In this manner they continued to assert that since Maluco had been found by the King of Portugal, we were bound to make petition for and accept it from him, if we claimed it as lying within the bounds of our demarcation, and not to take possession of it by our own authority; and that the King of Portugal being assured of our contention, which they neither denied nor mistrusted might prove correct, was quite prepared to surrender it to us immediately, according to the terms of the said treaty, of which, in the said name, he wished to make use, and they petitioned that we observe the same.  And therefore, as being a matter in which all negotiations and conferences were in good faith, both because of the prominence of those engaged in them, and because of the relationship between them, they declared that they had no wish to profit by any other right or allegation, but only to petition that the contents of the said treaty be kept to the letter.

Certain members of our Council, being informed of the matter made answer that my wish and intention had ever been, and still was, to observe the said treaty, and not to violate it in any manner (as in truth is and has ever been so).  When this treaty should be examined and understood in the true light of reason, it would be found to be in our favor; and our intention was clearly founded upon it; and especially were we acting in good faith, according to the declaration of the said ambassadors that it was only necessary to examine the tenor of the said treaty and abide by its contents.  Furthermore, in the same section, upon which they, in the name of the said most serene King of Portugal, based their contentions, would be found also the declaration, that if the Castilian ships should find any mainland or island in the Ocean Sea, which the said most serene King of Portugal should claim or allege to have been found within the limits of his demarcation, we were bound to surrender it to him immediately; and he could not be ignorant, nor could he claim ignorance of this, since it was all together in one and the same section.  Therefore it was quite evident, since Maluco had been and was found by Castilian and not Portuguese ships, as they declared, that we, according to the terms of the same treaty, held it lawfully, at least in the time taken in arriving at and concluding the true determination of demarcation; and the most serene King of Portugal, when he wished anything, must petition for, and ask it from us, and it being found to be in his demarcation, must accept it from us.  All the above they said in my name; asserting that whenever it should appear to be as above stated, we should carry into effect and fulfil immediately everything according to the said treaty.  They said that Maluco had been found and occupied first, as must be admitted, by our ships—­a fact well known everywhere, as we believe you are aware—­inasmuch as nothing else was ever heard or known.  The present declaration of the ambassadors was a complete innovation, at which, and reasonably, we must express surprise, since the fact was so well known that no one could pretend ignorance of it.