lace to load them, and in making a profit from them
in Nueva Espana. Thus will be saved some salaries for captain,
assistants, and other officers; and to give them salaries is more of
a means of profit to those who fill the posts than an advantage or
necessity, since we have citizens, as has been said, who will accept
them without salaries. For these positions to be given in such a way
that respectable people may come to this country, it is necessary
that these officials remain in service here, instead of coming simply
for their own interest and a right to space and cargo on the return
voyage, in a country of so much worth, and so advantageous, but so
hurtful if there is a lack of respectable people.

And in order that the vessels may sail in a proper state of
preparation, and so that it may not be necessary to lighten them (as
ordinarily happens, to the great loss of the poorest and most needy,
as above said), it is especially important that the assessments and
charges for lightening be divided proportionally among all the goods
carried in the said vessels, [10] so that, the losses thus being
general, they will strive to avoid incurring them; and if some goods
are more valuable the losses may be shared among all, so that they
may be less oppressive and hurtful to the poor.

[_On the back is written_: "I entreat your Majesty, for the service of
our Lord, and your own, to be pleased to read this paper and letter
throughout; for it is important for the reasons I have adduced, and
for many others. Will your Majesty pardon my boldness and prolixity,
which are entirely born of an earnest desire, and of the necessity
of bringing forward some considerations and arguments which bear
upon these matters. Hence I was unable to shorten it, as I wished
and ought to have done."]

Reception of the Royal Seal at Manila

This is a good and faithful copy of several instruments drawn in
regard to the reception of the royal seal of the royal Audiencia
and chancilleria, which the king our lord has lately commanded to
be reestablished in the city of Manila of the Philipinas Islands;
they are set down in the book wherein is recorded the establishment
of the said royal Audiencia, and their tenor is as follows:

In the city of Manila of the Philipinas Islands, on the eighth
day of the month of June of the year one thousand five hundred and
ninety-eight, Don Francisco Tello, knight of the Order of Santiago,
governor and captain-gen