though such a thing appears harsh, and seems like falling out
with one saint to placate another, still it will seem an easy and
very advisable measure to those who have seen that town, or know
it close at hand--and there are several such persons here in this
court. And even if it were not evident that the good results above
mentioned would follow from it, this step should be taken as a policy
of good government, as such a course is advisable for the service of
God. For his name is blasphemed by the people of that kingdom of China
because of that town of Macao--such are the deeds of its inhabitants;
for they live as a people without any master, and are not under the
control of his Majesty, for the dwellers in that town are not his
vassals, but those of the king of China. They pay tribute to him,
and are subject to his mandarins, but not to others. Consequently
his Majesty does not derive one maravedi's profit from it, while he
incurs considerable expense; for he supports all its ecclesiastics
out of his royal treasury of Malaca, for the honor of the Portuguese
nation. For there they are so subject to those mandarins that, unless
they kneel on the ground with both knees, they cannot talk to them; nor
can they build one palmo of a wall, even in their own house, without
the mandarin's license, while [they practice,] besides, innumerable
infamies. [The transfer of] those people will be for the welfare of
the state of Yndia, because its fortresses are without soldiers, by
reason of the lack of dwellers in their ports. For the Portuguese,
being so eager for liberty, go to live in the lands where there is
most liberty, as in that land of China and that of Vengala. There
go most and the best of the soldiers of Yndia, who take service with
infidel kings and fight in their wars. Thence it follows that India
is lost, land and sea, while the Dutch have become masters of it;
and through their efforts much of the commerce between certain ports
has ceased. The consequence of that is that the public storehouses
[at Macao?] have become very poor, on account of the deficiency
in their usual supplies; and they do not possess the means to bear
the expenses, either in war or in peace, for the food of laymen or
ecclesiastics--nearly all of whom live on what is paid to them by
the king. Consequently, were that town of Macan dismantled, at least
that protection would cease; and they would settle in his Majesty's
lands, as is just, since the majo