sty of your opinion. May God preserve
your Lordship. Sant Lorenco, July 31, 1590."]

Letter from Marques de Villamanrique to Felipe II

_Year 86. Copy of two sections of a letter written by the Marques de
Villa Manrrique, viceroy of Nueva Espana, to the king, our lord, on the
fifteenth of November, 86, describing the importance of maintaining
trade and commerce, and the great inconveniences which result [from
its discontinuance]._

[After citing the royal decree of June 19, 1586 (q.v. _ante_), in
regard to trade between the Philippines and China, in words similar
to the decree, the viceroy continues:]

Regarding the whole matter I have procured detailed information from
people who are familiar with it and have an extensive knowledge of the
affairs of those regions from the beginning of their settlement, and
from the correspondence that they maintain therein. It appears that,
since the time when Don Luis de Velasco was viceroy and governor
for your Majesty in this kingdom, your Majesty has spent in the
pacification of those islands more than three millions [of pesos?] for
soldiers, ships, and other supplies--all in order that the natives of
those parts might recognize and profess the Catholic faith, and the
sovereignty of your Majesty. As a result, there are already among
them six Spanish settlements, and more than forty monasteries of
friars of various orders in many native villages, whose inhabitants
are converted and baptized. By this, God our Lord is well served,
and your Majesty's glory and renown augmented. With the assiduity
exercised by all these ministers, the Christian church appears to be
increasing in those places, in such wise that in a short time it is
hoped that the sect of Mahoma and the idolatries of which they were
full, will be eradicated from them. Not only has this been done and
continued among the people of the said islands, but also among many
natives of China who have come, and continue to come, to live in the
islands. They are baptized and have become Christians, which seems a
good beginning; this will be an excellent way of pursuing the pious
work and the objects which, as your Majesty has always made plain,
you have had in the pacification and settlement of those places,
and of acquiring greater favor and grandeur than is now possessed in
all these kingdoms.

Although the ships and soldiery that have ordinarily been here have
been also of great effect in placing affairs in their prese