Letters from the Archbishop of Manila to Felipe II
Sire:
It pleased our Lord that three years after the time when I left Madrid I should arrive at these islands, where I came at the command of your Majesty, with many hardships and so broken in health and strength that I hardly had the vigor to undertake such arduous duties as confront me, which are worthy of much remedy. I shall try to gather up my strength until such time as your Majesty can appoint such a person as is fitted for this place.
I remember, Sire, that at my departure your Majesty said you were confident that I would take a load off your royal conscience. Surely, Sire, if, as I wish, I should find affairs in favorable condition, I would, sparing no labor to myself, strive to serve your Majesty so heartily that none of your Majesty's servants would have the better of me. But everything here is so run down that many years of life and very strong arms are necessary to put affairs into even a reasonable condition. It is only a month since I came to this city of Manila, and so I cannot give your Majesty an account in detail of the many things which must be remedied. But there are going to your court father Fray Diego de Soria, a Dominican, and a man Page 133of much holiness, learning, and very exemplary life, who has had much experience for many years in the affairs of this country, and to whom your Majesty should listen; and likewise father Fray Marcello[1] of the Order of our Father St. Francis, who will give a full account of everything; for it is zeal for the honor of God and the service of your Majesty, and the desire for the remedy of these islands, which alone bring them through so many dangers by land and by sea. But all I have been able to learn in this little time is that everything is like a clock out of order, and even in such condition that nothing will go into its right place unless the powerful hand of your Majesty be placed upon it.
In the first place your Majesty has here a cathedral and metropolitan church, and there is not a village church in Castilla so ill served, so lacking in ornament as this—to such an extent that although the quality of the ornaments is inferior, there are so few that they have not even the necessary colors for the feast-days, although they are in a place where silks are so cheap, as they are here.[2] Thus it is with all the Page 134rest, and it seems as if ecclesiastics had never lived in this country. It is served by four secular clergy alone, to whom your Majesty orders a salary paid. The rest, although they have the title of canons and canonates, do not serve at all, except in their allotments and curacies. Accordingly, even on an apostle's day there is no one in vestments at the altar for the epistle and the gospel, which is highly discreditable. I have asked the governor, conformably with what your Majesty charges him in the third clause of his original instructions, to provide for this matter. But either he is unwilling to listen to me, or, if he listens to me, he does not wish to do so. Your Majesty will know what is fitting, but it would be expedient to add four other salaries to the four which your Majesty pays—namely two canonries and two half canonries, the incumbents of which could be vested before the altar for ministration. I must inform your Majesty that no one will be found to take them if your Majesty does not increase the stipend; for this country is not now, as it used to be, a cheap place to live, but the most expensive in all the Indias, on account of the irregularity in its government. Everything has been left in the hands of infidel Sangleys, who rob the country and sell us things at their own price, without there being any one to check them or keep them in bounds; in return for this, they are able to gratify and keep content those who ought to provide for it. I do not wish to complain of my grievances Page 135to your Majesty, but to leave them in your royal hands. But, although our house is so small that we have only fourteen persons, it is impossible to live for half a year and provide for the rest, with the salary which your Majesty orders to be given to me. Your Majesty will be informed of this by those who are going there. If your Majesty desires that I should go about seeking money as alms, I shall do so, so far as that would not be derogatory to the pontifical dignity among these heathen. Again I say then, Sire, that your Majesty's church is so ill provided, that, in place of edifying the infidels and heathen who are here, it is a cause of scoffing among them. They say that, as they see the monasteries so richly adorned with ornaments that they have chalices of fine gold, their God must be greater than that of the secular clergy and of the friars; and they say other ridiculous things. And nevertheless there is no one to look after it, nor any one who is grieved over it except myself, who cannot remedy it. When I succeeded in discussing it with the governor and the officials of your Majesty's royal treasury, they shrugged their shoulders and said that, although your Majesty says in the instructions in general terms that this should be remedied, your Majesty does not point out how, or with what funds.
