The King. To the very reverend father in Christ, archbishop of the
metropolitan church of the city of Manila: your letter of July 31
of the past year, 1638, has been examined in my royal Council of the
Yndias, and I shall answer you in the present in regard to some points
that have been decided.
You state that, although the mode of the presentations for the missions
has been resolved upon and determined, the decrees are not obeyed;
that there is a very great need of seculars for those missions, and
those who are there are but youths who do not understand the language
[of the natives]; and that hence you have deemed it advisable not
to assign any mission to seculars: You state that having conferred
on this point with the Audiencia, they resolved that no innovation
should be made until the arrival of the governor, who had gone on
the Jolo expedition. It has been deemed best to tell you that when
the governor shall arrive, and shall come to a decision, you shall
advise me of the results of it. In the meanwhile you shall observe
the decrees, unless serious troubles result from doing the contrary.
The prebends that you state are vacant in that church have been
provided with incumbents, as you will have heard. My royal Council
of the Yndias will take care of the names which you present to me,
for the occasions that arise.
In regard to the property of Don Fray Francisco Zamudio, bishop
of Nueva Caceres, who died on the twenty-seventh of last April,
you shall cause the orders that have been issued to be observed, so
that his creditors may be heard and paid, in accordance with justice,
and upon legal proof of their claims.
I have read what you wrote about the great exhaustion and distress
experienced by the natives of those islands through the many
assessments that are made continually, throughout the year, on all the
products of the country. I am writing to the governor and Audiencia
not to make any innovation in these matters, so that this evil may
be corrected; and under no consideration to load any new troubles or
burdens on the Indians. Madrid, December 16, 1639.