I am astonished that we should have left the beaten track of the conquest or pacification of the Indians, and taken up another which is more dangerous and more costly, only because it makes more noise and a more showy appearance, that is, [the conquest] by arms, which always has produced bad effects—as occurred at this time, in the hill-country of the Igorrots. In the year of 1740, the Augustinian fathers handed over to the Dominicans the missions of Ytuy, or Ysinay, in order that, these being joined to the missions of Panique which they had established in the preceding year, the provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan might be united on their southern borders.[42] The Indians, both Christians and unbelievers, resented this change of missionaries, from which resulted a species of civil wars among them; and it was necessary for the auditor Don Ygnacio Arzadun y Rebolledo, who was then making official visitation of the province of Pangasinan, to send troops [to Ytuy] to silence the malcontents. Our men fought a battle with them, in which the natives were defeated and pacified; but a few years later they again became restless, and finally, in the year 1756, many Christians apostatized; and these, united with the unbelievers, raised a furious tempest. They burned some churches, slew many of the people who remained faithful, and, losing reverence for the missionary fathers, searched for them to take their lives. On account of this, Señor Arandia despatched an expedition to this mission and to the hill-country of the Ygorrots, which had very little effect; for it accomplished nothing save to frighten the Indians and make them flee to the hills, to come down again as soon as the soldiers should go away.
In order to know how to pacify the Indians, it is necessary to understand their character. Whether because of their naturally superstitious disposition, or because God has thus ordained it, they are very affectionate to the missionary fathers, and have much reverence for them; but there are not lacking some who dare to plan some perfidy against the fathers, and for this reason they need escorts to protect them from audacious attempts of that sort. At times the natives become heated and rise against authority, and the multitude come out against the fathers, unless there is some check to restrain them; such a check, is in the military posts, which ought to be near the missions, so that the Indians may have respect for these, and fear lest they will be immediately punished if they commit any insolent act. With these measures of precaution the islands were conquered, and the same are observed at the present time; but the missionaries are very few, from which it results that they are so widely separated that they have to make a day’s journey to visit one another, when they need to be confessed or on other occasions, and they are very poorly paid. For what is a hundred pesos and two hundred cavans of rice for a Spaniard to maintain himself with decency in the missions? [Even] this small stipend they sometimes cannot collect without a thousand annoyances and vexations which are occasioned to them by the alcaldes-mayor, who seek various pretexts for not paying them, and compel them to go from the mission to the [provincial] capital to collect it, as I have seen. So wretchedly do these poor religious live that there are occasions in which they find themselves obliged to use for their own support what was given to them for their guards; and they live without these, preferring to remain exposed to the affronts of the heathens rather than perish with hunger. The military posts are also few in number, and the Indians in them are unable to impose respect on their countrymen. If the money that has been spent in useless expeditions could have been employed in these sure means of pacification, that undertaking would have made much greater progress. It is true, we shall never see the rapid advances made by our ancestors in the conquest [of the islands], because the Indians have their eyes more open; the Christians themselves persuade the others not to be baptized, in order that the tribute and other taxes may not be imposed on them. Moreover, they themselves have a custom which greatly hinders their civilization, and consequently their conversion. If any one commits a murder in another village, its people do not rest until they have avenged the crime; the consequence is, that the weaker villages are obliged to remove from the district, or to league themselves with other villages. In either case, the Christian church suffers much, because those who are baptized must follow the infidels of their own village and separate themselves from the [missionary] fathers, or else must enter into the general hostilities. Nevertheless, gradually they would all be converted; for if in the neighboring villages many unbelievers are continually being baptized, who leave their own lands and are held in less regard than are the oldtime Christians, how many more would not be baptized if they could remain in their own homes, honored and courted by their old acquaintances? Christian morality is very holy, and attracts all hearts in which vice has not become deeply rooted.
