The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 23 of 55 / 1629-30 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the Catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century.

by Unknown

Treasury Matters

Sire:

The officials of the royal treasury will give your Majesty a detailed account of the condition of your treasury in these islands—which beyond all doubt is very pitiable, because of the smallness of the relief that has come these last few years from Nueva España, and the little profit that the islands themselves have produced, because of the great decrease in commerce. That obliges me to see what measures will be advisable to increase the revenues and decrease the expenses of this royal treasury. The other day, I proposed in a meeting of the treasury, of which I send a copy, what will be seen in that copy—for whose better understanding, and so that the advisability of the proposition may be seen in your royal Council, I thought it fitting to write this section.

First point of the letter

Your Majesty has ordered by many decrees that we try to obtain cloves, from our present possessions in the Malucas, and that they be cultivated for your royal treasury. In accordance with that command—although your Majesty’s purpose had not been realized hitherto, either because the governors my predecessors were unable (which is the most certain thing), or they did not always have the cloves in the quantities necessary, or because of the corrupt agents who have been occupied in that business—I have now forty-five bars [i.e., bahars] of cloves stored in the magazines; and I judge that an average of fifty bars per year (rather more than less) could be obtained without much difficulty. Considering the question of the cultivation and investment of that quantity, I think that by no other route can this be better accomplished, or with more gain to your royal treasury, than by way of Yndia. I base my assertion on the following argument. Fifty bars of cloves are worth four thousand pesos in Maluco. If they are traded for clothing such as the Moros wear, the cost will be one-half less. The carriage from Maluco to Manila is nothing, for they will be brought in the ships of the usual relief expedition to those forts. The fifty bars, delivered in this city, are worth already at least ten thousand pesos. Once laden for India, and carried at your Majesty’s account in your own ship, they will be worth thirty-five thousand pesos and more when delivered in Goa or Cochin, as is affirmed by men experienced in this kind of merchandise. Your Majesty needs many things in your royal magazines which are brought from the above-named cities, such as saltpetre, iron, anchors, slaves for the galleys, arms, biscuits, cayro, white cloth, and wearing apparel for convicts. Those articles are bought every year in Manila from merchants of Yndia, at excessive rates. The thirty-five thousand pesos resulting from the cloves having been invested, then, in those articles at Goa or Cochin, and having been brought to Manila on your Majesty’s account and investment, will be worth at the figures now paid for the said articles, ninety or one hundred thousand pesos. And even if all this did not rise to so high prices, I am sure that fifty thousand pesos (which is one-half less than one might consider them to be worth) will be the return in products to these magazines from the fifty bars, which will cost four thousand pesos in money at first cost, as I have said—and if they be bought for the peculiar cloth of Yndia, two thousand pesos. That would be a very considerable gain and relief to the royal treasury.[1] [In the margin: “Consult with his Majesty as to what the governor proposes; and say that it has been judged best, before advising what we think of it, to refer the matter to his Majesty, so that he may order the council of Portugal to state their opinion regarding the matter. Having examined it from all points of view, an opinion will be given.”][2]

The expenses of that voyage will not amount to much, considering the profit and gain. The expenses for this gain are as follows: One ship or patache of one hundred and fifty Castilian toneladas, which, if built in these islands, will cost, when ready to sail, ten or twelve thousand pesos; eight pieces of bronze artillery, using balls of twelve and eight libras, which will be worth five thousand pesos; twenty-five sailors and a like number of musketeers, with six artillery-men, taken from those who receive the usual pay of this camp and beach—all married men and under such obligations that they cannot remain in Yndia, and who when embarked will only receive an increase in their rations of biscuit, meat, and fish, and some native wine, all of which amounts to but little; one captain for the management of the vessel, and master, pilots, boatswains, keeper of the arms [guardian], and steward—who are the officers to whom pay is assigned. The above, with all the other purchase expenses which I have given above for this ship, will not amount for the first time to twenty thousand pesos, together with the four thousand for the value of the cloves, the total amounting to twenty-four thousand, more or less. By this method, the so great profits for this treasury will be made, as above stated—adding the sum received from the freight charges for goods belonging to private persons, which can be brought and carried by this ship, and the register and the duties on them, which will here amount to considerable, and will prove of great relief for the said expenses.

