he province--under
obedience, however, to the minister-general of the whole order of
the aforesaid Brethren of Observance, and to the commissary-general
of the Indias, resident for the time being at the royal court.

Given at Rome at St. Peter's, under the seal of the Fisherman,
November 15, 1586, in the second year of our pontificate.

Documents of 1587-88

Letter to Felipe II. Alvaro, Marques de [Villa] Manriquez;
Mexico, February 8, 1587.

Letter to Felipe II. Santiago de Vera; Manila, June 26, 1587.

Letter from the Audiencia to Felipe II. Santiago de Vera,
and others; Manila, June 25, 1588.

Source: All these documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo
general de Indias, Sevilla.

Translations: The first document is translated by Arthur B. Myrick,
of Harvard University; the second, by James A. Robertson; the third,
by Consuelo A. Davidson.

Letter from Marques Don Manriquez to Felipe II

Sacred Royal Catholic Majesty:

On the twenty-fourth of January I wrote to your Majesty a letter, which
I send with this, in clause 6 of which I stated how very important it
is for your Majesty's service that trading in the Philipinas should
be carried on through the hands of the merchants; that they should
maintain ships, in order to relieve your Majesty from so great and
heavy expense as you are under at the port of Acapulco; and that it
was on this account that the galleon "Sant Martin Visto" had been
sold at auction. To show of what importance this is--to begin with,
it was sold for sixteen thousand pesos, which was the highest sum
offered, and, in addition, what the repairs would cost which would
be made at Acapulco after the arrival of the vessel, which came to
two thousand pesos more. If no one had been willing to give so much,
I myself would have done so; for I am quite certain that this is to
be the first step in setting this business on the sound basis which
is desired. As they continue to sell the other galleons and to build
more, we must have merchants who are interested in buying them and in
sending them away on voyages; thus conditions will finally come to
be like those in the Northern Sea, and the great expense which your
Majesty incurs in those islands will cease; and ships will be built
in the Philipinas, which will cost but little. It may be a means of
profit to your Majesty's royal exchequer to continue selling ships to
the merchants. This has been demonstrated b