I, The King

Countersigned, Matheo Vargas
Approved by the Council.

[A separate sheet reads as follows:  “His Majesty has ordered me to send your Lordship the enclosed copy of deliberations of the Council of the Indias, and the papers accompanying it, concerning the trade and commerce between the Filipinas Islands and China, so that, together with any that your Lordship may have concerning this matter, everything enacted may be examined personally.  Your Lordship will advise his Majesty of your opinion.  May God preserve your Lordship.  Sant Lorenco, July 31, 1590.”]

Letter from Marques de Villamanrique to Felipe II

Year 86.  Copy of two sections of a letter written by the Marques de Villa Manrrique, viceroy of Nueva Espana, to the king, our lord, on the fifteenth of November, 86, describing the importance of maintaining trade and commerce, and the great inconveniences which result [from its discontinuance].

[After citing the royal decree of June 19, 1586 (q.v. ante), in regard to trade between the Philippines and China, in words similar to the decree, the viceroy continues:]

Regarding the whole matter I have procured detailed information from people who are familiar with it and have an extensive knowledge of the affairs of those regions from the beginning of their settlement, and from the correspondence that they maintain therein.  It appears that, since the time when Don Luis de Velasco was viceroy and governor for your Majesty in this kingdom, your Majesty has spent in the pacification of those islands more than three millions [of pesos?] for soldiers, ships, and other supplies—­all in order that the natives of those parts might recognize and profess the Catholic faith, and the sovereignty of your Majesty.  As a result, there are already among them six Spanish settlements, and more than forty monasteries of friars of various orders in many native villages, whose inhabitants are converted and baptized.  By this, God our Lord is well served, and your Majesty’s glory and renown augmented.  With the assiduity exercised by all these ministers, the Christian church appears to be increasing in those places, in such wise that in a short time it is hoped that the sect of Mahoma and the idolatries of which they were full, will be eradicated from them.  Not only has this been done and continued among the people of the said islands, but also among many natives of China who have come, and continue to come, to live in the islands.  They are baptized and have become Christians, which seems a good beginning; this will be an excellent way of pursuing the pious work and the objects which, as your Majesty has always made plain, you have had in the pacification and settlement of those places, and of acquiring greater favor and grandeur than is now possessed in all these kingdoms.