stated by virtue of our faith in these letters, they requested me to appoint persons with whom they might discuss the questions upon which they were to mediate for their sovereign. I did this immediately, appointing for this purpose certain members of my Council whom I, considered the best informed for that particular negotiation, and men of straightforward principles. These men, in company with the aforesaid ambassadors, examined the treaty presented by the latter, which seemed to have been drawn up and authorized by the Catholic King and Queen, my grandparents, and by King Don Manuel, his [King João III] father, of blessed memory. They listened to all the ambassadors had to say, and all together conferred regarding and discussed the questions many times. Afterwards, inasmuch as the said ambassadors besought me to give them a hearing, I did so, the above-named and others of my Council, whom I had summoned for that purpose, being present. The result of their proposition was to present the said treaty to me and petition that I order the observance thereof, and in consequence thereof, have Maluco surrendered immediately to the said most serene King of Portugal. This they said we were bound to do, by virtue of the said treaty, which contained, they declared, a section whose tenor is as follows. [175] In this manner they continued to assert that since Maluco had been found by the King of Portugal, we were bound to make petition for and accept it from him, if we claimed it as lying within the bounds of our demarcation, and not to take possession of it by our own authority; and that the King of Portugal being assured of our contention, which they neither denied nor mistrusted might prove correct, was quite prepared to surrender it to us immediately, according to the terms of the said treaty, of which, in the said name, he wished to make use, and they petitioned that we observe the same. And therefore, as being a matter in which all negotiations and conferences were in good faith, both because of the prominence of those engaged in them, and because of the relationship between them, they declared that they had no wish to profit by any other right or allegation, but only to petition that the contents of the said treaty be kept to the letter.