Don Phelippe, etc. Inasmuch as report has been made me in behalf of
you, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, our governor of the islands of the West,
that a certain fleet having been prepared at our order in Puerto de la
Navidad of Nueva España for the purpose of the discovery of the said
islands, our former viceroy, Don Luis de Velasco, appointed and named
you by our commission through the satisfaction which he had in your
person, to be the captain-general of it and our governor of the said
islands. We have heard that you, having gone in search of them, in
order to attain the end desired, and having spent a considerable sum of
gold pesos from your own property, discovered the said islands and took
possession of them in our royal name with the ceremonies requisite in
such cases; and made a settlement in the island of Cubu where you are
at present with the men whom you took. In that place you have heard of
other islands in that vicinity called the Ladrones Islands and of their
fertility and wealth. You have desired to explore and colonize them at
your own cost and expense, and petition has been made us to have
permission given you therefor, as well as the title of governor and
captain-general of the said islands, in consideration of the many
expenses that you have incurred in their discovery, and the hardships
that you have endured. We, respecting the said your services because of
the wide knowledge of them, and because of those which we expect that
you shall perform from this time on, and having discussed it with our
royal person, have considered it fitting. Therefore by the present we
grant license and permission to you, the said Miguel Lopez de Legazpi,
so that you are empowered to make for us in our name and at your own
cost—and you shall make—the exploration and colonization of the
said Ladrones Islands. You shall take and seize possession of them in
the said name with the ceremony that is requisite in such cases;
provided that you observe and cause to be observed in toto the
instructions and provisions which have been issued by us in regard to
the course to be followed in the said colonizations and explorations.
It is our wish and intention to make you our governor and
captain-general of the said Ladrones Islands and of all the villages
that you shall settle therein for the rest of your life. You shall hold
and exercise our civil and criminal justice with the offices of justice
which shall be in the said islands of the West. By this our letter, we
order councils, justices, regidors, knights, squires, officials, and
good men of all the cities, towns, and hamlets that shall exist in the
said islands, land, and colony, and those that shall be colonized, and
our officials and other persons who shall reside therein—and each one
of them—that, as soon as they shall be summoned by this order, they
shall take and receive from you, the said Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the
oath and ceremony that is requisite in such cases, and that you ought
to give, without any further delay or procrastination, and without
informing us any farther, or consulting, awaiting, or expecting another
order or command from me, or a second or third decree. After you have
thus given the oath, you shall be considered and received as our
governor and captain-general of the said islands, and their coast,
land, and settlements all the days of your life. They shall allow and
permit you freely to exercise and enjoy the said offices and to perform
and execute our justice therein through yourself or through your
subordinates whom you have power to appoint and may appoint to the said
offices of governor and captain-general, alguacils, and other offices
annexed to or pertaining to the said government. You may remove and set
aside any of such officials when it is for our service and the
execution of our justice. You may appoint and substitute others in
their place; and you may try, despatch, and sentence all the suits and
causes, both civil and criminal, which shall arise and occur in the
said islands, coast, land, and village that you shall settle, and that
you shall have settled, both among the men who went to colonize, and
among the other natives of it. You and the said your alcaldes and
subordinates shall receive the fees annexed to and pertaining to the
said offices. You may make any examinations in the cases of justice,
premises, and all the other things pertaining to and annexed to the
said offices. You and your subordinates shall attend to that which is
advisable for our service, the execution of our justice, and the
colonization and government of the said islands, coast, land, and towns
that shall be established. In order that you may exercise and enjoy the
said offices, and perform and execute our justice, all men shall be in
harmony with you as to their persons and property, and shall give and
cause to be given to you all the protection and aid that you may ask
from them and that shall be necessary to you. They shall respect you in
all things, and shall obey and perform your orders or those of your
subordinates. They shall place no obstacle or opposition to your orders
or any part of them, nor allow any to be placed. Therefore by this
present we do receive you and consider you received in the said offices
and in the exercise and enjoyment of them. We grant you full power to
enjoy and exercise, and to perform and execute, the said our justice in
the said islands, coasts, land, and hamlets that you shall colonize and
in the cities, towns, and hamlets of the said islands and their limits,
either through yourself or through your subordinates as abovesaid. In
case that you are not received by them or by any of them into the said
offices, we do, by this our letter, order any person or persons who
shall exercise the authority of our justice in the villages of the said
islands, coast, and land, to deliver and surrender, and use such
offices no longer without our license and express mandate whenever they
shall be summoned by you, the said Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, under the
penalties incurred and suffered by those private persons who exercise
public and royal offices for which they have no authority or license.
Such persons we do by the present suspend and consider as suspended.
Furthermore, the fines pertaining to our exchequer and treasury to
which you and your alcaldes and subordinates shall condemn any persons,
shall be executed by you, and you shall cause them to be executed, and
shall have the fines given and delivered to our treasurer of the said
islands. Furthermore, we order that if you, the said Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi, consider it fitting for our service and the execution of our
justice, that any persons now in, or who may in the future be in, the
said islands, coast, and land, be banished and enter them no more or
live in them, and that they come to present themselves before us, you
may order it in our name and cause them to leave in accordance with the
ordinance regarding that matter. You shall give to the person thus
exiled the reason for his exile; but if you deem it advisable that the
matter be kept secret, you shall give the reason under lock and seal,
and you shall on your part send us another person, so that we may be
informed of it. But you are to take notice that when you have to exile
anyone, it must be only for a very urgent cause. For the abovesaid, and
so that you may exercise the said offices as our governor and
captain-general of the said islands, coast, land, and villages that you
shall colonize, so that you may perform and exercise our justice
therein, we delegate you full authority by this our letter, with all
their incidences, dependencies, emergencies, annexes, and rights; and
it is our will and we order that you receive and be paid the annual
salary, together with the said offices, of two thousand ducados (a sum
equivalent to seven hundred and fifty thousand maravedis). You shall
enjoy them from the day on which you shall set sail to pursue your
voyage, and thenceforth for the time that you shall maintain the said
government. If that sum is not had during the said time, we shall not
be obliged to pay you any part of it. A receipt shall be taken from
you, with which, and with the copy of this our provision signed by the
notary-public, we order that the said two thousand ducados be received
by you and placed on your account. Neither you nor any one else shall
act contrary to this under any consideration, under penalty of losing
our favor and one thousand castellanos in gold to be paid to our
exchequer and treasury. Given in Madrid, August fourteen, one thousand
five hundred and sixty-nine.