The Philippine Islands, 1493 to 1898 by Various

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17. The office of secretary of the registries has been held by the
secretaries of the governors. As a result of this, claims for justice
have been relinquished in several grievances of great importance,
to the loss both of the Chinese who come to trade here, and of the
citizens of the city. It would be well to sell this office, under
condition that he who buys it cannot be the secretary or in any wise
the servant of the governor at that time acting. As Rroque Espino de
Caceres, who is serving it at present, has begged for your Majesty's
confirmation, and is a person worthy of it, as appears from the
informations made in this royal Audiencia, in its opinion this favor
might be extended to him, as he seeks it, with the said condition,
and with that of a moderate price for the royal treasury.

[_In the margin_: "Tell the new governor that it is not expedient that
this office should be held by a secretary or servant of the governor,
or a subordinate of the auditors and ministers of the Audiencia;
and that from worthy persons there he shall appoint three, in whom he
believes is found the necessary ability for this office, so that his
Majesty may select the one who may seem best to him. In the meantime
let him appoint as best he can, and without inconvenience."]

18. In the island of Zubu there is a notary-public who bought the
office from your Majesty. The cabildo there have written to me that
there is need of still another, and that accordingly it might be
sold. Therefore, if your Majesty pleases, you might order another
notaryship sold in said island of Zubu.

[_In the margin_: "Have the governor and Audiencia send an information
regarding this, and what offices have been sold in those islands,
at what price, and to what persons."]

19. The city of Nueva Segovia, of the province of Cagayan, the chief
city of that bishopric, has no notary-public named by your Majesty,
but only one appointed by the governor, for the cases which there
arise. This is a great inconvenience, as wills and other writings
cannot be sworn to before him, from which results damage to the
citizens. It would be well, if your Majesty were so pleased, to sell
a notary-public's office there.

20. The office of depositary-general of this city of Manila, on
account of the governors having appointed to it persons who were their
confidants, is embarrassed with some difficulties, which would cease if
the office were sold, and the royal treasury would be benefited. Your
Majesty will command whatever is most expedient for your royal service.

[_In the margin_: "Let the governor and Audiencia inform us whether
it is well to sell the office, and who can be found for it; and,
in case that it is not well to sell it, what persons there are of
character, worth, and conscience which fit them to take the commission
for it. Let the royal officials also give information."]

21. About four years ago the preaching of the bulls was commenced here,
and the governor appoint a treasurer for them; and it is also said that
there came a decree from your Majesty directing that the account be
audited every year by a royal official, and that the proceeds from them
be remitted. Thus far, no royal official has taken the said accounts;
and I have been informed that in sending the proceed thereof there
has not been much punctuality, and that the money has been employed in
uses and investments for certain private persons. For the correction
of all this, it would be well that from now on an auditor should
audit the said accounts of the said treasurer, and cause the balance
which is found to be placed in the royal treasury, charging it as
a separate account to the royal officials; then, in the first ships
which leave, it may be sent to Nueva Espana, invested in merchandise,
whereby it will be doubled, with no more risk than if it were taken
in coin. The latter is never taken because what has to be sent is
invested, and turned into money in Mexico, and amounts to twice as
much. The profit which can be made in this way might better be, for
so good a work as that for which the alms of the said bulls is applied.

[_In the margin_: "Let a copy of this clause be given to Senor the
licentiate Valtodano, to be examined in the council for the crusade."]

22. Since, even if your Majesty should be pleased to command everything
done as above, it will still be necessary to bring money from Mexico
for the costs, expenses, and salaries incurred in these islands;
and as it is not well that, in order to cover them, it should be
necessary for your Majesty to employ more property than they amount to,
it has seemed best to me to seek some other methods for this--which,
if they should appear expedient for the service of your Majesty,
and can be carried out with no scruples of conscience, will not only
render unnecessary the bringing of money from outside these islands,
but even will make it possible to aid other great expenses which your
Majesty has. The means which I have found are the following. Your
Majesty pays a stipend to all the citizens and inhabitants of the
fortified town which you hold in the island of Tidore, which is one
of the Malucas Islands. In order to make these payments, aid is sent
every year from Yndia by a galleon; and a quantity of cloth is brought
from the royal customs treasury at Goa. With this the said citizens
are all given their "quarters," as they call them. [5] This cloth is
disposed of among the natives, who trade provisions for it.

