The twelve thousand ducats which your Majesty has ordered to be paid in three installments for the work on this church, were necessary enough, although I fear that they are to avail as little as the rest; because, although your Majesty has so often commanded it, and we on our part have exercised the greatest possible diligence, it has not been possible to draw out from the royal treasury what was due from it for the said work; and so it has come to a standstill, or so little is done that it never advances. It really is a pity to see a cathedral church, in a city containing so great a concourse of heathen, where divine offices are celebrated in a church of straw, in which, on the coming of a storm, no one can remain. Your Majesty will see what the condition of the rest of the churches must be. It certainly is a pity to see the little care there is in this matter, and the scandal occasioned to the heathen and the recent converts by the little veneration that we who have so long been Christians bestow upon the temples in which we worship our God, for really many of them are not fit to serve as stables. I have given your Majesty an account of this before now. The two thousand ducats which your Majesty ordered paid from the treasury of Mexico for this work were not brought, because the governor could not bring the securities that were necessary to obtain that sum there, because of his hurried departure. Moreover, it should be understood that it will be very difficult to collect the portions to be paid by Indians and encomenderos, because of their want and poverty. And for this reason we do not dare to press them much, deeming it better that the work should be done Page 243slowly than to harass one who is unable to do more; and it has been the treasury of your Majesty which has aided us least.
Your Majesty's command that the religious should not depart from the bishopric without license of your Majesty, or that of the governor and myself, is a very just thing, and therefore it will be carried out; because it also seems fitting to me not to let the religious depart from here, where they are so few and so many are needed. Before this ship arrived the president and I had despatched two Dominican religious to Chincheo, which is the province of China nearest to this land, and the place whence all the Sangleys who come here to trade set forth. In this departure there was a punctual observance of what your Majesty commands in this clause of your letter, although we had not then received it. And owing to the fact that before we determined to send them, and at the time when we sent them, there occurred many notable things from which your Majesty should receive much satisfaction, I thought it better, in order not to make this letter so long, to place them by themselves in another, which will accompany this one, in order to give your Majesty a more detailed account of things so worthy to be heard.
With regard to what your Majesty orders concerning the remission of tithes for twenty years to those who now come to settle and who may come in the future, I would to God that the Spaniards were inclined to cultivate the land and to gather the fruits from it, rather than that we should ever afflict the natives by tithes. But your Majesty should know that when a man comes to this country, even if he were a beggar in Spain, here he seeks to be a gentleman, and Page 244is not willing to work, but desires to have all serve him; and so no one will give himself to labor, but undertakes trafficking in merchandise, and for this reason military and all other kinds of training have been forgotten. From this fact not a little damage will come to this land, if the governor does not regulate this. In the letter which the cabildo of the church wrote to your Majesty a much longer account is given of this.
To proceed informally [de plano], without insisting on legal technicalities [sin llegar a tela de juicio], and not to impose pecuniary punishments in the suits which occur in these regions, is a most holy and necessary practice. I desire greatly that in the tribunals of your Majesty this be observed; in mine I have so provided, and this practice has been observed and henceforth will be observed with greater rigor.
He who informed your Majesty of the disorderly manner in which have been collected the tributes of the encomiendas which are not fully pacified, and how poorly the ordinances of your Majesty have been observed, spoke the truth in this matter. The excess in this has been so great that it has been the cause of all the riots and the revolt of the Indians, and of the deaths which have occurred among the Spaniards. I have given your Majesty news of this, grieving for the evils which have sprung from it. For the Indians of this province, in those places where the name of God has never entered, nor that of your Majesty, must feel resentful where they have seen neither ministers of instruction nor of justice; but only see that each year a dozen of soldiers with arquebuses come to their houses to take their property away from them, and the food upon which they live, although their Page 245all is little enough. These collectors afflict, maltreat, and torment them, and so leave them, until they return another year to do the same. What else can these natives think of us, but that we are tyrants, and that we come only to make our gain out of their property and their persons? And this will be very difficult to remedy, so distant from the rest are some of the encomiendas, with water between, and so little fear of God have those who make the collections. It may be that with the arrival of the new governor there will be much improvement in this; although if he does not bear an order from your Majesty to change some measures which up to the present have been in force, I have no hope of betterment.
