prison where he died (1710). All missionaries who obeyed his orders were banished. The decision of the legate was supported by several decrees from Rome, and at last in 1742 Benedict XIV. condemned the Chinese Rites, and ordered that all missionaries to China should take an oath against further discussion of the question. The controversy was carried on with considerable earnestness on both sides on account of the importance of the issues at stake, and was embittered considerably by political and religious disputes in Europe that had no concern either with China or the Chinese Rites. The condemnation had a disastrous effect on the missions. Nearly all the missionaries were banished from the country, and the Christians were obliged to choose between apostasy and death. In Japan[6] St. Francis Xavier had begun the work of conversion. He left behind him two of his brethren who were joined soon by other members of the Society of Jesus, with the result that about the year 1582 there were between one hundred and two hundred thousand Catholics in the country. An embassy consisting of three of the native princes visited Rome in 1585. In many districts the local chiefs granted full liberty to the missionaries, and in a short time the number of Christians rose to three hundred thousand. Some of the authorities, alarmed by the rapid growth of foreign power in the country, began to whisper among the people that the Christian missionaries were only spies working in the interest of Spain and Portugal. A violent persecution broke out against the Christians in 1587, and lasted for several years. Notwithstanding the savagery of the Pagans and the punishments decreed against the missionaries the Jesuits weathered the storm, and fresh labourers arrived to support them in the persons of the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and the Augustinians. But national jealousy of the foreigners, more especially of the Spanish and Portuguese, fomented as it was by the Dutch and English, led to new troubles for the Christian communities. In 1614 a royal decree was issued against the Christians, and a determined attempt was made to destroy the work of the missionaries. Punishments of the most awful kind were inflicted on those who would not abjure the Christian faith, and many, both priests and people, were put to death. From 1614 till 1640 the persecution was carried on in a systematic and determined manner, so that by that time all the missionaries were either dead or banished, and the whole of the young communities they had formed were scattered. For years Japan remained closed against the missionaries who made various attempts to escape the vigilance of the authorities.