TWO LETTERS FROM DOMINGO DE
SALAZAR TO FELIPE II
Sire:
Five decrees of your Majesty came to me this year of ninety in the ship "Santiago," which arrived at this port on the last of May. They are all dated at Madrid, four on the twenty-third of June of the year eighty-seven, and the fifth on the eighteenth of February of eighty-eight. After perusing the contents of the said decrees, I can truly not restrain my surprise that there can be men in the world who dare to say and declare things which are not certainly proved to be the truth, much less to give such information to their king. To report to one's sovereign the contrary of what happens, or to affirm what one is not certain is the truth, is a most grave offense, worthy of all punishment and chastisement. Such persons may properly be called destroyers of their countries, because, in not giving information in accordance with the principles of truth, they fail to remedy the evils and provide the good which is necessary for the preservation of the land. As this commonwealth is so far away from your Majesty, it has to be governed, not by what your Majesty sees and knows, but by the information received by him regarding it. This must be according to the good or bad intention of the in-
