Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 02).djvu/304

general of the fleet and people of Nova Espanha, I declare, as I have already said in my reply, that actions speak louder than words. Up to this point I have acted in a way pleasing both to God and to the kings our lords, being bound to serve both equally well, on account of the close and long enduring union which, always existing between the former sovereigns of Castella and Purtugual, does now likewise exist between these present rulers. And, understanding from the instructions which his highness [of Portugal] gives to his captains for such cases, that he orders them to serve the interests of his royal majesty, King Don Felipe, in every possible way not at variance with his own interests, I have in all respects thus carried out his commands and all the stipulations of the treaty; while his grace has violated the same in so many ways, principally in making traffic, on behalf of Nova Espanha, of gold and drugs from this region within our demarcation—a thing forbidden in specific terms in the treaty. This does not harmonize with what his grace says about stress of weather and the lack and necessity of ships—for one who has been engaged in traffic knows the remedy for such cases, and his grace did traffic in our gold and drugs, and sent for reënforcements, by the fleet—a thing which, likewise, does not harmonize with his affirmations. For, the fewer people the ships contained on coming from Nova Espanha, the better could his grace lodge himself therein with all his camp, there being none in the whole voyage to obstruct his way provided they had sufficient crews. But God exists, and heaven cannot be covered with a sieve; nor are there diseases of the eye so serious as to be able to hinder the perception of a thing so evident. His