It is a law of Yndia and of Maluco that no person can lade or take away cloves from those islands in any manner, unless it be for your Majesty, under penalty of loss of the ship and rigging; from which the profit resulting to the royal exchequer amounts to a third of what is laded, so great is the freight charge. Certain Portuguese came to these islands in their own ships. They take away a quantity of cloves and sell it to merchants, who in turn sell it to Chinese and other persons, who secretly ship it to Nueva España—whence it is taken to the provinces of Peru, the new realm of Granada, Tierra Firme, Guatimala, and other regions. From this there result three losses to the royal exchequer. In the first place, since the cloves are carried from the Malucas by the hand of a third party, your Majesty loses the third due on embarcation. In the second place, it is laded here for Nueva España secretly, and without paying the duties or freight charges. In the third place, when it has arrived at Nueva España, Peru, and other regions, that which is brought from the realms of Castilla loses its value.
All this expense which your Majesty suffers in providing for that fortress, and these losses, could be remedied as follows. Your Majesty has in the island of Panay, one of these Filipinas, which borders on the Malucas Islands, a number of tributary Indians who pay the larger part of their tribute in cleaned rice. After their harvest they have a great deal of rice wine, which is made in these islands, and these are the provisions necessary for the Malucas. If, conformably to what has been said, there were built on your Majesty's account two patages in the island of Panay—such as are commonly built in the said island by the encomenderos, to sell to the said Portuguese in these islands, and which cost about five hundred pesos—two thousand fanegas of cleaned rice, and six hundred jars [tinajas] of wine could be loaded in them. The rice would be collected for your Majesty from your royal tributes, at two reals and six maravedis. Each tinaja of wine, with cask and all, is valued at four reals, on board. Likewise two hundred pesos of fine Sangley earthenware is sufficient, which is to be used as follows. These two patages must, while going to Maluco, of necessity take water at the port of La Caldera, and the earthenware is to be left in the Spanish camp which is there, so that with it they may buy from the natives five hundred quintals of cinnamon, taking care to dry it. In the meantime the two patages resume their voyage, having left this earthenware, and continue with the rice and wine to the fortress of the said Malucas. They will deliver to the warden there half of it, to pay those expenses or quarters to the citizens. With the other half they will buy four hundred baxes of cloves, making two thousand four hundred quintals, at six quintals to the bax; [6] this would be brought on your Majesty's account to these islands. Then they are obliged to go back to the said port of La Caldera, where they will take on the cinnamon bought with the earthenware; and all will be brought to the port of Cavite, to be embarked on the ships which your Majesty sends on the voyage from here to Nueva España. When they have arrived there, the royal officials at the port of Acapulco will send a third of the said cloves and cinnamon to Mexico, and two-thirds to Piru and its provinces. If sold at retail, it would be worth three hundred pesos a quintal; going to private persons, in quantity, it is usually worth two hundred pesos; consequently, in this way there would be a great profit gained. I am ready to say that it would be worth to your Majesty almost as much as all the income from the customs of all Portuguese Yndia. For this purpose your Majesty will have to keep a factor in the said island of Panay, to collect tributes, despatch the ships to La Caldera and Maluco, and receive them there; and to correspond with the royal officials in this city so that they may embark all this spice for Nueva España, and with the factor who must be at Acapulco, so that he may make the distribution.
This transaction is so profitable that several of the governors who have been in these islands have taken the trouble to send an armed galley merely to make this purchase of cinnamon at the port of La Caldera, until in the time of Doctor Santiago de Vera this trade was abandoned. Being aware of the profit in it, Guido de Lavezaris (who governed these islands on the death of the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi) prohibited trading and trafficking in spices in these islands for any person except the officials of your Majesty, who were to receive, buy, and lade the spices for Mexico, all on the account of your royal exchequer; this was done. In consequence of this, he likewise forbade that any island or any province whatsoever where there were cloves, cinnamon, or other spices should be assigned in encomiendas. Accordingly, from that time on, the transportation of spices by private persons to Nueva España was cut off. All this with the lapse of time, and the interest of certain persons, has been neglected, so that, it is understood, a great quantity of spice is taken to Nueva España every year.
23. The other expedient which occurs to me is that the income from silk to the kingdom of Granada is registered as seventy-two millions, with the condition that no twisted or loose silk can be taken to the Yndias, which does not come from the said kingdom—although, indeed, to fill up this quantity, there is sometimes added silk from the kingdom of Murcia and Andalucia; but it passes through the custom-house of Granada, pays its duties, and is sealed there. In order that there may be no fraud in this, there is in Sevilla an administrator and a commissioned judge, who is ordinarily one of the alcaldes of the criminal court of the royal Audiencia. From the kingdom of China a quantity of crude silk is brought in bundles to these islands, and is taken to Nueva España, where it is woven into fabrics, and part of it is dyed. This silk is usually worth in this city a hundred and fifty pesos, although at present it sells at two hundred and forty pesos a pico.
