As for the statement that the letter is sent to let me know the greatness of the king of China and of his realms, and that they are so great that he governs all upon which the moon and the sun shed their light; and the other statement that he desires me to be acquainted with the great wisdom with which that kingdom is governed, vast as it is, and that no one should dare offend it, and referring to the war in Corea—­to this I answer that the Spaniards have measured by palmos, and that very exactly, all the countries belonging to all the kings and lordships in the world.  Since the Chinese have no commerce with foreign nations, it seems to them that there is no other country but their own, and that there is no higher greatness than theirs; but if he knew the power of some of the kings with whom my sovereign, the king of the Hespanas, carries on continual war, the whole of China would seem to him very small.  The king of China would do well to notice that from here to the court of Hespana the distance is five thousand leguas; and that on the voyage thither are two kingdoms, Nueva Hespana and Peru, whose teiritory is so great that it is almost equal to that of China, without mentioning very large islands in those seas.  At the same time I know that the kingdom of China is governed with much wisdom, and all the people here know, and I know, of the war in Corea.

The Sangleys who were killed here when they revolted were not thirty thousand, or even half as many.

As for the statement that after the death of the Sangleys was known in China, many mandarins joined in a concerted petition to the king that they might be allowed to avenge those deaths—­accusing the Spaniards of being cruel and ungrateful, and charging us that after the Chinese had aided us to erect our walls and other buildings, and in our gardens (all to our profit), we ought not to have done this—­to this I reply that the Spaniards are not cruel of heart, and never make war upon anyone without just reasons.  We regard ourselves as a just people and as having a standing in the world; and we would be greatly grieved if it could be said of us with truth that we have done wrongs or injuries to anyone—­especially to our friends, and to those who are sincerely friends to us.  Thus in the case of the Sangleys who were here, we treated them as brothers and sons; and, without any precaution, we permitted them to enter our houses at all seasons and at all hours, as if they had been Spaniards.  So true was this that, if God had not delivered us by revealing their treachery, they might for that very cause have been able to succeed in it.

I have noted the answer given by the king of China to letters written by the viceroy and others with regard to this matter.  I think that he ought to be fair in all matters, and that he should not be influenced to make war on Luzon without first knowing whether we are in fault or not; for if he should do otherwise we could not say, as we have said, that China is prudently governed.