CHAPTER XII.

ANNO DOM. 1596.

The Administration of Don Francisco Tello de Gusman, the fourth Governor of Manila.

The news of the death of Dasmariñas, reached Madrid through the medium of India, and immediately the King sent as his successor Don Francisco Tello de Gusman, Knight of the order of Santiago, born at Seville, who had been treasurer of the Indies. He arrived at Manila the 1st of June 1596, and the following month despatched the ship San Philip to Acapulco; but she encountered in her voyage heavy gales, was dismasted, and lost her rudder, and having no other resource, bore away for Japan, where the relief she sought was denied, except on the condition of her entering the port of Urando; in effecting which she touched on a sand bank, and made so much water, that she was under the necessity of being unloaded. The Governor, allured by the prospect of such rich booty, immediately conceived the design of making himself master of the vessel and cargo, and accordingly secured it in the royal store-houses, sending information to the Emperor Taycosama, that the Captain having given a false representation of the matter, he had proceeded against him according to law, and had secured the whole of the property. By this means he so warped the whole affair, that the cargo was condemned, and a prosecution was commenced, in the progress of which those Franciscan friars fell martyrs, who had come to this kingdom in quality of ambassadors.

Taycosama named one of the four principal Governors of his kingdom, called Uximonoxo, to take charge of the ship, in order that the cargo might be delivered up; for our Captain, Don Mathias Landecho, had petitioned the Emperor, sending two Spaniards and two friars, of those he had in the ship, with a present worth twenty thousand dollars, to soften him, and, if possible, to obtain justice. Upon their arrival at Meaco, the court of the Emperor, they applied to the Franciscan friars, who, by their experience in this city, they conceived, could procure a favourable reception to their application. The Franciscans judged it better to apply to Ximonoxo, another of the four Governors; but this crafty Japanese, possessing more abilities than the friars, deceived the whole of them, found means to make them deliver up the present of the Emperor to him, offering to give them a letter to Uximonoxo, which they agreed to, and acceded to his wish. The Spaniards returned quite content with this letter; but it was the letter of Uriah, the Hittite, for immediately they delivered it, Uximonoxo imprisoned them. When they found out the deceit, they sent the Friar Guivara to Meaco, to procure their liberty from the other Governors, and, with the assistance of the Franciscan friars, attempted to get an audience of the Emperor, to explain to him the conduct of his Governors; but Uximonoxo was too crafty for them, prejudicing the Emperor against the friars, through the medium of the Bonzos, who are priests of their idols, to whom he suggested the propriety of complaining against them, because they propagated a new doctrine against the gods, which must be prejudicial to the state.

Taycosama, who began to be desirous of keeping possession of the merchandize of the wrecked vessel, imprisoned the Franciscan friars, on pretence of their having preached the gospel of Christ against his command; and likewise pretended that they were employed as spies by the Spaniards, and that, with these views, they had quitted their own country. He now openly seized the property saved, and condemned the friars to death. With them the following were comprehended in this sentence; the Friars Pedro Bautista, Francisco Blanco, Gonsalo Garçia, Francisco de San Miguel, Martin de la Asumpcion, together with Phelipe de Jesus, who was going in that ship to New Spain to be ordained, and had resided with his brethren since his arrival in Japan. These six Franciscan friars, with three Japanese Jesuits, and seventeen Japanese laymen, who professed Christianity, all shared the same fate. They were paraded through the streets of Meaco, with their left ears cut off, and then marched above two hundred leagues into Nangasaqui, where they suffered martyrdom, by being placed on crosses, and put to death with lances. This transaction took place on the 5th of February 1597, in the presence of Señor Martinez, a Jesuit Bishop, many other Jesuits and Franciscan friars, and the Spaniards lately arrived in that ship, and who returned to Manila, after suffering many hardships, and certified what they had witnessed on this occasion.