On May 15, 1757, the holy Congregation [i.e., of Propaganda] at Rome issued the decree which put an end to the controversies which the discalced Augustinians (or Recollects) sent out by the Propaganda had in the kingdom of Tungquin with the Dominican missionary fathers from Philipinas over the administration of certain districts, and in regard to the [association called the] “Lovers of the Cross” [Amatrices de la Cruz].[43] The Dominicans had received into their missions various priests sent out by the Propaganda, who—for lack of ministers, or on account of the persecutions—had ministered to some villages in the Dominican territory. On this account his Lordship Fray Hilario de Jesus, bishop of Coriza, asked from the Dominicans a residence for a Recollect (as the latter belonged to his own order); and soon after that he asked for the entire district, which was granted to him during the lifetime of that religious. When the bishop saw the Dominicans so compliant, he did not delay in demanding another district for his discalced fathers. The Dominicans did not accede to this demand, and his illustrious Lordship, availing himself of various pretexts, introduced into that district a Recollect religious; from this resulted a sort of schism, in which papers were written on both sides, insulting remarks were made, and neither party would yield. Like altercations occurred in other districts, because the Recollects tried to thrust themselves into the missions of the Dominicans. The “Lovers of the Cross” were a sort of beatas, who lived in a community, and, although they did not take the vow of chastity, observed the [rules of the] religious life; some of them belonged to the Tertiary Order of St. Dominic, and others to the discalced religious women of St. Augustine. It was made evident that these beaterios ought to be subject to the parish priests; but, bringing forward various pretexts, the Dominicans and Recollects disputed over the direction of these beatas.
In order to stop the scandals which resulted from these disputes, the bishop of Coriza assembled a [diocesan] synod in the village of Luctuy; it was the second synod held in Tungquin, and held its first session on June 24, 1753. Among the other points that were settled, action was taken on the “Lovers of the Cross,” and on the distribution of districts. As the bishop was a Recollect, and the rest of those who attended the council were his confederates, everything was decided against the Dominicans; Father Hernandez, therefore, who was the only member of his order who attended the synod, protested against all its decrees, appealed to the Apostolic See, and went out of the meeting before it was ended. After the synod closed, the Dominicans, seeing that a Recollect was going to Rome to secure approbation for the acts of the council, sent another envoy, a Dominican, to prevent this. When the whole matter was examined in the holy Congregation, two districts were set aside for the Recollect fathers, and the rest were continued in charge of the Dominicans, the beaterios of the “Lovers of the Cross” were left subject to their respective parish priests. In regard to the [acts of the] second council of Tungquin, it was ordained that they should not be carried into effect until the holy Congregation should, after a thorough examination, agree to confirm them.
Plan of the new Alcaiceria of San Fernando, 1756
[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
Returning to Manila, one of the good things which Señor Arandia did in his term of office was the expulsion of the Chinese. He sent away all the heathen to their own country, and, in order that hereafter they might not remain in Philipinas, he founded the market [alcayseria] of San Fernando,[44] in which all the Sangleys who come here to trade must dwell until the time for the departure of their champans arrives; and then all must embark in their vessels except the Christians, who have permission to live in the islands, provided they devote themselves to the cultivation of the soil. The Spaniards who were interested in the residence of the Sangleys in Manila persuaded him that, if he expelled them, there would not be people enough to carry on the internal trade; and, in order to counteract this frivolous pretext, he established a [commercial] company of Spaniards and mestizos. This lasted only one year,[45] because there was little need of it in some islands where there are more than enough to carry on this sort of traffic. The Asiatics are naturally slothful, and consequently enjoy greatly the kind of life—since it gives them food without labor—which they secure by buying and selling the commodities which are consumed in the country; and, even if some are unsuccessful, every one has a very moderate [amount of] trade; but there is hardly any one among them who does not carry it on very steadily. This abundance of petty traders makes their wares much dearer, since they pass through many hands before they reach the last buyer; and each trader, since he operates with little capital, must make large gains in order to support himself. From this it must be inferred that the Sangleys, far from being necessary to this commerce, greatly injure it; and it should have been considered desirable to lessen, in place of increasing, the number of these traders or dealers.
