I shall send the proofs of these conclusions to your Lordship as soon as my occupations give me opportunity and leisure to prove them.  At Manila, on the eighteenth of January, 1591.

The Bishop of the Filipinas

Letter from the Bishop of the Philipinas to the Governor

Jesus

In the document which I sent to your Lordship the other day was contained the substance of the opinion which I and other theologians of this bishopric hold concerning the collection [of tributes] from the encomiendas in these islands.  I then stated that all the matter outlined therein would be sent later to your Lordship, proved in detail by convincing arguments.  This, however, I have not been able to do, nor will it be possible as long as I must remain in this city; for day and night I am beset by necessary business.  For this reason, I would be glad to be able to leave the city for a few days in order that I might conclude this matter—­to which, since it is to be brought before his Majesty and his royal Council, persons who are to consider it with care, it would seem but right that I should also give most careful attention.  And yet the truth of all that I say is so manifest that I would be put to little trouble if I were compelled to prove it; but considerable time would be necessary to put it in order.  Having sent the aforesaid opinion to your Lordship, I ceased to concern myself about the matter, for it seemed to me that the document contained (although in outline) all that the truth required, and all that I had to say thereon.  Accordingly, what remains for me to set down will not be an addition to the aforesaid, but merely an effort to explain it further, and to prove by arguments and authority what has already been stated in brief.

The dean informed me this morning that your Lordship was awaiting my opinion, and had suspended action until I should send it.  I told him that, as far as I was concerned, I had already given it—­that is to say, I had told your Lordship how I, as well as the other theologians, and right-thinking persons of this bishopric, felt in this matter.  It is true, I did not send, as soon as I might, what remained to be said; but that, after all, matters but little for the truth of the affair.  As I stated in the opinion which your Lordship has in your possession, all that I might afterward say is contained therein.  However, in order that your Lordship may have a clearer statement of what I sent in that document, and of all else that I have to say, it has seemed expedient to send to your Lordship another paper, which accompanies this letter; therein are contained twenty-five conclusions, in which there is a summary of all that may be said in relation to the encomenderos of these islands, concerning both the collection of the tributes, and the obligations of the encomenderos towards the Indians of their encomiendas.  Further, I have stated therein the duties of the governors in respect to their treatment of the Indians and the collection of tributes.  I thought it best to state those conclusions in the same order as before, since I shall place them in that order in proving them.