Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 08).djvu/56

let us come to the particular point which your Lordship treats of in your letter. But, before considering it, I wish to warn your Lordship that concern for these things, and the arrangement of them, and deciding who is to be here and who is to be there, is my business—not only because it belongs to my office, but because his Majesty particularly committed and entrusted it to me, recommending me to do it in communication with your Lordship; but the execution of it he leaves to me, as by right is proper. I say this because I have heard that by virtue of some decree or other they are persuading your Lordship that religious can establish themselves without my consent in villages where they have never been. In this they are misleading your Lordship, and they themselves are mistaken; for that decree on the other side—which notifies the viceroy of Nueva España, which has never been used in this land, and which no governor has ever dared to use—is previous to the Council of Trent, after which it has no force, because in it the contrary [i.e., to the Council's decision] is decreed. So I beg of your Lordship, as I am in quiet and peaceful possession, that no house whatsoever be taken in my bishopric for religious without first seeking and obtaining my permission. It was some days ago that I found this out; but because your Lordship told me that you did not believe what they said to you, I did not pay any attention to it until I learned, yesterday, that the provincial of San Augustin says that, by decrees which they have from the king, they can occupy houses without my permission. This I believe your Lordship will not do; and I can not understand how they can do it with any conscience. With this understanding, let us come to what you say.