Chapter x

contains a bull promulgated by Alexander VII, dated August 5, 1660, confirming a decree of the congregation Propaganda fide of June 28, 1660 (inserted in the bull) forbidding Recollect religious who had been sent to the Philippines from turning aside on the way or unnecessarily delaying their journey. The penalty imposed by the decree is that such fugitives are to be deprived of all active and passive vote, and can never hold any dignity or honorary charge in the order. That same year of 1660, a mission left Spain for the islands but did not arrive there until 1664.]

DESCRIPTION OF FILIPINAS ISLANDS

[After a prolonged address to Fray Diego Zapata, a high official of the Franciscan order and of the Inquisition, Fray Letona proceeds with a description of the Philippines in numbered sections. No. 1 states that it is written for Zapata's information; no. 2, that the voyage from Acapulco to Manila is more than 2,500 leguas in length. The course of the ships in that voyage is given in no. 3. Such parts of this description as are useful for our purpose are here presented in full; other parts are omitted, in each case stating the nature of such matter.]

3. Acapulco, in Mexico, which is the eastern port for the South Sea and for navigations from Nueva España to Filipinas, is in sixteen and one-half degrees of latitude. If in voyaging from Acapulco to Filipinas the ships sail in a straight line from the rising toward the setting sun, from east to west, without change of latitude, they will arrive at Baler, [37] a village in the northern part of the further coast of Manila Island, which is in the same latitude as Acapulco. But usually, as soon as they set sail from Acapulco, they descend to the eleventh or the tenth parallel in order to find the winds with which they can navigate; then they again go northward and follow their former course to a point five hundred leguas from Manila, and one hundred from the Ladrones Islands--among which they pass, in a latitude of fifteen degrees. Thence they sail again to lower latitudes, descending to barely thirteen and one-half degrees--on which line is the Embocadero of San Bernardino, one hundred leguas from Manila. Thence the voyage is made between that same island of Manila--which extends as far as the Embocadero, and remains on the right hand--and other islands which lie on the left, to the port of Cabite which is two leguas from Manila. Ordinarily this voyage is made in three months, although the return trip is usually much longer--sometimes requiring more than seven months; while in this year, sixty-two, it lasted eight months.

Distribution of these islands

4. Although they are innumerable, hardly more than forty of the inhabited Filipinas Islands are subject to the monarchy of España. The first and chief of these, and the head of all, is that of Luzon. It is large, being almost three hundred and fifty leguas in circumference; and has more than twenty bays and ports where ships of all sizes can anchor. It is the frontier [of the islands] toward Great China, which is a hundred leguas distant from Manila. The island lies between thirteen and one-half and nineteen degrees of latitude, and it has the form of a square with two narrow arms--one of which extends from south to north, the other from west to east.

5. In that which points northward lie, on its western coast, four distinct conquered provinces. The first and nearest of these on the bay of Manila (and belonging to the archbishopric of that name), and in latitude 15°, is Pampanga; it is very populous, and abounds in rice and other products of the soil; and it contains some gold-placers. Its natives have the reputation of being the best and bravest, and most faithful to the royal crown [of all in the island]; they have a language of their own. On the western outskirts of this province among its mountains, and within the archbishopric of Manila are some Negrillos; they are heathen, and natives of the country (which is yet to be conquered) that is called Zambales. They are very barbarous, resembling the Chichimecos of Nueva España who eat human flesh.

6. Next at 16° latitude and on the western coast [of Luzon], follows Pamgasinam; it belongs to the bishopric of Cagayan, and is rich in gold and other products of the soil. The natives have a language of their own.

7. Ylocos is a province of the same bishopric, and lies next [to Pamgasinam] on the same coast; it also abounds in the same products and is very populous. The natives have their own language. Its latitude is 17°. In the year 1661, these two provinces rebelled; they were conquered and pacified with extraordinary valor and skill, by General Francisco de Esteybar with three hundred soldiers. He punished thirty persons with death and five hundred with slavery.

8. Cagayan is the last province in this arm of the island, and the most northern, lying in 18° to 19° latitude. It contains many Indians who are good soldiers. Here is the city of Nueva Segobia, which has few Spanish residents. It has a bishop and cathedral; an alcalde-mayor, and a garrison of Spanish soldiers. This province yields the same products [as the others], and has a distinct language. Almost opposite this province, to the northeast (that is, between north and east) is Xapon, a noted empire. It is distant three hundred leguas, and this voyage is made in sight of land, that of various islands.

9. This arm of land is almost a hundred leguas long and fifty or sixty wide; on its eastern coast the province of Baler is conquered and pacified. The region midland of all these five provinces is called Ytui, and is peopled by heathen Indians, not yet subdued. On the south lies Pampanga; northward, Cagayan; to the east, Baler; to the west, Ylocos and Pangasinan. All these provinces have their alcaldes-mayor. The ports on the eastern coast are mentioned below in section 91.

10. In the eastern arm of this island of Luzon there are two provinces; both abound in rice and other products, and are very populous; and each one has its own distinct language. The first is Tagalos, which begins at the city of Manila, and belongs wholly to that archbishopric. It contains the environs of the city; and the lake of Bay (a freshwater lake, of many leguas in circumference), and extends along the coasts of this arm, both northern and southern, more than fifty leguas in a direct line, southeast and northeast--that is, from Manila to Silangan, which is an island very near to that of Luzon. There ends the archbishopric [of Manila]; also the Tagal province (which is divided into six or eight districts of alcalde-mayor and corregidor) and the Tagal language.

11. The second and last province of this eastern arm is Camarines, which has a different language, and belongs to another bishopric. It begins at the village of Paracali, which is on the northern coast and has some rich gold mines. It is distant from Manila sixty leguas, and extends almost forty eastward, as far as the extremity of this island. Here is the city of Nueva Caceres, where there is a bishopric and a cathedral, and an alcalde-mayor; the Spanish population is very small, but there are many Indians, as also in the entire province. Inland from these two provinces there are some Çimarron Indians, who are not yet conquered. This arm [of land] is almost a hundred leguas long, and ten to twenty wide; its northern ports are mentioned below in section 91.

12. At the center where these two arms of land meet, in the middle and on the shores of a beautiful bay--closed in from the sea; thirty leguas in circumference, and eight wide; and everywhere clear, soundable, and safe--at the mouth and on the banks of the great river of Bay [i.e., Pasig River] (which, having flowed four leguas from its own lake, empties into this sea) is built the distinguished city of Manila, the capital and court of Filipinas. It is, for its size, the richest in the world; a special account of it will soon be given. Entrance into this bay is furnished by a passage on its western side, four leguas in width. In the middle of this passage, eight leguas from Manila and opposite this city, is an islet called Maribelez; it is inhabited, and is two leguas in circuit in 14 1/2° latitude. It serves as a watch-tower to look for foreign ships, which can be seen fifteen leguas at sea.

13. The "Modern Geographer," which was printed at Amsterdam in four large volumes in Latin and Castilian, containing the geographical maps of the world, does not present a map of these islands, although it gives a special one of the Molucas or Ternate Islands which are adjacent to the Filipinas. For lack of facilities, I do not insert here a map of these islands, which I have drawn by hand, with the greatest exactness, from my personal knowledge. In place thereof, I will write a description so clear that any geographer can reduce it to a map; and for greater clearness the above-mentioned island of Maribelez will be the center of this description--which is divided into four parts or voyages: to the east, southeast, south, and north, respectively.

14-28. [These paragraphs contain data for the map that Letona would have made--the location, latitude, size, and names of islands, with distances and direction by compass. We note a few points of interest which contain new information. In Mindoro is "El Baradero, a celebrated bay and a very safe harbor." With the island of Burias "ends the archbishopric of Manila; the next lands [i.e., Banton] belong to the bishopric of Zebu." In Catanduanes reside a beneficed curate and a corregidor. "The interior of Mindanao is still unsubdued; its natives are heathen in the eastern part, and Mahometan pirates in the west. They have been reduced to his Majesty's obedience and to the Church, and among them are four garrisons of Spaniards--one in the east, at Tandag; two in the north, at Bacilan and Malanao; and another in the west, at Samboanga. In this island some cinnamon is collected." "Sanguil, or Calonga, is a small island under a petty king--who is a Catholic Christian--named Don Juan Buntuan. At his request, I sent thither in the year 1651 with my credentials and instructions father Fray Joseph de Truxillo, a deserving son of our father St. Francis in this convent of La Puebla; ... who, with his excellent example, preaching, and instruction--aided by his companion father Fray Mateo Rodriguez, a man of his own spirit--established and renewed the faith, built a church, and converted and baptized many infidels, both children and adults." "Macazar is an island yet to be conquered; its people are Mahometans and heathen, and are very numerous. It is 180 leguas in circuit; in its eastern part it has a powerful Mahometan king, who has at his capital factories from Europa and Assia; and he has the utmost devotion and reverence for the king our sovereign." The four islands of Bolinao form the boundary of the archbishopric of Manila; from these extends the bishopric of Cagayan. The following islands are depopulated (some of them being mentioned in earlier accounts as having inhabitants): Ticao, San Bernardino, Maesse de Campo, Cimara, Panaon, and Capones (fifteen leguas from Maribeles); islets near Luban, Panay, Bantayan, Mindoro, and Cuyo; and islets between Leyte and Cebú.]

Climate, population, and products

29. The climate of these islands is, for sensible people, for the most part reasonably healthful and temperate. On the coasts it is hot; in the mountains it is cool, pleasant, and refreshing. There is no certain knowledge of the time or source of their settlement. The nearest mainland is Great China, the eastern end of Assia (one of the first which were inhabited after the general deluge). On the west of China is the gulf and kingdom of Bengal, from which (through the strait of Sincapura) it seems very probable that the first settlers of these islands came, [38] to judge from the similarity in their color, customs, and language. They are of average size, light-colored, and have well-shaped features and much intelligence. They live in high wooden houses, and support themselves by tilling the soil, fishing, and other industries. At the time of this writing, there are more than 600,000 Christians here, vassals of the king our sovereign; and the Catholic piety of his Majesty maintains them in the holy faith, although they are 5,000 leguas from his court, at the cost of immense expenditures from his royal treasury. It appears from the books of the royal accountancies that his Majesty has, in only twenty years, expended more than 300,000 ducados in sending religious to Filipinas--from which it will be seen that incalculable treasure has been spent for this purpose during only the ninety-eight years since the islands were discovered.

30. Their products are: Rice in great abundance, which is the wheat of that country and the usual food of its people, serving as their bread. Everywhere, whether in mountains or plains, there is abundant growth of cocoanut palms. These nuts are as large as average-sized melons, and almost of the same shape; the shell is hard, and contains a sweet liquid which makes a palatable beverage, and a meat which is a delicious food. This is the most useful plant in the world; for not only are food and drink, and wine and oil, obtained from it, but innumerable other things--comprising all that is necessary to human life, for the dwellings, food, and clothing of man. There are plantations of these trees, as in España there are vineyards--although the former are at less cost and labor. In these islands there is abundance of salt, fowls, and cattle, besides swine, deer, and buffaloes; there are also several kinds of beans, and other vegetables. With these foods not only do the people support themselves, but the fleets and garrisons, and the ships that make long sea-voyages are furnished with provisions. On all the coasts, and in all the rivers and lakes, excellent fish are caught in abundance; and in the mountains the people gather much honey and wax. In the gardens, they raise a great deal of delicious fruit, and much garden-stuff. Oranges and bananas not only grow in abundance, but are of the best quality in the world. In some of the islands nutmeg, pepper, cloves, and cinnamon are found. The country is everywhere fertile, and green and pleasant all the year round; and in some places wheat is sown and harvested.

31. In these islands grows much cotton, from which the people make Ylocan blankets, lampotes, white cloth, medriñaques, material for hose, and other useful fabrics. In many (indeed in most) islands are found amber and civet, and gold mines--these especially in the mountain ranges of Pangasinam and Paracali, and in Pampanga; consequently; there is hardly an Indian who does not possess chains and other articles of gold. Besides these products (which are peculiar to the country), others are brought to Manila from Great China, Xapon, and numberless other kingdoms and islands of this archipelago--wheat, iron, copper, some quicksilver, tin, and lead; cinnamon (from Zeilan), pepper, cloves, nutmeg, musk, and incense; silks (both raw and woven), and linens; Chinese earthenware, ivory, and ebony; diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones; valuable woods; and many uncommon and delicious fruits. In Manila, gunpowder is manufactured, and excellent artillery and bells are cast; and various articles are exquisitely wrought in filigree of gold and silver. All things necessary to human life [are found there] and even articles of superfluity, ostentation, pomp, and luxury.

The city of Manila

32. This city was conquered and founded by its first governor on May 19, the day of St. Potenciana the virgin, in the year 1571. It was built on a site naturally strong on the shore of the sea, and at the mouth of a great river--which flows four leguas from the lake of Bay, and here loses itself [in the sea]--on a strip of land formed between the sea and the river. Thus half of the city, that on the north and west, is surrounded by water; and the other half, toward the east and south, by land and a ditch. It is entirely surrounded, almost in a circular form, by a rampart wall of stone; this is high and strong and so thick that in some parts it is more than three varas wide, and one can walk on top of it everywhere. It extends three-quarters of a legua, and is adorned and furnished with battlements and merlons in modern style; with towers, cavaliers, and Hankers at intervals; and with two castles and some bulwarks. It is furnished with excellent artillery, and a force of six hundred (sometimes more) Spanish soldiers--with their master-of-camp, sargento-mayor, captains, wardens, and other military officers. There are five gates and several posterns.

33. The streets of the city are beautifully laid out, and level, like those of Mexico and Puebla. The main plaza is large, rectangular, and well proportioned. Its eastern side is occupied by the cathedral; the southern, by the government building, which is a splendid palace--large, handsome, and very spacious; it was built by a merchant, the favorite [39] of a governor, for his own use. The northern side of the plaza (opposite the palace) contains the cabildo's house, the jail, and other buildings that belong to private persons (which also occupy the western side).

34. The houses in the city, before the earthquakes of the years 45 and 58, numbered six hundred (many of which must be by this time rebuilt), most of them of hewn stone with handsome iron balconies and rows of windows, and built in costly style. In them resided various gentlemen and nobles, and two hundred citizens who were merchants (who themselves form a commonwealth); there were also soldiers, royal officials, prebends, and other citizens. Much of its material grandeur and beauty was destroyed by the earthquakes above mentioned, but it lost not the essential greatness which it has and always has had as a court and an illustrious commonwealth. In the villages of Bagunbaya and others of its suburbs there are probably six hundred houses more--not counting those of the Parian, which number many more than those of the city and suburbs together. Along the river are a great many country houses for recreation--some very costly, and all very convenient and pleasant, with gardens, orchards, and baths.

35. It is the capital of all these islands, with its governor, who is the captain-general, and president of the royal chancilleria, which is composed of four auditors and one fiscal who have cognizance of cases both civil and criminal; then there are the other employes of the royal Audiencia, and the royal officials with their tribunal. The jurisdiction [of this audiencia] is the most extensive in the Spanish monarchy; for it extends to all territories that are discovered and pacified in that great archipelago (the largest in the world)--extending more than four hundred leguas in a straight line, and more than a thousand in circumference--and to all yet to be discovered and pacified, an immense region. The city has twelve perpetual regidors, who on the first of January in every year elect two alcaldes-in-ordinary; these have jurisdiction throughout the district of the municipality, which has a radius of five leguas.

36. On the eastern side of the city, but outside of it and in front of its walls, at the distance of a musket-shot is a silk-market which they call Parian. Usually 15,000 Chinese live there; they are Sangleys, natives of Great China, and all merchants or artisans. They possess, allotted among themselves by streets and squares, shops containing all the kinds of merchandise and all the trades that are necessary in a community. The place is very orderly and well arranged, and a great convenience to the citizens. It is [an indication of] their greatness that although they are so few, they have so many workmen and servants assigned to their service. The Sangleys live in wooden houses; they have a governor of their own nation, and a Spanish alcalde-mayor and the other officers of justice, with a notary; also a jail. They have a parish church, where the sacraments, the divine word, and burial are administered to the 4,000 Christians among these Sangleys; the rest of them are heathen.

37. Accordingly the commerce of this city is extensive, rich, and unusually profitable; for it is carried on by all these Chinese and their ships, with those of all the islands above mentioned and of Tunquin, Cochinchina, Camboja, and Sian--four separate kingdoms, which lie opposite these islands on the continent of Great China--and of the gulfs and the numberless kingdoms of Eastern India, Persia, Bengala, and Ceilan, when there are no wars; and of the empire and kingdoms of Xapon. The diversity of the peoples, therefore, who are seen in Manila and its environs is the greatest in the world; for these include men from all kingdoms and nations--España, Francia, Ingalaterra, Italia, Flandes, Alemania, Dinamarca, Sueçia, Polonia, Moscobia; people from all the Indias, both eastern and western; and Turks, Greeks, Moros, Persians, Tartars, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, and Asiatics. And hardly is there in the four quarters of the world a kingdom, province, or nation which has not representatives here, on account of the voyages that are made hither from all directions--east, west, north, and south.

38-58. [These sections are devoted to brief biographical notices of the governors of the islands--information already presented in our VOL. XVII. Letona says (no. 58) of Diego Fajardo's government:] In the year 51, the governor withdrew his favor from his petted favorite, whom, after confiscating his goods (which were many), he imprisoned in the castle of Santiago--in the same quarters where (at his own instance, as people say) the five years' captivity of Governor Corcuera was accomplished. Then Faxardo opened his eyes, so that he could recognize the serious troubles which result from the favorite's having great power in the government. "For," Fajardo said, "he did not regard the vassals of the king with the affection that he ought; nor did he attend to their welfare, but to his own advantage and profit." Imitating him, the subordinate officials, he said, "committed acts of violence in the provinces that they governed, harassing them with various oppressions, and failing to administer justice to the poor--levying on them repartimientos of many products that were not necessary, and at exorbitant prices; and, although the commodity might be had in another district for half the price, the natives must not buy it there, but only from the agent of the magistrate, who would not allow any one else to traffic or trade in all the province. From these practices," said this gentleman, "arise irreparable injuries to the poor vassals, and to his Majesty's alcabalas [i.e., excise taxes]. Nor have those vassals any redress, since the door is closed to them by the favor shown to the minion." For this same reason, he gave no office of justice to a relative or servant of his own, judging that no aggrieved person would dare to utter a complaint on account of his fear lest the governor would take ill a suit against his relative or servant. These and other very just opinions were expressed by this governor during the last year of his rule.

59. [Of Manrique de Lara, Letona says:] "He governed for ten years, a longer term than that of any predecessor of his. Many of these he surpassed not only in the period of service, but in his care and efficiency--personally assisting in the despatch of the armed fleets (although this had to be done at a distance of twenty leguas from Manila), and attending to the shipbuilding and the timber-cutting; crossing seas, rivers, and mountains, and overcoming great dangers and hardships, in order to serve the commonwealth and his Majesty, and that the royal revenues might be spent with due faithfulness, and without oppressing his Majesty's poor vassals. He opened up the commerce of the kingdoms of Tunquin and Cochinchina, and extended that of Great China; and he brought to terms the king of Tidore. He repressed the invasions of the Mindanaos, Xoloans, and Camucones through the instrumentality of Andres de Zuloeta, a valiant captain--who was sargento-mayor of Manila, admiral, and commander of the fleet that carries supplies to Ternate. In the year of 61 there were disturbances in Pampanga, the finest province in this government, and inhabited by a people who are valiant and very skilful in the use of arms. This governor with courage and tact went to Pampanga, and pacified the province without shedding blood, thus acquiring a great reputation. He subdued also the provinces of Pangasinan and Ilocos, which had rebelled, he punished some with death, and others with slavery, bestowing on the rest a general pardon. This campaign increased the reputation of the Catholic arms throughout that archipelago, a renown that is still maintained."

