Royal Funeral Rites at Manila

Funeral ceremonies and the royal pyre of honor erected by piety and consecrated by the grief of the very distinguished and ever loyal city of Manila, in memory of the most serene prince of España, Don Balthassar Carlos (may he dwell in glory). By license of the ordinary and of the government. [Printed] at Manila, by Simon Pinpin, in the year 1649.

[This document is presented in translation and synopsis, because of the light it throws on the religio-social life of Manila in the middle of the seventeenth century. It is preceded by the license to print given (June 5, 1649), for the archbishop by Doctor Don Juan Fernandez de Ledo, precentor of Manila cathedral, judge-provisor, official and vicar-general of the archbishopric; by that of the government, given (May 27, 1649), on recommendation of Joseph de la Anunciacion, prior of the Recollect convent in Manila; and by a letter (dated Manila, December 15, 1648, and signed by Lucas de Porras, Gabriel Gomez del Castillo, and Diego Morales) addressed to the governor Diego Faxardo y Chacon, which amounts to a dedicatory epistle. The relation begins with the grief that comes to the city of Manila with the announcement of the sudden death [24](at the age of seventeen) of the prince Balthasar Carlos, heir to the throne and son of Felipe IV and Isabel of Bourbon, who had died but a short time before. The document continues:]

The first rumors of this so sad event reached this city in the middle of December, 1647, by means of the Dutch, who were harassing these islands at that time with a large fleet of twelve galleons, which sailed from Nueva Batavia with the intention of capturing this stronghold. But they, after having experienced the valor and boldness of our Spaniards in the severe and obstinate combat in the port of Cabite, of which a full relation has been written in former years,1 attempted to terrify the hearts and take away the courage of those whom they had not been able to resist by hostilities, by sending a letter to Don Diego Faxardo, knight of the Order of Santiago, member of the War Council, and president, governor, and captain-general of these islands; and with it part of a gazette printed in the Flemish characters and language, which contained a copy of a letter from his Majesty to the Marqués de Leganés, in which was mentioned the heavy grief of his royal heart because of the sudden death of his son and heir, Don Balthassar Carlos. The minds of so loyal vassals were alarmed, and their hearts chilled, on hearing so sad news; and those who had not given way before the violent attack of cannon-balls yielded to the tenderness of grief, and to the sighs of sorrow; and they bore in their faces the effects of their dismay and the marks of their pain, as if the prince were seen dead in each one.... There was no doubt [25]of the truth of that news, for its arrival with the superscription of misfortune gave it the credit of truth. But neither the condition in which we found ourselves, with arms in our hands, nor prudence allowed us to proceed with public demonstrations and funeral ceremonies until we received a letter from his Majesty, and with the letter the order, direction, and prudent management which so serious a matter demanded.

[The royal announcement arrived in July, 1648; and by his decree the king ordered the demonstrations of sorrow to be made on the same scale as if intended for his own person.]

In conformity with that decree, and in order that they might obey it, the auditors called a meeting, and resolved to publish the mourning, and to prepare the things necessary for the splendid celebration of the funeral ceremonies. At the same time they elected as the manager of that solemn function the fiscal auditor, Don Sebastian Cavallero de Medina, who was as vigilant and punctual in the affairs of his office as attentive to the service of both Majesties—guaranteeing by the completeness of his arrangements the entire success which so serious a matter demanded. As his assistants in carrying out that commission were named the treasurer, Lucas de Porras Ontiberos, alcalde-in-ordinary, and Captains Gabriel Gomez del Castillo and Don Diego Morales, regidors. At a suitable time, the mourning rites were heralded, in fulfilment of the above resolution; and all the provinces were notified to make the same demonstrations, so that the external conduct of so faithful vassals should correspond to the sorrow which palpitated in their hearts and saddened [26]their breasts. Scarcely was the word given before the obedient people changed the precious and fine appearance of their attire with somber mourning garments; and this whole community became a theater of grief—each one showing the loyalty which was as much evinced by his grief as it was wondered at by the barbarous nations who trade in these islands, when they saw in so remote a part of the world so extreme piety, so intense love, and so faithful allegiance to their king, that distance does not make it lukewarm, or absence weaken the affection that these deserving vassals have ever had for their Catholic kings.

The day set for their expressions of condolence arrived, Monday, November 9, 648; for the direction of the ceremonies, Admiral Don Andres de Azcueta and Captain Don Pedro Diaz de Mendoza were appointed managers. The halls of the Audiencia and royal assembly were made ready with the funereal adornments and other preparations significant of so melancholy an occasion. At two in the afternoon the bells of all the churches began to ring, in so sad and doleful tones that they filled the air with sorrow, and the hearts of those who heard their plaints with bitterness and grief, learning from the very bronze to grieve for so considerable a loss. At that same time all the religious communities assembled, with their crosses, priests, deacons, and subdeacons, clad in their vestments, in the royal chapel of the garrison. That temple, although small in size, has all the characteristics of a great one in its beauty, elegance, and arrangement. There, architecture was employed to the best effect, and genius was alert in erecting a royal tomb and [27]mausoleum proportionate to the grandeur and sovereign rank of the person; and one not at all inferior to the one erected during the funeral rites and pageant of our lady the queen,2 by the direction and advice of Doctor Don Diego Afan de Ribera, auditor of this royal Audiencia, and auditor elect of that of the new kingdom of Granada. The royal assembly entrusted the arrangements of that solemnity to him. Each community in succession chanted its responsary, with different choirs of musicians, so well trained that they could vie with those of Europa. While that pious action was going on, the ecclesiastical and secular cabildos were assembling, as well as the tribunal of the royal official judges, the superiors of the orders, the rectors of the two colleges—San Joseph, which is in charge of the fathers of the Society of Jesus; and San Thomas, which is ruled by the fathers of St. Dominic—and the members of the bureau of the Santa Misericordia (as was determined and arranged two days previously, the place of each being assigned) in the hall of the royal Audiencia. There the managers assigned them their position, observing toward each one the order of his seniority and precedence. They left that place in the same order, to express their condolences to Don Diego Faxardo, governor and captain-general of these islands, who stood in the hall of the royal assembly. He was covered with mourning, which well manifested his grief and represented very vividly in his majestic appearance the royal person[28]—in whose name he received the condolences for the death of the royal son and heir, Don Balthassar Carlos, the prince of España. First entered the royal Audiencia, in company with their official, as grave in the pomp of their mourning as adequate in the demonstrations of their grief. Don Antonio de Castro, senior auditor and auditor-elect of Mexico, spoke in the name of all, expressing in brief and impressive sentences the universal grief of all the community and the special grief of that royal Audiencia. His Lordship listened to him attentively, and answered him gravely and concisely, with words suitable to the subject, thanking him in the name of his Majesty for the demonstrations of grief which servants so loyal were making on an occasion so consecrated to sorrow. Having finished their oration, the royal Audiencia gave place successively to the ecclesiastical cabildo, the secular cabildo, the tribunal of the royal official judges, the superiors of the orders, the colleges, and the bureau of the Santa Misericordia—each one taking its proper place as regards precedence. All of them observed the courtesies and punctilious forms due to the decorum and seriousness of that function. After these had signified by the gravity of their words, and by the seriousness and sadness of their countenances, the heavy weight of the sorrow which oppressed their hearts for a loss so worthy of immortal lament, and after his Lordship had answered with equally apposite speech what good judgment dictated and sorrow forced out, that act of mourning came to an end. It was no less dignified than refined; and no accompaniment or ceremony was lacking in the decorum of that action—the daughter of the affection [29]with which so faithful vassals serve their king and sovereign.

That parade was followed by another of no less gravity, namely the accompaniment of the royal crown to the chapel of the royal camp for the solemnity of vespers and the funeral oration which was prepared [for this occasion]. For that purpose, after the condolences the members of the royal Audiencia returned to the hall of the royal assembly, where the august crown reposed with all authority and propriety, signifying, in the somber mourning with which it was covered, a sorrowing majesty and a monarchy grief-stricken at beholding itself without the head from whose glorious temples it had fallen—Cecidit corona capitis nostri.3 His Lordship handed the crown to General Don Pedro Mendiola y Carmona, entrusting to his hands the honor of so great a Majesty, and thus crowning the great services which the latter had rendered to his king in the lofty posts that he has occupied in these islands. This was the opening act of the parade, which commenced at the palace, encircled the entire plaza of arms under the galleries, and ended at the royal chapel—the theater, as we have already remarked, destined for the magnificence of that funeral celebration. That act was arranged by the care and foresight of the royal assembly, and carried out by means of the managers with so great brilliancy, gravity, and propriety that it corresponded in all things with the majesty of the [dead] person. The orphan boys of the college of San Juan de Letran—who number more than one hundred and fifty, and are reared at the expense of his [30]Majesty, in charge of the fathers of St. Dominic—marched first of all, two by two (the universal order that was observed in that act by all the tribunals and communities) holding their candles of pure white wax, which were distributed, that day and the following, with magnificence and liberality by this illustrious city. The alguaçils followed, and then the ministers of justice, the attorneys, the judges’ secretaries, the notaries, public and royal, with their gowns and cloaks trailing behind. Next to them came the confraternities with their pennants and banners, and after these the parishes from the suburbs of this city, with their crosses, and their curas clad in black cloaks. Next in the line was the college of Santo Thomas, and following it that of San Joseph, with their badges [becas] turned back at the collar as a sign and token of grief. Then followed the bureau of the Santa Misericordia (which is composed of the most noble persons of this city) all clad in their black surtouts and hats, with heads covered, bearing their small bells, and the standard with their insignia in front. The holy families also marched: the brethren of St. John of God, the Recollects of St. Augustine, the Society of Jesus, the hermits of St. Augustine, the seraphic family of St. Francis, and that of the Preachers. These were not so splendid by reason of the candles which they carried in their hands as by the gravity and modesty of their manner, showing in the seriousness and composure of their faces the religious sorrow and pious grief that oppressed their hearts. The ecclesiastical cabildo followed with their black choir-cloaks, with the skirts extended and their heads covered; and altogether with so grave and [31]majestic a demeanor that they commanded the eyes and also the applause of all the people. The city [cabildo] followed, together with the tribunal of the royal official judges, bearing their maces and insignia. They were accompanied by the nobility of the city with flowing black mourning cloaks, and with heads covered; but very apparent was the grief and manifest the sadness which their love and good-will towards their unfortunate prince brought to their faces. The royal standard of the city was carried by Captain Gabriel Gomez del Castillo, assisted by the two alcaldes-in-ordinary, who carried it between them, as authorizing the action. The royal Audiencia with their president, the governor of these islands, crowned all that grave and religious concourse with all the splendors of authority. They were followed by the government and court secretaries, and by the gentlemen and pages of the palace, clad in all display of grandeur in funeral garb, thus manifesting in somber grays the sharpness and depth of the wound which they had received by the sudden death of the most serene and very august prince, Don Balthassar Carlos, the clear and resplendent light of the Spanish monarchy, at whose taking away all the world was darkened. Between the city cabildo and the royal Audiencia was carried the Cæsarean crown, with two kings-at-arms, on a cushion of rich cloth, with the gravity and decorum which is due to the head [that it adorns], to which all the people who were present that day rendered humble veneration. So sad a spectacle was made by all that splendid parade, that never was more bitter grief represented, never was Majesty seen more afflicted, never was sorrow seen more at [32]its height. All the Plaza de Armas was occupied, while that brilliant procession was going round it, by the royal regiment of the Spanish troops, the governor of which is Sargento-mayor Manuel Estacio Venegas. It consisted of four hundred and eighty-six infantrymen formed in a body with four fronts, each of which was commanded by two captains and one alférez. The regiment marched to take position in five lines, with fifty artillerymen in the rear with their campaign linstocks. They all maintained so great order and discipline that the military art was seen in practice in all its splendor—a glorious proof of the diligence of their commandant and the loyalty and devotion of so valiant soldiers; for notwithstanding the excessive heat of the sun they remained immovable on that and the following day, their zeal and love for their king, which burn most brightly in their hearts, being preponderant in them. The parade having passed, all the soldiers fell in behind, captained by the sargento-mayor himself, the commandant of the regiment. They entered by one door of the royal chapel and went out by the other, with drums muffled and banners trailing, and the soldiers carrying their arquebuses under the arm with the butt-ends reversed, with an order so regular and so in keeping with military rules that that action deserved the acclamation and even the admiration of all. The father chaplain-in-chief of the regiment, namely, the presentado father Fray Joseph Fayol, of the Order of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, was present, as were also all the royal chaplains, at the door of the royal chapel, with cross and wax tapers [ciriales] held aloft while the procession was entering. After they [33]had entered, the royal crown was placed on its royal catafalque—or rather a funeral pyre of fire, crowned with candles as is the firmament with stars, where the brilliant and the majestic glowed in competition. I leave the description of that for the crown of this historical compilation. Those in the procession took possession of and even filled all the seats which were provided for the tribunals and the communities, distributing themselves therein according to the same order of their seniority. With this began the vespers for the dead, which was in charge of the chaplain-in-chief, assisted by the royal chaplains, with all the requisites of solemnity and pomp, accompanied by the piety, devotion, and silence of so grave an assembly who were present, at the verge of tears. They paid with fervent suffrages the debt of their love and the obligations of their loyalty to the prince, their deceased sovereign, whose obsequies they were performing; and they refreshed their memories with his heroic virtues, and his brilliant deeds in the tender and flowery years of his age—gifts that assured us that he was glorious and triumphant in the court of Heaven. The complement of the solemn splendor of that day was the reverend father, Fray Vicente Argenta, of the seraphic order, and past provincial of this province of San Gregorio. He, occupying the pulpit, took up the space of an hour with a funeral panegyric, where his eloquence had an opportunity to exercise itself in all its colors, and in a beautiful variety of erudition, both divine and human. He roamed through the spacious and extensive field of the virtues of our most serene prince, with so impressive discourse adjusted to the gravity and meaning of the subject, [34]that he softened the hearts of the people and even drew tears from their eyes, the faithful witnesses of their grief. That solemn function ended with a responsary; and then the procession was again formed, in the same manner and method, until they left his Lordship at the palace. After having performed the due courtesies, the gentlemen of the royal Audiencia, and of the cabildos, tribunals, and religious communities bade one another farewell, and returned to their houses, for the night had set in.

The following day, Tuesday, November 10, before sunrise, the care and anxiety of the sacred families were awake, and all went to the royal chapel with different choirs of musicians. There, at the various altars assigned to them, they sang first each their mass, and afterward the responsary in front of the royal catafalque. The mingling of so many voices with the dead silence and serene quiet of the night made an indistinct harmony and a confusion of echoes pleasant and agreeable to the listeners, awakening at the same time in their hearts tender affection and loving grief, which they consecrated to the glorious memory of the prince whose obsequies were being celebrated. After having performed this pious action they went to the palace, where they waited until all who had taken part in the parade of the preceding day had assembled. The parade was arranged and directed at the appointed hour, with the same order and brilliant display as on the preceding day, and took the same course until they entered the chapel of the royal camp. There having filled the seats, and the order and arrangements of the day before having been observed, the office for the dead was commenced, and [35]then the mass was sung. Doctor Juan de Ucles, the venerable dean of the holy church, officiated, accompanied with all solemnity and pomp, at an altar which was erected near the center of the catafalque in front of the urn. He was clad in his vestments, with precious ornaments; and on that day the music was better than ever before, the musicians outdoing themselves in heightening its beauties, and with the consonance and harmony of their voices rendering it suitable to the majesty and high dignity of him who filled their thoughts at that moment. The reverend father Francisco Colin, outgoing provincial and present rector of the college of the Society of Jesus, and qualifier of the Holy Office, sealed the glory of that day. He mounted the pulpit, where he preached a sermon so well suited to the subject in its eloquence, the depth of its arguments, the gravity and maturity of its discourse, the profundity and erudition of its fundamental proofs, and the solidity and thoroughness of its learning, that he arrested the attention and even the admiration of those present. Not less learnedly did he instruct them than he melted them to affection and sorrow, quickening in them all, with his intellectual vigor and his well-known pulpit eloquence, grief at having lost a life so filled with virtues and so crowned with merits. Some responsaries followed the sermon, and with that ended the funeral ceremonies for our prince, whose memory will live immortal in our hearts. During those two days was shown the devotion and loyalty of vassals ever attentive to the service of their Catholic monarch, in recognition of the rewards that they receive from his august hand. The same parade was formed once more; and, leaving his [36]Lordship at the palace, they bade one another farewell, and returned to their houses.

