One day after the date of the above letter (June 18), the bishop Domingo de Salazar writes to Felipe II, urging the establishment of a Jesuit college by royal aid, because of the great advantage that will ensue therefrom. He mentions in general the same reasons for such establishment as are urged by Sedeño; and dwells upon the saving to the royal treasury and the advantage to the land at large. He asks that districts be divided justly among the religious and seculars, and that the members of no order preempt a larger territory than they can attend to. This has caused friction between himself and the religious, which will be eliminated by a royal order to the above effect.
An anonymous relation translated from a printed pamphlet, which bears neither place nor date, follows. Internal evidence shows it to have been written by a religious—Augustinian, Franciscan, or Jesuit, preferably the second—and before 1587 (the year of the arrival of the Dominicans), notwithstanding that the British Museum copy (whence our transcript was procured) queries the date 1595. This relation contains many valuable observations on the islands, and their people, products, and history. The greater part of it consists of a description of the four provinces of Luzón, viz., that of the Tagalogs and Pampangos, Ilocos, Cagayan, and Camarines. The author mentions the important fact that the Tagálogs are mistakenly called Moros, but they are not and have never been Moros. Continuing his relation, the religious describes Borneo briefly and gives the salient points of Sande’s campaign there. The Visayans and their islands are touched upon, some little space being devoted to the first Spanish settlement at Cebú, whence the Spaniards move to Panay after the negotiations with and assault by the Portuguese under Pereira. More men and religious are needed to develop the Philippines and to christianize them thoroughly.
The factor, Juan Baptista Roman, writes to Felipe II (July 2, 1588), relating the chief events of Thomas Candish’s memorable expedition through a portion of the Philippine archipelago. He complains bitterly of the apathy of the governor in not pursuing the English pirate, who is only 22 or 23 years old, and says that good time is wasted by attempting to strengthen the city of Manila to the abandonment of all idea of pursuit. He suggests means by which such expeditions may be rendered impossible in the future. The usual cry of inefficient administration and useless expense is made, as an offset to which Roman proposes the encouragement of private shipping instead of the use of the royal vessels therefor, by means of which the governor, who engages in trade on his own account, becomes rich at the expense and loss of the royal treasury. Finally, the stone fort being built at Manila is useless as it is old style and incapable of defending the city.
Gomez Perez Dasmariñas in a letter to either the viceroy of Nueva España or some high official in Spain (June 21, 1591) devotes himself almost entirely to military affairs. He has introduced system and discipline where it was lacking before, and has built a barracks for the soldiers. He complains greatly of the insubordination of the soldiers there before his arrival and the bad example that they furnish to the new soldiers. He has also constructed a stone wall about the city, which gives an appearance of stability and renders the city secure. He asks that he be allowed to reward the services of gentlemen and soldiers who have accompanied him. The provinces of Zambales and Cagayan, which were in revolt have been pacified, and Dasmariñas suggests the advisability of a Spanish colony in the latter, on account of its proximity to China, and its good harbor. He is having considerable trouble with the bishop and friars who oppose him in everything, and act as though they were the rulers of the country.
In 1599, a series of three documents concerning the procuratorship of Tomás Marquez, of the Philippines, and the methods of the Spanish provincials of the Augustinian Order, and addressed to the pope (then Clement VIII), shows well the political means employed by the Augustinians in Spain in their efforts to retain in their own hands the balance of power as over against that of the Augustinians of the Spanish provinces. The first is a short petition from the above father praying that he be restored to his position as procurator-general of the Philippines, of which he has been deprived by the Spanish provincial, and that he be allowed to take to the islands those of his order who desire to accompany him. The second paper has also the same end as the first, but is more specific, as it gives more at length the various methods employed by the Spanish provincials. Marquez prays that the order in the Philippines be subject only to the general of the whole order and not to the Spanish provincials, who claim jurisdiction as vicars-general. The Spanish provincials endeavor to govern the order in the Philippines and other provinces of the Indies, not for the good of the whole order, but for their own interests, using therein methods that are contrary to the constitution and laws of the order, and, in addition, wrong morally. The offscourings of the Spanish convents are sent to the islands instead of men fitted for the task, and those of the latter class who desire are not permitted to go. The third document is evidently the report of the nuncio, and gives the reasons why the Augustinian provinces of the Indies are not subject to the provincials of Spain, but only to the general of the whole order. The pretext upon which the Spanish province urges leadership is the fact that the first Augustinian establishment in the New World was under its auspices. Since ordered to resign all rights to the office of vicar-general by the general chapter of Rome 1592, the provincial has done so.