In the next to the last clause of this letter your Majesty says that to remedy the present lack of instruction is my own special obligation, which I confess; and I have so appreciated this that, seeing the great present need of instruction and the little help which I can offer, I am so disturbed and so filled with anxiety that, if I were able to leave the bishopric, I would try to flee from it. But if, inasmuch as your Majesty declares to me my obligation, and puts in my charge what is lacking, you should give me, together with it, authority to right affairs, your Majesty would be relieved of responsibility, and I of anxiety, other than to make progress in learning my obligations. If I do not have authority and power to remedy this, I must live all my life in anxiety and perturbation of spirit, because every year I see them collect tribute from a race that is never given to understand why it is collected; nor is there any hope that they may be able to have instruction, because of the great difficulty there is in giving it to them. Page 246Knowing that this is the legitimate title which we have in seeking tribute, your Majesty may see what peace of conscience he can have who has all these souls in his charge, both those who collect and those of whom collection is taken. To relieve me from the anguish in which I live, the only means of removing all difficulties is for your Majesty to send us a great number of religious of the four orders already established here—without giving ear to those who speak of a matter about which, in my opinion, they have no means of judging here. They say that some have tried to persuade your Majesty, with no other spirit than that of the devil (who wishes to hinder so much good), that we have all the religious that are necessary. In addition to the thirty-seven Augustinians now here, more than three hundred others are needed; and even these will not be enough. Yet, with this number great results would be accomplished.
The first is that your Majesty would be fulfilling the obligation which you have toward these nations, in giving them instruction. They need this, because of the ten divisions of this bishopric eight have no instruction; and some provinces have been paying tribute to your Majesty for more than twenty years, but without receiving on account of that any greater advantage than to be tormented by the tribute and afterward to go to hell.
Second, all the Indians who are to be pacified will then be found, because experience has already shown us that to think of finding the Indians with a force of soldiers is rather to lose them, and never to pacify them; while with religious they all become obedient with great good will. And, when they are pacified Page 247and converted, much larger tributes can be exacted, and the increase of revenue in the treasury of your Majesty from their tributes would be greater than the amount spent in sending them religious; while the conscience of your Majesty would be free from the greatest weight which, in my judgment, it has in this land, because tributes are collected from Indians who have never rendered obedience, and do not, as I have said above, know why they are paying it.
In the last clause your Majesty orders me to charge myself with the protection of the Indians of this bishopric. I receive this charge as a special favor; because, as it was, I was burdened with the same responsibility, and with this commission I shall have, as your Majesty says, more authority in order to render aid. And this provision was so necessary because, without it, I was able to do almost nothing to succor the Indians. And with this I think I shall be able to serve your Majesty more, and to advance the cause of those who shall come with the charge of bishop, although the one joined to the other is of very great consequence. The Indians who have learned of it are very glad, since the obligation which is due them from the Spaniards is of no concern to the latter. And as it is from the hand of your Majesty, this office, then, is of greater importance for the relief of the conscience of your Majesty and the preservation of the natives, than any other one of all that are provided for afterward by the governor. I have not the wherewithal for the expenses which occur; for there must necessarily be a notary, interpreter, and lawyer, and persons who with my authorization shall be present to plead the suits—which will not be a few, and cannot be carried through without spending money—Page 248since I am not able, nor is it right that I should be on hand to present the petition, or to plead the causes and business of so much weight and authority. To take this task of being my agent, some honest man, however honorable his station, should be glad to do it. It is necessary that he be a person of great credit and of resolute mind, that he may not fear to defend the Indians, although at the risk of injury from those who harm them, and this seldom fails to come to pass, as the disputes are often with those who are very powerful.
It will also be necessary to send persons from this city through all the bishopric to investigate the injuries that the Indians suffer. Before they go to do this, I shall have notice of what is happening; and this is to be done at the cost of your Majesty's treasury, in order not to give occasion for the robbery of the Indians, if they should have to pay them. All this is necessary in order that I should be able to perform well this office, and relieve the conscience of your Majesty and my own; because many are the wrongs which the Indians receive in this bishopric from your encomenderos, the alcaldes-mayor, and the tax-receivers; and, the farther away they are, the greater the wrongs and the more difficult the remedy. I humbly beseech your Majesty to be pleased to command provision to be made as I here request, because otherwise my protection will be only nominal and ineffectual. I have already discussed this with the governor, and I understand that he will make provision in some of these things, because the necessity is very urgent; and for the remainder we wait what your Majesty is pleased to command. The friendly intercourse which your Majesty commands me to Page 249observe with the governor, your Majesty may be assured will not be lacking on my part; and I understand that without doubt there will be as little lack on the part of the governor, because in the little intercourse that I have had with him I have conceived very great hopes of him. And I believe that God inspired your Majesty to send him to us—although, as I have known him only a little while, I am not able to express more than what I hope.