Part 10

Finally, Sir, our lofty desire for the general welfare of so many provinces, and the pleasure which we shall all feel in the prosperity and success of your Lordship--which, as [that of] the first and principal head [of this colony], must overflow in all its parts and subjects--impel us to point out to your Lordship how worthy of all assistance and effort in your Christian government is the pitiable condition to which the Christian villages are reduced, now one of poverty and barrenness, even of the native products. And those villages to which, it would seem, their age (which now is more than a century) must furnish greater abundance of produce and wealth rightfully their own, are in the same condition and the same poverty as are the villages that are more recent and less encouraged by the ecclesiastical ministers and the civil officials of these islands; and they can never enjoy any improvement, spiritual or temporal. The remedy for this--which ought to be effective, prompt, and steadily continued--in our humble opinion, is made up of various measures: some for the amelioration and redress of all the evils and difficulties already related to your Lordship, whose peremptory and executive orders must render them effectual; and others which, it seems to us, ought to be charged upon the alcaldes-mayor, and upon the proper ministers who are closest to the Indians themselves (who are the ecclesiastics), in order that they may by every means arouse and animate the slothful natures of the Indians, by instructing them in industries that will be useful to themselves, and in application to an [object of] desire that is honorable and advantageous to the public or to individuals of all the villages. This depends on and consists in not allowing that very abundance and fertility which our Lord has given to these islands to be destroyed with waste and negligence; for it is evident that the enormous sum of silver which necessity, against the royal orders, transfers to foreign kingdoms ruled by infidels and heretics, could remain in the islands themselves, and be converted into property, profit, and the acquisition of wealth for many poor persons. For there are found in these islands, as is well known, abundance of gold, amber, tortoise-shell, various cotton fabrics, wax, and many other native products, even omitting those that concern the sowing of the fields. If these were multiplied in both amount and kinds, it cannot be doubted that they would contribute to the villages, with considerable abundance, wealth and products; and that all the beneficial effects which can be desired would result, in favor of his Majesty and of the public welfare. The chief of these are: first, that all the painful burdens, unavoidable and necessary, which the natives have to bear, and which they lament, would become more easy and light for them, and that they would live a more social and civilized life; second, that their affection, loyalty, and obedience to his Majesty and to your Lordship in his name, as the authors of their prosperity, repose, and advantage, would be enormously increased. Third, all the Christian Indians would be more steadfast and rooted in the holy faith, and would become effective and most suitable instruments for [gaining] new conversions of infidels [and] apostates, the infidels themselves beholding the abundant wealth and profit, and other benefits, of the Christian Indians; for it is the temporal welfare evident to their senses which, as experience teaches us, strongly influences both classes of Indians, to be converted or to maintain themselves in the Christian faith. This same object will be greatly aided by inducing the Indians to settle and form villages; for, in the mode of life in which they now are found, in most of the provinces and villages in which the minister who instructs them is stationed and resides a certain number are destitute of houses, and all the rest of the people live so far away and so scattered that many are obliged to travel three or four leguas in order to be present on a festival day at the church--from which remoteness it also follows that, without any fault of the said ministers, many persons die without receiving the holy sacraments.

Such, Sir, are the evils, and such are the remedies which our consciences, our charity, and our zeal have dictated to us as being most worthy of gaining the attention of your Lordship--at whose feet, through the means of these lines, so many poor Indians approach to prostrate themselves. Neophytes, and bereft of all human protection, they have recourse to your Lordship, not only as to their governor and judge, but also as to a kind father--in whose term of office they hope that peace and justice will again flourish; and that the rights of the poor, and redress for their oppressions, will often obtain a hearing from your Lordship. This, it appears, has not been the case in other times, certainly at the cost of many tears, which were little heeded and never dried by the sovereignty and power that ought to do so. In their name, and only for the objects pointed out at the beginning of this memorial, and that by it we may unburden our own consciences, we are under obligation, at least according to charity, to solicit for them aid and justice.

We humbly entreat that your Lordship will be pleased, in regard to these points, to carry out what his Majesty ordains, and to take such measures as your Lordship may deem most suitable for prompt execution, most easy to be obeyed, and most conformable to the royal will; and we expect that what your Lordship shall judge to be most expedient will be in every way the best, since his Majesty has entrusted to your care, zeal, generous nature, and nobility the supreme government of these islands. Manila, October 7, in the year 1701.

Fray Jose Vila, provincial of the province of Santissimo Rosario.

Fray Francisco de Santa Ynes, provincial of St. Francis.

Fray Jose Lopez, provincial of the Augustinians.

Luis de Morales, provincial of the Society of Jesus.

Fray Bartolome de la Santissima Trinidad, provincial of the discalced Recollects of St. Augustine.