Besides this there is the little interest in spiritual things and Christianity among the laity. Sire, I wish, that I were in the presence of your Majesty to tell you by word of mouth of this matter, which is the most pitiable thing which has ever occurred or ever will occur to so Catholic and Christian a prince, and one on whom our Lord has showered such singular favors as to allow in his day the opening of the gate Page 136through these islands, for the bringing of the gospel to realms so great, and so far removed from all that is good. This I say, then, Sire, that it is a most pitiable thing that there is not a man in all these Philipinas Islands—Spaniard, or of any other nation—saving some religious, who make their principal aim and intent the conversion of these heathen, or the increase of the Christian faith; but they are only moved by their own interests and seek to enrich themselves, and if it happened that the welfare of the natives was an obstacle to this they would not hesitate, if they could, to kill them all in exchange for their own temporal profit. And since this is so, what can your Majesty expect will happen if this continues? From this inordinate greed arises the violation of your Majesty's decrees and mandates, as everyone is a merchant and trader—and none more so than the governor, who has this year brought ruin upon the country. There comes each year from Nueba España a million in money, contrary to the mandate of your Majesty, all of which passes on to the heathen of China. From here, in violation of your Majesty's decrees, cargoes are loaded for the Peruvians and the merchants of Mexico, without leaving room for those of this country—especially the poor, who are unable to secure any interest therein except for a wretched bundle which is allowed them as cargo. If I were to go into the multitude of evils which are connected with this, I should have to proceed ad infinitum. There are going to your court those who have themselves experienced them; and one of them even, for having preached with Christian zeal, was persecuted by the governor, who was the cause of this and of other great evils. His vices are so many and so low Page 137and obscene that if one were to seek faithfully over all España for a man of most debauched conscience, even the vilest and most vicious, to come to this country and corrupt it with his example, there could not be found one more so than he. A priest told me yesterday—Sunday, the twenty-first of June—that it was public talk that no woman had escaped from him with her honor, when he could accomplish her ruin; and that further, through his great and scandalous incontinence, he twice ordered the priest to marry him to his own niece, and used every means with the priest and Father Soria to secure a dispensation, although the latter showed him how little that measure profited. He has so tyrannized over this colony by his actions that, in order that nothing should be lacking, he has taken away the offices of regidor from honorable men who held them; and put his kinsmen, whom he brougnt with him from España, into the regimiento, so that information of his evil ways cannot be given to your Majesty in the name of the city; nor can they write to ask your Majesty that you should send a successor to him. Likewise he asked his regimiento, and also me (but may God deliver me from such treason!), to write to your Majesty that it was expedient that he should remain in this country, on account of the experience which he has here. Nevertheless, if such a letter should go, your Majesty would consider it suspicious; because it would be signed by some who would wish to see him undone, only because they do not dare to do otherwise; for he treats them like negro slaves when they swerve a point from his desires. About eight days ago he had called to his house all the honorable people, even to the master-of-camp and all the captains; and when they Page 138were before him, standing bareheaded, he treated them worse than he would his cobbler, speaking in these terms: “You don't realize that I can have all your heads cut off, and you think that I don't know that you have written to the king against me.” And this language, with the “vosotros,”[3] he used for half an hour to the most respectable people in this country. In short, all his conversation and words are those of a vicious and tyrannical Heliogabalus. What I say now is nothing to what remains to be said, and which your Majesty can learn from those who are going there—who, as good Christians, will relate the truth. It would appear best that your Majesty should write to Nueba España, so that all the goods may be put on board there which are to be carried this year. Your Majesty would then see the shameful results which he has caused in this country. He sends therewith one of his servants even, who is called Juan de la Guardia, and also Diego de Montoro, a native of this country. And if by chance your Majesty's letter should arrive after the property had already been despatched, the said persons should be seized, and obliged to confess the truth. It is possible that in this way, and with the cargo for next year (when he says that he must enrich himself), a large quantity may be taken, to supply the various matters for which your Majesty must provide. Your Majesty may rest assured that during all the time that the governor may be in this post your Majesty's conscience cannot be at ease, but that it must be heavily loaded to bear with him. It would be very advisable to appoint a Page 139governor, not like the poor men who have been here thus far and who come to enrich themselves, but a man who will enrich the land with holiness and virtue. It should be a man whom your Majesty would choose among thousands—one of those who is not attempting to make your Majesty appoint him; but, on the contrary, one of those whom, so to speak, your Majesty asks. Your Majesty should not consider whether or not he is a knight or a captain, as there are plenty of experienced captains in the country, who, in case of war, would be better in leading an army than a number who could come from there. If it is possible, he should be a man of education and conscience. I should desire one of these men who would serve your Majesty without private interests, for whom, when the man had served your Majesty in this charge, you could appoint a church, one of the largest of España; as this post is most honorable and of greater importance for the spread of the gospel than is the Turkish frontier for its defense. On this account a person should be chosen who has no claim to private interests, for the gain which he would secure from the growth of the teaching of the gospel here is large enough. It is not fitting that your Majesty should entrust the residencia of the governor here to the Audiencia, or to any member thereof; but it should be made by the person who is to succeed him, if he be a person such as I have described. For there are many serious matters for which a Christian and impartial judge is necessary, to clear the conscience of your Majesty.
