14. It is to be presumed that whenever a king or ruler imposes a new gabel on a province already burdened with one gabel, he does not know that the first one is imposed, and that on learning it, he would not add a new one to the old burden; “and the greatest service to him will be to suspend such imposition until [the governor] can inform the king, laying the matter before him, and awaiting a new order.”
15. But Corcuera may apparently take refuge in the royal decree of June 19, 1614, if the governor of the Philippines is entitled by that decree to use all the authority granted to the viceroys of Peru and Nueva España, and hence may make the imposition.
16. It must be supposed then, that the governor has the same power and authority as a viceroy in some matters.
17. But certain things are prohibited, forbidden, and excepted to governors, viceroys, and proconsuls, and authority for these does not extend to them, being reserved for the king or ruler.
18. Among these is the right to impose gabels and taxes, or the increasing of such, without consulting the ruler.
19. Since the case stands thus, in order to give color of justification to this tribute and new imposition of licenses the said Don Sebastian ought, since he is so zealous for the increase of the royal treasury, to have deposited its proceeds as a royal tax in the royal coffers and treasury, just as the other incomes and tributes of his Majesty are deposited, so that the money arising from it might be paid in the salaries and other fixed expenses which his Majesty orders to be paid by decrees and treasury and government ordinances, and by no others, except by a special meeting of the treasury officials who decide and resolve on such payment because of necessity or expediency. What is worse is that, although the money received from the licenses and impositions has been deposited in the royal coffers, it has not been considered as belonging to his Majesty. Consequently, the said Don Sebastian has expended it according to his own authority and inclination, in the manner that he has judged to be best. He claims obstinately that he can spend that royal income without observing the form and order commanded by his Majesty in ordinance number 18, because he put down the Sangley insurrection by conquering the Sangleys, and imposed this burden and contribution on them without your [sic; sc., his] Majesty’s order—endeavoring thereby to get free power to dispose of the royal dues by the same authority on which he trespassed in imposing gabels on the Chinese. However, the greatest service that can be done to kings is to observe and obey to the letter their royal commands and ordinances directed to the efficient reckoning, administration, and disbursement of their royal treasure. It is the king’s will that there be no extraordinary outlay, of a single real, without first calling a meeting of the royal Audiencia and the royal officials, by whose decision the extraordinary expense is justified. And if the outlay and disbursement of so great sums of money as have proceeded from the new imposition of fortification licenses and the “little” licenses, has not been in this form, then he ought, first and foremost, to deposit and deliver into the royal coffers all the proceeds from those impositions, according to the certification of the royal officials, from the time of their institution until the present.
20 and 21. The fiscal states, first, that the proceeds of the new imposition and the increase upon the old must be actually deposited in the royal coffers, before all else.
Second, he declares “that this new imposition of licenses has caused universal harm and injury to the general welfare and the public good, in whose conservation and advancement his Majesty is so much interested, as one who is the father and shepherd of these poor sheep, so distant from the care of their master. For although it was a fact that fifty almudes of rice (the equivalent of two fanegas) were furnished for four reals in the year 639, now one fanega is worth two pesos, and at retail much more. The reason for that is, that since the principal farmers of these islands are the Sangleys, and the latter cannot go out freely to work and cultivate the land without paying a contribution so great as ten pesos for their license, it proves impossible for them to go out [for this work], as the mass of the farmers are always a poor and humble people. On that account the land is deprived of its principal and universal support, namely, that of rice—although the laws so liberally dispense benefits and privileges to the farmers, so that they may be contented, and be encouraged to serve the community with the provisions and abundance that the land, grateful for its working and cultivation, offers. The same is true in the fisheries and in other necessary occupations, for the Sangleys are the feet and hands of this land, as far as its sustenance is concerned, and this new imposition has cut them off.”
22. It is clearly inferred from the above that although the Sangleys are burdened by this new kind of license, that for fortification, those who in reality and in fact have to pay it are the seventy citizens who, according to the appraisement, live in this city of Manila. For if the Sangley who comes from China to these islands to work does not bring a single real from that country, and has to pay ten pesos for the general license and ten for that of fortification, besides the secretary’s fees, it is necessary that his labor and the fruits of it be sold for a double price. Thus it is being experienced that, although the ordinary pay of a workman—a carpenter, or mason, or others—was formerly two reals, they are now paid four or five, and the workmen are not willing to work for that. It is necessary to beg them, and to pay them what they ask, for there are no others who can perform these services. Where shoes were worth two reals before, they are now worth four. It now costs four or five pesos to have a garment made where before it cost two. The same thing is true in everything else, and it all originated and proceeded from the year of 639, with the increase of their burden for the general license and the new imposition of the fortification license of ten pesos apiece. That is so heavy a burden that I believe that no equally grievous a personal assessment has ever been imposed throughout the kingdoms subject to the monarchy of España.
All these matters are very serious, hard to decide aright, and worthy of being considered very closely and attentively. They concern the discharge of the king’s conscience, the royal authority, the conservation and increase of the king’s treasury and the royal patrimony, and the public welfare and conservation of these islands. For all of them, I beseech your Lordship to be pleased to provide and order what shall be most to the service of his Majesty and the public convenience. In that I shall receive grace and justice.]