Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/197

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1593–1597]
AUDIENCIA REESTABLISHED
191

his prayers, beseeching our Lord to direct the founding of the said Audiencia for His good service, and the pure administration of justice. After the ceremony, the archbishop and his assistants, and the clergy, shall remain there, while you shall take the box again and place it on the horse, which must always be led by the chief constable of the Audiencia, in person and on foot, and with head bared. You shall then proceed with the same assemblage to my royal houses, where you shall deposit the said seal in a suitable place. Then you shall enter upon the proceedings for installing the Audiencia, and together with the auditors and fiscal you shall establish it. This day shall be occupied solely with examining the ordinances of audiencias, with taking the oath from the said auditors, fiscal, and assistants, and with an address from you, in which, in my name, you shall charge them to exercise their offices faithfully, and to maintain peace and harmony among themselves; and you shall enjoin the inferiors to observe respect, secrecy, and diligence. Thenceforth you shall proceed according to the usual form of the other audiencias of these kingdoms and of the Yndias. Given at El Pardo, November twenty-sixth, one thousand five hundred and ninety-five.[1]

I the King

By order of the king:

Juan Ybarra

  1. The archbishop of Manila, in a letter to the king dated August 15, 1624, makes the following interesting observation on the state of affairs in Manila after the suppression of the Audiencia: "The principal motive that influenced Philippo Second, our sovereign, to reëstablish, in the time of the governorship of Don Francisco Tello, the royal Audiencia in these islands, which had been suppressed some years before, was that, in districts