Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 10).djvu/143

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1597–1599]
RECEPTION OF SEAL
139

In the said order the other honorable auditors and the fiscal of his Majesty were called, received, and put under oath, and likewise the other officials of the said royal Audiencia, each one taking the oath conformably to each of the offices. And when this was finished, in the form above stated, the said lord president gave a general instruction in the presence of all, in which he charged the said honorable auditors to strive for peace and harmony, and the increase of the royal exchequer, and to take care to attend punctually to their duties, and to keep the secrets of this royal Audiencia, whereby his Majesty would be served. In his name he thanked them, as well as the citizens and others present. He charged them with the respect which is due to the said royal seal, and to the commands of the said royal Audiencia; and asked me, the present clerk of court, to give a testimonial thereof. Forthwith he commanded the articles establishing the royal Audiencia to be read. As they were not new (for some of them had been read), he ordered that this cease; whereupon the said Audiencia rose from session for this day. To all which I bear witness.

Pedro Huardo Desquibel, clerk of the court.

[Attestation]

This copy is certain and truthful, having been corrected and compared with the said book from which it was copied. In order that this may appear, I have made the present copy at the request and command of Don Francisco Tello, knight of the Order of Santiago, governor and captain-general of these islands, and president of the royal Audiencia here, in the city of Manila, on the twenty-eighth of June of the