of this my decree be furnished to each and every one of the encomenderos or collectors who shall engage in the aforesaid collections.  This decree I order and command to be observed, fulfilled, and executed, under the penalties above stated, for the present and until such time as his Majesty, when well informed of the present state of affairs in this land, which has been mentioned above, shall make suitable provisions in these and all other matters, according to his pleasure.  Upon the first occasion that offers itself there shall be sent on my part and that of the encomenderos of this commonwealth, to his Majesty, a detailed and careful account of what is here decreed and ordered, as well as what the lord bishop suggests and advises; so that his Majesty, having examined both sides of this question, may make such provisions and so direct our course that God and his Majesty may be best served, and all may have the same object.  Done in Manila, on the twenty-eighth of February in the year 1591.

Letter from the Bishop to the Governor

[Evidently as the result of a dispute between these two dignitaries, Salazar writes (March 4) a letter to Dasmarinas, deprecating any hostility between them, defending his own position, ascribing the differences between them to intermeddlers, and prophesying evil to the country if Dasmarinas maintains his present purposes in regard to the tributes.  He criticizes the governor’s decree in various points—­the permission to collect three-fourths of the amount levied; the appointment of more officials (in most of whom the bishop has no confidence); and the importance attached therein to the administration of justice in the encomiendas, as compared with the provision of religious instruction.]

Since your Lordship cares so little for these arguments, know that the reason which induced his Majesty to command that in Nueva Espana there should be no fiscals was, that they wrought injury to the Indians; ... and yet he had not so much certainty of the evil deeds committed by the fiscals as he has of those done by the alcaldes-mayor and the deputies. ...  Among other decrees which, I am told, Doctor Vera brought when he came here as president of this Audiencia, is one commanding him to be very cautious in creating alcaldes-mayor, on account of the injury thus occasioned to the country. ...  You say that you do not dare to make changes, lest the encomenderos abandon their encomiendas, or become disaffected; and yet you know that all the inhabitants of these islands, whether or not they possess encomiendas, have been and now are faithful and loyal vassals to their king; and that nothing which could occur, even to the injury of their property or lives, would prevent them from rendering obedience to his Majesty’s commands.  This is one of the things in which the inhabitants of these islands can take most pride, and his Majesty should most highly value them, on account of the fidelity