The sumptuous and royal mausoleum, which was erected by the piety of this noble community, occupies the last place in this brief relation. In the description of it, one finds his eloquence fail and he is dismayed, and he can find no excellence in his art that is proportionate to the measure of its grandeur and majesty. The said alcaldes-in-ordinary and two regidors assisted the fiscal auditor as managers in the construction of that catafalque. They urged forward the work, and attended to what was done by the best workmen and those who were most skilled in the matter. Beyond doubt they saw fulfilled the object of their vigilance, in the applause and admiration of all. It was a work that seemed born of nature rather than a contrived invention of art. In it gravity was surpassed, richness gleamed forth, majesty was displayed, and method excelled; and its brilliancy was dazzling, with so beautiful an arrangement and display of lights, without proving an obstacle by their number or the lights paling, that grandeur was never seen to greater advantage or majesty more resplendent.

Its ground space and arch occupied all the space of the principal chapel, until it met the very ceiling of the temple; and had the capacity of the place allowed more, the execution of so extensive a contrivance would not have been confined to so narrow limits. The height of the socle was six feet, and it was thirty-nine feet wide. In the center of it arose the catafalque, which was octagonal in form. It was composed of two structures made after the best ideas of architecture. The first structure was composed [37]of sixteen columns, with foundations on a like number of bases and pedestals crowned with beautiful and curiously wrought capitals. On top of them arose the entablatures with their friezes, architraves, fluted mouldings, and pediment of the arch crowned with balusters—all regulated to the requirements of art without detracting one jot from the idea [that they expressed]. That structure ended in a cupola,4 which well supplied the place of the sky, when it was seen reflecting the lights, and bathed in splendor. The cornices, mouldings, representations of fruit, mouldings above, and brackets, were of a bronze color, so cunningly done that they appeared rather the work of nature than the imitation of art. The pedestals and capitals, touched with beaten gold, heightened the fiction of the bronze which the brush and hand of the artist feigned and imitated. The shafts of the columns, with their pedestals, friezes and architraves were so vivid an imitation of jasper that one would believe them to have been cut from that mineral; or that they had stolen the confused variety of its colors, so that one’s sight was mistaken in it. Their beauty was heightened by the brilliancy of silver work or broken crystals with which they were wreathed. In the center of that structure shone forth majestically the urn, which was placed under a canopy of solid silver covered with a rich violet cloth of gold, with two cushions of the same material, and and her of white cloth of gold, on which reposed the royal crown. On its pedestal was seen a stanza of ten verses, as follows:

At the four corners of the urn, outside the circumference of the catafalque, were seen four kings-at-arms, of beautiful appearance with their headpieces pulled down and gold maces on their shoulders, with which one hand was occupied, while with the other they held up the escutcheon of the royal arms embroidered with gold. The royal arms were also stamped upon their breasts on their black corselets, girdled with a beautiful variety of bands and edgings of gold. In the niches of the first columns, which formed the front and faced the urn, upon their fretted pedestals and spattered with gold rose the figures of Grammar and Rhetoric with their emblems—so excellent in their workmanship and lifelike in attitude that, although mute, the excellence of their sculpture and make-up instructed [the beholder]. I do not describe the grace of their shapes, the beauty of their features, the easy flow of the hair, the undulations of the drapery, spangled with bits of glass, and the other accompaniments of beautiful ornaments and fantasies of art, in order not to weary [my readers] with prolixities. They were significant of the excellent progress which the prince made in both of those branches of study, and an illustrious trophy of his early genius and marvelous [39]intellect. Grammar had the following attached to the placard of her pedestal:

Not less pithily and elegantly did Rhetoric explain her thought in another stanza, of ten verses, as follows:

The second structure was built upon the first, and it was no less grave and majestic. There symmetry and proportion vied with beauty and variety of colors, which the brush usurped from nature. It was composed of twelve columns, made in imitation of jasper, with their pedestals, architraves, and flying cornices; and these were closed above with a cupola, adorned with spirals and volutes, which happily completed the work. In the space between the columns of the facade or front, and occupying their own pedestals, were set majestic and pleasing figures of Arithmetic and Geometry, with their emblems. These statues faced each other, and corresponded to Grammar and Rhetoric who were in the first structure—in both their location and altitude, [40]and in the proportions and excellence of their sculpture. It was a glorious blazon for our prince, who, although of so tender years, was able, having cast aside sloth and childish amusements, to give himself up to the exercise of branches of learning so useful, thus preparing for success in the monarchical government of his kingdoms. Arithmetic had an inscription on the placard of her pedestal, which read as follows:

Geometry had a corresponding placard on her base, which read as follows:

The space between the columns of this structure was occupied by the prince (or rather, our sovereign)—the glorious shoot from the Austrian trunk, and the beautiful flower which was the most brilliant ornament of the august lily of Francia—who, because he had no room in the entire sphere of his extensive monarchy, mounted gloriously, by means of [41]the wings of his brilliant and heroic virtues, to rule in the heavens. His statue was so well conceived, and so commensurate with the beauty of the architecture, that one would think it had a soul, for it gave soul to the entire work. Not only did it take possession of the eyes but also of the hearts [of the people] who rendered humble adoration to the image of their prince. The prince was armed, with breastplate and shoulder-piece embroidered with beautiful edgings of gold, and his clothing was elegant and showy. In his right hand he held an imperial and Cæsarean crown. In his left hand was another and royal crown, indicating him as sworn prince of the kingdoms of España and of the empire of the Indias. On the base of the image was an inscription which read as follows:

By way of a finial, there was displayed on the ball at the center of the cupola a proud and spirited figure of Monarchy—armed gracefully but heavily with breastplate, shoulder-plate, greaves, cuisses, gorgets, and bracelets; and wearing skirts of bronze color edged with gold. Her head was encased in a morion surmounted by waving plumes and beautiful crests. Over her breast was a rich sash that hung loosely with airy grace and splendor. She was clad [42]in a military cloak, flowing in beautiful lines, and ornamented here and there with embroidery in silver. In her right hand she gracefully held a general’s baton subduing with it by the jaw a rampant lion of wonderful fierceness. With the left hand she clasped an escutcheon of the royal arms, bound about with many spirals of gold edging and beautiful ornaments. Massed about her feet were various military instruments, and at her side were the standards and devices of her glorious triumphs. All that variety composed a collection of beauties which was the crown of the entire work. Two finely carved pyramids arose gloriously at the two extremes of the socle, which they confronted. They were as high as the catafalque, and were painted in various colors, and spangled with bits of crystal, and on them were many rows of candle-sockets. There were, besides, other triumphal obelisks which were erected upon the cupola, and garlanded the upper structure, which accompanied Monarchy as glorious monuments. Many escutcheons of the royal arms and of the city were seen hanging at regular intervals—some of them embroidered and others in bas-relief, and all with much ornamentation of ribbons and resplendent in colors. The brilliant display of candles, (more than one thousand two hundred in number), enhanced all this splendor. Most of the lights were candles of two, three, four, five, or six libras, and were placed in their silver candlesticks, sockets, and holders. Besides, there were a great number of codales,6 which were made for that purpose and filled the entire space of the plinth.

The funeral poems and eulogies with which all [43]the royal chapel was crowned were a glorious acquittance of the Muses, in the happy death of their illustrious pupil. Some of these will be given in conclusion, and with them will end [the account of] what was done at the funeral ceremonies which this noble and loyal city of Manila performed for its august prince. The public demonstrations corresponded, not to the devotion with which so loyal vassals serve their Catholic sovereigns, but to the condition in which this community finds itself at present, worn out with so many calamities, oppressed by so many misfortunes, and even bloodless and exhausted by the so continual invasions of enemies; had not the divine hand been so favorable on its side, it would not now have any shoulders to support so heavy a burden. May our Catholic and invincible monarch accept these slight indications of the desire, and the proofs of the affection, which all this community offers as the obligation of its loyalty and in token of its grief, consecrated to the happy memories of their prince, in this public manifestation; if not suited to the grandeur of his person, it is to the generosity of his royal breast and august blood. May Heaven extend his life for the glory and increase of this monarchy, as we his humble and obedient vassals desire.7

[Then follow the poems and eulogies above mentioned, which are written partly in Latin and partly in Spanish.] [44]

Royal Aid for Jesuits Asked by Manila Cabildo

Sire:

This city of Manila has informed your Majesty on other occasions how the Order of the Society of Jesus, which came to these islands many years ago with an ardent and apostolic zeal for the greater service of our Lord and that of your Majesty, has been employed in the conversion of souls; and that it has made and makes use of various means extraordinarily and especially efficacious to allure souls to the true knowledge of the matters of our holy Catholic faith, as experience has proved and proves daily. Their modest prudence and their admirable example of life and morals have verily aided in that—qualities which, resplendent in them, as is right, our Lord has permitted to shine out with great profit in the missions that they have in charge in these remote islands, besides the great edification that they cause in this city by their holy and excellent instruction.

We say the same in this letter, and, in particular, that the said order, recognizing its extremely great need of religious, has determined to send at the present time Father Diego Patiño1 as their procurator-general[45]—a religious of excellent abilities and learning, and of long experience in everything relating to these islands, as he has served your Majesty here for thirty years—in order that he might petition your Majesty to be pleased to grant him permission to bring as many religious as he can; for the said need is today greater than what it was when Father Diego de Bobadilla came with the forty men that he brought. For, since that time, sixty-one religious have died here, and some of them of but moderate age, as the land and its means of livelihood in general are so poor. The said order uses them as sparingly as is demanded by the poverty that the land suffers at this time. They are also placed under great restrictions by the continual hardships and dangers of their missions, as they are so separated in various islands—some of Moros and others of infidels—and by the stormy seas and awful currents. In that said number of sixty-one who have died, are nine priests who have gloriously given and sacrificed their lives to our Lord at the hands of the infidels. Attested official reports regarding three of these have been given before the ordinary of the city of Santísimo Nombre de Jesus, while those of the remaining six are being considered. For that reason the posts of the province are suffering the said need of the workers who are necessary; for the college of this city has one-half of the number of priests that it [46]had formerly, in order that they might attend to the so numerous duties that they exercise—the school for children; chairs of grammar, arts, and theology; and as preachers and confessors, because of the great frequency with which people of all nations go to their college for the administration of the holy sacraments of confession and communion throughout the year, and especially during Lent. This is something which does not receive due consideration; and with the few religious that they have, they are necessarily very hard-worked, for they have to go out day and night to confess the sick; to minister in the hospitals, prisons, and girls’ schools; and to the ordinary preaching in the guardhouses—from which abundant fruit has been seen.

The colleges of the city of Santísimo Nombre de Jesus and of the port of Yloylo, which formerly had five or six priests, do not now have two apiece, so that it is impossible to attend to the many duties that there present themselves.

Many of their Indian missions which formerly rendered two religious indispensable, have now but one. In the great island of Mindanao, nearly one-half of the civilized villages are without a minister, and consequently many people die without the sacraments. It is necessary for one minister to attend to one, two, three, or four villages which are very distant from one another, when each village needs its own priests. They do not hesitate, for all that, to go in the fleets when opportunity offers, in the capacity of chaplains, and in the shipyards where galleons are built. In those duties they have performed well-known and special services to our Lord and to your Majesty. [47]

By the industry of the said religious, and by the toil and hardships which can be understood, they have aided the arms of your Majesty; and the kings of Jolo and Mindanao, who were the ones who had rebelled and were destroying the islands with their plunderings, were reduced to peace, and today are increasing their friendship. The greatest foundation for that friendship is the example furnished by the said religious in their lands, and in the region where they have their missions, such as the mild and fitting treatment that they employ, according to their custom, having hopes [thereby] to gain the natives for God; for they listen without any reluctance to the matters of our holy Catholic faith from the mouths of the fathers, and learn from them very willingly.

The poverty of the houses of the said Society is as great as that which the inhabitants suffer, who are the fount whence originates all the support of this order and all the others. For since they are so poor, they cannot aid with the generosity that they might wish this and the other orders, the colleges, hospitals, prisoners, and brotherhoods. For that reason it was necessary to beg alms from door to door for more than five years, in order that they might maintain the college of this city and the few fathers in it; and the reason why they have ceased to beg is not because the need is not the same and greater, but because it is recognized that the citizens cannot continue their aid. For that reason the said father procurator-general of the said order is going [to España], as others have gone, as he can expect no more aid here. Consequently, it will be necessary to make heavy loans there, if your Majesty do not please to order [48]that he be assisted in that royal court, and in Sevilla and Mexico, with your usual liberality. This city humbly petitions your Majesty to be mindful of the said great need of ministers and the great fruit that they obtain for our Lord and your Majesty, whose royal Catholic person may the divine Majesty preserve, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, June twenty, one thousand six hundred and fifty-two.2

Matheo de Arceo
Jeronimo de Fuentes Cortés
Nicolas Fernandez Paredes
Cristobal Velazquez
Gabriel Gomez del Castillo
Pedro de Morales
Pedro de Almonte
Juan de Somonte
A. de Verastegui
Francisco Lopez Montenegro
Albaro de Castillo [49]

Condition of the Philippines in 1652

Summary of the memorial of the Jesuit Magino Sola1 to Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, governor of the Filipinas Islands, explaining the needs of the islands.

In this memorial Magino Sola shows that the conquest cannot be sustained, or extended to the points that are indispensable, without arms and soldiers. That the conquest may be carried on, it is necessary that the pay of the soldiers be met, as well as the other obligations of the islands, which have been quite disregarded for several years. Especial attention should be given to the evangelical ministers, who ought to be helped by the military.

The scarcity and misery has been the cause of serious disturbances. The father says: “The reason why the Chinese in Filipinas rose in revolt was only because of the lack of the ordinary supplies for the soldiers, so that the soldiers violently seized [50]their food and clothing from the houses and Parián of the Chinese. The merchants could not pay the Chinese for the goods that they had bought from them for the want of the same succor.2 The reason why the natives in some provinces have risen in insurrection and killed their ministers and the Spaniards was only because, the ordinary supplies being lacking, the Spaniards could not satisfy the natives for the food and goods that they had given on credit, nor pay them for their work.

“The reason why the governor of those islands found himself obliged to seize the money of their citizens and that of this city [i.e., Mexico], with so great loss to trade, was only for the reënforcement of the presidios, and to avoid troubles which follow from not paying the soldiers. Let one consider in how many years either the relief for those islands has been lacking altogether, or has been sent in so small quantity that it neither supplies the need, nor gives any hope of paying the amount owed. That is the origin and beginning, if I do not deceive myself, of all the many troubles and misfortunes that were and are suffered by the inhabitants of those islands, since the year 1637, when the trade began to dwindle because of the harshness at Acapulco in the visitation of Licentiate Don Pedro de Quiroga y Moya—troubles predicted, without doubt, by the ashes that rained down throughout those islands in the year 1633, which was followed by a general famine. In the year 1636, no ships came from those islands. In the year 38, the ‘Concepcion’ was wrecked in the [51]Ladrones. In the year 39, the two ships which were being sent back from this kingdom were lost on the coast of Cagayan, and the Sangleys rose in revolt. In the year 1640, the volcanoes burst open and some villages were entirely engulfed; and many other damages resulted. It would appear that Heaven itself was announcing new troubles and was sounding to arms against those islands. For throughout that archipelago one could hear distinctly aërial combats with artillery, and skirmishes with musketry.

“In the year 1644, occurred the so terrible earthquake which destroyed and overthrew two-thirds of the temples and buildings of Manila, and buried many persons among their ruins. In the year 46, the ship which was returning from this kingdom to those islands was wrecked. In that year and in that of 47 no ships could come here, for the Dutch held those seas, and they were committing great depredations and robberies in those islands. In the year 49, the ship ‘Encarnacion’ ran aground while returning, and was lost with all the cargo aboard it, while some of the people lost their lives. There was no ship in the year 1650, for that which was coming had to put back into port. ‘Nuestra Señora de Guia’ was almost wrecked among the islands when returning, with great loss and damage on the goods carried. No help was sent to those islands in the year 51–52. Let so many misfortunes be considered, and whether so many losses demand extraordinary reënforcements. Let one consider what must be the present gloomy conditions in those islands since the reënforcements have failed there for so many years. Let one consider whether an extraordinary and all-surpassing [52]reënforcement is now rightly due and demanded, and according to the command of his Majesty. For, as appears by his decrees, he ordered in past years, on hearing of some of the above-mentioned troubles, that those islands be reënforced, even though the usual money and treasure should not be sent to España for that purpose.”

