Because of my having taken possession of this government so late, although your Majesty had ordered that the ships that sail annually to Nueva Espana should depart on the first of June I have found, on the second of August, their despatch so delayed that it has been impossible to make it before now, although I have not endeavored to accomplish any other thing since my arrival.  I desire to have your Majesty informed that this despatch is not chargeable to me. [In the margin:  “Seen.”]

May God preserve your Majesty, etc.  Manila, August 14, 1633.

Don Juan Cerezo Salamanca

Revenue matters

Sire: 

Although I informed your Majesty in two other letters, of equal date with this, of my arrival in these islands, and that this temporary government is in my hands, I intend to tell briefly in this letter only the matters that I observe concerning the revenues.

I have found your Majesty’s revenues very inadequate, and that the royal treasury owes eighty-eight thousand eight hundred pesos to the inhabitants of Manila, which have been borrowed in reals; and it is necessary to pay them from the aid that I bring.

I have found no lumber in the shipyards for the repair of the ships, and for the other needs that are wont to arise.  There is a lack of rigging, of food, and of all the supplies necessary.  I advise your Majesty of it, in case my ability should not be sufficient to supply so great needs as there have been; although my principal endeavor shall be to strive, in these beginnings, that all shall be restored to its former condition. [In the margin:  “Examined January 25, 34.  Write to the new governor that we have heard of the lack of wood and of the other things that are [word illegible in MS.; necessary?] in the magazines, so that everything may be provided as is expected from his care and zeal.”]

I am obliged in conscience to inform your Majesty (in case my own efforts should prove insufficient) of all that I shall esteem worthy of correction in your royal service; and of what I saw in the port of Acapulco, where I embarked, and in the ships up to the present.  In order to be able to do so, it is necessary for me to repeat in brief the favors and privileges which your Majesty has conceded to these inhabitants of Manila, in order to show them favor, with the desire that they increase in numbers, and so that they alone may enjoy the fruits of the trade and traffic of these provinces, entirely excluding from it the inhabitants of Nueva Espana.  Surely this is an important matter, but the custom and malice of men has had so much influence that experience shows us that neither that which your Majesty orders is sufficient, nor do the citizens of Manila realize the value of the favors which they receive.  The worst of all is that, to judge from the condition of affairs, there is no one from whom to obtain the fitting remedy.