cree be issued for the governor of
the Philipinas to have these accounts taken. They shall be taken by
Doctor Antonio de Morga. The results shall be sent to this council,
with an account of everything that is done, and his opinion of what
is meet to be done. A complete report shall be made of the royal
property in that treasury."]

[_Endorsed:_ "Considered May 27, 1596. Decree enclosed."]

This is a true and faithful copy taken from a royal decree and issued
by the royal Council of the Indias, which Doctor Antonio de Morga,
assessor and lieutenant to the governor in the judicial cases in
these Ffilipinas Islands, presented before Don Luis Perez Dasmarinas,
governor and captain-general thereof. Its contents are as follows:

Don Felipe, by the grace of God king of Castilla, [here follows the
usual list of his dignities and titles]:

Appreciating what you, Doctor Antonio de Morga, have done in my
service, and your good qualities, learning, and efficiency, it is
my will to choose and appoint you as I hereby do, my assessor and
lieutenant to my governor and captain-general of the Filipinas,
in place of Licentiate Pedro de Rojas, who at present serves in
said office, and whom I have promoted as criminal alcalde of my
royal Audiencia of the City of Mexico. It is my will that you
be lieutenant-general of said governor and captain-general, with
jurisdiction in affairs of government and war, to act as such; and,
for the time that I may so desire, you shall exercise said offices in
the affairs and cases which may arise in said islands, and relating
to and bearing on them, in the fulness and manner exercised by former
lieutenant-generals, and by him who at present fills that office in the
provinces of Chile, in the affairs of government and war. The governor
shall not appoint or have any other lieutenant; and in prosecuting,
determining, and closing the cases which may occur, take place,
or arise, in said islands, you shall proceed in the form and order
which is contained and declared in the decree signed by my hand on
the seventeenth day of the month of January of the present year,
one thousand five hundred and ninety-three. As concerns the cases
and suits about the Indians which may arise in those islands, you
shall proceed according to the decree of Malinas and the declarations
thereof, a copy of which will be given you, signed by Joan de Ledesma,
my court secretary, of that which I have issued for the said provinces
of Chi