expedition would be determined to be necessary, in a council of war, and that the majority of the votes of the treasury council in which the expenses are voted may not concur, either through want of capacity in the officials, or through an excess of passion and private interest—and, in a land so remote, experience teaches that there are many such. In the report of the meeting that I enclose herewith, in regard to the above matter of the cloves, I guessed what were the majority of the opinions beforehand. Doctor Don Albaro de Mesa y Lugo, neutral or indecisive as he is on all questions of any importance or difficulty, and especially on those regarding revenue, for fear lest the auditors be obliged to pay. Licentiate Geronimo de Legaspi, senior auditor at the time of the council, not satisfied because I have employed his elder son in a company, tried to have a place given to the second son also, in another one. Because what he asked was not done, although I desired to please him, he was displeased. The accountant, Marten Ruiz de Salazar, has for a long time been offended, because he was not allowed to take fees from the clerks of the accountancy, and to exercise absolute authority over accepting and dismissing them, as in the present case. Hence my proposition was disliked by them both. Thus may your Majesty see carried out in this case the same motive that I stated for all the others—namely, that they do not vote without self-interest or passion. He to whom your Majesty can and ought to trust most is the person to whom all the government shall have been charged; and he should be given authority so that he may, after having heard the opinions of the treasury council, concur with the party which may seem to him more judicious, even though it be not the one with the more votes. [In the margin: “Have the fiscal see this again.” “The fiscal declares that the form is laid down by the decrees and ordinances which treat of it, and he thinks it undesirable to make any innovation. For even though there happen to be some officials, of those who take part in those meetings, who are such as here described, it might also happen that there would be rash governors who might act inconsiderately, and only through self-will or caprice, and cause great and excessive expenses of the royal revenues. Consequently, it is preferable that action be taken by many votes, since in justifiable and even in doubtful cases the preference of him who governs or presides is always followed. Madrid, July 11, 1631.” “Let the ordinance be kept.”]

In case that your Majesty consider it fitting to have this voyage made in the aforesaid manner, it will be necessary for the decrees to come in duplicate for the viceroy of Yndia, so that he may grant free passage for this ship, and that he may give without any opposition the wares that will have to be bought on your Majesty’s account; and so that no duties be imposed in Goa, Malaca, or any other part of Yndia, on what may be registered in your Majesty’s name. Order must also be sent to Cochin, so that if any ship should have to be built there (as the ships cost less there, and last longer than those of these islands) all assistance and favor may be extended.

Point 2 of the letter

The second point discussed in the council is also essential; and if it be carried out, it will be the greatest relief to the islands, and will result in great saving for your Majesty. In the rations of rice (which is the bread of this country) which are furnished in Cavite and other parts, more than fifty thousand fanegas are consumed annually. This is imposed on the Indian natives by assessment or allotment,4 and is paid at the rate of a peso per fanega. For the last three years the Chinese, both infidels and Christians, have devoted their efforts to sowing rice. Consequently, the country has been well supplied, as the Chinese are better farmers than the Indians. Many citizens and the convents of the religious orders have given them the loan of lands and twenty-five pesos per head, so that they might settle and equip themselves with the necessary implements for farming the land. The first year the Chinaman pays this sum, and the following years gives for every hundred brazas of land fifteen or twenty pesos rent, which is a like number of fanegas of rice. It has seemed to me expedient that in certain uncultivated lands that rightly remain in the name of your Majesty in the best region and lands of the islands (which is near here, in La Laguna de [Bay], five leguas up the river from Manila), two pieces of land should be appropriated [for this purpose]. I am assured that these will be sufficient so that two thousand Sangleys can be established on them; and that your Majesty will make the profit which the inhabitants and the religious make, since you can do so with greater advantage and protection to the farmers than private persons can give. I am also assured that a very productive agricultural estate can be made, by managing to obtain from it the cost in one or two years. For the rest of the time the rent is left free [from debt or other obligation]. For two thousand Sangleys that will amount to forty thousand fanegas of rice; and, as it increases with time, it will amount to fifty thousand. That is as much as these magazines need. [In the margin: “Let us be informed whether any of the expenses of those islands have been reduced.” “Bring the memorandum of the reduction that was made in the year 618.”]

The gain that will accrue to your Majesty from that will be to relieve your Majesty from the expense of fifty thousand pesos, and the Indian natives from the assessment and allotment of fifty thousand fanegas, which, as aforesaid, is the greatest relief for the islands, and for this royal treasury. The risk that will be run of the money that will be advanced to the Chinese so that they may settle and equip their farms (in which, although it is given with confidence, there is, of course, always some risk that some will run away and others will die), will all, however, be of little importance, in view of the profits that are seen to result in the estates which the religious and inhabitants are equipping.

It would be advisable for your Majesty to decree this to be carried out without any opposition; and that you order the viceroy of Nueva España, in order to facilitate it, to send five thousand pesos separately, and in addition [to the usual situado] in order that I may continue with capital what has been begun without it and (with what I have lent to the treasury from my own funds) make the experiment and take possession of the lands, ordering wheat to be sowed in a portion of them. I am told that it has been shown by experience that wheat bears well. This undertaking can not be accomplished in one or two years. Your Majesty holds these islands for many years through the Divine favor, and your successors as long as the world shall last. Consequently, the future must be considered, in order that these lands may not remain behind; but if this be done in all parts, in what pertains to your Majesty’s revenues, the treasury will not remain in so backward a condition as at present.

Third point of the letter

Your Majesty’s royal treasury owes to that of the goods of deceased persons more than forty thousand pesos, as appears from the memorandum and certification which I enclose herewith. For since the relief which is sent from Nueva España is so meager, and the expenses here are so great, the governors my predecessors were obliged to take, by way of loan, all that sum on