About this time the Emperor of China, who had permitted the exercise of the Christian religion in his dominions, died. His successor, however, proscribed it altogether, banishing the missionaries from the empire, and permitting the residence of a few Jesuits only, who were teachers of mathematics at Pekin. The Pope, desirous of propagating the knowledge of our faith throughout all Asia, sent two barefooted Carmelite friars in quality of ambassadors to the Chinese court. According to eastern custom, they introduced the object of their mission by presents to the Emperor; but the only advantage which resulted from it was, a permission for some missionaries to remain in China.
Since this period, some of that valuable class have contrived, clandestinely, to reside in that country, and to this day continue to preach the gospel; yet their sufferings are frequent and very severe, being at times thrown into prison and banished the kingdom, where, however, in a short time they find means to return, by bribing the mandarins with money, the grand engine which governs this vast empire. The prohibition above alluded to extended to the tributary kingdom of Tonquin, where the missionaries suffered still more, for in escaping from the hands of the Governors of the different provinces, they fell into those of the freebooters, who robbed and ill treated them.
The King of Jolo sent a Chinese as ambassador to Manila to treat for peace; his excellency received him favourably, and Don Miguel Aragon was in consequence despatched to Jolo with ample powers to establish a permanent alliance with that prince. An alliance was entered into, but its duration was very short; the natives of Jolo, naturally fickle and turbulent, joining with those of Mindanao in the usual predatory excursions against our islands, in which they were guilty of the customary excesses.
The inhabitants of Manila, on this occasion, subscribed a handsome sum to fit out a small squadron for the purpose of repressing these marauders. It proceeded against the Moors, and eventually compelled them to sue for peace, but not before they had done us very considerable injury.
The galleon Santo Christo de Burgos, in her voyage to Acapulco, was stranded on the island of Ticao; upon which occasion, on the frivolous pretext of being prevented, by the offensive smell of the cargo, from opening the hatches, with a view to save the property, the ship was set fire to with the intention, there was reason to think, on the part of her commander and merchants, of attempting to embezzle, for their own use, some of the merchandize during the conflagration; but finding this impracticable, the ship and her valuable cargo were totally abandoned to the flames. This stratagem has been frequently resorted to by the merchants of the Philippines, and it will often be successful, so long as it remains undecided how the loss ought to be borne in cases of that nature. The pious establishments are the assurers, according to the terms of the instruments or deeds, made between them and the respective adventurers, who borrow money of them for the purpose of embarking in this trade; but these instruments, expressing the lender’s risk to be total loss only, the borrowers, to prevent any thing from being saved, so as to leave room for litigation, as to whether the loss was total or partial, set fire to the vessel, to place it beyond all dispute. In such cases the loss of the ship, I conceive, should be borne generally; whatever is saved should be divided among the parties, according to the property they had on board, and which might easily be ascertained, by examining the manifest with the original deeds[2].
CHAPTER IX.
ANNO DOM. 1729.
The Administration of Don Fernando Valdes y Tamon.
Don Fernando Valdes y Tamon took possession of his government on the 14th of August, 1729. He found Manila totally destitute of military stores; the losses sustained by ships, the reinforcing the different garrisons, and the armaments against the Moors, having occasioned a great diminution in the stores of cannon and small arms, both of which it became necessary to purchase from foreigners, as the foundery at Manila was not capable of supplying the deficiency. He made arrangements accordingly for procuring the necessary supply from the Peninsula of Asia, and from Batavia, taking care that the arms should be always kept in good order, a task, however necessary, yet extremely difficult in so humid an atmosphere. Indeed he in all respects proved himself an expert military man, by the several fortifications he constructed, the walls with which he surrounded the city, the out-works he formed for its better security, and the new establishment he erected for the manufacture of gunpowder.