Part 12

It has seemed best to me, Father Procurator, to relate this in order that it may be known that this man, however much people undertake to say against him (much of which will be false), met a Christian and Catholic death. And I say further that, although his passions hurried him on to do such outrageous and reckless things, they never separated him from the [Christian] faith or the Catholic religion; and therefore, whatever your Reverence can do to prevent those in Madrid from believing what will be reported in this matter, do it, for God's sake--in regard to the former [i.e., Bustamante's Christian death], acquainting the father confessors with these facts. Moreover, it is not right that such things [as are said against him] should have influence, when the only result will be infamy for him and for the six or seven children whom he has left behind.

On the other hand, it would seem to me desirable that his Majesty command that in the residencia which will be taken of this poor man's government there be no discussion of his personal character, or of his proceedings which have not been injurious to others; and that those which are such be considered only in so far as is necessary to satisfy, so far as is possible, the injured party--or even, putting all this aside, that action be taken only in regard to the goods which at the time of his death might be found to be in his name, secretly and through the agency of others, like those which he has in the ship and patache which this year went to Nueva España. These are going in the name of other persons, but on his account, and amount to a great deal--so much, that if in Mejico the just, prompt, and honest measures were taken to have these goods sold at the ordinary fair, like the rest, and if the proceeds were safely deposited, and his Majesty and the judge of his residencia here were notified of the amount thus realized, I believe that with this alone the king, the bondsmen, and the private persons who should prove themselves to be his legitimate creditors could satisfy their claims against him. [Add to this] the goods that may be found in his house, and those which may be on his account from the coastwise commerce, in order that, when these are converted into money, their just value may be distributed equitably, according to the plan which is prescribed in matters of restitution when there are many creditors.

This precaution will be very necessary in order to prevent many difficulties which must follow from other charges [against him], some being involved in others; and from these will result no greater gain than disturbances in the community, mutual hatreds, the rise of many falsehoods founded in malice, endless delay in ascertaining the truth, relics of quarrels left for the future, the disappearance and destruction of the aforesaid goods of the deceased which can be obtained, and finally the destruction of the wealth of some persons without any benefit to others. This is what I feel in Domino, having considered matters coram ipso [i.e., "in His presence"], and near at hand. Therefore, my fathers, there is nothing more expedient for the service of the two Majesties and of souls than the measure of burying in oblivion [hecharle tierra] all the rest concerning him, especially the suits that he brought against others--since he cannot have authority distinct from that which he must assume on account of his office, as representing the king, and it was not for himself that he demanded justice against the subjects whom he prosecuted, for the good man proceeded against all who opposed him, as seditious traitors--and this it is necessary to lay aside, for it is an intricate affair and will become more so.

Also [I recommend] the approval of what was done in the formation of the government and Audiencia that were organized after the fatal event; for it did not seem that anything else could be done, either as a matter of policy or in conscience, or that would be more agreeable to the wishes of the king, in such circumstances, to do what was right and prudent, without being declared presumptuous.

And who doubts, after reflecting on the event and its antecedent circumstances (and, when one considers what human nature is, it seems as if the event were the natural result of those circumstances)--or, to speak more correctly, on the especial providence of God, and His justice--that also it would be most expedient for the tranquillity of this colony to bury in oblivion likewise the tumult and what occurred in it; and that attention be paid only to taking such measures as will be proper to prevent, so far as that shall be possible, the occurrence of such troubles in the future--or at least not to leave the future so exposed to peril from them?

But what [a task] will that be? Oh, holy God! there is no doubt that it is very difficult. For, as the principal root of these tumultuous excesses and quarrels--inextricable entanglements, which it is impossible to clear up from Filipinas--[is the enormous distance] at which the islands are from the court of their sovereign (who is the one who must supply suitable and timely measures), and this it is impossible to get rid of; it consequently seems also impossible that these regions can ever be protected from difficulties of this sort. The only thing, then, that seems possible is, that these be prevented by a method which will in some way supply the nearness of the sovereign which is necessary for preventing check, in order that they may not occur with such them in time; or that will establish some sort of facility.

But what can this be? I suppose that the politicians will plan the matter much better; but I say in the Lord that I do not find any more convenient way than to establish at this very time an ordinance which, with the royal authority, shall serve to prevent in time the principal difficulties, those which bring on the rest.

Here, my father, the governor takes away and establishes, gives, commands, unmakes and makes, more despotically than does the king himself; and more, in himself he would join in one the royal and the pontifical authority. Royal decrees are not sufficient; for either he hides them, or he does not fulfil them as he ought. The Audiencia does not serve [as a check] on him, for he suppresses and he establishes it, when and how he pleases; nor do other bodies, whether chapters or [religious] communities, whether military or civil; for he does the same thing [with them]. And never do there lack pretexts for doing thus, even though such bodies are appointed by the king; and with the pretext that account of the matter has already been rendered to Madrid, what he has begun remains permanently done, or else he proceeds to change it, as seems good to him.

