencement of a mission which was to open heaven to 
 those who undertook it, but to leave the people for 
 whose sake it was undertaken still wrapt in the clouds 
 of idolatry and error. They succeeded, indeed, in build- 
 ing- a chapel, and inducing some of the Indians to settle 
 peaceably around it ; but one mornings at the dawn of 
 day, when they were about to offer the divine sacrifice, 
 a body of savages rushed from the woods with fearful 
 shouts and cries of triumph, killed Fathers Ortiz and 
 Solinas by repeated blows of their macanas, or clubs, 
 and then, cutting off their heads, carried them away to 
 make drinking-cups of the skulls. Father Ruiz hap- 
 pened fortunately to be absent, having been sent to Tu- 
 cuman for provisions ; but as he was known to be re- 
 turning, a party was sent out to intercept him. By a 
 special protection of Providence it missed him; and 
 when lie arrived at the reduction, ignorant of all that 
 had occurred during his absence, he found it lonely and 
 ^ deserted ; the inhabitants driven by terror into the woods, 
 ' and the mutilated bodies of the martyrs lying cold and 
 bloody on the altar-steps. 
 
 The news of this catastrophe only fired the Jesuits 
 with fresh enthusiasm ; and a college was soon erected 
 at Tarija, on the borders of the province of Charcas, to 
 serve as a depot of missionaries destined for the desert. 
 Father de Arce was appointed to lead them on ; and 
 twice he tried, and twice he failed, after having been 
 each time cheered on at the outset by some delusive 
 prospect of success. The enterprise was then abandoned 
 for the time, and he turned his steps towards the nations 
 of the Chiquitos, or Little Indians; a name derived, not 
 from the shortness of their stature, but from the ex- 
 tremely diminutive appearance of their dwelling's. Di- 
 vided into innumerable small tribes, this people inhabited 
 a vast extent of country, which, watered by the rivers 
 Guapay and Pirapiti, is broken by mountains and over- 
 shadowed with forests. They were brave, active, and 
 
86 PARAGUAY. 
 
 energetic ; and having* up to the period of Father de 
 Arce's visit been in a state of perpetual hostility with 
 the Spaniards, had formed the subjects of a lucrative 
 traffic to the inhabitants of Santa Cruz, where a regular 
 company had been organised for buying up all prisoners 
 made in war for the purposes of the slave-trade. The 
 advent of the Jesuits with their rescript in favour of 
 converted Indians would, of course, put a stop to this 
 illegal traffic ; and the Santa Cruzians therefore did all 
 they could to impede the mission. Their real motive 
 they did not, for shame's sake, venture to avow ; but 
 they hung about the Father, and overwhelmed him with 
 civilities, magnifying all the while the dangers he was 
 likely to encounter, the blind hatred of the Indians, the 
 frightful insalubrity of the climate, and the contagious 
 diseases which even at that- moment were raging among 
 them. To all this, and much more besides, the Father 
 listened with grave politeness ; but when it was his turn 
 to answer, the only notice he took of their alarming re- 
 presentations was to exhort them earnestly to lessen the 
 evils of which they spoke, by aiding him in his mission ; 
 and when they refused, he left them, to proceed upon 
 his journey. They had not certainly exaggerated the 
 danger, for the plague was raging in the very first vil- 
 lage which he entered ; but it proved a happy circum- 
 stance in the end ; for while it could not damp his zeal, 
 the services it enabled him to render to all without ex- 
 ception won him the confidence of the survivors. A 
 church was built, and a reduction founded ; and another 
 tribe having expressed a wish to see him, he sent them 
 word to come at once, that he might receive and bless 
 them as his children. The invitation was instantly ac- 
 cepted; and the reduction thus formed having been 
 removed to a more healthy situation on the river St. 
 Michael, another was without delay established on that 
 of Jacopo. 
 
 During Father de Arce's absence at the latter place, 
 the Mamelukes attacked St. Michael's, imagining that, 
 from its being so recent a foundation, it would prove an 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 87 
 
 easy acquisition. But the Chiquitos were naturally a 
 far more warlike people than their old victims of the 
 Guarani nation ; and they prepared gallantly for their 
 defence. Father de Arce, however, being absent from 
 the reduction, they were unwilling- to begin the combat 
 without the assurance of his blessing*. He returned 
 just in time, heard the confession of every fighting- 
 man, gave them Communion on the battle-field, and 
 before the sun had fairly risen they had attacked and 
 entirely defeated the foe. Their success gave an abso- 
 lute and unexpected development to the young- mission 
 of the Chiquitos ; new settlements were as rapidly and 
 solidly founded ; and the republic thus suddenly created 
 soon vied with that of the Guarani Indians. The Jesuits 
 pushed these advantages far beyond the nation with 
 which they had commenced; and tribes which the 
 Spaniards had never known or had known only by the 
 devastations they committed — among- others, the Lulles, 
 one of the fiercest and hitherto most intractable of all 
 — were in a very short time converted and civilised. 
 
