CHAPTER IX.

ANNO DOM. 1580.

The Administration of Don Ronquillo de Penalosa, third Governor of Manila.

In April 1580, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo de Penalosa arrived at the port of Cavite, as Governor of Manila. He was a nephew of the famous Judge Ronquillo, who hanged the Bishop of Zamora. He brought to his predecessor, the appointment of Oidor of Mexico, with orders for him to sail by the first ship, destined for Acapulco. On his taking possession of his government, his first step was, to mark out the Chinese quarter of the town, under the guns of the fort of Santiago, on the other side of the river. He sent Captain Rivera to Borneo, again to re-establish on his throne the legitimate King Sirela, who had a second time been deprived of it by his brother, with the assistance of a Portuguese Captain, of the name of Brito. Rivera executed his commission without delay, and returned to Manila, after having placed Sirela in peaceable possession of his kingdom. This was judged to be the fittest opportunity, for bringing the Moluccas under the Spanish dominion, and the Governor began to make preparations for the enterprize, for, in addition to the customary enmity between the courts of Portugal and Castile, he had received positive instructions from Philip the Second, to effect this object. Circumstances, however, compelled him to postpone it till the year following, as several matters of consequence, in these islands, required his presence, particularly in the province of Cagayan, where a Japanese pirate had established himself, with a great many followers and vessels. Pablo Carrion dislodged the Japanese, but not without great loss on the side of the Spaniards, as the former, rather than be taken prisoners, preferred dying bravely, with arms in their hands. The pirate thus dislodged, the Governor founded the city of Nueva Segovia, close to the Indian town of Lalo, and the city of Arivalo, in the island of Panay, in memory of his native province.

The year following, 1582, an expedition sailed to the Moluccas, commanded by Don Sebastian Ronquillo, a nephew of the Governor, who took with him Pablo de Lima, married to a niece of the King of Tidore, and who, in her right, laid claim to several towns, of which she had been unjustly deprived by the King of Ternate. De Lima was likewise appointed Governor of Ternate, when it should be subdued by the Spaniards, and all these considerations contributed, to induce him to give every aid to this expedition. The squadron arrived at the island of Motiel, and making an easy conquest of it, the natives recognized Pablo de Lima as their chief. From this island, the Spaniards proceeded on their voyage to Ternate, where the Indians seemed determined, to throw every impediment in the way of their disembarkation; but the resistance was of short duration, as the Spaniards contrived to draw them into the interior, and to plant their artillery against the town, without which expedient nothing could have been done. They laid regular siege to the town, and were on the point of taking it, when a disorder in the intestines began to rage among them, which occasioned such mortality, that they were compelled to break up their enterprize, and return to the Philippines. During these transactions in Ternate, the Christians in Manila, found out new objects for mutual hostility. Besides the provinces which I have mentioned, which the Augustine friars had been the means of reducing to obedience, they had distributed priests in Pangasinan, in Cagayan, and in the two provinces of Misames and Caraga, in the island of Mindanao, which are the only two in this large island, acknowledging subjection to the Spaniards. The factor of Mindanao, whose name was Blas de la Serna, treated the Indians with great severity, and lived a scandalous life, highly prejudicial to the cause of Christianity.

The friar whom the Augustines had placed there, admonished him repeatedly to alter his course of life; but as his conduct became more reprehensible every day, the friar, unable to bear it longer, was under the necessity of excommunicating him. The factor, in revenge for (as he termed it) his impudence, publicly beat him. At this time the Bishop of Manila was Don Fr. Domingo de Salazar, who had arrived at Manila in March, 1581, with two Jesuits, who were the first of the order in these islands. On the 21st of December, he erected the church into a cathedral, appointing proper prebends and dignitaries, and forming municipal authorities for its due government. This nobleman was highly attentive to the rights of the clergy. He took up the affair with the factor very warmly, and did not relax in his exertions, until he saw him at Manila undergo the punishment, imposed on him by the sentence of the church, and which he had so well merited.

The whole body of factors being alarmed, and fearing this would be much to their prejudice, persuaded the Governor, to withdraw from the clergy, the Indians who had been given to them for their own service, and that of the church. The Spaniards well inclined to the factors, seconded this advice, and they, in conjunction, commenced a cruel persecution against the Augustine and Franciscan friars. But Pedro de Chaves, Amador de Arriaran, Juan de Morenos, Antonio Savedra, Miguel de Lorca, Francisco de la Cueba, Esteban Rodrigueze de Figueroa, and other factors, who had seen, of how much importance the friars were, in the conquest and retention of these islands, came over to their party, and defended them against the attack thus made on them, proving satisfactorily, that without the assistance of the clergy, the factors would never have received even their rents.

The Governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo, was deeply afflicted at those disputes, so much at variance with his character, and with the anxiety of his views, for the happiness and prosperity of these islands. His whole mind, indeed, was occupied in the consideration, of what might contribute to these ends, and to the aggrandizement of the Spanish name; but unhappily persuading himself, that his honour was committed by these dissensions, he became affected by a deep melancholy, to which he was a prey during six months, and to which he fell a sacrifice in the month of March, 1583, before he completed his third year as Governor. He was interred in the church of St. Augustine, and to do him honour, more tapers than usual being burnt, the roof of the church was set on fire, which in a few hours communicated so generally, that the greater part of the city was destroyed, with immense loss of lives and property.

By the death of Don Gonzalo, his kinsman, Don Diego Ronquillo, succeeded as Governor ad interim, being nominated as such in the royal order. The new Governor directed all his attention, to the rebuilding of the city, assisting personally in the public works, and paying particular attention, to the restoration of the houses, belonging to the inhabitants. Such diligence was used, that in a short time, the city was completely re-established. Many of the inhabitants, lost almost all their property in this fire; and the disaster, though of sufficient magnitude, was swelled into a most dreadful picture, by the ship going to Acapulco, but which had been forced by stress of weather into China. It is inconceivable, in what consternation, the inhabitants of the islands in the neighbourhood of Manila, arrived to their assistance. Don Diego Ronquillo immediately sent to China the factor of the royal works, Juan Bautista Roman, with orders to chastise those, who had been the cause of spreading this report, and to despatch, at any expense, a ship to New Spain, with a true statement of the extent of the mischief. The factor performed his commission with such efficacy, that the ship he despatched, returned the year following from Acapulco, in company with another; and in these ships came the new Governor and the Royal Audience. The government of Don Diego had lasted only one year, but, though short, it was of great importance to the settlement.

He reduced to obedience in the island of Layte, and the province of Pangasinan, some towns which refused to pay the usual tribute, and he effectually suppressed symptoms of sedition in the other provinces, and which took their rise in the ill treatment of the factors. The factors entertained the idea, that the Indians whom they had found on their lands, ought to be considered in the light of slaves in every respect, and compelled them to work, appropriating all the wages of their labour to their own use, by which means they enjoyed all the luxuries of life, and even accumulated fortunes. To such a height had these abuses been raised, that a reform was absolutely necessary. The Governor bestowed particular attention on this subject, punishing those who were culpable, and watching over the general good. The result of this was, that many Indians who before had fled to the mountains, returned to the towns, and paid the tribute settled by the government, either in silver, or in the produce of the land they cultivated. By these desirable arrangements, the royal revenue was improved, and the interest of the factors so much injured by their own avarice, that from hence arose the proverb, "Avarice bursts the sack."