Doubtless, by all these changes, the position of the Portuguese and of the Roman Catholic priests was changed in Japan. The converts of Nagasaki would see foreigners coming who paid no respect to the priests and bishops whom they had been taught to reverence. The powers in the country would begin to see that the profits of the trade could be enjoyed without winking at the coercion of their own people to a foreign religion, and which placed them at the disposal of a power exterior to the state. The English and Dutch tried to loosen the hold which their rivals had in the good opinion of their customers; and the eyes of the Japanese were thus opened to the evils of admitting to their shores foreigners who were likely to prove centers of disaffection and to instill ideas of freedom and lawlessness among the subjects of the empire. The letters of the Jesuits throw their own light upon the state of the Roman Catholic Church in Japan at the different points where churches or seminaries had been erected, and it may thence be gathered in what manner they treated their neighbors, or those over whom they could pretend to assume any power. On the other hand, from the narratives given by Cocks and Saris, some idea of the position of the seafaring communities at Firado and Nagasaki, and other ports, may be obtained. These seaports seem to have been too often the resorts of the lowest class of adventurers. The result was uproars, broils and murders among the foreigners, requiring ever and anon the intervention of the native authorities. Iyeyas was in all probability ignorant of all these circumstances, which were effecting an indirect change upon those resorting to the country. At the Roman Catholic party he had aimed an effectual blow by putting the leading man of the party, Don Austin, out of the way on grounds totally unconnected with his religion. And the foreign priests do not seem to have given him personally much concern at this time. In the neighborhood of Miako they did not dare of late to make any public displays. In 1604 there were of the Jesuits 120 in Japan. They flattered themselves that “as for religion, it flourished everywhere, and made vast progress through all the kingdoms under so easy and peaceable a government. Notwithstanding, two obstacles still existed--the one Taikosama’s edict, and the other the vices of the people. But what gave our religion most reputation was the gracious reception the Cubo himself [Iyeyas] was pleased to give the fathers of the Society.” The Jesuits had recently extended their mission to the extreme north of Japan, and even into the islands of Yezo and Sado. During this and the previous year the Jesuits were unfortunate, inasmuch as the vessels bringing the yearly supplies, as well as the large annual carrack from Macao to Japan, were taken by the Dutch privateers; but Iyeyas, hearing of their loss, presented a donation to the Society, by which means they “made a tolerable shift for the rest of this year.”