The father continues to speak of the sacrifices made by the citizens of Manila because of the wars with the Dutch, not only giving money to the royal treasury, but also military service in the Plaza de Armas and manning the galleys with their slaves. In the time of Corcuera, money was taken from the charitable fund of the Misericordia for the maintenance of the infantry; and the gratings and balconies, and even the bells, served for the making of nails and artillery.

Therefore, the father states the necessity to the islands of a governor who should have as his chief aim the relief of the soldiers, and of the other classes who received assistance from the state.

This relation is dated September 15, 1652. [53]

Jesuit Missions in 1655

Father Fray Miguel Solana1 of the Society of Jesus, provincial of this province of Filipinas, in fulfilment of the royal decree, of which he was notified by order of your Excellency, commanding him to give accurate information of the religious whom the Society has engaged in work in the missions of the Indians and of the villages which are in their charge, declares that all the villages and missions that they administer are located in the archbishopric of Manila and the bishopric of the city of Dulce Nombre de Jesus, where there are sixty-seven priests, distributed as follows:

There are seventeen in the archbishopric of the city of Manila.

There are four priests in the city of Manila, who are interpreters, and are at the expense of his Majesty, so that they may attend to the ministry to the Indians who go thither from all parts, as that place is the capital of the islands. They also minister to the [54]mulattoes and those of other races. At present those priests are Fathers Antonio Juan Sana, Jose Pimentel, Juan Bautista Suredo, Francisco Manuel.

In the village of San Miguel, which is inhabited by Tagálog Indians, is Father Magino Sola.

In the village of Santa Cruz, which, is inhabited by Christian Chinese, mestizos, free negroes, and Tagálogs, are two priests, namely, Fathers Francisco Ferrer and Ambrosio de la Cruz.

The village of San Pedro, where Indians, Chinese, and mestizos who work in the surrounding country congregate, has Father Francisco Colin.

In the residence of Antipolo, where there are other villages—namely, Antipolo, Taytay, and Baras, with four visitas in the mountains—there have always been three priests. At present there are two, namely, Fathers Luis Espinelli and Ygnacio Zapata.

In the residence of Silang reside three priests, namely, Fathers Ygnacio del Monte, Diego de Sanabria, and Juan de Esquerra. They have charge of three villages, namely, Silang, Yndan, and Maragondon, and their visitas.

In Cavite, the port of Manila, and in Cavite el Viejo, Fathers Andres de Ledesma and Juan Lopez attend to all the people of every class.

There are two fathers in four settlements of the island of Marinduque, namely, Fathers Luis Pimentel and Juan de Espinosa.

Letter from the Archbishop of Manila to Felipe IV

Sire:

When we became established in these islands, and they were divided up into bishoprics, the division was not made with due regard to convenience, and as the distance between the several parts required. This was due either to a lack of information, or to the fact that the conversion [of the heathen] had not yet been accomplished, nor had various islands, inhabited by numerous souls, yet been discovered; but these are now for the most part brought to our holy Catholic faith, or are shortly to be so, as we hope. To this must be added the lack of gospel laborers in regions which are distant more than a hundred leguas in the sea; as are the Litaos of Zamboanga, the Mindanaos, the Xoloans, the Borneans, and other nations, to which no bishopric extends or can extend, nor is there any prelate to care for those souls. Such a condition demands a remedy, and it appears to me best to present the matter to your Majesty, beseeching you to be pleased to apply the remedy which is fitting, by providing a prelate and bishop to govern the church for so many souls. The most effective measure, it appears to me, is to discontinue the bishopric of Camarines, and have the bishop put over [64]the said nations—considering that the former is the smallest bishopric, and borders on this archbishopric of Manila; and that the administration of the sacraments of confirmation, and the visitations, could be attended to by land journeys [from here]. In this way these souls will be provided with their needed nourishment, and many will receive [spiritual] aid who today are neglected, or who have hardly any ministers. It has seemed best to me to present this matter to your Majesty, that you may command what shall seem best. [In the margin: “Let the decision on the printed memorial, number 47, 48, and 53, be executed.”]

In the year 654 I gave an account to your Majesty of all the kingdoms and islands in the neighborhood of these. In some of them your Majesty has garrisons and government, as in that of Terrenate; others are governed by their own native kings; and in all there are an infinite number of Christians. But all of them are lacking in ecclesiastical jurisdiction and spiritual administration, because priests have to come to them from Goa; and on account of the want that they have suffered, they find themselves in need of ministers. Considering the fact that I am the nearest metropolitan in these islands, it seemed best to me to make known these facts to your Majesty, so that, if it be your pleasure, you may provide assistance from this archbishopric—as is provided for the countries of Camboxa, Tunquin, Macazar, Sian, which are all governed by their native kings and are inhabited by an infinite number of baptized persons, who are afforded salvation in the same manner and way as was done in the year 654 in the islands of Terrenate, where the power of your Majesty is established. [65]Your governor, Don Sabiniano Manrrique de Lara, withdrew the curacy which was established at Malaca, as it seemed expedient for the service of your Majesty; and at that time he sent ministers to maintain that Christian community until your Majesty should determine otherwise, or his Holiness should make provision [through me], as the metropolitan nearest at hand, for the saving of these souls. [In the margin: “The same as in the preceding clause.”]

I also relate to your Majesty how, through the lack of bishops which prevails in the kingdoms near these islands (whose ecclesiastical government has been administered by the archbishopric of Goa), several Portuguese candidates, both secular priests and religious, have come to this city from Macam and other regions, to be ordained. As a vassal of your Majesty, I decided not to ordain them without special advice from your Majesty; I, therefore, informed your governor of this, and have ordained none of them. That I may execute in this and in everything else the will of your Majesty, I beg you to be pleased to command me what I must do. May God protect your Catholic and royal person, granting greater kingdoms and seigniories. Manila, July 30, 1656. [In the margin: “This question was found in another letter from the archbishop. Have the fiscal examine it at once, and have it brought with everything to the Council.” “The fiscal, having examined this clause of the letter, says that the Council might be pleased to command that the archbishop give information as to the manner in which those mentioned in this clause came to be ordained—whether with or without dismissory letters, and from [66]whom they bring them—so that with this he may make such request as is suitable. Madrid, March 2, 660.”]

Miguel, archbishop of Manila.

[Endorsed: “Manila, July 30, 656. To his Majesty. The archbishop informs us concerning various subjects, which are noted on the margin, namely: the great number of Christians who are in those islands, and the few laborers; much besides bishops and ministers is needed for their government and instruction; and he proposes other matters which should be decided.” “June 6, 659. Memorial, number 47, 48, and 53.” “Session of the Council of March 4, 1660. Let his Majesty be advised that the Council have considered what the archbishop of Manila writes in the last clause of this letter of July 30, 1656, in regard to his refusing to ordain the religious and secular priests who come to his archbishopric from the Portuguese who are in the territory of the archbishopric of Goa, on account of the state in which Portugal is; and, besides, what the fiscal answered on this point, after he had seen the letter—namely, that the archbishop should be asked to give information in regard to the manner in which these men came to be ordained, whether with or without dismissory letters, and from whom they bring them, so that the proper request may be made. Although orders to this effect have been issued, it has seemed best to the Council to render account to your Majesty of what this information contains, on account of the bearing which it has generally upon the affairs of Portugal; so that, in so far as this knowledge is important to him, such consultation may be held as shall appear most expedient.” [67]“Let the Council take immediate action on this, so that their decision may go with the fleet.”

Don Juan Gonzales
Don Pedro de Galbez
Don Miguel de Luna

Dated on the same day.] [68]

Two Jesuit Memorials, Regarding Religious in the Moluccas, and the Inquisition

Sire:

I, Francisco Vello of the Society of Jesus, procurator-general of the province of Filipinas, who am at present in this court, deem it advisable for the service of your Majesty to make the following statements:

The governor of Filipinas, for certain reasons and motives that he had, withdrew from the Terrenate forts the rector of a house of the Society of Jesus which the province of Cochin in Eastern India had there from the beginning of those conquests, and placed there instead religious belonging to my province of Filipinas. The said rector acted as commissary of the Inquisition for the tribunal of Goa, as long as he was there; but when he was withdrawn those forts were left without any commissary. I gave testimony regarding that to the inquisitor-general, so that he on his part might procure from your Majesty the appointment for those forts of a minister—a matter so important for the purity of our holy faith—since your Majesty strives, as your chief glory, to preserve it in all the kingdoms and provinces of your monarchy; and it is most necessary [69]in them, as they are in the midst of many sectaries, and, as those people are very warlike, they are more ready to receive errors.

Everything relating to the Inquisition of the Filipinas is carried to the tribunal of Mexico, with great hardships to the persons, expense to the treasury, and the risk of losing everything—sometimes years being spent in questions and answers, and the enemy capturing (as happened at various times) not only the records but the criminals as well. And when affairs are settled, whether the criminals are punished or freed, they are left about two thousand five hundred leguas from their home and abode, and sometimes it is impossible for them to return. One would think that, since it was considered an inconvenience for the vassals of the Canarias (who are distant only two hundred odd leguas from Hespaña) to go to Sevilla, and a tribunal was established there for their alleviation, there is not less but much [more] reason in the Filipinas for your Majesty to be pleased to order that a tribunal be erected in the city of Manila, as was done in the Canarias. Moreover, supposing that Goa return later to the allegiance of your Majesty, it is as difficult to take criminals and records from the forts of Terrenate to that place as to Mexico; and, in proportion to the dangers of the sea, much greater.

At present, even if the road from Terrenate to Goa were short and easy, it is not right to take the faithful vassals of your Majesty to be punished by rebels, and by secret decrees, in districts so distant from one another. And if they are not taken—as they have not been taken for many years, during which acts have been fulminated—evildoers remain without [70]punishment, and the one evil is as bad as the other. All that will be avoided by establishing a new tribunal in Manila. By that erection no new expense will be added to the royal treasury other than that of the inquisitor, and the amount given him will be proportioned to the income of the country, and can be obtained by assigning a certain number of Indian tributes to the royal treasury for that purpose; and he can afterward be advanced to bishop and archbishop, with greater experience than those have who go from other regions. The other officials do not receive a salary. I trust in God, and the piety of your Majesty, that provision will be made for this in the manner most to our Lord’s glory and the welfare of your vassals, etc.

Francisco Vello1

Sire:

I, Francisco Vello, procurator-general of the Society of Jesus for the province of Filipinas, declare that, on account of the information that I have had from those islands and from all parts of the Orient, I have deemed it necessary to represent to your Majesty that, when the forts of Terrenate were restored from the possession of the Dutch in the year six hundred and four, the temporal government of those forts (which was before under Eastern Yndia), was administered by Filipinas, while the ecclesiastical and spiritual was left to the said Yndia, as it belonged to the bishopric of Malaca, and the Inquisition to the tribunal of Goa, and a house of my order [71]to the province of Cochin or Malabar (which is one and the same thing)—your Majesty paying both the expenses of the military and the salaries of the ecclesiastical persons from your royal treasury of Manila.

Because of the troubles that Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera recognized while governor, after the insurrection of Portugal and their conquests, he had the religious withdrawn—leaving only the vicar, because of the jurisdiction—which could not be administered by secular officials, but by those to whom it belongs. After Don Diego Faxardo assumed that government, he again introduced Portuguese religious there, and withdrew those of my province. [That plan was pursued] until Don Saviniano Manrrique de Lara assumed the same government, who, on account of information from the warden of those forts, again withdrew the religious from Yndia, and likewise the vicar—entrusting to my provincial that administration and house, at the advice of the archbishop of Manila. That charge was immediately accepted, in order to serve your Majesty; and it has been thus far fulfilled.

Although those presidios and the king of Tidore (who is a Christian) and the people of those districts have persons to administer the holy sacraments to them, their ministers have no jurisdiction, as it has to emanate from the ordinary of Malaca. In the same way there is no commissary of the Inquisition, as the tribunal of Goa thus far has jurisdiction there. Malaca, to which the said forts belonged, has been occupied by the Dutch since the year six hundred and forty-one; and our holy Roman faith is no longer exercised there, nor has there been left any [72]city or village of that bishopric which could obtain that see. Also is there no hope of the restoration of what has been lost, according to the trend of the times. Because of that loss the jurisdiction of Terrenate had to be transferred either to the bishopric of Cochin—which is the nearest one, being distant thence six hundred leguas—or to the metropolitan of Goa, which is seven hundred leguas from Malaca, while the first one is one thousand three hundred leguas and the second one thousand four hundred from Terrenate. Consequently, on account of the long navigation, they cannot be furnished with supplies from there, as their proper administration requires. For that same reason they were not visited for more than twenty years by any ordinary or ecclesiastical superior, as is commanded by the councils. Besides the above difficulty there is another one, namely, that no people sail from Yndia to the Moluccas except the Dutch, as the latter have gained possession of those islands and of their drug trade, which they defend from all, most especially the Portuguese of Yndia.

Consequently, it seems to be necessary that the spiritual affairs of those forts be placed in charge of the archbishop of Manila (although they are nearer to the bishopric of Zebú), because of the ships which continue to carry reënforcements, with a voyage of three hundred leguas or a little more or less. No other object is intended in this than the welfare of those Christians; and your Majesty will obtain no other advantage than that of maintaining our Roman faith in its purity in that most remote district of the world, among so warlike nations as are the Japanese, Chinese and Tartars, Tunquinese, Cochin-chinese, Cambojans, Siamese, Joloans, and others [73]who almost surround it. For that alone so great a sum of money is spent as is known, not only in those forts but in all those islands. It has been proved to be very agreeable to God because of the extent to which the holy gospel has spread among them, for they are the best fields of Christian effort of all the conquests of the monarchy. It is well seen that He favors it in the continual victories that your Majesty’s arms have had in those regions on sea and land, although it is so distant a member of the body of this monarchy. May God prosper this monarchy well with fortunate victories for the welfare and increase of our holy religion.2

Francisco Vello [74]

Jesuit Protest against the Dominican University

Memorial of Miguel Solana, Jesuit, petitioning the king not to allow the Dominican friars to carry out their purpose of founding a university in Manila.

