Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 08).djvu/175

 It would have been possible to attack them and to force them to give it up in the island of Oton, where they lay at anchor for some days, if it had not been that the president and auditors were unwilling to run the risk of leaving the city when it had no wall. If we had had any, no matter how few the people in it, it would have been safe. But they have not said or done anything to help me. On the contrary, they have joined the bishop in denouncing and attacking this tax because it affects them. They have loaded themselves with cloths and merchandise in such quantity that their share of the tax is likely to amount to something; and this they would be glad to avoid, like the good merchants they are. I at least do not know any other rich people here than the president and auditors; and that is the only reason why they object to the tax, to which they incorrectly give the name of "impost." This it certainly is not, for it is assessed once only and upon men such as the Peruvians and Mexicans, who are going away, and will not be obliged to pay it again, even if it is demanded. It is a great pity, Sire, that the theologians, when they are not invited and ought not to be invited to do so, meddle thus with this matter, as they do with everything else which is decreed; and that they should wish to act in all respects as a superior tribunal. This they do not only in the interior court of conscience, but with outward proceedings in the exterior court by excommunications, declarations, and the taking of measures to stop that which is being done. It is this disturbance and interference for which in other letters I beg your Majesty to command a remedy. The ecclesiastical tribunal has certainly possessed itself and gained the mastery of everything here to an extraor-