Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 03).djvu/305

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1569–1576]
MALDONADO TO FELIPE II
301

father Fray Diego de Herrera, of the order of St. Augustine. The father is a man of learning and of good life, who has labored much for the conversion of the Indians of those islands. With him send as many of the secular clergy as your Majesty pleases, who can act as prebends, canons, and chaplains; these likewise should be persons of learning and good life, and should all be subject to the above-mentioned prelate.

The third has to do with soldiers. May your Majesty please to send five hundred soldiers here, who may be posted in the said island of Luzon, so that by their help the said governor can subjugate and settle the said island of Luzon, and discover other neighboring islands.

Fourth: These said five hundred men can come at less cost, provided your Majesty be pleased to keep to the following order: that the said troops should be collected in España under the pretext that it is done for the convoy of the fleet which goes from these kingdoms to the said Nueva España. Accordingly, of the two hundred men who ordinarily are accustomed to go from Sevilla to Nueva España in convoy of the said fleet, one hundred may be left behind, the number of these hundred being supplied on the journey over from the number of the said five hundred; on the return trip of the said fleet from Nueva España to these kingdoms, the places of the said hundred soldiers may be taken by a hundred passengers, from those who generally come. As a result, at each trip and return one hundred soldiers will be spared, and thus between seven and eight thousand ducats saved.

Fifth: When the said five hundred men have ar-