The danger of this voyage is that of meeting the Dutch at the passage through the strait of Sincapura, near Malaca, which every year the Dutch inhabitants of Jacatra belonging to the Company[3] close up, and with a ship or two of little strength, or a couple of pataches, await the Portuguese galliots that sail from Macan to Yndia, and from Yndia to this city. The enemy knows very well that the Portuguese do not carry force enough to fight, and that on seeing the Dutch they run ashore and place their persons in safety with their gold, which is the form in which they chiefly invest their wealth. The ship which would sail from here would enter by a different channel than do the Portuguese, as the strait has three entrances. Our ship will be a swifter one, and will sail better against the wind; and a Dutch ship will not be able to catch it in two rosaries, and their pataches will not dare to grapple it because of the defense which they will encounter. Thus by fighting, without losing their route, the ship, will reach Malaca, and will make its voyage. On its return, it will stop first at Malaca, where it will hear news of the enemy. In case they find that the enemy are in the pass, they can wait in those forts until the former have retired to their own fort at Jacatra.

Thus far, I have mentioned all the advantages, expenses, and dangers. What still remains is to petition your Majesty to be pleased to have this matter considered; and if it appear advisable, to order that this voyage be made every year or every two years, as the governor shall deem best, and according to the quantity of cloves on hand and the opportunity offered by the weather. I petition that there shall be, in this regard, no opposition from the treasury council, in which, I have understood, your Majesty has ordered that the governor concur in the opinion of the majority. That may prove, in this country, to be a source of considerable trouble; for it might some day happen that an expedition would be determined to be necessary, in a council of war, and that the majority of the votes of the treasury council in which the expenses are voted may not concur, either through want of capacity in the officials, or through an excess of passion and private interest—and, in a land so remote, experience teaches that there are many such. In the report of the meeting that I enclose herewith, in regard to the above matter of the cloves, I guessed what were the majority of the opinions beforehand. Doctor Don Albaro de Mesa y Lugo, neutral or indecisive as he is on all questions of any importance or difficulty, and especially on those regarding revenue, for fear lest the auditors be obliged to pay. Licentiate Geronimo de Legaspi, senior auditor at the time of the council, not satisfied because I have employed his elder son in a company, tried to have a place given to the second son also, in another one. Because what he asked was not done, although I desired to please him, he was displeased. The accountant, Marten Ruiz de Salazar, has for a long time been offended, because he was not allowed to take fees from the clerks of the accountancy, and to exercise absolute authority over accepting and dismissing them, as in the present case. Hence my proposition was disliked by them both. Thus may your Majesty see carried out in this case the same motive that I stated for all the others—namely, that they do not vote without self-interest or passion. He to whom your Majesty can and ought to trust most is the person to whom all the government shall have been charged; and he should be given authority so that he may, after having heard the opinions of the treasury council, concur with the party which may seem to him more judicious, even though it be not the one with the more votes. [In the margin: “Have the fiscal see this again.” “The fiscal declares that the form is laid down by the decrees and ordinances which treat of it, and he thinks it undesirable to make any innovation. For even though there happen to be some officials, of those who take part in those meetings, who are such as here described, it might also happen that there would be rash governors who might act inconsiderately, and only through self-will or caprice, and cause great and excessive expenses of the royal revenues. Consequently, it is preferable that action be taken by many votes, since in justifiable and even in doubtful cases the preference of him who governs or presides is always followed. Madrid, July 11, 1631.” “Let the ordinance be kept.”]

In case that your Majesty consider it fitting to have this voyage made in the aforesaid manner, it will be necessary for the decrees to come in duplicate for the viceroy of Yndia, so that he may grant free passage for this ship, and that he may give without any opposition the wares that will have to be bought on your Majesty’s account; and so that no duties be imposed in Goa, Malaca, or any other part of Yndia, on what may be registered in your Majesty’s name. Order must also be sent to Cochin, so that if any ship should have to be built there (as the ships cost less there, and last longer than those of these islands) all assistance and favor may be extended.