Sire:

Miguel Solana of the Society of Jesus, and procurator-general of the province of the Philippine Islands, makes the following declaration, namely: That he has been shown a memorial presented by the father master Fray Mateo Vermudez,1 procurator-general of the college of Santo Tomas in the city of Manila, wherein for reasons therein set forth he asks that the ambassador at Rome be authorized in writing to petition his Holiness to erect a university of general studies, and to incorporate and establish it in his college as above—so that, should there hereafter be founded separate schools and general [studies], the said university is to be transferred to them, in which may be taught three other branches of learning—[75]namely, canon law, civil law, and medicine, as more fully set forth in the said memorial, the meaning whereof to be taken for granted. Your Majesty will be pleased to order that the same be stricken from the judicial acts, and furthermore, that no other petition of similar import be admitted, with the declaration to the opposing party that, inasmuch as the matter has already been decided [cosa juzgada] in favor of the college of San Ignacio, which the Society conducts in the said city, they are barred from further relief. All which I petition for, for reasons to be more fully described hereafter, whereon I found the necessary petitions and prayers, which, as is evident and appears, will be acknowledged throughout the whole line of reasoning and the acts of the suit that has been entered by the said college, as well as from the allegations and claims deduced therein. The claim of the college of Santo Tomas, in brief, is the establishment of a university in order to nullify the right and privileges of the Society and of the said college of San Ignacio, whereon the Audiencia of Manila has acted and delivered judgment—which acts, on being brought before the Council on appeal, were ended definitively in the trial and review of the said suit. The case, therefore, is finished and closed, and for no reason can or should it be reopened, either in whole or part. Wherefore it results that the claim now introduced is faulty with no other purpose than to burden the said Society with new suits and expenses; as the case, as stated, has been decided and closed, and the reopening of it barred, as being a matter already determined. The said memorial therefore should not be admitted, nor a hearing granted to the claim advanced therein, which should [76]be refused further consideration. And to the end that his plea be drawn up according to the requirements of law, and for the better confutation of the reasons advanced in the said memorial, he [i.e., Solana] maintains that what was petitioned for and obtained by the opponents in the warrant (which was secured through the aid of money) was the establishment of a university like those at Avila and Pamplona. But in order to avoid raising the question of temporal privileges with the necessary expenses therefor, as well as because the paper to be sent to Rome had to be of similar tenor, it was trickily drawn up, and the petition for a university made to read as for one like Lima and Mexico, whereof the reasons advanced in the said suit were set forth in full form, whence it follows that it is not entitled to any further consideration; especially so, since the concession made by his Holiness was according to the tenor of the clear and truthful petition that had been presented to him, without taking into consideration the ulterior meaning that through deceit and malice had been introduced into the report and the subsequent decree thereon. Nor should so important a defect be glozed over with the assertion that the said paper bore the signatures of the president and the members of your Council (whereof there is no evidence) while the very contrary is evident in the acts. [Let it be noted] that considerable time has passed, while, moreover, the proceedings have taken for granted the certainty that those acts should have in similar matters—besides the facts that, in the endeavor to secure a bull, the accompanying statement was vague in that no mention was made therein of the authority [77]possessed by the Society of conferring degrees by perpetual and lawful right; and that in the Council acknowledgment was made (with full cognizance of the case and of whatever was proposed in the said memorial and papers), that they were in favor of the college of San Ignacio and its degrees and students, and not of those of Santo Tomas. Moreover, the bulls and apostolic privileges that have been enjoyed by the Society are in legal and recognized form, and have been admitted and certified to in all the audiencias and tribunals of the Indias, as is notorious; they were passed by the Council, and were presented in the suit, and acknowledged as being of value; while what was advanced by the said father procurator whereon were issued the decisions and writs of the Audiencia of Manila and the Council, was held as gratuitously asserted and without foundation. As early as the year 26, the said bulls were presented to the president, governor, and captain-general, at that time Don Juan Niño de Tabora—from which the subreption latent in the bull which they obtained is inferrible, for in the form wherein it was granted, they would not have secured it if his Holiness had had the evidence of the right and [fact of] possession on the part of the said Society. Nevertheless, the said father procurator-general seeks and claims to have all the defects therein corrected through the issuance of new letters and bulls, in order that the said Society may thereby be deprived and despoiled of its said just privileges and legal titles. In virtue of these it is toiling to the great benefit and advantage, both spiritual and temporal, of the vassals of your Majesty who are resident in those regions and provinces, and who again and again have sought to [78]have the Society upheld in its said right, the same having been duly acknowledged and certified, of which there cannot be the slightest doubt. In order to make plain the baselessness of the arguments that are raised against the said bulls, it suffices to say that they have been presented in legal, authentic, and unchallengeable shape, whereof the evidence is wholly undeniable; and have been recognized as such by the Council, by which they have been accepted with all needed circumstances and requirements—so that, had any further scrutiny been needed therein, the same would not have been neglected, nor, [in such case], would the audiencias of the Indias have allowed them to be cited. Moreover in the suit now pending in the Council, between the college of the Society and that of Santo Tomas in sequence of the one conducted before the royal Audiencia resident in that city [of Manila], the fiscal of Santa Fé [in Mexico?] required that those bulls should be recognized and fulfilled; and although opposition thereto was offered on the part of the college of Sante Tomas, the acts of the trial and the review show that a writ of execution was issued empowering the Society to make full and complete use of the same by conferring degrees, as it had been doing, the college of Santo Tomas being enjoined therefrom. In consideration of this it is not right to grant the father procurator a hearing. Besides, in that suit many other arguments and reasons were brought forward in favor of the Society. Wherefore, if this had not already been decided, finished, and closed, as is the case, a petition would be presented to have all the acts relative to the same brought together, or that a report should be drawn [79]up of the proceedings in the trial. With this concurs the fact, as said, that they were passed by the Council, of which a cedula to that effect has been presented. Moreover in the said suit before the Audiencia of Manila, the cedula of November 25 of [the year 16] 45 having been offered in opposition thereto, full recognition was had of this article; and in the trial and review of the case the claim was refused consideration, since the truthfulness and promptness wherewith the Society was and is proceeding was in evidence—as also was its right use of the said bulls and its conferral of degrees, of which recognition and discussion was made before all parties in this said suit. Besides, to assert that the powers to confer degrees were revoked by Pius V and Sixtus V is contrary to established fact, inasmuch as, so far as relates, appertains, and belongs to its privileges and bulls, these not only were not withdrawn from the Society, but rather were confirmed most amply, with the grant besides of new favors and graces. Wherefore, as regards this plea all question is ended, while the revocation to which he refers concerns other parties, and other intents and purposes, which do not belong to or affect this suit relative to the firm and unalterable right of the Society of Jesus. The said father procurator-general, then, should know what is so notorious that even in Rome, where the Society has its principal university, it has been conferring degrees on its students without any opposition whatever, which would not be the case were the bulls in any way detective. But this [claim] is wholly gratuitous and censurable, as the said decrees of execution were issued by the audiencias and councils; nor should it be offered in opposition [80]on the part of the college of Santo Tomas; nor should an attempt be made to reopen what has been resolved and decided legally with such full knowledge of the case. And the report which he files is also opposed to established fact, in his statement that the city [of Manila] petitioned for the foundation of a university in the said college; for no such paper was written, nor has one been discovered, to the best of our knowledge. Nay, the evidence on the contrary goes to show that a special petition was drawn up in both the general and the particular interest of that community wherein the said Society is established and the use and exercise of its said bulls maintained. For this reason, when the Audiencia ordered the trial to be held, the citizens displayed so much regret for this disturbance of the Society, that the cabildo and magistracy felt obliged to repair to the governor and most urgently petition him to interpose his authority to have the suit remanded to the Council. They asked that no change [in regard to the college] be made, and that he would petition your Majesty on their behalf not to sanction the finding of the said act; or, in event of this being done, to extend the same grace also to the Society of Jesus, in opposition to whose growth it was not right or within reason (with due respect) to have the question decided through the expenditure of money, and that the petty amount of two thousand pesos. Because of the harm to the public welfare and the service of your Majesty, besides other cogent reasons, any similar proposal should be regarded with disfavor and refused a hearing. Moreover, it [i.e., the Jesuit college] was sought for and granted on the fiat of the Conde de Castrillo, through whose [81]agency this grant was secured, and confirmed by the Council. This they secured and obtained fully and sufficiently, and their warrants have been put into effect; whence it results that (even though the intent [of these] had not prevailed and been put into execution, as it has been; even though the res judicata bars further action, as it does) no recourse is open to them [i.e., the Dominicans], nor means that can be of use for introducing the said claim, nor ground for complaint—especially since in virtue of the bull they enjoy many and valuable prerogatives which were not contained in the temporal privileges which they exercised in former times. Then the archbishop gave them their degrees, which were recognized only in the Indias, while now these are recognized everywhere, being conferred by the rector of the college, which has other officials, insignia, and preëminences of special import. Nor do they [i.e., the Dominicans] refrain from nor content themselves with disparaging in every way the degrees and students of the Society of Jesus, whom they deprive and despoil of their just titles and rights. Such is the reason wherefore your Majesty should not give them a hearing were the subject one entitled to a hearing; such the reason wherefore the Council, although wrongly the contrary is maintained, has not declared the college of Santo Tomas to be a university—since what it did do, as is evident in the acts, was to order and declare that both colleges use their bulls. Thus the opposing party is deprived of nothing; nay, especially since, as is stated in the petition and prayer drawn up for that purpose, it was in order to obtain such powers as are held by the universities of Avila and Pamplona. They should not now seek, because [82]of the illegal act of the secretary, to have those powers extended and enlarged to those [possessed by the colleges] of Lima and Mexico, even though his Holiness had not reduced them to the form, limits, and branches of knowledge, referred to in the said bull—to whose tenor and decision one must submit without therefore giving undue significance to the word academia used therein. For, without now raising any question as to the effects thereof, the burden of this treatise simply states that whether a college be a university or not depends on the will of him who is empowered to grant it after inquiry into the fundamental grounds of the matter. In the said lawsuit, the truth was established; accordingly it is neither expedient nor fitting to discuss new points, as whether the term academia, or that of university, or something else be used. Besides, as already stated, the city of Manila did not petition for a university as alleged by the opposite party. The petitioner to that effect in the paper referred to was the said college itself, which secured the grant with limitations as in the decree. Wherefore, even if the said bull had not been secured, there would have been no cause for complaint, inasmuch as they paid the said two thousand pesos with your Majesty’s consent; nor could a new petition at any time be presented, one already having been granted, even though they had not obtained the bull.

But without calling in question the matter which is already settled, or his other representations which he insists on and firmly maintains—without appearance, however, of abandoning his claim in case of its rejection—the point that now may be discussed relative to a regular university and general studies is as follows: Has the college of Santo Tomas the [83]needed requisites therefor? or are there new conditions by which their claim can be supported, and which would deprive your Majesty of all ground [for refusing it], although you do not support it? In case a new foundation should be deemed advisable, this more suitably should be established in the said college of San Ignacio, for the reasons to be gathered from the acts of the said trial, from the reports that have been made in favor of the Society, and from the excellent progress which, as is proved by experience, has resulted from their learning and teaching in those islands, with the general applause and approval of their inhabitants and citizens. All this [the writer] again brings forward in the interest of this plea; and he represents that the college of San Ignacio is one founded by your Majesty, and the earliest, and is older than that of Santo Tomas; he also asserts its precedence and other prerogatives adjudged to it in the said trial. Its teaching staff has been, as it will continue to be, adorned with the needed endowments and learning; and that the Society will, as is usual in such cases, carefully teach and train youth follows from its statutes; and the results of its labors in this direction are well known. For its teachers it has never demanded any fees, nor have they any other reward than the luster which is derived from the learning and uprightness of the scholars. They need no royal endowment for their support and maintenance, nor will they ever apply for one. From the revenues enjoyed by the college and the favor shown by your Majesty from the beginning of their earliest establishments they will maintain themselves and be gladly occupied in the fulfilment of this duty. Your Majesty will be their only patron and will give them such statutes as he [84]shall please for their better government. Moreover, without having the royal exchequer put to the slightest expense, application will be made to his Holiness for bulls whereby this institution may win greater renown; while it will be subject in all things to the behest and commands of your Majesty and your Council, as ever has been the notable course of the Society of Jesus in those regions, in order that you may clearly see and understand its mode of procedure and how consistent are its actions. As a favor from your Majesty, it prays with the utmost earnestness and respect that you will be pleased to command that the papers and reports bearing on this matter in the secretary’s office be examined and compared—not only those from the present governor, but those from his predecessor; and especially what the latter wrote in the year 49, on the occasion of his referring [to the Council] this lawsuit. Therein will appear the arguments in opposition to the college of Santo Tomas, and the decisions thereon—among others, the fact that its graduates and students have to take oath that they will uphold the teachings of Saint Thomas [of Aquino]. As a matter of fact, in the renowned universities of the world an oath is taken to defend whatever the consensus of Christian piety has decreed—as during these days was sworn to amid public demonstrations and applause, in the presence of your Majesty—relative to the mystery of the conception of the most holy Virgin our Lady.2 Besides this, by express enactments [85]of law they are forbidden under censures to read and teach other faculties and sciences than those of philosophy and theology. It is therefore unbecoming and in conflict with the said enactments, as well as incompatible with their institute and profession, which forbid them to conduct public universities in the form now claimed. It, moreover, is in manifest prejudice to the right conferred by bulls and privileges on the Society of Jesus, as well as to what has been decreed in its favor with so much toil and expense. And, besides, it may be remarked that the establishment of a university, with courses of medicine, and canon and civil law, in the convent of Santo Domingo would be an improper and absurd proceeding, as they have no teachers who are acquainted with the first principles of these sciences, in default of which there could be but poor instruction, whereas the law requires that the teachers thereof be very learned, besides being endowed with singular talents and qualifications. As the matter is well and generally known, it may be observed that in the Philippines and the city of Manila, where the only persons who treat the sick are Chinese, there is no graduate physician; for no one wishes to go thither from Mexico, as he would be unable to get a living. As regards canon and civil law, graduates therein might go thither every year, if only they could obtain a living and find scholars to whom they might lecture and give instruction. But the city of Manila is so [86]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 stall—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.3 [87]

Description of the Philipinas Islands1

Although it appears by the information above that in regard to the Philipinas Islands (which belong to the district of the Inquisition of Mexico) it has not been possible to arrange the itinerary, because of the great distance thither from this kingdom; and that the inquisitor visitor, Doctor Don Pedro de Medina Rico, charged its execution by letter to the father-definitor, Fray Diego de Jesus Maria, discalced religious of St. Augustine, and calificador of the Holy Office, as he had labored more than twenty years in the said islands—the said letter being sent in duplicate in the two ships that left this kingdom in this present year of one thousand six hundred and fifty-eight—yet, because the said visitor has heard of the great knowledge of those regions that is possessed by Father Maxino Sola, a religious of the Society [88]of Jesus (who is at present in the City of Mexico, and about to go to the kingdoms of Castilla as procurator-general of the province of Philipinas), in order that the said itinerary might be arranged with greater despatch, and so that in the interim until the coming of the person who shall settle things in those islands, there may be such relation as we are able to have in this book (which must be sent at the first opportunity to the most illustrious and most reverend inquisitor-general and the members of the Council of the general Holy Inquisition), his Lordship ordered me, Ygnaçio de Paz, that, continuing the work, I should set down the information given by the said Father Maxino Sola. And, in obedience to that order, that relation which I have been able to procure with the exercise of all care and minuteness, is as follows.

Recollect Missions, 1646–601

Decade Seventh—Book First

Book Second of the Seventh Decade

Description of Filipinas Islands

[After a prolonged address to Fray Diego Zapata, a high official of the Franciscan order and of the Inquisition, Fray Letona proceeds with a description of the Philippines in numbered sections. No. 1 states that it is written for Zapata’s information; no. 2, that the voyage from Acapulco to Manila is more than 2,500 leguas in length. The course of the ships in that voyage is given in no. 3. Such parts of this description as are useful for our purpose are here presented in full; other parts are omitted, in each case stating the nature of such matter.]

3. Acapulco, in Mexico, which is the eastern port for the South Sea and for navigations from Nueva España to Filipinas, is in sixteen and one-half degrees of latitude. If in voyaging from Acapulco to Filipinas the ships sail in a straight line from the rising toward the setting sun, from east to west, without change of latitude, they will arrive at Baler,1 a village in the northern part of the further coast of Manila Island, which is in the same latitude as Acapulco. But usually, as soon as they set sail from Acapulco, they descend to the eleventh or the tenth parallel in order to find the winds with which they [190]can navigate; then they again go northward and follow their former course to a point five hundred leguas from Manila, and one hundred from the Ladrones Islands—among which they pass, in a latitude of fifteen degrees. Thence they sail again to lower latitudes, descending to barely thirteen and one-half degrees—on which line is the Embocadero of San Bernardino, one hundred leguas from Manila. Thence the voyage is made between that same island of Manila—which extends as far as the Embocadero, and remains on the right hand—and other islands which lie on the left, to the port of Cabite which is two leguas from Manila. Ordinarily this voyage is made in three months, although the return trip is usually much longer—sometimes requiring more than seven months; while in this year, sixty-two, it lasted eight months.

Events in Manila, 1662–63

Relation of the events in the city of Manila from the embassy sent by Cotsen,1 captain-general of the coasts of China and king of Hermosa Island, with father Fray Victorio Ricio his ambassador, in the year 1662, until the second embassy, which his son sent with the same father, and which was despatched on July 11, 1663.