The king, by a royal decree of January 17, 1593, addressed to Bishop Salazar, notifies him that the governor has been ordered to take possession of the hospitals for the natives in Manila in accordance with the king’s right as patron of the hospitals.
Ecclesiastical matters are discussed in a letter from the Manila ecclesiastical cabildo to Felipe III (July 3, 1602). The royal Audiencia is trying to force the ecclesiastical judge to make arrests by its aid; but such a course would involve much time and expense to the wretched Indian, whose case as now conducted by the ecclesiastical judge is summarily completed, while recourse to the Audiencia would bring into play all the slow legal machinery. Such ecclesiastical arrests are only made in order to correct sin. Some of the religious orders in Manila claim royal concession for universities and appointments therein. Such a course would be unfair to the seculars, for even now the religious have all the best things, and if they found universities, the seculars will have nothing to which to aspire, while the lure of an appointment to a professorship would cause them to take heart and study hard, so that the cathedral would always have men of learning. The Jesuits desire to use the money restored from the tributes collected by the encomenderos, as a result of Salazar’s contentions, for the founding of a hospital. Such use would divert it from its true employment—the ransoming of Filipino captives and the aiding of their hospitals, and therefore the cabildo petitions that the request be not acceded to. The Jesuits are trying to obtain the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of a town opposite Manila (which is now administered by a secular cura) where they have some years before bought an estate, and have been gradually acquiring all the land which they have rented to the Chinese. In addition the Jesuits are also attempting to obtain the spiritual administration of San Miguel, a small village outside Manila, now administered by seculars. The cabildo petitions that the curas now in charge of these two places be allowed to retain them. The Augustinians have also been guilty of depriving the seculars of their jurisdiction in Cavite and in the chapel of Nuestra Señora de Guia. And so unbridled are they that they resist the visitor sent out by their own order. The Franciscans, in spite of their humility, have built a church at Dilao on their own authority. Thus the royal patronage is transcended, and the governor has been cognizant thereto, through his partiality to the orders. The cabildo asks that the alms generally given to the religious be also granted to the cathedral, for it is very poor. In the cathedral is a bench for the wives of the auditors and another for the officials of the Holy Office—both unusual in other cathedrals. The bench belonging to the Holy Office has led to the excommunication of one of the canons of the cathedral who moved it one day, through the passion engendered in the commissary, a Dominican religious. The cabildo asks that both benches be removed, and that justice be shown them, as they are unable to send anyone to Spain to plead their case, as do the religious.
The condition of the redoubt or fort of Manila is discussed in a letter to Felipe III by its castellan Bernardino Maldonado (June 21, 1605). Many interesting deductions as to the social and economic conditions of Manila can be made from this document. Like so many other documents, this is one of complaint and shows the inefficiency of the government. The fort is poorly garrisoned and almost neglected in spite of its importance (as it is used as the arsenal) and the efforts of its castellan. The garrison is only of fifty men (although Tello had promised to increase it at the earnest solicitation of Maldonado) and those are the offscourings of the camp. A lieutenant appointed has to enter suit in order to receive his pay. The artillerymen should live in the fort and should not be taken elsewhere, and should be experienced men, and not those who receive appointments through favor. Tello has used part of the artillery against Oliver van Noordt, and it was in consequence lost, and now Acuña proposes to take a portion of the few pieces left on his Maluco expedition. Maldonado’s efforts to prepare for the feared Chinese insurrection of 1603 were not encouraging, and he was quite unable to obtain food, and was even compelled to aid the other soldiers with what little he did have. Since that insurrection, the Chinese merchants have come to the city each year, and have been housed partly in the city among the inhabitants, as their alcaicería was burned, although the Parián is now rebuilt. Maldonado complains of the companies formed from Filipinos in whom he sees grave danger. The soldiers of the fort are ill paid, and inasmuch as they are permanently in the fort and make no raids, as do the other soldiers, they suffer considerably. Consequently, Maldonado asks that they be paid first, and that their pay of six reals be raised. Arms are needed, especially arquebuses and muskets. Finally Maldonado mentions his own services and asks for various rewards for his faithfulness.
The Editors