Point 2 of the letter

The second point discussed in the council is also essential; and if it be carried out, it will be the greatest relief to the islands, and will result in great saving for your Majesty. In the rations of rice (which is the bread of this country) which are furnished in Cavite and other parts, more than fifty thousand fanegas are consumed annually. This is imposed on the Indian natives by assessment or allotment,[4] and is paid at the rate of a peso per fanega. For the last three years the Chinese, both infidels and Christians, have devoted their efforts to sowing rice. Consequently, the country has been well supplied, as the Chinese are better farmers than the Indians. Many citizens and the convents of the religious orders have given them the loan of lands and twenty-five pesos per head, so that they might settle and equip themselves with the necessary implements for farming the land. The first year the Chinaman pays this sum, and the following years gives for every hundred brazas of land fifteen or twenty pesos rent, which is a like number of fanegas of rice. It has seemed to me expedient that in certain uncultivated lands that rightly remain in the name of your Majesty in the best region and lands of the islands (which is near here, in La Laguna de [Bay], five leguas up the river from Manila), two pieces of land should be appropriated [for this purpose]. I am assured that these will be sufficient so that two thousand Sangleys can be established on them; and that your Majesty will make the profit which the inhabitants and the religious make, since you can do so with greater advantage and protection to the farmers than private persons can give. I am also assured that a very productive agricultural estate can be made, by managing to obtain from it the cost in one or two years. For the rest of the time the rent is left free [from debt or other obligation]. For two thousand Sangleys that will amount to forty thousand fanegas of rice; and, as it increases with time, it will amount to fifty thousand. That is as much as these magazines need. [In the margin: “Let us be informed whether any of the expenses of those islands have been reduced.” “Bring the memorandum of the reduction that was made in the year 618.”]

The gain that will accrue to your Majesty from that will be to relieve your Majesty from the expense of fifty thousand pesos, and the Indian natives from the assessment and allotment of fifty thousand fanegas, which, as aforesaid, is the greatest relief for the islands, and for this royal treasury. The risk that will be run of the money that will be advanced to the Chinese so that they may settle and equip their farms (in which, although it is given with confidence, there is, of course, always some risk that some will run away and others will die), will all, however, be of little importance, in view of the profits that are seen to result in the estates which the religious and inhabitants are equipping.

It would be advisable for your Majesty to decree this to be carried out without any opposition; and that you order the viceroy of Nueva España, in order to facilitate it, to send five thousand pesos separately, and in addition [to the usual situado] in order that I may continue with capital what has been begun without it and (with what I have lent to the treasury from my own funds) make the experiment and take possession of the lands, ordering wheat to be sowed in a portion of them. I am told that it has been shown by experience that wheat bears well. This undertaking can not be accomplished in one or two years. Your Majesty holds these islands for many years through the Divine favor, and your successors as long as the world shall last. Consequently, the future must be considered, in order that these lands may not remain behind; but if this be done in all parts, in what pertains to your Majesty’s revenues, the treasury will not remain in so backward a condition as at present.

Third point of the letter

Your Majesty’s royal treasury owes to that of the goods of deceased persons more than forty thousand pesos, as appears from the memorandum and certification which I enclose herewith. For since the relief which is sent from Nueva España is so meager, and the expenses here are so great, the governors my predecessors were obliged to take, by way of loan, all that sum on different occasions. For the same reason I have not been able during my term, to repay it, nor do I hope to be able to do so, unless your Majesty order that sum to be sent from or paid in Nueva España on a separate account, in consideration of the fact that it is property of parties who are suffering, and, most of all, the goods of deceased persons. I give this information to your Majesty, as to the master and sovereign of it, and for the relief of my conscience.

Fourth point of the letter

The office of the notary of government and war which became vacant by the death of Captain Pedro Alvarez, was put at auction and adjudged to the heaviest bidder, who was Pedro de Heredia, governor of Terrenate. He bought it and placed it under charge of one of his sons. It was knocked down for the value of fifty-four thousand pesos—ten thousand to be paid on the spot, in reals, another ten thousand from his pay, and the thirty-four thousand remaining in the pay-warrants of various persons. It seems to have been a sale of importance for the services of your Majesty. And in order to avoid the suits which the secretaries of government have had with the governors my predecessors, as to whether that office should include the secretaryship of the permits to the Sangleys and the inspection of the Chinese ships (which are special commissions of the governor), and in order to avoid suits with my successors, I ordered that in the sale of that office it be made a condition that no more than the office of government secretary be sold; and that this was understood to be only what the governor should sign in writing; for in the commissions that the latter should give for those permits the secretary of the government was not to act as secretary. [In the margin: “As the fiscal says.”]

