establish the order in Xapon. He did so very satisfactorily. From
him your Majesty, if you be so pleased, may order information on the
affairs of this country, of which he will give a full account, as he
is well informed in all things. There is nothing else which we can
report to your Majesty. May our Lord protect your very Catholic person
according to the needs of Christendom. Manila, December 12, 1603.

_Don Pedro de Acuna_

The licentiate _Don Antonio de Ribera Maldonado_

The licentiate _Tellez Almacan_

The licentiate _Andres de Alcaraz_

The licentiate _Manuel de Madrid y Luna_

[_Endorsed_: "Manila; to his Majesty; 1603. The governor and Audiencia;
December 12. September 26, 1606. Examined, and to be joined with the
other papers which treat of this matter."]

TWO LETTERS FROM ECCLESIASTICS

Sire:

This country is greatly in need of relief, for it is rapidly going to
destruction. All its injury and loss is due to this, that the decrees
and orders of your Majesty, sent for the good government of these
islands, are not complied with. If these were observed, there would
be no more prosperous city in all your Majesty's dominions. Situated
here in sight of so many heathen, it would seem that the Lord had
set it here to be a new Rome, whence the gospel would go out through
all these kingdoms. The worst of the matter is that there are not
lacking persons here who maintain that the decrees of your Majesty
are not binding on the conscience, which gives opportunity for some
to violate them without any fear. It is nearly seventeen years since
the Order of St. Dominic was founded here; and in all this time they
have always preached the importance of obeying the royal decrees,
and that, if they were disregarded, the country must be ruined. The
truth of this has been seen this year, for our sins; for this country
was on the verge of ruin through the uprising of the Sangleys, who
attempted to make themselves masters of the city. They were emboldened
to this by seeing themselves so numerous, for they were more than
sixteen thousand; and these, added to those in the fleet when it
came from China, amounted to twenty thousand. The city was very hard
pressed, and in danger of being lost, together with the faith here
(which has been established at such a cost to the royal exchequer),
and the hopes for the increase of the church and its extension through
our new worlds. It could be clearly seen that the Lord alone led