Besides this there is the little interest in spiritual things and Christianity among the laity. Sire, I wish, that I were in the presence of your Majesty to tell you by word of mouth of this matter, which is the most pitiable thing which has ever occurred or ever will occur to so Catholic and Christian a prince, and one on whom our Lord has showered such singular favors as to allow in his day the opening of the gate through these islands, for the bringing of the gospel to realms so great, and so far removed from all that is good. This I say, then, Sire, that it is a most pitiable thing that there is not a man in all these Philipinas Islands--Spaniard, or of any other nation--saving some religious, who make their principal aim and intent the conversion of these heathen, or the increase of the Christian faith; but they are only moved by their own interests and seek to enrich themselves, and if it happened that the welfare of the natives was an obstacle to this they would not hesitate, if they could, to kill them all in exchange for their own temporal profit. And since this is so, what can your Majesty expect will happen if this continues? From this inordinate greed arises the violation of your Majesty's decrees and mandates, as everyone is a merchant and trader--and none more so than the governor, who has this year brought ruin upon the country. There comes each year from Nueba España a million in money, contrary to the mandate of your Majesty, all of which passes on to the heathen of China. From here, in violation of your Majesty's decrees, cargoes are loaded for the Peruvians and the merchants of Mexico, without leaving room for those of this country--especially the poor, who are unable to secure any interest therein except for a wretched bundle which is allowed them as cargo. If I were to go into the multitude of evils which are connected with this, I should have to proceed _ad infinitum_. There are going to your court those who have themselves experienced them; and one of them even, for having preached with Christian zeal, was persecuted by the governor, who was the cause of this and of other great evils. His vices are so many and so low and obscene that if one were to seek faithfully over all España for a man of most debauched conscience, even the vilest and most vicious, to come to this country and corrupt it with his example, there could not be found one more so than he. A priest told me yesterday--Sunday, the twenty-first of June--that it was public talk that no woman had escaped from him with her honor, when he could accomplish her ruin; and that further, through his great and scandalous incontinence, he twice ordered the priest to marry him to his own niece, and used every means with the priest and Father Soria to secure a dispensation, although the latter showed him how little that measure profited. He has so tyrannized over this colony by his actions that, in order that nothing should be lacking, he has taken