Chapter 15

On the sixteenth of October of the year 1600 just past, there entered the little bay of Aluay, which is in these islands, near the entrance to them, two vessels, which, from some people who went on board of them, were found to belong to strangers. After having robbed some vessels they came toward the port of Cavite, which is two leguas from this city, and is the place where vessels anchor. It was decided that some ships should be fitted out in the aforesaid port--namely, a ship built in the island of Cebu, called the "Sant Diego," which belonged to some private persons; a galicabra called the "Sant Bartolome," which belongs to your Majesty; a galley of twenty benches, also belonging to your Majesty; and a pataje belonging to some Portuguese from Malaca, who were in the port. [47]

It seemed to Don Francisco Tello, governor and captain-general of these islands and president of the royal Audiencia, and to the doctor Antonio de Morga and the licentiate Cristoval Tellez de Almacan, auditors therein, that it would be well, in order that the ships might be got ready in the best way and as quickly as possible, for the aforesaid Dr. Antonio de Morga to go to Cavite for that purpose, and so he went there early in November. Later, desiring to go as commander-in-chief of the expedition, he asked for that office from the president, who proposed it to the licentiate Cristoval Tellez de Almacan, desiring him to secure it through a session of the Audiencia, but the latter opposed it. I afterward spoke to him of the lack there was of auditors, and of some other matters, and suggested to him to write about this and let each one give his opinion. Yet, although the said president agreed to do so, he did not, but secretly gave the title of commander-in-chief of the fleet to the said Dr. Antonio de Morga, although your Majesty had here Don Juan Ronquillo, who was receiving a salary as commander-in-chief of the galleys, and who was a veteran soldier, together with many others who have well approved themselves on the occasions for service which have arisen. The doctor, fearing that the president might change his mind, made haste to leave the port; and, although he could have had the galeota fitted out, he did not do so. It was understood that the reason given was that Don Juan Ronquillo said that it should not go out because he was commander-in-chief of the galleys for your Majesty, and that the right to go in the galeota could not be taken from him. Likewise, although he could have taken the pataje from Malaca, for which he had received some supplies and artillery at your Majesty's expense, he did not wait for it; and some say that friends of the doctor said that he ought not to take the pataje, because the Portuguese on it said that he should not, although the victory would have been to their account.

So on the twelfth of December he set out from Cavite for the port of Mariveles, which is seven leguas distant, and there [_MS. illegible_] the flagship which was the ship "Sant Diego;" and on the following day, the thirteenth, at eleven or twelve o'clock of a very black night, he left the port of Mariveles, without informing his admiral's ship, which was the galicabra, and in which sailed as admiral the captain Juan de Alcega. However, after the flagship had been gone more than an hour, the other ship saw it by accident, and went after it. At daybreak our flagship recognized that of the enemy, which, together with its admiral's ship, was between the islands of Anacebu and Fortun. On account of the roughness of the weather, they were unable to unite; so the enemy's flagship kept up into the wind to wait for ours, which gained the windward of it and closed with it under full sail, while the admiral's ship of the enemy took to flight.

Meanwhile the two flagships were fighting. For each man of the enemy our ship had four Spaniards--not to mention the Indians and negroes, who helped very much--and a great deal of artillery, powder, and munitions and instruments of war; and they destroyed the enemy to such an extent that as many of our men as wished to do so entered it and took the banners and standards and other things belonging to the enemy, without having anyone appear on it, for they had retired to the bow. At this point our admiral's ship arrived, and with its artillery and arquebuses did some damage to the Dutch flagship; and our men on it, especially Alonso de Mansilla, the sargento-mayor's adjutant, called aloud, telling the others not to do them any damage, but to pass on to the admiral's ship of the enemy, because their flagship had already surrendered to your Majesty; whereupon our admiral's ship went in pursuit of the Dutch admiral's ship, which was more than two leguas away. The two flagships remained thus over three hours more, besides the two during which they had already been together. The enemy did not fight, and on our ship there was no one to order or govern, or command anyone to pass to the other ship. Then it was said that our ship was going to the bottom, and so loudly that the enemy heard it and took courage again. In our ship there was no one to command what was to be done, so that it did go to the bottom. There escaped on mattresses and on shields, and by swimming, Dr. Antonio de Morga and [_illegible in MS._] other persons; but more than as many Spaniards again were lost, and more than a hundred Indians and negroes. The best artillery that there was in these islands, which had been taken from the fortresses for this purpose, was also utterly lost, besides all that the vessel carried, which was a great deal. That same day the admiral, Juan de Alcega, captured the Dutch admiral's ship, and sent its men to this city.

