now thus engaged. This is permitted to them and tolerated because
of their poverty; for when it is seen and regarded close at hand,
greater compassion and pity are felt for them. Another cause for
connivance and gentle treatment is the danger that they may commit
other greater wrongs in the way of theft and violence, to which need is
wont to incline and constrain men--and there is enough of such things.

There is also danger of their flight and desertion for fear of
punishment; and thus by being punished, the soldiery may be lost, and
the forces lessened and made useless. [After making all allowances,]
ordinarily there are plenty of them who require punishment, and more
than get it, in proportion to the universal need and poverty. Because
of these things, the raising of the pay is very important, as is also
a provision for additions to it, so that the companies may be kept
intact and respectable. For, if they have these, then respectable
young men who are in this country, and who now are leaving it, will
serve gladly. They now come usually on the footing of mercenaries,
because of their small means, and finally leave the islands--only
those remaining who are worthless and of no account, and even of them
but few. In other districts where there is no lack and need of people
as here, they ought to consent.


_That the one hundred and fifteen pesos given to the soldiers in
Mexico be reckoned only up to the time of their arrival at the port
of Cavite, and that thenceforth their ordinary pay be given them_.

This is as indispensable and needful as the matter of the pay and
means of profit, and even more so; for if this be not done, it will
be and serve for nothing else than to waste your Majesty's royal