Immediately on the death of these martyrs being made known in Manila, the Governor sent two Spaniards and an Augustine friar, to solicit their bodies, and complain to the Emperor of the ill treatment which the Spaniards had experienced in regard to their ship, contrary to the treaty which had been made with the government of Manila. They likewise had instructions, to procure the establishment of commercial regulations for the future; and to pave the way for these views, they took with them a present of an elephant, an animal seldom seen in Japan. Taycosama was delighted with this present, and he esteemed it the more, as it knelt three times in his presence, on a certain signal being made to it. He received the ambassadors with great cordiality, and pleaded the laws of the empire, in justification of the conduct which had been observed, with regard to the ship and cargo; but made a promise, for the second time, of protection to the commerce of the Spaniards, assuring them that these vexations should never be repeated, and despatched them with a present to the Governor, together with the relicts of the martyred saints. The Spaniards had little confidence in the duration of this good understanding, for Faranda incessantly instigated the Emperor to commence hostilities on Manila, promising to reduce the whole of the islands to his obedience. The four Governors of the kingdom seconded the representations of Faranda, and measures were adopted with the view of carrying them into effect by collecting an armament; but the chief men of the country, who considered Faranda as a despicable character, much retarded this scheme. It was at first understood in Manila, that this armament was directed against the island of Formosa, as the first step towards the conquest of the Philippines. Our Governor took every precaution, and among others, sent an embassy to Canton, as the Chinese were the ancient enemies of the Japanese; and it was their interest to prevent the latter from making this conquest: nothing of this, however, was eventually necessary, as Taycosama died, and peace immediately followed.

While this was passing in Japan, the two expeditions which Luis Dasmariñas had sent to Camboxa and Mindanao were proceeding in their operations; that which went to Camboxa began successfully, but it was afterwards completely ruined by Major Juan Gallinato, and returned to Manila without effecting any thing. Don Luis Dasmariñas having pledged himself for the success of this expedition, armed, at his own cost, two ships and a galiot, and with the approbation of the Governor, left Manila for Camboxa, and in a little time after arrived at China, at the port of Pinae, twelve leagues distant from Canton, where he encountered the Governor of Malacca, took him prisoner, and returned to Manila. His galiot arrived at Cagayan, and proceeded on his voyage to Camboxa, where he found the King re-established on his throne by the Portuguese, Cabos Diego Belloso and Blas Ruiz. The other two Spanish ships also arrived there, and an attempt was made to establish themselves in that kingdom; but although the King seemed to desire it, they were compelled to abandon the project, as it was opposed by his step-mother, and the Malays had already freed themselves from the control of the Portuguese by the murder of Belloso and Ruiz; indeed a few only had escaped, with Captain Juan de Mendoza in his ship.

In Mindanao, Captain Figueroa, who had the charge of this expedition, and who bore, by the King's order, the title of Marquis of what he might conquer, arrived at Buhayen, where the Moors had some fortifications, from whence he retired to the kingdom of Tamoncaca, whose King was in amity with the Spaniards. The Señor Salazar having come out about this time to see the Royal Audience re-established, the ecclesiastical establishment was likewise arranged, the first Archbishop being the Señor himself. He, however, scarcely enjoyed his dignity three months, as, in August in the same year, he died of a dysentery. There had come with him Friar Pedro de Agurto, of the order of St. Augustine, first Bishop of Zebu, and Señor Benevides, of the order of the Dominicans, first Bishop of New Segovia. In the same year the Oidores arrived, who were to form the Royal Audience, the President of it being the Governor. The chief Oidor was Morga, nominated as successor ad interim to the Governor. The others were Don Christoval Telles Almanza, Alvaro Zambrano, and Geronimo de Salazar. In eight days after their arrival, the Royal seal being carried with much pomp to the cathedral, and from thence to the palace, the Royal Audience was, by this ceremony, considered as fully established.