It is a law of Yndia and of Maluco that no person can lade or take
away cloves from those islands in any manner, unless it be for your
Majesty, under penalty of loss of the ship and rigging; from which
the profit resulting to the royal exchequer amounts to a third of
what is laded, so great is the freight charge. Certain Portuguese
came to these islands in their own ships. They take away a quantity
of cloves and sell it to merchants, who in turn sell it to Chinese
and other persons, who secretly ship it to Nueva Espana--whence
it is taken to the provinces of Peru, the new realm of Granada,
Tierra Firme, Guatimala, and other regions. From this there result
three losses to the royal exchequer. In the first place, since the
cloves are carried from the Malucas by the hand of a third party,
your Majesty loses the third due on embarcation. In the second place,
it is laded here for Nueva Espana secretly, and without paying the
duties or freight charges. In the third place, when it has arrived
at Nueva Espana, Peru, and other regions, that which is brought from
the realms of Castilla loses its value.

All this expense which your Majesty suffers in providing for that
fortress, and these losses, could be remedied as follows. Your Majesty
has in the island of Panay, one of these Filipinas, which borders on
the Malucas Islands, a number of tributary Indians who pay the larger
part of their tribute in cleaned rice. After their harvest they have
a great deal of rice wine, which is made in these islands, and these
are the provisions necessary for the Malucas. If, conformably to
what has been said, there were built on your Majesty's account two
patages in the island of Panay--such as are commonly built in the
said island by the encomenderos, to sell to the said Portuguese in
these islands, and which cost about five hundred pesos--two thousand
fanegas of cleaned rice, and six hundred jars [_tinajas_] of wine could
be loaded in them. The rice would be collected for your Majesty from
your royal tributes, at two reals and six maravedis. Each tinaja of
wine, with cask and all, is valued at four reals, on board. Likewise
two hundred pesos of fine Sangley earthenware is sufficient, which is
to be used as follows. These two patages must, while going to Maluco,
of necessity take water at the port of La Caldera, and the earthenware
is to be left in the Spanish camp which is there, so that with it they
may buy from the natives five hundred quintals of cinnamon, taking
care to dry it. In the meantime the two patages resume their voyage,
having left this earthenware, and continue with the rice and wine to
the fortress of the said Malucas. They will deliver to the warden there
half of it, to pay those expenses or quarters to the citizens. With
the other half they will buy four hundred _baxes_ of cloves, making
two thousand four hundred quintals, at six quintals to the bax; [6]
this would be brought on your Majesty's account to these islands. Then
they are obliged to go back to the said port of La Caldera, where they
will take on the cinnamon bought with the earthenware; and all will
be brought to the port of Cavite, to be embarked on the ships which
your Majesty sends on the voyage from here to Nueva Espana. When they
have arrived there, the royal officials at the port of Acapulco will
send a third of the said cloves and cinnamon to Mexico, and two-thirds
to Piru and its provinces. If sold at retail, it would be worth three
hundred pesos a quintal; going to private persons, in quantity, it is
usually worth two hundred pesos; consequently, in this way there would
be a great profit gained. I am ready to say that it would be worth
to your Majesty almost as much as all the income from the customs
of all Portuguese Yndia. For this purpose your Majesty will have
to keep a factor in the said island of Panay, to collect tributes,
despatch the ships to La Caldera and Maluco, and receive them there;
and to correspond with the royal officials in this city so that they
may embark all this spice for Nueva Espana, and with the factor who
must be at Acapulco, so that he may make the distribution.

