The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 16 of 55 / 1609 / Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

by Unknown

The third. That he shall deliver up the Dutch in his power. He replied that when he left this fort of Ternate, thirteen or fourteen Dutchmen with him took to flight, and he thought that they went to the Dutch vessel, for he has not seen them. However, if they appear, he will deliver them up immediately.

The fourth. He shall deliver up the Spanish renegades who were in this fort of Ternate. He answered that there was only one there, and that he fled like the others the day the fort was taken, and he does not know where he is, but that he shall be sought and delivered up.

The fifth. That he shall also deliver up all the villages in the island of Batochina or El Moro, which were formerly Christian; as well as the islands of Marotay, and Herrao, which were also Christian, with all the artillery and ammunition in them. He answered that he is ready to deliver up everything, as he did with his person.

Don Pedro de Acuña, governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands, president of the royal Audiencia resident therein, and general of this Maluco fleet, entrusted these capitulations to General Juan Xuarez Gallinato and captain Christoval de Villagra. They made them in the form above declared, with the help of Pablo de Lima, a Portuguese native of these islands, who was the interpreter of the [Moro] language. The said king affixed his signature, according to his custom. It was done in the fort of Ternate April ten, one thousand six hundred and six. The said general and captain, and the said Pablo de Lima, also signed it.

The king signed it in Persian characters with graceful curves, and the Spaniards simply. This original agreement was brought to España with the other authentic documents.

[Possession is formally taken of the newly-subdued and of the reconquered territory in the name of the king of Spain; and after consultation it is determined to take the king of Ternate to Manila, leaving governors appointed to carry on his government. All swear homage to the Spanish monarch, and promise not to admit the Dutch or other foreigners to their clove trade, and not to prevent missionary work. Acuña orders a new fort to be built at Tidore, remits a third part of the tribute to be paid by the Ternatans, and, after strengthening the fort at Terate, leaves Juan de Esquivel there with six hundred men, boats, ammunition, and supplies, to act as governor of all the Moluccas, while he returns to Manila with his prisoners. Trouble begins immediately, and Esquival is kept busy with expeditions to the various islands and forts, while the Dutch again begin their machinations; and sickness fights powerfully against the Spaniards. At Mindanao, a conspiracy to escape is discovered among the prisoners, for Mindanao is friendly to the Ternatans. The narrative continues:]

In all the time that we have described, no news of our victory reached Filipinas. From this silence and suspense they argued in those regions, and especially in Manila, that Don Pedro and his fleet had perished, or that he had succeeded so poorly that general sorrow would be caused. Never was virtue free from envious ones who pursue it, and such were not wanting to Don Pedro in Manila. But although these were well known [some words misprinted in text]—so that popular suspicion makes them the authors of the poison from which it was believed that that great knight died, twenty-two days after his arrival—we ahall suppress their names; since it is unworthy of the author, who has to maintain neutrality (and indifference, in fact) to give strength to a rumor which even yet is based only upon a suspicion. All are now dead, and judged before the tribunal where not one thought passes without examination. These men, then, spread the rumor that Don Pedro, having assaulted Ternate, entered it easily; but that his men became so embarrassed in the midst of their great plundering that the barbarians, having reflected, attacked the Spaniards and made them retreat, after killing the majority of them. They said that the general, ashamed of his lack of discipline, did not dare return to Manila. When that report reached the Indians' ears, it did so great harm that they began to rebel, especially in the provinces of Camarines and Pintados. The friars who were already attending to their instruction could do nothing with them, for they asked, since the Malucans were victorious, why they should remain subject to the Spaniards, who did not defend them from the Moros. They said that the latter would, with Ternate's protection, plunder them daily, and worse thenceforward. They did not stop at mere murmurs, for they began to confer concerning them, and to talk of executing their plans. But all vanished before the truth and the news of it, which preceded the arrival of the conquerors…..

[The conquerors are given a triumphant reception, and the captives are cheered with hopes of an early release by a decree from Spain, and lodged comfortably. The king of Ternate has a letter written to the Spanish monarch, in which he entreats his clemency. Argensola ends with the reflection that "the Malucos being, then, reduced, our ministers and preachers went thither, and the voice of the evangelist began to be heard in the remotest confines of the land.">[

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, by Antonio de Morga.—See Bibliographical Data in Vol. XV.