On the fifth of May the ambassador of Cot-sen made his entry; this was father Fray Victorio Riccio,2 a Florentine, a religious of the Order of Preachers. [219]He was attired in the garb of a mandarin’s rank, which the barbarian had conferred on him to equip him for this embassy. Little pomp was displayed in his reception, for the unfriendly nature of his errand was already known. Don Sabiniano Manrrique de Lara received the letter which he brought; it was full of arrogance, ostentatiously boasting of Cot-sen’s power, and declaring that his champans were many thousands in number and his perfect soldiers hundreds of thousands; (it is a fact that those champans, counting large and small, amount to 15,000, as is known by eyewitnesses); and, in virtue of this pompous and noisy declaration, he demanded that these islands should pay him tribute, threatening us with the example of the Dutch.3

The insolence of this demand angered all the Spaniards, and our resolute attitude filled the Sangleys with anxiety; for, as it could not be imagined [220]that a less generous one [would be taken], they feared the injuries that would be caused by the war, and that they would be the first to suffer from these. The governor, as pious as prudent, commanded that in the church of the Society of Jesus the blessed sacrament should remain exposed, in order that the archbishop, the three auditors, the superiors of the religious orders, and the military chiefs might assemble in a devout public supplication; and ordered that, at about the same time, a council should be summoned (in order to give the Sangleys less cause for blame), where Cot-sen’s letter should be read and such decision made as in the opinion of the council ought to be adopted.

In regard to the principal point in the letter, there was little discussion; for, as the Spanish blood was coursing impetuously in the heart of every man there, all gave angry reply to Cot-sen’s demand, showing the courage and resolution that was to be expected from their noble blood, and feeling shame that [even in] imagination [he] could dare to cast so black a stigma on the Spanish name. Resolved to die a thousand times rather than consent to such humiliation, and regarding war as certain, as being our honorable decision, the members of the council discussed the question of drawing off beforehand the unwholesome humor from the body of this commonwealth by expelling the Sangleys—who in an emergency would dangerously divide our attention and our forces. Most of the speakers were in favor of driving away all the infidels, leaving only the Christians, who would in part render to the community the many services in which the men of that nation are employed for its benefit; and, since the Christian [221]Sangleys were few, it would be easy to secure ourselves from them. Moreover, we could, profiting by our experience of their procedure, easily get rid of them if that should be expedient for our defense in such an emergency. The council came to the conclusion that the merchants should be allowed to carry their property with them, and return [to China] in peace with their merchandise—not only because they had come here in confidence and on the security afforded by the peace, but because this generous conduct of ours would pacify their resolute attitude, and Cot-sen would feel more anxiety at seeing how little importance we attached to increasing his forces with the men whom we were sending away, and at our contempt for his resources in not appropriating the property of his people.

As this sudden change might cause some disturbances when it should be put into execution, the publication of the council’s decision was delayed until as many of the cavalry horses as possible could be conveyed to the stock-farms; for, after the military authorities had seized the roads promptly with their troops, they could check any rash attempt, and the infidels could be peaceably sent to the ships as had been decreed. It was resolved by unanimous vote to withdraw the garrisons from Ternate, Zamboangan, Calamianes, and Yligan, since everything was at risk in the principal fort [i.e., Manila], which had not more than six hundred soldiers—and of these hardly two hundred were in condition to endure the hardships of a campaign or of service on the walls.4 [222]

These conferences, and the activities that necessarily followed from them were perfectly known by the Sangleys (whose fear kept them very attentive to everything), and the lack of secrecy in the members of the council gave them exact knowledge [of its proceedings]; consequently, they were fully assured of a war and of their own danger. This fear was increased by the haste with which the citizens who had wealth in their possession undertook to hide it away. Their desperation was completed by the interpretation which the common people gave to everything—irresponsible soldiers, with mestizos, mulattoes, and blacks, telling the Sangleys that they were to have their heads cut off, as if they were men already sentenced to death; and inflicting on them many injuries and uttering a thousand insults. Such circumstances as these concurring in the insurrection of the year 1603 necessarily caused it, as Doctor Morga observes; and on this occasion their fear of the like proceedings led them to a similar desperation. They heard that the twenty-fifth day of May was to be that of their destruction, because the cavalry troops were to arrive on the day before. Some of them—the most worthless class, as butchers and vegetable-sellers—began to talk of extricating themselves from he danger; but those in the Parián displayed no courage for any measures, for, as their [223]interests are so involved in peace, they never have incurred the hazard of war except under compulsion.

On the night of the twenty-fourth, the governor received information from the castellan of Cavite that the Parián was to revolt on the next day; but on that very night it was quite evident that their determination was not to revolt, but to flee as best they could from the death which they regarded as certain. For on that night all the talisays5 (which are the fishermen’s boats) departed in flight; and although General Don Francisco de Figueroa talked to the Sangleys, endeavoring to calm their minds, it was not possible to remove their fear. They excused themselves by saying that they knew that on the next day all their heads would be cut off. They said that in planning the insurrection it had been agreed that they would not separate; but they had formed an organization to be prepared, their shops made secure, and such weapons provided as they could find for this purpose.

On the next day, May 25, his Lordship being anxious at this went out with only four captains to stroll through the Parián, to learn their intentions by observing what arrangements they had made. He found them all very peaceable, and their shops open; they were furnishing supplies therein, and most of them were eating breakfast. In various places they entreated him very submissively to protect them, because the blacks threatened them, saying that they were to be slain. His Lordship reassured them, and [224]offered to send a force of soldiers who should protect and defend them from the insolent acts of the blacks. In order to obtain further security, his Lordship ordered that the [Sangley] ship-captains be summoned and that a bell be rung to assemble them, in order to provide for the guard and defense of the Parián. When they saw the captains enter the city, they regarded the arguments of their fear as confirmed; and the entire Parián turned out to watch what was done, all being doubtful of their own courage. Finally, thirty Sangleys from those who were uneasy, seeing the last captain enter, ran toward the gate to detain him and laid hands upon him when he was near the portcullis—either to obtain by this service means to ingratiate themselves with Cot-sen, or to secure a person who at all events could direct them. The men stationed at the gate, who saw the haste with which they approached, seized their arms and shot down some of the Sangleys. The guard on the walls suspected them of greater designs; and from the bulwark of San Gabriel Sargento-mayor Martin Sanchez, without the order that he should have had for this, fired two cannon. At the noise of the shots the people in the Parián, who were in suspense waiting to see how this tragedy would end, without further delay raised an outcry; and having heard that all Manila was coming to attack them flung themselves into the river—those who could, in bancas; most of them held up by some piece of bamboo. Others, more alarmed, took to swimming, and as they were confused by fear, went down the current, and many of them were drowned. The multitude of bancas hurried to a champan which was about to depart, which lay outside the bar with only two [225]soldiers to guard it; and the Sangleys going aboard it hoisted sail. The [rest of the] crowd crossed to Santa Cruz where they halted; they talked with the father minister of that village (who was minister to the Chinese), Father Francisco Mesina, and gave him an account of their flight, saying that they feared that our people intended to cut off their heads. The father calmed them and offered to obtain for them pardon from his Lordship, for which purpose he immediately set out. The merchants and peaceable people in the Parián, some 1,500 in number, remained in their houses—in hiding, so that it seemed as if there was not a soul in the Parián—awaiting their doom. Considering that in the hills they would not better their condition, but that this with excessive hardships would only delay their end, many fore-stalled death by inflicting it upon themselves—some by hanging, and others by plunging into the river.

Without delay his Lordship went to the gate, most fortunately for the Sangleys and with great benefit to the community, as the result showed; for if he had not been present at the gate, the fear of being besieged which all felt, would have led them to engage in hostilities with the Parián and use their arms, compelling the governor to give them his entire attention. But his Lordship in so difficult a crisis which demanded prompt and resolute action, took counsel with past experiences and present necessities, his keen and quick mind attentive to everything. Knowing well that this disturbance was caused by fear, he was unwilling to make it greater in the outcome without dissuading [the Sangleys from revolt] by acts of clemency—since an encounter with the Parián must of necessity make both [parties among the [226]Sangleys] declared enemies, and desperation would render them terrible as had been experienced in former insurrections. Moreover, our people would be obliged to use time and people when both were scanty for the emergency that we were expecting of further conflict; since the guards necessary for fortifying the city were inadequate, on account of our pursuing the rest of the fugitives. Accordingly, the governor prudently preferred to leave them uncertain and in expectancy rather than in declared and resolute attitude, since in the former condition they were easy to subdue, which in the other case would involve a great expenditure of military supplies—which would of necessity be greatly impaired when, for a long siege, all abundance is moderation. [For economy is needed:] of provisions, when there are no funds in the treasury, and no harvest in the villages with which to supply the city with food; and of men, when there are not enough to man the walls—to say nothing of the severity of fighting and of the inclemencies of the weather with their exposure to the rains.

His Lordship left the Sangleys reassured, and the rage of the Spaniards checked; he retired to the storehouses from which he immediately despatched a champan with a strong force of men in pursuit of the one that the Sangleys had stolen, and furnished all the military posts with abundance of supplies. It was past one o’clock when he returned to the palace; and before he took any rest or sat down at his table, he appointed General Francisco de Esteibar as chief master-of-camp, to act if occasion should arise for a military campaign, and that there might [227]be, either for that purpose or for affairs in the city, an officer to take his own place when absent.

While the governor was at the warehouses the first embassy sent by the Sangleys found him; it came by Father Francisco Mesina, who said that those who had crossed over to Santa Cruz were in the greatest uncertainty, and would return to their obedience if he would pardon them. During the time which the father spent in this mission the scoundrels who had approached the gate, and in the first onslaught had killed two Spaniards, finished crossing the river; these fled in confusion by way of the Parián, and completed the terrorization of the other Sangleys, most of whom therefore went out to Sagar and others to Meysilo.

Father Mesina returned with pardon for them and found it necessary to pursue them. He continued his endeavors by means of the father mandarin,6 giving him a paper written in the Chinese language [to assure them] of entire safety. Although the latter set out with it, he did not reach the Sangleys, and Father Francisco Mesina sent his despatch by a messenger whom he encountered, placing it in the hands of a boy who carried it; for lack of a horse, he himself remained at Meyhaligue.

Fathers Nicolas Cani and Bartolome Vesco, who mounted on good horses had been pushing ahead since noon, went as far as San Francisco del Monte where they encountered some troops. They fell in with the soldiers and talked with them about bringing in the Sangleys; it was finally decided that Father [228]Francisco Mesina should go ahead, and that the matter should be settled with him.

While the religious were making these efforts, his Lordship took all suitable measures by way of preparation for any event. He sent for Master-of-camp Don Juan Macapapal, who in the disturbances in Pampanga had proved his constancy and devotion in his Majesty’s service, and ordered him to bring three hundred picked bowmen, the best in his villages; and he commanded that two hundred veteran soldiers be selected from the villages of Pampanga. From two o’clock were continually arriving the cavalry which the governor had ordered to be brought from the ranches7 in order to relieve the Sangleys of the Parián from their fears; for the coming of these horsemen would guide the fugitives from the mountains in their decision. His Lordship charged the religious orders to send some fathers in order that they might assist the Spaniards, and by their authority check the insolent acts of those who might try to harm the Sangleys, in order that the latter might not be further upset by their misfortunes. This was a prudent decision; for, even with all this foresight, it was almost impossible to defend the Sangleys from the robberies which were attempted by negroes and base fellows at the risk of frustrating his Lordship’s pious efforts. Among these were not lacking some persons from whom more might be expected, who—some in person, and some by means of their servants—furnished their own houses very well [from the spoils of the Sangleys]. [229]

That afternoon, his Lordship walked through the Parián; the Sangleys came to their doors, and kneeling before him with faces like those of dead men entreated mercy from him. His Lordship consoled them, telling them that they had no cause to fear; that his anger was not directed against them, and that he was their father; that only the foolish ones who would not submit would find him severe, while those who were discreet and peaceable would experience his great clemency.

From the time when the disturbance began until it was entirely quieted, his Lordship had much to do in defending his prudent decision against the many Spaniards who desired to break entirely with the Sangleys and make an end of them—not considering that such proceedings would ruin the colony, all the more as, since we had to prepare for the war that we regarded as certain, we needed more of the Sangleys’ industry for the many labors required for defending and fortifying the walls, erecting temporary defenses, and harnessing so many horses; for it is they who bear the burdens of the community in all its crafts, notably in those that are most necessary.

The debate became hotter when, at nightfall, our people found the body of Fray José de Madrid,8 a Dominican whom the seditious Sangleys had slain in that morning’s outbreak in order to crush the rest by the horror of that crime—making the other Sangleys think that after so atrocious a deed there remained for them no hope of pardon, and no other [230]means of saving their lives than to follow [the dictates of] their desperation. There is no doubt that if this murder had been known in the morning, it would have injured the interests of the Sangleys; and that between the scruples of prudence and justice [on the one hand], and the boldness of the counsels given by all the rest of the military men [on the other], the piety of so just a vengeance would have strongly prevailed. But the corpse was quickly buried—either by the father’s assailants, repentant; or by the peaceable Sangleys, in fear—and, detected either by the odor or by the signs made by some servants who, hidden in the convent of the Parián, witnessed the occurrence, the body was found that night. The news, which quickly ran through the Parián, filled all with horror and caused some of the Sangleys to flee from that quarter. Accordingly, by morning affairs assumed a worse aspect, and the more influential personages and the military leaders became less friendly to the Sangleys. All directed their efforts to persuading his Lordship to have the heads of all the Sangleys cut off, commencing at the Parián and conducting a campaign in pursuit of the rest of the fugitives. His Lordship, seeing that they had allotted the Sangleys but a short respite, that they had the day before left the settlement of matters with Father Francisco Mesina and that more time than this was necessary for securing the proper degree of order, resolved to hasten the negotiations for peace and to go to see the father with the Sangleys in company with a Sangley named Raimundo, an agent of Cot-sen in this city.

At this time so many lies were current against the behavior of the Sangleys, and these were so well received [231]by those who desired to destroy them—persons who were actuated more by avarice and selfishness than by interest in the welfare of the community—that they caused hesitation among even the most cautious and prudent. On one hand they said that a battalion of Sangleys had entered the village of Tondo (which is distant a cannon-shot from the city) and had already set fire to the church. Again, the fugitives had retreated upon Sagar, and had fitted up many forges in order to make weapons, and were working these eagerly day and night. But his Lordship—who was well informed regarding the available forces, and knew that he could send hardly one hundred strong men into the field out of the six hundred whom he had in the city, and how important it was to reserve his entire strength for the greater danger; and who very correctly judged that inconsiderate desires for an assault [on the Parián] had fabricated these inventions, and that the more discreet gave credit to these tales in order to oppose his own steadfast determination—instantly went in person to satisfy himself regarding this story about Tondo. Finding that it was imaginary, he realized how little credence should be given to novelties brought from afar when some one had dared to concoct such things under his very eyes; and he therefore allowed the peace negotiations to proceed by the agencies which had commenced them.

There is no doubt that the successful outcome of this affair is due solely to the prudent management of the governor; and that, if he had allowed himself to be dragged along by the opinions which prevailed in popular estimation, an insurrection would have been contrived that would have fatigued the soldiery [232]in a campaign of many months, and caused much destruction in the villages; for the insurrections that we keep in mind in these islands included no more [favoring] circumstances [than did this one], nor did this lack anything except the actual assault. But his Lordship knew how evil advisers are the individuals concerned in this matter, in which one seldom finds a person who is not interested in the ruin of the Sangley—some on account of the loot [that they may obtain]; the rest, because there are few persons who do not hold property of the Sangleys in trust, or else owe for much merchandise which they have bought on credit. Many have become depositaries for their acquaintances, who, fearing the removal of their property to other hands, give it to their intimate friends to keep; and by slaying the Sangleys all render account with payment. Accordingly, in the insurrection of 1639 it was found by experience that those in whom the Sangleys placed most confidence were the first and most importunate voters for their ruin. In this decision it is only the king who hazards his treasure, and his governor who risks a point of honor; for finally the very persons who, through either self-interest or greed, advised the assault [on the Sangleys] cast on the governor the blame of the insurrection, as happened to Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. The very persons who, censuring him as a coward and representing to him instances of boldness forced [by desperation] on the part of the Sangleys as causes for employing armed force against them, afterward, when at their importunities he had kindled the fire, declared that by this act he had caused the revolt, compelling the innocent and peaceable to become enemies against [233]their own will. Here this class of persons was protected, and the way left open for [the return of] the others; for with the burning of the Parián these would have been enemies, and all would have despaired of reconciliation. This was seen by the response made to Father Francisco Mesina the first time when he went to confer with them about their submission; they said, “To whom shall we turn if the Parián is burned now?” But when he assured them that the affair had not reached that stage, they were astonished and readily discussed submission—as those who had gone away, fleeing from our arms which they supposed to be declared against them; and the haste of their flight had not given them leisure to ascertain our decision, as they regarded their own imaginations as facts.

