The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55 / 1620-1621 / 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

I The King

Countersigned by Pedro de Ledesma, and signed by the Council.

[Note at beginning of MS.: “Procurator for the Indians of Philipinas. To the Audiencia of Philipinas, in respect to redress for the wrongs committed by the religious on the Indians.”]

Relation of Events in the Philipinas Islands and Neighboring Provinces and Kingdoms, from July, 1619, to July, 1620

In the same style and order in which I last year reported the various events in the Philipinas Islands, and in neighboring kingdoms and provinces upon which the welfare of the Philipinas depends, I will now write what has happened this year. There have not been so many and various warlike occurrences as in former years, for it has been somewhat more peaceful here. I will relate briefly what has happened as occasion may require.

Of Great China

Although last year I gave an account of the war which the Chinese were carrying on with the Tartars, I will now return to this point, because we have received letters from our fathers in China. To begin with the earliest events, there was in the province of Teatum,[1] one of the provinces of Great China adjoining Tartaria, a powerful eunuch who collected taxes in the name of the king, and who had some seventy servants in his following. They committed a thousand robberies and tyrannies among the people. The mandarins who governed that district reported this to the king. He ordered them to bring the eunuch in custody to Tiquin, where he is still in prison. The eunuch’s servants were hunted by the mandarins in order that they might be given the punishment they deserved for their crimes; but they, with many other Chinese, fled to the Tartars, whom they begged and persuaded to invade and destroy China, offering themselves to serve as guides. It was not difficult to induce the Tartars to do this, since for other reasons they were already angry with the Chinese. So they planned that these Chinese traitors and some Tartars should go with concealed weapons, and in the guise of friends, to a certain place. They went there, and one night suddenly seized their arms, killed the greater part of the soldiers, sacked the place, and, pretending to flee, withdrew with the spoils. They left a great number of people in ambush, in the woods. The Chinese viceroy of that district, learning of the affair, immediately sent a large body of soldiers who are always on duty there. The troops pursued the Tartars, but unexpectedly fell into the ambush and were completely routed. When the Tartars saw that they were victorious, they returned to the fort and destroyed it. When this was learned in Paquin the mandarins came together to discuss with the king some means of redress. As the king did not wish to see them he simply ordered that they should consult among themselves and then report everything to him. Now the Tartars sacked and destroyed some other smaller forts, as well as one very important stronghold called Sin Hon [i.e., Tsingho]. From this point they made their forays through the whole of that district, and sacked a large part of it.

The decision reached in the consultation by the mandarins was that the king should order all the noted captains who were not holding office, and who had retired to their homes, to come to the court; that a large number of soldiers should come from all the provinces to lend aid and to meet the demands of the occasion; and that the mandarins who were for various reasons at their homes should come to the court of Paquin. All this was soon carried out by the king’s order. He likewise commanded that heavy taxes should be gathered for supplying the soldiers; that a large number of horses should be collected; land that the tuton, or the viceroy of that district, should be imprisoned. He sent another viceroy in his place with extensive powers, even with authority to put to death the chief captains who, on account of their fear, were contemplating flight. He sent other mandarins of great executive ability and prudence to help the viceroy; and, in order to prevent excitement among the people, he ordered that the students [letrados][2] of the district should not come that year, as usual, to the court for examination and graduation as licentiates, but promised them their degrees for the following year. In addition to this, he ordered that the news from Leatum should not be divulged to the people. Although the gates of the city of Paquin and those of the royal palace had always had a strong guard of soldiers, he doubled the guard and closed the gates at sunset. And although, according to the custom of the Chinese, people could enter wearing spectacles and a mask, now, as a greater precaution, when one came through the gates of the city they made him show his face, in order that they might know whether he was a friend or not, and in order that enemies might not come into the city unperceived. All this has been brought about by their fear. The king likewise ordered that four hundred thousand soldiers should be stationed at different places and posts of the province of Leatum to impede the passage of the Tartars. The Corias, who were subject to China, sent the king seven hundred horses as a present, and ten thousand infantry to help in the war.