This decree is received (“Period” vii) at Manila on August 2, 1722. The municipal council address memorials to the governor protesting against the restrictions imposed on the Filipinas trade, and showing that the enforcement of these would ruin them; but the governor refuses to suspend the decree, and the fiscal advises the merchants to appeal to the Madrid court. The citizens send deputies thither, and persuade the Audiencia to second their petitions for more liberal treatment, and for the suspension of the decree of 1720. Letters to this effect from that body inform the home government of the losses previously sustained by the merchants of Filipinas, the dependence of the islands on their commerce with Nueva España, the vital importance to that commerce of the goods from China, and the danger that if these goods are prohibited the conversion of the Chinese will be rendered exceedingly difficult; the Audiencia therefore recommends that the trade in silks be allowed, and the amount of the permission increased to 250,000 pesos. This opinion is supported by one of similar tenor, given by the royal fiscal at Manila; the points which he makes are elaborated at length in a report sent by him to the king, dated November 15, 1722. In the same vein are letters written to support the demands of the citizens, by the royal officials, the archbishop and other prominent ecclesiastics, and the superiors of the religious orders; of these the most forcible is that written by the Jesuit provincial. He urges that the natural resources of the Philippines be more industriously cultivated, and suggests that the Spaniards compel the other inhabitants of the islands (Indians, mestizos, and others) “to weave the cloth goods which are manufactured in other regions.” Deputies go from Manila to Madrid, to present the claims of Filipinas, and hand in a printed memorial containing their arguments for the suspension of the decree of 1720. This and similar documents brought forward by both sides show a curious mixture of religious, political, and commercial motives, as well as the jealousy and ill-will aroused in the minds of the Spanish merchants as soon as Manila diverts from Cadiz any notable amount of trade; and interesting revelations are made of the practical workings of the selfish policy pursued by Spain toward her colonies, and the undue paternalism which would keep them forever in leading-strings. It is shown that the strength of Spain as a world-power is being undermined by the heretic nations of Europe—England, France, and Holland—because they display superior energy and ability in manufactures and commerce. From this time (1723) until the year when the Extracto was compiled by order of the Spanish government (1736), there appears a steady and increasingly bitter controversy between the commercial interests of Manila and Cadiz, the former evidently having powerful support in government circles, and the latter becoming alarmed at the precarious condition of both its American trade and the Spanish industry and commerce in silk fabrics. Manila tries to show that its trade in Chinese silks is necessary to the propagation of the Christian faith in China, and to its maintenance in the Philippines; Cadiz laughs this claim to scorn. Manila claims that the decadence of the silk industry in Spain is due to other causes than the importation of Chinese goods into Mexico; and a large part of the raw silk produced in Spain is bought by the industrial nations of Europe and manufactured into fabrics, which are brought back to Spain by these foreigners to supply not only that country but her colonies, the goods being shipped to the Indias in Spanish bottoms. The royal fiscal at Madrid supports the contention of Manila, but would confine its trade strictly to the amount allowed it by the government; and he thinks that the complaints by Cadiz arise from the frauds and abuses in the Manila trade, rather than from the mere fact of its including Chinese goods. Manila proposes for the conduct of the commerce a plan which will obviate the difficulties therein, but this is opposed by the fiscal and other officials. Direct appeal being made to the king, he consents (October, 1726) to test this plan for five years. The remainder of Abreu’s work will appear in VOL. XLV.

The Editors

September, 1906.

DOCUMENTS OF 1700–1730

Sources: The first of these documents is compiled from Murillo Velarde’s Historia de Philipinas (Manila, 1749), using such parts as directly relate to the missionary labors of the Jesuit order in the islands; from a copy of the original in possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. The second is found in the Ventura del Arco MSS., (Ayer library), v, pp. 201–230; and, in the fourth, Otazo’s and Cuesta’s letters are found in iv, pp. 249–295. The third is summarized from Concepción’s Historia de Philipinas, viii, pp. 299–391; part of the fourth is from ix, pp. 183–424; and the rest is obtained as stated above. The fifth is translated from a MS. probably the original, in possession of Edward E. Ayer.

Translations: These are all made by Emma Helen Blair.

JESUIT MISSIONS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

[In 1618 two unusually brilliant comets were visible in the Philippines; their effects on the minds of the people are thus described (fol. 5):][1] There was great variety and inaccuracy of opinion about the comets; but through that general although confused notion which the majority of people form, that comets presage disastrous events, and that the anger of God threatens men by them, they assisted greatly in awakening contrition in the people, and inciting them to do penance. To this the preachers endeavored to influence them with forcible utterances, for the Society had not been behind [the other orders] in preparing the city for the entire success of the jubilee;[2] for there was one occasion when eleven Jesuits were counted, who, distributed at various stations, cried out like Jonah, threatening destruction to impenitent and rebellious souls. God giving power to their words, this preaching was like the seed in the gospel story, scattered on good ground, which not only brought forth its fruit correspondingly, but so promptly that those who heard broke down in tears at hearing the eternal truths; and, like thirsty deer, when the sermon was ended they followed the preacher that he might hear their confessions, already dreading lest some emergency might find them in danger of damnation. This harvest was not confined within the walls of Manila, but extended to its many suburbs, and to the adjacent villages, in which missions had been conducted. Not only was there preaching to the Spaniards, but to the Tagálogs, the Indian natives of the country—who, in token of their fervor, gave from their own scanty supply food in abundance to the jails and prisons, Ours aiding them to carry the food, to the edification of the city. To the Japanese who were living in our village of San Miguel—exiles from their native land, in order to preserve their religion, who had taken refuge in Manila, driven out from that kingdom by the tyrant Taycosama—our fathers preached, in their own language. And it can be said that there was preaching to all the nations, that which occurred to the apostles in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost being represented in Manila; for I believe that there is no city in the world in which so many nationalities come together as here. For besides the Spaniards (who are the citizens and owners of the country) and the Tagálogs (who are the Indian natives of the land), there are many other Indians from the islands, who speak different tongues—such as the Pampangos, the Camarines [i.e., the Bicols], the Bisayans, the Ilocans, the Pangasinans, and the Cagayans. There are Creoles [Criollos], or Morenos, who are swarthy blacks, natives of the country;[3] there are many Cafres, and other negroes from Angola, Congo, and Africa. There are blacks from Asia, Malabars, Coromandels, and Canarins. There are a great many Sangleys, or Chinese—part of them Christians, but the majority heathens. There are Ternatans, and Mardicas (who took refuge here from Ternate); there are some Japanese; there are people from Borney and Timor, and from Bengal; there are Mindanaos, Joloans, and Malays; there are Javanese, Siaos, and Tidorans; there are people from Cambay and Mogol, and from other islands and kingdoms of Asia. There are a considerable number of Armenians, and some Persians; and Tartars, Macedonians, Turks, and Greeks. There are people from all the nations of Europa—French, Germans, and Dutch; Genoese and Venetians; Irish and Englishmen; Poles and Swedes. There are people from all the kingdoms of España, and from all America; so that he who spends an afternoon on the tuley[4] or bridge of Manila will see all these nationalities pass by him, behold their costumes, and hear their languages—something which cannot be done in any other city in the entire Spanish monarchy, and hardly in any other region in all the world.