The Philippine Islands, 1493 1898: Volume XVIII, 1617 1620 by Various

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It is also necessary to know who shall try in the first instance the
sailors and officers of ships, and those who work at ship-trades,
inasmuch as they have no commander or admiral, nor any lieutenant
of mine, in such charge, to whom it is committed by any decree of
your Majesty. The same doubt exists in regard to the artillerymen,
who now have a general of the artillery, as your Majesty has ordered
one to be appointed; and if, when that office is lacking or suspended,
it [_i.e._, the right of trial in the first instance] is vested in
the lieutenant or captain of the artillery, as it was before. I
have written this so long and specific relation to your Majesty,
as I desire that you may in each and every thing order what is most
suitable for your service. [85]

I have found introduced here the custom that retired officers, upon
finding themselves without office, even though it be that of sergeant,
will not serve in the regular companies. Thence results a decided
inconvenience, for when a soldier has once become skilful and known
as a good man, and when he is admitted to greater obligations and made
an officer, upon leaving that office, not only are his services lost,
but even his person likewise, and he becomes corrupted, when outside of
military discipline. Consequently instead of the companies continuing
to increase their number of well-disciplined and old soldiers,
those who by excelling most and being the best soldiers have been
appointed officers, are daily leaving them, and there is a continual
lack of those particular persons who are the masters and patterns in
the companies for the new soldiers, of those who are trustworthy for
matters of importance and opportunity, and of those who are generally
the cause of the best results and the avoidance of ill. As causes for
not continuing their services in the regular companies, they assign
the fact that those retired are not given any preferments here, as
in other districts. Will your Majesty have considered the question of
whether it will be proper to give the usual additional pay in excess
of ordinary pay to retired officers who shall have served in their
offices in Flandes; and, before having those offices, the time set by
the ordinance that treats of it--even though it be not the additional
pay of Flandes, but that of Espana. By this method excellent soldiers
will be kept and your Majesty will be very well served.

It has been the custom to send presents and gifts at your Majesty's
cost from this place to the king of Japon and to certain private
persons, great vassals, and lords of the ports of that kingdom, every
year when a ship was sent to that country for the necessary commerce,
and the provisions which it sends to this country--inasmuch as it
is the fashion not to deliver an embassy or message without taking a
present. For some few years back we have neglected to send any. Some
religious persons zealous for the service of God our Lord, and for the
conversion of that nation and the salvation of its souls, and likewise
for the welfare of these islands, desiring to have them as our best
friends in all this archipelago, have considered and even say that it
is well known that those Japanese have considered the decrease of the
commerce, and attributed it to a disrespect for their friendship; and
that consequently they were bound by treaty to prefer now that of the
Dutch--whom they loved not a little, because they gave and continue
to give them rich presents from what they plunder, since these do
not cost them much. Having considered this matter and that there are
certain conveniences in having friendly relations with that country,
which has and gives to this country many necessary and useful things,
and where our ships which ply between here and Nueva Espana are liable
to put it in distress on both the outward and return trips when obliged
by contrary weather as has been already seen and experienced--and on
such occasions it has been important not to have them as enemies, for
then the Japanese have given the crews of our ships a good supply of
necessities, and have shown them a positive proof of good treatment in
not seizing the so great profits and wealth carried on the said ships;
likewise having considered the friendship that they have established
with the Dutch, and the persecution there indicted on Christians and
their ministers, the Spanish priests, who preach the holy gospel:
I have esteemed it advisable to give a report of the matter to your
Majesty, so that you may have it examined and considered, together
with the written reports of certain religious, experienced in those
regions, as well as that of the fiscal of this Audiencia, who also,
I am told, discusses it. Will you order the procedure most advisable
for your royal service.

