inance enacted
by the dean and cabildo of Manila cathedral, refusing benefices and
ecclesiastical dignities to religious who have been expelled from
their orders.

The Dominican missionary Diego Aduarte proposes to the Council of
the Indias (probably in May, 1619) a means to check the outflow
of silver from Nueva Espana to the Philippines. Aduarte recommends
that the trade of the islands with Nueva Espana be suppressed, and
that their inhabitants be allowed to trade with Japan, selling in
that country the silks that they buy from the Chinese. But the bulk
of this trade is already in the hands of the Portuguese of Macao;
in order that it may be monopolized by Manila, Aduarte advises that
Macao be abandoned, and its inhabitants transported to other cities of
India. This can be accomplished easily by a royal decree forbidding
them to engage in the Japanese trade, which would compel them to go
elsewhere. He enumerates the beneficial results of this measure,
and declares that even without these Macao should be abandoned;
for its people are lawless and irreligious, and are not even vassals
of Spain, but of China. The Portuguese of Macao are needed in India,
which country would be benefited in many ways by the measure proposed,
as also would the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. Moreover, they
hinder, by their evil example, the conversion of the Chinese natives.

One of the Manila Jesuits writes (July 12, 1619) an account of
events in the Philippines and in the neighboring countries during the
past year. The city of Bassein, near Bombay, has been destroyed by
storms and earthquakes. In China there has been a persecution of the
Christians, and four Jesuits were expelled from the empire. Others
remain there, who are preaching the gospel wherever they can. In
certain inland districts, these missionaries have encountered a large
colony of Jews, and a people who worship the cross, although they are
heathens. The Tartars have invaded Chinese territory, and our writer
copies the text of a memorial regarding this invasion, sent by the
mandarins of Pekin to the ruler of China, detailing the defeats and
misfortunes suffered by the Chinese. They complain of his neglect of
public affairs, and his harsh treatment of a certain mandarin, and
ask him to take measures to drive back the Tartars, in Cochinchina the
recently-begun missions of the Jesuits are prospering. For the Japanese
mission are coming a large reenforcement of Jesuit missionar