It would be very important for your Majesty to renew the mandate forbidding the governors and auditors to trade, with heavier penalties; for it is not Page 140observed, and from its violation there result great inconveniences. But, as it appears that the salaries appointed by your Majesty are not sufficient recompense for coming to such distant lands, your Majesty might decree that when the governors were such as they should be, and have abstained during their whole term from trade, at the time of their departure your Majesty would permit to be given them as large a cargo as they wish, and even an entire ship, so that they might be made prosperous. The auditors might be given, every six years, to each one the liberty of a cargo, so that in this way they would have what is needed to marry their children and maintain their households. For otherwise they are the causes of great losses; and, as they are involved in the same misdeed, they are not urgent in having the mandates and decrees of your Majesty complied with.
It is a great hindrance to the growth of the faith and morals of the natives that there is a continual communication with the infidel Chinese. Since they are coming to trade, it would be well that when they finish selling their wares they should leave the country; for from their remaining in these islands result many great inconveniences. In the first place, on account of their greed, they have taken to the cultivation of gardens and other real estate; whence it follows that all the native Indians live idle and vicious lives, without anyone urging them to labor. The Chinese have risen, by buying and selling and bringing provisions to the community, to be the retailers of supplies. From this it results that this country is so expensive to live in that where a fowl used to be worth half a real, or at the most one real, it is now worth four. Formerly a ganta of rice could Page 141be obtained for a quartillo or less. Now it is worth two reals, or at least one, and the same with other things; and, beside being retailers and hucksters, one Chinaman uses more food and wine than do four natives. What is worse than this is, that the crime against nature is as prevalent among them as in Sodoma; and they practice it with the natives, both men and women. As the latter are poor wretches and lovers of gain, and the Chinese are generous in paying for their pleasures, this calamity is spreading wide without any public manifestation. They tell me that during the last few years the Chinese have spread over all the islands. I saw them when I came into the channel. Formerly they were only in Manilla. If your Majesty does not command that this people must absolutely leave the country I fear that God must visit some great punishment upon it. Those who govern here deceive in regard to their status. Some of them are kept because the fathers of the Society say thai they need five hundred to cultivate the gardens which they have here, close by the city. They give each Sangley, for the portion of garden which he works, one peso and one fowl each month. Others are kept for other reasons; but all the work could be done by the natives if the Chinese were driven out, and the idle and vagabond were compelled to work.
In another letter I wrote to your Majesty of the necessity which obtained in this country of establishing the Inquisition, and today the reasons for this are stronger than then, as shown by experience and our inconveniences. Thus we have seen, within a few years, that two prisoners who were going to Mexico escaped from the ship “Sanct Philipe.” In the ships Page 142of last year, of three persons who went thither, two died. A negro who was being taken along as a witness for an accused man of this city died at sea. If it is thought best not to have salaries, the matter can be remedied by appointing two religious or ecclesiastic persons, and one of the auditors of the Audiencia—who, as they are advisers, can likewise carry on the suits. These, as they conduct the office of commissary (which is here the same thing as an inquisitor), would be able to hear the cases and would do so as a work of charity, and with zeal for the honor of God, until they could obtain, from the confiscated property, salaries for the inquisitors whom your Majesty may appoint. For it is easy to see that there is a great inconvenience in denouncing a person in Manilla and being obliged to send his case to Mexico, or to come from there with a decision as to whether to arrest him or not; and to confiscate here the property of heirs and send it to the Inquisition of Nueba España, with so great a risk of loss.
This is all at present that occurs to me to send to your Majesty. I fear I have tired your Majesty with so prolix and unpleasant a narration. I beg of your Majesty to pardon me and accept my wish, which is to succeed in the service of your Majesty. If there is a man in the world who has this desire, unmixed with interest, it is myself, who am desirous to be of some use so that your Majesty may learn by experience that I am more anxious to be the most insignificant servant of your Majesty, merely because your Majesty is who you are, than to possess all the treasures of the world. May your Majesty enjoy those of heaven after the many years of life which are necessary for his realms. Manilla, June 24, 1598. Page 143Sire, I kiss the feet of your Majesty, your humble chaplain,
Fray Ygnacio, Archbishop of Manilla.
