The succession of Luis Perez Dasmariñas to the government of the Philippines, and the designs of the Chinese to capture the islands, form the subject matter of Chapter III. By virtue of his father’s will and a royal decree empowering the latter to name his successor in case of absence or death, Luis Perez takes over the command from Pedro de Rojas, who has been elected by the city, with which “all the city received great happiness, both because of what they owed the father, and the love that they bore the son, of whose heroic virtues much might be said.” The Chinese send a vast fleet to Manila in charge of a number of mandarins, in order to conquer Luzón, because they fear the Spaniards, and “would much rather see us very far from their kingdom than to have the gain derived from us ... The governor received the mandarins and their embassy, who pretended that they came to trade, and asked us not to receive the Japanese in our ports, who are their mortal enemies; and taking farewell of them with a good countenance, he sent them to their own country. The next year one of those mandarins returned disguised, in order to act the spy, but as I was inspecting the ships, I noticed and arrested him; but such is the cunning of those people, that he was able to clear himself, so that it seemed better to the governor and to Doctor Antonio de Morga, his lieutenant of justice, to allow the mandarin to return to his own country.”
The expedition to Camboja by Gallinato, and events there, and the arrival of Mendaña’s ship at Manila are told in Chapter IV. Blaz Ruyz, Diego Veloso, and Pantaleon Carnero, having seized the vessel on which they were being carried as prisoners to Siam from Camboja, arrive at Manila, and induce the sending of the three vessels under Gallinato.[4] The latter, however, is blown out of his course as far as the strait of Sincapura. The other two vessels under Blas Ruyz and Diego Veloso reach Camboja, but the ship of the latter is wrecked on the coast. “A relative of the legitimate king was then ruling, one Nancaparan Prabantul,” whom their arrival does not please. The trouble with the Chinese follows, of the three thousand of whom, the Spaniards kill five hundred, and the consequent embassy of Blas Ruyz with forty men to Sistor. The king’s refusal to treat with them unless they make reparation to the Chinese, and his evident preparations to seize their small body of men, lead to the attack on the palace, the killing of the king and one of his sons, and the flight to the Spanish ship, leaving three killed—one Indian, one Japanese, and one Spaniard—but with many wounded. Gallinato’s arrival at this juncture puts an end to affairs there, and all depart for Cochinchina, where Blas Ruyz and Diego Veloso go to find the legitimate king of Camboja at Laos, “crossing those kingdoms for more than two hundred leguas, through territory where a Spaniard had never been seen ... I have related this event because of the many fictions that were told here about Captain Gallinato, who, although a good soldier, did nothing else in the kingdom of Camboxa. Of it Fray Diego Duarte, a Dominican, now residing at Alcala de Henares, procurator of his order in the Filipinas Islands, who was one of those who were present at the death of the king of Camboxa—and not the least important one there—and Captain Don Miguel de Xaque de los Rios, now at this court, are witnesses.” The arrival at Manila of “Doña Isabel Varreto,” wife of “Alvaro de Amendaña,” is chronicled. The discovery that they attempted to make from Peru can be made better from the Philippines, and at less cost, because of its proximity to those regions.
