Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 07).djvu/132

 that he absolve the persons excommunicated, and declare himself not to have jurisdiction over that cause. To establish the fact that the recognition thereof did not belong to him, I stated in the first argument of my petition that it could not pertain to him as the royal officials were mere laymen, and not subject to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but to the royal. I alleged further reasons that the cause was secular and temporal. Among other things, the bishop replied to the petition that he was not satisfied with a proposition that I had offered, in reference to the holy office of the Inquisition. This caused exceeding disturbance and scandal in this city, because the bishop was not content with saying what he did in reply to my petition; but to every person who entered his house he said that I had been guilty of a heresy, and unlettered persons who heard this gave it credit. Moreover, as there is here a commissary of the Inquisition, he called together many friars and certified this proposition, separating it from the petition and paying no attention to my purpose therein, or to the circumstances under which I made it. I am sending a report of all the proceedings, in order that your Majesty may provide for the future, as to whether the bishop is to be the judge, and have entrance and privilege to cause the salaries to be paid from your royal treasury, which your Majesty in kindness and mercy had ordered to be assigned to the prebendaries and curates. The bishop, for the sake of peace, after he had kept your royal officials excommunicated many days, refusing to obey or fulfil the ordinances of your royal Audiencia, issued a decree in which he gave up the decision of the cause to his Holiness and to your Majesty. He protested that