The ecclesiastical estate

60. In April of the year 1565, there was founded in Zebu (afterward being transferred to Manila) the church and ecclesiastical community of these islands; and its ordinary jurisdiction was allotted to the superiors of the Order of St. Augustine, who were the founders and apostles of this kingdom; they held that dignity up to the year of 77, in which it passed to the fathers of the order of our father St. Francis. It remained in their keeping until the year 82, in which Don Fray Domingo de Salazar--a Dominican, the first bishop of all the Filipinas--with a bull from his Holiness Pope Gregory XIII founded the cathedral of Manila, dedicating it to the most immaculate Conception of the Virgin. It was established with five dignitaries, four canonries, and four other prebends; they are appointed by his Majesty, or ad interim by the governor. The cathedral has a good choir of singers, also chaplains and many able clerics, and two curas and two sacristans. It is the only parish church of the city, although outside in the suburbs there are two others--that of Santiago, and that of San Antonio--administered by learned and exemplary clergymen.

61. Within the city, on the Plaza de Armas and opposite the castle of Santiago, is the royal chapel founded by Governor Corcuera. It is a magnificent church (containing the most holy sacrament), and is richly adorned with altars, reredos, pulpit, and sacristy ornaments of silver, with a monstrance of pure gold which is worth 11,000 ducados. It has a choir, an organ, and a famous chorus of singers; also chaplains, sacristans, and other ministers, who serve it with much propriety and pomp. These clergymen are independent of the parish church, and go through the public streets, wearing their copes and carrying the cross aloft, to the royal hospital for the bodies of dead soldiers, which they solemnly convey to the royal chapel for interment.

62. In the midst of the city is the Misericordia's seminary for orphan girls with its church dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin, which was founded in the year 1594. It is of beautiful architecture, handsomely adorned, and served by clerics with the utmost care and propriety. Since the year 1653, this church has served for a cathedral. It is in charge of the brotherhood and congregation of the holy Misericordia, which is directed by a manager and twelve deputies with the same rules as that of Lisboa; its mission is to aid the poor. In the best part of the city is another seminary for the shelter of girls, with its church of Santa Potenciana, served by a cleric. There are two hospitals--the royal, for the soldiers; and that of the Misericordia, for the other poor. There are two others in the environs--one of San Juan de Dios for the Spaniards; and another for the Indians in Dilao. There is also a noted sanctuary, that of Nuestra Señora de Guia, besides the two parish churches above mentioned; and the convents and colleges, which will be enumerated below.

63. Most of the clerics of this archbishopric are learned men, excellent preachers and distinguished in all branches of study, on account of the opportunity which this city affords in two universities--in which they employ their abilities, emulating and rivaling one another in letters. They administer many benefices and curacies in the islands of Luzon, Luban, Mindoro, and others--besides the above-mentioned curacies and chaplaincies, both within and without Manila.

64-84. [These sections are occupied with biographical notices of the archbishops and bishops in the various dioceses, which we here omit, intending to present data of this sort in a later volume.]

Religious orders in Filipinas

85. The Order of St. Augustine entered the islands in the year 565; its first superior, and first prelate of all the islands was Fray Andres de Urdaneta--a Vascongado, [40] and a son of the convent and province of Mexico; he was the apostle who unfurled the gospel banner, and he planted the faith in the island of Zebu and others. They have in Manila a notable convent, with fifty religious--counting novices, students, and men of mature years; it was founded in the year 71. It is the head of eighty other parish convents, most of them having costly buildings; and in all these the sacraments are most watchfully administered to more than two hundred thousand Christians. They are located on the river and in the environs of Manila; along the lake of Bay, and in its mountains; throughout Pampanga, and in Pangasinan and Ilocos; and in the islands of Pintados, whose vicar-provincial is the prior of Zebu. In all times this order has possessed illustrious men of distinguished virtue, and martyrs in Xapon, and zealous ministers of the gospel. Next followed the order of our father St. Francis, which is left for the end.

86. The Society of Jesus entered Manila in the year 1582, in which was founded their college of La Concepcion, which is one of the most costly and magnificent buildings of this city. Its first superior was Father Antonio Zedeño. It is a university, where instruction is given in reading, writing, and accounts; and in grammar, rhetoric, the arts, theology, and literature--with the earnestness, thoroughness, and care which is customary in the [colleges of the] Society. Its rector confers the degrees of bachelor, licentiate, and doctor, with very rigorous courses of lectures, examinations, and literary theses, as in Salamanca and Mexico. Near, this great college the Society has another, that of San Joseph, with lay students; they wear tawny mantles and red bands. In Cabite, Zebu, and Mindanao the Society has also colleges, which are most useful for the education of the youth and of the entire commonwealth. Its fathers are in charge of many conversions and parish ministries about Manila, and in the islands of Marinduc, Ybabao, Panay, Negros Island, Bohol, Leyte, Imaras, and Mindanao--all belonging to the bishopric of Zebu--and in others; all these are administered with admirable exactness, courage, thoroughness, and zeal. In all the languages spoken therein, grammars and vocabularies have been prepared. The Society has, and always has had, some very learned writers, and other members distinguished in all branches of knowledge; and it has many martyrs, not only in Xapon but in Mindanao. This province is one of the most illustrious, and most worthy of imitation, belonging to the Society, and in it is evident much austerity and excellence.

87. The Order of St. Dominic entered Manila in the same year of 82; but its first convent was founded in the year 87, and its first superior was father Fray Juan de Castro, provincial of Chiapa. That convent had a magnificent building; but in the earthquake of 645, and in those of 51 and 52, their church was ruined. It was rebuilt with greater splendor and thoroughness than the old one; the author of this work (at that time prior) being the illustrious master Don Fray Francisco de la Trinidad y Arrieta, most worthy bishop of Santa Marta in Peru, and the first bishop who was a son of this convent. Without having any fixed income, this convent supports more than thirty religious. It is the head of a province, the most religious one in the entire order. In the environs of Manila these fathers have the parishes of the Parian and of Binondoc; a hospital, and a church at San Juan de Letran; and Batan in Pampanga. They have many Indian missions in the provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan. In Xapon and China this order has had many and resplendent martyrs; and it now has in China some gospel ministers. In Manila it has a notable college, that of Santo Tomas, which is a university. There with great ability are taught grammar, the arts, and theology, and both higher and lower degrees are conferred. It has lay students, who wear green mantles and red bands. They train many able men there, of whom many have been martyrs in Xapon. The order has had and has some writers, who have by their erudition ennobled this new church. The commissary of the Holy Office in Manila always belongs to this province.

88. The discalced fathers of St. Augustine entered Manila in the year 606, at which time they built a large convent, that of San Nicolas. It is the head of a very religious province which contains eleven other convents. Four are in the archbishopric--San Juan, San Sebastian, Cabite, and Bolinao; and seven in that of Zebu--Romblon, Paragua, Zebu, Siargao, Bacilan, Tangda, and Catel. There are three in the province of Caraga in the island of Mindanao (where they have had four martyrs). All their convents are of very strict observance, and devoted to an apostolical administration of the sacraments. They have had some martyrs in Xapon, and always have members who are well versed in all branches of learning. Their first superior was father Fray Juan de San Geronimo, who directed twelve others, his companions, the founders and apostles of this province.

89. The order of our father St. Francis entered Filipinas in the year 1577, when fifteen religious arrived at Manila, all apostolic men. Of these, six came from the province of San Joseph, two from that of Santiago, one from La Concepcion, another from Mechoacan, and five from the province of Santo Evangelio in Mexico. The superior of all was father Fray Pedro de Alfaro, of the province of Santiago (incorporated into that of San Joseph). On the second of August in the same year was founded the convent of Manila, with the title of Santa Maria de Los Angeles; their first guardian was father Fray Pedro de Ayera, a man in every respect remarkable. He was provincial of Mechoacan, and bishop-elect; and he was provisor and ecclesiastical judge of Filipinas. This convent usually has more than thirty religious--novices, students, and graduates; and it is the head of a very religious province of Discalced, who have more than fifty convents (which will soon be enumerated), in which they religiously administer the sacraments to one hundred and thirty thousand Christians.

90. This province during the first fourteen years was a custodia, subject to the province of San Joseph; and it was governed by four custodians, up to the year 1591. It was then erected into a province, and its first provincial elected; this was father Fray de Jesus, a Catalan from the province of San Joseph, a most accomplished religious. From then until this year of 662 there have been twenty-three provincials. This province has the following convents, most of which have very substantial buildings of hewn stone, and handsome churches well adorned with altars, reredoses, and ornaments, with much silver--and with singers, organs, and other musical instruments, and ecclesiastical jewels.

91. Cabite, two leguas from Manila, is the chief port of Filipinas; it is safe, and very convenient for all the ships of that region. With soldiers, pilots, and mariners, it numbers one hundred and fifty Spanish citizens; there are also many Indians, and it has a ward of Mahometan Lascars, and another of Chinese. It has a parochial church, with secular priests, a hospital, and convents; that of San Francisco is the second of this [Franciscan] province, the third being that of Ternate. The rest of the convents are in mission parishes, each one with a religious or two teachers. There are six in the environs of Manila--Dilao, Santa Ana, Sampaloc, Polo, Bocaui, and Meycahuayan. There are ten [sic] along the lake of Bay--Moron, Tanay, Pililla, Mabitac, Siniloan, Pangil, Paete, Lumban, Santa Cruz, Pila, and Baños. There are seven in the mountains or tingues of that lake--Nacarlan, Lilio, Mahayhai, Cabinti, Luchan, Tayabas, and Sadiaya. On the seacoast between east and north are six--Baler, Casiguran, Binangonan, Mauban (or Lampon), Atimonan, and Silanga (an island), where end the archbishopric and the use of the Tagálog language. The same coast extends through the province and bishopric of Camarines; and journeying by way of the eastern point to the southern coast, there are twenty convents--Paracali, Indan, Daet, Ligmanan, Quipayo, Naga (which is Caceres), Bula, Iriga, Libon, Polanguin, Oas, Camarines, Albay, Tabaco, Malinao, Bacon, Casiguran, Nabua, Quipia, and Bolosan. For just reasons, I omit the administration of Ilocos, Panay, and other districts. In Great China the order now has father Fray Antonio de Santa Maria, a man who is great in learning and in the religious life; with another companion, a learned preacher, he aids in the propagation of the gospel in that great empire.

92. This province is the only one of these Indias that has six of its sons as holy canonized protomartyrs in Xapon--besides twenty-seven other martyrs here and in other islands. This province has also gained great distinction by having in Manila the convent of Santa Clara, and in it Mother Geronima with many others who have inherited much of her spirit.

93-94. [In these sections Letona enumerates some of the holy Franciscans who have been canonized from the Indias.]

EVENTS IN MANILA, 1662-63

Relation of the events in the city of Manila from the embassy sent by Cotsen, [41] captain-general of the coasts of China and king of Hermosa Island, with father Fray Victorio Ricio his ambassador, in the year 1662, until the second embassy, which his son sent with the same father, and which was despatched on July 11, 1663.

On the fifth of May the ambassador of Cot-sen made his entry; this was father Fray Victorio Riccio, [42] a Florentine, a religious of the Order of Preachers. He was attired in the garb of a mandarin's rank, which the barbarian had conferred on him to equip him for this embassy. Little pomp was displayed in his reception, for the unfriendly nature of his errand was already known. Don Sabiniano Manrrique de Lara received the letter which he brought; it was full of arrogance, ostentatiously boasting of Cot-sen's power, and declaring that his champans were many thousands in number and his perfect soldiers hundreds of thousands; (it is a fact that those champans, counting large and small, amount to 15,000, as is known by eyewitnesses); and, in virtue of this pompous and noisy declaration, he demanded that these islands should pay him tribute, threatening us with the example of the Dutch. [43]

The insolence of this demand angered all the Spaniards, and our resolute attitude filled the Sangleys with anxiety; for, as it could not be imagined that a less generous one [would be taken], they feared the injuries that would be caused by the war, and that they would be the first to suffer from these. The governor, as pious as prudent, commanded that in the church of the Society of Jesus the blessed sacrament should remain exposed, in order that the archbishop, the three auditors, the superiors of the religious orders, and the military chiefs might assemble in a devout public supplication; and ordered that, at about the same time, a council should be summoned (in order to give the Sangleys less cause for blame), where Cot-sen's letter should be read and such decision made as in the opinion of the council ought to be adopted.

In regard to the principal point in the letter, there was little discussion; for, as the Spanish blood was coursing impetuously in the heart of every man there, all gave angry reply to Cot-sen's demand, showing the courage and resolution that was to be expected from their noble blood, and feeling shame that [even in] imagination [he] could dare to cast so black a stigma on the Spanish name. Resolved to die a thousand times rather than consent to such humiliation, and regarding war as certain, as being our honorable decision, the members of the council discussed the question of drawing off beforehand the unwholesome humor from the body of this commonwealth by expelling the Sangleys--who in an emergency would dangerously divide our attention and our forces. Most of the speakers were in favor of driving away all the infidels, leaving only the Christians, who would in part render to the community the many services in which the men of that nation are employed for its benefit; and, since the Christian Sangleys were few, it would be easy to secure ourselves from them. Moreover, we could, profiting by our experience of their procedure, easily get rid of them if that should be expedient for our defense in such an emergency. The council came to the conclusion that the merchants should be allowed to carry their property with them, and return [to China] in peace with their merchandise--not only because they had come here in confidence and on the security afforded by the peace, but because this generous conduct of ours would pacify their resolute attitude, and Cot-sen would feel more anxiety at seeing how little importance we attached to increasing his forces with the men whom we were sending away, and at our contempt for his resources in not appropriating the property of his people.

As this sudden change might cause some disturbances when it should be put into execution, the publication of the council's decision was delayed until as many of the cavalry horses as possible could be conveyed to the stock-farms; for, after the military authorities had seized the roads promptly with their troops, they could check any rash attempt, and the infidels could be peaceably sent to the ships as had been decreed. It was resolved by unanimous vote to withdraw the garrisons from Ternate, Zamboangan, Calamianes, and Yligan, since everything was at risk in the principal fort [i.e., Manila], which had not more than six hundred soldiers--and of these hardly two hundred were in condition to endure the hardships of a campaign or of service on the walls. [44]

These conferences, and the activities that necessarily followed from them were perfectly known by the Sangleys (whose fear kept them very attentive to everything), and the lack of secrecy in the members of the council gave them exact knowledge [of its proceedings]; consequently, they were fully assured of a war and of their own danger. This fear was increased by the haste with which the citizens who had wealth in their possession undertook to hide it away. Their desperation was completed by the interpretation which the common people gave to everything--irresponsible soldiers, with mestizos, mulattoes, and blacks, telling the Sangleys that they were to have their heads cut off, as if they were men already sentenced to death; and inflicting on them many injuries and uttering a thousand insults. Such circumstances as these concurring in the insurrection of the year 1603 necessarily caused it, as Doctor Morga observes; and on this occasion their fear of the like proceedings led them to a similar desperation. They heard that the twenty-fifth day of May was to be that of their destruction, because the cavalry troops were to arrive on the day before. Some of them--the most worthless class, as butchers and vegetable-sellers--began to talk of extricating themselves from he danger; but those in the Parián displayed no courage for any measures, for, as their interests are so involved in peace, they never have incurred the hazard of war except under compulsion.

On the night of the twenty-fourth, the governor received information from the castellan of Cavite that the Parián was to revolt on the next day; but on that very night it was quite evident that their determination was not to revolt, but to flee as best they could from the death which they regarded as certain. For on that night all the talisays [45] (which are the fishermen's boats) departed in flight; and although General Don Francisco de Figueroa talked to the Sangleys, endeavoring to calm their minds, it was not possible to remove their fear. They excused themselves by saying that they knew that on the next day all their heads would be cut off. They said that in planning the insurrection it had been agreed that they would not separate; but they had formed an organization to be prepared, their shops made secure, and such weapons provided as they could find for this purpose.

On the next day, May 25, his Lordship being anxious at this went out with only four captains to stroll through the Parián, to learn their intentions by observing what arrangements they had made. He found them all very peaceable, and their shops open; they were furnishing supplies therein, and most of them were eating breakfast. In various places they entreated him very submissively to protect them, because the blacks threatened them, saying that they were to be slain. His Lordship reassured them, and offered to send a force of soldiers who should protect and defend them from the insolent acts of the blacks. In order to obtain further security, his Lordship ordered that the [Sangley] ship-captains be summoned and that a bell be rung to assemble them, in order to provide for the guard and defense of the Parián. When they saw the captains enter the city, they regarded the arguments of their fear as confirmed; and the entire Parián turned out to watch what was done, all being doubtful of their own courage. Finally, thirty Sangleys from those who were uneasy, seeing the last captain enter, ran toward the gate to detain him and laid hands upon him when he was near the portcullis--either to obtain by this service means to ingratiate themselves with Cot-sen, or to secure a person who at all events could direct them. The men stationed at the gate, who saw the haste with which they approached, seized their arms and shot down some of the Sangleys. The guard on the walls suspected them of greater designs; and from the bulwark of San Gabriel Sargento-mayor Martin Sanchez, without the order that he should have had for this, fired two cannon. At the noise of the shots the people in the Parián, who were in suspense waiting to see how this tragedy would end, without further delay raised an outcry; and having heard that all Manila was coming to attack them flung themselves into the river--those who could, in bancas; most of them held up by some piece of bamboo. Others, more alarmed, took to swimming, and as they were confused by fear, went down the current, and many of them were drowned. The multitude of bancas hurried to a champan which was about to depart, which lay outside the bar with only two soldiers to guard it; and the Sangleys going aboard it hoisted sail. The [rest of the] crowd crossed to Santa Cruz where they halted; they talked with the father minister of that village (who was minister to the Chinese), Father Francisco Mesina, and gave him an account of their flight, saying that they feared that our people intended to cut off their heads. The father calmed them and offered to obtain for them pardon from his Lordship, for which purpose he immediately set out. The merchants and peaceable people in the Parián, some 1,500 in number, remained in their houses--in hiding, so that it seemed as if there was not a soul in the Parián--awaiting their doom. Considering that in the hills they would not better their condition, but that this with excessive hardships would only delay their end, many fore-stalled death by inflicting it upon themselves--some by hanging, and others by plunging into the river.

Without delay his Lordship went to the gate, most fortunately for the Sangleys and with great benefit to the community, as the result showed; for if he had not been present at the gate, the fear of being besieged which all felt, would have led them to engage in hostilities with the Parián and use their arms, compelling the governor to give them his entire attention. But his Lordship in so difficult a crisis which demanded prompt and resolute action, took counsel with past experiences and present necessities, his keen and quick mind attentive to everything. Knowing well that this disturbance was caused by fear, he was unwilling to make it greater in the outcome without dissuading [the Sangleys from revolt] by acts of clemency--since an encounter with the Parián must of necessity make both [parties among the Sangleys] declared enemies, and desperation would render them terrible as had been experienced in former insurrections. Moreover, our people would be obliged to use time and people when both were scanty for the emergency that we were expecting of further conflict; since the guards necessary for fortifying the city were inadequate, on account of our pursuing the rest of the fugitives. Accordingly, the governor prudently preferred to leave them uncertain and in expectancy rather than in declared and resolute attitude, since in the former condition they were easy to subdue, which in the other case would involve a great expenditure of military supplies--which would of necessity be greatly impaired when, for a long siege, all abundance is moderation. [For economy is needed:] of provisions, when there are no funds in the treasury, and no harvest in the villages with which to supply the city with food; and of men, when there are not enough to man the walls--to say nothing of the severity of fighting and of the inclemencies of the weather with their exposure to the rains.

