Goncallo Pereira
(In the island and port of Cubu, on the first day of the month of November, in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-eight, in the presence of me, Christoval Ponze, scrivener of this camp of his Majesty, there appeared Pero Bernaldez, notary-public, who claimed to be of the royal fleet of Portugal, and read this answer from the very illustrious Goncalo Pereira, captain-general of the said fleet, to the very illustrious Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, governor and captain-general for his Majesty of the royal fleet for the discovery of the islands of the West, in his own person, in such wise as to be heard by him. He declared that he had already answered and replied to the said captain-general, on many distinct occasions, concerning the fact that his intention and will had not been nor is to injure the exalted and puissant king of Portugal, or anything belonging to him in any way; or to seize upon or take from him, or occupy this or any other land belonging to him. "I desire, as I have desired always, to depart from this land; and if up to the present moment this design has not found realization and I have not departed, it has been through lack of equipment and of ships, and not through any expectation of reënforcements of men and a fleet, as, on the contrary, he affirms." Wherefore he begged the said captain-general to sell him ships, in order that he might immediately depart; or else to suggest to him some other way by which he could leave, since he neither wishes nor desires any other consummation. As for the fortifications and defenses which his Grace mentions, they are for the purpose of defense against any one trying to do him violence or injury unjustly and unreasonably, until such time as he may be enabled to depart and leave this land free, as he has declared and promised he would do. Neither on his own part nor on that of anyone belonging to his camp has he desired to make war upon his Grace or on the members of his royal fleet; but rather to serve them in all possible ways, as he has offered in past summons and responses, to which he begs to refer, and on all of which he takes his stand anew. On the other hand, it is quite clear and evident that the captain-general is trying to do him violence and injury in wishing to carry him to India with him without consenting to any other means whatsoever; and in having begun and initiated war against him and blockaded him, by ordering the entrances and outward passages of this harbor blockaded, on account of which he is bound to make defense. And since the said captain-general wishes it so, and continues doing so great injury to God our lord, and to our sovereigns, by the war, and sheds Christian blood, unreasonably and without justification, all the blame and responsibility, and all the damages, losses and deaths resulting therefrom, shall be upon his shoulders. He protests again by all protested and demanded by him in his past replies, and by all which most devolves upon him in this case to protest, demand, and summon, as many times as is proper and to which he is by law obliged; and he thus challenges him as testimony, in the presence, as witnesses, of Captain Diego de Artieda and Captain Andres de Ybarra; the factor, Andres de Mirandaola; the treasurer, Guido de Levazaris; and the ensign-in-chief, Amador de Arriaran, all of whom signed here their names. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, Diego de Artieda, Andres de Ybarra, Guido de Lavezaris, Andres de Mirandaola, Amador de Arriaran, Pero Bernaldez.
Before me, Christoval Ponze, notary)
(All the above papers, writings, replies, responses, and other documents above set forth, I, the said Fernando Riquel, took manu propria, as best I could, from the originals, writing them down de verbo ad verbum and letter for letter, at the request of the said governor Miguel Lopez de Lagazpi, who signed the same here with his name. And they are accurate and true, witnesses of the correction and comparison with the originals thereof being Miguel Lopez, Francisco de Cocar, and Juan de Gamboa y Lezcano, soldiers in this camp—in testimony whereof I have made my usual signature and rubric. Given at Cubu, the second day of the month of June in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine.
In testimony of the truth, Fernando Riquel)
(This copy was written on twenty-three sheets of paper, including the present, and bears the corrections, erasures, and interlineations following: [These follow, in the original document.] And note should be taken that the contract was corruptly and badly written for so it was in the original.)
(In the City of Mexico, on the twenty-third day of the month of December in the year one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine, the presidents and auditors of the royal Audiencia of Nueva Spaña said that, inasmuch as in a docket of letters and despatches from Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, governor and captain in the islands of the West, which came addressed to this royal Audiencia, this relation was found therein of negotiations between the said governor and Goncalo Pereira, a Portuguese, captain of the most serene King of Portugal, regarding the summons repeatedly served, to the effect that the said Miguel Lopez should depart from the islands, region, and spot, where he was situated as is declared in the said relation, it is fitting that this docket be sent to his Majesty in his royal Council of the Indies. In order that entire faith may be given thereto, a judicial inquiry shall be received confirming the signature as that of the said Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, and of the handwriting and signature of Hernando Riquel, his notary. Having been received as signed from the secretary of this royal Audiencia it shall be sent to his Majesty. And accordingly they ordered it, by decree, to be set down in writing.
Sancho Lopez de Agurto)
(Attestation: And then upon the said day, month, and year above specified for the said inquiry, there was received an oath in the name of God and the blessed Mary, and upon the sign of the cross +, in the form prescribed by law, from Sancho Lopez de Agurto, secretary of the royal Audiencia of this Nueva Spaña, and he took the same in the presence of me, Juan Augustin de Contreras, notary of his Majesty and receiver of this royal Audiencia, under which he promised to tell the truth in this affair. On being interrogated by the aforesaid, and after having seen the writing contained in this other part, and the signatures thereof, where occur the names of Miguel Lopez and Fernando Riquel, he said that this witness knew the said Miguel Lopez and Fernando Riquel, whom many times he had seen write and sign their names; and that he knows that the said Miguel Lopez de Legaspi went as governor and general to the islands of the West, and took as his official notary the said Fernando Riquel, on the authority of the viceroy Don Luis de Velasco; and that the said signatures at the end of the said narration and writing, to wit, "Miguel Lopez" and "Fernando Riquel," together with the handwriting of the said narration are, of a truth so far as this witness knows, those of the parties aforesaid; and he says this without the slightest doubt, for, as already said, he has seen them write and sign their names, and he has written papers and signatures of theirs in his possession similar to those of the said narration, without the slightest variation. The said Hernando Riquel was held and considered as an upright man, and a lawyer of much veracity; and as such this witness held and still holds him. And he declares on the oath taken by him that his entire deposition is true, and he has affixed his signature to the same.
Sancho Lopez de Agurto