Part Second, Which Treats of the Importance of the Filipinas and of the Means for Preserving Them
Chapter I. The importance of preserving that country
For many reasons, which those who do not possess thorough information in regard to the Filipinas ignore, but which show how important to your Majesty is the preservation and increase of those islands, I shall insert them here as clearly as possible.
The first is the increase and extension of the holy gospel and the glory and honor of God, which is so incumbent upon your Majesty—in the first place, because your Majesty has inherited from your blessed father and glorious ancestors this pious and holy zeal for spreading and extending the holy Catholic faith, by reason of which your Majesty enjoys the wealth of the Indias; in the second place, because it is so suitable to the greatness of your Majesty’s sovereignty and your reputation. For to leave this work when begun would be a great scandal before the world, and the occasion of much complaint to all its nations—and especially to the heretics, who would say that your Majesty was influenced not by the glory of God, nor the preservation of the Indias, but by private interest, since where you had not that you allowed Christianity to perish.
The second concerns the peace of your royal conscience, if you should not preserve those islands while possible.
The third is for causes of state; for it would amount to giving your enemies arms and forces against your Majesty, and encourage others to the same enmity who are envious of your Majesty’s greatness. [236]It may well be inferred that since the enemy are attempting this with so great expense and labors, they have understood its importance to themselves. The possibility of this can be easily understood, for they could not persevere so long with their own forces only, if they were not privily incited by the secret enemies of your Majesty, and those who are envious and fearful of your greatness—who clearly recognize that, if they could possess that archipelago without opposition, it would be worth more to them than eight millions clear (as I will demonstrate to whomsoever may be curious or may desire to know it), through the profit which they can make in spices, drugs, and the trade with Great China, Japon, and the neighboring countries.
The fourth is, because straightway the whole of Portuguese India would be infallibly lost; and, if it is not lost, it is because we so harass the enemy from Filipinas that they need all their forces in order not to lose what they hold.
The fifth is the knowledge (as is evident) of the immense wealth which lies in the Filipinas, as I shall explain further in this treatise, and which hitherto has been unrecognized.
The sixth would be the loss of the most convenient and important post which your Majesty holds in all his kingdoms, not only for the extension of the holy gospel in so many kingdoms of idol-worshipers who are capable of receiving it, but, as these are in the neighborhood of the Filipinas, the hope, consequently, of enjoying the immense wealth which they possess through their trade and commerce—not to mention the risk which is incurred by the Western Indias through the South Sea.[237]
Chapter II. Wherein those are answered who believe that the Filipinas should be abandoned, or traded to the crown of Portugal for Brazil. The lack of knowledge regarding the Filipinas and the gains which may be obtained with them has been the cause for many of the servants of your Majesty, and other prominent persons, having a poor opinion of them. Accordingly it has seemed to such persons more expedient to be rid of those islands, and to others that they should be exchanged with the crown of Portugal for Brazil. All the reasons which they give for this may be reduced to five: The first is that there is a drain upon your Majesty’s royal patrimony for their maintenance, and you derive no profit. The second is to avoid the flow, through that method of maintaining them, of silver from Nueva España to Great China, by cutting off commerce with the latter country. The third is on account of the troops that are there consumed. The fourth is that since your Majesty is in such straits it is expedient to attend first to the relief most necessary, which is that of affairs here; and since you cannot attend to all, it is compulsory to abandon that country. Finally, your Majesty’s dominions are widely separated, and cannot be preserved except by withdrawing from those which are least necessary, for power united is the stronger. Or it is argued that, even though it be expedient to maintain the Filipinas, the commerce should be changed from Nueva España to these kingdoms, and ships should be sent from the city of Sevilla to the Filipinas, as is done from Portugal to eastern India; and that for this trade the ships should be laden with merchandise from this country [i.e., España], and in exchange for [238]that should bring back the wealth of Great China and those regions.
In answer to the first, your Majesty expends much in the preservation of that country, it is true; but the objectors do not consider that those expenditures which are made are not for the purpose of preserving the Filipinas—at least since Don Pedro de Acuña, your governor, won the islands of Maluco, where cloves are obtained; for since that time the expense has been to maintain the war against the Dutch, who have been fortifying and making themselves masters there, and because we did not understand here, in the beginning and later, how important it would be to spend what was necessary to drive them out once for all, and to secure those regions. This has been the cause of spending so much in reënforcements, which have not served, and do not serve, more than to keep the forts which your Majesty holds in the islands of Terrenate and Tidore, and the friendship of the king of Tidore; and this is the cause of the expenses which your Majesty makes in the Filipinas, while the Dutch are taking away almost all the profits—although it is true that, if your Majesty had had ministers there zealous in your service, you might have obtained profit enough to maintain those forts without drawing upon your royal exchequer. The same thing could be done at any time when you wish, but the means for this are not at hand, and accordingly I defer them. If your Majesty should wish to know them, I will inform you of them. From this it may be concluded that the Filipinas are not the cause of these expenditures; and those which were made there before that time (as will be explained later, by themselves) exceeded the support with which [239]your Majesty maintained the islands. This was done by the kings, your Majesty’s father and grandfather, for two reasons: in the first place, by their aiming at the glory of God and the spread of His holy gospel, since they enjoyed the title of patrons of the church, upon whom it would seem this obligation rests; in the second place, on account of the favorable situation of that post for obtaining from it more wealth than from all the rest of the Indias—and if this has not hitherto been enjoyed the blame is not upon the country, but, for reasons which cannot be here set down, upon those who have governed it.