In their mode of action they plainly showed their intentions—that they were not rebels, but terrified fugitives; nor did they injure either life or property, whether of Spaniards or of natives. Nor did they avail themselves of the privilege which the necessity of supporting life gave them, to use the rice, for they used what they needed of the food which the Sangley farm-hands had in their houses; while in the insurrections attested as such they did not leave a village without burning it, or property that was not pillaged in all this province of Tondo—sparing not even what was holy, profaning the churches and the sacred images.

In consequence of his agreement with the Sangley fugitives, Father Francisco Mesina set out again on the twenty-sixth of the month in company with the Sangley Raimundo; and at night he reached Sagar in the fields of which the Sangleys were encamped. [234]Many of them (mostly Christians) hastened toward the father bewailing their misery and asking permission to go down to the Parián. So great was their anxiety that, on that very night, they undertook to carry out this plan. How important was the preservation of the dove-cote, in order that these doves might not complete their flight to the mountains and might easily recover their domesticated tranquillity! The father delayed their journey until morning, and on the next day, the twenty-seventh, sent to Manila four hundred of them whom he found most inclined to go and who showed least distrust in the company of Father Nicolas Cani, so that he could assure their safety from any misfortune. On the same day he went with Father Bartolome Besco and the Sangley Raimundo to the place where the fugitives were encamped. On the way he encountered some companies of seamen from the champans and other riff-raff, who were ignorant of the agreement for the submission of their fellows; and these would not allow the fathers to pass. But when this was known at their camp two of their leading men went down to the father and told him that they all would follow his advice; but that Raimundo was not a suitable person for settling the matter with them, because many of the Sangleys were suspicious of him on account of his long residence among us. They told the father to bring two of their ship-captains, so that this business might be concluded with them. The father retired to San Juan del Monte, in order to say mass there the next day, the twenty-eighth (which was the feast of Pentecost), and sent word to his Lordship of what the Sangleys demanded.

In accordance with this his Lordship on the [235]twenty-eighth summoned the ship-captains, and after he had conferred with them they went back to the father and told him that it was not necessary that he should fatigue himself by going to the [Sangley] camp, since all the fugitives had already agreed to come down. They only asked that the ships might go to Nabotas, from which place all the Sangleys who had to embark for China would sail; and that the father would, for this purpose, go there in company with the regimental master-of-camp, Domingo de Ugarte, who was very acceptable to them and well known for his kindness to them. On the thirtieth they came down with this reply; and on the thirty-first the father went back with it to confer with his Lordship. The latter was ill pleased with the stipulation of embarking at Navotas on account of the lack of confidence that they displayed; but the father set out to bring them over to whatever his Lordship should ordain, as he finally decided it—departing on the first of June accompanied by Master-of-camp Domingo de Ugarte and three ship-captains. They arrived that night at the village of Taytay, the nearest village to the place that the Sangleys had occupied; and that very night they despatched the ship-captains fully instructed. On the next day, June 2, the captains came down with the reply and decision of all the Sangleys—that they would come down to the Parián from which they would embark in the champans which were ready to depart; while the Christians would come down to the villages of Santa Cruz and Binondo, or as his Lordship should command. This they carried out in the time which they asked, which was two days.

Their resolution was much aided by the one which [236]his Lordship had taken ever since May 26, when he ordered that one of the champans should be made ready for the voyage, promising its captain beforehand a thousand Sangleys, whom he must without fail transport. He commanded one of the three champans that were at Cavite to come to Manila; this was to open the door wide in the face of their mistrust, and it showed that his intention was only to make the country safe and not to avenge on them (as they had believed) the insolence of Cot-sen.

The fugitives thereupon came down in all haste and especially on the day that had been set, June 4; yet notwithstanding this, so great was the anxiety to feed on the wretched Sangleys that [some people attempted to] persuade his Lordship that the whole arrangement was a sham; that all the Sangleys were still in the field, and that they only came down from their camp on this pretext, in order to search for what they needed and to carry away the few who remained in the Parián. His Lordship, giving another day of vigilance, apparently yielded to the importunate outcries of the many who clamored for the punishment of the Sangleys—who had committed no crime except their terrified flight; and ordered the soldiers to be made ready in order that he might freely select the troops who were to go out for the campaign.

The bowmen of Master-of-camp Don Juan Macapagal had already arrived, also the 200 Pampango veteran soldiers in charge of Master-of-camp Don Francisco Lacsamana. He [i.e., his Lordship] commanded them to be mustered on June 6; and when all were expecting [that he would select] a strong [237]battalion of Spaniards, Pampangos, Mardicas,9 Japanese, and creoles, he left them all mocked and humiliated who had attributed to cowardice the forbearance dictated by his prudence. He set aside only the regiment of Pampangos, arquebusiers and bowmen; and committed the exploit to the Pampango master-of-camp, Don Francisco Lacsamana—leaving in the lurch those who attached so much importance to the enterprise, and who attributed his delay to fear. Unaffected by considerations of mere policy, his Lordship moved in accordance with right and the light of truth which belongs to those free from prejudice; he had carefully considered the enterprise and saw that but little [poisonous] humor remained to be corrected. He therefore chose to make it evident that his delay was not for the sake of temporizing but to show clemency; and that, able to resist no longer, he was using rigor against those who in so many days had not availed themselves of [238]his clemency. And, to show how great was his courage and how superior he regarded his forces, he did not vouchsafe to send out Spaniards but entrusted the issue to the Pampangos.

This was information which by one act, his discretion gained with great results. He made trial of the fidelity of the Pampangos, whose commotions and recent punishments had left their fidelity uncertain; and he put them on their honor with this so honorable commission, to act then with valor and afterward with constancy. It would make them hated by the Sangleys, to oblige them to become enemies; and would give Cot-sen to understand how little importance the governor attached to the latter’s men, since he was attacking them with natives alone. He could ascertain thus what was the disposition of the Pampangos, and how much courage they had for resisting that pirate; for himself, the injury which the islands had experienced in so many disturbances of the natives gave him some confidence.

He gave them their orders—that they should march to the camp of the Sangleys without doing harm to any peaceable Sangleys whom they might encounter on the way, who should be going to the city; and when they should arrive there, giving the troops a rest, they should make the assault on the next day cutting off the heads of all [whom they should find there]. At the same time his Lordship despatched orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Bay and Bulacan—through whose provinces the Sangleys would necessarily have to disperse after they were routed—to go out with three hundred bowmen from each province to occupy the roads against them; so that wherever they should seek a route to safety they [239]should meet destruction. The Pampangos left the city before noon; his Lordship anticipating all possible events three hours later commanded two companies of horsemen to make ready, who should set out at daybreak for the [Sangley] camp—in order that if the Pampangos met bad luck they might have sufficient protection, and could thus recover their courage and renew the attack in full assurance of victory.

The Pampangos encountered on the way many bands of Sangleys, who were coming to the Parián, and allowed these to pass them without any harm. About five o’clock in the afternoon they came in sight of the camp; and, in order not to divide the merit of the exploit with the Spaniards—who, as they knew, were to go thither at daylight—they would not wait until the daylight watch as they had planned. Without taking any rest and unarmed they closed with the Sangleys who numbered some 1,500 men; and in two assaults they routed the enemy without any loss save a captain of their nation who fell dead, and some soldiers who were wounded. The Sangleys left in their camp more than sixty dead men, and all their provisions and baggage remained in the possession of the Pampangos; the latter did not follow in pursuit, partly as the hour was now very late, partly that they might satiate themselves with the booty. But on the morning of June 7 the cavalry appeared, who, learning of the defeat, pursued the fugitives until they entered a region that was rocky and overgrown with thickets, where most of them perished—some from hunger, and many from the cruelty of the Negrillos of the mountains. Then, as the alcaldes-mayor of Bay and Bulacan attacked [240]them with their troops, hardly a Sangley could escape who did not perish either at their hands or those of the Negrillos.

Up to the twenty-fourth of June the troops, both cavalry and infantry, remained in active service—partly to put an end to the remaining fugitives, partly to keep the retirade occupied in case of any disturbance in Manila, since it was a place near that point to which the Sangleys resorted on such occasions. After that date the troops gradually withdrew, his Lordship showing great kindness and many favors to the Pampangos. To those who had shared in this exploit he granted exemption from paying tributes; and, honoring them by the confidence which he had in their fidelity, he gave up to them on the twenty-sixth the guard-room in the palace—with which they left service well content and full of courage for greater enterprises.

Afterward, the regiments from Pangasinan and Ylocos entered Manila, brought by General Don Felipe de Ugalde. After they had been mustered in Manila, so that the Sangleys could see the force that had been provided against Cot-sen, they were ordered to return to their own country so that they could attend to the cultivation of their grainfields; for, as they were nearest to us, they could easily be summoned for an emergency. The same orders were given to the Pampangos and to the men from the provinces of Bay and Bulacan; also that they should keep the picked and trained men separate, so that these might be found ready without confusion or disturbance at the first warning.

The cavalry, a suitable number for 600 horses, were finally assembled by General Don Francisco [241]de Figueroa whom his Lordship had honored with this command. They were divided into six companies each containing twenty-five Spaniards, the remainder being cowherds, negroes, and mulattoes—men very suitable for this service as being dextrous and inured to hardship. They were mustered in the city and along the beach in sight of the champans; and were at once divided among the posts that were most suitable—two companies in Cavite, and the rest in the environs of Tondo.

All the Sangleys in the provinces of this mainland [of Luzón] who had not taken refuge in the Parián in time were decapitated. Those who thus took refuge were confined to the point of Cavite or to the Parián of the city, so that we might keep them within range of our guns, and where they would be of advantage for whatever had to be done for the fortification of both posts and the protection of the shore. His Lordship commanded that lists be made of [the Sangleys engaged in the different] crafts, reserving as many of these as were deemed sufficient for the needs of the city and service; and he ordered that of all the rest as many as space could be found for should be shipped [to China], compelling the captains to transport them. There was one champan which took aboard 1,300 of them; they were so crowded together that they could hardly sit down; but in this the captain had no small profit, for they exacted from each one ten pesos as passage-money.

When the champans were ready to weigh anchor, his Lordship was informed that the two chief leaders of the people who had fled to the mountains had come down in the last bands. These two were infidels; one was the contractor for the slaughterhouses, [242]named Barba, and the other a shopkeeper named [blank space in MS.]; and by the help of some of their followers they had been hidden, so that they could go away in the first champans. We had certain information that these men were among the people on shipboard, but all the efforts of the officials were frustrated by the dissimulation of the Sangleys until his Lordship resorted to direct measures, and, summoning the ship-captains, commanded them to find and surrender those two men, saying that if they did not he would order their heads to be cut off. All were terrified and within a few hours they dragged out the two culprits by the neck—one from the champan on which he had embarked; the other from a hut in which he had hidden himself. On the following day they were executed between the Parián and the city in sight of the Sangleys. They had ruled tyrannically, and with their deaths our fear passed away, having inflicted due punishment with so little bloodshed.

The champans departed one after another; and on the day when the last three—those of the ambassador and two others which he carried in his convoy—were to set sail, which was June 10, his Lordship ordered that the chimes should be rung as a token of rejoicing over false news of the ships from Nueva España (which he caused to be published), artfully brought in by an advice-boat. This was done in order that the ambassador and the Sangleys, persuaded that we had received succor of men and money, might with this belief aid in repressing the fierceness of the barbarian, artfully supplying what was lacking in our reputation for strength. But God, who directs the hearts of rulers, made the bells ring for true news, [243]bringing to port on that very day the patache which came from Nueva España, July 13, when people were becoming discouraged by the delay of the second advice-boat.

His Lordship gave orders to collect in the Parián all the remaining Sangleys under penalty of death to any who should leave it; and although in a few days he gave them more space, it did not extend beyond the range of the artillery. With the same severity he compelled them to sleep within the Parián; and as the regiment from Cagayan came unexpectedly—a warlike people, who, as they belong to a province so remote, cannot wait for news of the necessity, but can only forestall it—he lodged these near the Parián in full readiness for any disturbance. The regiments of Caragas, Cebuans, and Boholans arrived; the Caragas were sent to the point of Cavite, and the rest were quartered in La Estacada,10 the Cagayans proceeding to Santa Cruz. With these forces the river was thoroughly occupied from the bar to the upper reaches, and its passage was closed to the Sangleys. The same plan was observed with the cavalry, the two companies at Cavite being quartered in the fields there and the rest in Binondo and Meyhaligue. The Sangleys were thus more thoroughly imprisoned than if they were in the jail.

From the first day [of the commotion] his Lordship directed all his efforts to supplying the city with provisions, and succeeded in bringing in 120,000 [244]cabans of rice with meat, fish, and vegetables. Now with greater energy he attended to its fortification, personally overcoming the difficulties: in [procuring] the lime—which were great, for the rains had begun and the lime was brought so far (from Bulacan and Bacolor)—and in the construction itself, for eleven defenses were begun in different places. His Lordship gave personal attention to those which were most important—eating his meals and despatching business on the beach in a straw hut that was built for him, so light that it was carried on men’s shoulders from one place to another as the importance of the work required; and was watchful on every side, not only on account of the ardor which caused him to give his aid, but also for the sake of his example. He was the first and most steadfast in the work of conveying earth and stones for earth-works and masonry; and his example was followed by the citizens with the men in their service. Besides this fatigue he was overburdened with the minor cares of the work, sending in all directions for the lime, and himself allotting it as if he had no other matters to attend to. In order that the dissensions among the military leaders might not delay the execution of his plans, he suppressed the office of chief master-of-camp and sargento-mayor—which had been created to divide his cares, and when necessary, to supply his place when absent, since he must render aid in all quarters—and took upon himself all those cares, in order that those who were working should find no obstacle that would delay them. Thus he finished in a short time and with less than 6,000 pesos of expense, works which would have consumed half a million [pesos] and caused ten years of hardships [245]to the provinces—availing himself of the opportunity to attain his endeavor, and arranging that the Sangleys should be exchanged in shifts, 300 together in these. The [various native] peoples [were exchanged] by companies in the same manner as were the Spaniards; and the people of the neighboring villages with longer time for resting their relays, so that they might not be hindered from attending to their grain-fields. And in this there was much latitude in the execution of orders, the neglects and omissions which are so usual to the sloth of those peoples being overlooked—although the way in which the people were treated, their willingness, and their consideration of its importance, all facilitated so difficult an enterprise as the repair of the castle, which toward the river was threatening to fall. A fausse-braye11 was applied to it, which commenced at a cupola and ended at the bar, with a very handsome platform; and five redoubts were erected which ran from that point toward the sea as far as the bulwark at the foundry (which defends the gate on the land side), as the wall was there very weak and its defenses were far apart and not very convenient. From this bulwark to the gate was built a covert-way, and in front of it a ravelin, from which again ran the covert-way until it connected with the bulwark of Dilao, and met the estuary which crosses from Malosa the land as far as the moat. At the gate of Santo Domingo another redoubt was erected, and another at the postern of the Almacenes [i.e., magazines], [246]so that these shook hands with the cupola at the river. At the gate of the Parián a spacious ravelin was made with its covert-way toward the bridge over the river, cutting the land between the inner and outer ditches, and leaving a passage sunken around the ditches for a movable bridge. The wall was strengthened toward the river and Bagumbayan by its fausse-braye. A fine bridge was built on the estuary of Santa Cruz, so that the cavalry and troops could reconnoiter unhindered the other side of the river, as well as Sagar and Antipolo.12

At the same time, public prayers were offered. The Augustinian religious began this with the opportunity afforded by the fiesta of the canonization of St. Thomas of Villanova. They were followed by the fathers of the Society of Jesus with the triumphal reception of the bodies of Sts. Martial and Jucundus and the relics of other martyrs, which were deposited in the cathedral, and were carried in a grand procession to the church of the Society; the governor, the Audiencia, the cabildos, and the citizens, with the regiment of soldiers (who fired a salute) took part in this. The governor paid the expenses of an octave festival in the cathedral in honor of the archangel St. Michael on the fourteenth of January; it began with a procession which marched through the Calle de Palacio, past the house of the [247]Misericordia, the convent of San Agustin, and the college of the Society; thence it turned toward the Recollects by way of the convent of San Francisco to that of Santo Domingo; and by the college of Santo Tomas returned to the cathedral. The said prayers were continued until Lent.

