FISCAL’S REPORT ON SANGLEY LICENSES
✠ Report of Licentiate Don Sebastian Cavallero, his Majesty’s fiscal in this royal Audiencia of Manila, recommending that the issue of the licenses called “fortification licenses,” an increase of eleven reals which was added to the general licenses, be suspended; and that all that has been collected on the said fortification licenses and as increase of the general licenses, be restored and be actually deposited in his Majesty’s royal coffers. With license, at Manila, in the year 1644.
For the clear understanding of this report, it is necessary to begin by stating that all the Sangleys who come from China to these islands, both for the purpose of selling their merchandise and to work in all the trades needed by a community, have paid since the year 610 eight pesos five reals by way of tribute (confirmed by decree of his Majesty) for the license, which is called “the general license,” in order that they may remain in the country. Immediately upon the arrival of Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, member of his Majesty’s Council of War, in the year 635 to govern these islands, a new imposition was made (shortly after he began to govern) of some specious licenses for those Sangleys who desired to leave this city of Manila for other parts and provinces of its jurisdiction. They had to pay for that privilege an annual sum of ten pesos, although the obligation was only eight pesos five reals, so that he burdened them with eleven reals. That increase amounted annually to a very considerable sum; for those who generally go out to buy and sell, and to work and cultivate the land, and engage in the most servile offices of the country, are numerous. After the insurrection and revolt of those Sangleys in 1639, the said Don Sebastian ordered that from all the Sangleys should be collected, in place of the eight pesos and five reals that they were paying yearly, ten pesos (thus adding eleven reals to the tribute imposed and confirmed by his Majesty), in order to punish them, to keep them under surveillance and subject, and [to obtain a fund for] the fortifications; and that the Sangleys who desired to leave the Parián for other places, must pay another ten pesos in addition to the ten pesos of the license and general contribution. Consequently, each Sangley who leaves their Parián comes to pay twenty pesos annually—ten for the old and general license and ten for the new, which is called the “government” or “fortification” license. Last year, 643, another contribution (called the “little” license) of six reals from each Sangley was imposed, to build the fortifications which are being constructed on the side of Bagunbaya. It was all executed and collected with the utmost exactness and punctuality by the judges of the licenses, the constables-in-chief, and other officials who were appointed and delegated for that purpose; and although all the proceeds from that new assessment, and the contribution of the fortification licenses, were given in a lump into the keeping of the royal officials, this fund was not deposited at the account of and for the royal estate of his Majesty, but was entered separately, and was placed at the disposal and will of Don Sebastian.
[Continuing from this point, Cavallero discusses the matter of the imposition levied by Corcuera, in twenty-two sections, citing many laws and authorities in support of his reasoning. The document seems to be a portion of the evidence used in the residencia of Corcuera before his successor, Diego Fajardo. The arguments adduced by Cavallero (here mainly synopsized) are briefly as follows:
1. “The imposition of gabels, tolls, vectigals,[1] tributes, and other assessments and personal contributions, whether patrimonial or mixed,[2] belongs by natural, divine, and human right only to the sovereign and absolute majesty of princes, who do not recognize any superior.”
2. The new imposition made on the Sangleys by Corcuera is included under the name of gabel and tribute.
3. Corcuera had no authority to make the new imposition; moreover, the imposition of a new gabel is justified only when an urgent and pressing necessity arises, and the sovereign cannot maintain himself or carry on his military operations with his usual income.
4. If the tribute or new imposition is not justified by urgent necessity, it is illegal.
5. The imposition made by Corcuera is illegal, as it was made without any compelling necessity. It is also disproportionate, because it is equal for both the rich and the poor Sangley, discriminating not one whit between them.
6. Corcuera’s reason for making the new imposition was to punish the Sangleys for their insurrection. He should first have consulted with his Majesty in regard to it.
7. It is not a sufficient justification for the new imposition to say that it was for the purpose of fortification; for those fortifications built across the river near Tondo by virtue of that imposition have been torn down, because they would prove a menace to the Spaniards in case of hostile attack, for the enemy might find them a base whence to carry on operations against Manila. The king’s permission is expressly necessary for the erection of new fortifications and public works, and Corcuera did not have that permission.
8. It is true, however, that a governor may repair the existing fortifications without express permission of the king, although he is forbidden to construct new fortifications.
9. It is also true that all persons must contribute to the expense of repairing the fortifications; and consequently the new imposition might be tolerated for that reason. “Therefore his Majesty (whom may God preserve) had assigned three thousand pesos for the fortification and repair of the walls of this city, from the monopoly of the playing-cards[3]—which is paid every year, according to the tenor of its establishment. Therefore, his Majesty having succored that necessity and made preparations for that expense, with a sufficient and sure sum of money, the little justification for that new imposition can be seen.”