Sire:
Although I wrote another letter to your Majesty in which I give an account of the affairs in this country, I am obliged to write this one to give your Majesty an account of my own affairs, which cannot be successful unless regulated by your royal hand, from which I would receive death, if I deserved it, more willingly than life from another. It has come to my knowledge that the governor of these islands is writing to your Majesty and complaining of me. As everything which I shall say now is true, I beseech your Majesty to give it credit. If your Majesty should find that I do not tell the truth to the last word, I charge your Majesty to visit upon me a heavy punishment.
I brought with me from España a son of one of my nephews. He is a youth of great virtue and worth, with no manner of vice; and, desiring that he should choose for a wife someone who was his equal in worthiness, while coming on the ship my eyes fell upon a daughter of the licentiate Tellez de Almansa, an auditor who was coming out to this royal Audiencia of your Majesty. She is a very honorable and good woman, and as it appeared to me that that was what was fitting for the young man, rather than greater beauty or property, I made known my desire to a doctor of theology, who was traveling in the ship, in company with the said auditor, so that I might know whether her parents were favorable to my intentions. As he told me that they were Page 144pleased with it, but that the father reflected that he had no permission from your Majesty to marry his children, it appeared to me that, if she were to marry without the knowledge of her father, he would be free from the penalty of the law. I wrote to the said maiden a note, in which I desired to learn her wishes, without there being anything else in it which could offend anyone.
I gave her an account of the many good qualities and characteristics of the young man, and addressed her in these words: “And neither do I wish that you should attempt this without the permission and knowledge of your father, because I am not setting about to steal away or ruin the respect which I have for him, and have had all my life.” She answered me by writing that she was pleased at the choice that was made of her person, and that it should be considered with her father. I responded with a second note in which I thanked her for her good wishes and said that I would speak with her father. At the same time I summoned the auditor Almazan and told him how much I desired that that marriage should be consummated. He told me that he would accept it at once, if he dared dispense with the permission of your Majesty. The truth is, that I did not tell him that I had written to his daughter, and accordingly when someone told him, it appears that he resented it somewhat; but when the letters came to his hand, and he saw their terms, which were so unworthy of suspicion, he was appeased. All this came to the knowledge of the governor, after we landed; and, as he does nothing good, he made poison of the whole matter. Without seeing a letter or complaint against me, it appeared to him expedient to have a Page 145meeting of religious prelates for my case, and he did so accordingly. He called them together in one of our convents, named [San] Francisco del Monte,[4] where he placed before them the letters without having examined them, and without displaying them; and, with the utmost ill-feeling and evil intention he asked their opinion as to whether it was expedient to write a letter against me to your Majesty. The religious took it ill, as they should so bad a speech, and did not answer his proposition, considering that he was so causelessly throwing suspicion upon the purity and integrity of their prelate, who had not even been twenty days in the country. All this came to my knowledge within two hours, and, as the matter was so serious, and so great an injustice had been done, I confess that I was much more exasperated than was fitting; and I uttered against him various harsh remarks—although all were true, and about things which were publicly told. I learned that he is writing to your Majesty against me, and I desire that your Majesty should not lack a true knowledge of the affair, which is, as I have said; and everything made less or more, your Majesty may believe, is not truth. Nor could any one, from any word or sign of mine, have understood an offense to God in that, or even a venial sin; and, if anything could be added without the suspicions conceived by his malice, or rather by his evil life and habits, the fault which I was guilty of was becoming too angry. But I assure your Majesty that I had more than reason enough—Page 146in the first place because he had stained that which is so important for prelates of the church, namely, purity; and, in the second place, because he did this at the time when I had just arrived at my archbishopric, and when I should have entered with great honor and reputation for virtue, especially among infidels. In the third place, he went before all the leaders of the religious orders, when everyone of them was free to conceive what opinion he would of me—and especially certain persons who, as they do not themselves live with becoming regularity, might conceive boldness, and not fear for their own faults because they saw the superior prelate brought before the public as guilty of similar ones. In the fifth [i.e., fourth] place, because he called together this conventicle while he was pretending to be my friend; for the day before he had been in my house, and talked with me about very serious matters, and at his departure, invited me to his house—for no one who would see what he did, or his dealings with me, would fail to have confidence in him, since he is a knight, and wears the habit of Santiago, and is governor for your Majesty of so great a realm; and I say that, as I am a frank and truthful man, I would have confidence in him, if he were a man worthy of trust. Since he first made advances, by asking me to do for him things which were good, what a wonder it is that so unreasonably he should molest a man. I confess that I acted in a manner unbecoming my position; but let him say what he will, I have said nothing which is not true.