 The Father Cavallero — and his life is but a sample 
 of what hundreds of other missionaries were doing- at 
 the same time — spent his days in passing' from nation 
 to nation, every where announcing- the Gospel, every 
 where, as a necessary consequence, braving- the death 
 which finally overtook him ; but every where subduing- 
 the savages among- whom he had cast his lot by the 
 power of his doctrine and the sweetness of his words. 
 Sometimes he was openly menaced with their ven- 
 geance ; at others he only narrowly escaped the snares 
 laid cunningly for his life ; but still, unmindful of fa- 
 tigue or danger, he proceeded boldly and perseveringiy 
 on his way. Innumerable reductions marked the spots 
 where his steps had been, and his journe}nngs were one 
 long* triumph of the cross, until he reached the country 
 of the Puizocas, which was destined to prove his grave. 
 An arrow from a hostile savage pierced him between 
 the shoulders ; he still had strength to plant the cross 
 he carried in the ground, and there he knelt in prayer 
 
88 PARAGUAY. 
 
 until he finally expired beneath the repeated blows of 
 the macanas. It was the 10th of September 1711. His 
 martyrdom was the signal for many others. The Fa- 
 thers de Arce, Blende, Sylva, and Maco, with thirty of 
 their neophytes, perished beneath the clubs of the 
 Payaguas in a fruitless attempt to navigate the Para- 
 guay; while Brother Romero, with twelve other In- 
 dians, were murdered by the Zamucos in a sudden fit 
 of rage. Hardly had they done the deed, when they 
 fled to hide themselves in the mountains ; and there, 
 believing- themselves safe alike from the vengeance of 
 Heaven and the reproaches of the Jesuits, they were 
 still boasting* of their recovered freedom, when Fathers 
 de Aguilar and Castanarez, who had followed to appease 
 their anger, entered their tolderias. Such untiring' 
 charity was not to be resisted, and the savages followed 
 them quietly back to their old reduction of St. Raphael, 
 where they commenced again the life of labour and in- 
 struction which this murderous outbreak had so lament- 
 ably interrupted. 
 
 Neither these nor any other of the massacres which 
 from time to time occurred had power to interrupt, 
 hardly even to retard, the plan of operations which the 
 Jesuit Fathers had traced out for themselves. Where 
 one man fell, another was always ready to step into his 
 place ; and while new reductions were continually be- 
 ing formed, the old ones were just as constantly ad- 
 vancing towards the moral and material prosperity 
 contemplated by their founders, — a prosperity not ma- 
 terially affected even by that rebellion of Antequera 
 which at one time had nearly threatened to dissever 
 Paraguay from the Spanish dominions. Strictly speak- 
 ing, Antequera was not the governor of the province, 
 having been sent by the royal audience of Charcas 
 merely to settle some disputes which had arisen be- 
 tween the actual governor and his subjects; but the 
 charge was too tempting for his ambition, and instead 
 of mediating between the contending parties, he seized 
 the government for himself, and maintained it by force 
 
