The Jesuit Father Pedro de Salazar wrote from (Manila) Taitay, on the nineteenth [sic] of 1687, to the procurator-general at Madrid, Luis de Morales, that he was warned from Manila to be careful of what he wrote, since they feared that there would be an inspection of the letters [in the mails]. He said that since the return of Archbishop Pardo from banishment many arrests were made: of the auditors, to whom they attributed a pasquinade which had been posted; of negroes and Indians, servants and slaves, who were put to the torture, in order that they might say what suited the convenience [of the authorities]; and of ecclesiastics. Also, that a pasquinade had been published, in which was represented the king, stretched upon the ground, with the archbishop drawing off his breeches; the governor was stabbing him with a dagger, or else cutting off his head; Father Verart held him by the legs; and Andaya, who was the minion, was helping them. It concluded with the verses:
“A Catalan and a Frenchman,
A foolish governor,
A pastor who is no pastor—
These hold me as you see.”
Finally, the Dominican friars have entire sway over the archbishops, and are talking of finding out who are the authors of the papers that were published against them. (Ventura del Arco MSS., iii, pp. 639, 640.)
[96] Diaz says (p. 787) that the governor himself, concealed in a window of his palace, watched Viga’s house, and saw Bolivar’s servant enter it; this man was arrested on leaving the house, and searched, a letter from Viga to Bolivar being found in his shoe. Thereupon the auditors and Zalaeta were promptly arrested.
[97] Diaz says (pp. 786, 788) that Doña Josefa “ruled her husband more than was desirable,” and that “she uttered such contemptuous reproaches against the governor and the archbishop, as she was a very resolute and spirited woman, and extremely haughty and fearless,” that the governor felt obliged to send her into banishment.
[98] Regarding Herrera’s arrest, see note 63, ante, p. 159.
[99] This and several other documents that are unsigned are presented here—accepting them as credible, on account of their evident authenticity—in order to fill out the relation of the Pardo controversy with relations made at the time, and by participants in those events. All except the final extract from Salazar are obtained from Ventura del Arco’s transcripts from MSS. in the collection of Jesuit papers that was seized by the Spanish government when it expelled that order from Spain and her colonies.