You state that you have commanded a gallery to be made in the royal buildings, facing the Plaza de Armas; and that by this arrangement all the offices were accommodated, so that it was not necessary to look for any official outside of the palace. As it has been considered that this gallery and extension will be an advantage to the said buildings, what you have accomplished in this is approved.

By a special commission from me is entrusted to Juan Bautista Zubiaga, auditor of accounts for those islands, the collection of the results of accounts which Don Francisco de Rozas y Oñate, late visitador of that Audiencia, left unsettled. And since the death of that auditor might cause some failure in these collections, and they might not proceed as they should, I command that you take such precautions in this matter as I may expect from you.

A relief ship having sailed from those islands for Terrenate in the year 1639 was, as you have learned, assailed by a tempest, and it returned to that port, where the artillery that it carried was lost. This occurred, as you say, in water one and a half to two brazas in depth; and as it is certain that this artillery will be greatly needed, you shall endeavor to have it drawn out of the water, making every effort possible to accomplish this. I charge you to be heedful of this matter.

As for what you say in regard to the purchase that Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, the late archbishop of those islands, made of some houses from Pedro de Heredia, to the amount of one hundred and forty pesos, and that the fiscal of the Audiencia there demands that these houses be added to the property of my royal crown for the same sum, and as you judge that from the property left by that prelate the debts which he left can be paid: it has appeared best to charge you, as I do, that you allow the property thus left by this archbishop to follow the natural course [of law], without making any innovation in this case. Zaragoza, August 4, 1643.

I the King

By command of the king our sovereign:
Don Juan Bautista Saenz Navarrete

DOCUMENTS OF 1644–1649

Sources: The first and eighth documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla; the second and seventh, from MSS. in the Academia Real de la Historia, Madrid; the fourth (its original from the same source), from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), ii, pp. 353–355; the third, from a rare and perhaps unique pamphlet (Manila, 1644), in the possession of Edward E. Ayer; the fifth, from Documentos relativos á la Universidad de Manila, pp. 23–30 (but the letter to Siruela, from a MS. in the Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar, Madrid); the sixth, from a MS. in the Archivo general of Simancas; the ninth, from Retana’s Archivo, i, pp. [15–71].

Translations: The first, second, fourth and eighth are made by Emma Helen Blair; the third, fifth, sixth, and ninth, by James A. Robertson; the seventh, by Mary F. Foster and Emma Helen Blair.