The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 18 of 55 / 1617-1620 / 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

[2] The racionero and medio racionero are prebendaries of Spanish cathedrals, ranking in the order named.

[3] The fourth vow of the Jesuits binds to implicit obedience in going wherever the pope orders them to go for the salvation of souls. The other three vows are the same as those professed by other religious.

Proposal to Destroy Macao

The royal Council of the Indias has tried many methods to prevent considerable amounts of silver being sent to the Philipinas from Nueva Spaña; but those methods have been without result, as experience has demonstrated. One has occurred to me, and I think, God helping, that it will have good results. It is as follows:

The inhabitants of the said islands have no other means of support than commerce, and in the shelter of their trade is sustained all that church which now numbers so many faithful that it already has an archbishop and three suffragan bishops for its government. Inasmuch as that trade has hitherto consisted of Chinese merchandise with Nueva España, it has been, and is, necessary to obtain from that country the value of the merchandise in money, and to take the money there in order to make the investment of the following year. Trade is there [i.e., in the islands] like sowing in order to reap; and consequently, if the door were to be partly closed to this trade, the said inconvenience would cease. The door might be shut without any harm to the said islands, if another door were to be opened to them, which would be also as remunerative as the other, and would not be with his Majesty’s countries. In this way his money would not be taken away, for they could engage in that trade with Japon. In this same manner as the inhabitants of Manila lade the silks that they buy in that city from the Chinese, and send them to Nueva España, they should lade them to send to Japon, where there is a great consumption of these goods and much excellent silver with which to buy them. This would be a very good thing for the people of Manila; for, although the profits for any year might be less than those of Nueva España, still they would be more sure, because of the much greater frequency and shortness of the voyage. Furthermore, they would enjoy the entire proceeds from the returns for their goods. Of the returns from Nueva Spaña they enjoy only to the sum of five hundred thousand pesos—the amount that his Majesty allows to be sent annually to the Philipinas, and no more, although the value of the goods in Mexico amounts to much more. Besides that, this relationship with Japon would prove very beneficial to the Philipinas for their security; because the Japanese are those who are more feared in the islands than all the other neighboring nations, for they are very courageous and arrogant. Consequently they would prove excellent friends to oppose the Dutch, who are navigating those seas. Also by means of this trade the church of that kingdom, which is now so disturbed, would be made safe. By it would also be reëstablished the trade of the Indias with Spaña, from which so many profits would follow if that drain of money to the Philipinas were stopped; and it would be without hurt to those islands.

This trade between Manila and Japon has already been usual for many years, although in ships of small burden. It has been demonstrated by experience that if all the trade to Japon were theirs, all that country [i.e., the Philippines] could be very easily sustained without needing anything further from Nueva Spaña and Spaña than soldiers and the products of those countries. Consequently it would be sufficient for two small vessels to sail in that route of the South Sea. That would cost but little and that expense might even be met from the royal treasury of Manila.

But the greatest bulk of this trade is from the Portuguese of Macan, a town on the Chinese coast, which is about the same distance from Japon as Manila. All its inhabitants, in number about three hundred, support themselves by that trade; for, although they have other trade, it is of slight importance.

Therefore, it is advisable, in order to attain the said trade, that that town be abandoned, and that its inhabitants go to live in other cities of India. They can do that without much injury to their goods, since they carry them all by sea; and anywhere they have trade by way of the sea. In order to dismantle that town, it is sufficient for his Majesty to order that nothing be freighted thence to Japon, but only from Manila. Thereupon all the inhabitants would immediately pull up stakes[1] and leave that place.

Although such a thing appears harsh, and seems like falling out with one saint to placate another, still it will seem an easy and very advisable measure to those who have seen that town, or know it close at hand—and there are several such persons here in this court. And even if it were not evident that the good results above mentioned would follow from it, this step should be taken as a policy of good government, as such a course is advisable for the service of God. For his name is blasphemed by the people of that kingdom of China because of that town of Macao—such are the deeds of its inhabitants; for they live as a people without any master, and are not under the control of his Majesty, for the dwellers in that town are not his vassals, but those of the king of China. They pay tribute to him, and are subject to his mandarins, but not to others. Consequently his Majesty does not derive one maravedi’s profit from it, while he incurs considerable expense; for he supports all its ecclesiastics out of his royal treasury of Malaca, for the honor of the Portuguese nation. For there they are so subject to those mandarins that, unless they kneel on the ground with both knees, they cannot talk to them; nor can they build one palmo of a wall, even in their own house, without the mandarin’s license, while [they practice,] besides, innumerable infamies. [The transfer of] those people will be for the welfare of the state of Yndia, because its fortresses are without soldiers, by reason of the lack of dwellers in their ports. For the Portuguese, being so eager for liberty, go to live in the lands where there is most liberty, as in that land of China and that of Vengala. There go most and the best of the soldiers of Yndia, who take service with infidel kings and fight in their wars. Thence it follows that India is lost, land and sea, while the Dutch have become masters of it; and through their efforts much of the commerce between certain ports has ceased. The consequence of that is that the public storehouses [at Macao?] have become very poor, on account of the deficiency in their usual supplies; and they do not possess the means to bear the expenses, either in war or in peace, for the food of laymen or ecclesiastics—nearly all of whom live on what is paid to them by the king. Consequently, were that town of Macan dismantled, at least that protection would cease; and they would settle in his Majesty’s lands, as is just, since the majority of them have gone to Yndia at the cost of his royal treasury. That would also be a matter of importance for the welfare of the kingdom of Portugal, since that country gains so much in having a quantity of silver sent to Spaña from the Indias, because of the large amount of it that oozes from the latter country into Portugal; and just so much more would flow thither as less is drawn off from Spain to other parts. Portugal does not enjoy one single maravedi of the fruits of the trade of that town, all of which are consumed in it and in China, where it is situated. Besides for the maintenance of Portugal’s state of Yndia, the helpful proximity of the Philipinas is of much more importance to it than one or two towns of that state, for it has been very evident, for some years past, how important are the forces of the Philipinas to cope with the common enemy of both states, namely, the Dutch. Those forces have been sufficient to defeat the Dutch more than once. Since money is what enables war to be carried on, it is advisable for both states that Philipinas have considerable of it, at so little expense to the state of Yndia as the possession of a town—at least, one of the importance and advantage which we have mentioned—and also at little expense to the treasury of his Majesty and of his kingdoms.