At the same time Don Pedro sent Captain Marcos de la Cueva, together with Fray Luis Gandullo, a Dominican, to Macao—­a city of China, where Portuguese reside—­with letters for the commandant and council of that city, advising them of the rebellion of the Sangleys, and of its result, so that they might advise him by all ways, at any rumor of an armed fleet in China.  They took letters also for the tutons, haytaos, and inspectors of the provinces of Canton and Chincheo, giving account of the transgression of the Chinese, and how it obliged the Spaniards to inflict so severe a punishment.  The ambassadors found the country quiet upon their arrival, although some fugitive Sangleys, fleeing from Manila in champans, had related the disturbances among them.  The arrival of those Spanish at Macao was learned in Chincheo.  Immediately some of the most wealthy captains who ordinarily go to Manila, whose names were Guansan, Sinu, and Guachuan, went to see them.  Having understood the truth of the matter, they took upon themselves [the delivery of] the message sent to the mandarins by Don Pedro, and the mandarins received it by their means.  The Chincheo merchants determined to return to their trade at Filipinas, and left Macao in their vessels with our ambassadors, taking a quantity of powder, saltpeter and lead, with which the public magazines were supplied.  In the following May, thirteen Chinese ships made port at Manila, and afterward many others returned thither to continue that commerce.  Don Pedro sent to Nueva Espana the vessels that had brought the relief for the islands.  The flagship foundered and not a person or a plank escaped.  He did not cease at this time to store the city with provisions and ammunition, in order to find himself free for the expedition to Maluco.  At this juncture, Master-of-camp Juan de Esquivel came from Mexico with six hundred soldiers, with the report that more men, money, and other preparations of arms, food, and ammunition were being collected in Nueva Espana, at the order of his Majesty; these all arrived at Manila in due season.  At that time died its great archbishop, Don Miguel de Benavides, to the universal sorrow of the country.

The Chinese ships that returned for the trade bore letters to the governor in reply to his despatch.  Three letters of one tenor came from the tuton or viceroy, the haytao, and the inspector-general of the province of Chincheo.  Translated by the interpreters into Spanish, they read as follows: 

[See this letter in Vol.  XIII, pp. 287-291 of this series.]

The governor answered these letters by the same messengers, making use of terms of courtesy and authority. [293] He related the rebellion of the Sangleys from its inception.  He justified the defense of the Spaniards, and the punishment inflicted upon the delinquents.  He says that no community can govern without punishing those who are evil, any more than by not rewarding the blameless.  Consequently he does not repent