Friendship and commerce have been maintained from the beginning of the conquest with Great China, and are still preserved.  The emperor of China ordered a port to be assigned so that the people of Luzon could establish a city and factory under the same conditions as the Portuguese in Macao.  His Majesty also ordered, by a decree of April 9, 1586, Doctor Francisco de Sande to sustain the friendship, and prohibited him from making war; for, as some authors say, Sande had the intention of conquering that empire. [98] That does not seem to me so certain, for that empire had so many millions of men, with innumerable cities, forts, and walls, and fleets that guard the ports with great vigilance.  Moreover at that time the soldiers in these islands did not number five hundred, and were scarcely sufficient to guard them; and it was very difficult to transport them from Nueva Espana and other kingdoms.  Although it might be that that idea was simply speculative, the council prohibited it, and ordered them thenceforth to observe what was prescribed.

The king of Siam captured two ships of these islands in his ports in 1629.  Don Juan Nino de Tabora, who was governor at that time, immediately despatched two warships to punish so great violence, and they made many prizes and inflicted many injuries along those coasts.  After that he sent ambassadors to the king to ask satisfaction for what the latter had done, and the restoration of the Spanish ships.  Although the king who had had the ships seized was dead, his son was forced to return them, and did so.  The Mindanaos and Joloans, chastised because of the fleets that they were sending to plunder these islands, have been subdued and have made peace several times.  But, whenever it appears good to them, they break the peace, make war on us, and sack and burn the towns of the Christians, capturing many thousands of them; this is done not only by the Mindanaos, but by their vassals, the Camucones and Tirones.  Consequently, one can and ought to make war on them very justifiably, until they are destroyed and annihilated, if necessary—­as was done before, and is being done in this year of 1751. [99] During this and previous years the king of Jolo lived in Manila, was baptized, and made a subject of the Spanish crown.  He solicited aid against one of his brothers named Bantilan, by saying that the latter had revolted with the kingdom.  However it is hoped that the truth of the whole thing will be discovered in time. [100] It was resolved by a royal provision of May 29, 1720, that all the prisoners made among those nations during the war should be declared slaves forever.