Part 18
15. In another decree, dated Madrid, February 21, 635, your Majesty commands that the shipyards be supplied with timbers, planks, and all that is necessary for the repairing and equipment of the galleons, because your Majesty has understood that there is a lack of these materials and of the provisions necessary for the royal storehouses. Your Majesty was correctly informed of this; but for the past year efforts have been made to remedy these deficiencies, by building flat-bottomed boats for transporting the said timbers, and having as many as possible of the latter cut. With this, the galleons which go to Castilla have been put in very good order, and there is sufficient lumber left for the necessary and usual repairs which continually have to be made in this port. As for the provisions for the storehouses, not only have the necessary supplies been lacking, but there are no storehouses in which to place them. I shall therefore begin two buildings: one a storehouse at this port, inside the castle of San Phelipe; and another as lodgings for the infantry company which forms the garrison. Hitherto the soldiers of that company have lived outside the said castle, as they had no quarters--some of them in wretched cabins built by their own hands. In the same manner, Sire, or very little better, the rest of the troops were lodged in Manila. As I have written to your Majesty in other letters, I am building them a chapel, where the dead may be buried and the sacraments administered to them; also a barracks, where they can live comfortably. I am endeavoring that [the expense of] this may be met by donations and gratuitous services, and not from the royal treasury of your Majesty. I have ordered that a large house, in which the governors were lodged when they came to this port, be set aside for a royal hospital. I have had it repaired, and two wings added; and thus medical treatment can be given in it to the seamen, the convicts on your Majesty's galleys, the carpenters and calkers, and some sixty-six slaves of the crown. It was said that your Majesty has also carpenters ashore, besides petty court officers, and the Lascars and Moros who serve in mooring the vessels and for all the extra labor that is needed ashore; and hitherto they have had no hospital, and it was necessary to take them to Manila for treatment. [_Marginal note_: "Ascertain what provision has been made for this in other regions. As for the buildings for parish church, hospital, and barracks for soldiers, this is explained by another letter from the governor. As for the shipbuilding, what he says is approved."]
16. In a decree dated Madrid, February 16, 635, your Majesty commands that I exercise care to see that the religious shall not go to Japon for the present, because the king of that country has so tightly closed the door to the Catholics. [_Marginal note_: "Seen."]
17. He has commanded this, with very rigorous penalties of death and confiscation of property, that no vassal of his shall for ten years leave his kingdom, in any kind of vessel, so that religious may not go in their ships; he thus checks the trade with the Chinese also, so that they may not carry religious. Only the Dutch maintain commerce with Japon, from which has resulted great loss to these your Majesty's islands--for they bring from Xapon much silver; copper and tin, for casting artillery; wheat; and many other products and conveniences which are very necessary for the said islands. Then the barter of the silks, fine Castilian cloths, and Spanish leather made from deerskin, which were carried there from these islands--all this is so cut off that it seems as if no way could be found to restore the trade unless God in His mercy shall open one in the course of time. [_Marginal note_: "Seen."]
