As the Spaniards
are a wise and prudent race it must be that they would be grieved
for having put so many people to death, and will repent thereof and
will show justice to the Chinese who have survived. If the Castilians
show justice to the Chinese, send back the Sangleys who have survived
the war, and pay the money due for the goods taken from the Sangleys,
there will be amity between this kingdom and that, and merchant vessels
will sail there every year. If not, the king will not permit merchant
vessels to make the voyage, but will command a thousand vessels of
war to be built with a force of soldiers--relatives of the deceased,
and inhabitants of the other nations and kingdoms that pay tribute
to China; and, without having mercy upon anyone, they will make war,
and afterward the kingdom of Luzon will be given to that people which
will pay tribute to China. [_On the margin_: "Those who pay tribute
are Siang, Cochinchina, and Corea."]

(The letter of the inspector-general was written on the twelfth of
the second month, which, according to our reckoning, is March of the
[_blank in MS._] year of the reign of Bandel. [38] The letter of the
eunuch was written on the sixteenth of the same month and year; and
that of the viceroy on the twenty-second of the same month and year.)

LETTERS FROM AUGUSTINIAN FRIARS TO FELIPE III

Sire:

This province of our father St. Augustine in the Philipinas enjoyed
a fortunate and prosperous season as a result of the care, zeal,
and strictness in religion of the provincial, who (to my great
sorrow) has just completed his term, and was chiefly inspired by
the advice, directions, and commands which your Majesty has sent
us in your letters, all of which have been scrupulously obeyed and
respected. During this happy time there returned to this province Fray
Lorenso de Leon, [39] a man who after having been provincial here
went on business of the province to Espana and Roma for six years,
as your Majesty has been fully notified. This father Fray Lorenso de
Leon came, then, to disturb all this good, having sought and pursued
nothing but his own personal interest and desires, with his notorious
vanity and ambition, and having wholly neglected the general advantage
of this forgotten province.

He arrived last year, one thousand six hundred and four; and up to
the present time (our provincial chapter having been held in the
interim) his only occupation and efforts have been to bring it