His Lordship left the Sangleys reassured, and the rage of the Spaniards checked; he retired to the storehouses from which he immediately despatched a champan with a strong force of men in pursuit of the one that the Sangleys had stolen, and furnished all the military posts with abundance of supplies. It was past one o'clock when he returned to the palace; and before he took any rest or sat down at his table, he appointed General Francisco de Esteibar as chief master-of-camp, to act if occasion should arise for a military campaign, and that there might be, either for that purpose or for affairs in the city, an officer to take his own place when absent.

While the governor was at the warehouses the first embassy sent by the Sangleys found him; it came by Father Francisco Mesina, who said that those who had crossed over to Santa Cruz were in the greatest uncertainty, and would return to their obedience if he would pardon them. During the time which the father spent in this mission the scoundrels who had approached the gate, and in the first onslaught had killed two Spaniards, finished crossing the river; these fled in confusion by way of the Parián, and completed the terrorization of the other Sangleys, most of whom therefore went out to Sagar and others to Meysilo.

Father Mesina returned with pardon for them and found it necessary to pursue them. He continued his endeavors by means of the father mandarin, [46] giving him a paper written in the Chinese language [to assure them] of entire safety. Although the latter set out with it, he did not reach the Sangleys, and Father Francisco Mesina sent his despatch by a messenger whom he encountered, placing it in the hands of a boy who carried it; for lack of a horse, he himself remained at Meyhaligue.

Fathers Nicolas Cani and Bartolome Vesco, who mounted on good horses had been pushing ahead since noon, went as far as San Francisco del Monte where they encountered some troops. They fell in with the soldiers and talked with them about bringing in the Sangleys; it was finally decided that Father Francisco Mesina should go ahead, and that the matter should be settled with him.

While the religious were making these efforts, his Lordship took all suitable measures by way of preparation for any event. He sent for Master-of-camp Don Juan Macapapal, who in the disturbances in Pampanga had proved his constancy and devotion in his Majesty's service, and ordered him to bring three hundred picked bowmen, the best in his villages; and he commanded that two hundred veteran soldiers be selected from the villages of Pampanga. From two o'clock were continually arriving the cavalry which the governor had ordered to be brought from the ranches [47] in order to relieve the Sangleys of the Parián from their fears; for the coming of these horsemen would guide the fugitives from the mountains in their decision. His Lordship charged the religious orders to send some fathers in order that they might assist the Spaniards, and by their authority check the insolent acts of those who might try to harm the Sangleys, in order that the latter might not be further upset by their misfortunes. This was a prudent decision; for, even with all this foresight, it was almost impossible to defend the Sangleys from the robberies which were attempted by negroes and base fellows at the risk of frustrating his Lordship's pious efforts. Among these were not lacking some persons from whom more might be expected, who--some in person, and some by means of their servants--furnished their own houses very well [from the spoils of the Sangleys].

That afternoon, his Lordship walked through the Parián; the Sangleys came to their doors, and kneeling before him with faces like those of dead men entreated mercy from him. His Lordship consoled them, telling them that they had no cause to fear; that his anger was not directed against them, and that he was their father; that only the foolish ones who would not submit would find him severe, while those who were discreet and peaceable would experience his great clemency.

From the time when the disturbance began until it was entirely quieted, his Lordship had much to do in defending his prudent decision against the many Spaniards who desired to break entirely with the Sangleys and make an end of them--not considering that such proceedings would ruin the colony, all the more as, since we had to prepare for the war that we regarded as certain, we needed more of the Sangleys' industry for the many labors required for defending and fortifying the walls, erecting temporary defenses, and harnessing so many horses; for it is they who bear the burdens of the community in all its crafts, notably in those that are most necessary.

The debate became hotter when, at nightfall, our people found the body of Fray José de Madrid, [48] a Dominican whom the seditious Sangleys had slain in that morning's outbreak in order to crush the rest by the horror of that crime--making the other Sangleys think that after so atrocious a deed there remained for them no hope of pardon, and no other means of saving their lives than to follow [the dictates of] their desperation. There is no doubt that if this murder had been known in the morning, it would have injured the interests of the Sangleys; and that between the scruples of prudence and justice [on the one hand], and the boldness of the counsels given by all the rest of the military men [on the other], the piety of so just a vengeance would have strongly prevailed. But the corpse was quickly buried--either by the father's assailants, repentant; or by the peaceable Sangleys, in fear--and, detected either by the odor or by the signs made by some servants who, hidden in the convent of the Parián, witnessed the occurrence, the body was found that night. The news, which quickly ran through the Parián, filled all with horror and caused some of the Sangleys to flee from that quarter. Accordingly, by morning affairs assumed a worse aspect, and the more influential personages and the military leaders became less friendly to the Sangleys. All directed their efforts to persuading his Lordship to have the heads of all the Sangleys cut off, commencing at the Parián and conducting a campaign in pursuit of the rest of the fugitives. His Lordship, seeing that they had allotted the Sangleys but a short respite, that they had the day before left the settlement of matters with Father Francisco Mesina and that more time than this was necessary for securing the proper degree of order, resolved to hasten the negotiations for peace and to go to see the father with the Sangleys in company with a Sangley named Raimundo, an agent of Cot-sen in this city.

At this time so many lies were current against the behavior of the Sangleys, and these were so well received by those who desired to destroy them--persons who were actuated more by avarice and selfishness than by interest in the welfare of the community--that they caused hesitation among even the most cautious and prudent. On one hand they said that a battalion of Sangleys had entered the village of Tondo (which is distant a cannon-shot from the city) and had already set fire to the church. Again, the fugitives had retreated upon Sagar, and had fitted up many forges in order to make weapons, and were working these eagerly day and night. But his Lordship--who was well informed regarding the available forces, and knew that he could send hardly one hundred strong men into the field out of the six hundred whom he had in the city, and how important it was to reserve his entire strength for the greater danger; and who very correctly judged that inconsiderate desires for an assault [on the Parián] had fabricated these inventions, and that the more discreet gave credit to these tales in order to oppose his own steadfast determination--instantly went in person to satisfy himself regarding this story about Tondo. Finding that it was imaginary, he realized how little credence should be given to novelties brought from afar when some one had dared to concoct such things under his very eyes; and he therefore allowed the peace negotiations to proceed by the agencies which had commenced them.

There is no doubt that the successful outcome of this affair is due solely to the prudent management of the governor; and that, if he had allowed himself to be dragged along by the opinions which prevailed in popular estimation, an insurrection would have been contrived that would have fatigued the soldiery in a campaign of many months, and caused much destruction in the villages; for the insurrections that we keep in mind in these islands included no more [favoring] circumstances [than did this one], nor did this lack anything except the actual assault. But his Lordship knew how evil advisers are the individuals concerned in this matter, in which one seldom finds a person who is not interested in the ruin of the Sangley--some on account of the loot [that they may obtain]; the rest, because there are few persons who do not hold property of the Sangleys in trust, or else owe for much merchandise which they have bought on credit. Many have become depositaries for their acquaintances, who, fearing the removal of their property to other hands, give it to their intimate friends to keep; and by slaying the Sangleys all render account with payment. Accordingly, in the insurrection of 1639 it was found by experience that those in whom the Sangleys placed most confidence were the first and most importunate voters for their ruin. In this decision it is only the king who hazards his treasure, and his governor who risks a point of honor; for finally the very persons who, through either self-interest or greed, advised the assault [on the Sangleys] cast on the governor the blame of the insurrection, as happened to Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. The very persons who, censuring him as a coward and representing to him instances of boldness forced [by desperation] on the part of the Sangleys as causes for employing armed force against them, afterward, when at their importunities he had kindled the fire, declared that by this act he had caused the revolt, compelling the innocent and peaceable to become enemies against their own will. Here this class of persons was protected, and the way left open for [the return of] the others; for with the burning of the Parián these would have been enemies, and all would have despaired of reconciliation. This was seen by the response made to Father Francisco Mesina the first time when he went to confer with them about their submission; they said, "To whom shall we turn if the Parián is burned now?" But when he assured them that the affair had not reached that stage, they were astonished and readily discussed submission--as those who had gone away, fleeing from our arms which they supposed to be declared against them; and the haste of their flight had not given them leisure to ascertain our decision, as they regarded their own imaginations as facts.

In their mode of action they plainly showed their intentions--that they were not rebels, but terrified fugitives; nor did they injure either life or property, whether of Spaniards or of natives. Nor did they avail themselves of the privilege which the necessity of supporting life gave them, to use the rice, for they used what they needed of the food which the Sangley farm-hands had in their houses; while in the insurrections attested as such they did not leave a village without burning it, or property that was not pillaged in all this province of Tondo--sparing not even what was holy, profaning the churches and the sacred images.

In consequence of his agreement with the Sangley fugitives, Father Francisco Mesina set out again on the twenty-sixth of the month in company with the Sangley Raimundo; and at night he reached Sagar in the fields of which the Sangleys were encamped. Many of them (mostly Christians) hastened toward the father bewailing their misery and asking permission to go down to the Parián. So great was their anxiety that, on that very night, they undertook to carry out this plan. How important was the preservation of the dove-cote, in order that these doves might not complete their flight to the mountains and might easily recover their domesticated tranquillity! The father delayed their journey until morning, and on the next day, the twenty-seventh, sent to Manila four hundred of them whom he found most inclined to go and who showed least distrust in the company of Father Nicolas Cani, so that he could assure their safety from any misfortune. On the same day he went with Father Bartolome Besco and the Sangley Raimundo to the place where the fugitives were encamped. On the way he encountered some companies of seamen from the champans and other riff-raff, who were ignorant of the agreement for the submission of their fellows; and these would not allow the fathers to pass. But when this was known at their camp two of their leading men went down to the father and told him that they all would follow his advice; but that Raimundo was not a suitable person for settling the matter with them, because many of the Sangleys were suspicious of him on account of his long residence among us. They told the father to bring two of their ship-captains, so that this business might be concluded with them. The father retired to San Juan del Monte, in order to say mass there the next day, the twenty-eighth (which was the feast of Pentecost), and sent word to his Lordship of what the Sangleys demanded.

In accordance with this his Lordship on the twenty-eighth summoned the ship-captains, and after he had conferred with them they went back to the father and told him that it was not necessary that he should fatigue himself by going to the [Sangley] camp, since all the fugitives had already agreed to come down. They only asked that the ships might go to Nabotas, from which place all the Sangleys who had to embark for China would sail; and that the father would, for this purpose, go there in company with the regimental master-of-camp, Domingo de Ugarte, who was very acceptable to them and well known for his kindness to them. On the thirtieth they came down with this reply; and on the thirty-first the father went back with it to confer with his Lordship. The latter was ill pleased with the stipulation of embarking at Navotas on account of the lack of confidence that they displayed; but the father set out to bring them over to whatever his Lordship should ordain, as he finally decided it--departing on the first of June accompanied by Master-of-camp Domingo de Ugarte and three ship-captains. They arrived that night at the village of Taytay, the nearest village to the place that the Sangleys had occupied; and that very night they despatched the ship-captains fully instructed. On the next day, June 2, the captains came down with the reply and decision of all the Sangleys--that they would come down to the Parián from which they would embark in the champans which were ready to depart; while the Christians would come down to the villages of Santa Cruz and Binondo, or as his Lordship should command. This they carried out in the time which they asked, which was two days.

Their resolution was much aided by the one which his Lordship had taken ever since May 26, when he ordered that one of the champans should be made ready for the voyage, promising its captain beforehand a thousand Sangleys, whom he must without fail transport. He commanded one of the three champans that were at Cavite to come to Manila; this was to open the door wide in the face of their mistrust, and it showed that his intention was only to make the country safe and not to avenge on them (as they had believed) the insolence of Cot-sen.

The fugitives thereupon came down in all haste and especially on the day that had been set, June 4; yet notwithstanding this, so great was the anxiety to feed on the wretched Sangleys that [some people attempted to] persuade his Lordship that the whole arrangement was a sham; that all the Sangleys were still in the field, and that they only came down from their camp on this pretext, in order to search for what they needed and to carry away the few who remained in the Parián. His Lordship, giving another day of vigilance, apparently yielded to the importunate outcries of the many who clamored for the punishment of the Sangleys--who had committed no crime except their terrified flight; and ordered the soldiers to be made ready in order that he might freely select the troops who were to go out for the campaign.

The bowmen of Master-of-camp Don Juan Macapagal had already arrived, also the 200 Pampango veteran soldiers in charge of Master-of-camp Don Francisco Lacsamana. He [i.e., his Lordship] commanded them to be mustered on June 6; and when all were expecting [that he would select] a strong battalion of Spaniards, Pampangos, Mardicas, [49] Japanese, and creoles, he left them all mocked and humiliated who had attributed to cowardice the forbearance dictated by his prudence. He set aside only the regiment of Pampangos, arquebusiers and bowmen; and committed the exploit to the Pampango master-of-camp, Don Francisco Lacsamana--leaving in the lurch those who attached so much importance to the enterprise, and who attributed his delay to fear. Unaffected by considerations of mere policy, his Lordship moved in accordance with right and the light of truth which belongs to those free from prejudice; he had carefully considered the enterprise and saw that but little [poisonous] humor remained to be corrected. He therefore chose to make it evident that his delay was not for the sake of temporizing but to show clemency; and that, able to resist no longer, he was using rigor against those who in so many days had not availed themselves of his clemency. And, to show how great was his courage and how superior he regarded his forces, he did not vouchsafe to send out Spaniards but entrusted the issue to the Pampangos.

This was information which by one act, his discretion gained with great results. He made trial of the fidelity of the Pampangos, whose commotions and recent punishments had left their fidelity uncertain; and he put them on their honor with this so honorable commission, to act then with valor and afterward with constancy. It would make them hated by the Sangleys, to oblige them to become enemies; and would give Cot-sen to understand how little importance the governor attached to the latter's men, since he was attacking them with natives alone. He could ascertain thus what was the disposition of the Pampangos, and how much courage they had for resisting that pirate; for himself, the injury which the islands had experienced in so many disturbances of the natives gave him some confidence.

He gave them their orders--that they should march to the camp of the Sangleys without doing harm to any peaceable Sangleys whom they might encounter on the way, who should be going to the city; and when they should arrive there, giving the troops a rest, they should make the assault on the next day cutting off the heads of all [whom they should find there]. At the same time his Lordship despatched orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Bay and Bulacan--through whose provinces the Sangleys would necessarily have to disperse after they were routed--to go out with three hundred bowmen from each province to occupy the roads against them; so that wherever they should seek a route to safety they should meet destruction. The Pampangos left the city before noon; his Lordship anticipating all possible events three hours later commanded two companies of horsemen to make ready, who should set out at daybreak for the [Sangley] camp--in order that if the Pampangos met bad luck they might have sufficient protection, and could thus recover their courage and renew the attack in full assurance of victory.

The Pampangos encountered on the way many bands of Sangleys, who were coming to the Parián, and allowed these to pass them without any harm. About five o'clock in the afternoon they came in sight of the camp; and, in order not to divide the merit of the exploit with the Spaniards--who, as they knew, were to go thither at daylight--they would not wait until the daylight watch as they had planned. Without taking any rest and unarmed they closed with the Sangleys who numbered some 1,500 men; and in two assaults they routed the enemy without any loss save a captain of their nation who fell dead, and some soldiers who were wounded. The Sangleys left in their camp more than sixty dead men, and all their provisions and baggage remained in the possession of the Pampangos; the latter did not follow in pursuit, partly as the hour was now very late, partly that they might satiate themselves with the booty. But on the morning of June 7 the cavalry appeared, who, learning of the defeat, pursued the fugitives until they entered a region that was rocky and overgrown with thickets, where most of them perished--some from hunger, and many from the cruelty of the Negrillos of the mountains. Then, as the alcaldes-mayor of Bay and Bulacan attacked them with their troops, hardly a Sangley could escape who did not perish either at their hands or those of the Negrillos.

Up to the twenty-fourth of June the troops, both cavalry and infantry, remained in active service--partly to put an end to the remaining fugitives, partly to keep the retirade occupied in case of any disturbance in Manila, since it was a place near that point to which the Sangleys resorted on such occasions. After that date the troops gradually withdrew, his Lordship showing great kindness and many favors to the Pampangos. To those who had shared in this exploit he granted exemption from paying tributes; and, honoring them by the confidence which he had in their fidelity, he gave up to them on the twenty-sixth the guard-room in the palace--with which they left service well content and full of courage for greater enterprises.

Afterward, the regiments from Pangasinan and Ylocos entered Manila, brought by General Don Felipe de Ugalde. After they had been mustered in Manila, so that the Sangleys could see the force that had been provided against Cot-sen, they were ordered to return to their own country so that they could attend to the cultivation of their grainfields; for, as they were nearest to us, they could easily be summoned for an emergency. The same orders were given to the Pampangos and to the men from the provinces of Bay and Bulacan; also that they should keep the picked and trained men separate, so that these might be found ready without confusion or disturbance at the first warning.

The cavalry, a suitable number for 600 horses, were finally assembled by General Don Francisco de Figueroa whom his Lordship had honored with this command. They were divided into six companies each containing twenty-five Spaniards, the remainder being cowherds, negroes, and mulattoes--men very suitable for this service as being dextrous and inured to hardship. They were mustered in the city and along the beach in sight of the champans; and were at once divided among the posts that were most suitable--two companies in Cavite, and the rest in the environs of Tondo.

All the Sangleys in the provinces of this mainland [of Luzón] who had not taken refuge in the Parián in time were decapitated. Those who thus took refuge were confined to the point of Cavite or to the Parián of the city, so that we might keep them within range of our guns, and where they would be of advantage for whatever had to be done for the fortification of both posts and the protection of the shore. His Lordship commanded that lists be made of [the Sangleys engaged in the different] crafts, reserving as many of these as were deemed sufficient for the needs of the city and service; and he ordered that of all the rest as many as space could be found for should be shipped [to China], compelling the captains to transport them. There was one champan which took aboard 1,300 of them; they were so crowded together that they could hardly sit down; but in this the captain had no small profit, for they exacted from each one ten pesos as passage-money.

When the champans were ready to weigh anchor, his Lordship was informed that the two chief leaders of the people who had fled to the mountains had come down in the last bands. These two were infidels; one was the contractor for the slaughterhouses, named Barba, and the other a shopkeeper named [blank space in MS.]; and by the help of some of their followers they had been hidden, so that they could go away in the first champans. We had certain information that these men were among the people on shipboard, but all the efforts of the officials were frustrated by the dissimulation of the Sangleys until his Lordship resorted to direct measures, and, summoning the ship-captains, commanded them to find and surrender those two men, saying that if they did not he would order their heads to be cut off. All were terrified and within a few hours they dragged out the two culprits by the neck--one from the champan on which he had embarked; the other from a hut in which he had hidden himself. On the following day they were executed between the Parián and the city in sight of the Sangleys. They had ruled tyrannically, and with their deaths our fear passed away, having inflicted due punishment with so little bloodshed.

The champans departed one after another; and on the day when the last three--those of the ambassador and two others which he carried in his convoy--were to set sail, which was June 10, his Lordship ordered that the chimes should be rung as a token of rejoicing over false news of the ships from Nueva España (which he caused to be published), artfully brought in by an advice-boat. This was done in order that the ambassador and the Sangleys, persuaded that we had received succor of men and money, might with this belief aid in repressing the fierceness of the barbarian, artfully supplying what was lacking in our reputation for strength. But God, who directs the hearts of rulers, made the bells ring for true news, bringing to port on that very day the patache which came from Nueva España, July 13, when people were becoming discouraged by the delay of the second advice-boat.