This transaction is so profitable that several of the governors who
have been in these islands have taken the trouble to send an armed
galley merely to make this purchase of cinnamon at the port of La
Caldera, until in the time of Doctor Santiago de Vera this trade
was abandoned. Being aware of the profit in it, Guido de Lavezaris
(who governed these islands on the death of the adelantado Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi) prohibited trading and trafficking in spices in
these islands for any person except the officials of your Majesty,
who were to receive, buy, and lade the spices for Mexico, all on the
account of your royal exchequer; this was done. In consequence of this,
he likewise forbade that any island or any province whatsoever where
there were cloves, cinnamon, or other spices should be assigned in
encomiendas. Accordingly, from that time on, the transportation of
spices by private persons to Nueva Espana was cut off. All this with
the lapse of time, and the interest of certain persons, has been
neglected, so that, it is understood, a great quantity of spice is
taken to Nueva Espana every year.

23. The other expedient which occurs to me is that the income from silk
to the kingdom of Granada is registered as seventy-two millions, with
the condition that no twisted or loose silk can be taken to the Yndias,
which does not come from the said kingdom--although, indeed, to fill up
this quantity, there is sometimes added silk from the kingdom of Murcia
and Andalucia; but it passes through the custom-house of Granada, pays
its duties, and is sealed there. In order that there may be no fraud in
this, there is in Sevilla an administrator and a commissioned judge,
who is ordinarily one of the alcaldes of the criminal court of the
royal Audiencia. From the kingdom of China a quantity of crude silk
is brought in bundles to these islands, and is taken to Nueva Espana,
where it is woven into fabrics, and part of it is dyed. This silk
is usually worth in this city a hundred and fifty pesos, although at
present it sells at two hundred and forty pesos a pico.

From the transportation of this silk the royal exchequer suffers
the following losses. In the first place, the silks brought from
Castilla, whether woven or loose, are worth less; and accordingly
the royal duties do not amount to so much. In the second place,
there are not so many silks brought as would come if these were
lacking. Although these pay duties, there is a loss in this, as
duties are not so great as those from Castilla pay. Crude silk is
neither necessary nor useful for ordinary maintenance or support;
and accordingly it seems best that your Majesty should, if such be
your pleasure, obviate these losses which are occurring, and obtain
satisfaction for them in some way and meet the great expenses which
you have here. Your Majesty should leave liberty, as you always have
done, for your vassals to trade in all merchandise with China in
all kinds of goods; but should have monopolized and forbidden this
trade in crude silk, commanding that no ship which comes from China
shall neglect to bring five picos of crude silk, which is a very
small quantity. They should be paid a reasonable price for it. In
this way there would be the profit which they make in bringing it
from China here, whence it is sent to Mexico; and, sold at retail,
there will be the profit on it of four hundred per cent. There come
usually from China to this city thirty ships and some years fifty,
so that the profit on this would be large; and there would remain to
the citizens of these islands a great deal of merchandise with which
to trade, without their missing these goods. There would be enough to
cover all the expenses, salaries, and other things which are necessary
in these islands, and must be paid from the royal treasury--which, with
all the money that is sent from Mexico, has not enough money to cover
all the very important expenses affecting the proper guard, protection,
and defense of these islands. This is all that occurs to me at present
to say concerning matters relating to the royal exchequer, for its
welfare. I shall continue always to watch for what is most fitting for
the royal service of your Majesty, and shall attempt to further it;
and such is always my desire. May God protect your Majesty many years,
with a greater increase of kingdoms and seigniories, according to the
needs of Christendom. In the city of Manila, which is in the island
of Luzon, the principal one of the Filipinas Islands. July 21, 1599.

The licentiate _Hieronimo de Salazar y Salcedo_

Sire:

