While the unlucky affair of the forfeited Spanish galleon caused Europe to resound with accusations against the Jesuits, in Japan itself it had results more speedily and more fatal. The Spanish pilot, finding that entreaties did not succeed, had attempted to make an impression upon those who had seized the ship by expatiating on the power of the king of Spain, the extent of whose dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, he exhibited on a map of the world. To the inquiry how such an extent of dominion had been obtained, the pilot replied that nothing was easier; that the king began by sending missionaries into the countries he wished to conquer, who, as soon as they had converted a part of the inhabitants, were followed by troops, which troops, being joined by the converts, easily succeeded in subduing the country. This statement, it is said, was immediately reported to the emperor, who no sooner heard it than he ordered guards to be placed at the doors of the Franciscan converts at Miyako and Ōsaka, at which latter city, since the earthquake, the emperor had made his residence. Guards were also placed at the houses of the Jesuits; but in that at Ōsaka there was only one young priest with two proselytes, and in that at Miyako only the aged Father Gnecchi, who soon, through the dexterity of some of his friends, was conveyed out of it unobserved by the guards. There were taken in the convents of the Franciscans three priests, a clerk, and two lay brothers, one of them a Spanish creole of Mexico, the other a Portuguese creole of the East Indies. A list was also ordered to be taken of the persons who frequented the Franciscan churches at Miyako and Ōsaka. A great many names were originally placed on it, but the governor of Miyako, desirous to limit as much as possible the number of victims, finally struck off all but fifteen, who also were put under arrest. On the 3d of January, 1597, these twenty-four prisoners were taken to a public square in Miyako, where each of them had the tip of his left ear cut off, after which they were placed in carriages and paraded through the streets. A similar ceremony soon after took place in Sakai and Ōsaka, whence the prisoners were sent to Nagasaki to be executed. At all the towns and cities on the way they were made a spectacle of, as if to terrify those of the same faith. But they exhibited, we are told, great fervor and firmness, making many new converts and inspiring many old ones with the desire of martyrdom. On the way their number was increased to twenty-six by the addition of two others who had greatly busied themselves in ministering to the wants of the prisoners, and who, upon being asked if they were Catholics, replied that they detested the gods of Japan.