I would not be fulfilling my obligations to the service of your
Majesty and to this land, unless I reported as to the faithfulness
of your Majesty's vassals here. For although it is true that this
region is a place of concourse, or a halting-place, for men of
different natures, qualities, and characteristics, who come here for
various purposes, many of which are not good, or are brought here,
and who leave their impress (and that not little) in extending their
vices--still there are, on the other hand, highly honorable and loyal
vassals, who attend to your Majesty's service with so great love and
willingness; and since the former comprise but the very least part of
the citizens of this city, who in all number less than five hundred,
not only did I find many who offered themselves and their servants to
take part in your royal service on the past occasion when the enemy
came here, but also they loaned me their slaves for the galleys,
and one hundred and ninety-five thousand pesos. With that I have
met the expenses of this camp for most of this year and of the other
troops whom your Majesty sustains in your pay. I also built new or
repaired the ships, both large and small, and galleys, and from them
collected a fleet. The enemy upon seeing that fleet in the port,
although it was not completely ready, did not choose to await it, as
above written to your Majesty--not even for the profits to be derived
from the ships that they were awaiting from China and Nueva Espana,
which would have meant no little blessing to them and no little harm
to us, if they had returned for it. All that relief resulted from
the aid of so good vassals, who, although paid from the money--as
were the Indian natives also, who have worked and given the supplies
apportioned to them for the above purpose--are even very deserving
of reward from your Majesty, if you esteem their service.

In the above campaign, the most aid furnished me, by his person,
followers, and servants, was from General Don Juan Ronquillo del
Castillo. By his intelligence, assiduity, and labor, I was able to
make the preparations that I did; and I do not think that it could
have been done without him so well, with so incredible rapidity. Will
your Majesty be pleased to have this considered in his behalf,
on the occasions that arise for showing him honor and favor. That
favor that I petitioned your Majesty to show Admiral Rodrigo de
Guilleztegui last year, will be very well extended, for the reasons
then advanced. Don Fernando Centeno Maldonado, who is serving in
these galleys as commander of them, is a man who, by the honorable
rank of his birth, has personal merits and good qualities--so that
your Majesty may make use of him in his profession as soldier, or
in any other thing, even though it be a position of great labor. He
is the man for it, and one who will well use any honor that your
Majesty may be pleased to bestow upon him. Many judicial inquiries
[_informaciones_] are made here of merits and services; and although
there are some among them of men who have merits, and who have not
obtained their reward because of a lack in means to give it to them,
or in the failure of their said inquiry to obtain it, the majority
consist of the inquiries of men who are or could be ashamed. Of them
what they claim might be advanced as a reason for their not deserving
even what has been given them. Although it is always to be believed
that the auditors, to whom the inquiries are entrusted, ought to
make them, not only as judges, but as interested parties, so that
sinister inquiries should not be sent to your Majesty's royal Council
to defraud your royal treasury and the merits of those who have served
well, I assure your Majesty that I have heard that many inquiries have
been made with less justification than might be advisable. Moreover,
I am an eye-witness of the evidence taken so earnestly by Auditor Don
Albaro de Messa in the assembly in the case of one Juan de Herrera,
whose inquiry he had made. Because we did not detail so fully as he
wished regarding [the reward] that we informed your Majesty could be
given him, he refused to affix his signature after the opinion that
he there gave in favor of Captain Alonso Estever, a valiant man who
has served and serves very well. I do not know whether he has signed
in his opinion of Captain Antonio de Esquibel, which he also gave
to him at that time. In order that your Majesty may know with what
passions they proceed in this, and on what this was based, and may
see how little was the justification of this protege of Don Albaro,
namely, the said Juan de Herrera (who it is said came here as the
servant of the factor Juan Saenz de Quen [86]--of which I am not at
all certain, since he has been a soldier here, and even a collector of
tributes and encomiendas, and once alcalde-mayor, when the Audiencia
was governing; and after his services in these employments, he was
found deserving of an encomienda of two thousand tributes, of being
appointed commander in the Nueva Espana line, and of an allowance);
because cognizance was not taken of this in its order, in the report,
Don Albaro was made especially angry. There are also other and less
justifiable inquiries, for there was an excellent notary, named Goncalo
Velazquez de Lara, who forged many inquiries and other papers; and
who recently forged my signature, in order to defraud your Majesty
of the fees from the licenses of the Sangley Chinese. I sentenced
him to be hanged yesterday, so that he may do it no more, and that
others might be warned.