His Lordship gave orders to collect in the Parián all the remaining Sangleys under penalty of death to any who should leave it; and although in a few days he gave them more space, it did not extend beyond the range of the artillery. With the same severity he compelled them to sleep within the Parián; and as the regiment from Cagayan came unexpectedly--a warlike people, who, as they belong to a province so remote, cannot wait for news of the necessity, but can only forestall it--he lodged these near the Parián in full readiness for any disturbance. The regiments of Caragas, Cebuans, and Boholans arrived; the Caragas were sent to the point of Cavite, and the rest were quartered in La Estacada, [50] the Cagayans proceeding to Santa Cruz. With these forces the river was thoroughly occupied from the bar to the upper reaches, and its passage was closed to the Sangleys. The same plan was observed with the cavalry, the two companies at Cavite being quartered in the fields there and the rest in Binondo and Meyhaligue. The Sangleys were thus more thoroughly imprisoned than if they were in the jail.

From the first day [of the commotion] his Lordship directed all his efforts to supplying the city with provisions, and succeeded in bringing in 120,000 cabans of rice with meat, fish, and vegetables. Now with greater energy he attended to its fortification, personally overcoming the difficulties: in [procuring] the lime--which were great, for the rains had begun and the lime was brought so far (from Bulacan and Bacolor)--and in the construction itself, for eleven defenses were begun in different places. His Lordship gave personal attention to those which were most important--eating his meals and despatching business on the beach in a straw hut that was built for him, so light that it was carried on men's shoulders from one place to another as the importance of the work required; and was watchful on every side, not only on account of the ardor which caused him to give his aid, but also for the sake of his example. He was the first and most steadfast in the work of conveying earth and stones for earth-works and masonry; and his example was followed by the citizens with the men in their service. Besides this fatigue he was overburdened with the minor cares of the work, sending in all directions for the lime, and himself allotting it as if he had no other matters to attend to. In order that the dissensions among the military leaders might not delay the execution of his plans, he suppressed the office of chief master-of-camp and sargento-mayor--which had been created to divide his cares, and when necessary, to supply his place when absent, since he must render aid in all quarters--and took upon himself all those cares, in order that those who were working should find no obstacle that would delay them. Thus he finished in a short time and with less than 6,000 pesos of expense, works which would have consumed half a million [pesos] and caused ten years of hardships to the provinces--availing himself of the opportunity to attain his endeavor, and arranging that the Sangleys should be exchanged in shifts, 300 together in these. The [various native] peoples [were exchanged] by companies in the same manner as were the Spaniards; and the people of the neighboring villages with longer time for resting their relays, so that they might not be hindered from attending to their grain-fields. And in this there was much latitude in the execution of orders, the neglects and omissions which are so usual to the sloth of those peoples being overlooked--although the way in which the people were treated, their willingness, and their consideration of its importance, all facilitated so difficult an enterprise as the repair of the castle, which toward the river was threatening to fall. A fausse-braye [51] was applied to it, which commenced at a cupola and ended at the bar, with a very handsome platform; and five redoubts were erected which ran from that point toward the sea as far as the bulwark at the foundry (which defends the gate on the land side), as the wall was there very weak and its defenses were far apart and not very convenient. From this bulwark to the gate was built a covert-way, and in front of it a ravelin, from which again ran the covert-way until it connected with the bulwark of Dilao, and met the estuary which crosses from Malosa the land as far as the moat. At the gate of Santo Domingo another redoubt was erected, and another at the postern of the Almacenes [i.e., magazines], so that these shook hands with the cupola at the river. At the gate of the Parián a spacious ravelin was made with its covert-way toward the bridge over the river, cutting the land between the inner and outer ditches, and leaving a passage sunken around the ditches for a movable bridge. The wall was strengthened toward the river and Bagumbayan by its fausse-braye. A fine bridge was built on the estuary of Santa Cruz, so that the cavalry and troops could reconnoiter unhindered the other side of the river, as well as Sagar and Antipolo. [52]

At the same time, public prayers were offered. The Augustinian religious began this with the opportunity afforded by the fiesta of the canonization of St. Thomas of Villanova. They were followed by the fathers of the Society of Jesus with the triumphal reception of the bodies of Sts. Martial and Jucundus and the relics of other martyrs, which were deposited in the cathedral, and were carried in a grand procession to the church of the Society; the governor, the Audiencia, the cabildos, and the citizens, with the regiment of soldiers (who fired a salute) took part in this. The governor paid the expenses of an octave festival in the cathedral in honor of the archangel St. Michael on the fourteenth of January; it began with a procession which marched through the Calle de Palacio, past the house of the Misericordia, the convent of San Agustin, and the college of the Society; thence it turned toward the Recollects by way of the convent of San Francisco to that of Santo Domingo; and by the college of Santo Tomas returned to the cathedral. The said prayers were continued until Lent.

In the midst of these pious exercises the ambassador from China found us: this was the same religious as before, Fray Victorio Riccio. To the salute which he fired his Lordship commanded answer to be made with ball, as one who, having been challenged, awaited the envoy on a war footing; and despatched to the shore the sargento-mayor of the garrison to tell him that, on account of the hostilities which he had announced in the name of Cot-sen, we had expected him to come as an enemy and were prepared to receive him with the sternness that is customary in war, and that he must inform the governor of the nature of the despatches that he carried. The ambassador answered that he came in peace; and by the news which he at once related it was learned that, only a few days after his Lordship had placed his forces under the powerful protection of the holy archangel, Cot-sen had died.

That ruler was ready in all the strength given by ships, men, and provisions to deliberate according to the news that he should receive from here upon the measures that would have to be taken, when the first Sangleys [from Manila] arrived. They, driven by fear and urged on by desperation, scorning the cannon-shots that were fired from the castle, seized a royal champan which was ready to sail; and those Sangleys who had left [the Pasig River] in the talisays, for whom there was no room, seized other champans in the channels of Mariveles. These fugitives regarded as already executed that of which their fear persuaded them; and they told the corsair that the governor had commanded that all the Sangleys should be slain, not only the traders but those who were living in this city. At this he was kindled to such anger that he immediately undertook to sally forth for vengeance without heeding the obstacles that he would now meet in the expedition from unfavorable weather. It seemed to the Chinese that with only half of their fleet, even though the other half should perish, they could carry abundant force for the enterprise. Upon this disturbance of his mind came the rebellion of his son whom he had commanded to be slain; [53] and the mandarins of his city, Vi-cheo, [Fuh-chau, or Foo-chow] protected the son, having resolved to defend him. With these anxieties Cot-sen was walking one afternoon through the fort on Hermosa Island which he had gained from the Dutch. His mind began to be disturbed by visions, which he said appeared to him, of thousands of men who placed themselves before him, all headless and clamoring for vengeance on the cruelty and injustice which had been wreaked on them; accordingly, terrified at this vision (or else a lifelike presentation by his imagination) he took refuge in his house and flung himself on his bed, consumed by a fierce and burning fever. This caused him to die on the fifth day, fiercely scratching his face and biting his hands--without any further last will than to charge his intimate friends with the death of his son, or more repentance for his cruelty than to continue it by the orders that he gave for them to kill various persons; thus God interrupted by his death many cruel punishments.

Moreover, some mandarins were pacified who were resentful because the alcaldes of Pangasinan and Cagayan had seized some goods from their agents; and the father ambassador made satisfactory answers to the complaints made on account of the incorrect reports of the fugitives. The Chinese therefore solicited peace, and the continuance of the trade. This was a piece of good-fortune so timely that it enabled us to send this year a ship to Nueva España for the usual aid, the building of this ship having been stopped for lack of iron; for, since the iron which came in three ships from China had been bought on his Majesty's account, it became necessary to beg iron from the religious orders and the citizens and to tear out the few iron gratings which such emergencies as these had left in the city. This necessarily made evident to that [Chinese] nation how greatly we depend on them for our means of support.

The ambassador, Fray Victorio Riccio, finally came hither on April 8 with news of the peace; it had been concluded so much to our favor that no further conditions were imposed beyond the restitution of the property which had remained here placed in the hands of private citizens, and that which the alcaldes-mayor had withheld in Cagayan and Pangasinan. Thus the country was quieted, and all its people were freed from the affliction which the haughty and cruel kingdom of China had caused us by its threats.

The people who followed this corsair amounted to over a million of men of war alone. The champans (which are their ships), large and small, numbered 15,000 and many of them carried forty pieces of artillery. So arrogant was the corsair with his power, that he aspired to gain the kingdom from the Tartar king (who is also ruler of Great China) and be crowned at Nanquin, assured that, as Fortune showed herself friendly to him, the entire empire would follow him as the man who maintained the authority of it all--not only as he was captain-general for the dead king but because he had been confirmed in this office by the king now living, who is called Ens-lec. [54] He also intended to maintain the superstitions, dress, rites, and customs of his ancestors--especially the garments and [mode of wearing] the hair, to which the Chinese are excessively attached. This purpose had caused them to endure his cruelty, which had been so great that more than three millions of men had died for his satisfaction alone. This fierce captain would have succeeded in that enterprise, if he had not been drawn off from it to gain the neighboring cities, nine in number (the smallest one containing 200,000 souls), thus giving the Tartar king time for better preparation. Nevertheless, he had the courage to invest Nanquin, the court city of Great China, which is defended by three walls two leguas distant from one another, the circuit of the first being thirty leguas. [55] He gained the first wall and brought affairs to such a crisis that the king, fearing his fierce determination, talked of fleeing from his court of Pequin. The mandarins warned him that by such a course he would lose the entire kingdom; for the inhabitants of the city, dispirited by such tokens of weakness, would instantly surrender in order not to experience the corsair's ferocity. They said that this victory would give him so much reputation that he would easily subdue the entire kingdom; that it was most important to make all the rest of their power effective, withdrawing all the troops from other strongholds to increase the royal forces with a multitude of veterans and well-disciplined soldiers. The king did so and attacked the enemy with 400,000 horsemen; and as Cot-sen on account of having left his islands had no cavalry worth mention, he was compelled to yield to a power so formidable. With the loss of 80,000 men and most of his champans, he left the river on which the court city stands, and returned to his own town, Vi-chen. But this blow left him so little inclined to profit by experience and his strength so little diminished that, when the entire Chinese force pursued him in a fleet of many ships, he went out to meet them at a legua's distance from his principal island, [56] and fought with them the greatest battle that those seas have ever seen. Cot-sen sent most of their champans to the bottom, and captured many; few escaped, and those were damaged. This filled that country with such fear that their precautions [against him] wrought more destruction than his cruelty could have accomplished; for these obliged the king of China to depopulate the extensive coasts of his entire kingdom, a strip of land six leguas wide embracing cities of 100,000 or 200,000 inhabitants, in order that they might not be the prey of the conqueror. [57] This was a measure tending to the latter's prosperity; for all those many people, finding themselves without land or settled mode of life, crowded into the corsair's service to spend their lives and to maintain themselves on the abundant booty offered to them by his power as absolute master of the seas.

The intention of this barbarian [Cot-sen] was to become the master of China, profiting by the hatred of the Chinese to the Tartars, and on the present occasion by the fact of the king's death. But as Cot-sen needed land whereon to maintain so many people, he was minded to conquer Hermosa and these islands. Accordingly, he landed [on Hermosa] first in April, 1660, with 100,000 men, a hundred cannon for batteries, and a still larger number of field-pieces; the cannons carried balls of forty to fifty libras. At first the Dutch scoffed at their forces, calling them "men of the paypay"--that is, "of the fan," which all of that nation use, as if they were women. Confident in the impregnable nature of their fortress (into which they gathered the feeble garrison of the island), and in the large and splendid force of men which defended it, more than two thousand in number, although they had nineteen ships, they did not take these out of the river when they could; and the Sangleys attacked them on the sea to great advantage overcoming the Dutch with their champans, and inflicting much injury on them--for these champans are lighter vessels [than those of the Dutch], and their people are very skilful in the management of artillery. The Dutch at once sallied out with 300 men to prevent them from occupying the islet in the Mosamboy entrance, [58] on which the Chinese expected to plant their battery; but the multitude charged upon the Dutch and cut off the heads of all, except one or two who escaped by swimming. This humbled the pride of the Dutch and dispirited their men. As soon as the Chinese landed their men they attacked the eminence, where the Dutch had a fort called Chiacam garrisoned with sixty soldiers; but it surrendered on the third day, and the Chinese used the Dutchmen for handling the artillery, assigning them to various stations. In the harbor they burned three ships and boarded one; and such was the fear that filled the hearts of the timid of falling into the hands of so bloody and savage an enemy, that twelve Dutch fugitives with other people went to him [as those who surrendered] with five brigantines which the [Dutch] fort had employed for many purposes.

The Chinese began their enterprise with as much fury as if they had lacked time for the attacks of their batteries; but in their assurance and the manner of their encampment they acted as if time were of no importance, since it was the chief enemy of the besieged. Palmo by palmo they steadily gained the [surrounding] country, carrying with them branches, and baskets [of earth], until they established themselves near the fortifications of the Dutch; and during the ten months while the siege lasted they did not cease firing all their artillery, night or day. In another direction an innumerable throng of laborers were continually at work cultivating the soil, as if they were already its owners; and before the fort surrendered, the Chinese were already enjoying the produce of their farming. For the proud corsair went [to Hermosa] so confident in his strength that among the 500 champans which he took with him for this enterprise many went loaded with plows, seeds, and the other things used in cultivating land with innumerable workmen who were set aside for this service alone. Consequently, while he fought he peopled and cultivated the island without any one being able to prevent him; and, as he is so rich, he carried a great quantity of cloth, in order to attract the poor natives and bring them over to his side, in which he has succeeded.

Only one other engagement was a success for the Dutch, who undertook, when the Chinese first encamped, to bombard them with all their cannon at once; and, having thus demolished their huts and fortifications, the Dutch made a bold sortie, spiked six of the enemy's cannon, cut to pieces the garrison, 3,000 in number, and were carrying away nineteen pieces of artillery to the fort. But another Sangley officer hurried up with his regiment and attacked the Dutch with such fury that they were obliged to leave the captured cannon behind, and in disorder, take refuge within the fort. With the twelve Dutchmen they put the fortifications in better shape, and their bombardment began to be more effective. Finally they demolished the redoubt with all the fortifications outside, and approached the fort so closely that the men on the walls talked with those in the enemy's camp. They demolished the second height of the wall, which had no terreplein; the governor of the place was killed by a cannon-ball; and every day the enemy came up to the walls to drink the health of the Dutchmen and display other soldierly civilities.

They had now demolished all of the wall that rose above the terreplein, and talked of making a general assault. The Dutch began to be disheartened by the death of the governor and the loss of so many soldiers; and when they saw the preparations for the assault they talked of negotiating fur surrender, in order that they might not be left exposed to the enemy's cruelty--since for that arrogant tyrant it was the same to slay five or six thousand men as one. He therefore at once replaced twice the number in a post [which had lost its defenders], as he was so near to his island of Vicheu where he kept the main body of his followers, from which they were continually coming and going; and for every one who died a thousand fresh men came to his camp. They now set out to engage the Dutch with six hundred scaling-ladders, fourteen of their men being allotted to each ladder; but the besieged hung out a white flag, and came out to propose terms of surrender. This was granted with the condition that only the property of private persons should be removed, and that they must surrender intact the property of the [East India] Company, which was done. It is computed according to the Company's books, that with the military supplies and the artillery of the fort, [this capture] had a value of five millions--an amount which will not cause surprise to any one who knows that this place was the magazine for the two richest traffics in the Orient, those of China and Japon. The artillery found there [by the Chinese] included 150 pieces; the firearms, 4,000; and there were provisions and military supplies for years. The slain in this war, for the entire period, were: of the Dutch, 630; of the Chinese, 10,000 men. The vanquished left the fort on the day of the Purification of our Lady, six hundred in number, and embarked in nine ships which had remained in the harbor.

In short, this [i.e., the Chinese] people is the most ingenious in the world; and when they see any contrivance in practice they employ it with more facility than do the Europeans. Accordingly, they are not now inferior in the military art, and in their method of warfare they excel the entire world. No soldier is hindered by providing his food; every five men have their own cook. All are divided into tens, and every ten have their own flag, and on it are written the names of its soldiers. These tens are gathered into companies and regiments with such concert and such ease in governing them that Europeans who have seen it are astonished.

Consider the anxiety that must be caused by a nation so ingenious, so hardy, so practiced in the military art, so numerous, so haughty and cruel, in a city where all the forts together could not call to arms 2,000 Spaniards--and these of so many colors that not two hundred pure Spaniards could be picked out from them--and occupying so much space that for its suitable garrison it needs 6,000 soldiers. From this may be inferred the joy that was felt throughout the city [at his death] and the so special kindness of God in putting an end to this tyrant in the prime of his life--for he was only thirty-nine years old, and had spent his time in continued military practice from the year 1644 until that of 1662, when he conquered Hermosa Island. He was always favored by fortune, and there was no undertaking in which he did not succeed except the siege of Nanquin--which would be considered foolish temerity by any one who will consider the strength and greatness of that city--an enterprise in which he had to entomb or submerge in blood his fortune and his acquired glories; yet it weakened him so little that he quickly restored the losses, victorious over the entire naval force of China.

At the beginning of June his Lordship gave permission to all the [native] tribes to return home; they went away well satisfied and loaded with praises. He gave the Chinese more freedom, permitting them to remove to the villages adjoining the city, and releasing them from serving on the ships [de las faginas] on account of the great labors which they had performed before his Lordship's eyes in completing, with so much readiness and with so little expenditure of time and money, [public] works which [otherwise] could not have been finished in ten years of hard labor, with half a million pesos, and the exhaustion of the weak natives of the neighboring provinces.

His Lordship summoned a council, in which by his command were read the letters from the mandarins who were directors and guardians of Cot-sen's estate, written by order of his son, in which was discussed the stipulation which they made a condition of peace--the restitution of the property which their agents had left here in trust, and other merchandise which the alcaldes-mayor of Ylocos and Cagayan had withheld. In accordance with the [decision of the] first council, this one ordered that such restitution be made. Therein was also discussed the question whether the Sangleys should be permitted to live in the islands; this was done by a few ecclesiastics (only three in number), who opposed such permission; they had attempted, both in the pulpit and in private conversation, to persuade the rest to their opinion. All of the council agreed with only one dissenting voice, that the Sangleys ought to be allowed to remain here up to the number which the decrees of his Majesty regarding this matter have prescribed--that is, 6,000 men--provided that they be not allowed to spread into other provinces, nor go beyond the villages included in the jurisdiction of Tondo (which is in the territory of this city) conformably to the royal ordinances which have fixed these limits. All recognized our need of that [Chinese] nation, in the lack and scarcity of all things to which we see ourselves now reduced--all because the number of the Sangleys has been diminished, since the natives have neither energy nor strength to support the burdens that the Chinese carry; and much more on account of our dependence upon their trade, for everything. For not only does everything necessary for life come to us from China--as wheat, cloth, and earthenware--but it is the Sangleys who carry on all the crafts, and who with their traffic maintain the fortunes of the citizens (without those other products of vineyards and olive-groves that are furnished in the industries carried on in Nueva España) from the merchandise of China, having secured in their hands the entire commerce of these islands, since that of Yndia and Japon failed. His Lordship, having handsomely entertained the ambassador, dismissed him, with letters for the prince and the mandarins; and we here remain in peace, affairs settled as they were before, and the fear [removed] that an enemy so powerful and at our very gates must occasion us.

