The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803; explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commericial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the beginning of the nineteenth century; [Vol. 1, no. 36]

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THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

[Vol. 36

small and confined that- as is evident from the
paper here presented with the necessary formalities
from Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corquera- it numbers no more than two hundred and seventy citizens.
Behold then, your Majesty, under what conditions
and in what sort of a place it is sought to establish
a regular university of sciences and arts, with chancellor, rector, secretary, beadle, and other officials
and teachers who make up its staff - for whose support would be needed twelve thousand ducados of
income, no matter how moderate the salaries;
whereas, if a portion of this were applied in increasing the number of settlers, with a consequent saving
of burdens on the royal exchequer, this would redound to the greater benefit and service of your
Majesty. With consideration of the same and whatever besides in fact or law may be of moment, the
writer prays and beseeches your Majesty to order the
said memorial to be rejected, and allow no other of
similar import to be received - with the addition of
the declaration, if needed, that the case has already
been settled, and the claim is not entitled to a hearing.
In conclusion, without prejudice, however, to his plea
nor with abandonment of the same, he [i.e., Solana]
prays that, should a university be established, it be
founded in the college of San Ignacio of the said
Society; and on each and every matter relating
thereto he files all the petitions needed therefor,
wherein he will receive favor with justice, etc.20
20 Many passages in this document are very involved and elliptical, and in some places the sense is not at all clear. The
translation is necessarily somewhat free, at times, in wording; but
it is believed that the author's meaning is, as a rule, accurately
rendered. - REV. T. C. MIDDLETON, 0. S. A.