I The King

By command of the king our lord: 
Juan Ruiz De Contreras

Signed by the members of the Council.

[Each letter is endorsed:  “To the governor of the Filipinas, on various matters.”]

FILIPINAS MENACED BY DUTCH

As I think that this will be a service to the Divine Majesty and to the human, and a benefit to this new world—­in the west, to the Philipinas; and in the east, to Yndia (whither I went some years ago on an embassy for Don Joan de Silva and this commonwealth of Manila, and took note of its temporal and spiritual condition)—­I am resolved to write this letter to your Lordship, in whose hands our Lord has placed the preservation of this kingdom, and consequently the conversion of numberless souls; perhaps our Lord will choose that in this way may be attained that which numerous letters from these islands to the royal Council of the Yndias have failed to accomplish.  Your most illustrious Lordship may rest assured that if his Majesty does not actually send a great reenforcement of military aid to these islands, they must be lost; and, besides, the royal crown of Espana will meet the necessity of defending itself, with greater expenses, from the nations who will make war against it from this direction.  Although I am no prophet, I dare to assert that in these seas we shall see the bloodiest battles that have been fought for many years, and that they must result in great injury to the kingdoms of Nueva Espana [and Espana].

This discourse of mine is based on a syllogism.  All nations of the world are moved by interest, which is the loadstone of hearts.  We see men going down, as they have gone, into the depths of hell for silver and gold; no one can doubt this axiom, and it has no need of proof.  The minor premise is this, founded on experimental knowledge—­namely, that the greatest source of profit that has been known in our times, the best proved and the most certain, is this of Maluco and Philipinas, whither come the nations of the north, and all other nations who course over this wide sea of India as far as Maluco, where they find that brown gold that they call cloves, and the white silk of China.  They barter for or rob persons of the cloves, as well as mace, cinnamon, pepper, and other drugs, which, when carried to their own country, are so much gold-dust.  The silks and wealth from China they seize here at the passage to Manila, from various unarmed vessels; and from a people who let their hair grow long, like women, and know not how to defend themselves, so that those robbers have here a sure booty and prize.