Since I have given to your Majesty an account of the affairs of
the administration of justice and of the royal exchequer of these
Philipinas Islands by two other letters which accompany this, I
will here discuss affairs of government. The thing which seems to me
most necessary to do for the good government of these islands--and
especially for correcting the great excesses which are wont to be
committed by some of the religious who have Indian missions in their
charge; and by the alcaldes-mayor, corregidors, deputies, and other
magistrates, and the encomenderos of Indian repartimientos--is that,
at least every two years, an auditor of the royal Audiencia of these
islands, commencing with the oldest of them, should make a visitation
over all the country in his jurisdiction, as is provided by the
ordinances thereof, and in the form which I wrote to your Majesty in
July of the past year, ninety-eight. Although the auditors oppose this,
it is to avoid the great labor, expense, and danger to health, by sea
and enemies, which they must undergo and pass through. Accordingly,
if your Majesty pleases, a reasonable allowance for their expenses
might be made, and soldiers given them to accompany and guard them,
with good vessels, at the expense of the royal exchequer, if the
cost should not be covered by the penalties inflicted during the
visitation. Your Majesty will be pleased to order in this what is
most expedient.

[_In the margin_: "Write to the governor to have this visitation
carried out in the pacified country, and where there is no obstacle,
conformably to the ordinance. And have him see to it that they do
not send soldiers with the auditor, and that he does not take people
who would be oppressive to the Indians; and let him take care that
this visitation be effectual--for which purpose let him command to
be built, and furnished to the auditor, a vessel of suitable size,
to go outside of the island of Luzon, at his Majesty's expense. As
to the reimbursement which ought to be made beside what is conceded
to them by the ordinance, and the decrees of his Majesty, let him
inform us of his opinion." "Have sent a duplicate of the last decree
despatched in regard to this visitation."]

The main object of your Majesty's royal decrees, provisions, and orders
given to your governors of these islands, is the prosperity of the
citizens thereof; for in that way they become established and settled
and the islands populated. The governors have not always attended
to this as they should, for they have regarded this, which is their
principal obligation, as accessory and dependent upon their private
interests in order that they may become rich with what the citizens
are to gain, as is already well known. And so little is the profit,
and so poor the subsistence, of those who live here, and so much is
their living interfered with by the governors, and the relatives and
dependents whom they bring with them, that, as a result, so little is
left for the citizens that they cannot in twenty years make the profit
and gain which is acquired in a few years by some of those whom the
said governors bring with them. This has often been experienced. For
the remedy of this I suggest the following things.

The lading of the ships which go to Nueva Espana, the allotment of
space in them, and other matters touching this, should be conducted
according to, and after the manner directed by, clause five of the
letter which accompanies this, regarding matters which concern
the royal exchequer. No cloth should be laded except that which
goes according to the allotment; nor should the governor have any
authority therein, because, as the superintendents of lading are
persons appointed by him and in his confidence, with letters and
orders which he gives, much other cloth is laded after the allotment
is made. For the most part this belongs to persons who are underlings,
kinsmen, or creatures of the governor, and must necessarily occupy
space belonging to the cloth of the citizen, who is thus obliged to
give up his cargo. What I describe is the ordinary way that things go.

[_In the margin_: "This is provided for in the same clause; and let
the governor be charged particularly with the remedy of this."]

In the appointment of offices and means of gain, both of justice
and of war, and other offices in the country, the said governors
should observe what your Majesty has ordered in so many commands and
royal decrees--namely, that "they shall be given only to citizens;
and if he appoints to them his creatures or kinsmen, or those of
the auditors or fiscal, or of their wives, the royal Audiencia shall
check him without any reserve or hesitancy. The fiscal thereof shall
oppose him, and take all possible measures to this end." This should
be charged upon the consciences of all; and the government notary
should be ordered to put upon all commissions of offices of justice
or war, or of encomiendas of Indians, or of any other positions of
profit whatsoever, which are to be received, the reason therefor,
so that the said fiscal may know and understand whether there is any
objection to giving the said commission. If any such objection is made,
let it remain with the commission, and dispose of it by appealing
from the governor to the royal Audiencia, where the question will
be decided on examination and review. In the meantime the said title
shall not be assumed, for there are many people in these islands whom
we are bound to remunerate merely for their own services and those of
their fathers, because they are poor and needy, and what we have to
give is so little that, even if it were divided among the citizens,
many of them would have to remain unprovided for.

[_In the margin_: "Tell the governor that in this matter he must
observe exactly what is ordered by decrees and provisions; and,
according to his instructions, shall prefer the most deserving and
those longest in the country."]