In the midst of these pious exercises the ambassador from China found us: this was the same religious as before, Fray Victorio Riccio. To the salute which he fired his Lordship commanded answer to be made with ball, as one who, having been challenged, awaited the envoy on a war footing; and despatched to the shore the sargento-mayor of the garrison to tell him that, on account of the hostilities which he had announced in the name of Cot-sen, we had expected him to come as an enemy and were prepared to receive him with the sternness that is customary in war, and that he must inform the governor of the nature of the despatches that he carried. The ambassador answered that he came in peace; and by the news which he at once related it was learned that, only a few days after his Lordship had placed his forces under the powerful protection of the holy archangel, Cot-sen had died.

That ruler was ready in all the strength given by ships, men, and provisions to deliberate according to the news that he should receive from here upon the measures that would have to be taken, when the first Sangleys [from Manila] arrived. They, driven by fear and urged on by desperation, scorning the cannon-shots that were fired from the castle, seized a royal champan which was ready to sail; and those Sangleys who had left [the Pasig River] in the talisays, for whom there was no room, seized other [248]champans in the channels of Mariveles. These fugitives regarded as already executed that of which their fear persuaded them; and they told the corsair that the governor had commanded that all the Sangleys should be slain, not only the traders but those who were living in this city. At this he was kindled to such anger that he immediately undertook to sally forth for vengeance without heeding the obstacles that he would now meet in the expedition from unfavorable weather. It seemed to the Chinese that with only half of their fleet, even though the other half should perish, they could carry abundant force for the enterprise. Upon this disturbance of his mind came the rebellion of his son whom he had commanded to be slain;13 and the mandarins of his city, Vi-cheo, [Fuh-chau, or Foo-chow] protected the son, having resolved to defend him. With these anxieties Cot-sen was walking one afternoon through the fort on Hermosa Island which he had gained from the Dutch. His mind began to be disturbed by visions, which he said appeared to him, of thousands of men who placed themselves before him, all headless and clamoring for vengeance on the cruelty and injustice which had been wreaked on them; accordingly, terrified at this vision (or else a lifelike presentation by his imagination) he took refuge in his house and flung himself on his bed, consumed by a fierce and burning fever. This caused him to die on the fifth day, fiercely scratching his face and biting [249]his hands—without any further last will than to charge his intimate friends with the death of his son, or more repentance for his cruelty than to continue it by the orders that he gave for them to kill various persons; thus God interrupted by his death many cruel punishments.

Moreover, some mandarins were pacified who were resentful because the alcaldes of Pangasinan and Cagayan had seized some goods from their agents; and the father ambassador made satisfactory answers to the complaints made on account of the incorrect reports of the fugitives. The Chinese therefore solicited peace, and the continuance of the trade. This was a piece of good-fortune so timely that it enabled us to send this year a ship to Nueva España for the usual aid, the building of this ship having been stopped for lack of iron; for, since the iron which came in three ships from China had been bought on his Majesty’s account, it became necessary to beg iron from the religious orders and the citizens and to tear out the few iron gratings which such emergencies as these had left in the city. This necessarily made evident to that [Chinese] nation how greatly we depend on them for our means of support.

The ambassador, Fray Victorio Riccio, finally came hither on April 8 with news of the peace; it had been concluded so much to our favor that no further conditions were imposed beyond the restitution of the property which had remained here placed in the hands of private citizens, and that which the alcaldes-mayor had withheld in Cagayan and Pangasinan. Thus the country was quieted, and all its people were freed from the affliction which [250]the haughty and cruel kingdom of China had caused us by its threats.

The people who followed this corsair amounted to over a million of men of war alone. The champans (which are their ships), large and small, numbered 15,000 and many of them carried forty pieces of artillery. So arrogant was the corsair with his power, that he aspired to gain the kingdom from the Tartar king (who is also ruler of Great China) and be crowned at Nanquin, assured that, as Fortune showed herself friendly to him, the entire empire would follow him as the man who maintained the authority of it all—not only as he was captain-general for the dead king but because he had been confirmed in this office by the king now living, who is called Ens-lec.14 He also intended to maintain the superstitions, dress, rites, and customs of his ancestors—especially the garments and [mode of wearing] the hair, to which the Chinese are excessively attached. This purpose had caused them to endure his cruelty, which had been so great that more than three millions of men had died for his satisfaction alone. This fierce captain would have succeeded in that enterprise, if he had not been drawn off from it to gain the neighboring cities, nine in number (the smallest one containing 200,000 souls), thus giving the Tartar king time for better preparation. Nevertheless, he [251]had the courage to invest Nanquin, the court city of Great China, which is defended by three walls two leguas distant from one another, the circuit of the first being thirty leguas.15 He gained the first wall and brought affairs to such a crisis that the king, fearing his fierce determination, talked of fleeing from his court of Pequin. The mandarins warned him that by such a course he would lose the entire kingdom; for the inhabitants of the city, dispirited by such tokens of weakness, would instantly surrender in order not to experience the corsair’s ferocity. They said that this victory would give him so much reputation that he would easily subdue the entire kingdom; that it was most important to make all the rest of their power effective, withdrawing all the troops from other strongholds to increase the royal forces with a multitude of veterans and well-disciplined soldiers. The king did so and attacked the enemy with 400,000 horsemen; and as Cot-sen on account of having left his islands had no cavalry worth mention, he was compelled to yield to a power so formidable. With the loss of 80,000 men and most of his champans, he left the river on which the court city stands, and returned to his own town, Vi-chen. But this blow left him so little inclined to profit by experience and his strength so little diminished that, when the entire Chinese force pursued him in a fleet [252]of many ships, he went out to meet them at a legua’s distance from his principal island,16 and fought with them the greatest battle that those seas have ever seen. Cot-sen sent most of their champans to the bottom, and captured many; few escaped, and those were damaged. This filled that country with such fear that their precautions [against him] wrought more destruction than his cruelty could have accomplished; for these obliged the king of China to depopulate the extensive coasts of his entire kingdom, a strip of land six leguas wide embracing cities of 100,000 or 200,000 inhabitants, in order that they might not be the prey of the conqueror.17 This was [253]a measure tending to the latter’s prosperity; for all those many people, finding themselves without land or settled mode of life, crowded into the corsair’s service to spend their lives and to maintain themselves on the abundant booty offered to them by his power as absolute master of the seas.

The intention of this barbarian [Cot-sen] was to become the master of China, profiting by the hatred of the Chinese to the Tartars, and on the present occasion by the fact of the king’s death. But as Cot-sen needed land whereon to maintain so many people, he was minded to conquer Hermosa and these islands. Accordingly, he landed [on Hermosa] first in April, 1660, with 100,000 men, a hundred cannon for batteries, and a still larger number of field-pieces; the cannons carried balls of forty to fifty libras. At first the Dutch scoffed at their forces, calling them “men of the paypay”—that is, “of the fan,” which all of that nation use, as if they were women. Confident in the impregnable nature of their fortress (into which they gathered the feeble garrison of the island), and in the large and splendid force of men which defended it, more than two thousand in number, although they had nineteen ships, they did not take these out of the river when they could; and the Sangleys attacked them on the sea to great advantage overcoming the Dutch with their champans, and inflicting much injury on them—for these champans are lighter vessels [than those of the Dutch], and their people are very skilful in the management of [254]artillery. The Dutch at once sallied out with 300 men to prevent them from occupying the islet in the Mosamboy entrance,18 on which the Chinese expected to plant their battery; but the multitude charged upon the Dutch and cut off the heads of all, except one or two who escaped by swimming. This humbled the pride of the Dutch and dispirited their men. As soon as the Chinese landed their men they attacked the eminence, where the Dutch had a fort called Chiacam garrisoned with sixty soldiers; but it surrendered on the third day, and the Chinese used the Dutchmen for handling the artillery, assigning them to various stations. In the harbor they burned three ships and boarded one; and such was the fear that filled the hearts of the timid of falling into the hands of so bloody and savage an enemy, that twelve Dutch fugitives with other people went to him [as those who surrendered] with five brigantines which the [Dutch] fort had employed for many purposes.

The Chinese began their enterprise with as much fury as if they had lacked time for the attacks of their batteries; but in their assurance and the manner of their encampment they acted as if time were of no importance, since it was the chief enemy of the besieged. Palmo by palmo they steadily gained the [surrounding] country, carrying with them branches, and baskets [of earth], until they established themselves near the fortifications of the Dutch; and during the ten months while the siege lasted they did not cease firing all their artillery, night or day. In another [255]direction an innumerable throng of laborers were continually at work cultivating the soil, as if they were already its owners; and before the fort surrendered, the Chinese were already enjoying the produce of their farming. For the proud corsair went [to Hermosa] so confident in his strength that among the 500 champans which he took with him for this enterprise many went loaded with plows, seeds, and the other things used in cultivating land with innumerable workmen who were set aside for this service alone. Consequently, while he fought he peopled and cultivated the island without any one being able to prevent him; and, as he is so rich, he carried a great quantity of cloth, in order to attract the poor natives and bring them over to his side, in which he has succeeded.

Only one other engagement was a success for the Dutch, who undertook, when the Chinese first encamped, to bombard them with all their cannon at once; and, having thus demolished their huts and fortifications, the Dutch made a bold sortie, spiked six of the enemy’s cannon, cut to pieces the garrison, 3,000 in number, and were carrying away nineteen pieces of artillery to the fort. But another Sangley officer hurried up with his regiment and attacked the Dutch with such fury that they were obliged to leave the captured cannon behind, and in disorder, take refuge within the fort. With the twelve Dutchmen they put the fortifications in better shape, and their bombardment began to be more effective. Finally they demolished the redoubt with all the fortifications outside, and approached the fort so closely that the men on the walls talked with those [256]in the enemy’s camp. They demolished the second height of the wall, which had no terreplein; the governor of the place was killed by a cannon-ball; and every day the enemy came up to the walls to drink the health of the Dutchmen and display other soldierly civilities.

They had now demolished all of the wall that rose above the terreplein, and talked of making a general assault. The Dutch began to be disheartened by the death of the governor and the loss of so many soldiers; and when they saw the preparations for the assault they talked of negotiating fur surrender, in order that they might not be left exposed to the enemy’s cruelty—since for that arrogant tyrant it was the same to slay five or six thousand men as one. He therefore at once replaced twice the number in a post [which had lost its defenders], as he was so near to his island of Vicheu where he kept the main body of his followers, from which they were continually coming and going; and for every one who died a thousand fresh men came to his camp. They now set out to engage the Dutch with six hundred scaling-ladders, fourteen of their men being allotted to each ladder; but the besieged hung out a white flag, and came out to propose terms of surrender. This was granted with the condition that only the property of private persons should be removed, and that they must surrender intact the property of the [East India] Company, which was done. It is computed according to the Company’s books, that with the military supplies and the artillery of the fort, [this capture] had a value of five millions—an amount which will not cause surprise to any one who knows that [257]this place was the magazine for the two richest traffics in the Orient, those of China and Japon. The artillery found there [by the Chinese] included 150 pieces; the firearms, 4,000; and there were provisions and military supplies for years. The slain in this war, for the entire period, were: of the Dutch, 630; of the Chinese, 10,000 men. The vanquished left the fort on the day of the Purification of our Lady, six hundred in number, and embarked in nine ships which had remained in the harbor.

In short, this [i.e., the Chinese] people is the most ingenious in the world; and when they see any contrivance in practice they employ it with more facility than do the Europeans. Accordingly, they are not now inferior in the military art, and in their method of warfare they excel the entire world. No soldier is hindered by providing his food; every five men have their own cook. All are divided into tens, and every ten have their own flag, and on it are written the names of its soldiers. These tens are gathered into companies and regiments with such concert and such ease in governing them that Europeans who have seen it are astonished.

Consider the anxiety that must be caused by a nation so ingenious, so hardy, so practiced in the military art, so numerous, so haughty and cruel, in a city where all the forts together could not call to arms 2,000 Spaniards—and these of so many colors that not two hundred pure Spaniards could be picked out from them—and occupying so much space that for its suitable garrison it needs 6,000 soldiers. From this may be inferred the joy that was felt throughout the city [at his death] and the so special kindness of [258]God in putting an end to this tyrant in the prime of his life—for he was only thirty-nine years old, and had spent his time in continued military practice from the year 1644 until that of 1662, when he conquered Hermosa Island. He was always favored by fortune, and there was no undertaking in which he did not succeed except the siege of Nanquin—which would be considered foolish temerity by any one who will consider the strength and greatness of that city—an enterprise in which he had to entomb or submerge in blood his fortune and his acquired glories; yet it weakened him so little that he quickly restored the losses, victorious over the entire naval force of China.

At the beginning of June his Lordship gave permission to all the [native] tribes to return home; they went away well satisfied and loaded with praises. He gave the Chinese more freedom, permitting them to remove to the villages adjoining the city, and releasing them from serving on the ships [de las faginas] on account of the great labors which they had performed before his Lordship’s eyes in completing, with so much readiness and with so little expenditure of time and money, [public] works which [otherwise] could not have been finished in ten years of hard labor, with half a million pesos, and the exhaustion of the weak natives of the neighboring provinces.

His Lordship summoned a council, in which by his command were read the letters from the mandarins who were directors and guardians of Cot-sen’s estate, written by order of his son, in which was discussed the stipulation which they made a condition of peace—the restitution of the property which their [259]agents had left here in trust, and other merchandise which the alcaldes-mayor of Ylocos and Cagayan had withheld. In accordance with the [decision of the] first council, this one ordered that such restitution be made. Therein was also discussed the question whether the Sangleys should be permitted to live in the islands; this was done by a few ecclesiastics (only three in number), who opposed such permission; they had attempted, both in the pulpit and in private conversation, to persuade the rest to their opinion. All of the council agreed with only one dissenting voice, that the Sangleys ought to be allowed to remain here up to the number which the decrees of his Majesty regarding this matter have prescribed—that is, 6,000 men—provided that they be not allowed to spread into other provinces, nor go beyond the villages included in the jurisdiction of Tondo (which is in the territory of this city) conformably to the royal ordinances which have fixed these limits. All recognized our need of that [Chinese] nation, in the lack and scarcity of all things to which we see ourselves now reduced—all because the number of the Sangleys has been diminished, since the natives have neither energy nor strength to support the burdens that the Chinese carry; and much more on account of our dependence upon their trade, for everything. For not only does everything necessary for life come to us from China—as wheat, cloth, and earthenware—but it is the Sangleys who carry on all the crafts, and who with their traffic maintain the fortunes of the citizens (without those other products of vineyards and olive-groves that are furnished in the industries carried on [260]in Nueva España) from the merchandise of China, having secured in their hands the entire commerce of these islands, since that of Yndia and Japon failed. His Lordship, having handsomely entertained the ambassador, dismissed him, with letters for the prince and the mandarins; and we here remain in peace, affairs settled as they were before, and the fear [removed] that an enemy so powerful and at our very gates must occasion us. [261]

Letter from Governor Salcedo to Francisco Yzquierdo

Summary of this letter, written from Manila, dated July 16, 1664, giving information regarding the condition of the islands at his arrival, and the measures that he had taken.

He states therein that he set sail from the port of Acapulco on March 25, 1663; and after a prosperous voyage they sighted the cape of Espiritusanto. There a vendaval storm came against them, so violent that it carried them to Cape Engaño; and on July 8 he landed, made the ship secure, unladed all the money sent for the situado, and made arrangements for its transportation to Manila. The governor was gladly received there, and took possession of the government and the authority of captain-general, on September 8, 1663.