EVENTS OF 1701-1715

[The following summary is made from Concepción's Historia de Philipinas, viii, pp. 299-391:]

[Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora is succeeded, after eleven years as governor, by Don Domingo de Zabalburú y Echeverri, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was appointed in 1694, but does not take possession until September 8, 1701. Finding considerable money in the royal treasury, he employs it on important public works. He constructs wharves at Cavite, completes the royal storehouses, and rebuilds the powder-factory lower down from Malate, with suitable fortifications for its defense; and he pays careful attention to the construction of galleons for the Acapulco trade-route. A quarrel arising between the petty kings of Mindanao and Joló, the former (named Curay) is slain, and his successor asks Governor Zabalburú for aid against the Joloans, which the governor prudently declines to furnish. In the year 1705 the Manila galleon "San Xavier" departs from Acapulco, and is never heard from, being lost with all it contains, to the great sorrow and loss of the citizens of Manila. One of the auditors goes (1702) as official visitor to the province of Camarines, [35] and disturbs its affairs with his "scandalous proceedings," especially his accusations against the Franciscan friars who are in charge of the Indian villages there. In consequence, they hasten to Manila to secure the aid of the courts there, leaving their charges without spiritual ministrations; the Franciscan provincial is therefore despatched to that province with orders to station ministers therein. Those missions had previously been for forty-five years in the hands of the Recollects.]

[In September, 1704, arrives at Manila the papal legate Carlos Thomas Tournon, on his way to China for the settlement of various ecclesiastical difficulties there; he treats the governor and other officials [36] with arrogance, refusing to exhibit his credentials, and exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction to such an extent that he antagonizes the religious orders and infringes on the royal prerogatives. These proceedings are tolerated by both governor and archbishop, although manifestly improper and objectionable; but when they are reported at Madrid the king is greatly displeased, and decrees that the governor be removed from office, and disqualified for holding it, and those of the auditors who assented to his acts be punished. Archbishop Camacho also incurs the displeasure of the king, which is increased by his having meddled with the affairs of the royal seminary of San Phelipe, and used at his own pleasure certain ecclesiastical revenues properly in charge of the secular government; and the governor fails to check him, and even to notify the home government of these unwarranted proceedings, which are reported at Madrid by ecclesiastical channels. Camacho is accordingly removed from his see, and transferred to the bishopric of Guadalaxara in Mexico. [37] (He is regarded by Concepción as a very zealous and charitable prelate; he collected from various sources more than 40,000 pesos, which he spent in the adornment and improvement of the cathedral church at Manila, and for this and other pious purposes he incurred debts amounting to over 20,000 pesos more. He promoted the missions of Paynaan and San Isidro, going in person to persuade the Aetas (or Negritos) to be converted.) Zabalburú, having undergone his residencia, leaves Manila in the year 1710, and, after having suffered shipwreck in the Bahama Channel, reaches Spain, where he dies after a few years. In 1707 the Acapulco galleon "Rosario" arrives, "with so much silver that it made that fair [at Acapulco] famous;" it also brings a new archbishop, Fray Francisco de la Cuesta, "a professed religious in the distinguished monastic order of San Geronimo," who wins golden opinions from all. [38] Before long, however, the old question of the right of episcopal visitation of the regular curas again arises; Cuesta tries to enforce this right, but with little result. [39] A full account of this is given by Concepción, with the arguments adduced therein.]

[In 1709 the new governor arrives, Conde de Lizarraga (appointed in 1704); he is equitable, upright, and of affable manners. He finds an undesirable surplus of Chinamen in the islands, and sends back many of them to their own country, although many others buy permission to remain in Luzón. [40] During his term occurs the controversy between some of the friar orders and the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Fray Diego de Gorospe y Irala (himself a Dominican), over the claim of the latter to include the regulars in his official visitations. The matter is carried to the Audiencia, the decision of which is unfavorable to the bishop; he dies soon afterward (early in 1714?), after having occupied his see nine years. Little else appears to mark the official term of Lizarraga, who dies in 1715.]

THE GOVERNMENT AND DEATH OF BUSTAMANTE

[A brief summary of the events antecedent to and connected with the government of Bustamante is here presented, obtained from the very detailed and prolix account in Concepción's Historia de Philipinas, ix, pp. 183-424.]

