Chapter 2

A letter from Fajardo to the king (August 10, 1619) gives his report on various matters of importance. He has received certain reënforcements and supplies from Mexico, but urges that these be sent every year. He describes the last incursion of the Dutch in Philippine waters, and his military preparations by which they were obliged to retreat thence. His resources for defense are small, and he cannot depend upon India for aid, as the Portuguese there are themselves in straits; accordingly, the king must send a fleet from Spain for the aid of the islands. He has aided Ternate to the best of his ability, and will send more when he can. The governor there has resigned his post, after many complaints of his rule; Fajardo has made a temporary appointment, and asks the king to provide further for this post. The English in the archipelago are engaged in conflicts with the Dutch, and it is rumored that the former would like to ally themselves with the Spaniards to fight their mutual foe. Fajardo is perplexed regarding the king of Ternate, who is still held a prisoner at Manila; and asks for instructions. He makes various recommendations and requests concerning the appointment of certain subordinates, desiring to secure persons most fit therefor. He has attempted to correct abuses in the government, which he recounts in detail. Fajardo has been annoyed by constant quarrels in the Audiencia, but, with the somewhat reluctant aid of the old auditor Alcaraz, has been able to quiet them in part. He has found in both Alcaraz and the archbishop Serrano, most judicious and helpful counselors; but the other auditors are on bad terms with him, and one of them has a scandalous reputation, both public and private. A scandal has occurred in the seminary of Santa Potenciana, but the guilty have been punished. Conflicts of jurisdiction have arisen between Fajardo and the Audiencia, especially in regard to the trials of soldiers and sailors for crimes. The governor complains that retired officers refuse to serve in the regular companies; and asks that extra pay be allowed them as an inducement for such service. He asks for directions as to his sending the usual gifts to the emperor of Japan. The loyalty and bravery of the Spanish citizens of Manila are warmly commended, especially in the case of Juan Ronquillo and some others who are named. Certain intrigues and frauds have been detected, which are recounted. Fajardo recommends that more Jesuits be sent to the islands; he complains that the Dominicans are too ready to leave their work, but commends the Augustinians. A short document appended to Fajardo's letter concerns the relative merits of the routes to Filipinas via Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn respectively.

A group of papers dated 1610-19 shows that an encomienda of Indians was granted to the seminary of Santa Potenciana for its support, in consequence of the destitution suffered by its inmates.

An important document is that sent--in two memorials, of 1619 and March, 1620, respectively--to the king by Hernando de los Rios Coronel, long procurator-general of the Filipinas, on "reforms needed" in the islands--of which he has been despatched by the citizens to inform the king. Accordingly, he writes (apparently at Madrid) a detailed statement of the "matters that demand reform." Serious losses of life and property have been caused by the delays in despatching the trading ships from Manila; the governors should be compelled to send them at the favorable season. The officials on these vessels should be appointed from among the deserving citizens of the islands, and not be the relatives or servants of the governor or other royal officials. The citizens have been greatly defrauded in the assignment of lading on the galleons, and too much of this is granted to charitable institutions. The trading ships should not be used for any other purposes. The Manila authorities buy ammunition and other supplies in China, which, "in order not to anger the Portuguese in Macan," they buy from them rather than from the natives, but the supplies thus cost three times their value; the agent who buys them should buy wherever he can do so to the best advantage, and directly from the Chinese. The royal ships should be built in India, and the burden of enforced service in this work should be removed from the Indians. Commerce from Japan to Nueva España should be stopped; and Spaniards should not be allowed to man Japanese vessels. An enemy can close Manila harbor to all vessels desiring to enter; another route to it should therefore be devised and made available. The Moro pirates must be prevented from harassing the islands, and the best means for this end is to proclaim that any one who will may capture and enslave those pirates. No royal official should be allowed to attend the session of the Audiencia in which a case concerning him is tried. When Filipino natives serve as soldiers, their families should during their absence be relieved from tributes and other impositions. The ecclesiastical affairs of the Malucas should be under the jurisdiction of Cebú, not of Goa. The commanders of the trading ships should not be allowed to carry on the trade that they now do; and the officials at Acapulco should be checked in making extortionate charges. Ignorant and inefficient men should not be placed in the ships as sailors. The common seamen therein (who are Filipino natives) are inhumanly treated, and many of them die from hunger, thirst, or cold, on each voyage. Slave women are carried on the ships, in spite of the royal prohibition; and thus arise "many acts offensive to God," and much cause for scandal. No sailor or passenger (unless a person of rank) should be allowed to take with him more than one male slave. Numerous other abuses are mentioned, regarding the traffic in slaves, the treatment of seamen, and the overloading of ships. The Chinese at Manila are oppressed by the royal officials--who, moreover, appropriate their own household supplies of food from the royal storehouses at the lowest possible prices. Municipal officers and other leading citizens should not be compelled, as now, to live on their encomiendas. Flour, rigging, and many other supplies should be obtained in the islands, instead of being imported from Nueva España; a great saving of money would be thus effected. The oppressive acts of the friars toward the Indians should be checked; and no more orders should be allowed to establish themselves in the islands. The Chinese immigrants in Luzón should be collected in one community, and induced to cultivate the soil. No relative or dependent of any royal official should be allowed to hold a seat in the cabildo of Manila, or to act as inspector of the Chinese trading vessels. More religious are needed in the missions. The Chinese residents should be treated more justly, and relieved from burdensome exactions. The Japanese who come to Manila should be compelled to return to their own country. No more ships should be built by the natives, and they should be paid the arrearages which are due them.