The above is what occurs to me in regard to the increase and efficient administration of your royal treasury. I shall now declare my opinion regarding two differences of justice or jurisdiction that have arisen with the royal officials.

Fifth point of this letter

They formerly proposed the clerks whom they employed in their offices, so that the governor should appoint them at the pay that was assigned. In consequence of that power that they possessed, the accountant tried to take it upon himself to dismiss a clerk without any agreement with his associates, or the consent of the government. In fact, he abolished the position. I was informed that it was not for incompetency, or for any failure of which the clerk had been guilty in his office, but only for the accountant’s own private reasons. He was ordered to return the man to his place, and to have him serve as before. The accountant alleged with too unmeasured language that he and his associates had the authority to dismiss the clerks, since they were the ones who proposed them. I was advised that it would be better government, in order to avoid the consequences, for the royal officials not to propose the clerks whom they had to employ in their offices, except in the memorial of the person who enters it, petitioning that they give information of his competency. Accordingly, I so provided; and therefore, so long as the clerks give satisfaction, it must not be understood that the royal officials can dismiss them without having information of demerits understood by the government—which is the agency to dismiss such men, as it was the one to hire them. [In the margin: “Ascertain what the royal officials write; and, if they have not written, let them report.” “Search was made, and all the papers on the matter collected, together with those sections and letters which the royal officials have written.”]

[Sixth point of this letter]

The accountant has also claimed the right to collect certain fees which this royal Audiencia assigned some years ago, by a sentence of examination and review, as a tariff to the clerks of the accountancy, the factor’s office, and the treasury. The accountant lately renewed the suit, and declared in this Audiencia the one which I have resolved to send to your royal Council with the evidence. The matter is one of moment, for the clerks who serve carry the weight of the work of the accountancy; and as they cannot be maintained with the fees of the tariff, they charge additional fees, which parties give them in order to facilitate their business. Nor is it possible for the governors to avoid that; for it is a matter of importance to the parties themselves to conceal it, for the sake of their business. If the accountant tries to take those fees from them, the clerks will have a much greater reason to accept bribes; else they will not expedite the business, or reduce the great volume of accounts and business that are pending in this accountancy. Even the commencement of this suit has caused great trouble, and the clerks have been much disturbed by it. Will your Majesty be pleased to order the suit to be concluded, and the decision that is most expedient to be made. [In the margin: “Look up the papers regarding this matter; let it be as the fiscal says.” “These sections were collected with the papers which treat of this matter.”]

What is to be said is that the accountant and treasurer are very poor; and that the offices in the Yndias are not worth anything unless one steals, and they do not do that. The expenses of their households and families have been excessive in this city for some little time past, and consequently, those ministers cannot live decently on their pay. If there is any means to increase it, will your Majesty order that inquiry be made in what way this can be done without the royal officials taking away the perquisites from their clerks. May God preserve the Catholic royal person of your Majesty, as is necessary to Christendom. Cavite, August first, 1629. Sire, your Majesty’s humble vassal,

Don Juan Niño de Tavora

[Addressed: “To his Majesty. Cavite, 1629.”] [Endorsed: “Governor Don Juan Niño de Tavora. Treasury. Seen and decreed in the margin, July 11. Take it to the fiscal. In the Council, November 23, 630.”]

[The findings of the fiscal]

1. The fiscal says that he has read this letter. In regard to the first point, concerning the ship which is to take the cloves, he thinks that if affairs move with the security and ease which the governor ascribes to them, the profit is a matter of considerable moment, and that the governor should be ordered to undertake it. But, inasmuch as many things enter into that question which pertain to the Council of War, he requests that the matter be examined and discussed by them before any resolution be taken. He also thinks that it will be necessary that a copy of what concerns the Council of Portugal be given that body, on account of the relations which the execution of this measure have and may have with Goa, Malaca, and other points of Eastern Yndia which fall within the demarcation of the said Council.

2. In regard to the second point, concerning the cultivation of the land, he thinks that it ought to be accepted; for the amount of money risked is little, and will be spent to establish a known gain. He only stops to consider that, in order to carry out this measure and the preceding one, the governor requests further increase in the situado which is generally given from Mexico to those islands; and he does not know whether the royal treasury of that city is at present able to furnish that increase, because of the loss which his Majesty’s incomes have sustained from the inundation[5] and other troubles which have come upon them, and the heavy burdens of the said treasury.