LETTER FROM GOVERNOR SALCEDO TO FRANCISCO YZQUIERDO

Summary of this letter, written from Manila, dated July 16, 1664, giving information regarding the condition of the islands at his arrival, and the measures that he had taken.

He states therein that he set sail from the port of Acapulco on March 25, 1663; and after a prosperous voyage they sighted the cape of Espiritusanto. There a vendaval storm came against them, so violent that it carried them to Cape Engaño; and on July 8 he landed, made the ship secure, unladed all the money sent for the situado, and made arrangements for its transportation to Manila. The governor was gladly received there, and took possession of the government and the authority of captain-general, on September 8, 1663.

He found the islands in most wretched condition--the Spaniards as yet hardly reassured after the insurrections of the years 61 and 62, and the natives irritated by cruel punishments. The royal treasury was so exhausted that it contained no more than 35,000 pesos; the magazines were destitute of provisions, ammunition, and other supplies for the relief of the fortified posts and the soldiers. A few months before, the soldiers had received part of their pay--each one who had eight pesos of wages being paid one peso, and others receiving only a ration of rice and meat. But the governor found the officials of all classes still unpaid; and he had no ship to send to Nueva España, because the vessel sent thither by his predecessor had put back to port. The commerce [of the islands] with all the neighboring countries was paralyzed, and the said commerce must again be revived, for without it Manila could not exist.

He states that he had ordered timber to be cut for repairing the ship that would go to Nueva España, and for the construction of the forty galleys that were needed for the defense of the islands from the Moro pirates that infested them--who were still more daring since the abandonment of our forts on account of our fear of the Chinese Cotseng. The governor ordered that wheat shall be sowed, since this is so necessary to the manufacture of sea-biscuit for the ships, and in order not to depend upon foreigners for the supply of this article. For the same reasons, he caused an engineer (whom he had carried to the islands at his own expense) to make examination of the iron mines; this reconnaissance had given satisfactory results, for the engineer had begun to work the mines with so good success that he had taken out nearly 600 arrobas [of iron], and was continuing to operate the mines.

In another (but undated) letter on the same subject, he mentions the improvements that he had had to make in the walls of Manila; and says that he had ordered four forts to be built in the interior of Luzon, in order to push forward the conquest of the infidel peoples. He also repeats much of what he had said in the preceding letter. [59]

WHY THE FRIARS ARE NOT SUBJECTED TO EPISCOPAL VISITATION

The reasons that the governor and the royal Audiencia of the Filipinas Islands apparently might have had for suspending the execution of the royal decrees, which were repeatedly ordered to be observed in favor of the right of the royal patronage, from the year 1624 to that of 1656 [sic] have been as follows. [60]

First, the consideration of the zealous observance of [their rules by] all the orders in those islands; the zeal with which they busy themselves in their ministries; the new conversions that are made daily in certain portions of the islands; and because if the religious are forced to that subjection [to the diocesan authorities] they will surely fall into laxity, and consequently, will lose the zeal that they today exercise, as experience shows in the orders throughout America that have entered that subjection.

Second, because of the few seculars that there have always been in the islands to take charge of those missions; for when these were most numerous here was in the years 24, 28, and 34, for then the city of Manila had 400 citizens, and Cebu, Oton, Nueva Segovia, and Arevalo had nearly 200 more. Now the representative citizens throughout the islands do not number 60. Then if in that time, when the islands contained most Spaniards, there were no secular priests, how can there be any today when there are not 60 citizens in all the islands, while the number of priests is steadily growing less in America, where the Spanish settlements are large and populous and are continually increasing?

So great is the lack of the secular clergy that they cannot even take care of the missions in their charge. For there is no district belonging to the seculars, especially outside of the island of Manila, that does not need two or three priests; for most of the villages of their jurisdiction are 10, 20, or 30 leguas distant from the chief mission station--from which, as they find themselves alone, they do not go out to visit their districts as a rule, except once a year. Consequently many must necessarily die without the sacraments, and even the children without baptism, because of the laziness of the Indians and the little esteem in which they hold the faith because of the lack of instruction. Even the ministers themselves run the risk of dying without confession, and there are not few examples of that in those islands. That occurs because they can do no more, and have no priests who can aid them in their ministries. In order to have these, they must maintain them at their own cost, in order to meet the obligations of their consciences. But the regulars in all their districts which consist of many villages (they have three or four priests in each district), are ever traveling unceasingly by sea and land, visiting their villages. Consequently the villages instructed by the religious are frequent in their use of the holy sacraments, because of their good opinion of our holy Catholic faith, and their stricter observance of it.

The ministries of those islands need at least 400 priests who are religious; for I assume that there must not be only one to a district, as are the seculars in regions so extensive as these, but three or four, and sometimes more, and that is a matter involving a question of conscience, because of their ministries and their own souls; for there is a district belonging to the seculars where a priest does not arrive for a whole year, and if one reaches some parts, it is only by chance.

For the above reasons I believe that the governor and the royal Audiencia of Manila, as those who have the matter in hand, in the past year of 1665 suspended the execution of the said decrees, giving a time-limit of four years to the Order of St. Dominic to present the said reasons to his Majesty and his royal Council of the Yndias. For it is to be believed that if they found it advisable for the royal service (as they are so attentive to it) to carry out the exact royal orders in the matter, they would not have delayed the execution of the orders for four years, nor have allowed any more replies.

The reasons that the regulars have for petitioning his Majesty to be pleased not to change the method that they have followed for the space of one hundred years in their administration of the Indians in the islands, are as follows:

First, because the Indians are not yet well rooted in the faith, and there are still a great number of heathen and Moros to be newly converted--for the sacred Order of St. Dominic has many heathen in the provinces of Cagayan, Pangasinan, and Ytui. The Order of St. Augustine has still many heathen among the Yglotes (who belong to the province of Ylocos) and in the island of Panay. The Society of Jesus has all the island of Mindanao, those of Jolo, and the islands adjacent to them, which are for the most part inhabited by Moros and to a less extent by Christians and heathens. They have abandoned the Maluccas, where they have labored for so many years; and at present they administer only the island of Siao which is all Christian. The Recollect Augustinians administer the Negrillos of Masinlo and many of the Caragas bordering upon the Mindanaos. The Order of St. Francis is not lacking in Aetas (who are still heathen) in their districts of La Laguna and the mountains there to be converted.

Second, because the missions of the Filipinas are suitable for him who is looking for hardship and not ease. How is it possible for missions in the islands of old infested by infidel pirates, and [now] having new conversions of Moros and heathen, not to be full of hardship? For as a rule, those missions outside the island of Manila are visited by sea by their ministers; and that brings them no little trouble besides the constant danger of being killed by the Moros.

Third, because the regulars in those islands now and those who have always been there have almost all come from España, and have gone to them, not for the purpose of any temporal advantage, but with the design of reducing infidels to the bosom of the Church. Most of them are desirous of going thence to Japon, as the reduction of that empire as well as a portion of that of China belongs to the crown of Castilla. Since, then, the missions and doctrinas of those islands are so apostolic, and the zeal of the regulars in going there is expended only in the direction of promulgating the gospel among heathen, one can easily infer how necessary it is that the regulars be maintained there in the strict observance and spirit with which they left España. They fear, and with great reason, that if that subjection be accepted the regulars in those islands will relax, as has been experienced in the provinces where the orders have bowed to that subjection, paying heed perchance rather to not leaving the comforts of the fatherland than to the observance of their rules. But since the religious in the Filipinas Islands are not rooted in their fatherlands, but on the contrary regard themselves as exiled therefrom, it is impossible for them to return thither. Subject there to hardships and sickness (for the climate of Filipinas is less favorable and healthful to Europeans), they will not have the difficulty in quitting their ministries that has been experienced in America--where, in order not to leave their ministries, they have become subject, thus losing their positions; and they will not be willing that the most religious and those most zealous for their rules should at least keep away from the missions and ministries of the Indians through the imposition of that burden, and that no others should be found. Consequently, with that subjection they desire again to journey to parts so remote; so that in such case, in those provinces which are today so religious, their courage would grow less and that not without danger to those ministries, which by their very nature demand zealous persons and those of a very superior virtue.

For it is sufficient to consider that, if serious men of learning and virtue subject themselves to the ordinary in order to minister in a doctrina, it may happen that they will be punished for a slight omission or neglect, perhaps one that they could not avoid--such as not being able to arrive in time to hear the confession of a dying person or to give him the holy oil; or to baptize a new-born infant. It is possible that this fear alone would make some refuse the ministries of the islands with such a risk. For although the ordinary cannot punish them as religious, he can punish them as curas; and in such a case it is difficult to proceed between cura and religious.

In the first place the religious's definitorio may assign him also to a house with a vote, all of which have ministries in the Filipinas; and an ambitious man may by the exercise of skill, and by influence, intercessions, and presents deprive him of the place, and perhaps may impute to him faults and defects that he does not possess in order to attain his purpose better and to justify his action. That can not fail to be a cause for sorrow, and more so to one who has no foundation in the islands, but who is rather disgusted at being there; and it will be a sufficient cause for him to retire from his ministries and even to attempt to return to España.

And even though the superiors may order the religious to live in their missions with that subjection, it may be that they cannot obtain it by entreaty from them, and that the religious will excuse themselves by saying with St. Paul: Unusquisque enim in ea vocatione qua vocatus est permanet. [61] They may also say that they wish to persevere in the vocation to which they were called by God, and that they did not enter religion to recognize two superiors, one a regular and the other a secular, but rather one of their own profession--by whom they would willingly allow themselves to be visited, censured, and punished; but not by two distinct in profession. For if there are two superiors who are unequal in profession, it is quite possible that they will be at variance in the matters of orders and obedience; and that such subordinate may be in doubt without the power to help it lest obedience to one be an offense to the other. Consequently, placed between two extremes, he will come to obey the more powerful and to disobey his regular superior, who is the one from whom he can fear less.

And one might doubt whether the superior could impose on those who should be thus firm in their purpose the precept of obedience, so that they should subject themselves as curas to an ordinary and to tho choice of a governor. And if for the above reasons those who are zealous for their rules should be lacking in the provinces and ministries, the men who are less religious would become the mainstay of the provinces and would administer the missions--men whom neither ambition nor their slight attachment to the observance calls away [from the order]. Consequently, such men coming in time to rule the provinces and to possess the ministries in those islands, the end will be that there will be no religion, observance, or examples in them to invite the Indians, but only scandals by which they will stumble; for, as a foolish people, they embrace what they see rather than what they hear.

Besides the above, the orders fear lest the governors and the ordinaries will make use of that subjection to harass them, especially if by any accident some collision should occur between them and the authorities. For if the governor had the selection of the [religious of the] villages in his control, who could prevent him from removing or appointing whomever he wished, or choosing those whom he considered better for his own purposes and even molesting the good? For since all the houses with votes in those islands except the convents of Manila are doctrinas, he could place in them the men satisfactory to himself; and these would not fail him in the following provincial chapters in accepting from his hand a provincial who would be most advantageous to him, or most inclined to agree with him. Consequently, he would become absolute master of the monastic government of the orders. If the ordinaries wished to molest those religious whom they did not like, who could prevent them from fulminating penalties for the slightest causes? and this especially where the witnesses are Indians who would swear against their missionaries at any threat or for any profit, whatever the ministers or the visitors of the bishops wished.

It is well seen that all those troubles, so possible, would cease if the governors would govern according to the pious zeal and most Christian intention of his Majesty, and the ordinaries according to the obligation of their estate. But, nevertheless, in parts so distant and remote from the heart of the monarchy, not all the governors and ordinaries work in harmony. For even the good and those regarded as such in España are wont to become changed in the Yndias, and to act very differently from what was expected of them; for power and opportunity generally change the purposes and disorder the expectations of those who are by nature covetous, revengeful, or subject to other passions. What may not [therefore] be feared? On account of all those things the fears of the orders are not ill founded. Would that experience did not testify to all these possibilities. Since even without that subjection the governors and ordinaries are wont to give the regulars causes for merit for very slight causes, what would it be if they held the regulars as subjects and had absolute power to be able to punish them as criminals and to depose them as guilty?

If the regular superior should decide that he ought in conscience to remove any occasion for scandal, or one who was a discredit to his profession, in the case of any of his subjects; and it should be necessary for that reason to remove him from his mission: in such case, if he went to the governor to impart his purpose as he is obliged to do by the right of the royal patronage, the governor having heard the reasons would have a copy of the charges given to the party; and the suit having been brought to trial the defense might even manage with crafty pleas to frustrate the zeal of the superior. In such cases (which are quite ordinary where the said subjection to bishops and viceroys is allowed) the superior will come out disaccredited and justly angry, and the accused triumphant; for his evil conscience and the zeal of his prelate will put him on his guard, and he will be forewarned of each attack.

How many scandals will follow from this, and how many discords, edicts, and enmities! how many expenses in money, and how much bribing of witnesses and intercessors! both of servants and friends of the governors, who are usually benefited by religious of that sort. They are generally aided as much by cunning as by what they spend in order to succeed in their designs, without considering that they are trampling upon all the three essential vows of the estate which they profess--namely, poverty, obedience, and chastity.

Therefore, if the desires of his Majesty are that the regulars shall live in accordance with their own laws; that the natives of the Indias be well instructed; and that they be not molested by the officials of the two estates: the remedy for that is to leave the regulars to their observance without obliging them to become more subject than they have been hitherto. If this is either not advisable or cannot be done, it would be better for the orders that the secular clergy should administer those missions.

For how is it possible that such missionaries should not be covetous if they are inclined to that vice as an efficacious means to maintain themselves in their posts, to attain others that are larger and more wealthy, to defend themselves from the zeal of their prelates? Such will have the power of loading the Indians with pecuniary fines and of doubling the fees; and even perhaps there will not lack some who will avail themselves of trade and commerce to attain that end.

The subjection will result only in advantage to the governors and ordinaries, in trouble to the Indians (for the latter furnish the wealth of such ministers) and disservice to his Majesty; since it means the ruin of religious discipline. The Indians being harassed and the governors and ordinaries being interested parties, all contrary to his Majesty's holy intent, the Indians will come to have disinclination instead of love to affairs of the faith and religion. And I dare affirm that Christians thus instructed will be Christians rather by force than in their hearts.

In no part of the Yndias can one more intelligently expect that the regulars will be strict of observance than in the Filipinas Islands; for all their missions, even those in the suburbs of Manila, are surrounded by heathen and Moros--Chinese, Japanese, Mindanaos, Joloans, and Borneans, and people of almost all the other kingdoms of the Orient whose conversion is so anxiously desired. For if those heathen and Moro nations, who have before their eyes the conduct of the Christians, come to observe it as not at all in accord with right, not only among the secular clergy but among the regulars--who are by their profession teachers of the law and are bound to furnish a good example as the rule of their observance--what would they think, or what notion would they form of it? It is learned from some mandarins of Great China who were converted to our holy faith because they saw in all the ministers of it for many years a conformity of morals that was regulated to natural law, that they prudently conclude therefrom that the law which taught such actions could not be other than true. If the Chinese and Japanese who live in those islands should see the evangelical ministers acting against all natural dictates, they would come to a contrary conclusion, for they have no greater arguments for belief than those which come through their eyes.

The regulars of the Filipinas Islands have well understood how just it is that the right of his Majesty's royal patronage be observed therein according to his orders. Therefore, they do not petition for exemption from the choice by the governors and the collations by the ordinaries under any other title than that of a favor from the greatness of his Majesty, if perchance their merits have deserved it. For, as is well known, there are no missions more distant throughout the monarchy nor more seas to pass nor seas so endangered by the enemies of the faith--which can be affirmed by those who administer outside the suburbs of Manila and their environs, who continually bear death or captivity before their eyes.

If his Majesty has been pleased to give privileges to the citizens of those islands with the honorable title of hidalgos and nobles--the munificence of his Majesty supplying what birth denied to many, a privilege not conceded to any others of the Yndias--as a reward for having been willing to become citizens in regions so remote from their fatherland without any other service, in order that by such kindness others might be encouraged to do the same, not less do the regulars merit some special privilege and reward from your Majesty, and the welfare of the souls of the natives. This is the chief object of your Majesty in conserving the Filipinas Islands and all that conduces to this is only a means--namely, that it is inhabited by Spaniards and garrisoned with soldiers, and the expenses which are incurred in all this. Therefore if his Majesty exercises so great munificence in order that the means may not fail so that the end may be attained, in order that it may be more completely and perfectly executed, the regulars may hope for greater favor from the piety of their king. And if laymen are rewarded for the services that they have rendered in those islands with military honors and with great encomiendas of Indians, one can trust that the services rendered to his Majesty by all the orders during a hundred years in the islands will merit some recompense in immunity (even though it be not due for their services) from his gratitude and liberal hand, as they hope from the grandeur of their king and sovereign.

APPENDIX: JUDICIAL CONDITION OF THE PHILIPPINES IN 1842

Source: This is from Sinibaldo de Mas's Informe de las Islas Filipinas, ii, no. 12.

Translation: This is by James Alexander Robertson.

APPENDIX: JUDICIAL CONDITION OF THE PHILIPPINES IN 1842

[In addition to the following account by Mas, the student desirous of pursuing the subject will find much data in the various Guias de Filipinas. Some statistics are also presented by Montero y Vidal (Archipielago Filipino, pp. 194-203) for the years 1883-1884. Much of value and interest will also be found in the various reports of the Philippine Commission, and in the numerous pamphlets issued by the United States Government.]

Justice is administered by means of an Audiencia, which has the title of royal, and resides in Manila, being composed of one regent, and five judges; by means of alcaldes-mayor who govern the provinces; and by the gobernadorcillo whom each village has and who is equivalent to our alcalde de monterilla. [62] The latter proceeds in criminal cases to the formation of a verbal process, and tries civil causes up to the value of two tailes of gold or 44 pesos fuertes.

The royal Audiencia is a court without appeal in Filipinas. The alcaldes-mayor cannot terminate by their own action civil questions that have to do with a sum of greater value than 100 pesos fuertes, or impose any corporal punishment without the approval of the Audiencia, and then only imprisonment for one week. But they are judges of the first instance for every kind of litigious or criminal cases.

In order that one may obtain the post of alcalde-mayor, it is not necessary that he should have studied law. Hence, the greater part of the heads of the provinces are laymen in that respect. Generally those posts are given to military men. Consequently, this is the origin that for every process which is prosecuted in a lawsuit or cause, the alcalde has to have recourse to an assessor, in order to obtain the opinion of that one on which to base his action. But since the advocates reside in Manila, the records have to make at times many trips from the province to the capital. From this results the inconvenience of delay, the liability of theft, or the destruction of the mail. For, in the many rivers that must be crossed, the papers become so wet that they are useless (as happened with several letters of a post which was received in the chief city of a province when I was there, the envelopes of which it was impossible for us to read), and the malicious extraction in order to obscure the course of justice. The defect of this system can only be understood if one reflect that the various provinces of the colony are not situated on a continent, but in various islands, and that by reason of the periodic winds and the hurricanes which prevail in this region, the capital very often finds itself without news of some provinces for two or three months, and of that of Marianas for whole years.

