[2] These two letters are obtained from a MS. volume in the library of Edward E. Ayer, of Chicago, entitled: Demostración historica de cuantas depredaciones llevan cometidas las Moros desde que se incorporaron estas Yslas á la Monarquia Española; inedidas de toda especie tomadas por el Gobierno para contenerlos; y indicasiones que se presentan para hacerles la guerra con mejor fruto que hasta aquí, á fin de que las Visayas se vean libres de las continuas opresiones qe. sufren—“Historical exposition of the many depredations which the Moros have committed, from the time when these islands were incorporated with the Spanish monarchy; the measures, of all kinds, taken by the government for curbing them; and indications that suggest how war may be waged upon them with better results than have hitherto been secured, to the end that the Visayas may be freed from the continual cruelties that they suffer.” This work (evidently intended for publication) is undated; but the conjectural date “1835?” appears on the fly-leaf, which is headed “1a. Parte.” As appears by the introduction to the book, it was written by one of the members of the Sociedad Económica of the Philippines—founded by Basco y Vargas in 1780, and reëstablished by Folguera in 1819; and his “only motive in writing it was to meet his obligations to that society.” The MS. is contained in a plainly-bound volume of 291 folios (582 pages), and displays fine, round, legible, and beautiful handwriting, from several different hands. Folios 1–11 cover the period antecedent to 1750; the rest of the book, that from 1750 to 1806—more than two-thirds of this part being dated after 1788. The writer evidently had access to valuable original documents, some of which, as these letters to La Misericordia, he cites directly; and his narrative is well and carefully written.
The University of Santo Tomas
Letter to the Spanish ambassador at Roma
The King. To the illustrious Marqués de Castel Rodrigo, my cousin, member of my Council, and ambassador in Roma: the bearer, Fray Mateo de Villa, of the Order of Preachers, procurator of the province of Santo Rosario of the Filipinas Islands in my Western Yndias, has informed me that his province has a college called Santo Tomas in the city of Manila, of which I am the patron, where there are thirty secular collegiates; that for some years past that college has been a university through royal permission; that bulls have been conceded twice for its conservation; and that grammar, rhetoric, the arts, and moral and scholastic theology are studied there, with especial profit to the children of that community. He petitions me to issue a royal decree authorizing the said college to become a university, with the same qualifications and [right of] perpetuity as the others of his order in the convents of Santo Tomas in Avila and Santiago at Pamplona, in these same kingdoms. The matter having been examined by the members of my royal Council of the Yndias, in consideration that the city of Manila of the Filipinas Islands is more than three thousand leguas from the nearest universities—namely, those of Lima and Megico—and that the said university suffers some restriction, I have considered it fitting to lend my royal consent for this case; and this concession shall continue, for the present. Consequently, if in the future there should be a disposition to found a separate university, it may be done, as in the cities of Lima and Megico, so that it may be a general university, in order that students may be graduated from it in all branches, and that its degrees may be recognized everywhere. Accordingly, I charge and order you in my name, and in virtue of the letter of credit that I am writing, to supplicate his Holiness to be pleased to concede a bull, so that the said college may be a university with the same qualifications and [right of] perpetuity as those of Avila, Santiago, Lima, and Megico; for there is not a university of that rank in those islands and provinces, and this is therefore expedient for my service and the general welfare of those regions. You shall give the matter the care that I expect from you, so that the said bull may be immediately drawn up; and therein you will render me a service. Madrid, November nine, 1639.
I the King
By order of the king our sovereign:
Don Graviel de Ocaña y Alarcon
Signed by the members of the Council.