Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 07).djvu/249

 from Nueva España furnished this bad example, although I did what I could to prevent them. Nevertheless, God punished them more severely than I did; for all the property of one was taken away by the Englishman, and the other died here, and lost what he had sent to Nueva España. Those ecclesiastics who are under my government, however, have not exceeded their duty in this respect as much as your Majesty has been informed. Moreover, they are not so many as has been said in Spain, for there are not more than five who are stationed among the Indians, and these are so poor that they do not even have enough to eat. More than one and one-half years before this decree came, I had taken measures to correct the excess which might result, having ordered that no ecclesiastic should carry on traffic. This appears by the ordinances which I had made concerning this. That your Majesty may order them to be considered and amended, I enclose them with this letter. In the future this order will be more rigorously observed, according to your Majesty's command.

In the fourth decree, your Majesty says that the president of this Audiencia wrote that when he came to this land, he agreed with me as to the order [of precedence] to be followed when the Audiencia and I should encounter each other in public. He further says that, disregarding this arrangement, I sat in the place which did not belong to me, and turned my back on the Audiencia. I would be very glad to meet the president before your Majesty, and hear his reason for daring to inform your Majesty in such a