The fathers of the Society of Jesus say that they need more religious
of their order than are here. They have asked me to petition your
Majesty to grant them the accustomed grace in this matter. What I can
certify is that whatever aid and concession your Majesty may grant them
will be well employed, for they are men who bear considerable fruit,
and not as many of them return [to Nueva Espana] as of the other
orders, particularly that of St. Dominic. Of the latter I have heard
that more of them than I would wish have left the order," [87] for they
are well regulated men and furnish a good example. Although they deny
it, I have come to believe that it is not because of the strictness
of their life, and that they can all endure it, if your Majesty
will order something to prevent it. Of the Order of St. Augustine,
I can tell your Majesty that I have heard that they have always
applied themselves very earnestly to their charge of facilitating
and executing all that has been, and is, necessary to be done in
your royal service. In what I have experienced hitherto, I am under
obligations to them to confess it, and of especial indebtedness and
gratefulness to the provincial, namely, Fray Alonso Barahona, [88]
and to the definitors; and inasmuch as it is a matter that concerns
the service of your Majesty, I have wished in this letter to mention
it to you. I shall close at this point, acknowledging the receipt
of only one letter that has come to me from your Majesty in these
vessels that have just arrived. It is dated El Pardo, November twenty,
one thousand six hundred and seventeen. Consequently with what I have
written, I have nothing more to reply to it than that I shall do all
in my power, as I ought and as I am obliged to do in fulfilment of
its commands, and in all that concerns your Majesty's service. May
God preserve the Catholic and royal person of your Majesty, as is
needed by Christendom. Manila, August 10, 1619.

_Don Alonso Faxardo de Tenca_

[Appended to this letter is the following, to which the clause of the
letter speaking of the fleet to be sent from Spain evidently refers.]

On August third, one thousand six hundred and nineteen, Secretary Juan
Ruiz de Contreras ordered that Licentiate Antonio Moreno, cosmographer,
and Captain Juan Media, be summoned to confer with Pedro Miguel, alias
Dubal, a pilot, sent by his Highness, the most serene Archduke Alberto,
[89] to make a voyage to the Filipinas Islands in his Majesty's
service by way of the cape of Buena Esperanza or by the new strait
of Mayre. [90] In the presence of Don Lorenzo de Cracola, commander
of the fleet, he was asked which of the two routes seemed the most
suitable for the voyage of which they were conferring. He answered
that that by the cape of Buena Esperanza was most suitable, if the
voyage were to be made at the end of this year, because it could not
be made by the new strait, as it was now very late in the year. He
said that the season most suitable for that was any time in May; and
that although, in accordance with the voyages that he has made, the
Dutch sail from their country during any time of the year, he thought
that this fleet should sail during the month of March, notwithstanding
that he offered to make the voyage by sailing the last of November or
the first of December, as above stated. He supposes that by making a
way-station in the regions, and in the manner that the Dutch do, they
would spend thirteen or fourteen months; and they would not make the
time at all shorter by not having made the voyage by the open sea. He
asserts that the voyage by way of the new strait is much longer,
by at least one thousand leguas. He knows this as one who has made
the voyage by both routes, and the last time by that of Magallanes,
although not by that newly-discovered way called the strait of Mayre;
and because he has gone to Filipinas and Terrenate twice by way of
the cape of Buena Esperanza. He affixed his signature in presence
of the above-mentioned persons and of Cornelio Smout (who came
to Espana with the said pilot, having been sent by his Highness),
and by Henrrique Serbaer, an inhabitant of this city of Sevilla,
who served him as interpreter.