18. Don Pedro de Quiroga y Maya, whom your Majesty has been pleased to send to Mexico to take the residencia of the Marques de Cerralbo; sends me a certified copy of a section in the instructions which your Majesty gave him, in which your Majesty has commanded me, by one of your royal decrees that, in order to stop the illegal transportation to Nueva Espana of more merchandise than is permitted to the citizens, the ships shall be built thus: the almiranta, of four hundred to five hundred toneladas' burden; and the capitana, of five hundred to six hundred toneladas. These decrees, Sire, have not come to my hands thus far, further than a copy which the said royal visitor sends me, issued in the term of Don Juan Nino de Tabora. This shall be very punctually obeyed in the future construction of the ships; but it is necessary to make the present voyage with the galleons that are already built. I must remind your Majesty that the islands are at the end of their resources, as far as the Indians in them are concerned; for it is they who bring the timber from the forests for the said shipbuilding. I have thought of an expedient for this, in order not to complete the destruction of the Indians; it is, to ask the viceroys of your Majesty in Nueva Espana and Piru to send vessels here. Every two years, let the viceroy of Piru send to Nueva Espana a ship with the permission which your Majesty has given, one of those which the viceroy the Conde de Chinchon caused to be built in the time when I served your Majesty there; they were of three hundred to four hundred toneladas' burden, and carried twelve, fourteen, or sixteen pieces of artillery. The cost of these will be paid here, on the account of this royal treasury. With this, and with rebuilding the galleons that are here, and repairing them every year, may be remedied the loss in the shipyards, and the destruction and ruin of the Indians. It is no light burden to maintain the laborers who cut the timber for the repairs every year. Will your Majesty be pleased to command the said viceroys to do what I have proposed; and thus in the course of time the ships will come to be of the burden and lading that your Majesty requires. Meanwhile, until the matter is arranged, the galleons will go from here to Nueva Espana every two years, each with two registers--one for the previous sailing, and one for the present year--as they go now. In the year when they go, they will bring back the half of the silver for the proceeds [from the merchandise sent]; and in the following year, when they do not have to go, the rest of the money will be brought in the ship which will be sent from Piru. I hope that your Majesty will approve this, and give such commands as are most expedient for your royal service, in order that these vassals who are so poor may be encouraged, and the merchandise that they export may bring in good returns when nothing goes unregistered, and that the Indians may be saved from ruin. [_Marginal note_: "Let there be no innovation in this matter which he proposes, and follow the orders which have been issued in regard to the building of ships; and tell him that, as he has been commanded, he shall make no innovations without first consulting the government in regard to the matter, so that orders may be given him to be put into execution."]
May our Lord guard the Catholic person of your Majesty, as Christendom has need. At Cavite, July 11, 636. Sire, your vassal kisses your Majesty's feet.
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera
THE HOSPITALS AND HOSPITAL CONTRIBUTIONS
_Letter to the king from Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera_
Sire:
1. Your Majesty was pleased to entrust to my predecessor, Don Juan Nino de Tabora, as he was the person who had the matter in hand, the regulation of the comfort of the hospitals, the care of treating the sick, both soldiers and citizens, and the administration of the revenues of the said hospitals, so that the expenditures would be well employed and your Majesty's treasury have some relief.
[_In the margin_: "That the purpose in having established the convalescent ward is approved."]
2. The first thing which I heard on my arrival in this government was this [matter of the hospitals], in which I have found that your Majesty spends more money than you ought to spend; and, in the endeavor to apply a suitable remedy, I ordered the royal officials to note on their pay-rolls that the soldiers must give two reals from each month's pay, and the sailors four--as is done in the States of Flandes with the royal hospital of your Majesty's army, where the soldiers give one real from each month's pay, and the officers, higher and lower, according to their pay. This amounts to more than seven thousand pesos per year, as your Majesty will have seen by the certifications which I enclose.
3. The religious of the Order of St. Francis--to whose brothers the government and several of your Majesty's decrees have entrusted for some years back the duty of nurses in these hospitals, and to their religious priests that of chaplains therein--have both [brothers and priests] contrived to make an ill use of the orders of your Majesty and of the government; for besides the comforts that are brought from Castilla at so heavy an expense to the treasury of your Majesty, such as wines, raisins, almonds, and quince preserves, and other things which are not found here, and are indispensable for the hospitals--and although these things and the medicines were delivered to the steward and apothecary, the said officials did what the religious ordered them; and, to keep the devotees of religion contented, dispersed and spent many of those things outside of the hospitals. I made the steward whom I found in the hospital of the Spaniards settle his accounts, which were in very bad condition; but it will cost him his property. I appointed a new steward to whom all the aforesaid articles which came from Nueva Espana were delivered, on his responsibility and account. This man asked for the keys to the pantries, in order to keep them, but the religious refused; consequently, I was obliged to issue strict order that the keys be given up. The provincial of that order gave way to anger, saying that the taking the keys of the pantries to keep them was to his discredit. With the devotion which I have always had toward that order, and my love for its religious, I requested the said provincial to charge himself with, or have given to some religious, the said articles, with the obligation to give account of his expense at the end of the year to the person whom I should order to do that. He replied that I could not do that, according to his rule; nor could he subject himself to give account of anything; the steward, however, continues to exercise his duty and care.