Then it was that they were found to be Dutch. They called themselves vassals of Mauricio, Prince of Orange and Count of Nasau; and they bore a patent, a copy of which is subjoined. The president thought it well to send after the enemy's flagship, and for this purpose he ordered that our admiral's ship should go, with Admiral Juan de Alcega as commander; and that the Dutch vessel should go as admiral's ship, with Captain Juan Tello de Aguirre as admiral, who had had the position over the infantry in our admiral's ship. They went where they were ordered, but did not find a trace of the Dutch flagship. The commander of this was Oliver van Noordt, and in command of the admiral's ship was Lanverto Viesman. They were heretics who, with other ships, had set out from the port of Nostradamus [_i.e._, Amsterdam] in Olanda, on the twelfth of September in the year 98; and had come by the Canaria Islands and by Brasil, through the Strait of Magallanes and along the coast of Chile, to these islands.

As I thought from the beginning, as soon as I knew of the loss of our flagship, that they would try to conceal it from your Majesty, I made an investigation about it, a copy of which is subjoined. [48] From this it can be seen who was to blame; and whatever is written to your Majesty contrary to this, or to what is contained in the report on the investigation, is not to be relied upon. The president has made an investigation in this matter, trying to shield himself and the guilty ones; and it has been carried on in such a way that it is known that no witness has dared to tell the truth. On this account I presented a petition to the president, asking that he refrain from trying the case, because the witnesses did not speak freely for fear of the power of the guilty, and because I intended to ask your Majesty to appoint a judge who could try the case, since the president could not do so. I also asked that a copy might be given to me of all that had been written about this matter, in order that I might give it to your Majesty and ask for what might be proper. This was denied me by the president, and I appealed to the royal Audiencia, but for lack of auditors, of whom there was only the licentiate Tellez de Almazan, no action was taken. If a judge were to be appointed, there would be none who would dare to declare against the will of the guilty. Although the licentiate Don Antonio de Rivera Maldonado has come since, it has been impossible for me to take up this matter, because I have been ill now for more than forty days. So I beg your Majesty to order that this report be examined, and that whatever is proper may be done. Our Lord keep the Catholic and royal person of your Majesty, with a greater increase of realms and power. From Manila, which is in the Philipinas Islands, on the sixteenth of July of the year 1601.

_Hieronimo de Salazar y Salcedo_

Complaint of the Cabildo of Manila Against Morga

Sire:

The most faithful city of Manila in the Philipinas Islands humbly informs your Majesty that for some years past this city and realm have suffered, and are at present suffering, so many hardships and misfortunes, both in wars and in the loss of wealth and prestige, that it has been very close to entire ruin. This has arisen and arises not from unavoidable accidents which ordinarily happen in states and communities, but from those which the persons in charge of the government and who reside there could avoid, but do not prepare for; and they are notoriously due to the fault and misgovernment of the persons to whom your Majesty has entrusted the administration of these islands--partly on account of their scant energy and vigilance, but most of all through what has resulted from their not being willing to fulfil the orders, instructions, and royal decrees which your Majesty had previously issued for the attainment of your objects and for particular ends; these they have directly violated. Since such conditions require a remedy, and as this must depend upon the royal will of your Majesty, who are not informed of the actual truth concerning events which have occurred here, these states must remain without relief on your Majesty's part, and with the said danger of our ruin. Owing to the general obligation which rests upon us as vassals of your Majesty, and that which in conscience especially obliges us as regidors of this city, which is the capital of all these islands, the following account has been written.

