Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/763

Rh between the two great bodies widened still more when in the early part of the following year the viceroy for the second time notified the three orders, Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians, to comply with the commands of the king concerning the administration of the Catholic faith in New Spain, previously given by Viceroy Enriquez. The provincials, evading, replied as before, and the viceroy insisting, they appealed to the king.

It would seem to us from the present point of view that the reappearance of pirates in American waters would prove a pleasing divertisement from official bickering at the capital. However that may be, the viceroy was greatly alarmed when he heard that Francis Drake had taken Santo Domingo, and threatened Habana. Messengers were sent along the coast from Pánuco and Yucatan, and into Guatemala and Honduras, ordering coast defences to be made ready all along the border to Nombre de Dios. Diego de Velasco, brother-in-law of Villamanrique, was appointed commander of the fortress San Juan de Ulua, and two hundred and fifty men were sent to defend Habana. The flurry, however, passed away, and news that the royal fleet was approaching made the Spaniards breathe freely again.

Since the founding of Manila in 1564, by Miguel Gomez de Legazpi, a profitable trade had sprung up with New Spain. It was natural, therefore, that when fears for the shipping on the Atlantic became somewhat abated, the people should begin to tremble for the safety of their richly laden galleons plying between the Philippine Islands and Acapulco. Of the early voyages to the Philippine Islands little is known; but by chance a record has been preserved of one made a few years after the departure of Francis