Many men of sound judgment have wondered what object he could have in this assembly; and they can think of no other unless it was to intimidate me and Page 147close my mouth, so that I should not write against him to your Majesty any of the infinite amount which might be written. Likewise he had the same object in calling together the captains and leading men of this colony, to address them with such insolence as that which I have told your Majesty in another letter; for the expression which he used was: “You people [vosotros] do not know that I know what you have written to his Majesty against me; and that his Majesty sent me a command to have your heads cut off.” From this your Majesty will gather how the government must be conducted here, since the governor is going about seeking, by cunning and deceit, to frighten people that they may not write about his mode of life. I told enough of this in the other letter, and others are writing the same thing; but at present I shall only mention a few things. In the first place your Majesty should not inquire into the particular vices of Don Francisco Tello, but should picture to yourself a universal idea of all vices, brought to the utmost degree and placed in a lawyer; this would be Tello, who is your Majesty's governor in the Philippinas. He is not one of those men who accompany a vice by a virtue, and among many vices follow one virtue; but he has not even an indication of a virtue. And that he should not lack the sin of putting his hand upon the altars, he has now begun to commit simonies, and to live excommunicated, selling for money the presentations which he makes to the benefices conformably to your Majesty's right of patronage. This is so true that I have this week corrected one which he committed in the convent of San Francisco del Monte itself. Abandoned by the power of God, he paid for the evil which he had done against Page 148me with so great a vice. He received four hundred pesos, for the presentation to a prebend, which he presented to me that very day. He has become accustomed to do this, and says that he is going to write to España that he is going to this said convent, which is a heavenly garden, belonging to descalced fathers of much holiness. Although he has a house near there he is not content with it, but comes in and meddles with the convent, and with those who go to see it, for there is nothing which his hand does not profane. On Monday afternoon before St. Francis' day, this year, he left Manilla, saying that he was going to Cabite to despatch the ships. At night he left the road with a servant, having placed the horses within some chapels which are being built at the convent of Santo Domingo; and entered to sleep that night in the house of a married woman, the wife of an honorable man of this city, leaving guards at the door, for thus imprudent is he, although God permits that he is such a coward as not to enter into such evil acts without taking guards, and even sometimes arquebuses, to serve as witnesses of his sins—which are made public, to the scandal of all the people. Sire, I do not believe that I can live with this man; if your Majesty thinks that it is best for your royal service to keep him in this government, your Majesty must take me from this church. I wish nothing else, and even this place I do not merit; nor did I seek it, nor did it ever pass through my head that it was possible that at any time I should have to hold it. But I wish your Majesty to command me to return, to die in my cell in peace; for if I remain here I cannot conceal so many and so public offenses against God and against the service of your Majesty, without Page 149reprehending them with the same publicity as that with which they are committed. I trust through the mercy of God that your Majesty will see all this with Christian and Catholic eyes, and will provide a remedy fitting for the service of God and of your Majesty, whom may our Lord protect, for the long years which we need. Manilla, June 26, 98. Sire, I kiss the feet of your Majesty, your servant and chaplain,
Fray Ignacio, Archbishop of Manilla. Page 150
[1] Apparently referring to Fray Marcelo de Rivadeneira, one of the Franciscans who went to Japan with Pedro Baptista. Rivadeneira wrote a book, Historia de las islas del Archipiélago, etc. (Barcelona, M.DC.I), which describes the countries of Eastern Asia, and relates the history of Franciscan missions therein.
[2] In the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla, is a document which contains the following statement: “I, Captain Joan de Bustamante, accountant and official judge of the royal exchequer of the Filipinas islands, certify that, according to the books, accounts, and papers of the office and records of the said royal exchequer, it is not, since the past year of fifteen hundred and eighty-one, when the cathedral church of this city was founded by Don Fray Domingo de Salazar, first bishop of these islands, up to the present year of fifteen hundred and ninety-nine, evident nor apparent that there have been given from the royal exchequer to the said church any bells, images, ornaments, chalices, candelabra, missals, Page 134nor choir-books for the service thereof; nor has there been paid over for that purpose any coins of gold, as appears by the said books and papers to which I refer. In certification whereof, and that this may be apparent, I have, on the petition of the dean and chapter, sede vacante, given these presents in Manila on the fifth of July of the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine.”
[3] Vosotros: the familiar form of the second person plural of the personal pronoun; its use in this case was a mark of contempt for his audience.
[4] The convent of San Francisco del Monte was situated at somewhat more than a league from Manila; and an estate was granted to the Franciscan order by Santiago de Vera, for the support of the convent. See Santa Inés's Crónica, i, pp. 531–534, for full account of its foundation.