Assuming this, [it would be best] to maintain here a council, which would be stable and permanent, and to whom, as being supreme, all the decrees and despatches of the king should come addressed, the council distributing these as might be required. No failure in the entire fulfilment of the despatches and decrees of the king should be allowed, save with the agreement of this council; and the governor should not be authorized to appoint or remove officials, or hinder them in the performance of their duties, whether civil or military; they should be appointed by the king, as now are the chief and principal ones, the auditors and fiscal. For the citizens there should be six or eight perpetual regidors, from whom should be elected, according to custom, their alcaldes-in-ordinary. [The king should also appoint] the royal officials who belong to the royal treasury; and, of military officers, the two wardens of the castle in this city and that at Cavite de la Punta, the master-of-camp of the Manila garrison, the sargento-mayor of the plaza, and the lieutenant-general or the general of the artillery. Even if the cause were, in the opinion of the governor, so pressing and evident that he demanded the arrest or suspension of any one of these whom I have mentioned, without waiting for the decision from Madrid, he should not do so without giving account to the said council, or without its consent; and if the case were so urgent that it should be necessary to arrest any one of those persons before giving account to the said council, such account should be furnished immediately afterward--by the governor, or, if he cannot do it, by the fiscal of his Majesty; and, if neither of them do it, the president of the said council, when he learns of the facts (in whatever manner he may obtain such knowledge), shall demand that he be given the motive and cause for the decision reached with the official who is imprisoned or banished, or deprived of the exercise of his office, in order that his council, when informed of the case, may take action. If the decision of the council is contrary to the resolution made by the governor, the official shall continue in the exercise of his functions until the final decision shall come from Madrid. And if perchance the governor disobey this rule, and do not render account of the motive and cause which has influenced him to take that course with the officer whom he is treating as a criminal, the president of the council, with its advice, is authorized to replace, and shall do so, the said official in the exercise of his office. In this particular, all the other officials of the king, and his soldiers, must obey this president, and not the governor, under such penalties as his Majesty shall see fit to impose upon them.

Item: If any one of these persons appointed by the king fail to act, by either death or any other accident, another person shall not be appointed in his place by the governor alone, but he shall do so jointly with the auditors and military officers above mentioned, if the ad interim appointment is to a military post; and if it is municipal, the electors shall be the governor, the auditors, and the other regidors. If the appointment is that of a royal treasury official, [he shall be chosen] by the remaining members of that body, with the governor and the auditors--among whom I include, for all the elections, the fiscal of his Majesty--and the person who receives the most votes shall be chosen; and in case the votes are divided among two or more, the lot shall decide. He who is thus elected shall remain as a substitute in the vacant post until the king shall appoint a proprietary incumbent, and shall possess the same privileges as the others have, besides that of continuing under the protection of the said royal council.

As for those who might compose this council, I cannot find any who would be better--in order that it might be durable, and most free from prejudice; and that its proceedings might be most prudent and reasonable, judicious and learned--than the following: for president, the archbishop of Manila, and in his absence the dean of the holy cathedral church of Manila; for its members, the dean, in case he is not president--and, if he act in that post, in his place shall come in the senior prebend, by vote of those in the council; and besides these, the doctoral prebend of the same church, and the rectors and prefects (or the regents) of the two universities, Santo Domingo and that of the Society, or those who shall take the place of all these. Those who occupy the chairs of Institutes [47] and laws in the university (which have been recently established) shall not have place in this council, for I do not know whether they will be permanent; and because, even if they are so, these professors must be included in the number of those who are under the protection of the said council, as being officials appointed by the king and subjects of the government here. The decision of the members of this council must go out in the name of the whole body, and will be that which shall receive the most votes from the six councilors; and in case of disagreement among them the decision will be that to which their president shall agree, out of those proposed in the council--each one of these councilors giving his opinion in writing, which opinion must be a decisive vote, and not merely consultory.

And because the chief mate [capitan maestre] of the galleon is the one who has charge of the royal mails, it would seem desirable, in order to make sure that this official conducts himself with entire fidelity in surrendering them to the said council, that he who is chosen for that post shall [not] be selected altogether by the governor, but must be approved by the council, as protector of the royal decrees and officials of Filipinas, which is the sole employment that the said council will have. Thus that official, once he is chosen and approved, must remain under the protection and jurisdiction of the said council until he has fulfilled his commission.

And because this council will remain entirely free from the possibility of being disturbed by the governor, and because the most scandalous controversies which have occurred in these islands have proceeded from the abuse of the royal prerogatives, the governor with the Audiencia seeking by force to deprive the archbishop and the ecclesiastical judges of the secular revenues--for sometimes they overstep the bounds in the essential part, and in other cases exceed the limits immoderately in their mode of procedure--it would be expedient and even necessary for his Majesty to forbid them to do so, and deprive them of authority to enforce that. They should be allowed only to ask for it, and, having given information of it to his Majesty, await his royal decision in order that that may be accomplished, in reality and in the mode of procedure, which always will be just and reasonable, and carried out to the letter, as his Majesty shall ordain for the service of God and for his own.

