Alfonso Baeza del Rio, royal notary.
Francisco de la Torre, notary of the royal crown.
Andres Martin del Arroyo, notary of the royal crown.
Reduction of expenses
Sire:
In my endeavor to be a good steward of your Majesty’s estate, having noticed and considered the many expenses and the lack of profit that you encounter in these islands, solely in order to maintain in them the Catholic religion, I have thought it advisable to reduce some of the expenses—as your Majesty will please to have examined by means of the orders for the said reduction, and which your Majesty will please approve or censure, according as you judge it most for the good of your service. My only desire is that God will not ask account from me for doing it badly, and for unjustly causing expense to your Majesty. Although I desire to render your Majesty so just an account, I could not fear it so much as the first, if I gave it as many others of us who serve you do.
I thought it advisable to save the pay of six hundred pesos per year, which a captain receives for serving [as such] in the company that he raised in Mexico; and although my officers are careful to station and retire the guards, and serve as those of the master-of-camp, I see to it that they do it well, and that they are not derelict in their duty. I have given the same orders to the governor and sargento-mayor of the forts of Terrenate, who also have command of two companies; the governor and sargento-mayor of the island of Hermosa, of two other companies; the warden of Camboaga [i.e., Zamboanga], of another; and the alcaldes-mayor of Oton, Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Caraga, who have a company together, and command their men in the forts in the above-named islands. Also in this army, from now on, a captain will have command of another company, and will receive the pay of the chief guard of the Parián, which will be paid from the communal fund of the Chinese, and his pay will be saved to the treasury of your Majesty. The captains who will serve without pay from your Majesty’s royal treasury will thus amount to eleven; and hence a great sum of money will be saved by the end of the year, as well as the [expense for] the post of sargento-mayor of this army, which is held by my nephew, Don Pedro Hurtado de Corcuera—who serves without pay, together with a company of thirty horsemen, whom I thought to be very expedient for your Majesty’s service, for the following reasons. First, just as I caused and ordered the raising of four companies among the citizens of this city, in the infantry, in order that they might exercise themselves in the squadrons, and be ready for any emergencies that may arise, I also had two companies of fifty horse apiece raised—one made up of the nobility of the city, who can keep horses, and the other of the overseers of the royal stockyards—all armed with spears. In order that the above horsemen might have someone to instruct and exercise them, this company of thirty horsemen was enlisted. The actual officers in it are captain, alférez, and lieutenant. It would be very advisable to raise the number to fifty, if that would be agreeable to your Majesty; for besides being necessary for the guard of the coast, and to keep these nations—the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians—in check, they patrol the city nightly, and shut and open the city gates, on horseback. For that reason the poor infantrymen are excused from patrol duty, and from locking the gates, and thus from going about almost every night knee-deep in water, from which many diseases and deaths ensued; that has been avoided by this means. Experience has demonstrated, also, how useful and profitable these cavalrymen may be when stationed as a troop among the artillery on a campaign, for skirmishing—for which they are greatly esteemed in the Flandes army; and, at the very least, the sight of them strikes terror in those present, and the noise made by them in those absent. Will your Majesty be pleased to approve and confirm this company of cavalrymen, and grant permission that it consist of fifty soldiers. Notwithstanding the savings and the reductions, of which I inform your Majesty, not only is there no expense incurred in this company but there is even a saving of money for the following reasons. In recent times there have been eight companies of infantry for the guard of the city; but immediately upon my arrival, I reduced them to six. When I sent the reënforcements to Terrenate—for two hundred Spaniards went there in three companies, and one hundred Pampangos (who are as good and as faithful here as are the Burgundians in Flandes)—and the guard of the city remained in four companies, seeing that it was impossible to cover the posts and to stand guard with so few men, I ordered two hundred Pampangos to be enrolled into two companies, so that now there are the six hundred necessary guardsmen. The Pampangos are in place of the two hundred Spaniards who went [to Terrenate]. Seeing that the said Spaniards are lacking, there is nothing but to appeal to the Pampangos; they are being instructed, and are managing their arms in a manner that makes me very well satisfied with them. Both the captains and other officers, and the soldiers, receive half the pay of the Spaniards. Thus the two companies of Pampangos cause your Majesty an expense of ten thousand pesos, and that of the cavalry seven thousand, making a total of seventeen thousand pesos. The two infantry companies which were here before caused an expense of twenty-two thousand pesos or thereabouts; so, if the former expense was this amount, and that of the Pampangos and the cavalry now is seventeen thousand, there is an annual saving of five thousand pesos to your Majesty. There are thirty more soldiers than before. Will your Majesty please have this approved and look favorably upon it; and believe that I am spending your Majesty’s revenue with great care, and that I can have no scruple of conscience in what I am doing. Your Majesty will learn the truth of this by experience, in a short time. May our Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Sire, your vassal kisses your Majesty’s feet.
Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera
Revision of pay and rations made September 4, 1635
Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of Alcantara, member of his Majesty’s Council, member of the Council of War in the States of Flandes, governor and captain-general of these Filipinas Islands, and president of the royal Audiencia, resident in the city of Manila: