For these reasons I entreat and supplicate your royal Majesty, with the utmost humility, on my own part and on that of the said poor who are treated in the hospital, that you will do us the favor of adding some further charity to the grants which you have made to this hospital, for the supply of the many wants which arise every day and are increasing.
Still further, I entreat and supplicate your royal Majesty that the favor which the Catholic and royal Majesty, Don Phelipe our lord, the father of your royal Majesty (whom may God our Lord keep in His heaven!), granted to us, by commanding that we be allowed to send four toneladas of freight in his royal ships, be also continued to us free from customs duties and any other dues which pertain to your royal Majesty, whether in this city of Manila or in Nueva España, or in any other part of your realms.
Moreover, since the minister of this hospital is always a father who is a priest, who will administer the sacraments not only to the sick who come to the said hospital for treatment, but to all the people who serve therein or who reside on the stock-farm which belongs to the hospital, as well as to many other people in all this city and in the islands who usually come to this hospital for confession; and besides this, your Majesty pays from his royal treasury the archbishop, qura, and canons of the cathedral of Manila for their labors in ministering to the Indians, in all matters for which the tithes are not sufficient—I entreat your royal Majesty to command your royal officials in this city of Manila that they recompense the said archbishop, cura, and canons in such manner that they shall not enter the stock-farm of the said hospital to collect tithes and firstfruits, since hitherto they have never entered there. And in all things I entreat the royal Majesty of your royal Majesty, etc.
Letters from the Royal Fiscal to the King
Sire:
After having given an account to your Majesty, in so far as concerns my office of fiscal of this royal Audiencia of these Philipinas Islands, of the affairs of justice, by another letter which accompanies this, it seemed best to me to give one concerning those things which touch the royal exchequer, in the following manner.
1. The royal exchequer of your Majesty in these islands is not sufficient by a large sum to supply the salaries and expenses which are here paid out and incurred. For before the royal Audiencia came here, the archbishop and bishops drew from Mexico fifteen, twenty, and some years thirty thousand pesos apiece; but, even with all this, all those who had to draw money from the royal treasury were complaining and irregularly paid. Many works were neglected, and necessary expenses were abandoned. With the new stipends and salaries of an archbishop, three bishops, four auditors, and a fiscal, which amount to twenty-four thousand pesos, we must cut down much more. All that sum, which is the salary of powerful people, must be maintained; and therefore we must suffer wretched service, and abandon, as has been done, works and affairs in which there should be no lack. For some remedy and alleviation of this difficulty, I will point out some expedients which, in my opinion—as one who understands the present state of affairs, and has some knowledge of the country—your Majesty, if you are so pleased, can use, employing such of them as appear to be most expedient.
2. I find no basis on which people could rest their opinion that there should be in these islands the said archbishop and bishops; for the population of them all does not exceed six hundred Spanish citizens, and the one bishop who was in this city was sufficient. One is sufficient for all matters which might arise of which the prelates take cognizance, or which are necessary, for they are very few and unimportant; and those who appeal to the metropolitan go to Mexico and return in one year. The three provinces in which were lately erected the three bishoprics are so near this city that one can come from them in ten or twelve days; and in the one which has the largest settlement of Spaniards there are not more than a hundred citizens, or even so many—namely, in Zubu. The other two, which are Camarines and Cagayan, do not amount, each one, to seventy Spaniards. In each one there is a curate, who administers the sacraments to the Spaniards; and convents of friars, who administer them to the Indians who live in the said villages and their neighborhood. If the prelate who is chosen in Manila is a religious of proved integrity, and industrious, he can very well attend to these matters easily, and without overwork. Whatever has been said or may be said to your Majesty to the contrary, either arises from ignorance of the matter or from private designs, and does not aim at expediency.
[In the margin: "There is nothing to answer.">[
3. By a decree of your Majesty which came in the past year, ninety-eight, the governor of these islands was commanded to discontinue a number of false musters which were being paid, and additions to the expenses of the royal treasury. Without mentioning the decree, he pronounced an edict in which he commanded the officials of the royal exchequer of your Majesty to erase them from the royal books, and pay them no more. Afterward, with different pretexts and by various means other salaries and additional expenses were incurred, which it had never been customary to pay—as, for instance, paying salaries to the captains, alferez, and other officers of war for the citizens in the villages. The governor appointed, as alferez of the captain of the town of Arevalo, Don Juan Fajardo; and designated as his salary that of the post of musketeer, for which he served in the said post of alferez. Having appealed it before the Audiencia, after examination and review there, he was commanded to pay the said salary for the time while he had served in the post of alferez. Captain Francisco Rrodriguez, as he was of the troops from Zubu, when he was alcalde-mayor there was ordered by the said governor to give a hundred pesos of additional cost. He appealed from this, and his case is pending in the Audiencia. Although these things appear of little importance, so far as events hitherto are concerned, they may be very important for the future; for, as they are said to be confirmed by the Audiencia the governors will take it as a precedent, in order to be able to make the same move with the other captains and alferezes. The expenses of the royal treasury will thus suffer a large increase, and in matters which never have been done nor are now necessary. It would be well, if your Majesty were so pleased, to command that all the wages, salary, and additional expenses which have been given in the said manner be returned to the royal treasury by the person who ordered them, and that henceforward none should by any means be granted; and, if it be expedient to give any, your Majesty should be informed and a royal order for that purpose awaited.