Note 5 — Letter from Fajardo to Felipe III

[Marginal note: “After considering what you mention in this matter, it is reduced to the following points. The first and more essential is that which you mention (although in ambiguous terms) regarding the trading of the auditors and government employees there, for which reason they prevented the sending of the cloves. The testimony that you send of it does not concern this matter, but only that of the goods and money that were to be sent to Terrenate for trading. That indeed was done in accordance with your opinion. The opinion that you shall hold in matters so worthy of reform you must always send to me distinctly and clearly expressed; for if there are such officials who commit illegal acts—not only in trading, but in hindering the profit of the royal treasury—it is advisable not only for the greater security of the treasury, but also for the administration of justice, that such persons be punished with the rigor that the case requires. Consequently, you shall do this, sending me information of what is done in this matter. If any proven guilt results you shall sequester the property of offenders, in order to assure the judgment. In accordance with this, we are writing to the Audiencia, advising it of what it must do. In order that no official may have any cause to think that you, of your own accord, are trying [123] to prove him guilty in a matter so grave, you shall be accompanied, in whatever concerns the sequestration of goods, by the archbishop resident there, in whose person we have the necessary confidence. The second point is that you will have been informed of all the things that concern the advantage of the royal treasury. You shall accordingly declare those things in the tribunal of the treasury and in the assembly. This reply by letter will be your authority, so that you shall need nothing more special than this for whatever may be to the benefit of my royal treasury, and shall procure that benefit by all and any justifiable means. The third point is—as you have been informed and instructed in other letters concerning the purpose of the factory at Terrenate—that all the benefit received from the islands of Maluco by the enemy is by way of barter; and that so vast profits are obtained by them in this that these enable them to be on the offensive and defensive, and convey to their own country the wealth that we see in the Malucas, the value of which is evident in the armies and other expenses that are incurred. From this example, since the expenses of my royal treasury are so heavy—inasmuch as the trade is carried on only by conquest and force of arms—everything is reduced to expense, and nothing to gain. In order to make profit you are advised that the factory of Terrenate should barter and negotiate, in order that the profit obtained by the enemy might follow, and more if possible. And if the natives of those islands see that their property is not taken from them, and if they are paid in the ordinary form, they will grow fond of us and become converted to our friendship. From that it will be possible to pass to other objects, the chief one being [124] the evangelical preaching. Consequently, setting aside the universal gain that might come to the royal treasury for the gain in a specific case, the chief thing, and one which you are to push thoroughly (or rather two things), is the operation of mines and of factories for trade. Fourth, that since you have already experienced the utility that follows from sending those cloves to the East, and using this merchandise for other purposes and trade, you shall continue to do so. You shall always send the detailed account about which you have been advised, of everything that will be of importance in this matter. Whenever any case of doubt occurs to you in regard to the ceremonious observance due your office, send the proposition that you shall have made in the assembly, together with what resolution shall have been made regarding it, so that after examination here, just measures may be ordered; for in no other manner could any decision be reached without depending on the Audiencia. In order to gain time, letters are being written to the Audiencia ordering them, in accordance with what has been done at other times, to maintain with you, in the condition of affairs at present, the amicable relations and the respect due your office and person; and to observe toward you and your wife such ceremonies as have been observed hitherto, and as are the custom. When there is any doubt about the matter, I shall be consulted, so that, having examined it thoroughly, I may provide what is advisable for the public peace and for decorous relations between the president and Audiencia. (Note for a separate paper.)”5]