CH. VII. J THE FINAL BLOW. 89 
 
 of arms. The province being- already in a factious 
 state was easily induced to declare in his favour ; and 
 as the Indians of the reductions were the only part of 
 the population that took no part in the revolt, the Je- 
 suits by whom they were directed became the objects 
 of his suspicion. They were expelled in consequence 
 from their college at Assumption, notwithstanding' the 
 earnest remonstrances of Don Joseph Paloz, the newly- 
 appointed coadjutor-bishop of the city, who showed 
 himself an angel of peace and mercy through all the 
 stormy events that darkened his episcopate. On his 
 part, Antecpiera endeavoured to justify his illegal vio- 
 lence towards the Fathers by first raking* up all the old 
 exploded accusations against them, and then inventing* 
 new ones. The story of the gold-mines was, of course, 
 revived and made the most of, as best calculated to 
 find favour with the multitude; and their passions 
 were yet further excited by a promise of the plunder of 
 the reductions whenever they should be subdued; and 
 an assignment of the inhabitants to the colonists as 
 slaves. But the usurper had pledged himself to more 
 than he could perform. Ere half his plans had been 
 accomplished, the Council of the Indies put forth all its 
 strength, and the Jesuits were restored by an edict to 
 Assumption; while Antequera was brought back pri- 
 soner to Lima, under sentence of death for his rebel- 
 lion. At that awful hour, with the fear of death before 
 him, the veil fell from his eyes ; he confessed the in- 
 justice of which he had been guilty, and gave signal 
 testimony of his sincerity by begging to be attended in 
 prison by some of the very men whom he had so cruelly 
 persecuted. At once responding to his appeal, several 
 of the Fathers hastened to share his confinement ; and 
 Antequera, selecting one to prepare him for his doom, 
 besought him not to leave him even for a moment; 
 moreover, he declared to all who saw him the utter 
 ft "\sity of the accusations he had brought against them, 
 and prepared a paper to the same effect to be read be- 
 fore the execution of his sentence. Yet all this failed 
 
90 PARAGUAY. 
 
 to reinstate them in the good opinion of the Paraguay- 
 ans ; so much more easy is it to sow falsehood broadcast 
 than afterwards to uproot it ; and their very attendance 
 on him in prison, and afterwards on the scaffold, though 
 in both instances in compliance with his own earnest 
 request, was construed into an insolent triumph over a 
 fallen foe. Antequera had been a favourite with the 
 people, and his death, far from tranquillising them, 
 roused the yet smouldering* embers of discontent. The 
 city of Assumption revolted outright; a junta was 
 named for its government ; riots and excesses of every 
 description followed, during which the Jesuits were 
 once more expelled; and despairing of effecting any 
 good among a people thus self-abandoned to their pas- 
 sions, the Bishop refused to lend to their proceedings 
 the sanction of his presence, and left the city. Zavalo, 
 a nobleman of high standing and repute, was sent to 
 quell the insurrection ; but finding the citizens in favour 
 of tlw junta, he fell back upon the reductions, where 
 seven thousand Indians mustered at his call ; and thus 
 supported, he marched against the town. War, with 
 all its miseries, ensued; but after months of varying 
 fortune on either side, the rebels were finally defeated ; 
 the heathen Indians, who at the first note of war had 
 armed against their Spanish masters, were overpowered; 
 and peace and order being thus restored to the pro- 
 vince, the Christian Indians marched back to then* re- 
 ductions, there to face a far more fearful foe than any 
 they had left behind them, in the famine which the 
 absence of so many of the working-members during 
 the sowing-season had necessarily occasioned. 
 
 The very fact of this rebellion having been repressed 
 entirely by the Indians of the reductions told with fatal 
 effect upon the popularity of the Jesuits. Men who in 
 their frantic hatred had already driven them from their 
 homes by raising a senseless outcry, without show of 
 justice or pretence at a trial, were not likely to love 
 them better now that by means of these despised natives, 
 whose liberty they had preserved and whose characters 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 91 
 
 they liad formed, their own seditious plots and covet- 
 ous designs had been so shamefully defeated. But, dis- 
 armed and powerless, baffled and disappointed as they 
 were, the colonists of those days were not the men to 
 let a victim go unscathed merely because it had for 
 once escaped them. Open violence had failed ; intrigue 
 and calumny were left them, and these they plied with- 
 out pity or remorse. With characteristic audacity they 
 changed at once from rebels into loyal subjects; and 
 affecting an intense anxiety for the interests of the very 
 crown against which they had so lately been in arms, 
 they poured in memorial after memorial, first to the 
 Council of the Indies, and then more directly to the 
 court of Spain, denouncing the authority exercised by 
 the Jesuits in their reductions as derogatory to that of 
 the Spanish monarch, and accusing them moreover of 
 embezzling enormous sums due to the government from 
 the converted Indians. The Fathers met these accusa- 
 tions in the only way in which it was possible to meet 
 them, that is to say, by an earnest petition for a legal 
 trial; and in the year 1732 a commission was in con- 
 sequence issued, empowering John Vascpiez de Aguero 
 to proceed to America for the purpose of investigating 
 the latter and more tangible portion of the charge. 
 The result of this inquiry, concluded just four years 
 after it had been first instituted, proved that, owing to 
 the variety of epidemical diseases which continually 
 desolated the reductions, there was an inevitable varia- 
 tion from year to year in the numbers of the population; 
 but that the tribute had always been paid exactly ac- 
 cording to the numerical lists sent in by the Jesuits, 
 and that, these lists being on examination found to 
 have rather exceeded than understated the actual pro- 
 portion of inhabitants to each reduction, the Society 
 was clearly acquitted of an}' desig-n of defrauding the 
 revenue. Don Vasquez added, that so far from the 
 reductions possessing the enormous wealth which was 
 supposed to exist among them, th<^ tribute, if augmented, 
 as the colonists were clamorous it should be, would be- 
 
