"But Go They
Must, Will They Nill They, On Pain Of Belly-Cutting."
At this time there runs a secret rumour, that Fidaia Same is alive,
and in the house of the Dairo[67] at Meaco; but I think it has been
reported several times before this that he was living in other places,
but proved untrue.
There are some rich merchants here that belong to
Meaco, who are much alarmed by this report, lest, if true, the emperor
may burn Meaco; and who are therefore in haste to get home. Were Fidaia
actually alive it might tend to overthrow the emperor's power, for,
though a great politician, he is not a martial man: But be this as it
may, things can hardly be worse for us. I advised you in my last of the
destruction of all the Christian churches in Japan; yet there were some
remnants left at Nangasaki till this year, and in particular the
monastery of Misericiordia was untouched, as were all the church-yards
and burying-places; but now, by order of the emperor, all is destroyed,
all the graves and sepulchres of the Christians opened, and the bones of
the dead taken out by their parents and kindred, to be buried elsewhere
in the fields. Streets have been built on the scites of these churches,
monasteries, and burying-grounds, except in some places, where pagodas
have been erected by command of the emperor, who has sent heathen
priests to occupy them, thinking utterly to root out Christianity from
Japan.
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