Because there is no mention made of the Sangleys in the clause of the letter in which your Majesty commands me to take charge of the protection of these natives, the governor has considered—and this is his opinion—that because we were not there named, neither I nor my agent could answer for them, as for the natives. May your Majesty be pleased to command what is to be done in this case, because the Sangleys have so much more need of protection than the natives. In the meanwhile, according to the wish of the governor, I shall not cease to aid in whatever may concern them, just as if I had been appointed to look after them by your Majesty; and my agent will do the same, in those matters which belong to him as such. May our Lord preserve the royal person of your Majesty for many years. At Manila, the twenty-fourth of June, 1590.
Fray Domingo, Bishop of the Filipinas.
[Endorsed: “Filipinas. To his Majesty; 1590. The bishop; twenty-fourth of June.” “Received and read on June 19, 1591; and answer sent him that it had been received, and that what he advised had been approved and should be continued.”] Page 250
[1] Regarding the numbers of Chinese residents at Manila, see Salazar's own statement in his account of the Parián (p. 230 ante.)
[2] The English pirate Candish, who plundered the “Santa Ana.”
[3] Fuerça: as here used, indicates violence to law, done by ecclesiastical judges; see note 46, in Vol. V, p. 292.
[4] Reference is here made to the archbishop of Mexico, who had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Philippines until the archbishopric was created there. At the time when Salazar's letter was written, the see of Mexico had no incumbent, the diocese being governed by the dean and chapter.