In the first place, a matter whence many other losses have resulted is this. Your Majesty having ordered the conquest of the kingdom of Mindanao to be entrusted to Captain Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, conformably to the edict or ordinance which treats of the conquest of newly-discovered countries and settlements in the Yndias, and this order having been despatched to the said Captain Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa, Governor Don Louis Das Mariñas arrived here in the year 96. When the former reached Mindanao with his expedition, he (and he alone) was killed by the natives of that island on the unfortunate day of St. Mark of the same year. When Don Francisco Tello arrived in the following June of the said year and took this government, he immediately undertook to send a person to conduct the said conquest of Mindanao. As all the troops were there which had been taken by the said Captain Estevan Rodriguez, and as Don Joan Ronquillo (your Majesty's commander of the galleys and of naval affairs in these islands) had gone there with another detachment of troops, and had remained in the said islands until March of the year 98--where, during all this time, he won many victories over the enemy, and latterly one against the king of Terrenate (who was sending his fleet to aid the said island), wherein he routed and captured the vessels and killed their commander, who was an uncle of the said king of Terrenate--at this the natives of the said island of Mindanao, who until that time had defended themselves, began negotiations for surrender, and for rendering submission to your Majesty; a part of them did so, and paid tribute to your Majesty. The said Don Francisco Tello, with the approval of Doctor Antonio de Morga, without considering the state in which this matter lay, or reflecting upon the injuries which might result from issuing such orders as they did (as may be seen later by what will be written further on), sent the said Don Joan Rronquillo an order to dismantle the fortifications of the said island, without leaving any fortified station, and to tear down the forts which your Majesty held there. Although he saw the great loss which would result from this, yet, as there was a clause in the said order directing him to do this without any reply, under penalty of being held contumacious and liable to punishment, he left the said island and came to this city with the fleet and troops which he had there, in the month of April of the year 98. The said Don Francisco Tello and the said Doctor Morga, seeing the great error which they had committed, attempted to exonerate themselves before the said Don Joan Rronquillo should arrive in this city. They arrested him, charging him with having taken away the protection of the said island of Mindanao, without their having sent him any strict order which would oblige him to do it. In order to give color to this--as they were aware that, in the voyage which the said Don Joan Rronquillo made while returning, his ship was partly wrecked, and they supposed that the said order which they had sent him had been lost, they intrigued with the government notary, and had him produce in the prosecution against the said Don Joan the order which had been given to dismantle the fortresses of Mindanao, omitting therefrom those words which made it obligatory for him to do so--namely, that he should do so under penalty of being contumacious and liable to punishment. In this way they were released from responsibility for their act, and the said Don Joan Ronquillo was inculpated without excuse, since in so serious an affair he, being on the spot, should not have done so for a simple command. The case having been continued, and he having presented the original order which they thought had been lost, and having given other explanations, he was even by them acquitted of that charge. All this appears sufficiently by the record of the case, which remains in these islands. Your Majesty having been made aware of the abandonment of the said islands during the last year, there arrived here your royal decree directing the investigation and punishment of whomsoever was responsible. As they were to blame in the affair, as can be seen by this relation, they remained silent, and have taken no action. From the abandonment of what was already gained, through the said order, it has followed that the Indians who are natives of the said islands of Ufanos, which the Spaniards had left, considering that this was due to fear, assembled, with others from other neighboring kingdoms, to come to work havoc in the lands of your Majesty. Accordingly, in the past year of 1600 they came with a fleet of many vessels to the Pintados provinces, which are subject to your Majesty; and in the region known as Bantayan they burned the village and the church, killed many, and took captive more than eight hundred persons. Thence they came to the river of Panay, an encomienda assigned to the royal crown, and killed a great many more, taking six hundred more prisoners from the said encomiendas. They burned the church and the image of our Lady which was in it, which a few days before that had for a considerable time miraculously sweated out many drops of water, as if in premonition of the impending event. They drank out of the chalice in their feasts, scoffing at the consecration of it, after the fashion of Mahometan people, whereby the natives and Spaniards of those regions were greatly afflicted and terrorized, as may be imagined.

