In the letter in which you spoke of the offices to which you had made appointments after you took possession of your duties, you say that on account of the resignation of Pedro Sotelo de Morales, [34] who served as the warden of the Santiago fort in that city, you appointed Don Antonio de Leoz to that office with a yearly salary of eight hundred pesos, the same salary which his predecessors have received, with the condition of receiving my approval within five years.  But because persons who hold the offices ad interim are not to take more than half the salary which is attached to the office, in conformity with the provisions of various royal decrees, you will take measures and give orders that the said Don Antonio de Leoz or his bondsmen shall return to my royal exchequer any sum that he has received exceeding half the said salary; and I shall write to my royal officials in that city to collect it.  You are advised that in the future such appointees are not to receive more than half the salary. [Madrid, September 3, 1627.]

I The King Countersigned by Don Fernando Ruiz de Contreras.

LAWS REGARDING THE SANGLEYS

[The following laws are translated from Recopilacion de leyes de las Indias (Madrid, 1841), lib. vi, tit. xviii.  For method of treatment, sec Vol.  XVII of this series, p. 27.]

Law III

The bishops do not permit the Christian Chinese who are converted to our holy Catholic faith in the Filipinas Islands to return to their own country, so that intercourse and living among heathen may not cause them to fall into the peril of apostasy; and the governor, knowing that they have no other manner of livelihood except their trading in the neighborhood, buying provisions in order to supply the community, does not allow them to leave Manila without permission, which is a very great obstacle and stumbling-block to the conversion of others.  We order that no fee be charged for those permits; and the governor shall have great consideration and care, that no trouble results from them, in respect to the Chinese having free passage through those islands. [Felipe II—­Madrid, June 11, 1594.]

Law IX

The goods of the Sangleys who come to trade in Filipinas with Chinese merchandise, and who sell them at wholesale at a price [named] by persons deputed for it (which is what is there called pancada), are left in their possession under guarantee that they will not dispose of them without an order from the governor; and that a price will not be set on the small things, but only on certain fine products.  And inasmuch as this is advisable, we order that the Sangleys be notified who shall have to return to those islands, that they must and shall pass according to the laws and orders that shall be made for them.  And, in respect to the pancada, it shall be continued with, all gentleness, so that the Sangleys shall not receive any injury; and so that no occasion be given them so that they shall discontinue their coming to attend to their trading. [Felipe II—­Madrid, June 11, 1594.]