It appears that what we have said ought to be sufficient to show the necessity of radical reforms in this department, but, unfortunately, there are other more grave reasons for such reform. The alcaldes-mayor are permitted to engage in business. [63] The author of Les Estrits des Lois [64] said many years ago that the worst of governments is the commercial government; and surely, for those who have studied the science of government, all comment on this point is superfluous. The alcalde who is permitted to engage in business naturally tries, if possible, to monopolize it by all means in his power. This vice of the system leads some greedy men to the greatest excesses, which later are attributed to all alcaldes in general. Upon my arrival at Manila, I asked a very respectable Spaniard who had been in the country for many years about what happens in the provinces. He replied to me: "You know that the alcaldeships are reported to be worth 40,000 or 50,000 duros, and he who seeks one of those posts very earnestly has no other object or hope than to acquire a capital in the six years for which the government confers them. Before going to his province, he borrows 8,000 or 10,000 duros from one of the charitable funds at such and such a per cent. Besides, he has to pay an interest to those who act as bondsmen for him, both to the government for the royal treasury, and to the charitable funds which supply him with money. When he arrives at his province he acts according to conditions ruling in that province, for not all provinces are alike in their productions and circumstances. He generally establishes a supply store, and, consequently, from that moment, any other storekeeper is his rival and enemy. If such storekeeper has a creditor whom he tries to hurry up and goes to the alcalde, he gets no protection. If any theft happens to him the same thing more or less occurs; for, although the alcalde orders efforts made to ascertain the thief, far from taking those measures earnestly, he is secretly glad of the losses of his rivals, and it has even been asserted that there are cases in which the alcalde himself has been the instigator of the crime. Who is your enemy? That of your trade. But does the alcalde himself sell the goods? Sometimes he sells and measures them, at other times he keeps an agent in the store; the most usual thing is, if he is married, for his wife to take charge of the expense, especially of those goods of any value. But his greatest gain consists in making advances of money at the time of the sowing, the period when the Indians need it and try to get it at any cost, for their negligence and their vices do not allow them to foresee such a case and be prepared for it. For example: a farmer signs a paper for the alcalde which obliges him to deliver at harvest time ten measures of sugar, which are worth at least two and one-half duros, and he himself receives only one and one-half, consequently, by that operation alone of advancing money, the alcalde-mayor sometimes gains 40 per cent. But what generally happens is that the Indian is so short sighted and is so indifferent to the future that he signs any burdensome obligation provided he gets some money, and he only takes account of what they give him without thinking of what they are going to get from him. For example, the alcalde gives him 60 duros as an advance for forty measures of sugar at the harvest time. The harvest is bad and he can only give 20. In such case the reckoning is after the following fashion: 'The sugar has been sold for 4 duros, and hence 20 measures will amount to 80 duros. You cannot pay them to me, consequently they can just as well remain as an advance for the coming year at one and one-half.' In consequence of that the farmer signs a paper by which he enters under obligation to deliver 53 measures at the next harvest. Harvest time comes, and if it is bad, he only presents, say, 13. Therefore, 40 measures at 4 duros amount to 160 duros of debt, and at one and one-half make 108 measures for the following year. In this way the man keeps on adding more and more until all his goods are at the disposal of the alcalde. Besides, there are innumerable other vexations to which he must subject himself. For instance: he has to deliver to the alcalde 100 cabans of rice; when he presents them the alcalde measures them out with a larger measure than that used in the market. Hence, in reality, the alcalde exacts from him more than he is bound to pay. The same thing happens with indigo. For, a discussion arises as to whether the indigo is, or is not, very damp, and some libras must be taken off for waste; or, whether it is of poorer quality than the Indian promised, and so on." "But surely it must needs be that it is fitting to take money advanced, since there is one who seeks it, and it is worth more for a farmer to cultivate his land in this way than that he leave it without cultivation for lack of the necessary capital. In regard to the tyrannies which the alcalde tries to commit, it seems to me that they might be avoided by the countryman borrowing the money from a private person who is not in position to annoy him." "That is all very well thought out, but I will tell you what happens. The Indian borrows money very easily, but it is very difficult to get him to pay it, and he generally avoids doing so, if possible. If a private person lends him money and does not collect it when due, he has to go to the alcalde in order that the latter may force payment. The latter either does so coldly, or pays no attention to the whole matter, since his intention is that such private persons take warning and never again lend to anyone; for, it is evident, that if many come to speculate in this kind of business, the alcalde will soon be shut out, or at least will have to submit himself to the general rules. Consequently, the result is that capitalists draw back from him, saying, and very rightly, that it is only fitting for the alcaldes who possess the means to cause themselves to be paid when a debt is due. The alcalde, then, remains master of the field, and monopolizes this department at his pleasure, for he who needs funds has to go to him, for there are very few who enjoy enough credit to get them elsewhere. Many other advantages also favor the alcalde. The parish priests aid him, and many times take charge of the division of the money of the alcalde in their villages, for they know that that is the sure means of keeping on good terms with him, and obtaining the measures which depend on his will in the matters of their villages. The gobernadorcillos and officials of justice are other instruments of which the alcalde makes use to apportion and collect his funds." "Why is it that these do not occupy themselves rather in their affairs than in those of the alcalde?" "The alcalde can always, whenever he wishes, make trouble for the gobernadorcillo by making him go to the chief village with innumerable pretexts, and by various other methods which it would take a long time to enumerate, and which it is very easy to conceive. Besides, it is important for the alcalde to keep the gobernadorcillo satisfied. Suppose now, that a road has to be built, or a bamboo bridge, or any other work for which the people of the village who have to do it, according to their obligation called polos and services, are summoned. As some of them are busy in their fields or other business, they wish to be free from such a burden, and they give the gobernadorcillo two or three reals and he excuses them on the ground of sickness. A party of troops or a Spaniard passes by and asks for some beast of burden, or an aid in food. That is also an occasion for the gobernadorcillo to get even with those whom he dislikes and obtain part of his demands; for some give him presents in order that he may not give the beasts of burden, while others do not receive the pay for that food. During the days of tiangui or village fairs, such and such a sum is exacted for each post in the market place. In general there are some men of service called bantayanes who are a kind of sentinel placed at the entrances of villages. Many of them also pay to be excused from that burden when their turn comes or when they are told that it comes. In general he has ten or twelve men called honos, manbaras, etc., given to him, who are exempt from polos and services, and they serve the ayuntamiento to send papers, conduct prisoners, etc., and the gobernadorcillo gives them permission so that they may cultivate their lands, by collecting from them a contribution." "But it seems to me that the gobernadorcillo will have to give account, if not for all, at least for many of the taxes that you have mentioned." "It ought to be so, and in fact, some enter into the communal treasury, but they are the fewest and those connected with the legal matters, for of the others there is nothing to be said. For example: I have seen an order enclosing a fine as a punishment on the gobernadorcillo for some fault or misdeed that he had committed. He assembles the cabezas de barangai; the whole sum is apportioned among the people of the village. The amount of the fine is collected and the gobernadorcillo has still something left for his maintenance and revelling." "Why do they not complain to the alcalde?" "Because, sir, of just what I told you. The alcalde needs the gobernadorcillo so that he may use him in his business, and for all such things he is a very far-sighted man. Besides, the alcalde who tries to investigate those snares of the tribunals (ayuntamientos) will lose his senses without deriving any benefit from it. He does not know the language. As interpreter he has the clerk, who is an Indian, and the entangler-in-chief, and almost always in accord with the Indian magnates." "If the clerk is a bad man, will he not be hated?" "I do not say that he is beloved, but some fear him, and others are his accomplices. Since the alcalde is, in reality, a business man, he naturally takes more interest in his business than in that of other people, and leaves all court matters in charge of the clerk, who comes to be the arbiter in that matter, and here is where the latter reaps his harvest. One of the members of the tribunal (ayuntamiento) steals, or causes to be stolen from some man his buffalo. The man finds out where it is; he complains to the gobernadorcillo; they begin to take measures; at last the animal is returned to him, but if it is worth five duros, they make him pay ten duros in expenses so that the man either considers his beast as lost and the thieves keep it, or the latter get from him twice as much as it is worth. Hence, if I were to tell all that passes in this wise, my story would be very long. One of the things which they are accustomed to do is to let the prisoners go out of the prison for several days without the government knowing it. I have seen that done this very year of 1841 in the province of---, in regard to some prisoners whom the alcalde-mayor believed to be in prison; but they were working on the estate of the clerk, and one of those prisoners had committed very serious crimes." "But why do not the curas remedy all that? I have heard it said that they are really the ones who govern the villages." "In reality, when the curas take that matter upon themselves, those abuses are remedied, at least in great measure, for they know the language well, and every one in their village knows the truth, if the cura wishes to ascertain it. That is what happened in former times. And also at that time the communal funds were deposited in the convent, and [thus] many tricks and tyrannies were avoided. But for some years the governors who have come from España have desired that the parish priests should keep to their houses and say mass and preach and not meddle with the temporal government; without taking heed that in a whole province there is no other Spaniard who governs than the alcalde-mayor himself, who generally comes from Europa and goes without reflection to take his charge without any knowledge whatever of the country or knowing even a single word of its language. Consequently, many religious, in order to avoid trouble, see and keep still, and allow everything to take what course God wills. This is one of the chief causes of the disorders of the villages, and of the increase of crime." "Now tell me, do the alcaldes make all the wealth that they are accustomed to acquire with the kind of trade which you have explained to me?" "They have many means of hunting [buscar] for that is the technical expression used in this country, but those means vary according to circumstances. In some provinces great efforts are made to obtain posts as gobernadorcillos and officials of justice, and that department generally is worth a good sum annually. Those are things which the clerk or secretary manages. In the province of--- while Don--- was alcalde-mayor, that gentleman was in collusion with the manager of the wine monopoly and they practiced the following. The harvesters came with their wine, but they were told that it was impossible to receive it. There was a conflict within themselves, for they had to return to their village. Then they were told that if they wished to deposit the wine they would put it in certain jars which had been provided in the storehouse, by paying such and such a rent until the administration could introduce it. The harvesters, who needed the money, thereupon sold the wine to the agents of the alcalde, at any price at all in order to return to their homes. Finally, as he who had come to be an alcalde, has had no other object than to acquire wealth, every matter which does not contribute to that object, such as the making of a bridge, or a road, the prosecution of evil doers, or any occupation purely of government or justice, distracts and troubles him. On the contrary every means of attaining his end appears to him fitting and good. This method of thought is a little more or less in the minds of all; and thus you observe that no one says here, not even excluding the religious, who are those who know the country best, 'I have such or such reasons for gaining this suit,' but, 'I have so many thousand pesos to gain the suit.' But to tell the truth, it is not to be wondered at that the alcaldes-mayor work without much scruple. In the space of six years they have to pay their passage from and to España; to satisfy the high interest on the money which they have borrowed; to acquit themselves of the amount which their alcaldeship has often cost them; and besides they make their fortunes. Not more or less is done in Turquia."

In the same way as this good man talked, the majority talk. The faults and vices of some are attributed and laid to all. It is certain that this system is fatal, for governors of such sort must be essentially interested in turning down the attempt of private speculators, and to frighten away instead the attraction of capital. That has, as a natural consequence, the increased interest on money which so endangers production, and, consequently, exportation and the encouragement of the islands. But not less fatal is the opinion that the authorities of Manila themselves are fed on such abuses. Complaints are continually presented against the alcalde, at times very captious and filled with falsehood and absurdity. The Audiencia and office of the captain-general receive those complaints kindly and very easily dictate measures humiliating for the alcalde, and impose fines on him, of which a copy is given to the complaining parties. Rarely is it that one leaves his alcaldeship without having paid many fines. The Filipinos make the greatest ado, as is natural, over those triumphs against authority, but authority loses decorum and moral force. All this comes from the bad system established, for, since the governor from the moment that he becomes a merchant, must be a bad governor and a usurer and tyrant, the government of Manila is predisposed against his acts, and declares itself the protector of the Filipinos. In this way one evil is remedied by a worse. The supreme authority instead of supporting and sustaining the subordinate government punishes and degrades it. Illusion, respect, and fear vanish. It is believed that that severity against those who rule is advantageous in making our yoke loved, and that the natives will say, "The government is kind for it punishes the alcaldes," while it would be better for them to say, "The government is kind because it gives us good alcaldes."

Shortly after my arrival in the islands, being at the feast of Cavite, distant four hours from the capital, I wished to go thither on horseback, but all who heard of it dissuaded me from the idea, asserting that I was about to commit a rash act. Another time when I was coming from Laguna, on passing through Montinlupa, the manager of the estate of that name was so greatly alarmed that he wished to accompany me with his servants until we came near the city, and in fact I learned soon that I was running a great danger on that road, and that shortly before a Spanish sergeant had been murdered on it. Then I was very much surprised to find that it was dangerous to go near the capital without an escort, but later I have been much more surprised to see that in provinces distant from the capital a complete security is enjoyed. In order to show the condition of the criminality of the island we shall present the following data drawn from the clerk's office of the Audiencia.

Criminal causes sentenced in the Audiencia of Filipinas between the years 1831-1837

[not inclusive]

Years Causes

1832 75 1833 83 1834 43 1835 102 1836 108

411

Report of the criminal causes sentenced between the years 1836-1842 [not inclusive]

Crimes =====+=======+======+========+=======+=====+=======+=======+======+====== |Rebell-| |Robbery | |Mobs |False- |Immor- |Wounds|Total Years|ion or |Murder|Theft |Incen- |and | hood | ality | and |no. of | Con- | |and Im- |diarism|Lam- | and | and |rough |Causes |spiracy| |position| |poons|Perjury|Scandal|usage | -----+-------+------+--------+-------+-----+-------+-------+------+------ 1837 | | 43 | 54 | 2 | | 2 | 8 | 5 | 114 1838 | | 108 | 145 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 52 | 60 | 382 1839 | | 74 | 149 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 45 | 41 | 317 1840 | 2 | 83 | 106 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 41 | 54 | 295 1841 | | 131 | 216 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 66 | 67 | 499 -----+-------+------+--------+-------+-----+-------+-------+------+------ | 2 | 439 | 670 | 26 | 16 | 19 | 212 | 227 | 1609 =====+=======+======+========+=======+=====+=======+=======+======+======

Penalties ==========+=======+==============+================+=========== | | | Deprivation of | [Years] | Death | Imprisonment | Office and | Total no. | | | other | of | | | correctives | Sentences ----------+-------+--------------+----------------+----------- [1837] | 6 | 99 | 17 | 122 1838] | 6 | 140 | 169 | 313 1839] | 6 | 192 | 46 | 244 1840] | 7 | 131 | 19 | 157 [1841] | 3 | 173 | 77 | 253 ----------+-------+--------------+----------------+----------- | 28 | 735 | 328 | 1089 ==========+=======+==============+================+===========

Total number of causes sentenced in the first five years 411 Idem 1607 Increasing the latter 1196

[Here follows a report in tabular form showing the number of causes in each province for the years 1840 and 1841. This table is compiled at least in part from the guide of Manila for the year 1840; the population of each province being taken therefrom. Thirty-three provinces are enumerated. The total number of causes for 1840 was 295, and for 1841, 499.]

The first thing which arrests the attention in these reports is the increase of crime. The fiscal, whom I questioned in regard to this matter, told me that now many causes are elevated to process which were before finished in the interior courts, and that during these latter years many old causes had been sentenced. This may be true, but in regard to the accumulation of back cases that have been sentenced, I believe that that can only be understood from the year 1838, or even from that of 1839, because of the lack of judges in which the court found itself in 1837. No matter how it is considered, the increase is palpable, for the causes alone for murder of last year amount to more than all those of any of the years of the first five years, and it is incredible that at that time they neglected to try people for homicide, although they did dissimulate in regard to lesser crimes. The second thing which arrests the attention is the tendency to theft, since the greater part of the homicides have been committed by robbers, and further one sees a great multitude of causes for theft. For among those two kinds of crime are found two-thirds of all kinds of criminality. This is a matter well worthy of reflection in a country where the means of existence can be procured so readily. The third [thing that arrests the attention] is the mildness of the sentences. In the last five years, when there were 439 homicides, only 28 have ascended the scaffold, one-third of those tried have been set at liberty, and 328 condemned to light punishment. One would not believe that those treated with so great mercy are (at least always) criminals for insignificant faults. A man of the village of Narbakan was tried in the year 1840 for having begotten children twice by his daughter, the second time that having been done by means of assaulting her with a dagger. The attorney asked for ten years of imprisonment, but the Audiencia did not impose any penalty and did not even condemn him to the costs, nor did it take the measure in honor of public morality of causing them to separate, but allowed them to live together as they are still doing. At the beginning of the same year, 1840, Mariano San Gerónimo, a servant from youth to a Spanish tailor called Garcia, stole one hundred pesos fuertes from his master, and another hundred from Captain Castejon, adjutant of the captain-general of the islands, who was living in his house; by extracting them from the trunks of each one. That of the captain-general he opened with the key which the latter's own assistant gave him. The greater part of the money was delivered to that assistant, his accomplice; the rest was lost at play. This deed served the defender of San Geronimo, Don Agustin Ruiz de Santayana, to petition his acquittal, alleging in his favor the incapacity and irreflection which that individual had shown with the said thief. Both the criminal and his accomplice confessed, and no obstacle was presented to substantiate this verbal process. However, it lasted for more than one year. They troubled the master Garcia so much with notifications and accounts of the maintenance of the prisoner that at last he refused to have anything more to do with the matter, and abandoned the charge. The alcalde-in-ordinary sentenced San Gerónimo to six months' imprisonment. When the Audiencia examined that clause, March 31, 1841, it ordered the prisoner to be liberated. In Inglaterra, that violator of his own daughter, and the domestic thief would have been given the death sentence on the gallows.

This impunity for crimes is, to my understanding, very fatal, not only because of the encouragement which it gives on that account to criminality, but also because of the fear which gobernadorcillos and alcaldes have in arresting the guilty, for they know that they will be soon liberated and will soon take vengeance on them by robbing them, cutting down their trees, and burning their places of business. An employe of estimable qualities in the department of taxes told me that once grown tired in a certain province of seeing that no one dared to arrest a thief who had terrified the entire village, he himself took the trouble to waylay and seize him in the very operation of committing a theft. He had him bound, and sent him to the alcalde with the general complaint. In a few weeks he saw him again in the village and had to reckon with him. I have been in the estate of Buena-Vista in the outskirts of which live very many robbers. However, they do not steal there, but they go to do that in other places, bringing there afterward horses, buffaloes, and whatever they can lay their hands on. The manager does not dare to wage war against them or to denounce their thefts, although he knows them. One night when I was there at twelve o'clock, appeared a cavalry troop sent from the neighboring province of Pampanga by Alcalde Urbina and commanded by Lieutenant Lao. With them they brought several persons who had been robbed, and took them before the official. He had a list of many whom he was to arrest. It had already been given to the justice of the village. We amounted to four or five Spaniards in that place. One of those who live there came within a few minutes to tell us secretly that those who were to do the arresting had already advised those who were to be arrested so that they might get out of the way, and so that no one could be caught. That person and the manager were silent in order not to compromise themselves, and I did the same, because the evil was already done, and in order not to abuse the confidence which they had in me. In fact, the officer and his men, and the guides, went away without having arrested a single one. A fortnight after another official, named Dayot, who knows the language of the country well, returned. Warned by what had happened the first time, he went directly to the houses where his guides took him; and, consequently, he seized some of them. Later he came to the estate and asked us for a very notorious fellow who was said to be absent. We assured him that we had seen that man less than an hour before. I advised Dayot to have the soldiers put aside their arms and uniforms, and send them dressed like the natives together with the guides, and if they surprised anyone to take him to the barracks; since, to imagine that the justice would aid him to arrest the criminals was to imagine something that could not be. In fact, he did that, and within three days he marched away taking five or six prisoners with him. A great state of consternation reigned throughout that district, which was good evidence of the moral condition of the inhabitants. In a few months I asked and learned that they were back already and in quiet possession of their homes. One day I was talking in Manila to the regent of the Audiencia, Don Matías de Mier, about that system of impunity which I had observed in the islands. That gentleman remarked to me: "It is not possible to take severe measures here, Señor Mas, for it is necessary to govern here with mildness." I praise and esteem most sincerely the benevolent ideas and the good heart of Señor Mier, but it seems to me that his words might be answered somewhat by those of Jeremias Bentham: [65] "How many praises are wasted on mercy! It has been repeated, time and time again, that that is the first virtue of a sovereign. Surely if crime consists only in an offense to one's self-love, if it is no more than a satire which is directed against him or his favorites, the moderation of the prince is meritorious. The pardon which he grants is a triumph obtained over himself! But when one treats of a crime against society, the pardon is not an act of clemency, it is a downright prevarication.... Every criminal who escapes justice threatens the public safety and innocence is not protected by being exposed to become the victim of a new crime. When a criminal is absolved all the crimes that he can perpetuate are committed by his hands." In no army are there so many executions as in that in which slight faults are disregarded. How many charges can be laid to the door of the one who carried away by a poorly understood charity, contributes to the increase, in any society, of assault, theft, assassination, tears, and executions. "Every pardon granted to a criminal," says Filangieri, [66] "is a crime committed against humanity." I cannot conceive how there is anyone who can imagine that the exercise of kindness to evil doers is useful or agreeable to the good. I believe, on the contrary, that those are lamented by the people who are unsafe in their houses while they are paying contributions to the government which is obliged to protect them. [Other reflections of a similar nature follow.]

