The King. To Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of
Alcantara, my governor and captain-general of the Philipinas Islands,
or to the person or persons in whose charge that government shall be:
in a letter which I wrote to you on the second of last September,
on various matters, there is a section of the following tenor: "I
have considered the arguments that you bring forward for its being so
expedient that the commander and the admiral of the ships shall have
authority and jurisdiction in the port of Acapulco, when he is not on
shore, to punish his sailors and soldiers; and that the warder of the
fort there shall not interfere with them by undertaking to punish them
on shore (regarding them as his subordinates, as hitherto they have
been) as they are persons of ability and good qualifications--since
from the time when the ships cast anchor, during all the time while
they remain in port, the men do not respect or obey, as it is right
they should, the said commander or admiral. Desiring to avoid
this difficulty, so that those officers may punish the culprits
in such cases, I have decided that what you propose may be done,
with the conditions that you mention; and, by a decree of the same
date as this letter, I am sending to the viceroy of Nueva Espana
advices to that effect. [I have told him] that as this seems to be
a general complaint, to judge from the instances [reported] here,
he must give the necessary orders for the execution of this decree,
unless some difficulty shall arise that may oblige him to defer it;
for when those men commit any disorderly acts on shore complaint can
be made against them, and the matter referred to the said commander
and admiral." And now a report has been made to me, on the part of
Don Juan Grao Monfalcon, procurator-general of that city of Manila,
that it is very advisable that the said commander and admiral of
the ships possess all necessary jurisdiction for punishing the men
aboard them--as is done at Cartagena, Portovelo, and other places;
and he entreats that I be pleased to command that this be accordingly
done. The matter having been considered in my royal Council of the
Indias, I have thought it best to issue the present, for such is my
will, that the usage which I have mentioned be put in practice in the
islands, as well as in Nueva Espana, since that is advisable for my
service. [Madrid, December 8, 1638.]