After this, Iyeyas was supreme, the governors continuing to retain their empty titles. The Roman Catholics applied to Iyeyas, who received them so kindly that they were generally of a persuasion that he intended to restore the churches and permit the fathers to preach the Gospel, “so very easy are we to believe what we have a mind should happen.” However, at this moment they were annoyed by the lord of Firado showing symptoms of intolerance, for in one night six hundred Christians left the island and came to Nagasaki, contrary to the laws and edicts of Taikosama. The province of Higo, in the island of Kiusiu, was now under the rule of Don Austin, and by his orders the inhabitants were being converted or coerced into Christianity. At this juncture the Emperor was a mere shadow. The power had fallen nominally into the hands of a boy. The scepter, or seat of power, was at the disposal of the most powerful. The respect for, or fears of, the lately deceased ruler had not died out; and the carrying out of his wishes, and the establishment of this boy in his place, was the alleged intention of each of the contending parties. The one party was made up of those chiefs or lords who had been about Taikosama during his life, and had been appointed to high offices under him, such as the five governors or regents for his son. To these were added those who had been engaged as commanders in the Corean wars, of whom Satsuma and Konishi were the ablest and most powerful, the latter being looked upon as the greatest soldier of his day. On the other side, Iyeyas had evidently determined that the boy, now his grandson by marriage, should not stand in the way of his own advancement to power and position, and that he should be made the ladder by which he might reach his object.