[_In the margin_: "Having dismissed the discalced religious from the hospital, although it is thought that in this he will have desired the greater service of his Majesty and the convenient regulation of the matter, he might, before executing it, and before having made this innovation, have given some notice of it, as he has been notified to do in other points. Let him do that from now henceforth. In regard to the condition of the edifice and the other matters, let him advise immediately; and of the manner in which the hospital is governed, and what has been the practical result of the change, without making any alteration in the state in which this despatch shall find it, and without going any farther."]
4. Various decrees of their Majesties, your holy father and your prudent grandfather, order that a convalescent ward be made in the royal hospital of the Spaniards. Since my predecessors did not carry out this plan, I began it with two thousand pesos, of which a governor of the Sangleys of the Parian made your Majesty a gracious gift. It was advisable to have this ward pass through certain small cells which the brothers and religious chaplain had in the said hospital. I courteously requested the provincial to withdraw them to his convent while the said ward was being built; but he refused to do so. I again requested him to remove the most holy sacrament--which was deposited in a ward under the principal one of the infirmary and exposed to indecency, because the filth and water from the sick, fell from above--to a place above, where mass was said to the said sick. He also refused to do that; on the other hand, he went to the archbishop, who began a suit before the ordinary. Although the royal Audiencia (the said archbishop refusing to give the regimental chaplain-in-chief permission to administer the holy sacraments to the soldiers and others, and refusing to give it, and [the chaplain] having appealed to royal aid from the fuerza), declared that he should do what I had asked, the archbishop, nevertheless, refused to give the said permission--until that, after he had been exiled from these kingdoms for having refused to obey the decrees of your Majesty (as I shall recount in another letter), the bishop of Camarines, who came by act of the royal Audiencia to govern during his absence, granted to the said chaplain-in-chief the said permission to administer the sacraments. For these and many other reasons, of which I shall give your Majesty an account, I made the said religious leave the royal hospital of the Spaniards, and the regimental chaplain-in-chief ministers to the sick for the present, until a chapel is finished (which I ordered to be built in which to bury the soldiers), and quarters [for them], at the expense of their pay, which they have graciously given, without any expense to the treasury of your Majesty. And when the said chaplain-in-chief shall go to exercise his duty in the said chapel, another chaplain shall be appointed for the said royal hospital. Sire, the reasons which have existed for changing the religious of this hospital are those which your Majesty will please have examined in the papers which I herewith enclose. At the same time, I petition your Majesty, with all humility, to be pleased to grant permission to the brothers of [St.] John of God to come to serve in these hospitals in place of the same discalced religious, and at their own petition--because of the disorderly acts that the brothers must have committed in visiting private houses in the city in the quality of surgeons, and in methods from which, they tell me, proceeded the relaxation of the order, as well as other things that deserve correction. For many reasons concerning the service of God and of your Majesty, it has been, and is, advisable that these hospitals be administered by the brothers of [St.] John of God, and that the Order of St. Francis attend to their ministries and the observance of their rule. In case that your Majesty finds it unadvisable that the said brothers of [St.] John of God come to these islands, will you be pleased to have the holy sacraments administered by seculars, the revenue put in charge of laymen, and several of the very aged alferezes, who have served long enough and now cannot bear arms, act as nurses--as they are doing at present with great willingness and promptness, in order not to lose the accommodations of the hospital by negligence and poor service. Only the said hospitals of this city and of the port of Cavite I have withdrawn from the power of the religious of St. Francis of this city, for the reasons aforesaid, and because of the opposition which the religious have made to your Majesty's governor, in their desire to make themselves lords and masters of your royal hospitals; since neither by reason of their rule, nor by their own will, nor by anything else can they be proprietors. There was no hospital at the port of Cavite; but on account of the donations which some persons have given to your Majesty, I have ordered a house to be prepared where the governors lived when they went to that port, and an excellent hospital has been made there. In it five hundred sailors, three or four hundred convicts belonging to the galleys, slaves of your