The accounts which the lord president, governor, and captain-general of these islands, Don Francisco Tello, knight of the habit of Santiago, ordered me, the accountant Bartolome de Rrenteria, to audit from the seventeenth of September of the year ninety-eight, when the said lord president was at the royal hospital for natives of these islands. He inspected and took possession thereof in the name of your Majesty; and ordered me, the said accountant, to make in his presence an inventory of the income and property belonging to the said hospital, and I did so, as follows:
It was found that the said hospital has, through the bounty of your Majesty, five hundred ducats each Page 261year, paid from the fund set aside for such purposes by the royal exchequer; one thousand five hundred fanegas of rice in the hull, one thousand five hundred fowls, and two hundred pieces of cloth from Ylocos; and a further grant of four toneladas, to be sent each year in the ships of your Majesty or others, without duties or freight charges. Likewise there was found, as property of the said hospital, a farm for cattle, with a thousand head; ten mares, four colts, and one horse; six men slaves with five married slave women, and three other unmarried women and two unmarried men; and four hundred pesos, in coin. Besides this, Antonio Valerio, steward of the said hospital, has put in charge of me, the said accountant, a quantity of money received from various persons. The said Antonio Valerio has also rendered an itemized account of the whole thereof, from the first of September of the said year ninety-eight to the end of December of the same, and the expenses in that time amount to five hundred and thirty-seven pesos and one tomin; he likewise rendered another account in this year of ninety-nine, from the first of January to the end of April thereof, and the itemized expense account amounted to seven hundred and fifteen pesos and four tomins, as appears by the book which is in my possession. Besides, all necessary provision was made for divine worship in the said hospital. The said hospital has a house of stone, amply adequate, with three halls and apartments, and everything necessary and pertaining thereto. The said steward has no further account to give, because by command of his Lordship the accounts are audited every four months, and he will give what is lacking at the end of August of this year. That this matter may be Page 262understood, I have given this, at Manila, on the second of July in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-nine.
Bartolome de Rrenteria
Copy of the instruction given to the alcaldes-mayor of the provinces and to the religious, for the Indians to render submission to the king our lord, and the measures taken in La Laguna. Cited in clause 10 of the governor's letter of July 12, 1599.
The King: To Don Francisco Tello, knight of the habit of Santiago, my governor and captain-general of the Philipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia, which I have ordered reëstablished in the city of Manila in the said islands; or to the person or persons in whose charge the government of them may be. Fray Miguel de Venavides of the Order of St. Dominic, bishop of Nueva Segovia in those said islands, has given me certain memorials and accounts of affairs, and of measures suitable for their improvement, and for the security of the consciences of the confessors, of the encomenderos and soldiers, and of other persons, particularly in regard to what affects the spiritual good of the Indians, and the obligation which rests upon me to further it. As these are matters important to conscience and reduced to two points, I directed that, for the consideration of them, certain theologians, grave and eminent persons, should meet with the president and members of my Council of the Yndias. What they agreed upon was reported to me, and I now give you its substance and the conclusion which has been reached. The first difficulty was whether the faith must be Page 263preached to the heathen by poor preachers, provided only with the support of God according to the gospel, and what has been provided by the ordinances concerning discoveries; or whether the said preachers must enter escorted by soldiers bearing arms. And the question on the second point was, whether tribute should be levied upon the infidels who are not opposed to the preaching of the gospel and are not enemies; nor is there any other just cause for waging war against them, except solely to maintain the Spaniards. “Supposing that these tributes are imposed and levied primarily with the obligation of giving instruction, and maintaining justice to those who are subjected, they should not be levied on those who are not subjects and have not received the faith.” Having examined the said ordinances, it appears that what is provided in them is in conformity with the precepts of the gospel and with the justice necessary to the service of our Lord, and to the promulgation of His faith in newly-discovered countries. The bishop admits this, merely complaining of the lax execution of the decree, and the great liberty which the captains and soldiers take in interfering with the Indians and taking from them their liberty and property. Since my will has always been and is that the said ordinances should be observed, and whoever has violated or acted contrary to them in the past has displeased me, I order you that from now on you shall see to it that they be observed and carried out, inviolably. And to this end I have ordered to be sent to you—printed, and on separate sheets—the clauses which treat of the order to be observed in preaching in newly-entered countries, and how the tributes are to be levied; and the care with which, in both matters, Page 264you are to proceed—all being directed toward the good and contentment of the Indians, and their best condition, preservation, and civilization. And this you shall again cause to be published, adding penalty of death, perpetual banishment, or confiscation of property to any or all transgressors, according to the degree of their guilt. This you will execute inexorably, under penalty that, besides considering you lax in your duty, I shall have you punished with all rigor—and this infallibly, since you know my wish; and in these scrupulous matters the peace of my conscience rests upon your discharge of duty. In order that proper means may be taken in these matters you will meet with the archbishop and the newly-appointed bishops, and the superiors of the orders; and you will consider the measures to be taken to satisfy the injuries inflicted, and whether the tributes collected from the infidels contrary to the said ordinances can conveniently be restored. And if this cannot be done without great difficulty you will advise me thereof; and in the interval while advising me and while I am providing what appears to me to be best, everything shall remain in the same condition, with the peace and propriety with which I hope that you are governing both spiritually and temporally—as I charge you all to do, each in what concerns him. Likewise you will confer with the said superiors and religious, and bring it about that they shall undertake to remedy by love all which shall be found to have been done through force and fear; for, according to what the bishop tells me of these Indians, they are well disposed (not only in spiritual but in temporal matters), freely to render me submission. Done at Madrid, on the eighth day of the month of Page 265February in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-seven.
I The King
By order of the king our lord:
Joan de Ybarra
In the city of Manila, on the fifth day of the month of August in the year one thousand five hundred and ninety-eight, the above-contained decree was proclaimed by Francisco Rodriguez, public crier, in a loud and clear voice, many persons being present, at the regular session of the Audiencia. I certify this.
Gaspar de Acebo