A very rare and possibly unique pamphlet (Manila, 1644) presents the report of the royal fiscal at Manila on the licenses issued to the Chinese to reside in the islands. The amount paid for these has been increased by Corcuera, on his own responsibility, partly to raise money for the fortifications of the city, partly to punish the Chinese for revolting (as they did in 1639). The fiscal discusses this measure from a legal standpoint, and shows that it is illegal. Corcuera had no authority to increase the tax on the Chinese; there was no pressing necessity to justify it; he should have obtained permission from the king to do so; and he had already a sufficient fund for repairing the fortifications, in the proceeds of the monopoly on playing-cards. If more funds are necessary, they should be furnished by only the citizens and permanent residents of Manila, not by foreigners and transients, as are the Sangleys. Even had the new tax been justified, it was highly impolitic; and in any case its proceeds should have been placed in the general funds of the royal treasury, and subject to the orders of the royal officials instead of the governor's--and for the sums spent therefrom by Corcuera he should be held responsible. These new taxes on the Chinese have injured and damaged the entire colony, since they have prevented the Chinese from leaving the Parián to cultivate the rice-fields and engage in fishing and other occupations; and those who really pay the money received for these taxes are the seventy citizens of Manila. In evidence of this, the fiscal cites the great increase in prices of both commodities and labor, due to this new tax on the Chinese. A royal decree (September 18, 1645) orders the viceroy of Mexico to send larger reënforcements of troops, to be levied among the vagabonds and criminals of Nueva España. Letters from Felipe IV to his ambassador at Rome and Pope Innocent X (December 20, 1644) secure a papal brief (dated November 20, 1645) for the erection of the Dominican college at Manila, Santo Tomás, into a university. A report of the royal Council of State (January 30, 1647) relates to the attempt of the East India Company of England to open trade with the Philippines, which the Spanish government will not allow.