_Cornelio Smout_
_Pedro Miguel_, _alias_ _Dubal_
_Henrrique Servaer_

GRANT TO SEMINARY OF SANTA POTENCIANA

In the seminary for orphan girls, which was founded in this city
by order of King Don Filippe, our sovereign and the father of your
Majesty, four classes of persons are sheltered: the daughters of old
conquerors and soldiers of these islands, who, as these have nothing
to leave them, are left unprotected; the illegitimate daughters of
Spaniards and Indian women (and they are numerous), every one of whom
is ruined if she is not sheltered here, because of the great laxity [of
morals] in the country; and all are taught and instructed until they
depart married. Some married women who quarrel with their husbands are
also sheltered there, until the trouble is smoothed over; and there are
some poor widows. It is a work of great charity, and one that prevents
great offenses to God. But it receives so little aid that the girls are
in need. They are barefoot and almost naked, have wretched food, and
live in very narrow, obscure, and damp, and consequently unhealthy,
quarters. They are treated at the hospital. They have a church,
so poor that it has no one to give it a shred as an ornament. The
rearing of the girls suffers great injury from their being mingled
with the married women, for there is no money with which to build
them separate quarters. All of these things are causes that prevent
them from living acceptably, and keep them under forcible restraint;
while from growing up amid so great poverty and destitution of all
things, they do not attract the attention of Spaniards, and lower
themselves by marrying Indians. Consequently, all the good ends
sought in their rearing are frustrated, and among those ends, the
growth of the Spanish population in these regions. I consider myself
as the chaplain of this seminary to advise your Majesty of all this
(for I think that it is contrary to your royal pleasure and purpose),
so that, as its author and only patron, you may correct that state
of affairs. It can be corrected by giving the institution some
more Indians in encomienda; by adding three more toneladas, in the
distribution of the cargo, to the three that are given annually; by
raising to thirty its twelve Indians of service, who bring it water
and wood; and by ordering that ornaments be given to its church from
the royal treasury, as is done to the other churches, and from the
royal hospital the necessary medicines, at the written request of
the physician and the rectoress. And at present, for enlarging and
fitting up the house, your Majesty could give some alms. For its good
management, your Majesty might aid the pious intent of Licentiate
Hernando de los Rios, procurator of this city, to bring nuns to found
a convent in this city, from which nuns might be sent every three
years to govern this seminary; for through lack of persons who can
be placed in charge of it, and who are suitable for that post, it is
and has been managed by only one woman, although four are needed. If
your Majesty wishes a more detailed relation of these and other things
of this your house, Licentiate Hernando de los Rios will give it to
you, for he is well informed of everything. Consequently I finish
by entreating your Majesty to have pity on these poor creatures,
who all continually pray for your Majesty's health, which may our
Lord preserve for many years. Manila, July 15, 617.

_Juan Onez_

_Petition_

Very Potent Sir:

I, Diego de Castro, administrator of the seminary of Sancta Potenciana
of this city, and its majordomo, declare that the encomienda of
Indians was granted to the said seminary, as appears by the decree
I present under oath, both to send before the king our sovereign for
its confirmation, and to present to his royal Council of the Indias.

I beg and supplicate your Majesty [sic; apparently error for
"Lordship"] to give me one copy or more of the said concession with
the judicial comment of his Majesty's fiscal, for the purpose above
mentioned; and to return the original for a warrant to the said
seminary, and for the sanction of the law in the whole matter.

_Diego de Castro_

In the city of Manila, in public session of the Audiencia, on August
three, one thousand six hundred and seventeen. Give it to him, as
he asks.

_Pedro Munoz de Herrera_

I declare that I was summoned in Manila, August twelve, one thousand
six hundred and seventeen.

_Licentiate Don Juan de Alvarado Bracamonte_

And I, Christoval Martin Franco, chief clerk of the government and
military office of these Philipinas Islands, declare that I do now
despatch this matter because Gaspar Alvarez is prevented from doing it.

I ordered to be drawn, and drew, the copy requested by the above
petition from the original concession which was presented for this
purpose by Diego de Castro, majordomo (and so at present) of the said
seminary of Santa Potenciana, and it is literally as follows:

[_Marginal note_: "Concession of encomienda."]

Don Juan de Silva, knight of the Order of Santiago, governor and
captain-general in these islands; and president of the royal Audiencia
and Chancilleria resident therein, etc. Inasmuch as the native towns
of Guas and Libon in the province of Camarines have been declared
vacant, because of the expiration of the period granted to General Don
Juan Tello de Guzman, who held and possessed them, and his failure
to establish a colony, as he was obliged; and since they are to be
given in encomienda as his Majesty commands: therefore, considering
the same, I place the said encomienda of Guas and Libon under the
royal crown, together with their subjects, tingues, and mountains,
according to and in the form and manner that the said general Don Juan
Tello held and enjoyed it, so that the retreat of Sancta Potenciana
may enjoy and collect forever the products and profits of the said
encomienda. The pension of five hundred pesos received annually from
the gambling-houses of this camp by the said retreat is repealed and
suppressed, provided it be paid the amount due therefrom up to the day
of this concession. In respect to the collection of the tributes of
the said natives, the appraisement last made for that province must be
observed, and it shall not be exceeded under any consideration, under
penalty of the ordinances, decrees, and provisions of his Majesty,
made for the Yndias. It shall be seen to that the said natives are
well treated, and instructed in the matters of our holy Catholic
faith; and in regard to that, it is charged upon the consciences [of
the directors of the seminary] and taken from that of his Majesty,
and from mine in his royal name. The Indians shall not be harassed
or injured by the collectors who go to collect the said tributes,
nor by any other person. Given in Manila, December twenty-seven,
one thousand six hundred and ten.

