Even a more serious blow than the execution of the first martyrs, which seems rather to have warmed than to have cooled the zeal of the converted Japanese, was an order from the emperor to the governor of Nagasaki to collect all the missionaries, and to ship them off to China, except only his interpreter, Rodriguez, and two or three other Jesuits, who might be permitted to remain at Nagasaki for the benefit of the Portuguese traders. There were still in Japan as many as a hundred and twenty-five members of the Company, of whom forty-six were priests. To blind the emperor by an apparent submission to his will, it was agreed that the newly arrived bishop of Japan (the fourth appointed to this diocese, but the first who had arrived there) should depart in the same vessel in which he had come, especially as he might improve his absence to represent to the viceroy of the Indies the pressing necessities of his diocese. The novitiate, the college in the island of Amakusa,[62] and the seminary for young nobles hitherto kept on foot in Arima, were all given up, and most of the fathers connected with them set out for Nagasaki. Of the whole number, however, there remained behind eight in the island of Amakusa, twelve in Arima and Ōmura, four in Bungo, and as many more in Hirado and Gotō, while two others passed into Corea; but it was understood that these priests thus left behind, while ministering to the faithful, should avoid doing anything that might draw attention upon them. The aged Father Gnecchi, with two priests and five or six other Jesuits, remained at Miyako, Father Matthew de Couros being appointed to fill the place of Father Louis Froez, lately deceased, in the office of sending to Rome memoirs for the history of Japan. With these exceptions all the rest of the Jesuits assembled at Nagasaki, making a show of getting ready to depart. Indeed, the poop of a Portuguese vessel, which sailed shortly after, appeared to be full of them; but most of these seeming Jesuits were only Portuguese merchants, dressed for the occasion in the habit of the order; while, to account for the staying behind of any who might happen to be detected in the provinces, it was given out that some had been left because the vessel was not large enough to take all.