In this manner my poor mind has planned, having considered these matters in the Lord, in order that some means may be employed to make up for the distance [from Madrid], and to place some check on the despotic sway which, on account of the distance, the governors of these islands possess; for, as I said above, not only do they act more despotically than could the king and the pope if those rulers were at the same time united in one being, but also they are the whole [government] and all the offices, since every one must do and does only what the governor desires, with reference to the offices which the king entrusts to him.

It is clear that, for the object that is desired, that which will contribute most of all is the judicious choice of the governor and the other officials, [who should be] worthy, upright, unprejudiced, disinterested, having the fear of God, and zealous for His honor and the service of the king--as well as for their own honor, which is established by this very effort. But qui sunt hi, et laudavimus eos? [48] I see it, forsooth. On this I will only say that the governor in any case should be a soldier, honorable and experienced, to whom the government is given on account of his merits; and not one who may be a merchant or trader. Still less should he be one who has secured the post of governor with money, and not with merits. [In order to secure] for the other officials men worthy by their merits, fitted for their positions, having the fear of Cod, and honorable, an important means, without doubt, is care in their selection.

I see that your Reverences will tell me that I am tiring myself uselessly, and that nothing of this concerns me. This may all be true, but I believe that in the presence of God this my labor will have, if not reward, at least excuse, since I have undertaken it With an aim to the welfare of the souls in these islands, and to the progress in them of our holy faith, [objects] which are hindered by misgovernment here.

In regard to the other matters [here], I know that every one is sending in accounts of them, and I am sure that each one will give such information as he feels is true; as for all those who are doing this officially, who shall say that they will not report according to what is right, and with weighty arguments? I, at least, cannot persuade myself to think otherwise; for all the said persons I regard as truthful and God-fearing men. The one with whom I am better acquainted than with any of the others is Don Francisco Fernandez Toribio, an auditor, and now fiscal, and a [university] professor of the Institutes; and I can at once inform you that what he may say can be believed, that it is his own opinion, and that in saying it he will be governed more by reason than by prejudice. He is a man indeed, since he is so good, upright, disinterested, God-fearing, and truly honorable; and although he and others like him would be good for these places, yet they are not good for men of this sort. God preserve your Reverence for many years, as I desire. Manila, November 19, 1719. The humble servant of your Reverence, etc.,

Diego de Otazo

I.H.S.

Letter from the archbishop of Manila

I had given to your Paternity account [of affairs] last year, by way of Mejico, of the wretched condition in which this commonwealth and these islands were, and of the unspeakable grief with which I was living at seeing the lawlessness, tyranny, misgovernment, and insatiable greed of the new governor, Field-Marshal Don Fernando Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda; and afterward in the same year, by the Eastern [India] route, I also sent to your Paternity an account of the commotion [here] and the violent death of the said gentleman, who perished on the eleventh day of October in the same year. Nevertheless, as the latter route is so irregular, and it may have happened that the said letter of mine has not reached your hands, it has seemed to me prudent to repeat my last letter, and send it by the galleon which is now sailing for Acapulco, in order that your Paternity may be fully informed about that event (although summarily), on account of what may yet occur.

The said gentleman reached this city on the thirty-first of July in the year 17; and from the outset it seemed, with his disposition--unquiet, changeable, petulant, and with inordinately bad tendencies--that he directed all his efforts to the ruin of these islands. He persecuted the citizens, arresting some, exiling others with pretexts of embassies, conquests, and new expeditions, and causing others to seek refuge for themselves, fearful of his harsh treatment; and he fattened on the wealth of all the people.

To these evil beginnings corresponded like ends; and from so mischievous causes were experienced the effects in the unlooked-for and miserable death which he, with his eldest son, encountered on the eleventh day of October in the past year. At that time the common people rose in rebellion, and, going to his palace, deprived him of life, without his having at his side any person who would defend him, even among his own servants. This is a proof that he was hated by all; and it is notorious confirmation of the truth of this statement that the great precautions which he had taken since the tenth [of that month] for his safety in his own palace availed him nothing; he had provided soldiers, both infantry and cavalry, who, as they affirmed to me, numbered more than three hundred. In the general opinion this success [in killing the governor] was gained by especial permission of His [Divine] Majesty, who by this act of providence, through His lofty and venerable judgments, chose to furnish relief when it could not be looked for so soon from human sources.

This tumult was caused by the arbitrary nature of the governor's proceedings; for, without conforming to laws, either human or divine, it seems as if he had--according to my judgment before God, in whose presence I speak--no other law than his own will, from which proceeded his despotic decisions, directed to his own advantage and not to the general and public welfare, which ought to have been his chief care.