_Don Juan De Silva_

By order of the governor:

_Gaspar Alvarez_

The account of the concession of this other part was taken from the
record-book of royal decrees and other papers of this accountancy
of Manila. Given in that city, April twenty-eight, one thousand six
hundred and eleven.

_Thomas Montero_

The above copy is faithful, and is accurately corrected and collated
with the said original concession, which was returned to the people,
and I refer to that. And the said petition and order I gave the
present, witnesses being Juan Vazquez de Miranda and Don Francisco
Veltran, citizens of Manila, where this is given on the fourteenth
of the month of August, one thousand six hundred and seventeen.

_Christoval Martin Franco_

Corrected.

Sire:

The seminary of Santa Potenciana of the city of Manila, where your
Majesty has had the kindness to order the poor unmarried daughters
of conquerors to be sheltered, and which your Majesty sustains and
founded, declares that your governor Don Juan de Silva took from
it a pension that it possessed for the aid of its support in the
said city, and in its place, applied the products of the encomienda
of Guas and Libon in the province of Camarines, and apportioned the
said encomienda to your royal crown for the support of the girls and
for divine worship. The seminary petitions your Majesty to concede
it the grace of confirming that favor, since its service to God and
to your Majesty is so great.

[_Addressed_: "To Secretary Santiago Florez."]

[_Endorsed_: "The Council ordered, September 9, 1619, that the fiscal
examine the matter."]

The fiscal declares that this confirmation is not asked for within
the four years, although the patent of the governor does not assign
any period for obtaining the confirmation; neither does it state
that a confirmation must be obtained. The work appears charitable
and advisable, and consequently the Council can grant it what favor
it pleases. Madrid, September 10, 1619.

On the 23d of November, 619, the Council, after consideration, ordered
the governor and Audiencia, at the summons of his Majesty's fiscal,
to report on the value and advisability [of such grant]; and that for
that purpose a decree of investigation be given in legal form. They
shall cite especially what charitable works have been strengthened by
other encomiendas; the disadvantages or benefits that may result from
this; whether it is an estate that continues to increase or decrease;
and what harm may result to the royal patrimony.

REFORMS NEEDED IN THE FILIPINAS

Sire:

Fernando de los Rios Coronel, procurator-general of the Filipinas
Islands and of all their estates, declares that, inasmuch as all
that community insisted that he come to inform your Majesty of the
distressed condition which it has reached, and of what was advisable
both for the service of your Majesty and that community's conservation
and advancement, he has come, for that reason, at the risk of his life,
after suffering so great hardships, to serve your Majesty and those
islands, for both of which services he has made this memorial of the
most necessary matters that demand reform. Although he thinks that
your governor, Don Alonso Fajardo, will remedy many of these things
(inasmuch as that whole community writes that he is proceeding as its
father), yet, since men are so liable to the possibility of death that
most often the good lasts but a short time, and (as we all know by
experience, for our sins), another may succeed who will inflict many
injuries; and since before the complaints could reach your Majesty
through so long a distance and the relief be sent, the men concerned
might be dead: it is necessary to prevent the wrongs ere they come to
be irremediable, as have been all those that have placed that country
in so wretched a condition. He petitions your Majesty to examine
this memorial with great consideration, for in [heeding] it consists
the welfare and conservation of all the kingdom; for that country,
being so far away, has no other remedy for its protection except your
royal decrees. The first ten articles of the memorial were approved
by your royal Audiencia, so that you may have no doubt of them. He
did not inform the Audiencia of the others for just considerations,
as was advisable--the city having given him instructions for most of
them, which are those that he presents. In the authority that he has
presented to your royal Council, the great trust reposed in his person
has been evident; for he has served your Majesty and that community
for more than thirty years, with so great a desire of acting rightly
as is well known, and has never tried to further his own interests,
as all [are wont to] do.

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