From the transportation of this silk the royal exchequer suffers the following losses. In the first place, the silks brought from Castilla, whether woven or loose, are worth less; and accordingly the royal duties do not amount to so much. In the second place, there are not so many silks brought as would come if these were lacking. Although these pay duties, there is a loss in this, as duties are not so great as those from Castilla pay. Crude silk is neither necessary nor useful for ordinary maintenance or support; and accordingly it seems best that your Majesty should, if such be your pleasure, obviate these losses which are occurring, and obtain satisfaction for them in some way and meet the great expenses which you have here. Your Majesty should leave liberty, as you always have done, for your vassals to trade in all merchandise with China in all kinds of goods; but should have monopolized and forbidden this trade in crude silk, commanding that no ship which comes from China shall neglect to bring five picos of crude silk, which is a very small quantity. They should be paid a reasonable price for it. In this way there would be the profit which they make in bringing it from China here, whence it is sent to Mexico; and, sold at retail, there will be the profit on it of four hundred per cent. There come usually from China to this city thirty ships and some years fifty, so that the profit on this would be large; and there would remain to the citizens of these islands a great deal of merchandise with which to trade, without their missing these goods. There would be enough to cover all the expenses, salaries, and other things which are necessary in these islands, and must be paid from the royal treasury—which, with all the money that is sent from Mexico, has not enough money to cover all the very important expenses affecting the proper guard, protection, and defense of these islands. This is all that occurs to me at present to say concerning matters relating to the royal exchequer, for its welfare. I shall continue always to watch for what is most fitting for the royal service of your Majesty, and shall attempt to further it; and such is always my desire. May God protect your Majesty many years, with a greater increase of kingdoms and seigniories, according to the needs of Christendom. In the city of Manila, which is in the island of Luzon, the principal one of the Filipinas Islands. July 21, 1599.
The licentiate Hieronimo de Salazar y Salcedo
Sire:
Since I have given to your Majesty an account of the affairs of the administration of justice and of the royal exchequer of these Philipinas Islands by two other letters which accompany this, I will here discuss affairs of government. The thing which seems to me most necessary to do for the good government of these islands—and especially for correcting the great excesses which are wont to be committed by some of the religious who have Indian missions in their charge; and by the alcaldes-mayor, corregidors, deputies, and other magistrates, and the encomenderos of Indian repartimientos—is that, at least every two years, an auditor of the royal Audiencia of these islands, commencing with the oldest of them, should make a visitation over all the country in his jurisdiction, as is provided by the ordinances thereof, and in the form which I wrote to your Majesty in July of the past year, ninety-eight. Although the auditors oppose this, it is to avoid the great labor, expense, and danger to health, by sea and enemies, which they must undergo and pass through. Accordingly, if your Majesty pleases, a reasonable allowance for their expenses might be made, and soldiers given them to accompany and guard them, with good vessels, at the expense of the royal exchequer, if the cost should not be covered by the penalties inflicted during the visitation. Your Majesty will be pleased to order in this what is most expedient.
[In the margin: "Write to the governor to have this visitation carried out in the pacified country, and where there is no obstacle, conformably to the ordinance. And have him see to it that they do not send soldiers with the auditor, and that he does not take people who would be oppressive to the Indians; and let him take care that this visitation be effectual—for which purpose let him command to be built, and furnished to the auditor, a vessel of suitable size, to go outside of the island of Luzon, at his Majesty's expense. As to the reimbursement which ought to be made beside what is conceded to them by the ordinance, and the decrees of his Majesty, let him inform us of his opinion." "Have sent a duplicate of the last decree despatched in regard to this visitation.">[
The main object of your Majesty's royal decrees, provisions, and orders given to your governors of these islands, is the prosperity of the citizens thereof; for in that way they become established and settled and the islands populated. The governors have not always attended to this as they should, for they have regarded this, which is their principal obligation, as accessory and dependent upon their private interests in order that they may become rich with what the citizens are to gain, as is already well known. And so little is the profit, and so poor the subsistence, of those who live here, and so much is their living interfered with by the governors, and the relatives and dependents whom they bring with them, that, as a result, so little is left for the citizens that they cannot in twenty years make the profit and gain which is acquired in a few years by some of those whom the said governors bring with them. This has often been experienced. For the remedy of this I suggest the following things.