[The Conde de Lizarraga, who began to govern the islands in August, 1709, dies at Manila on February 4, 1715; and the vacancy in his office is, as usual, temporarily filled by the Audiencia, Auditor José Torralba assuming charge of military affairs. In the Tournon affair of 1704, the senior auditor, José Antonio Pabon, had not resisted Tournon's unwarranted assumption of authority, and had therefore inclined the displeasure of the home government, being deprived of his office and fined. He thereupon petitioned for a reversal of this sentence, and restitution to his office and salary, which was granted by a royal decree of April 15, 1713; this document arrives at Manila during Torralba's rule, who declines, on various pretexts, to reinstate Pabon, and even attempts to obtain evidence damaging to his official character. Pabon therefore is obliged to take refuge in the Augustinian convent at Manila, and remains there until the arrival of Bustamante; the latter brings suit against Torralba to compel him to obey the royal decree in favor of Pabon, and to pay all moneys due to the auditor. Torralba had also instituted proceedings against another auditor, Gregorio Manuel de Villa, and two officers, Santos Perez Tagle and Luis Antonio de Tagle, on the charge of their having aided and abetted the Castilian Recollect religious in their revolt against their superiors in the order. (After the dissensions between the religious orders and Archbishop Camacho, resulting from his attempt to enforce episcopal visitation of the regular curas, the despatch of missionaries to the islands is greatly diminished,

## partly on account of those dissensions, partly because the "seas are

infested with English and Dutch squadrons." All the orders therefore suffer from a scarcity of laborers; but the Recollects are fortunately reënforced by a mission band, conducted by Fray Joseph de Santa Gertrudis, of fifty-seven religious, "among them the flower of the province of Castilla." Later, in the distribution of the ministries and offices of the order in the islands, strife arises; the older members of the province--mostly from Aragón, with some from Valencia and Cataluña--secure all the best offices, as against the Castilians. When the provincial chapter meets, the latter present their claims, but are rebuffed; thereupon they convene a chapter of their own, in the convent at Bagumbayan, and elect a provincial and other officers. This throws all the business of the order into confusion, and Governor Lizarraga persuades the two parties to refer the controversy to the head of the order in Europe and to abide by his decision, which finally recognizes as legal the chapter held at Manila. Various difficulties arise in attempting to enforce this decision, but Lizarraga, who favors the Castilians, induces the provincial to leave them with their students at Bagumbayan. After the governor's death, Torralba aids the provincial by sending troops and bombarding that convent, to bring back the recalcitrants to Manila.) Torralba, having arrested Villa and the Tagles, keeps them in rigorous confinement, and hinders their appeal to the Council of the Indias; both sides send to Madrid statements of their respective claims. By royal decrees of August 18, 1718, all of Torralba's proceedings against them, as well as against Auditor Pabon, are declared null and void, and they are restored to their respective offices. Bustamante assumes the governorship on August 9, 1717; his first proceeding is to investigate the condition of the royal treasury, which he finds in bad condition, with large sums due to it and unpaid by the citizens. He takes severe measures to compel the payment of these debts to the government--among them, laying an embargo on the cargo of the galleon which comes this year from Acapulco, in which large amounts of goods and money have been brought illegally, to avoid payment of duties. A complete investigation of the ownership and registration of this wealth is ordered, the governor placing it in the charge of Andres Fernandez de Arquiju and Esteban Hizguiño. As a consequence of the governor's energetic measures, within the first six months of his government the sum of 220,671 pesos is placed in the royal treasury, besides the situado for that year, which amounts to 74,482 pesos; and the balance of accounts on February 1, 1718, shows that the treasury actually contains 293,444 pesos, besides jewels and other valuables deposited for debts to the crown. Concepción gives the principal items of revenue and expense at that time. An embargo is also laid on the silver which comes in the galleon of 1718, but little advantage therefrom results to the treasury. This financial investigation also shows that Torralba, during his government, and the royal officials had mismanaged the royal revenues, shown great carelessness in the bookkeeping, accounts, and allowed funds to disappear without any satisfactory accounting; Bustamante therefore imprisons them all, and seizes their goods.]

[At various times the Christian natives of the island of Paragua ask the Manila government, through the Recollect missionaries in whose care they are, for a Spanish fort and garrison in their island to protect them from the Moro pirates; but no action is taken on this until 1718, when Bustamante orders a fort to be built at Labo, near the southern point of the island. [41] The Recollect province contributes to this enterprise 500 pesos, which are due to it from the royal treasury. About the same time the fortress at Zamboanga is also rebuilt, Bustamante insisting upon this work, against the advice of many of his counselors. He sends an embassy to Siam, to establish with that king friendly and commercial relations; the Spaniards are received with great pomp and lavish entertainment, and rich presents are exchanged in behalf of the respective monarchs of Spain and Siam; and land is granted to the Spaniards on the bank of the Chow Payah (or Meinam) River, for the erection of a trading factory. "It is the place that formerly was called Campo Japon, and is named Nuestra Señora de el Soto ["Our Lady of the Grove"]; it is sixty-four brazas square, on the east side of the river, and distant from it a hundred brazas." It is also a convenient place at which to make arrangements for the building of ships, and the Siamese will supply them with lumber (including teak wood) and iron for this construction. The Spaniards return to Manila in August, preceded by a Siamese embassy; but Bustamante is so preoccupied with other matters that he pays no attention to the strangers, and they are even badly treated. They return to Siam angry and resentful, and desire no further dealings with the Spaniards.]