The other memorial by Rios Coronel (March, 1620) is additional and supplementary to the former one. He asks that regidors of Manila be chosen by the Audiencia, and allowed some compensation for their services; and that the governor be not allowed to compel the cabildo to meet in his house. He blames the friars for transferring Indians from the encomiendas to settlements near Manila, where these natives are kept merely for the profit of the friars, and, moreover, become greatly demoralized. The grant of licenses to Chinamen to reside in the islands should be more carefully regulated; and they should in no case be allowed to sleep within the walls of Manila. The Japanese are also an undesirable element of the population, and their coming to the islands should be restricted. The "commons," or reserve supplies of rice, contributed by the Indians do them no good, for these are plundered by the Spanish officials; and the number of these oppressors has been unduly increased. Other injuries are inflicted upon the natives, for whose protection the writer pleads; and these unjust acts are committed by both the officials and the religious. Rios Coronel objects to the practice in vogue of giving the Indians military training; and to the traffic in slaves from Malacca, which brings to the Philippines dangerous and criminal blacks. Public suits should be tried and decided in the Audiencia, and not sent to Mexico. The governors should not be allowed to treat the citizens with insolence; and should be obliged to send the trading ships to Mexico at the right season, in order to avoid the present frequent loss of property and lives in wrecked vessels. Another cause of these losses is the culpable neglect and recklessness of royal officials and governors. Various abuses in the equipment, lading, and management of the trading vessels are pointed out, with the corrective measures that should be taken. The fertile and healthful province of Nueva Segovia is neglected, and its population is decreasing; this should be remedied by the colonial authorities. Rios Coronel asks for the appointment of a competent and reliable shore-master to aid him in the equipment and despatch of the ships, and for more thorough inspection of what is done by royal officials in the islands; for the latter purpose he recommends a choice from several ecclesiastics whom he names. The Moro pirates still ravage the islands, and the king should permit them to be enslaved by any one who may capture them. The head-hunting Zambales and Negrillos of Luzón continually harass the peaceable Pampangos; and this can only be stopped by allowing the Pampangos to enslave these foes when captured. The Filipino natives have been almost ruined by the exactions of forced labor imposed upon them by the Spaniards, especially in the building and navigation of vessels. Rios Coronel says: "As I have seen personally, and as all the inhabitants of that country know, the galleys of the Filipinas are their destruction." Rios Coronel describes the sort of vessel which should be used in the islands (one of which he has built at his own cost), and asks that such be furnished for the use of the colony. The garrison at Manila is insufficient and demoralized; and the writer makes various recommendations for improving its status. Many persons in the artillery service are incompetent; the writer demands a sort of civil-service test for those appointed to such places. He also asks for a competent artillery-founder. Better provisions should be made for the ecclesiastical government of the islands. He asks that silver bullion from Japan may be legalized as money in the Philippines; and concludes with the request that the religious and the officials there be compelled to treat the Indians more kindly. A letter by Rios Coronel, included in this document, is deferred to _Vol_. XIX.

