I have ordered in the session, several times, that careful abstracts should be made of the enactments made therein of which it is desirable that an account should be given your Majesty.  Thus far it has not been possible to carry this out, in which matter I did not choose, merely in order to avoid trouble with them, to employ any repressive measure, which might increase their ill-humor; and likewise because I do not know that anything more has happened than what I write to your Majesty.  The reason for the auditors neglecting this matter is well known to be that the definite account which we must make to your Majesty from this Audiencia may not clash with that which the auditors who met together separately have made to your Majesty and your ministers.  This leads me, every time when I speak of it, to repeat my supplication to your Majesty, as I now humbly do, that this may not go on without the inquiry of residencia which I have requested, and the punishment due each one.  May God protect the Catholic person of your Majesty in accordance with the needs of Christendom.  Manila, July 21, 1621.

Don Alonso Fajardo de Tenca

[In the margin:  “Examined.”]

[Endorsed:  “Examined and decreed within on the margin, that which concerns both the Council and the Junta.  On September 22, 622.”]

Letter from Archbishop Miguel Garcia Serrano to the King

Condition of the archbishopric of Manila in regard to the affairs of ecclesiastical and secular government.

Sire: 

Although I am writing to your Majesty at length informing you of the condition of these islands regarding the enemies who come to infest them, I cannot refrain from writing this letter apart, in which I inform your Majesty of matters that, in my opinion, your Majesty needs and ought to know.  For, although I have written concerning many of them these three years past, I must—­inasmuch as I have had no answer from your Majesty, not even of their receipt in the Council—­repeat what I have written, again and again, until I am certain that my letters have reached that royal Council.  Knowing that, my mind will be at rest, and I shall be content with what your Majesty shall be pleased to order to be done in all things.

From the time of the establishment of the faith in these islands, no ecclesiastical council [8] has been held in them; [but this is] a matter that is urgently recommended by the holy general councils, for the correction of abuses and the reform of morals.  It is most necessary in this archbishopric, in order to establish the administration of the sacraments with uniformity of ceremonies, the celebration of holy days, and for unusual and peculiar cases that occur in this new world.  Therefore, I petition your Majesty to be pleased to send me permission so that I, with my three suffragans, may hold a council as soon as they reach these islands. [Marginal note:  “That a letter has already been sent to him regarding this matter; and he is to follow its directions.”]