Fourth, the supplies will be taken away from their fortresses; for they have nothing wherewith to support themselves except it be brought from other islands. This would be very easily accomplished, and the enemy would have no means to remedy it. The natives who are devoted to them would be so terrorized that they would be obliged to come over to our side. If they accomplish that in this way and through the effective plans of whomsoever shall govern there, and the negotiations which he would conduct with them, it is quite certain that the enemy would be ruined, and could not maintain himself a year in his forts; for it is the natives who aid and sustain him, and furnish the cloves for his profit.
Fifth, it would be easy to make an invasion with the galleys on all the factories where they have not fortresses—and especially in Bantan, which is in Greater Xava, whither they carry all the spices which are shipped to Holland—and then to gain them all and burn them. They have no port there for large vessels, but only a bay where vessels which anchor there are kept at a distance from the land in the mud, aground, so that they cannot make use of them when they wish. Accordingly the galleys could easily burn those which lie there. If Don Juan de Silva had adopted this measure, the enemy would already be subdued; and your Majesty would not have spent so great sums of money, and so exhausted the Filipinas Islands.
Sixth, the forces which your Majesty possesses in Maluco would be maintained with much less cost than at present by means of these galleys. For as there are no supplies in those islands it is necessary to send them from the Filipinas, which entails three difficulties. The first is that prices are thus made higher in that country, and the natives thereof are oppressed; the second, that it costs your Majesty a great deal, with the ships and men that are needed to man them; and the third, that the enemy gets a great deal of the aid which is sent. All this would be obviated by keeping galleys there; for it must be understood that the island of Macaçar is very large, rich, and abundantly supplied, and lies a two days’ journey from Maluco. The king there is desirous of friendship with us, and has even sent to the governor of Terrenate to seek religious, as he says in the letter which is at the end of this relation. Last year he wrote a letter to the governor of the Filipinas, offering to furnish him all the supplies that he might need for the forces in Maluco; and saying that, if he had not the money to pay for them, he might have them on trust until the money came. Things are very cheap there, costing less than half as much as in the Filipinas, and the said galleys could transport them easily, without the danger which they now encounter of being taken by the enemy. Rather, on the other hand, those which the enemy carry from there could be taken away with ease, and they would be caused to perish with hunger. If an ordinary amount of care were taken in negotiating with this king, he would, as he is so well disposed to the Spaniards, be so devoted to your Majesty that he would not allow the enemy to enter his port. Besides, his friendship with them is already greatly strained; and there is a great disposition among all that people to receive the gospel.
Seventh, as those islands have no posts where cloves may be laded, the Dutch send their ships far from the artillery of their own forts, which they cannot approach; and it will be easy to secure the vessels, or not allow them to lade anything. Considering the calms which prevail, even if there were many ships they could not aid one another, whatever injury the galleys were inflicting upon them—the least being to dismantle them, so that they cannot sail, for there is nothing there with which to make a mast or rudder.
Eighth, as they have a number of posts where they only keep twenty-five or thirty men with a squadron commander, and the forts have no ditches or drinking-water, they could be deprived of these at any time with ease. Galleons would be of no use in such engagements, as they cannot vie with galleys, which can get under cover whenever they wish. Likewise it must be understood, as their forts are in such danger, they will need so many men to keep them from being taken, and so much to maintain them, that their profit will be so small that it will be gain for them to abandon it. This would indeed be making a pretty game of war, and cutting their throats with a wooden sword. And I assure your Majesty that this idea is not only my own, but that of all experienced men in Maluco There resides at this court Juan Gomez de Cardenas, who gained considerable experience in Japon with a Dutch factor, who never thought that this man was a vassal of your Majesty. The latter made known to him the said reason, and said that they feared nothing until your Majesty should send there six or more galleys.
It now remains to tell the ease and little cost with which your Majesty could maintain these galleys and man them; and if this is explained for one, it holds in regard to all. The hull of a galley of twenty-four benches, put together and fitted for sailing, costs in the Filipinas four thousand ducats. The gang to man it must be secured in this manner. The governor of the Filipinas should send to Mindanao three hundred soldiers, by whom—besides setting free more than ten thousand Christian captives, vassals of your Majesty in the Filipinas—sufficient men could be captured to man the galleys. If this measure be not sufficient, a frigate or two should be sent to Malaca for cloves on your Majesty’s account, which would bring back negroes at two hundred reals, more or less, with which to man them; these oarsmen are very satisfactory, as experience has shown. In order to maintain the crew and replace those who die, men could be captured continually from our enemies, on a thousand occasions, without fail.
The support of the galley slaves is inexpensive, for they live on rice, fish, and a little jerked beef—which, besides, is often captured from the enemy there; and is very low in price when it has to be bought, as, at present, in the island of Macaçar.
The third and last measure is, if these two fail, such that I dure not write it, for that is not expedient; but I will explain it to your Majesty, if you are pleased to learn it. I shall not go into this matter any further, nor explain the reasons more in detail, as this is not to be long; but if your Majesty should be pleased to carry out any of the suggestions here made, I shall explain away the doubts which may present themselves.
In the second place the person who is to govern should have the said requisites, for he is the soul of the undertaking; and it is he who must execute whatever your Majesty orders and commands. Whatever he is, such will be the rest. That this may not appear an exaggeration, I will prove it by evidence.
There are dependent upon the governor not only the secular Spanish residents of those islands, but the ecclesiastics; also war and peace, and the royal Audiencia, the archbishop, the bishops, and all the other soldiers and citizens; for it is he who must reward and honor them with offices of peace and war. He must assign the cargoes of the ships, the profits and advantages. The royal Audiencia, because he appoints their relatives and constituents to offices of profit, must needs keep in his graces. The archbishop and bishops, if they do not conform to his will, may have their temporal support taken from them; for if he cannot do it with good cause, he can easily do it in other ways. In a thousand things which occur, too, they need him for the direction of their affairs; and he can inflict on them so many burdens and annoyances that they realize how dearly they are buying the privilege of opposing him or contradicting his wishes. The chapter of the church is the same, or worse; for he makes appointments, as your Majesty is patron, and orders the stipends to be paid. Accordingly it is necessary to be in his good graces. The cabildo of the city dare not do anything against his will; for those who oppose him or say anything in the sessions which is contrary to his wishes, it costs dear, and, besides, he is aware of whatever they do there. They dare not write to your Majesty, without taking to him the letters so that he may examine them; and there have been times when he has had these torn up, and ordered them to write others. Consequently, the religious who are teaching, and those of the convents, are all dependent upon him.