The tribunal might declare that it works in accordance with the spirit of the Leyes de Indias, but be that as it may, it is, in my opinion, certain that with this system of tolerating everything from the natives, and of punishing and degrading the subordinate authorities, the Audiencia of Manila is losing the islands.

So far am I removed from being a bloodthirsty individual that I would like to see the death sentence removed from our criminal code. It would be useless to repeat in support of my opinion the ideas expressed by many celebrated socialists in regard to the abolition of capital punishment, but I will make one observation only, which I have read in no author. The criminal ought always to inspire public scorn and horror, but from the instant in which he is seen on the scaffold, the aversion of people becomes calm, and he is converted into an unfortunate fellow and an object of compassion. This impression does not seem proper to me. Further, restricting myself to Filipinas I shall say that since the penalties are imposed so that fear of them may keep others from committing the crimes, the death penalty does not cause in that country the same effect as in others, for its natives have a distinct physical organization from us, and their instinct of life is much less strong than that of the Europeans. Consequently, outside of cases in which one treats of questions vital for the colony, I believe that the death penalty is a useless cruelty. To mark those criminals well, and to use them in public works, or in agriculture, would be much more advantageous, and would better conserve the real object to which laws should tend, namely, the common good.

One of the things which contributes to the increase of crime is the prohibition in which the chiefs of the provinces find themselves from applying corporal punishment, without the approval of the Audiencia. For if a cause were to be made for the theft of buffaloes, horses, etc., it would be an interminable matter. To put the Filipino in jail is to move him to a better dwelling than his own. Then he is given his food there, which, however little and poor it be, will never be less than that to which he is accustomed daily. He does not work; on the contrary he lies stretched out all day, and that is his happiness. Besides, he finds in the same dwelling other fellow-countrymen with whom to converse and to chew buyo. Consequently, in the country, the idea of going to prison is very far from the impression that it gives in España where men are always animated by the spirit of activity and love to society. It has happened many times and I have seen it, that prisoners escape to attend a feast or go on a pilgrimage, and as soon as that is over they return to present themselves. I am of the opinion that the prison ought alone to be used as a means of detention, and that for light punishments, the lash should be applied. The idea of beating a man is repugnant to many philanthropic persons, for they say that such punishment is for beasts. However, for certain people who do not know what self esteem and honor mean, material punishments are necessary. How can one infuse fear and aversion to crime in one who despises that powerful stimulus for well doing? Who will tell us? This question is still disputed in cultured Europa and the civilized English have not dared to banish the rod from their military code. The first thing which is seen in the hut of any Filipino is the rattan for bringing up their children, and whoever has been in the country for some years thinks that all the provinces would be most tranquil and free from highwaymen if less papers were written and more beatings given.

There are over 80 advocates in Filipinas. The majority have studied in Manila in the same manner as they did a century ago in España. It might be said that they belong to the casuist school. The preparation for any lawsuit is consequential and the superfluous writs innumerable, as our system has always been to open all the doors to the innocence of the natives; and many of the advocates are of that same class or are Chinese mestizos. The language which they use is often indecorous, bold, lacking in purity and idiom, and even in grammatical construction. The Audiencia endures it as it is the old style custom, for in times past there were few advocates capable of explaining themselves better. The Filipinos believe that composed and moderate writs can have no effect at court, and they are only contented with those which are full of invective, reticence, interrogation, and exclamation.

Since the alcaldes of the first instance are laymen, they have to appoint an assessor and very often when one party sees that his suit is badly prepared, he challenges the assessor even three times. It is an abusive matter, and to the prejudice of justice, for in case of challenge of the assessor, that ought to be done at the moment that he is notified of his appointment, and not after seeing that which is not favorable to him, and that judgment is near.

The Leyes de Indias, compiled in 1754, and all the previous decrees and royal orders before that time still rule in Filipinas, in addition to the decrees and edicts of the governor-general. Of all this there is nothing, or very little, printed. The advocates generally know the laws in force by tradition and hear-say, but when they need any of the laws they have to look for it in the house of some friend, or, if not that, in the secretary's office of the government, whence very frequently it has disappeared, or in the office of the fiscal, or that of the intendant; because some orders are communicated by grace and justice, and others by the treasury or by other ministries. He who has no relatives or is new in the country is ignorant of the rules in force, or has not the means of acquiring them. Besides so far as they are not overthrown by the Leyes de Indias the laws of the Siete Partidas have as much force as do the latest Recopilación, [67] Roman law, royal and old law, and, in fact, all the confused mass of the Spanish codes. Consequently, it is a vast sea in which are found abundantly the resources necessary to mix up matters and stultify the course of justice. In English India, a book is printed annually of all the orders which have been communicated to the tribunals and governors. This forms a collection which is entitled The Regulations, which is now being translated into the language of the natives by order of the government.

There are orders and even articles of the ordinances of good government to specify the price of food. These schedules are very often, as is evident, the cause of the disappearance of things, and, as they are not found in the market it is necessary to petition the gobernadorcillo to provide food which he is obliged to furnish at the price named in this schedule; and at times where there are many Spaniards and soldiers, that amounts to hundreds of fowls, eggs, etc., which the village must supply monthly and even daily. This is not only an odious task, but also the reason for infamous vexations on the part of the cabezas de barangai, for the unhappy cailianes are those who have to furnish it all without even collecting a thing. It must be well known that cheapness in articles proceeds only from collecting those articles and this proceeds only from abundance, and abundance only from freedom in the market; and the assigning of a low price to any article by schedule is the most direct method of restricting its production and heightening its price.

After all that we have set forth, one can well say that the department of the administration of justice is what needs the most prompt and speedy reform. From that, then, it is obvious that all the alcaldes-mayor ought to be jurisconsults. The custom of allowing governors to trade is not suitable for the age in which we live, surely, although there are some who do not abuse their position, and today there are some who can be presented as models of honor and nobility, especially Don Juan Castilla who governs in Samar, and Don Francisco Gutierrez de los Rios in Laguna. Not only is the latter free from the avarice and other faults which are so common to other alcaldes, and does not make use of the permission to trade, but also recognizes the defects of the present administration, and declaims in the bosom of his friends against them, since he is imbued with the sane principles of justice and political economy. But in such matters one must not reckon on virtue but always with human nature. One day happening to question one of the most judicious and kind persons whom I have known in the islands, how Alcalde Peñaranda had happened to lose his money, he answered me: "He gave it to an agent to use, he to share in the profits, and then paid no attention to it for three years after. He gave up his time very greatly to the building of bridges and roads, and while he was busy in such bits of foolishness, the other made the most of his time and consumed it all." Another person, of whose philanthropy and gentlemanliness I have positive proofs, told me that if he obtained the government of a province, he would assemble all the influential men and make them an offer to renounce all trade provided that they gave him a certain annual sum. I replied to him that that was an impracticable project and stated my reasons. "Then," replied he, "I would harass everyone who engaged in trade until he ceased it, or left the province, and it would be all the worse for him." Such are the evils of a bad system. One becomes accustomed to the idea that a government post offers the opportunity of making money and nothing else. The moment that one has obtained office, he believes that he has a right to make money, without considering the means to any extent; while he who is careless of his own interests and busies himself in the progress of the province, like Señor Peñaranda, is ridiculed and called a fool.

Many believe that to prohibit the alcaldes from trading would be useless, because they would do it by all means through a second person. There might be some fraud, but there is no doubt but that the evil would be remedied, if not wholly, in great measure, especially if any contract in regard to business interests signed by the alcaldes in Filipinas be declared null and void; for it is very difficult to find in the country persons to whom to hand over a capital and be sure of their good faith, and it is not easy to take them with him from España. And even leaving aside these disadvantages, it will always result from the prohibition that the agent of the alcalde will have to manage his money with great secrecy and as if it were his own, in which case there would be no trouble. The government of India was a few years ago entirely commercial, but since the commerce was prohibited, none of its dependents engage in it. Those who have savings deposit them in one of the banks or in one of the good commercial houses there at four or five per cent, or indeed they buy public stock or speculate with them. Alcaldeships in my opinion ought to be divided into three classes and given to individuals, all of them advocates, who would form a body of civil employes. When an alcaldeship of the first class fell vacant, it would be given to the senior advocate in charge of those of the second class, and so on. The regulation that alcaldes were to remain in the country only six years was founded certainly on the fear that they might acquire a dangerous influence over the country. To the degree that the precaution is not unfounded, the term is very short for so long a distance, for among other obstacles it contains the one that when a chief is beginning to know the country he has to leave it. Fifteen or twenty years would be a more fitting time.

In English India all the civil and military employes know the language of the country. That extreme, however advantageous it be, and is, in fact could be brought about here only with difficulty. It would have been easy if one of the dialects of the islands had been established from the beginning as the language of the government and of the courts; for a Visayan learns Tagálog very quickly, and any other idiom of the country, and the same thing is true of the other natives.

[If that had been done] all would at this moment show well or poorly the dominant language, just as in Cataluña, Valencia, the Baleares Islands, and the Basque provinces, Castilian is known. But this is not a matter which can be remedied in a brief time. Consequently, if an alcalde who is beginning to administer justice in Cagayan has to go immediately to Cebú, he will surely arrive there without knowing the language, although he had given himself to the study of it from the very beginning. But if this is an evil, this evil is now being endured, for the alcaldes arrive from España, and since they know that they have to return in six years, they do not take the least trouble to learn the language, and they leave the government in this regard just as when they entered it.

In the capital and its suburbs, justice is administered by means of two lay alcaldes, who are appointed annually by the ayuntamiento from the citizens of the city. When the appointees are men of wealth, they resign, for this charge alone occasions them ill-humor and serious occupations which distract them from their business. Those who accept or desire it, can have no other stimulus than that of vile interest, tolerating prohibited games, etc. It is, then, necessary to appoint two lawyers with suitable pay to be judges of first instance.

Everyone knows what the Leyes de Indias are, the epoch in which they were made, and the distinct regions for which they were dictated. It is, then, indispensable and peremptory to make the civil codes of legal processes, of criminal instruction, and of commerce especially for the country.

In India there is a commission of the government composed of four votes and a president, charged with making and revising the laws of India. For the same purpose, in my opinion, three persons who had studied or should study the country would be sufficient here. In such case I would be of the opinion that they be not allowed to do their work together, but that each one work alone and present his results. Another commission ought to be appointed immediately (there would be no harm in those same men forming it) to examine the codes and present a résumé of the points in which they differed essentially. These would be few and in regard to them the government could take the best resolution.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla:

1. Letter from the archbishop of Manila.--"Simancas--Eclesiastico; Audiencia de Filipinas; cartas y espedientes de arzobispo de Manila; años 1579 á 1697; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 32."

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid:

2. Jesuit protest.--"Papeles de los Jesuitas, to. 4o., no. 259."

The following document is obtained from a MS. in the Archivo general, Simancas:

3. Paz's Description of Philipinas.--"Consejo de Inquisicion, libro 786." (We present such part of this document as relates to the Philippines.)

The following are taken from the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library):

4. Condition of Philippines, 1652.--Tomo ii, pp. 385-390.

5. Jesuit missions, 1655.--Tomo ii, pp. 391-399.

6. Events in Manila, 1662-63.--Tomo ii, pp. 421-480.

7. Letter from Salcedo.--Tomo ii, pp. 481-483.

8. Friars and episcopal visitation.--Tomo ii, pp. 401-419.

The following is obtained from Retana's Archivo:

9. Royal funeral rites.--Tomo ii, pp. 105-158.

The following are taken from Pastells's edition of Colin's Labor evangélica:

10. Aid asked for Jesuits.--Tomo iii, pp. 786, 787.

11. Two Jesuit memorials.--Tomo iii, pp. 804, 805.

The following is taken from Historia general de los religiosos descalzos ... de San Agustin:

12. Recollect missions, 1646-60.--Part ii, by Luis de Jesús (Madrid, 1681), pp. 371-373, from a copy in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago; and part iii, by Diego de Santa Theresa (Barcelona, 1743) pp. 134-558, from a copy in the Library of Congress--using only such matter as relates to the Philippines.

The following is obtained from an old pamphlet not usually included in Philippine bibliographies:

13. Description of Filipinas, 1662.--From a pamphlet published at Puebla, Mexico, in 1662; it is bound in with Letona's Perfecta religiosa (Puebla, 1662, a rare work), in the copy possessed by Antonio Graiño y Martinez, Madrid.

The following is obtained from Sinibaldo de Mas's Informe de las Islas Filipinas:

14. Administracion de Justicia (1842).--Vol. ii, no. 12.

NOTES

[1] Evidently a reference to the "Relation" of Father Fayol, q.v., Vol. XXXV, pp. 212-275.

[2] This was the mother of the dead prince Baltasar Cárlos--Isabel (or Elizabeth) of France, daughter of Henri IV; she died October 6, 1644.

[3] i.e., "The crown of our head has fallen."

[4] Spanish, una media naranja, literally, "a half orange."

[5] The original verses are given for this and following stanzas, because of the plays on words which cannot be perfectly rendered in English.

[6] Codal: A short thick wax candle, one cubit in length.

[7] Upon the occasion of the death of the late pope Leo XIII, a rich catafalque was erected in the great cathedral of Sevilla, between the choir and the high altar, and services were conducted somewhat in the same manner as here described.

[8] Diego Patiño was born June 1, 1598, at Tarancon, in the diocese of Cuenca, and entered his novitiate March 22, 1613. After teaching grammar he went to the Philippines in 1622. He had charge of missions in Catubig, Malanao, Iligan, and Dapitan; was afterwards associate to the provincial, rector of Catbologan and Manila, and provincial of the Philippines; and was finally sent to Rome as procurator. He was versed in the various dialects of the Bisayan Islands. See Sommervogel's Bibliothèque, and post, note 9.

[9] The archbishop of Manila, Miguel Poblete, wrote to the king in like terms under date of July 8, 1654, as did also the bishop of Nueva Cáceres, under date of December 15, 1654. When Father Diego Patiño reached Mexico, he obtained permission from the viceroy there (June 26, 1656) to go to Madrid and Rome. Patiño died of suffocation from hernia, in Tenerife at the convent of the Dominicans, July 26, 1657, and was succeeded in his office by Brother Francisco Bello, who presented his licenses, authorizations, and memoranda to the Council, September 30, 1659 [sic. in Pastells, but probably 1658.] Recruits finally reached the Jesuits in 1662. The above document is only one of many written by various persons, detailing the need of the Jesuit missions and petitioning aid. See Pastells's Colin, iii, pp. 787-790, where some of these letters are given with press-marks.

[10] Magino Sola was born at Girona, April 22, 1605, and was admitted into the Society of Jesus, August 15, 1624. He went to the Philippines, where he labored among the natives for three years, was procurator of his province for four years, minister at Manila for three years, rector of Silang, and after 1659 procurator for the Philippines in Spain. He died at Cadiz, October 31, 1664. Sommervogel mentions two letters written by him.

[11] A note of Ventura del Arco, the transcriber and synopsizer of this document, says: "It is not exact to say that this was the cause of the insurrection of the Sangleys either in 1639 or in 1603."

[12] Miguel Solana was born in Castilla, June 1, 1594; at the age of eighteen he entered the Jesuit order, and ten years later (1622) came to the Philippines. During twenty years he ministered to both the Spaniards and the natives, and later was (twice) provincial, and procurator-general at Madrid. He died at San Miguel, December 21, 1669.

Cf. this document with "Jesuit missions in 1656" (Vol. XXVIII of this series, pp. 78-103), both being written by royal command.

[13] This information is obtained by Montero y Vidal from a report made in 1654 by the Jesuits, at the order of the colonial government; it is probably one of the local reports used by Solana in compiling the preceding account.

[14] Murillo Velarde says of the Lutaos (Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 73b): "They are capable and alert, and remind me of the gypsies in España."

[15] Montero y Vidal adds: "It is seen, then, that the Christian population in charge of the Jesuits in Mindanao and adjacent regions was at that time 50,000 souls. The discalced Augustinians, who had gone to aid the Jesuits in 1621 in extending their jurisdictions of Butuan and Caraga, had 20,000 more or so in charge. As the entire population of the island was, according to Father Colin, calculated at that time at 150,000, it follows that more than two-fifths had embraced Christianity and were obedient to Spanish authority."

[16] Before embracing a religious life, Brother Francisco Bello (or Vello) had been a fine business man and merchant, and had a thorough knowledge of the Orient. See Pastells's Colin, iii, p. 806.

[17] Considerable legislation took place in regard to these two memorials. They were submitted to Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who indited his reply from Santander, November 22, 1658, in which he corroborated the statements of Vello, and advises that the suggestions in both be followed. They were also submitted to one Licentiate Antonio de León Pinedo, because of his knowledge of such matters, who answered under date of Madrid, January 10, 1659, advising that the forts of Terrenate be annexed to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Philippines. The fiscal, reporting on the matter at Madrid, February 11, 1659, also favors the establishment of a tribunal of the Inquisition at Manila and the merging of the Terrenate forts in the archbishopric of Manila. On March 11, 1659, the council resolved that the viceroy and Audiencia of Nueva España report pro and con on the founding of a tribunal of the Inquisition in Manila, after conferring with the inquisitor of Mexico; also that the governor and archbishop of the Philippines report on the means of supporting a tribunal of the Inquisition without royal expense. A royal decree of April 24, 1659, directed to the governor and Audiencia of the Philippines, orders them to report pro and con on the separation of the Terrenate forts from the bishopric of Malacca and their addition to the archbishopric of Manila. Another decree of like date addressed to the viceroy and Audiencia of Nueva España orders a report on the establishment of a tribunal in Manila. Although the memorials are without date, it is probable that they were presented to the royal Council in the latter part of 1658; for Bello succeeded Patiño as procurator-general at Tenerife, July 26, 1657. See the original documents presented by Pastells (Colin, iii, pp. 806-810).

[18] Mateo Bermudez was one of the Dominican mission that arrived in the islands in 1626. He ministered in Formosa, and in the Parián of Manila; and was afterward procurator at Madrid and Rome, and visitador to the American provinces. In 1658 he returned to Mexico, remaining there until his death (1673), at the age of eighty.

[19] In the MS. this latter clause is separated from the preceding one, but obviously refers to it. The argument of Solana is: The Dominican school requires the teachings of St. Thomas, "the Angelical Doctor," to be maintained. But St. Thomas opposed the belief and doctrine of the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin Mary. In Solana's day the dogma of the immaculate conception had not yet been defined by the Church; it then was a moot question. But in that day the belief in and teaching of the immaculate conception was common, though not (as said) of duty--Dominicans only, one may say, holding to the contrary. The pupils, then, of Santo Tomas had to swear to uphold what was not common belief, although it was not then heretical.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.