Chapter V treats of events during the term of Francisco Tello, the main part of the chapter being devoted to Louis Perez Dasmariñas’s ill-fated expedition to Camboja. Tello “began to govern with forbearance, although one thing that he did before reaching the city seems to have presaged the evils of the future.” This was in his detention of the ship bound for Nueva España, until he could reach Manila and make a report to the king. As a consequence the vessel, sailing late, experienced so great storms that it was compelled to put in at a Japanese port, “and King Taycosama took their goods away from them, and it was the cause of the martyrdom of twenty-six Franciscan religious, and of the ruin of Manila ... Don Francisco began his government, in amusing himself with his authority and abundance, and in neglecting to despatch the ships on time; of which he should have taken warning by the loss of which he had been the cause, in the wreck of the galleon ‘San Felipe’ as above stated. But he did not amend his ways, and for that same reason other vessels were wrecked later—one called ‘Santa Margarita,’ which was wrecked among the Ladrones Islands; and another called ‘San Geronimo’ which was wrecked at the island of Catanduanes,... and another which sailed from Cibu, called ‘Jesus Maria,’ which was seen no more. And the worst of all was that such neglect became so firmly established, that it would not have been remedied later, and the same troubles would have occurred, unless we had made use of two royal decrees that his Majesty, King Don Felipe Third, conceded to me in the year of 68;[5] and on account of that neglect great need has come upon that kingdom.” The expedition of Oliver van Noordt is very lightly touched. Luis Perez Dasmariñas fits out an expedition of three ships for the relief of Camboja at his own cost, and Los Rios sails in the flagship. Misfortune follows them, and the flagship is lost on the Chinese coast. Such is the hatred of the Portuguese at Macao to the Spaniards “that as soon as they heard of our disaster, they issued an edict that no one should aid us under penalty of confiscation of his property, and three years in the galleys.” Los Rios with eight men lands in order to seek a pilot, and after various adventures is granted audience by the Chinese, who offer asylum to the Spaniards and rebuke the Portuguese. Continuing, a short description is given of Macao, which has about five hundred Portuguese inhabitants; its duties and other gains, however, belong to the Chinese monarch. The principal occupation of the inhabitants is the raw-silk trade with Japan. For the benefit of trade and religion, Los Rios thinks it advisable to depopulate Macao and suppress it. Indeed the hate of the Portuguese goes so far that they attack the remnants of Luis Perez’s expedition as it is about to return home. All their hostility they clinch with “a royal decree given more than thirty years ago, in which your Majesty[6] orders Castilians not to go to that port to trade. It is very important for your Majesty to order the Portuguese not to use that decree for the evil that they do us—not only those of us who go there to trade (which was the reason of its being granted), but also to those of us who make port and arrive there wrecked.”
Events of Pedro Acuña’s government occupy the sixth chapter. “Don Pedro was a restrained and absolutely uncovetous gentleman, and lived temperately. He was affable and open to all; but signal disasters occurred during his term. The Indians of Mindanao ruined those islands, carrying away many captives and quantities of wealth, burning churches, and injuring images, to the great loss of our prestige. Also more than twenty thousand Chinese revolted in the city; and because the warnings of the archbishop and many other persons were not believed, the remedy was not applied in time, which would have been easy. However, although we prevailed against them (with evident miracles), the kingdom was ruined.” This neglect of Acuña results in the massacre of Luis Perez Dasmariñas and more than one hundred and fifty men, only one of the company escaping. To neglect Los Rios charges “the greatest ills” that have happened in the Indias. The expedition made to Maluco by royal command succeeds well. The victory reacts on the Spaniards, however, because of the ill-treatment inflicted by the latter on the king of Ternate, whom they take captive to Manila; and the Moluccans ally themselves with the Dutch. Los Rios begs that good treatment be given to the captive king, who is still in Manila, who, although well treated during Acuña’s life, is afterward neglected and uncared for.[7] Los Rios asks that good treatment be accorded to the king “for the sake of your Majesty’s reputation with those nations; for they will think that you order your ministers to inflict that ill-treatment.... Don Pedro de Acuña died when he was beginning to open his eyes, and to govern very acceptably to all. It is rumored that he was poisoned, although I cannot persuade myself of that fact.” As governor ad interim the viceroy of Nueva España sends Rodrigo de Vivero, who governs until the arrival of Juan de Silva, when he sets sail in the ship “San Francisco,” but is wrecked at Japan, because it sailed late.]
Chapter VII. Of the government of Don Juan de Silva, and events with the Dutch.
On the death of Don Pedro de Acuña in the year 606, your Majesty sent Don Juan de Silva to govern.
