dingly sorry
to find that this has been not only of no advantage, but rather,
because of the meager results obtained, a disadvantage. And on this
account the said ambassadors are returning without having come to any
conclusion. By them I write to the said most serene King as you will
observe in the copy of the letter enclosed herein. [174] Now because
you should be informed of the transactions at this discussion,--both
that you might, in our behalf, give a full account thereof to the
said most serene King, and that you might discuss the same there
[in Lisbon] wherever convenient,--I have determined to put you in
possession of the facts in this letter, which are as follows. As
soon as the said ambassadors had arrived, and after the letters from
the most serene King had been presented to me, and their embassy
stated by virtue of our faith in these letters, they requested me to
appoint persons with whom they might discuss the questions upon which
they were to mediate for their sovereign. I did this immediately,
appointing for this purpose certain members of my Council whom I,
considered the best informed for that particular negotiation, and men
of straightforward principles. These men, in company with the aforesaid
ambassadors, examined the treaty presented by the latter, which seemed
to have been drawn up and authorized by the Catholic King and Queen,
my grandparents, and by King Don Manuel, his [King Joao III] father,
of blessed memory. They listened to all the ambassadors had to say,
and all together conferred regarding and discussed the questions many
times. Afterwards, inasmuch as the said ambassadors besought me to give
them a hearing, I did so, the above-named and others of my Council,
whom I had summoned for that purpose, being present.

The result of their proposition was to present the said treaty to me
and petition that I order the observance thereof, and in consequence
thereof, have Maluco surrendered immediately to the said most serene
King of Portugal. This they said we were bound to do, by virtue of
the said treaty, which contained, they declared, a section whose
tenor is as follows. [175]

In this manner they continued to assert that since Maluco had been
found by the King of Portugal, we were bound to make petition for and
accept it from him, if we claimed it as lying within the bounds of our
demarcation, and not to take possession of it by our own authority;
and that the King of Portugal being assured o