10 and 11. “Again, supposing that his Majesty had not prepared for that necessity, which is a compelling one, and it became necessary to impose a tax and contribution for the repair and equipment of the walls: it ought to be imposed solely on the citizens and inhabitants of this city, according to the means and power of each one, and not among the foreigners and transients like the Sangleys, who, coming to trade this year, return the following year to China, where they have their houses, families, and children.” That imposition is therefore a burden on the Sangleys.
12. “It is clear, then, that as that imposition, so grievous to the Sangleys, for the fortification and repair of the walls of this city of Manila is not of advantage to them, as they are foreigners, but on the contrary is very injurious to them, and introduced as a mark of hatred toward them, they should not be obliged to pay that contribution and assessment; but [this obligation would fall on] only the citizens and those interested, for the repair, shelter, and defense of their persons and patrimonies, in case that his Majesty had not provided the said three thousand pesos from the monopoly of the playing-cards for that purpose. Besides, that contribution for the repair of the walls demands consideration of the means and ability of those making it and should be in proportion thereto.” Since the new imposition is equal for all the Sangleys, rich and poor, that just proportion is destroyed.
13. Even if those newly-imposed licenses had all the justification and security that law can give, and his Majesty (may God preserve him) had ordered them to be imposed, so zealous a minister as Don Sebastian ought to have represented to his royal Council of the Indias that these Sangleys have been made to pay for the privilege of remaining in these islands the annual sum of eight pesos five reals since the year 610. That brings his Majesty, according to the number of the Sangleys now, 120,000 pesos annually. In the years 638 and 39, when there were twenty-five or thirty thousand Sangleys (which was the time of the insurrection), those licenses amounted to more than 230,000 pesos. Since that sum is so considerable, a risk was being incurred if they were burdened with another imposition; for they might, oppressed by so many exactions and assessments, abandon the commerce of those islands, even though they perceived so much gain in them, and his Majesty would because of these licenses lose that established commerce.... Representing those reasons and inconveniences to his Majesty, he ought to have suspended the execution of this measure until, the matter having been conferred over in the royal Council of the Indias, his Majesty should decree according to his pleasure. All the more [should this be done] in lands and kingdoms recently acquired, as are the Indias—where for many years after the conquest no alcabala, gabel, or other contribution was imposed or asked until the year 574, when general decrees were promulgated ordering that the payment of the alcabala be introduced into the kingdoms of Piru and Nueva España, and that with great moderation and mildness. Don Francisco de Toledo, viceroy of Piru,[4] suspended the execution of the decree for many years, until the Marques de Cañete[5] ordered, in the time of his government, the collection of that duty, by virtue of a new decree which he held. Although, as is a fact, the excise duties are a royal right, so ancient and accepted, and neither the Indians nor the Spaniards, their colonists and conquistadors, paid his Majesty anything, the suspension of [their collection by] Don Francisco de Toledo was regarded as advisable, until pressing necessities compelled more severe exactions.
14. It is to be presumed that whenever a king or ruler imposes a new gabel on a province already burdened with one gabel, he does not know that the first one is imposed, and that on learning it, he would not add a new one to the old burden; “and the greatest service to him will be to suspend such imposition until [the governor] can inform the king, laying the matter before him, and awaiting a new order.”
15. But Corcuera may apparently take refuge in the royal decree of June 19, 1614, if the governor of the Philippines is entitled by that decree to use all the authority granted to the viceroys of Peru and Nueva España, and hence may make the imposition.
16. It must be supposed then, that the governor has the same power and authority as a viceroy in some matters.
17. But certain things are prohibited, forbidden, and excepted to governors, viceroys, and proconsuls, and authority for these does not extend to them, being reserved for the king or ruler.
