A royal decree dated February 19, 1619, confirms the ordinance enacted by the dean and cabildo of Manila cathedral, refusing benefices and ecclesiastical dignities to religious who have been expelled from their orders. The Dominican missionary Diego Aduarte proposes to the Council of the Indias (probably in May, 1619) a means to check the outflow of silver from Nueva Espana to the Philippines. Aduarte recommends that the trade of the islands with Nueva Espana be suppressed, and that their inhabitants be allowed to trade with Japan, selling in that country the silks that they buy from the Chinese. But the bulk of this trade is already in the hands of the Portuguese of Macao; in order that it may be monopolized by Manila, Aduarte advises that Macao be abandoned, and its inhabitants transported to other cities of India. This can be accomplished easily by a royal decree forbidding them to engage in the Japanese trade, which would compel them to go elsewhere. He enumerates the beneficial results of this measure, and declares that even without these Macao should be abandoned; for its people are lawless and irreligious, and are not even vassals of Spain, but of China. The Portuguese of Macao are needed in India, which country would be benefited in many ways by the measure proposed, as also would the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. Moreover, they hinder, by their evil example, the conversion of the Chinese natives. One of the Manila Jesuits writes (July 12, 1619) an account of events in the Philippines and in the neighboring countries during the past year. The city of Bassein, near Bombay, has been destroyed by storms and earthquakes. In China there has been a persecution of the Christians, and four Jesuits were expelled from the empire. Others remain there, who are preaching the gospel wherever they can. In certain inland districts, these missionaries have encountered a large colony of Jews, and a people who worship the cross, although they are heathens. The Tartars have invaded Chinese territory, and our writer copies the text of a memorial regarding this invasion, sent by the mandarins of Pekin to the ruler of China, detailing the defeats and misfortunes suffered by the Chinese. They complain of his neglect of public affairs, and his harsh treatment of a certain mandarin, and ask him to take measures to drive back the Tartars, in Cochinchina the recently-begun missions of the Jesuits are prospering. For the Japanese mission are coming a large reenforcement of Jesuit missionaries; but affairs there are so disturbed that they cannot enter the country at present. The writer recounts various omens and portents which are said to have occurred in China and Japan. In the latter country, a fierce persecution of the Christians serves but to display the steadfastness and zeal of both the missionaries and their converts. Several naval encounters between the Dutch and the English and Portuguese are narrated.