governor in regard to the assignment of charges to the religious orders; and that priests shall be tried not by the Audiencia, but by the ecclesiastical courts.  He asks various favors for the city and its people, and that military aid be sent to the island from Mexico.  The cathedral needs repairs, and the episcopal residence is very small and inadequate to the archbishop’s needs.  The Jesuits should not be allowed to have a university, nor to obtain the funds which were given by the old soldiers in order to make restitution to the conquered Indians.

The Audiencia of Manila make a report (July 2, 1603) of various matters and events.  Two new auditors have arrived at Manila, and Morga is transferred to Mexico.  They recount the dangers and the safe return of the ship “Rosario” from Japan; and the losses incurred by fire at Manila, half of the city being destroyed.  They note various matters about which they have received the royal commands, the most important of these referring to the personal services rendered by the Indians—­which, the Audiencia state, are exacted only when necessary, and then paid for at fair rates.  Two days later (July 4) the fiscal advises the king that it would be well to make the archbishop of Manila the president of the Audiencia—­a request which is ignored by the government.  Acuna notifies the king (July 20, 1603) of the failure of the Portuguese expedition against Maluco, and urges that the king take prompt measures to conquer that fort.

On November 29, 1603, the king sends instructions to Acuna to deport the Chinese residing in the islands, and to restrict the immigration of others, until no more than three thousand are left—­these to be only such workmen as are needed for the service of the country.  As a result of various restrictions imposed upon them, the Chinese revolt (October 9) and attack Manila; but the Spaniards subdue them after several sharp engagements, many of the Chinese being slain, and the ringleaders are executed.  One of the Jesuits in Manila, Gregorio Lopez, writes to the king (December 10, 1603) to ask for reenforcements to be sent to the islands, in order that the Mindanao pirates may be driven back; they are raiding the Visayan Islands, and endangering the existence of the Christian communities formed there by the Jesuit missionaries.  A letter from the cabildo of the cathedral (December 11) informs the king of the revolt of the Chinese, and the subsequent conflagration in Manila.  The Dominican provincial complains (December 15) that the colony is going to destruction because the royal decrees have not been observed, especially those restricting Chinese immigration, and calls for a rigorous investigation of the conduct of the colonial authorities—­to be made preferably by an ecclesiastic.  Bishop Benavides writes, at the same time, a brief letter to the king, similar in tenor to that of the provincial.  With his commendation of Fray Diego de Guevara to the king go other credentials for that envoy.  Letters