But before studying the rapid manner in which, first, the Dutch, and then the English and other foreign nations, contended for a share in the Asiatic trade, and eventually destroyed the Portuguese power in the East, it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that this destruction did not commence until the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the reign of Philip III. The ruin of Portugal was indeed due to the policy of Philip II., whose enemies Holland and England consummated it; but it was hardly commenced in his reign, which ended in 1598. Indeed, during that period, when the power of Portugal was on the very point of extinction, its Asiatic trade, and more especially its Indian trade, was at its height.[25] Philip II. faithfully observed the promises he had made to the Cortes of Thomar in this respect. All the viceroys he appointed were Portuguese, and he made no attempt to intrude Spaniards into either official appointments or into the conduct of the Asiatic commerce. The Portuguese viceroys of his reign, Dom Francisco Mascarenhas, Dom Duarte de Menezes, Dom Manoel de Sousa Coutinho, Dom Mathias de Alboquerque, and Dom Francisco da Gama, were all able and enterprizing rulers, who increased the prestige of the Portuguese power throughout the East by many deeds of daring, and especially by the conquest of the King of Kandy in Ceylon. The yearly fleets increased in number; the peoples of the East had got accustomed to regard the Portuguese as invincible; and the wheels of administration, from long practice, ran smoothly. Especially active were the missionaries, principally Jesuits, in Asia, and their progress was forwarded rather than checked by the accession of Philip II. to the throne of Portugal. The bishopric of Goa was raised to an archbishopric in 1577, and suffragan bishops were appointed wherever the influence of the Portuguese spread, and it is curious to note that an important mission headed by Dom Luis de Sequeira, consecrated Bishop of Japan, and Father Alexandra de Valignano, was despatched to Japan to 1598 and had much success.[26] But though the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church in Asia paid much attention to preaching the gospel among the distant peoples of the East, in India they were chiefly occupied in persecuting the Nestorian Christians on the Malabar coast with the help of the Inquisition. These Nestorian Christians were especially obnoxious to the orthodox Catholics, who got the Portuguese to prevent the arrival of any consecrated Nestorian bishop in India by blockading the coast, and who solemnly condemned the doctrines of the Nestorians in the famous synod of Diamper (Udayampura) held by Archbishop Alexis de Menezes in 1599. The history of the work of the Jesuits in India at this time is peculiarly interesting; the keynote to their policy is contained in the following words: “The Christian religion cannot be regarded as naturalized in a country, until it is in a position to propagate its own