In the garrison of Caldera, Juan Pacho had remained as Governor, and being of an active disposition, he attempted to reduce the natives of Jolo, on which island he landed immediately after a storm of rain, and attacking them, was killed, with the greater part of his people. The residue retreated to Caldera; but in consequence of this defeat, the natives of Jolo and of Mindanao, with fifty Caracoas, invaded the islands of Zebu, Negros, and Panay, pillaging and burning the towns, and making many prisoners. In the following year, 1590, they repeated the attack, and the natives retiring to the mountains, refused to quit them again, as the Spaniards were unable to protect them. Those in particular of the island of Panay were most pertinacious, and would not come near the town, as one of their priestesses had asserted, that the Spaniards were in league with the Moors, and had been the cause of these hostilities for years back. It cost the friars a great deal of trouble, to eradicate the effects of the impression, made by this means on the minds of the Indians, but at length they succeeded, and the towns were re-occupied.

To chastise these insults of the Moors, the Governor sent Juan Gallinato, with two hundred Spaniards, to Jolo; but after making an attempt to possess himself of a fort, which the King of Jolo had on a lofty hill, he returned to Manila, without having effected any thing of consequence.

From that time to the present, the Moors have not ceased to infest our colonies. It is incredible what a number of Indians they have made prisoners, what towns they have plundered, what villages they have annihilated, and what ships they have taken. I am inclined to think, that Providence permits this as a punishment on the Spaniards, for delaying the conquest for no less a period than two hundred years [21], notwithstanding the expeditions and fleets, that have almost annually been sent to attempt it. On the first arrival of the Spaniards in those seas, they conquered, in a short time, all the Philippines, excepting the small island of Jolo, part of Mindanao, and a few other very insignificant islands near them, which, to this period, have not submitted. These Moorish Indians are certainly very valiant, and their enmity has been drawn upon us by our own conduct; for instead of following the laudable example of the first settlers in these islands, who brought the natives under subjection, principally by the mild interference of the friars, it seems, of late years, to have been the object of the Spaniards, since the great increase of the lucrative commerce of Manila, to acquire, by oppression and force, lands and establishments on these islands, without any view to conciliate the natives. Those, therefore, who have been sent on different occasions to reduce the country, have, instead of attending to the object of their mission, been solicitous only to serve their own purposes, considering that as a primary, which ought to have been a secondary object; and the natives profiting by constant experience in warfare, during which they discovered that the Spaniards were mortal like themselves, have at last become very formidable. There can be no doubt these Indians may be reduced by the same means employed with the others, that is, by sending missionaries amongst them, and a sufficient number of Spanish stations might be established, to command respect. These garrisons ought to be independent of the Governor of Manila, and ought to have a chief, who should reside there, directing his whole attention to the improvement of the settlement, by the extension in the country of the Spanish influence, by temperate measures.

As the matter is now ordered, these appointments are made with no other view than to enrich, by any means, the individuals sent there as Governors. Such, too, is the situation of the Governors of Zamboanga and Marianas; who appropriate to their own use all the revenue sent by his Majesty's Governors for public purposes, and then return to Manila, leaving the colonies as poor and miserable as the first day they were established.

In October 1600, two Dutch pirates took their station at the entrance of Marivelez, waiting for the ship Saint Thomas, which was expected to return from New Spain about this time. The Governor sent against them the Oydor Morga with two galleons, an English patache which had come from Malacca, a galiot, and other small vessels. On the 12th of December an engagement took place, when Morga took one ship, and the other fled, very much disabled; but he was incapable of pursuing his advantage, for his ship had suffered so much that she foundered, and fifty of the crew were drowned, the rest being saved on the island of Fortune. The ship which he had taken from the Dutch had on board twenty-five men, whom the Governor ordered to be hanged, as a warning to other pirates. During this year, two ships sailed for Acapulco; one was lost on the island of Catanduanes, but all the people were saved; the other took shelter in one of the Marianas, where she was seized by the Indians, who murdered most of the Spaniards, reserving only a few, whom the ship Saint Thomas rescued on her return to New Spain; but the various disasters which had befallen Manila during this government, were far surpassed by a terrible earthquake, in which many houses, and the church of the Jesuits, were destroyed.