in certified pay-warrants on the treasury there, which they hold, which sum will be a great benefit and charity to them. The complaint of these nuns has been considered in my royal Council of the Indias, and the damage which they say has been caused to them by closing up the street and by their being in sight of the ward that was built in the cells [at the hospital], and by the stables and barracks that have been placed so close to their house. I have therefore thought it best to ordain and command you, as I do, that you shall not in any way cause injury or inconvenience to the said nuns; and that the pay-warrants which they say they hold, you shall cause to be paid--provided they are duly certified--in their due value and at such time as the said nuns desire; for such is my will. [Madrid, October 2, 1638.] I the King By command of the king our sovereign: Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon REGULATING THE SEMINARY OF SANTA POTENCIANA The King. To the president and auditors of my royal Audiencia resident in the city of Manila of the Filipinas Islands: it has been reported in my royal Council of the Yndias that there is in that city a seminary named Santa Potenciana, of which I am patron; that it was established for orphan girls, and for the reception of married women when their husbands are occupied in my service in various parts; and that for some years the custom has been introduced of sheltering in the said seminary certain women who live scandalously. [I am also told] that, since this is of so great service to God our Lord, you, my president, have given orders to the mother rector of the said seminary not to receive in the seminary any woman sent by the archbishop of that church, or by his provisor; and that no one of its inmates may leave it. It has been judged best to order you (as I do hereby) to take what measures appear to you most advisable in this matter, considering all ends. Given in Madrid, November eight, one thousand six hundred and thirty-eight. I the King Countersigned by Don Gabriel de Ocaña y Alarcon, and signed by the members of the Council. [Endorsed: "To the royal Audiencia of Manila, in regard to the order given by the president of the Audiencia to the mother rector of the seminary of Sancta Potenciana of that city, that she should not receive therein any woman sent by the archbishop or his provisor." "Ordering that the president take what measures appear most fitting, considering all ends."] COMMERCE OF THE ISLANDS WITH MEXICO