[20] Many passages in this document are very involved and elliptical, and in some places the sense is not at all clear. The translation is necessarily somewhat free, at times, in wording; but it is believed that the author's meaning is, as a rule, accurately rendered.--Rev. T. C. Middleton, O. S. A.

[21] This description of the Philippines appears in a manuscript book of an itinerary of the district of the Inquisition of Mexico, made by the order of the bishop of Plasencia, Diego de Arce Reynoso, a member of his Majesty's Council and inquisitor-general of his kingdoms and seigniories, and given to Pedro de Medina Rico, visitor of the Inquisition of the City of Mexico and its districts. The Philippines have place in this itinerary, as they were under the Inquisition of Mexico. This general visit or itinerary was to include a general review of all things affecting the Inquisition, its establishments and employees.

[22] That is, along the bay shore in the other direction--northward from the city of Manila.

[23] This is a misstatement, for the three islands of Samar, Negros, and Panay are larger than Paragua, the areas of the four islands in square miles being respectively, 5,031, 4,881, 4,611, and 4,027. See Census of Philippine Islands, ii, p. 30.

[24] The island of Cebú has an area of 1,762 square miles; Bohol, 1,441; 2,722; 5,031; Samar, 5,031; Negros, 4,881; Bantayan (the Bantallan of the text), 47; Panai, 4,611; Mindanao, 36,292. See Census of Philippine Islands, ii, p. 30.

[25] Bachian, not Ternate, is the largest of the Moluccas, its area being 800 square geographical miles, while that of Ternate is only 11.5. See Crawfurd's Dictionary.

[26] The following two sections are taken from the Historia de los religiosos descalzos (Madrid, 1681) of Luis de Jesús, pp. 371-373.

[27] The title-page of this book, translated, reads as follows: "General history of the discalced religious of the Order of the hermits of the great father and doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, of the congregation of España and of the Indias. Volume third: which was written by the very reverend father Fray Diego de Santa Theresa, pensioned lecturer, ex-definitor, and chronicler-general of the said congregation; arranged and enlarged by Father Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, pensioned lecturer, calificador of the Holy Office, definitor of the holy province of Aragon, and chronicler-general. Dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Pilar [i.e., "our Lady of the Pillar"] of Zaragoza. Containing apologetic additions to the first volume in defense of the discalced Augustinians, in answer to what was written against them by the father master Fray Alonso de Villerino; and one decade, namely, from the year 1651 to that of 1660. With license. In Barcelona; at the press of the heirs of Juan Pablo and Maria Martí, under the management of Mauro Martí, in the year 1743." The heading of the dedication is as follows: "To the sovereign queen of heaven and earth, on her throne of the pillar in Zaragoza" and it is followed by a long and curious letter of dedication. We translate and condense from a copy owned by the Library of Congress, which bears the following inscription: [This book] belongs to the Library of the convent of the discalced Augustinian fathers of Valladolid. Fray Tomas de San José, Librarian."

[28] Manobos: This name is applied to several pagan Malay tribes in northern and eastern Mindanao, the word meaning "man"--just as many other savage tubes in all parts of the world designate themselves as "men" ("the men," par excellence); but Santa Theresa's description of them does not accord with that of Dr. Barrows. (See Census of Philippine Islands, i, pp. 461, 462.)

[29] The same name as Dávao, that of the province occupying the southeastern part of Mindanao.

[30] i.e. "Black vomit;" a reference to the yellow fever, which is still prevalent today in that region.

[31] i.e., "within two days' journey."

[32] i.e., "When officiating in his duties, and as far as it relates to the care of souls."

[33] The Negritos (who have been frequently mentioned in previous volumes of this series), or Aetas, form part of the Eastern division of the pygmy race of blacks. In the Philippines, the Negritos are tound mainly in Luzón and Panay, and in northeastern Mindanao; in smaller numbers they also inhabit districts in Palawan and Negros, and in some small islands besides. As in our text, they are, in Luzón, often mentioned in connection with the Zambals--who "were the most indolent and backward of the Malayan peoples," and "who, in the days before the arrival of the Europeans, were in such close contact with the Negritos as to impose on them their language, and they have done it so thoroughly that no trace of an original Negrito dialect remains." See W. A. Reed's study of the "Negritos of Zambales," vol. ii, part i of Ethnological Survey Publications (Manila, 1904); it contains valuable information, based on actual field-work among those people, regarding their habitat, physical features, dress, industrial and social life, amusements, superstitions, etc., with numerous illustrations.

[34] Apparently this comparison of financial statements was inserted by Fray Pedro de San Francisco de Assis, the editor of Santa Theresa's work.

[35] Agutaya is the principal island of the northern Cuyos group, and contains a town of the same name.

[36] There are several places of this name in the islands; the reference in the text is probably Taytay, the chief town of northern Palawan.

[37] Baler is capital of the subprovince of Príncipe, in Luzón; its latitude is 15° 40' 6" North.

[38] The following statement by Dr. David P. Barrows--who is chief of the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes, Manila, and is probably our best authority on this subject--presents the latest view regarding the origin of the Filipinos, adopted after much patient and enthusiastic research in that field by him and other American ethnologists. It may be found in the recently-published Census of the Philippine Islands, i, pp. 411-417.

"Ethnologically, no less than geographically, the Philippines belong to the Malay archipelago. With the exception of the aboriginal dwarf blacks, the Negritos, who are still found inhabiting the forests in a great number of localities, all the tribes of the islands, whether Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan, are, in my belief, derived from the Malayan race. We probably have in these tribes two types which represent an earlier and a later wave of immigration; but all came from the south, all speak languages belonging to one common stock, and all are closely related in physical type and qualities of mind. As representative of the first migratory movement may be named the Igorot, the mountain head-hunter of Northern Luzón; and of the latter almost any of the present Christian or Mohammedan tribes. The migratory period of this latter type, which constitutes the great bulk of the present population of the islands, is almost covered by the early historical accounts of the exploration and settlement of the Far East.

"Four hundred years ago, when the Portuguese discoverers and conquerors reached southeastern Asia, they found the long peninsula in which the continent ends, and the islands stretching south and east in this greatest and most famous of archipelagoes, inhabited by a race which called itself Malayu. On the island of Java this race had some ten centuries before been conquered by Brahmin Hindus from India, whose great monuments and temples still exist in the ruins of Boro Budor. Through the influence and power of the Hindus the Malay culture made a considerable advance, and a Sanskrit element, amounting in some cases to twenty per cent of the words, entered the Malayan languages. How far the Hindu actually extended his conquests and settlements is a most interesting study, but can hardly yet be settled. He may have colonized the shores of Manila Bay and the coast of Luzón, where the names of numerous ancient places show a Sanskrit origin. The Sanskrit element is most pronounced in the Tagálog and Moro tongues. (Pardo de Tavera, El Sanscrito en la lengua Tagala.)

"Following the Hindus into the Malay archipelago came the Arabs. They came first as voyagers and merchants, and here as always the Arab was a proselyter, and his faith spread rapidly. Long before the Portuguese arrival Islamism had succeeded Brahminism and the Arab had supplanted the Hindu.... Mohammedanism gradually made its way until, on the arrival of the Europeans, its frontiers were almost the same as those of the Malay race itself.

"The people who carried this faith, and who still rank as the type of the race, were the seafaring population, living in boats as well us on the shore, who control the islands of the straits between Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo. These people received from the Portuguese the name of Cellates, a corruption of Orang Salat (Sea Folk). Under the influence of Mohammedanism this race, which seems to have originated in Sumatra, improved in culture, formed many settlements and principalities, and because of their seagoing habits, their enjoyment of trade, and their lust for piracy, carried their name (Malayu), their language, and their adopted Mohammedan religion throughout the Malay archipelago. Probably as early as 1300 these adventurers established a colony on northwest Borneo, opposite the island of Labuan, which colony received the name of Brunei, from which has been derived the name of the whole island, Borneo. The island was already inhabited by Malayan tribes of more primitive culture, of which the Dyak is the best known. From this settlement of Borneo the Mohammedanized Malay extended his influence and his settlements to the Sulu archipelago, to Mindanao, to Mindoro, and to Manila Bay." The people of Sulúan, whom Magellan encountered near Sámar, "were almost certainly of the same stock from which the present great Visayan people are in the main descended. Many things incline me to believe that these natives had come, in successively extending settlements, up the west coast of Mindanao from the Sulu archipelago.... To the present day the physical type and the language, persisting unchanged in spite of changes of culture, closely relate the Visayan to the Moro. In addition to these arrivals from the archipelago of Sulu there was probably a more primitive Malayan population, whom the later arrivals already had more or less in subjection, as the Moros even now control the pagans on the mainland of Mindanao.... Thus we may infer that at the time of the discovery there were on these central islands of the archipelago, a primitive, tattooed Malayan people, related on the one hand to the still primitive and pagan tribes of the Philippines, and on the other hand to the wild head-hunting tribes of Borneo; and in addition intruding and dominating later arrivals, who were the seafaring Malays."

Interesting in this connection is the following remark on the Negritos by Taw Sein Ko, in his "Origin of the Burmese Race," published in the magazine Buddhism, (Rangoon, Burma), in March, 1904: "There remains the question as to the autochthonous races which were displaced by the Burmese, Talaings, Shans, Chins, and Karens in Burma. Before the advent of these nations, the Negrito race appears to have occupied southeastern Asia, including Burma. Remnants of it are still found in the Andaman Islands, Philippines, Borneo, and Malaya."

[39] Apparently a reference to Manuel Estacio Venegas, a favorite of Fajardo's, whose downfall Letona relates in sect. 59.

[40] Vascongado: a term applied to the people or products of the Spanish provinces of Alava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya (or Biscay).

[41] A phonetic rendering of one of the numerous names of a noted Chinese corsair--generally known as Kue-sing or Ko-xinga; La Concepción also gives, as his original Chinese name, Tching-tching-cong, and Coseng and Punpuan (in Diaz, Cogsin and Pompóan) as other appellations. He also says that Kue-sing (the name meaning "adopted son of a king") was adopted by the emperor Congun, who had no sons. The accounts of various writers do not agree regarding the early history of this adventurer; but that given by our text is apparently corroborated by other accounts of Kue-sing's achievements and exploits during his later years. Detailed relations of his career, and of his attempt upon the Philippines, may be found in Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 461, 551-555, 616-637; Santa Cruz's Hist. de Filipinas, pp. 271-278, etc.; Murillo Velarde's Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 270b-275; La Concepción's Hist. de Philipinas, vi, pp. 345 (sc. 355)-359, and vii, pp. 38-56; Ferrando's Hist. PP. Dominicos, iii, pp. 12-17, 29-41, 47-67, 78-98; Montero y Vidal's Hist. de Filipinas, i, pp. 313-322, 329. Ferrando calls Kue-sing the "Attila of the East."

[42] Vittorio Ricci (Spanish Riccio) was a relative of the noted Jesuit, Mateo Ricci. He made profession as a Dominican in 1635, and was a student and afterward a teacher in the Dominican college at Rome. Meeting there (1643) the noted Fray J. B. Morales, Ricci decided to return with him to the East, and arrived at Manila in 1648. There he ministered to the Chinese for seven years, when he was sent to the China mission. He was much favored by the noted Kue-sing (or Ko-xinga), who obliged him to become his ambassador to Manila (1662). Returning to China, Ricci found that Kue-sing was dead, and persuaded the latter's officers that it was to their interest to maintain peace and commerce with the Spaniards--for which purpose they sent him again to Manila, as here narrated. In 1664 a persecution arose in China, and the missionaries were summoned to Peking. Fearing to obey, as he had been on Kue-sing's side, Ricci fled to Formosa, and afterward (March, 1666) returned to Manila--where he was imprisoned for some time. Afterward he held various important offices in his order, and aided in the compilation of Santa Cruz's continuation of Aduarte's history. He died at the Parián, February 17, 1685. See Reseña biográfica, ii, pp. 461-464.

[43] The letter of Kue-sing, and the governor's reply, may be found in Diaz's Conquistas, pp. 625, 626, 629-631; and Murillo Velarde's Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 271, 274.

[44] The order to abandon Zamboanga arrived there on June 19, 1662; but this was not accomplished until April, 1663. The commandant of this fort at that time was Fernando de Bobadilla. Paquian Bactial, king of Joló, as soon as he heard of the proposed abandonment, plotted to kill all the Spaniards in Zamboanga, and make it his own capital; he asked Corralat to aid in this enterprise, but the latter refused to break his peace with the Spaniards. Royal decrees at various times ordered that fort to be again occupied; but this was not done until 1718, under the rule of Governor Bustamente. (See Murillo Velarde's Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 275, 276.)

[45] Probably thus named from the tree called talisay (Terminalia catappa), as perhaps constructed from its wood. Its bark is used for dyeing; and its seeds are edible, resembling almonds. See Blanco's Flora (ed. 1845), p. 264; and Official Handbook of Philippines, pp. 309, 356.

[46] Referring to the Dominican Riccio, who with the title of mandarin had brought Kue-sing's message.

[47] "From the cattle-herds on the ranches, and other men who were skilful in managing horses, he formed a cavalry troop of 400 men, in command of Don Francisco de Figueroa" (Murillo Velarde, Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 273).

[48] José de Madrid, a native of Cebú, was a student and later a teacher, in the college of Santo Tomás at Manila, having entered the Dominican order in 1646. He went to China, but, fearing to lose his life, returned to Manila, only to die, as here related, at the hands of the Chinese (May 25, 1662).

[49] These were Malays who had accompanied the Spaniards from Ternate, where they formed a village, their name meaning "free people" (Pastells's ed. of Colin's Labor evangélica, iii, pp. 266, 812). La Concepción (Hist. de Philipinas, vii, p. 102) says: "Under this name [i.e., Mardicas, or Merdicas] are included natives of Ternate, Tidore, and Siao; of Manados, Cauripa, Celebes, and Macasar. They were allotted a dwelling-place at Marigondon, on the great bay of Manila ... and theirs is the island of Corregidor, from which they give warning of the ships that they descry, by signal-fires." He says that they speak three languages--Spanish, Tagálog, and their own dialect; and "regard themselves as the spiritual sons of St. Francis Xavier, to whom they are singularly devoted--a feeling inspired by their forefathers, who had known him and witnessed his marvelous works." Ferrando says (Hist. PP. Dominicos, iii, p. 94) that these people have preserved their own dialect, usages, and customs; and up to recent times had not intermarried with the Filipinos of neighboring villages.

[50] La Estacada (literally "the stockade") was on the same side of the Pasig River as Binondoc, but separated from that village by the little estuary which leads to the village of Tondo. See Muñoz's map of Manila and its suburbs (1671) in Pastells's edition of Colin's Labor evangélica, iii, p. 824; this map will be reproduced in the present series.

[51] Spanish falsabraga: "a parapet constructed at a lower elevation than the main parapet, and between the parapet and the edge of the ditch. It was used only in permanent fortification, and has long been obsolete;" see Wilhelm's Military Dictionary (Phila., 1881), p. 158.

[52] Cf. with this description the fortifications indicated on Muñoz's map, mentioned ante, p. 243, note 50.

In order to prevent the enemy from fortifying large buildings outside the walls, "orders were issued to demolish the churches of Santiago, Bagumbaya, Hermita, Malate, Parañaque, Dilao, San Lazaro, the Parian, and Santa Cruz--besides various country houses which the Spaniards own in those environs." (Murillo Velarde's Hist. de Philipinas, fol. 272.)

[53] This son was called Kin-sié, also known as Tching King-may and Sipuan; La Concepción says (vii, p. 55) that he, "who had been reared in the study, among books, did nothing to cultivate the country which his father had acquired with so many dangers and fatigues, and the troops therefore became, in his service, lax and cowardly."

[54] The references in this document to the rulers of China can hardly be satisfactorily identified; the various names given to the same person, the conflicting claims of various usurpers or temporary rulers, and the struggle between the dying Ming dynasty and the Manchu conquerors, cause great confusion and uncertainty in the history of that period. The actual ruler of China was then the Manchu Chuntche (1646-61); he was succeeded by his second son, Kanghi.

[55] Nanking was, under some early Chinese dynasties, the capital of the empire. This name signifies merely "Southern Court;" the proper appellation of the city is Kianningfu. Odoric of Pordenoñe, who visited it near the year 1325, says that its walls had a circuit of forty miles, and in it were three hundred and sixty stone bridges, the finest in the world (Yule's Cathay, i, pp. 120, 121).

[56] This was Hia-mun, or Emuy (known by the English as Amoy); it lies off the province of Fuh-kien, at the mouth of the Lung-kiang ("Dragon") River. On it lies the city of Amoy, a large and important commercial port; it has one of the best harbors on the coast. (Williams's Middle Kingdom, i, pp. 114, 115.)

[57] Diaz relates this (Conquistas, p. 619) in greater detail. "The Tartar [i.e., Chuntche], seeing himself reduced to so great straits ... resolved to command that all the [inhabited places on the] maritime coasts should be laid waste and dismantled, for a distance of three or four leguas inland, throughout the more than eight hundred leguas of coasts which that empire possesses. This, to the great injury of the empire, left demolished and razed to the ground innumerable settlements and cities, enough to compose several kingdoms. This was the greatest conflagration and havoc that the world has seen, ... and only populous China could be the fit theater for such a tragedy, and only the cruel barbarity of the Tartars [could make them the] inventors and executors of such destruction. The upheaval which the execution of this so unexampled cruelty caused cannot be described; the loss of property is incalculable; and human thought cannot conceive the horror produced by the sight of so many thousands of towns and cities burning. At last this general conflagration was completed, the fire lasting many days--the clouds of smoke reaching as far as Hia-muen, more than twenty leguas, and the sun not being visible in all that broad expanse. Stations were established at suitable distances for easily rendering aid, well garrisoned with soldiers; and watch-towers were erected a legua apart, to keep a lookout over the sea-coasts. A public proclamation forbade any person to pass the bounds assigned, four leguas distant from the seashore. With these precautions, if Kue-sing's ships landed there, a great number of soldiers were quickly assembled to dispute his entrance into the country--thus keeping within bounds Kue-sing, who now did not encounter sleeping men."

[58] Referring to the bay whereon was situated the chief settlement and fort of the Dutch in Formosa, that of Tai-wan, in the southwestern part of the island.

[59] Apparently referring to the usual despatch of several copies of a letter, to ensure its safe receipt. The form of this summary would indicate that it is made by Ventura del Arco; and it is followed by a tracing of Salcedo's autograph.

[60] Either this date or the date 1665 (see post, p. 266) is doubtless a transcriber's error.

[61] I Corinthians, vii, 20.

[62] Alcalde de monterilla: An ironical and descriptive qualification of petty judges (Dominguez's Diccionario).

[63] As appears from a note by Mas, the alcaldes paid a certain sum for the privilege of trading. Their salaries in 1840 were variously for the sums of 300, 600, and 1,000 (one instance) pesos. The trading privilege cost from 40 to 300 pesos.

[64] This is the famous philosophical treatise on political science, which was published by Charles de Secondat, baron de la Brède de Montesquieu, in 1748, and was the product of twenty years' work.

[65] Jeremy Bentham, the English jurist and philosopher who lived in the years 1748-1832.

[66] Probably referring to La scienza della legislazione of Gaetano Filangieri, the Italian jurist, who lived 1752-88. He was influenced somewhat by Montesquieu.

[67] i.e., Of the Leyes de Indias.