We, the corporation and magistrates of the city of Manila, for ourselves, and in the name of all these Filipinas Islands, and of their encomenderos, settlers, and discoverers, do declare the following:  As is well known, many of us came here twenty-seven years ago, when these islands were discovered, and have spent years in the propagation of our holy Catholic faith, the defense of the preaching of the gospel, and the service of the king, our lord.  On account of this devotion we abandoned our fatherland, and forgot our parents, brothers, and relatives, and the comforts which each one of us possessed; and after having endured the great dangers of a long and hitherto unknown voyage, we settled in a land where we have shed our blood, and suffered the fearful miseries of hunger, thirst, exposure, and many other hardships, so great that they have cost the lives of the many thousands of men who are known to have come to these islands—­not to mention all those valiant soldiers who serve his Majesty throughout his realm.  At the conclusion of so many toils and misfortunes—­after we had made this discovery, and had pacified and brought under the royal crown the many vassals who today are to be found throughout these islands, and had brought to the bosom of our faith the great number of souls who have already received baptism—­his Majesty and the governors in his name have rewarded us by allotting to us a certain number of natives.  But these grants are under such limitations and the tributes are so moderate that the most prosperous among us (and there are but few) are living in straitened circumstances, and the others do not receive the half of what is necessary for their sustenance; many of these have no recompense.  Although our possessions are so scanty, we have been content therewith, inasmuch as we consider them as being a reward which we have won with our blood and so great labors; for we are thereby encouraged to serve our Lord and his Majesty—­enjoying, as we do, these tributes and encomiendas in tranquil and peaceable possession of them, after they have been assigned to us.  The king, our lord, also is profited by those who hold positions in the service of his royal crown; for they, with the tributes, assist in the great expenses which his royal patrimony incurs for the churches, religious orders, and ministers of the evangelical teaching, and for the supplies necessary for their maintenance.  In this state of affairs it seems that on the part of the bishop of these islands and some of the religious thereof—­not only generally, in sermons and in the pulpit, but privately, in the confessional—­obstacles and difficulties are imposed upon our consciences by maintaining that we cannot exact the [illegible in MS.] his Majesty those which he exacts, and that we are going straight to hell [illegible in MS.] and that we are under obligation to make restitution for them.  For this reason they refuse us the sacraments of absolution and communion; and,