Don Pedro de Acuña, etc. By the hands of Captain Juan San I received
the letter of the lord viceroy in which he informs me that news has
been carried to China that the Sangleys who came to trade with this
realm of Luzon have been put to death by the Spaniards. He states that
after having investigated the cause of their death, and having asked
the king to execute justice upon the author of so great a wrong, he
learned that on account of the lies uttered by Tioguen we had suspected
that the Sangleys were going to make war against us. On this account,
as he was informed, we had put to death more than thirty thousand
Chinese. The king had punished Tiogueng by commanding his head to be
cut off and hung up in a cage, and had ordered Anglion, his companion,
to be executed. He declared that the Chinese who had been slain in
Luzon were not in fault. I reply to this that that which happened
in this case is as stated in the accompanying letter--which I sent
as soon as the event occurred, with a ship and a proper messenger,
by way of Macan to the Portuguese who live there, who are vassals of
our king. It was my intention that they should give it to the viceroy;
and I sent similar letters to the eunuch and to the mandarins who
were there. But the Portuguese were not well disposed to us, solely
on account of their belief that the Chinese were in close friendship
with us because of the trade and the large amount of commerce which
we had with them; and that this is the cause why they are not able
to buy merchandise at very low prices, as they would certainly do
if the trade from here were to come to an end. Hence they brought
it about that these letters were not delivered; and thus the truth
of this matter could not be known in China, nor the fact that the
Sangleys were greatly to blame for the losses which they incurred. If
these things had been known the Chinese, well disposed as they are to
the execution of justice according to law, and desirous that crimes