Upon his arrival at that kingdom, he was given an opportunity to put his wishes into effect. A Dutchman arrived there with four ships and one patache, and, having stationed himself at the entrance of the bay of Manila, remained there six months, capturing and pillaging all who came to the city. Don Juan de Silva had no ships ready to go out to drive the Dutch from that port; but, with the stay of the enemy, he set to work to repair four ships that were there, and to finish another that was being built in a shipyard. He made haste, and used the iron gratings from the houses of the citizens for the nails that he needed, which the people gave willingly, as well as whatever else was necessary. Further, he also cast five large pieces of artillery, with which, and with the artillery in the forts, he made ready and equipped five ships with high free-board, and three galleys, and manned them with the most valiant of the soldiers and citizens, among all of them more than one thousand men being Spaniards alone. He found the enemy very careless, his ships filled with wealth from many rich vessels that they had pillaged, belonging to the Chinese which were coming to Manila, laden with the merchandise that came yearly. He found only three ships, and attacking and grappling with one of them, it was blown up because of a fire that unfortunately caught. The other two surrendered, although the victory was not bought cheaply, for many people were killed. It had been stated two months before that that victory would be gained on St. Mark’s day,[8] as happened, and, as he recounted one night, had been told to him. But who would say that that victory was to begin his perdition, and so many troubles as I shall relate?
Don Juan de Silva was made very rich by that victory, for the fifth of the booty which your Majesty conceded to him was worth more than two hundred thousand pesos, as I learned from his own mouth. Besides that, the victory induced in him thoughts for great undertakings, and he did not stop to compare the wealth of that kingdom with his designs. He discussed building a fleet to go to Terrenate, and put the matter into execution. Although he was greatly opposed by the entire city—and especially by the royal Audiencia and royal officials, who judged from their experience that the plan was not advisable—yet he acted in defiance of them, and left Manila with his fleet, leaving the natives grievously burdened with taxes, your Majesty’s treasury indebted to a vast amount, and the city without artillery. He went to Maluco, and not only did he not accomplish any good result, but he even returned with little reputation derived from that expedition, as all had foretold.
He desired to correct that mischief, and determined, without any one’s counsel, to build seven galleons, which, with the three that he had, would make ten in all, and also six galleys. That was an undertaking disproportionate to the possibility of his forces, and innumerable evils resulted from it, just as they generally result to him who does not proportion means to ends, and who does not measure desires with strength. When he fought at Playa Honda with the Dutch, as he grappled he recognized the advantage that the larger ships had over the others. Consequently, he determined to build his ships so large that they should be superior to any ship that the enemy would bring. For that purpose he made them of one thousand, one thousand five hundred, and nearly two thousand toneladas. He began to make arrangements for putting his desire into execution, and at the same time to write to the viceroy of India to send him ten more galleons and six galleys, so that the forces of both governments being united, they might at the same time complete the expulsion of the Dutch from the archipelago and seize their forts and factories. That idea would have been very commendable, and the most efficacious means of all, if he could have carried it out as he conceived it. I believe that, in order to facilitate that, he wrote to your Majesty, whereupon this court was filled with hopes. But to place it in execution, he had as much foundation as will be seen here. The forces of India are so few, that, although Silva was told that the viceroy could not send him six ships—and those that could go would be poorly equipped; and that if he did send them, the coasts of India would be left unprotected, which were daily being infested; and, besides, that they knew by experience—the little love that the Portuguese bear to the Castilians and that he should not trust in them—still by sending money to build galleons and for the men, of which at least one-half million [pesos] would be necessary, the viceroy would send that fleet. Don Juan de Silva was without funds; on the contrary, the royal treasury was deeply in debt from the expedition to Maluco. Still, in order to forward his designs, he sent his master-of-camp, Christoval de Azqueta, with pledges and securities made out by the royal officials, binding your Majesty’s royal treasury in order to get the money there from merchandise, and paying interest on them—a transaction which was considered ridiculous to those who knew India. He gave the master-of-camp sixteen thousand pesos which he borrowed in gold from the inhabitants of Manila, in order that he might bring back some necessary things. The master-of-camp sailed in a ship accompanied by forty Spaniards to indicate his authority. As yet, not one of them has been seen; and it is considered certain that all were drowned, since no further news has been heard of them. On the other hand, Silva wrote to the viceroy of Nueva España that he was building that fleet, and requested money, men, and ammunition from him. He despatched so late the ships, which had arrived on time, that although the viceroy made his utmost exertions he could not perform the friendly offices that Silva desired.