t is evident that those who feel themselves in the wrong, will
attempt to clear themselves of the blame. Some person should come to
make the investigation who is zealous for the honor of God and the
service of your Majesty, that he may punish the guilty and provide
better things for the future. We, the servants of your Majesty,
pray to the Lord of light and to your Majesty to send such a person;
but we believe that if he be not an ecclesiastic, all will remain in
darkness; for, as your Majesty is so far away, there is not here due
fear of punishment. One of the auditors of these islands told me years
ago that the judges in Castilla ordinarily performed their duties
well because they were seeking honor, and this they could not gain
except by such behavior; but that in the Yndias it was the reverse,
and that what the judges seek is to enrich themselves. If this be
their aim, they must needs fail in their obligations. Your Majesty,
for the love of God, must have compassion on this land, and send
someone to remedy it. Your Majesty has holy prelates here who could
assist in this. May our Lord protect your Majesty for the good of
His church for many years. Manila, December 15, 1603.

_Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina_, vicar, and provincial of the Order
of St. Dominic, and commissary of the Holy Office.

Sire: The infidel Chinese, whom your Majesty's ministers have
allowed in these islands, had come to be so numerous that in their
alcaiceria alone, and in the suburbs adjoining Manila, there were
about fifteen thousand of them without counting those in other
parts of the islands. There were among these a certain number of
worthless persons, vicious and criminal, who on that account did
not dare to return to China. As the multitude of Chinese was so
great, and this low and vicious element was among them, they were
emboldened; and, excited by a rumor (which was false, although by no
means absurd to them) that the Spaniards intended to kill them, they
revolted, on the night of the eve of St. Francis' day of this year,
six hundred and three. With clubs for weapons, they killed on that
same day many Spaniards, who were marching against them. These were
of the most noble and valiant men in the islands, and in the prime
of life, under the command of that most Christian and valiant man,
Don Luis Perez Dasmarinas. On the third day, with their clubs only,
and the few weapons secured from our men whom they had killed, they
sallied out a