Notwithstanding the wisdom of this measure, Señor Arandia lost much in popular esteem by it; and this, added to others of his actions, brought upon him the hatred of the community. In virtue of the ample powers which he brought from the court, he drew up instructions for the alcaldes-mayor and the government of the provinces, in which he openly declared himself against the regulars. At the beginning, he had treated these religious bodies with respect; but, resenting some acts of disrespect manifested toward him by certain individuals, in these instructions he deprived the orders of the kitchen-boys who had been furnished to them by the king since the conquest, and the servants granted them by the crown for sacristans. Not content with causing them these losses,[46] he made various remonstrances against them to his Majesty, in which he spoke of them with little civility; and in the instructions he spared no means of injuring them, seeking opportunity to speak ill of them even in those sections of that document which have no connection with the religious. The blame for all this was laid on his favorite, Don Santiago Orendain,[47] who was the declared enemy of the ecclesiastics; but this could not excuse Señor Arandia for issuing directions which the king had the goodness to censure as soon as he saw them, for depriving the ecclesiastics of the groves of nipa palms which they held in La Hermita and Bagunbayan, for stirring up several groundless controversies with them, for imposing taxes on the goods which the religious in the provinces were sending to their convents,[48] and for expressing his [unfavorable] opinion of them in public. He had a dispute with the royal Audiencia because he was not willing to render military honors to them when they went in a formal body, on occasions when he did not preside over their sessions. He imprisoned the treasurer and auditor of accounts of the royal exchequer, and caused them great suffering, because they had sent information to the court of some things that was contrary to the explanations given by him in his reports. Unwearied in the government, he conceived many projects which he considered necessary for the proper government of the islands. He talked of removing the arsenal from Cavite to the port of Lampon; and he ordered a ship to be built in the kingdom of Siam, which had such ill-fortune that in bringing it over to Manila it was driven to port in China three times, and once to Batavia, causing enormous expenses to the royal treasury.[49] The governor made reports to the king, and proposed to him various plans for the promotion of [operations in] the mines of iron and gold. He abolished the corregidorship of Mariveles, annexing Marigondon and the other little villages of that shore to the district of Cavite, and forming from the villages on the opposite shore and from others which belonged to Pampanga the alcaldía which we call Batan.[50] He made regulations for the soldiery, the royal exchequer, and the Acapulco ship[51]—on all occasions giving many proofs of his zeal for the royal service, by which he was aroused to enthusiasm; but this disposition, ill directed by Orendain, was the cause for his being abhorred by every one. It was so wearing upon him that he reached the point of feeling a distaste for every kind of business, and experienced so great a failure of his vital powers that in the night of May 31, 1759, it was known that he was dying; and, after receiving all the sacraments, he expired at two o’clock in the morning of the following day.[52] He left by his will two hundred and fifty thousand pesoty and one cannot guess how he gained them in the less than five years during which his term of office lasted; but at the hour of death he distributed them in a pious and Christian manner.
Through the death of Señor Arandia, the bishop of Zebu, Señor Espeleta, assumed the government. Soon afterward, the new archbishop of Manila arrived here, Don Manuel Roxo,[53] a native of Tala [sc. Tula] in the kingdom of Nueva España; his Majesty had taken him from the post of canon and provisor at Mexico, for this see, giving him permission to be consecrated in Nueva España. He took possession of his church on July 22, 1759, and immediately claimed that he should be put in possession of the military government, which it seems belonged to him by the royal orders. The four auditors were divided in opinion, Señors Calderón and Davila deciding that the archbishop should assume the governorship, and Señors Villacorta and Galban that no change ought to be made. While they were in session in their hall, discussing this question, his illustrious Lordship Espeleta entered; he spoke with decision, and, in order to intimidate them more, made ready the artillery and placed the troops under arms; at these preparations the auditors and the archbishop gave way, and the bishop of Zebu remained in peaceable possession [of the government]. The first thing that he did was to revoke the ordinances of Señor Arandia, and to make some preparations against the Moros, who since the year fifty-four had been ravaging our provinces; but the event which made most noise in his time was the lawsuit against Doctor Orendain. Every one placed on him the blame for the actions of Señor Arandia; and the fiscal of the king, Señor Viana, believed that he had been placed under arrest in his own house by the favorite’s suggestion. Orendain, either because his conscience stung him, or because reports had been spread that some design was formed against his person, took refuge in the Augustinian convent at Tondo. The fiscal made it a pretext for claiming Orendain from this asylum, that he should be arrested because he was treasurer for the Crusade, and, by his voluntary withdrawal [to asylum], indicated that he might prove to be a debtor to the royal treasury. He then left his refuge, and was imprisoned in the fort of Santiago, the authorities commissioning Señor Villacorta to bring legal proceedings against Orendain. It was found that he had hidden various jewels in the convents, and, while these investigations were being pursued, he made his escape from the fortress in the dress of a woman, going away in a coach, without the guard recognizing him, and took refuge in the convent of the Recollects. The auditor thus commissioned had recourse to the provisor, in order that the latter might give orders for Orendain’s removal thence; but, as the provisor did not accede to this after three demands, the auditor sent a notary with soldiers, and removed Orendain by force from the sanctuary. The provisor declared Señor Villacorta publicly excommunicated, and his name was placed on the list. That gentleman had recourse to the royal Audiencia, which ordered the provisor to absolve the auditor; this was done through the cura of the cathedral, but ad reincidentiam, and for the period of thirty days—that is, if the accused did not return to the church within the thirty days, he would incur excommunication the second time. Señor Villacorta challenged the provisor, and this lawsuit became so tangled that various judges were challenged by one side and the other, and even Señors Calderon and Davila were challenged by the king’s fiscal, who had taken part in the dispute; and there was no one who could give judgment in the suit, because some refused to take the responsibility, and others were challenged by one or the other party.