89).
A native envoy visits Felipe II in Lisbon, but fails to accomplish
much. The later wars between Portuguese and Spaniards and natives
are characterized by assistance for the latter from English and Dutch
sources. King Felipe "especially to recover Temate," turns "his eyes
to the convenience afforded by all the Filipinas, to a greater extent
than India." Later he orders by "his royal decree" that "all the
governors of the Filipinas should be instructed to aid the Malucas,
and all the Indian states of the Portuguese crown; for this may be
done more conveniently from those islands than from India itself"
(Book iv, p. 140). Argensola recurring again to the proposition of
abandoning the Philippines and other islands, says:]
The reader should also consider, that although avarice is sometimes
mixed up in the ministry of the preaching of the gospel, and lawless
acts are committed by our captains and soldiers, yet such excesses do
not make the cause less just. He should consider also that, supposing
that his Majesty should choose, for excellent state reasons (as we
said were proposed), to abandon those districts of Asia, as the Chinese
did, and to narrow the bounds of his monarchy, the cause of the faith
would not permit it.
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