3. In regard to the third point, concerning what is owed to the fund of the goods of deceased persons—a sum which exceeds forty thousand pesos, because the governors have used it on various urgent occasions that have arisen and have not repaid it—the fiscal recognizes how just it is that an effort be made to repay and satisfy those funds, but he finds this unadvisable at present for the royal treasury; for it is first necessary to liquidate the accounts and investigate how all that sum was spent, and whether it could have been avoided, and why the governors have not always made it up from the situado which has been sent to them all these years. That must depend on the investigation which shall be made in the inspection which has been ordered to be made of the governors, auditors, treasuries, and royal officials of those islands. This point must be set down in writing, as it is so essential, so that the inspector who shall be appointed may have it well in hand. After knowing the result and report of the inspection, orders will be given as to what shall be just in regard to the payment and integrity of the said fund of the goods of deceased persons. A royal decree must be despatched, so that this indebtedness be made no greater in the future, and so that the governors take upon themselves no authority to make payments out of the said fund; and such proceeding shall be strictly prohibited to them, as it was by another decree which was despatched to Piru in regard to this same matter, and the custom of the viceroys in making payments from the fund of the goods of deceased persons.

4. In regard to the fourth point, concerning the sale of the office of [secretary of] government and war, which the governor says he has sold for fifty-four thousand pesos, the fiscal will place before the Council what will be advisable for the investigation of this matter, when the purchaser shall come to ask for the confirmation of this sale. For the present, what he has to note is that only ten thousand pesos of the said sum appear to have been in cash; for the forty-four thousand pesos remaining were received in salary-warrants which were said to be owing from the treasury to the said purchaser and to other persons. That mode of payment has many inconveniences, as has been alleged on other occasions; and order must be given that it be avoided as much as possible.

5. In regard to the fifth point, no definite measures can be taken until the accountant and royal officials have been heard, and the custom ascertained which has been in vogue in appointing and removing the minor officials of the royal treasury; for in the majority of cases, it is usually in charge of the royal officials, to say who shall help them, and they remove or appoint as they deem best. If there has been or is anything that contradicts this, it is where such minor officials are paid and are given title by his Majesty.

6. In regard to the sixth and last point, it will be advisable to look up and collect the acts cited in it; and in the meanwhile the fiscal thinks that order should be given to pay the fees to the minor officials, as was declared by the royal Audiencia. Madrid, November 30, 1630.

[A copy of certain sections of the present letter follows (those of the fifth point) with the decree of the Council and the statement of the fiscal, all of which is given above. Several of the summaries of decrees of the Council are dated July 11, 1631. The following statement, relating to the fifth and sixth points, completes the document.]

The fiscal, having seen the acts which accompany this section of this letter, in virtue of a decree of the Council, declares that it should be ordered to observe the custom that has been followed in Manila in regard to the appointment of the clerks who serve under the royal officials; and that there be no such innovation as is attempted by the governor—by which, besides the petition that shall be given to the governor by the person who solicits such and such an office, the royal officials give information as to his ability and competency; and the governor, having considered his competency, will make the appointment. For this means to deprive the royal officials of what they now enjoy and possess, which is even less than their rights in other parts. Neither does the pretension of the accountant, Martin Ruiz de Salazar, appear suitable—namely, that he absolutely appoint his clerks and have authority to remove them; for that is contrary to the custom and procedure which has always obtained there. It is sufficient for him to propose them to the governor. It will be well for the latter to retain that privilege, especially since that royal official’s associates, the treasurer and factor, do not make any demand regarding this point, although they have the same right. It will be advisable to write to the accountant that in regard to the point that he makes concerning the removing of his clerk at will, he shall go to the governor who appointed him, or to the Audiencia, where justice will be done in the presence of the parties. In regard to the laws and acts regarding this that have been referred to the Council, he thinks that either one of two means can be adopted: either to order the Audiencia of Manila to take the proper measures, after having examined the parties, since they are there, and do not come [here] under summons; or, in case the Council wishes to decide the matter, that the parties be summoned, so that they may declare what is advisable for them. For the tariff given by the Audiencia in the year 599 speaks clearly in favor of the clerks; and since it is so old and has always been observed, and since this favorable act was obtained from the Audiencia, the said royal officials cannot take any resolution within hearing of them. Thus does the fiscal petition. Madrid, June 9, 1633.