92 PARAGUAY. 
 
 come so insupportable a burden to the Indians, that it 
 would probably end by their throwing- it off altogether. 
 This decision, the result of testimony taken on the spot 
 and after repeated conferences with the governor, the 
 bishop, and other officials of the province, would have 
 satisfied the king-, even if he had previously entertained 
 any doubts, which certainly he had not ; and he readily 
 followed the advice of Don Vasquez with reference to 
 the tribute, which up to the period of the expulsion of 
 the Jesuits remained at precisely the same ratio at 
 which it had been fixed in the beginning. 
 
 Meanwhile neither the vexations attendant on this 
 dispute, nor the previous more open persecution, had 
 caused the Fathers to relax in their efforts for the con- 
 version of the heathen. The desert of Chaco was once 
 more attempted, and this time at the especial request of 
 the viceroy, who found it absolutely impossible to reduce 
 the inhabitants without their aid. Lizard i, Chome, and 
 Pons obeyed the call ; but when they found that an army 
 was to march into the country with them, they positively 
 refused to accompany it. It was not by the sword that 
 they had hitherto won the Indians to obedience ; and 
 neither by the sword, nor in company with the sword, 
 would they now undertake the enterprise. Alone, there- 
 fore, and with no other weapons than the Cross and the 
 Breviary, they set out upon a mission which had already 
 brought death to so many of the Fathers. A reduction 
 was soon formed by their united exertions within seven 
 leagues of Tarija, and it promised to become a most 
 flourishing settlement. But some rumours of the in- 
 tended army had probably already reached the more 
 distant portion of the desert ; for the Chiriguanes of the 
 Cordilleras, the tribe they were especially in quest of, 
 every where fled before them. In vain they explored 
 mountains, forded rivers, searched the depths of almost 
 impenetrable forests, not a savage could they see or 
 hear of; and they had come in considerable perplexity 
 to a halt, when word was brought them that the tribe 
 they were seeking were assembling in great numbers 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 93 
 
 and in hostile guise near the reduction of the Conception. 
 Hither Lizardi flew at once for the protection of his 
 neophytes ; but finding- all thing's apparently calm and 
 tranquil on his arrival, he supposed he had been mis- 
 informed, and prepared to offer the Adorable Sacrifice. 
 Scarcely, however, had he reached the altar-steps, when, 
 from the woods and mountain-fastnesses where they 
 had lain concealed, the Chiriguanes came pouring- into 
 the village, put the terrified neophytes to flight, and 
 carried the missionary off in triumph. Amid blows 
 and insults they dragged him on, until, half-dead already 
 with the treatment he had received, they set him on a 
 rock as a target for their arrows ; and when a day or 
 two afterwards the neophytes ventured to return to 
 their deserted village, they found the Father on the 
 spot where his foes had left him, his body pierced with 
 arrows — his Crucifix at his side, and his Breviary open 
 at the office for the dying, as if he had sought to recite 
 it over himself during the long and lingering' agony 
 that must have ushered in his death. Pons, who had 
 accompanied him in his expedition to the desert, re- 
 turned to take charge -of the bereaved reduction, while 
 Chome was sent forward in search of souls. To make 
 amends for this disaster, the fierce tribes of the Zamucos 
 were formed into a reduction by the Fathers de Aguilar 
 and Castanarez ; the latter subsequently preached to the 
 Borillos, and after them to the tribe of the Mataguayos, 
 among* whom he was treacherously massacred on the 
 15th of September 1744. 
 
 In the yet more southern parts of America other Fa- 
 thers of the Society had succeeded admirably both with 
 the wandering tribes of the pampas and the inhabitants 
 of the mountain-range which separates Chili from the 
 province of Patagonia, among whom they had begun 
 to form flourishing reductions, when their labours were 
 again assailed with injurious suspicions, and the story 
 of the gold-mines was once more revived. 
 
