Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 01).djvu/146

 caravels have desire only to ascertain and declare the truth. Before concluding anything discussed and treated by you, you shall first advise us. But as regards saying that, during the time taken in fixing upon the said demarcation, neither of us shall send his fleets to the Maluco Islands, you shall reply to the said most serene King that, as he may see clearly, it is neither just nor reasonable to ask this of me, for the agreement and treaty neither prohibits nor forbids of it, and to do this would be to the detriment of my rightful and civil possession in the said Maluco Islands, and in the other islands and mainlands which will be discovered by my fleets during this time of fixing upon the said demarcation. He is aware that I am received and obeyed as king and lord of those Maluco Islands, and that those who, until the present, held possession of these regions, have rendered me obedience as king and rightful seignior, and have been, in my name, appointed as my governors and lieutenants over the said regions. He knows, too, that my subjects, with much of the merchandise carried by my fleet, are at the present time in these regions. For these reasons it is not reasonable to ask that I discontinue my possession of these districts during the time of determining the demarcation, especially since the said most serene King has never held possession, past or present, of any of the said Maluco Islands, or of any others discovered by me up to the present; nor has his fleet touched at or anchored therein.

You shall say to him that, inasmuch as I have not asked that he discontinue to hold his possessions in Malaca and other regions discovered by him, although I have been assured on many different