Majesty, the common seamen of the galleons, and the calkers and carpenters of the said port--in all two thousand odd persons--receive medical treatment. Since this hospital has been created anew (for a barracks which was used for a hospital has fallen), the religious do not claim it in ownership, as they do the hospital of this city. The alms given by the sailors for the said hospital amount to three thousand pesos per year. With what the calkers, carpenters, and other workmen who receive pay will give, and a small cattle-farm that it owns, with some more that can be obtained from some encomienda when it falls vacant, the said hospital will be sustained without any expense to your Majesty's treasury. And in order that that of Manila may do the same, an excellent cattle-farm costing eight thousand pesos has been bought at the advice of the treasury council with the money contributed for it. With those ranches that it had, and the three pesos per year from each soldier, and an encomienda of one thousand three hundred tributes which has been granted to the convalescent ward in the name of your Majesty, in virtue of your royal decree despatched to Governor Gomez Perez Das marinas (and I petition your Majesty to be pleased to confirm to it the encomienda of the village of Macabebe, in the province of Pampanga)--with all the above and other things which I shall endeavor to secure for it, I shall relieve your Majesty's royal treasury from expense. The expense which I have made in only the said hospital in ten months, without its being possible to avoid it, amounts in money to seven thousand pesos for the aforesaid, and more than that amount in kind. Since your Majesty has so many encomiendas here, it is right that we relieve the treasury of this expense; and we shall put to rights many things which I confess to your Majesty have never been regulated until now. With it the hospitals of the natives, that of Los Banos, that of Camarines, and others, I have left to the religious until your Majesty orders what is your pleasure. But it is not advisable that they should administer them, but the brothers of [St.] John of God, or secular priests and lay stewards. This is the truth, as I assure your Majesty as your vassal and minister, whereby I discharge my conscience of all that shall be placed on it; and, if opportunity offer, I shall give a detailed account and one to the royal Council of the Yndias. May our Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636.
Sire, your Majesty's vassal kisses your feet,
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera
_Comments of the Council_
In regard to the deductions [from their pay] that are levied on the soldiers and sailors, since it is with their good-will, as is supposed, his having introduced this plan is approved.
Since that aid amounts to seven thousand pesos annually, and since not only the soldiers are treated in the hospital, but other citizens; if this is so, it seems that it will be necessary that the cost of the hospital be not entirely charged to the soldiers, but that the others contribute their share, whereby the deductions [from the pay] of the soldiers will be less and less felt.
That in regard to passing to the Yndias it has not been considered as very advisable that the brothers of [St.] John of God go; but that in its general aspect the matter is being considered, and he will be advised of what shall be resolved.
That in regard to placing alferezes on half-pay as nurses, it is not advisable; nor do such men proceed with the charity that is necessary, and that such ministry requires.
That in regard to the hospital which has been established in Cavite, by taking the house of the governor, it is not approved, and that is another innovation of which he must give account; for, although the work is good in itself, it has the inconvenience that when the governors go to that port, they have no house in which to lodge, and that they will have a motive for building one. Consequently, he shall not go ahead with that undertaking. To apply some encomienda for that hospital of Cavite appears advisable, and he is permitted to assign it an encomienda of about five hundred ducados of income. Let him advise of what he does in this, and whether the quantity is sufficient, in respect to the expense, and considering the aids which he mentions in his letter, which will be made voluntarily by the contributors.
In regard to the cattle-farm which has been bought for the hospital of Manila with the money from the gifts, see whether the royal officials or any other persons write of this; and, if they do not write, have him told that if it is money donated as a gift to his Majesty, that expenditure is not approved; for he was not authorized to make it, and has rather exceeded his authority, and it will be necessary to restore the money to his Majesty. But if it is a gift made as an alms by citizens, that will be well; and it is expected that he will have it administered as is advisable.
Let information be asked separately on all the points of this letter from the archbishop, Audiencia, royal officials, and the superior of the Order of St. Francis.
Write to the governor not to make any innovation.
_Governor's act regarding convalescent ward_