 This time the rumour came from Portugal ; and 
 reaching the ear of the viceroy of Brazil, he, in a fit of 
 
94 PARAGUAY. 
 
 almost inconceivable credulity, persuaded his government 
 to exchange a colony it possessed on the east side of 
 La Plata for the seven reductions founded on the hanks 
 of the Uruguay. So convinced, indeed, was he of the 
 truth of the story, that he even stipulated that the 
 poor Indians should be removed to another part of the 
 province, in order that he might prosecute his search 
 with less interruption; and the proposition having Ix^n 
 accepted by the Spanish government, the Fathers of the 
 Society were themselves intrusted with its execution. 
 Bernard Neydorifert was the one to whom ,- t was more 
 especially confided, a man inexpressibly dear to the 
 neophytes, among whom he had spent the best five- 
 and-thirty years of his missionary life ; yet when he 
 assembled the caciques of the several reductions, and 
 explained to them the conditions of the treaty, they re- 
 sisted to a man, declaring- that death was preferable to 
 such an exile, and that force alone should drive them 
 from the beloved homes and haunts of their childhood. 
 To force accordingly recourse was had; and the Je- 
 suits, who sought to pacify the minds of the natives, 
 were blamed alike by both parties; the government 
 attributing to their unwillingness the failure of the ne- 
 gotiation, while the Indians, on their part, totally un- 
 able to comprehend the position in which the Fathers 
 were placed, and the motives by which they were actu- 
 ated, openly declared that for once they believed the 
 Fathers had betrayed them. An army was necessary 
 to enforce the treaty, and the wretched inhabitants 
 were driven from their reductions at the point of the 
 bayonet ; but when the Portuguese came to explore the 
 mountains which they had wrested from the broken- 
 hearted savage, they discovered too late the fallacy of 
 their expectations; neither silver nor gold could they 
 find, and they were fain to entreat the Jesuits once 
 more to collect and appease the natives, without the 
 aid of w r hose labours their recent acquisition would 
 have become a desert. This the Fathers were only too 
 happy to attempt; but the savages, after all that had 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 05 
 
 occurred, were naturally sore and suspicious; and the 
 endeavour to bring- the natives Lack to their old homes 
 had by no means been crowned with entire success, 
 when Charles III. ascended the throne of Spain, and 
 breaking- the fatal treaty of exchange, to which he had 
 always been opposed, resumed the Uruguay reductions 
 as a portion of his own dominions, in the year 1759, 
 just nine years after the separation. 
 
 But the time was fast approaching* when the reduc- 
 tions of South America were to exist no more except in 
 the history of the country which had cradled them, and 
 of the Society which had given them birth, and whose 
 name will through all times be identified with theirs. 
 Henceforth, indeed, the Jesuits were to be severed 
 finally and for ever from those missions which they had 
 founded with so much pain and toil, and had cemented 
 with their blood ; and which, deprived of their vigilant 
 and careful guardianship, were too soon to lose their 
 distinctive character as the home of the civilised Indian, 
 and to dwindle, under the ignorance and oppression of 
 those by whom the charge had been usurped, into mere 
 aggregations of half- Christian half-heathen, partially 
 reclaimed, but wholly helpless and untaught barbarians. 
 It is true that the Fathers had been pronounced inno- 
 cent by the king's own appointed judges, — that they 
 had been proved innocent by the bootless search of the 
 Portuguese for gold in their reductions, — that they 
 had proved themselves innocent by their calm submis- 
 sion to the government at a moment when, by coun- 
 tenancing the revolt of their neophytes, they might 
 have opposed violence to injustice, and have changed 
 into substantial reality the kingdom they were accused 
 of coveting in the new world ; — innocent, then, they 
 were, if innocence can be established by any amount of 
 testimony; innocent of any designs against the state, 
 of any unlawful lust for riches or for power in the for- 
 mation and conduct of their reductions. But the prin- 
 ciple with which they had inaugurated their work in 
 the beginning was that which wrought its downfall in 
 
9(3 PARAGUAY. 
 