The Editors August, 1904.

DOCUMENTS OF 1617-1618

Letter to Felipe III. Andrés de Alcaraz; August 10, 1617. Trade between Nueva España and the Far East. [Unsigned and undated; _ca_. 1617]. Events in the Filipinas Islands, 1617-1618. [Unsigned]; June, 1618. Description of the Philippinas Islands. [Unsigned]; 1618. Dutch factories and posts in the Orient. [Pedro de Heredia]; [1618?]. Memorial regarding Manila hospital. [Unsigned]; 1618. Letter to Felipe III. Alonso Fajardo de Tenza; August 10, 1618. Letters to Fajardo. Felipe III; December 19, 1618. Filipinas menaced by Dutch. Joan de Ribera, S.J.; December 20, 1618.

_Sources_: The first, and last four, of these documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla; the remainder, from MSS. in the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid.

_Translations_: The first and seventh are translated by James A. Robertson; the second, third, and fourth, by Herbert E. Bolton, Ethel Z. Rather, and Mattie A. Austin, of the University of Texas; the remainder, by Robert W. Haight.

LETTER FROM LICENTIATE ALCARAZ TO FELIPE III

Sire:

The enclosed papers were taken from the ships that were going last year to Nueva España. Those ships were despatched to make the voyage by way of Yndia; but as the Dutch enemy was lying at the entrances of this bay with his ten warships, it was not possible for the ships to leave, for it would have been only to have fallen, beyond all doubt, into his hands. In them I inform your Majesty of everything occurring up to their date. In this I shall inform you of what is new. The coming of this enemy caused the anxiety which was the reason--inasmuch as we had heard for a long time that he was coming; and that he would wait to seize the Chinese and Japanese ships, and prevent their entrance into the city with food--that, in order to frustrate those designs, I, with the advice of the Audiencia and the council of war, resolved to prepare seven galleons and to equip them as thoroughly as possible, so that they could go out to fight that enemy. When about to set this plan afoot, obstacles began to arise, because there was not a single real in the royal treasury, on account of the non-arrival of the ships from Nueva España; and because the country was in great need, and had no income except that collected from the licenses of the Sangleys. These were collected with great effort and difficulty, but the sum was all spent in a few days in the repair of these galleons. When there was nothing more to use, the ship expected from Nueva España arrived. It had put in at Japon, and brought more than eight hundred thousand pesos for the royal treasury and for the citizens. It was regarded as a great mercy of God that He should help this afflicted land in such necessity and extremity, and that He should keep this ship from falling into the hands of that enemy. After this the repairs and preparations of this fleet proceeded with great energy, and although innumerable obstacles continued to arise because the wood, rigging, rice, and other things necessary had to be conveyed by long detours, all difficulties were conquered by God's help. To Him recourse was always had, through all the religious orders and the religious, so that His [Divine] Majesty should be pleased to aid this [our] cause against those rebels to His church and sacrament, and to your Majesty, and disturbers of the common peace. These joyous causes furnished ecclesiastical and secular motive to request me, with loud and frequent acclamations of joy, to hasten as quickly as possible the preparation of this fleet. Notwithstanding that it was detained, they said that it could go out; for they were assured that, since we had so large galleons, that enemy would not dare to await it, and that the flagship and almiranta were alone sufficient to drive away that enemy and prevent the damages that were expected so close at hand. They said that the preparations that were intended to be made would be useless, for, when they were finished, then the enemy would have already gone to Terrenate, enriched with his booty from the Chinese ships; and that damage would result from delay, while great expenses would have to be met from the royal treasury. For my part, all these arguments, since they arose from loyal desires, without taking the trouble to show the irreparable injuries that would result from that course of action, caused me no care. I constantly attended to the repairing and preparation of this fleet as well as possible, including in it whatever your Majesty possesses in these islands. The reason that obliged me to lay great stress upon that enemy was that--since he knew that Don Juan de Silva had gone to Sincapura with a fleet of ten galleons, four galleys, and one patache--he, without knowing of the governor's death, came to look for him with an equal number of warships. These were chosen from twenty-two vessels, and equipped with the best artillery and men of arms and war in them all; and he dared to come within sight of our walls and very confidently was coming with his great force. Consequently I considered it best to prepare an armed fleet which, being such, might be able to fight with his. Not of less consideration was the fact that we are in the view of so many barbarous nations, who esteem and extol him who conquers. Accordingly it was necessary to consider carefully not to place our reputation and credit in any danger, but that we should have as superior a fleet to his as could be collected, to go out to measure strength with the enemy; for in this case what was once branded [1] could not be effaced.

