The King. To Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of Alcantara, my governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia therein: a letter of August 21, 637, has been examined in my royal Council of the Indias, in which you advise me that you have stationed ministers of the gospel in the islands of Mindanao and Bacilan—not only for the instruction of the infidels who are in those islands, but for administering the holy sacraments to the Castilian soldiers whom you leave there—and that you have assigned them such stipends as you considered necessary. I approve what you have done in this matter. Moreover, to provide for future increase [in the number of infidels converted], the necessary mission stations [doctrinas] will have to be established; but in this you must avoid unnecessary expense, and, conformably to my royal patronage, confer regarding such establishments with such persons as you should consult. I trust in you that you will carry out my intentions. [Madrid, February 3, 1639.]
I the King
By command of his Majesty:
Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon
In behalf of Grau y Monfalcón
The King. To the council, magistracy, and municipal body of the city of Manila in the Philipinas Islands: Don Juan Grau y Monfalcón has reported to me that in the past year, one thousand six hundred and thirty, you appointed him as your procurator-general; and that during all that time he has attended to your business affairs, with the utmost intelligence, personal attention, friendly interest, and promptness (as is generally known). He states that you assigned him a salary of a thousand pesos a year, paid in that city, which was to come here, invested, at his account and risk; but that, even when it arrives in safety, he can realize very little from it that remains free from the costs. He regards a thousand pesos as a very small salary for his continual occupation [in your affairs], and on this account claims that it be increased. Moreover, besides the many negotiations that he has despatched, he has been occupied nearly two years in preparing and composing the printed memorials which he has presented, and which have been examined in my royal Council of the Indias; and has given them much labor and solicitude, since they embrace so many, so diverse, and so important considerations for the conservation of those islands and their commerce, in order that they may be presented clearly and distinctly. He has furnished from his own funds all the money that has been spent for these books, and has never received one real on account of that expense. This sum amounts to much more in times so straitened as these, and should be highly esteemed. It would be a great disappointment to him if, after he had proceeded in all matters with the greatest tact and discretion possible (as is proved by the many negotiations which he has concluded for the benefit of that city), the powers which he has held from the city should be revoked—as usually happens, and as has been done with others, his predecessors, solely through interested motives and for the personal ends of some of the governors who go to that country. They, being well-affectioned to the correspondents whom they leave here, urge that city to entrust its affairs to those persons—for which no opportunity should be given, since that advice is influenced by various motives and considerations. To obviate this, and because it is not right that some other person should secure that for which he has toiled and incurred expense with so much zeal and solicitude, he has entreated me that I would be pleased to command you not to revoke, without legitimate cause, the powers that you have given him; and that you shall, before enforcing such revocation, state what reasons you have for doing so. The matter has been examined in the said my Council, where have been and are very evident the personal care, interest, and solicitude with which he has been and is attending to your affairs aforesaid—as also you will have understood by my decrees of the ninth of October in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, and the twenty-first of October in six hundred and thirty-seven, to which I refer you for all this; together with what you wrote me in regard to this in a letter of the fourteenth of June, six hundred and thirty-six. In that letter you express your satisfaction with the promptness and care with which he furthers your affairs, and ask me to confirm the salary which you assign him of the said thousand pesos a year, from the funds belonging to that city. I have thought it best to issue the present, by which I approve and confirm the salary which you have assigned to the said Don Juan Grau as your procurator-general, in order that it may be paid to him from the day when it was voted to him. And it is my will that this salary be not revoked, either now or at any time, while he shall attend to your affairs at this my court, unless there be legitimate and sufficient cause for doing so; also that the said my Council be first notified of such cause, so that, having considered it in their sessions, they may declare whether or not it is legitimate; and the said salary shall always be paid to him, until some other decision be made. I also command my governor and captain-general of those Philipinas Islands, both him who now is and those who shall hereafter be in that office, and the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia which resides there, and yourselves, that you all observe and execute, and cause to be observed and executed, exactly and inviolably, the commands contained in this my decree, without contravening or exceeding its tenor and form in any manner; for such is my will. [Madrid, March 29, 1639.]
I the King
By command of the king our sovereign:
Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon