Although, as there are so excellent judges and officials in the Audiencia of Manila, it is reasonable to believe that justice is administered therein, I have learned that in certain cases there has been laxity, and especially in two—­namely, when Melchor Ramirez de Alarcon, being intoxicated in the said city of Manila, and being reprimanded by his son-in-law, Pedro Munez, gave the latter a blow with his fist, receiving in return nine dagger-thrusts, of which he died; and when, in the city of Cazeres, Captain Pedro Cid killed Joan Martin Morcillo in a duel.  In spite of the gravity of these cases, the delinquents were not sent to prison, but were set free on paying a fine of eight hundred pesos each—­a procedure which caused censure and discontent among the people.  Since it is right that similar cases be not left unpunished, I charge and command you that, as soon as you reach the islands, you demand and copy, without declaring your purpose, the record of the proceedings in regard to the said two murders, and examine it in company with the licentiate Don Antonio de Rivera, auditor of the Audiencia; and with the consent of the fiscal; and, if you find sufficient cause for action, you will have the culprits seized, and will make all the investigations and efforts necessary for ascertaining the truth.  If it seem to you that the administration of justice requires it, you will send the prisoners under arrest to Nueva Espana, together with the records of their cases, and will inform me of what has been done and of the investigation made.  You will always take great care that justice be done and administered in every case, and that crimes which merit punishment receive it, so that disorders may be repressed and justice exist and be feared, and that it shall not set a bad example or occasion lawless conduct in the land.

I have learned that many of the decrees and orders issued for those islands are not being executed, and that there is laxity in this respect, especially as concerns the ordinances about the equity with which the positions of profit in that country should be apportioned, and those persons who have not yet been remunerated should be rewarded.  When my fiscal demanded the observance of the decrees, and especially in the case where the governor appointed Captain Cerban Gutierrez de Cespedes to the office of alcalde-mayor while he possessed an encomienda of Indians worth fifteen hundred ducados, and the fiscal asked that the said captain be not allowed to exercise the office until the completion of the trial, the Audiencia postponed its final decision, and meanwhile the said Cerban Gutierrez continued to exercise the office, and finished his term before the case was settled.  I have thought best to refer this case to you, as I do, because in similar cases you will take suitable measures to prevent difficulties of this sort.  It is especially necessary to observe and minutely fulfil the ordinances concerning the distribution of the profits of the country and the grant of rewards to persons who have not received them.