18. Among these is the right to impose gabels and taxes, or the increasing of such, without consulting the ruler.
19. Since the case stands thus, in order to give color of justification to this tribute and new imposition of licenses the said Don Sebastian ought, since he is so zealous for the increase of the royal treasury, to have deposited its proceeds as a royal tax in the royal coffers and treasury, just as the other incomes and tributes of his Majesty are deposited, so that the money arising from it might be paid in the salaries and other fixed expenses which his Majesty orders to be paid by decrees and treasury and government ordinances, and by no others, except by a special meeting of the treasury officials who decide and resolve on such payment because of necessity or expediency. What is worse is that, although the money received from the licenses and impositions has been deposited in the royal coffers, it has not been considered as belonging to his Majesty. Consequently, the said Don Sebastian has expended it according to his own authority and inclination, in the manner that he has judged to be best. He claims obstinately that he can spend that royal income without observing the form and order commanded by his Majesty in ordinance number 18, because he put down the Sangley insurrection by conquering the Sangleys, and imposed this burden and contribution on them without your [sic; sc., his] Majesty’s order—endeavoring thereby to get free power to dispose of the royal dues by the same authority on which he trespassed in imposing gabels on the Chinese. However, the greatest service that can be done to kings is to observe and obey to the letter their royal commands and ordinances directed to the efficient reckoning, administration, and disbursement of their royal treasure. It is the king’s will that there be no extraordinary outlay, of a single real, without first calling a meeting of the royal Audiencia and the royal officials, by whose decision the extraordinary expense is justified. And if the outlay and disbursement of so great sums of money as have proceeded from the new imposition of fortification licenses and the “little” licenses, has not been in this form, then he ought, first and foremost, to deposit and deliver into the royal coffers all the proceeds from those impositions, according to the certification of the royal officials, from the time of their institution until the present.
20 and 21. The fiscal states, first, that the proceeds of the new imposition and the increase upon the old must be actually deposited in the royal coffers, before all else.
Second, he declares “that this new imposition of licenses has caused universal harm and injury to the general welfare and the public good, in whose conservation and advancement his Majesty is so much interested, as one who is the father and shepherd of these poor sheep, so distant from the care of their master. For although it was a fact that fifty almudes of rice (the equivalent of two fanegas) were furnished for four reals in the year 639, now one fanega is worth two pesos, and at retail much more. The reason for that is, that since the principal farmers of these islands are the Sangleys, and the latter cannot go out freely to work and cultivate the land without paying a contribution so great as ten pesos for their license, it proves impossible for them to go out [for this work], as the mass of the farmers are always a poor and humble people. On that account the land is deprived of its principal and universal support, namely, that of rice—although the laws so liberally dispense benefits and privileges to the farmers, so that they may be contented, and be encouraged to serve the community with the provisions and abundance that the land, grateful for its working and cultivation, offers. The same is true in the fisheries and in other necessary occupations, for the Sangleys are the feet and hands of this land, as far as its sustenance is concerned, and this new imposition has cut them off.”
22. It is clearly inferred from the above that although the Sangleys are burdened by this new kind of license, that for fortification, those who in reality and in fact have to pay it are the seventy citizens who, according to the appraisement, live in this city of Manila. For if the Sangley who comes from China to these islands to work does not bring a single real from that country, and has to pay ten pesos for the general license and ten for that of fortification, besides the secretary’s fees, it is necessary that his labor and the fruits of it be sold for a double price. Thus it is being experienced that, although the ordinary pay of a workman—a carpenter, or mason, or others—was formerly two reals, they are now paid four or five, and the workmen are not willing to work for that. It is necessary to beg them, and to pay them what they ask, for there are no others who can perform these services. Where shoes were worth two reals before, they are now worth four. It now costs four or five pesos to have a garment made where before it cost two. The same thing is true in everything else, and it all originated and proceeded from the year of 639, with the increase of their burden for the general license and the new imposition of the fortification license of ten pesos apiece. That is so heavy a burden that I believe that no equally grievous a personal assessment has ever been imposed throughout the kingdoms subject to the monarchy of España.
All these matters are very serious, hard to decide aright, and worthy of being considered very closely and attentively. They concern the discharge of the king’s conscience, the royal authority, the conservation and increase of the king’s treasury and the royal patrimony, and the public welfare and conservation of these islands. For all of them, I beseech your Lordship to be pleased to provide and order what shall be most to the service of his Majesty and the public convenience. In that I shall receive grace and justice.]
[1] A word little used, meaning taxes or duties on goods which are carried from one place to another.
[2] “Patrimonial” apparently refers to imposts for the benefit of the royal estate (patrimonio real); “mixed,” to those which are levied for both secular and civil expenses.
[3] This was done in the time of Gomez Perez Dasmariñas; see Vol. VIII, p. 169.
[4] Francisco de Toledo was viceroy of Peru from November 26, 1569 to September 28, 1581; he was a man of ability, but hard and cruel. He is principally known by his cruel persecution of the Incas and the native religion—putting to death the young and innocent Inca, Tupac Ameru, and many other nobles; and by the code which he issued for the government of the country, called Libro de Tasas (“Book of Rules”). See account of his government in Markham’s History of Peru, pp. 148–159.
[5] Cañete was viceroy of Peru from January 6, 1590 to July 24, 1596. So great was the demand from the Spanish government for money that Cañete exerted all his efforts to satisfy this claim; and so oppressive were these exactions that rebellions arose, many natives died, and the country was almost ruined. Markham (History of Peru, pp. 161, 162) says that Cañete asked to be relieved, owing to the cares of his office and his broken health; and that Felipe II treated him with shameful ingratitude.