 the end ; for in advocating* the personal freedom of the 
 native as the basis of their system for his regeneration, 
 they were demanding- the one sole boon which the colo- 
 nists were determined to withhold. It was a principle, 
 however, and therefore not to be relinquished, whatever 
 might be the cost to its upholders ; but precisely be- 
 cause it was a principle, and not a mere opinion, it had 
 been ever urged by the Society, {irmly indeed and ear- 
 nestly, and with unwearied energy and perseverance, 
 but without any unseemly ebullition of passion or ill- 
 will towards its antagonists; and, content themselves 
 to oppose facts to falsehood, we ever find its members, 
 throughout the turbulent history of those first colonial 
 governments, and all the temptations presented to ill- 
 regulated ambition, on the side of justice, order, and 
 religion. Thus, while the Jesuit dared boldly to re- 
 prove and withstand the Spaniards in their ill-usage of 
 the native, he never hesitated to risk his own life to 
 avert from them the merited vengeance of the irritated 
 savage ; and while persecution, calumny, and intrigue 
 were still darkening around him, he pursued his mis- 
 sionary career silently, grandly, and heroically, and 
 with the martyr's blood and the martyr's palm replied 
 to the senseless outcries of his accusers. But neither 
 patient endurance nor active deeds of charity and good- 
 ness could silence a burst of hatred which was the 
 result of passion and not of reason; and while the 
 Jesuits were shedding their blood in the new world 
 with a profusion that would have been reckless if the 
 cause had been less noble, every nation in the old was 
 ringing with the accusations of their traducers; and 
 every court in Europe contained implacable and power- 
 ful foes, who had definitely vowed their downfall. 
 
 Into the particulars of the cabal by which their ruin 
 was accomplished at Madrid we have here no need to 
 enter, our only object being to treat of the effect of its 
 machinations upon the reductions. It will be sufficient, 
 therefore, to say, that the mind of the king was gra- 
 iually and systematically poisoned against them ; that 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 97 
 
 he was taught to distrust their intention?, and. jealous 
 a? he was of his royal prerogative-, to tremble at 
 
 power. According- to Schoel, Adam, and other Pro- 
 testant historians, a letter attacking* his legitimacy, 
 and, of course, his right to the crown, purporting to 
 be written by the general of the Jesuits, but in reality 
 forged by their arch-enemy the Duke de Choiseul, set 
 the seal upon his resentment, and enabled Aranda, his 
 prime-minister and their worst foe, to obtain from him 
 that final act by which they were banished from his 
 dominions. The reductions were of course included in 
 this sweeping* sentence. The decree was signed on the 
 27th of March 1767 : and the war-ship, which brought 
 directions for its secret and speedy execution, cast 
 anchor in the Plata, on the 7th of June 1767. On the 
 21st of the next month, sealed orders to this effect 
 were deposited with all the under-governors of the 
 vice-regal province; and on the 22d its provisions 
 were fully and effectually carried out, the Fathers 
 being* seized, every one at his own reduction, and sent 
 off prisoners to Buenos Ayres. The mandate was posi- 
 tive, containing* neither exception nor discretionary 
 power; and not one was left behind: — young- and old, 
 sick and dying-, all at one fell swoop being- hurried away 
 from the land to which they had consecrated their 
 labours and their lives, and in which they had bu 
 hoped to find a grave, amid the prayers and bl< 
 of the savages whom they had reclaimed. Bucareli, 
 the viceroy of Buenos Ayres, was in the province with 
 a body of chosen troops; but the precaution was not 
 needed. The Jesuits had often indeed, and fearlessly, 
 opposed the Spaniards when they oppressed their In- 
 dians ; but now that the injustice was only against 
 themselves, not an opposing* voice was heard among 
 them; the order for their expulsion was obeyed without 
 a murmur, and in many places it was no sooner sig- 
 nified to the Father of the mission than he surrendered 
 himself on the instant, without even the appearance of 
 compulsion being* necessary for his removal. Yet it can- 
 R 
 
98 PARAGUAY, 
 
 not be doubted, that had they chosen to appeal to their 
 neophytes, the argument of force and numbers would 
 have been strongly in their favour; and that they did nut 
 do so was, therefore, their last and most conclusive answer 
 to their accusers, — their last and most effective protest 
 against that voice from Europe which declared that 
 " the aggrandisement of their own society was the sole 
 object of its members." 
 