As has already been said, the reason for the coming of these Indians to inflict the said damage was the command to take away your Majesty's camp from the said land of Mindanao. But the cause for their having wrought those injuries after they arrived was, as was said at the beginning, that the order and decree of your Majesty was not obeyed. For your Majesty had in this camp four captains of infantry with the four hundred soldiers which your Majesty had commanded to be left there as a garrison, and the said captains were satisfactory persons; and it was ordered that there should be no more than the said four captains there, as any more would be superfluous, since there were so few soldiers. Doctor Antonio de Morga, auditor of this royal Audiencia, has reached such arrogance and restlessness of mind, caused by his having wrought so many injuries to this afflicted commonwealth through the power and authority which he has, both in general and in particular, to many citizens thereof; but, with his customary facility for speaking ill to some one's prejudice, he escapes, without anyone daring to speak of the matter. In the little time which he had spent in this country, he found himself rich and powerful through his trading and commerce. Accordingly he commenced to procure taking away the employments and offices from soldiers and men of war whom your Majesty has here, and appropriated them to himself and his relations. Thus, contrary to the said limitation of number, and in violation of what your Majesty commands by your ordinances and decrees--namely, that offices of profit shall not be given to the auditors, or to their kindred, servants, or dependents--Governor Don Francisco Tello appointed, as alcalde-mayor of the island of Mindoro, a certain Pedro Cotelo de Morales, a first cousin of the wife of the said Doctor Morga, who came with the latter to these islands; and passed by, in giving it, many of the conquerors and poor settlers. But the said Doctor Morga would not accept this, saying that he would have no appointment for him unless it was a paid captaincy. The man was a mere youth, and in all his life had never fired an arquebus, and was not skilled or experienced in war. On the contrary, he had led a very evil life, which cannot be fittingly described to your Majesty, and so is left unsaid. Accordingly, to give some color to what he desired to do, and in order that he might not appear to be exceeding the said number of four captains, the said governor appointed this man captain of infantry, so that he could go out of this city to the said Pintados provinces, where they were in fear that the said enemies were going. He was assigned the regular salary for a captain, and in like manner the other officers of his company were established with pay; and they likewise were men of the same way of life and the same amount of experience in war as the said Pedro Cotelo. He went with the troops to the city of Santisimo Nombre de Jhesus, which is in the said provinces of the Pintados, thus leaving in this city of Manila the four regular captains of infantry, who had some knowledge of the affair, in idleness and without any troops; for among all four of the companies there did not remain a hundred soldiers fit for service. As he was in the said city at the time when the said enemies came, and received word that they were in the said village of Bantayan, the alcalde-mayor and commander of the troops of war, who was in the said city, despatched the said Pedro Cotelo de Morales with ships and troops against them. Although the journey from the place where he was to that where the enemies were situated was two days long, he took four to it. If he had arrived at the time when he might have done so, he would have found the enemy drawn up on the land, and would have burned their fleet and taken away their prizes. When he arrived, sailing on from that place, he again heard the noise of the engines of war which they had with them, near some islands; and some of the soldiers, even, climbing up the masts of the ships, saw those of the enemy. But he would not go against them either, alleging various excuses--as your Majesty may have seen more at length by the information which accompanies this.

Besides this, the said Pedro Cotelo Morales, having arrived with his fleet at the town of Arevalo, a settlement of Spaniards, the commander and alcalde-mayor there resident gave him more ships and troops, and ordered him in a council of war (in which Pedro Cotelo himself took part) to go and seek the enemy; and, if he did not find him in an island near there, to come back immediately to the said town of Arevalo on account of the fear lest the enemy should escape thither. The said Pedro Cotelo, taking no heed of the said order, as one who held the post of alcalde should, and in order to flee the battle, did not observe this command, and went into another region without coming back to the said town. In the meantime the enemy came there and landed, and the town was almost ruined. They killed the alcalde-mayor and commander of the troops, and then withdrew. If the said Pedro Cotelo had come back as had been ordered by the said council of war, he would have found them fighting there with their ships in the bays and rivers, in such wise that not a man or a ship could escape. In this way the enemy left with the two prizes mentioned. And this year we have even now information that they are coming back with increased forces; and in the preparation which has been already made or is now under way, more than fifty thousand pesos have been spent from the exchequer of your Majesty and furnished by private persons, to say nothing of the losses which the pirates will inflict when they return. The said Doctor Morga has been to blame for all this; because, contrary to the orders of your Majesty, he succeeded in having his relative placed in an office which he did not deserve, and for which he was not competent. Concerning this last affair, a copy of the proceedings of the council of war was sent to your Majesty, in which was the above-mentioned order to the said Cotelo. In order that it may be more thoroughly proved, they sent to the said town of Arevalo to have the matter investigated; but the magistrate there, for fear of the said Doctor Morga, would take no action.