The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55: 1521-1569; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 02 of 55: 1521-1569; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
_Second Summons:_ Replying to this reply to my first summons, made
by the very illustrious Miguel Lopez de Leguazpi, general of the camp
and of the people of Nova Spanha, I declare that the essence, subject,
and right of all this matter is not contained in words, but in deeds;
and that his grace has up to the present time acted in a way very
displeasing to God, to his majesty and to the king our sovereign,
as I shall set forth in detail. As regards his grace's coming by
authority of his royal majesty, the king Don Felipe, in order to
discover lands, the islands of the West lying within his demarcation,
and to propagate Christianity therein, as should be the principal
purpose of so Christian a prince; and bearing withal instructions not
to enter into aught, or in any way infringe the treaty and agreement
made between the emperor Don Carlos and the king our sovereign Don
Joan the Third (both of whom I pray God may have in glory): this does
not absolve, but rather condemns him, inasmuch as he has acted in a
manner so contrary to his instructions, neither making discoveries,
nor founding any Christian communities, nor limiting himself to
his own demarcation, but hastening with great speed to penetrate so
many leagues through our demarcation--contrary to the faith, oath,
agreement, and instructions of his true king and lord. He would indeed
be able to say that he was ignorant of the bound and limit of these
two demarcations, if Father Urbaneta had not told and requested him
to settle such of the Ladrones Islands as, on his way around them,
he might discover; if his majesty had not charged him not to enter,
under any consideration, into the territory belonging to the king
our sovereign; and if he had not been told and informed by the
ships which were in this vicinity that the islands belonged to us,
all which will appear, in proper time, in documents sworn before a
notary. His grace's saying, in his letter written to me at Maluco,
that he entered into this our conquest in consequence of stormy weather
surprised me not a little, for the Portuguese in their voyages from
Portugal to India (although even more exposed to inclement weather,
to more violent winds, and to rough and heavy seas), never encountered
a tempest of such violence as to endure for more than twenty-four
hours, or in which, however far one of our ships might run, (with
sails either furled or spread forth to the wind) they ever passed
over an extent of more than fifty or sixty leagues--although, it is
true, I have heard it said that one of our ships once ran a distance
of eighty leagues; but his grace's having entered three hundred
leagues into these waters of ours causes me anxiety, especially in
view of his coming through a sea so calm and winds so gentle that
small boats are able to navigate it, as most of the people of this
region have told and declared to me. As regards his saying that he
was absolutely obliged to enter, owing to lack of provisions, I reply
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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