 The exiled Fathers were shipped for Italy, where 
 they subsisted on a pittance doled out by the Spanish 
 government ; subject, however, to the condition, that 
 they should neither speak nor write in defence of their 
 society; and to this tyrannical exaction was superadded 
 another still more insulting, namely, that the trans- 
 gression of a single member in this particular should 
 be imputed to the entire body, and punished accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 They were replaced in most of their deserted mis- 
 sions by a mongrel government, consisting half of eccle- 
 siastics and half of laymen ; but called as they were to 
 the task without tact, experience, or knowledge of the 
 peculiarities of the people with whom they had to deal, 
 the attempt is on all sides acknowledged to have been 
 a failure. Hardly, indeed, could it have been otherwise ; 
 for though the Indians had received deep religious im- 
 pressions, and had made rapid strides towards the order 
 and industry of civilised life, yet the lawless habits of 
 centuries to a certain extent still hung about them ; 
 and they could not be kept together as a social body 
 without a very nice and judicious adjustment of the 
 influences that were brought to bear upon them. In this 
 adjustment the government of the Jesuits had been as 
 eminently successful as that of their successors was 
 confessedly otherwise ; the former possessing in its 
 rule a unity of purpose which commanded the respect 
 of the Indians, while the latter, being ever and always 
 divided against itself, left the unhappy objects of its 
 jurisdiction either perplexed as to the. authority to be 
 obeyed, or doubtful altogether of the necessity of obe- 
 
CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 99 
 
 dience. The lay governor was most frequently a tyrant; 
 and whereas the Jesuits had clone all on system, every 
 tiling- thereafter was unsettled and uncertain ; individual 
 caprice being substituted for a code of regulations which 
 had given consistency to punishment and dignity to 
 ju tice, and fear being' every where employed to compel 
 submission where before kindness had been the only 
 prevailing- argument. Such a government, and so di- 
 rected, soon told with fatal effect upon the reductions ; 
 and although less than a century has elapsed since they 
 were first subjected to its influence, it has nearly suc- 
 a eded in effacing- all of mental cultivation and external 
 1 i auty which the Jesuits had effected in their missions. 
 Little but desolation is now to be seen, where once the 
 Jesuit's house and the Indian's cottag-e stood in peace- 
 ful prosperity side by side. The public buildings have 
 disappeared ; the churches are all in ruins ; the cottages 
 have degenerated into native wigwams; briers and 
 weeds every where complete the picture of decay ; the 
 population has dwindled from thousands to hundreds, 
 and such as still remain have half-resumed the indo- 
 lence of the savage, and stand listless, desolate, and 
 zud, at the doors of their poverty-stricken dwellings; 
 while in reductions which once could pay without per- 
 sonal privation, though not without wholesome labour, 
 a yearly tribute to the king, the superior of the mis- 
 sions can hardly find wherewithal to keep starvation 
 from his people. 
 
 That the condition of the South- American Indian 
 at the present day would have been far different to 
 what it is, had the Jesuits been suffered to finish the 
 work they had begun so well, it will be hardly possible 
 to doubt, if we judge by what they did of what they 
 would have done ; and this seems, after all, the only 
 fair and equitable way of trying the question. For 
 eighty years they held possession of the land ; and in 
 those eighty years, out of hundreds of wandering tribes, 
 separated from each other by habits, language, religion, 
 and the natural animosity that arms savage against 
 
100 PARAGUAY. 
 
 savage, they succeeded in forming* a nation one in 
 habits, language, government, — above all, one in Chris- 
 tian and fraternal unity ; impressing' on all so deep and 
 broad a mark of civilisation, that the traces are visible 
 even to this hour. The Guarani Indians, whom at so 
 much cost and trouble they brought to habits of indus- 
 try and order, still hold together as a Christian people, 
 and still constitute the bulk of the working* population ; 
 so that whatever of agricultural skill is brought to bear 
 upon the land is the result entirely of the old reduc- 
 tions. The Guarani language also retains the pre-emi- 
 nence which the Jesuits gave it, and is still the only 
 organ of communication among the inhabitants of Pa- 
 raguay. Nor is the missionary himself forgotten, al- 
 though two generations have passed away since he was 
 seen in the land. His name is still blest by those who 
 hear it, and his return still looked for as an era of good 
 fortune in the future of the native Indian. Even many 
 of the little religious customs which he taught his neo- 
 phytes still linger among their descendants. " To this 
 day," says a recent traveller, " the children in Paraguay 
 never retire to rest without kneeling to ask the blessing* 
 of their parents j and the parents, in reply to the ques- 
 tion of the stranger, will tell him that the good Jesuit 
 Fathers instructed them to do so." 
 