The final reason that caused me to arm those galleons with the best forces that could he assembled was the consideration that the enemy should not go out victorious because your Majesty did not possess in this land the means with which we could construct a fleet in many years; and if we drove the enemy's fleet away and punished him as his boldness and arrogance merited, he would have to lay aside his desire for returning to these islands, and would leave them quiet and peaceful, and free from the dangers that his coming threatened. With this resolution conquering great difficulties with the help of God, who always favored this His cause, the fleet of seven galleons, one patache, and three galleys was prepared. In order to man them with the rowers that were needed, the citizens, Sangley Christians, and some Indians lent two hundred and twenty-three slaves. And as one hundred and fifty slaves were still wanting to man them sufficiently, and because there was so little revenue in the royal treasury, I made efforts to have the Sangley infidels supply this deficiency, inasmuch as they were the most interested in avoiding the damages caused by that enemy. They excused themselves from giving persons to serve in the galleys; but offered to give the money to pay those hired rowers who were willing to go. For this purpose the Sangleys themselves made a contribution of one peso apiece from all who had any money, and gave five thousand pesos. This sum they delivered to a regidor for the pay of any slave or freeman who was willing to serve on this occasion, to each one of whom twenty-five pesos would be given. With this sum one hundred and forty-seven rowers were gathered. Some new slaves were bought with this money and the others were paid twenty-five pesos apiece. One thousand five hundred and forty-five pesos of the five thousand pesos happened to be left, and this amount was spent for another matter of equal importance.

In order to equip these galleons and galleys--and that very moderately--we needed one thousand infantrymen; but all the islands could only furnish six hundred paid soldiers. In order to supply this lack, three hundred and eighty men were provided from the citizens of this city, and from captains, alférezes, and sergeants on half-pay--the captains numbering thirty-four, the alférezes one hundred and six, the sergeants eighty, and the common soldiers one hundred and sixty. These men showed a willingness to take service on this occasion for honor. But to fulfil their obligations they had not the means with which to buy any arms, or other supplies which were necessary to them. The report spread that, if the money were not given to them so that they could equip themselves, they could not embark. It was necessary to find a remedy for the loss that might result from this condition, and the one that seemed most suitable so that they might serve your Majesty with single-heartedness, was to assign as a gratuity to each captain one hundred pesos, to each alférez fifty, to each sergeant thirty-five, and to each common soldier twenty-five. But inasmuch as the royal treasury had nothing wherefrom to supply these gratuities, and they could not be avoided, thirty toneladas of the freightage for Nueva España were distributed, and were divided among the citizens who had capital. Each citizen was given one pieza [2] for twenty-five pesos. In this way six thousand pesos were raised, which, with the one thousand five hundred and forty-five pesos given by the Sangleys, amount to seven thousand five hundred and forty-five pesos. This money was given as a gratuity, with thirty-nine toneladas more and six piezas; figuring this at twenty-five pesos a pieza, all the help amounted to fifteen thousand five hundred pesos. This amount was regulated by giving to each captain fifty pesos and two piezas of the cargo; to each alférez, twenty-five pesos, and one pieza of the cargo; to each sergeant, ten pesos and one pieza of the cargo, and to each common soldier his twenty-five pesos.