Captain Andrea Coello came from India in a patache in July last year with despatches from the viceroy. That enemy having come and taken position in the entrances of this bay, he offered to serve as ordered, whether on land or on sea, with his person, patache, sailors, and soldiers; for his profession was to serve your Majesty in war. He remained until the royal fleet was ready to sail in search of the enemy; and the said captain supported the sailors and soldiers with his patache and with the moderate aid given him. He took part on that occasion, and acted as an honorable and valiant soldier, attending with exactness to all his orders.
The viceroy of Nueva España sent a ship from the port of Acapulco, which reached the port of Cavite on June twenty-six. Aboard it were the bishop of Nueva Segovia[6] and twenty-eight Augustinian friars; one hundred and forty soldiers and twenty convicts; one hundred quintals of powder, one hundred muskets, and one hundred arquebuses. Since the country was at peace, that proved a tolerable reënforcement. No money came for the royal treasury, which does not contain one single peso. From the money that is expected from Nueva España must be paid the twenty-six thousand seven hundred pesos lent by the citizens and the probate court account; besides other twenty-three thousand pesos due to the captains and the Japanese and Chinese merchants, for cloth and war supplies which they have delivered to the royal magazines. There is no royal revenue from which to satisfy those debts. The only revenue that can be collected now will be the proceeds of the Sangley licenses, and that will scarcely suffice for the very ordinary expenses. There will be no money with which to pay the salaries of the Audiencia, royal officials, and other persons; the stipends of the bishops and prebends of the church, and those given to the religious; the wages of the infantry of this camp and that of Terrenate; and the aid that must be sent to those forts for their ordinary sustenance. And then this is increased by the delay of the fleet which your Majesty has ordered to come by way of the cape of Buena Esperança because of the great expenses that will be thus incurred, and by the repair of the galleons in Cavite. The latter must not be abandoned, and are without masts, for only their futtock-timbers can be of use. It is all very difficult when so many things come at the same time, and there is no money with which to repair them. May God in His mercy provide a remedy for so many necessities. I shall do the utmost that in me lies. Although there is considerable to provide, I shall attend to the most needful, so that things may be maintained until the viceroy of Nueva España, upon learning of the wretched condition of these islands and those of Terrenate, may provide the aid that is necessary for their conservation. Accordingly I humbly beg your Majesty to send the viceroy orders that the succor asked from him be sent promptly. And should a case happen like the present, of no vessels going to Nueva España because they have to return in distress to these islands, [I beg you to order] that the viceroy do not neglect to send the money which is usually asked from him for the payment of the expenses incurred in these islands. Those expenses, like those of the war which are of so great moment, cannot be supplied if there is a lack of money, and it will not be well to fall again into such straits as those that we suffer at present.
The two auditors who were to come to this Audiencia, remained in Mexico, as there was no accommodation in the ship to enable them to sail. Their absence causes a conspicuous deficiency; for I am the only judge in the Audiencia, because the sickness of Doctor Juan Manuel de la Vega is of long duration, and few hopes are sustained of his recovery, according to the physicians’ reports. Licentiate Manuel de Madrid y Luna has determined to go to serve in the position of alcalde of the court in Mexico (which your Majesty has bestowed upon him as a reward), notwithstanding that I did not allow him to quit that of auditor of this Audiencia on account of the just reasons for serving therein—through the many affairs concurrent in it of justice and government, and through the great lack that all these would experience if they were in charge of only one person. Should it happen that I were to die, there would be no Audiencia nor any one to govern these islands—irreparable injuries, for which it is advisable to prepare the remedy beforehand. And although, besides these things, I presented to him many considerations that should oblige him to postpone his departure; and notwithstanding the requests and protests that I have made to him regarding the present injuries and those that might happen on his account; all this has not sufficed to move him from his purpose. He has answered me with the arguments which if your Majesty pleases may be seen in the accompanying testimony. Manila. August 10, 1617.
Licentiate Andres de Alcaraz
[Marginal note: “Take particular account of what is stated about his services, in order to reward him as may be fitting, especially for what he did on the occasions that he mentions which have been so advantageous to the royal service and to the conservation of those islands, which results from achievements as great as were the defeat and punishment of the enemy. In what concerns the persons of whose services he gives information, let attention be given to them in the Audiencia; and have them summoned so that they may know what knowledge his Majesty has of them, and what he has entrusted to their persons.”]
[1] Spanish, se hierra; an allusion to the branding of convicts with a hot iron; that is, a defeat on the part of the Spaniards would be an irremediable damage to their reputation.
[2] See Vol. XIV, p. 314, note 53.
[3] The property of deceased persons was carefully guarded by law, as numerous decrees show; see Recopilación de leyes, lib. ix, tit. xiv, which contains twenty-five ordinances, devoted to “the property of persons who have died in the Indias, and its administration and accounts in the House of Trade at Sevilla;” and lib. ii, tit. xxxii, with seventy ordinances regarding “the courts in charge of such property, and its administration and accounts in the Indias, and on vessels of war or trade.” Two of these laws (ley xxii in the former group, and ley lix in the latter) give definite and unqualified command that the funds in the probate treasury shall not be used for any purpose whatsoever, even for the needs of the royal service; and another (ley lx, second group), dated December 13, 1620, commands that the proceeds of estates left by persons dying in the Philippines shall be accounted for and paid (to the heirs) at the royal treasury in the city of Mexico.
[4] Juan Ronquillo was a relative of Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa. After the death of Rodríguez de Figueroa, he conducted an expedition to Mindanao in 1597 at Governor Tello’s order (see description of that expedition, Vol. XV). In 1617 he defeated the Dutch at Playa Honda, as above described.