By order of your Majesty, the viceroy of Nueva Espana appoints the
general, admiral, captains, masters, and other officers of the ships
which are despatched from here to that province with merchanise, at the
time when the said ships return thence. The persons so appointed bring
so large a quantity of money unregistered in the ships as, it may be
readily seen, they can do, with the power attached to their offices,
since they are the servants and underlings of the said viceroy;
accordingly, when they have arrived here they invest their money,
and lade the goods in the said ships, although they are prohibited
from doing so. This is another opportunity, almost equal to that of
the governors who come. That this may be used by the said citizens, it
would be fitting that the said general, admiral, masters, and officers
of the ships be appointed here, in the sessions of the Audiencia, by
vote of the president and auditors; and that those appointed should
be citizens of this city of Manila, or of some of the other towns of
these islands. The salaries which hitherto have been given to the said
general and admiral in Nueva Espana should be diminished. With the
little which is given here to those who are appointed, and from the
profits which they will make, there will result no little benefit;
since every year, in the ships which are to go, there would be five
or six men, and they would return with a profit large enough to
maintain themselves, and face the enemy. The ships would be better
administered and governed, by persons who understand that better,
through the continual practice which they have in these islands in
maritime and military affairs; for at times persons come in the said
offices who have no experience whatever in the one branch or the other,
which is ordinarily the cause of much loss.

[_In the margin_: "Place the decree with the letters of the governor
and Audiencia."]

The troops of war which are raised in Nueva Espana to be taken to
these islands would best be taken by the captains who levied them to
the port of Acapulco, one of the captains being commissioned for this,
with some moderate addition for expenses. In the said port they should
hand them over to the general of those ships, and the said captain
should not come to these islands. In this way would be obviated the
damage which is done by their bringing cargoes, and the cost of their
coming and returning, which are not necessary for so few troops as
come. When the troops arrive here they should be allotted among the
companies of infantry of this camp.

[_In the margin_: "Conformably to this, let the viceroy be ordered
to do so."]

There is great carelessness in appointing artillerymen for the said
ships, for a ship which carries one piece of artillery has had
six artillerymen appointed, whereas one ordinary gunner would be
sufficient. If your Majesty be pleased, it would be well to command
that for each piece of artillery no more than one artilleryman should
be appointed; because, besides their cost to the royal exchequer, they
are likewise a damage to this community, on account of the quantity
of money which they bring and carry back invested to Nueva Espana.

[_In the margin_: "Have a letter written to the viceroy together with
this report, that, if this be so, it appears excessive, and he shall
correct it."]

In the ships which come from Nueva Espana a great deal of money is
brought which is not registered. Beside not paying in Acapulco the
duties of two and a half per cent, which are due to your Majesty,
there results to this commonwealth a great deal of damage; for this
money belongs for the most part to merchants and citizens of Piru
and Mexico. Although in the sale which is made of the said ships,
when they arrive at the port of Cavite, investigation is made--as I
did this year, when I asked permission from the Audiencia to go to the
inspection of the ships which came--and although I went there, only a
very small quantity of this money was found, on account of the great
care which was taken to hide it. At times, it even belongs to the most
powerful people here; consequently those who are bringing it are very
bold, and it is necessary to inspect the vessels before they arrive
at the said port. It would be expedient for your Majesty to command
that the fiscal of the said Audiencia should always be present at
the making of this inspection, so that he can take all measures which
appear to him suitable for that purpose, and can make the inspection
before the ships arrive at the port, wherever he may wish. All the coin
or silver bullion which is seized for registry should be applied for
the royal treasury, some moderate portion being given to the person
who denounces the culprit, so that there may be persons to do this.

[_In the margin_: "Write to the governor that it is understood that
this practice has become established, and let him try to prevent
and correct it. Let the fiscal accompany the royal officials
in the inspection of those ships, at the point which may appear
most convenient to them, and let all which is discovered without
registration, and contrary to the decree, be rigorously confiscated;
and let them give to the informer such part as may seem best to
the Audiencia."]

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