But Kang-he was not likely to resign the right to legislate for his own people into the hands of a foreign potentate; hence he issued, in 1706, a declaration, that "he would countenance those missionaries only who preached the doctrine of Ricci, and persecute those who followed the opinion of Maigrot." He then directed an examiner to enquire what missionaries were disposed to comply with the imperial will, whom he permitted to remain; but ordered the rest to depart within five days to Canton. Things now came to an extremity; the papal legate issued two decrees in 1706 and 1707, commanding the missionaries not to submit to the investigation of the examiner, on the controverted points. The emperor could not brook the contravening of his authority, and commanded Tournon to leave the capital; he was compelled therefore to return to Macao, where his circumstances were not much improved; for having offended the king of Portugal, by proceeding to the Indies without embarking at Lisbon, he found the authorities of Macao arrayed against him, who deprived him of his liberty, and surrounded him with guards. Tournon now resorted to ecclesiastical censures, but they were laughed at by his enemies; and the bishop of Macao admonished him, under pain of excommunication, to withdraw them. Having been created a cardinal by Clement XI. he could ill brook this indignity, and in 1710, sunk under his insults and disappointments.
The pope now sent another legate to China, the patriarch Mezzabarba, who arrived in 1720, with the approbation of the court of Portugal. The purport of his message was, to request permission to remain in China, as superior to the missions; and that the