He found the islands in most wretched condition—the Spaniards as yet hardly reassured after the insurrections of the years 61 and 62, and the natives irritated by cruel punishments. The royal treasury was so exhausted that it contained no more than 35,000 pesos; the magazines were destitute of provisions, ammunition, and other supplies for the relief of the fortified posts and the soldiers. A few months before, the soldiers had received part of their pay—[262]each one who had eight pesos of wages being paid one peso, and others receiving only a ration of rice and meat. But the governor found the officials of all classes still unpaid; and he had no ship to send to Nueva España, because the vessel sent thither by his predecessor had put back to port. The commerce [of the islands] with all the neighboring countries was paralyzed, and the said commerce must again be revived, for without it Manila could not exist.

He states that he had ordered timber to be cut for repairing the ship that would go to Nueva España, and for the construction of the forty galleys that were needed for the defense of the islands from the Moro pirates that infested them—who were still more daring since the abandonment of our forts on account of our fear of the Chinese Cotseng. The governor ordered that wheat shall be sowed, since this is so necessary to the manufacture of sea-biscuit for the ships, and in order not to depend upon foreigners for the supply of this article. For the same reasons, he caused an engineer (whom he had carried to the islands at his own expense) to make examination of the iron mines; this reconnaissance had given satisfactory results, for the engineer had begun to work the mines with so good success that he had taken out nearly 600 arrobas [of iron], and was continuing to operate the mines.

In another (but undated) letter on the same subject, he mentions the improvements that he had had to make in the walls of Manila; and says that he had ordered four forts to be built in the interior of Luzon, in order to push forward the conquest of the infidel [263]peoples. He also repeats much of what he had said in the preceding letter.1 [264]

Why the Friars are not Subjected to Episcopal Visitation

The reasons that the governor and the royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands apparently might have had for suspending the execution of the royal decrees, which were repeatedly ordered to be observed in favor of the right of the royal patronage, from the year 1624 to that of 1656 [sic] have been as follows.1

First, the consideration of the zealous observance of [their rules by] all the orders in those islands; the zeal with which they busy themselves in their ministries; the new conversions that are made daily in certain portions of the islands; and because if the religious are forced to that subjection [to the diocesan authorities] they will surely fall into laxity, and consequently, will lose the zeal that they today exercise, as experience shows in the orders throughout America that have entered that subjection.

Second, because of the few seculars that there have always been in the islands to take charge of those missions; for when these were most numerous here was in the years 24, 28, and 34, for then the city of Manila had 400 citizens, and Cebu, Oton, Nueva [265]Segovia, and Arevalo had nearly 200 more. Now the representative citizens throughout the islands do not number 60. Then if in that time, when the islands contained most Spaniards, there were no secular priests, how can there be any today when there are not 60 citizens in all the islands, while the number of priests is steadily growing less in America, where the Spanish settlements are large and populous and are continually increasing?

So great is the lack of the secular clergy that they cannot even take care of the missions in their charge. For there is no district belonging to the seculars, especially outside of the island of Manila, that does not need two or three priests; for most of the villages of their jurisdiction are 10, 20, or 30 leguas distant from the chief mission station—from which, as they find themselves alone, they do not go out to visit their districts as a rule, except once a year. Consequently many must necessarily die without the sacraments, and even the children without baptism, because of the laziness of the Indians and the little esteem in which they hold the faith because of the lack of instruction. Even the ministers themselves run the risk of dying without confession, and there are not few examples of that in those islands. That occurs because they can do no more, and have no priests who can aid them in their ministries. In order to have these, they must maintain them at their own cost, in order to meet the obligations of their consciences. But the regulars in all their districts which consist of many villages (they have three or four priests in each district), are ever traveling unceasingly by sea and land, visiting their villages. Consequently the villages instructed by the religious are [266]frequent in their use of the holy sacraments, because of their good opinion of our holy Catholic faith, and their stricter observance of it.

The ministries of those islands need at least 400 priests who are religious; for I assume that there must not be only one to a district, as are the seculars in regions so extensive as these, but three or four, and sometimes more, and that is a matter involving a question of conscience, because of their ministries and their own souls; for there is a district belonging to the seculars where a priest does not arrive for a whole year, and if one reaches some parts, it is only by chance.

For the above reasons I believe that the governor and the royal Audiencia of Manila, as those who have the matter in hand, in the past year of 1665 suspended the execution of the said decrees, giving a time-limit of four years to the Order of St. Dominic to present the said reasons to his Majesty and his royal Council of the Yndias. For it is to be believed that if they found it advisable for the royal service (as they are so attentive to it) to carry out the exact royal orders in the matter, they would not have delayed the execution of the orders for four years, nor have allowed any more replies.

The reasons that the regulars have for petitioning his Majesty to be pleased not to change the method that they have followed for the space of one hundred years in their administration of the Indians in the islands, are as follows:

First, because the Indians are not yet well rooted in the faith, and there are still a great number of heathen and Moros to be newly converted—for the sacred Order of St. Dominic has many heathen in [267]the provinces of Cagayan, Pangasinan, and Ytui. The Order of St. Augustine has still many heathen among the Yglotes (who belong to the province of Ylocos) and in the island of Panay. The Society of Jesus has all the island of Mindanao, those of Jolo, and the islands adjacent to them, which are for the most part inhabited by Moros and to a less extent by Christians and heathens. They have abandoned the Maluccas, where they have labored for so many years; and at present they administer only the island of Siao which is all Christian. The Recollect Augustinians administer the Negrillos of Masinlo and many of the Caragas bordering upon the Mindanaos. The Order of St. Francis is not lacking in Aetas (who are still heathen) in their districts of La Laguna and the mountains there to be converted.

Second, because the missions of the Filipinas are suitable for him who is looking for hardship and not ease. How is it possible for missions in the islands of old infested by infidel pirates, and [now] having new conversions of Moros and heathen, not to be full of hardship? For as a rule, those missions outside the island of Manila are visited by sea by their ministers; and that brings them no little trouble besides the constant danger of being killed by the Moros.

Third, because the regulars in those islands now and those who have always been there have almost all come from España, and have gone to them, not for the purpose of any temporal advantage, but with the design of reducing infidels to the bosom of the Church. Most of them are desirous of going thence to Japon, as the reduction of that empire as well as a portion of that of China belongs to the crown of [268]Castilla. Since, then, the missions and doctrinas of those islands are so apostolic, and the zeal of the regulars in going there is expended only in the direction of promulgating the gospel among heathen, one can easily infer how necessary it is that the regulars be maintained there in the strict observance and spirit with which they left España. They fear, and with great reason, that if that subjection be accepted the regulars in those islands will relax, as has been experienced in the provinces where the orders have bowed to that subjection, paying heed perchance rather to not leaving the comforts of the fatherland than to the observance of their rules. But since the religious in the Filipinas Islands are not rooted in their fatherlands, but on the contrary regard themselves as exiled therefrom, it is impossible for them to return thither. Subject there to hardships and sickness (for the climate of Filipinas is less favorable and healthful to Europeans), they will not have the difficulty in quitting their ministries that has been experienced in America—where, in order not to leave their ministries, they have become subject, thus losing their positions; and they will not be willing that the most religious and those most zealous for their rules should at least keep away from the missions and ministries of the Indians through the imposition of that burden, and that no others should be found. Consequently, with that subjection they desire again to journey to parts so remote; so that in such case, in those provinces which are today so religious, their courage would grow less and that not without danger to those ministries, which by their very nature demand zealous persons and those of a very superior virtue. [269]

For it is sufficient to consider that, if serious men of learning and virtue subject themselves to the ordinary in order to minister in a doctrina, it may happen that they will be punished for a slight omission or neglect, perhaps one that they could not avoid—such as not being able to arrive in time to hear the confession of a dying person or to give him the holy oil; or to baptize a new-born infant. It is possible that this fear alone would make some refuse the ministries of the islands with such a risk. For although the ordinary cannot punish them as religious, he can punish them as curas; and in such a case it is difficult to proceed between cura and religious.

In the first place the religious’s definitorio may assign him also to a house with a vote, all of which have ministries in the Filipinas; and an ambitious man may by the exercise of skill, and by influence, intercessions, and presents deprive him of the place, and perhaps may impute to him faults and defects that he does not possess in order to attain his purpose better and to justify his action. That can not fail to be a cause for sorrow, and more so to one who has no foundation in the islands, but who is rather disgusted at being there; and it will be a sufficient cause for him to retire from his ministries and even to attempt to return to España.

And even though the superiors may order the religious to live in their missions with that subjection, it may be that they cannot obtain it by entreaty from them, and that the religious will excuse themselves by saying with St. Paul: Unusquisque enim in ea vocatione qua vocatus est permanet.2 They may also say that they wish to persevere in the vocation [270]to which they were called by God, and that they did not enter religion to recognize two superiors, one a regular and the other a secular, but rather one of their own profession—by whom they would willingly allow themselves to be visited, censured, and punished; but not by two distinct in profession. For if there are two superiors who are unequal in profession, it is quite possible that they will be at variance in the matters of orders and obedience; and that such subordinate may be in doubt without the power to help it lest obedience to one be an offense to the other. Consequently, placed between two extremes, he will come to obey the more powerful and to disobey his regular superior, who is the one from whom he can fear less.

And one might doubt whether the superior could impose on those who should be thus firm in their purpose the precept of obedience, so that they should subject themselves as curas to an ordinary and to tho choice of a governor. And if for the above reasons those who are zealous for their rules should be lacking in the provinces and ministries, the men who are less religious would become the mainstay of the provinces and would administer the missions—men whom neither ambition nor their slight attachment to the observance calls away [from the order]. Consequently, such men coming in time to rule the provinces and to possess the ministries in those islands, the end will be that there will be no religion, observance, or examples in them to invite the Indians, but only scandals by which they will stumble; for, as a foolish people, they embrace what they see rather than what they hear.

Besides the above, the orders fear lest the governors [271]and the ordinaries will make use of that subjection to harass them, especially if by any accident some collision should occur between them and the authorities. For if the governor had the selection of the [religious of the] villages in his control, who could prevent him from removing or appointing whomever he wished, or choosing those whom he considered better for his own purposes and even molesting the good? For since all the houses with votes in those islands except the convents of Manila are doctrinas, he could place in them the men satisfactory to himself; and these would not fail him in the following provincial chapters in accepting from his hand a provincial who would be most advantageous to him, or most inclined to agree with him. Consequently, he would become absolute master of the monastic government of the orders. If the ordinaries wished to molest those religious whom they did not like, who could prevent them from fulminating penalties for the slightest causes? and this especially where the witnesses are Indians who would swear against their missionaries at any threat or for any profit, whatever the ministers or the visitors of the bishops wished.

It is well seen that all those troubles, so possible, would cease if the governors would govern according to the pious zeal and most Christian intention of his Majesty, and the ordinaries according to the obligation of their estate. But, nevertheless, in parts so distant and remote from the heart of the monarchy, not all the governors and ordinaries work in harmony. For even the good and those regarded as such in España are wont to become changed in the Yndias, and to act very differently from what was [272]expected of them; for power and opportunity generally change the purposes and disorder the expectations of those who are by nature covetous, revengeful, or subject to other passions. What may not [therefore] be feared? On account of all those things the fears of the orders are not ill founded. Would that experience did not testify to all these possibilities. Since even without that subjection the governors and ordinaries are wont to give the regulars causes for merit for very slight causes, what would it be if they held the regulars as subjects and had absolute power to be able to punish them as criminals and to depose them as guilty?

If the regular superior should decide that he ought in conscience to remove any occasion for scandal, or one who was a discredit to his profession, in the case of any of his subjects; and it should be necessary for that reason to remove him from his mission: in such case, if he went to the governor to impart his purpose as he is obliged to do by the right of the royal patronage, the governor having heard the reasons would have a copy of the charges given to the party; and the suit having been brought to trial the defense might even manage with crafty pleas to frustrate the zeal of the superior. In such cases (which are quite ordinary where the said subjection to bishops and viceroys is allowed) the superior will come out disaccredited and justly angry, and the accused triumphant; for his evil conscience and the zeal of his prelate will put him on his guard, and he will be forewarned of each attack.

How many scandals will follow from this, and how many discords, edicts, and enmities! how many expenses in money, and how much bribing of witnesses [273]and intercessors! both of servants and friends of the governors, who are usually benefited by religious of that sort. They are generally aided as much by cunning as by what they spend in order to succeed in their designs, without considering that they are trampling upon all the three essential vows of the estate which they profess—namely, poverty, obedience, and chastity.

Therefore, if the desires of his Majesty are that the regulars shall live in accordance with their own laws; that the natives of the Indias be well instructed; and that they be not molested by the officials of the two estates: the remedy for that is to leave the regulars to their observance without obliging them to become more subject than they have been hitherto. If this is either not advisable or cannot be done, it would be better for the orders that the secular clergy should administer those missions.

For how is it possible that such missionaries should not be covetous if they are inclined to that vice as an efficacious means to maintain themselves in their posts, to attain others that are larger and more wealthy, to defend themselves from the zeal of their prelates? Such will have the power of loading the Indians with pecuniary fines and of doubling the fees; and even perhaps there will not lack some who will avail themselves of trade and commerce to attain that end.

The subjection will result only in advantage to the governors and ordinaries, in trouble to the Indians (for the latter furnish the wealth of such ministers) and disservice to his Majesty; since it means the ruin of religious discipline. The Indians being harassed and the governors and ordinaries [274]being interested parties, all contrary to his Majesty’s holy intent, the Indians will come to have disinclination instead of love to affairs of the faith and religion. And I dare affirm that Christians thus instructed will be Christians rather by force than in their hearts.

In no part of the Yndias can one more intelligently expect that the regulars will be strict of observance than in the Filipinas Islands; for all their missions, even those in the suburbs of Manila, are surrounded by heathen and Moros—Chinese, Japanese, Mindanaos, Joloans, and Borneans, and people of almost all the other kingdoms of the Orient whose conversion is so anxiously desired. For if those heathen and Moro nations, who have before their eyes the conduct of the Christians, come to observe it as not at all in accord with right, not only among the secular clergy but among the regulars—who are by their profession teachers of the law and are bound to furnish a good example as the rule of their observance—what would they think, or what notion would they form of it? It is learned from some mandarins of Great China who were converted to our holy faith because they saw in all the ministers of it for many years a conformity of morals that was regulated to natural law, that they prudently conclude therefrom that the law which taught such actions could not be other than true. If the Chinese and Japanese who live in those islands should see the evangelical ministers acting against all natural dictates, they would come to a contrary conclusion, for they have no greater arguments for belief than those which come through their eyes.

The regulars of the Filipinas Islands have well [275]understood how just it is that the right of his Majesty’s royal patronage be observed therein according to his orders. Therefore, they do not petition for exemption from the choice by the governors and the collations by the ordinaries under any other title than that of a favor from the greatness of his Majesty, if perchance their merits have deserved it. For, as is well known, there are no missions more distant throughout the monarchy nor more seas to pass nor seas so endangered by the enemies of the faith—which can be affirmed by those who administer outside the suburbs of Manila and their environs, who continually bear death or captivity before their eyes.

If his Majesty has been pleased to give privileges to the citizens of those islands with the honorable title of hidalgos and nobles—the munificence of his Majesty supplying what birth denied to many, a privilege not conceded to any others of the Yndias—as a reward for having been willing to become citizens in regions so remote from their fatherland without any other service, in order that by such kindness others might be encouraged to do the same, not less do the regulars merit some special privilege and reward from your Majesty, and the welfare of the souls of the natives. This is the chief object of your Majesty in conserving the Filipinas Islands and all that conduces to this is only a means—namely, that it is inhabited by Spaniards and garrisoned with soldiers, and the expenses which are incurred in all this. Therefore if his Majesty exercises so great munificence in order that the means may not fail so that the end may be attained, in order that it may be more completely and perfectly executed, the regulars may hope for greater favor from the piety of their king. [276]And if laymen are rewarded for the services that they have rendered in those islands with military honors and with great encomiendas of Indians, one can trust that the services rendered to his Majesty by all the orders during a hundred years in the islands will merit some recompense in immunity (even though it be not due for their services) from his gratitude and liberal hand, as they hope from the grandeur of their king and sovereign.