 When we consider the men by whom those Fathers 
 were replaced, and the sort of government which was 
 substituted for their paternal rule, we shall wonder 
 rather that so much has been retained than that so 
 much has been swept away. It is not in eighty years 
 that the most wisely-conceived and most efficiently- 
 applied S3 r stem of cultivation can be indelibly impressed 
 upon the character of a nation. A thorough civilisation 
 is the growth of centuries ; and although that which lias 
 been more suddenly developed may seem to flourish for 
 a time under the stimulus of authority, it is almost cer- 
 tain eventually to fail. It is fatal to the very body of 
 the savage, which perishes beneath its unaccustomed 
 softnesses ; as a mountain-flower might fade if exposed 
 
-CH. VII.] THE FINAL BLOW. 101 
 
 unadvisedly to the atmosphere of a hot-house. It 
 dwarfs the very powers of the mind it is intended to 
 enlarge, by coming- too suddenly upon it before it has 
 oeen duly prepared for its reception; and it either 
 ceases entirely the moment the forcing- influence has 
 oeen withdrawn, or it merely freezes the surface of so- 
 ciety into a factitious smoothness, while all the normal 
 vices of the barbarian run darkly in the tide below. 
 Savage nations are, in fact, as little fitted to receive at 
 once the fall measure of civilisation, pressed down and 
 "unning* over, as an infant to take upon himself the 
 duties of a man; and if the child requires to be in- 
 structed day by day in the mysteries of existence, so 
 a rude untutored people must needs be led, generation 
 after generation, into the fall light of social knowledge 
 — which to us, indeed, is a second nature, because it is 
 our inheritance from our ancestors, but which, we must 
 not forget, those ancestors won step- by step, and were 
 centuries in acquiring. Both nature and experience, 
 then, point to the principle of gradual initiation as the 
 only safe one in the instruction of savage nations ; and 
 therefore Raynal himself, the utterer of so many blas- 
 phemies against the Catholic religion, has yet not hesi- 
 tated to declare, in his Political and PldlosopMcal His- 
 tory of the Indies, that " when the Jesuits were taken 
 from the reductions, their Indians had arrived at the 
 highest point of civilisation to which it perhaps is pos- 
 sible to conduct new nations, and to one certainly far 
 higher than any other people of the new world had 
 hitherto been brought. In them the laws were every 
 where regularly carried out ; manners were pure ; a 
 happy spirit of fraternity united all hearts ; the useful 
 arts were carried to perfection ; while those which were 
 merely ornamental were cultivated with some success." 
 Most unjustly, then, it follows, have the Jesuits been 
 reproached, as if they kept the Indian purposely in the 
 tutelage of a child, when in fact they were only fitting 
 him in the best and most effective manner for the fall 
 use and benefit of that freedom which, by their own 
 
102 PARAGUAY. 
 
 unprompted and unselfish effort?, they had won him 
 from his foes. In the beginning-, indeed, all the business 
 of the reductions passed of necessity through their 
 hands; but the work was gradually and almost im- 
 perceptibly transferred to the children of their early con- 
 verts, who, born in the bosom of a civilised Christianity, 
 were easily instructed in many thing's which their fa- 
 thers, the painted warriors and hunters just taken from 
 the woods, could never have been brought to com- 
 prehend. In the latter days of the reductions, all the 
 mercantile transactions of the mission — the exchange 
 of goods, and arrangement of the tribute, as well as the 
 providing- for the various necessities of the inhabitants, 
 — no light task for any brain — were confided to men 
 whose forefathers, only two generations before, had been 
 so ignorant of numbers, that four was the highest figure 
 they could count without the assistance of their fingers. 
 And be it remembered, that all this was effected amidst 
 difficulties more numerous and more perplexing than 
 perhaps any similar enterprise had ever presented ; for 
 not only had the missionaries to contend with the pre- 
 judices of the nations to whom they were sent to preach, 
 but to encounter the unceasing hostility of the people 
 in whose company they came ; and it was amidst even- 
 opposition which the upholders of the slave-trade could 
 bring to bear against them, that they introduced the 
 Indians into the fold of Christ, and to all the blessings 
 and virtues of civilised society and domestic life. Long 
 ago they had promised the Spaniards to make men and 
 Christians of the savnges and cannibals of whom they 
 were sent in search : — brave promise it was indeed, yet 
 not a rash one; for who shall say that it was not 
 fulfilled to the very letter in the reductions of Paraguay, 
 which Voltaire himself pronounced to be the " triumph 
 of humanity!" 
 
 THE END 
 
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