To the second reason—that, as they say, much silver passes to the Filipinas and does not come to España—it may be answered that the fact is that, to obviate this difficulty, your Majesty has ordered that the citizens of the Filipinas Islands, in order to support themselves, be permitted, in return for the merchandise which they send to Nueva España, to have sent back to them 500U [i.e., 500,000] pesos of eight reals; and in the course of this, it is said, a much greater quantity passes. As it is an easy thing to increase the zeros in an account, in this manner they have increased it more than double and triple, basing their figures on what was written to this court by an auditor of the Filipinas, who was alleging services so that favors might be granted to him. He said that when he was going from Nueva España as commander, and the capitana in which he sailed was wrecked, he had placed the commercial silver in a place of safety, and there were three millions of it. The truth is that he exaggerated this to enhance the value of his service, increasing the sum by more than half; for from us, who were there, this matter could [240]not be concealed, and there has never passed so much silver as in that year. If this service was placed at such figures, it deserved a heavy punishment, and not the reward which he seeks. Since that time it is true that as much more passes, to Filipinas, by the permission which your Majesty gives. The causes of this excess are two. In the first place, the necessity of the citizens, who are unable to support themselves with so small a quantity, or to gain profit in trade; since, if there are no more than five hundred [thousand pesos] they need all which is sent them for their living alone. Accordingly, even at a great cost to themselves, they seek means to get profits from their property. The limitation of this permission entails a difficulty which I have mentioned; for in the first place measures must be taken to enrich them, since it is of so great importance to kings that their subjects should be rich, while the poverty of the latter causes such diminution of their power. If this reason holds in all the kingdoms of your Majesty, it does so much more in that one which is so distant, where, when necessary, they lend to the royal treasury on occasions of need—as they did last year to Don Alonso Faxardo de Tença, your governor, whom they lent 200U ducados to lead an army against the Dutch, and likewise their slaves to man four galleys. They have done this same thing on other occasions, and expose their persons in war and lose their lives, as many of the best men of that city have done—their misfortune lying in this, that they were so far distant from the royal eyes of your Majesty, wherefore their services are not conspicuous.
In the second place, there is the greediness of the merchants from Mexico, to whom the greater part [241]of this silver which passes to the Filipinas belongs; if this could be remedied, the difficulty of so much outflow of silver as is reported would be obviated. But the remedy is not to send thither judges and guards who are not to allow it to pass; for on the contrary, as our experience shows, they go to enrich themselves by the salaries which your Majesty gives them, and the profit which they there make. For in all countries ill-gained wealth is thus christened. The silver which goes there is of no less value to the royal exchequer than that which comes here, since the investment of it pays no fewer duties, but more; and at least it comes finally into the hands of our friends, and is not like that which comes to España—which for the most part is enjoyed by the enemies of your Majesty; and the fleets go more heavily laden with the enemy’s property than with that of your vassals.
The merchants of Sevilla complain that the trade with China has been destroyed by the Indias, but they do not understand the cause of its ruin. The Marquis de Montesclaros, who governed Nueva España and Piru, and understood this matter very well (as he did many things), wrote your Majesty a letter from the Indias, which is in your royal Council, where he says with clear and evident arguments: “But what strikes me is, that as the commonest and most universal means of working the mines is quicksilver, this loss is caused by giving that metal at so high a price to the miners. For in the first place, as most of them are poor, they cannot buy it, and therefore a great deal of metal is left unworked; and in the second place, because those who are able to buy it cannot work poor mines (for they would be ruined [242]thereby), and as the greater part of those in the Indias are of this kind, double the amount of silver [obtained] is left unmined. If your Majesty would order the quicksilver to be given at cost and expenses, it would be of incomparably more profit than today; and the Indias would be in a better condition, more merchandise would be bought, the duties would increase, and the merchants would not feel the want of the silver which goes to the Filipinas—as they did not feel it in times past, although there came much more merchandise from there than at present. I would that there were so great an abundance of quicksilver in the Indias, and so cheap, that it could be bought, not only by the miners, but by other Spaniards and Indians, who would then have so much silver that their complaints would cease.”
If the trade were transferred to España, those who say that the merchandise from this country would be carried to Filipinas, to be exchanged for the goods of that country, are not aware that in those regions there is no one to use Spanish goods except the Spaniards, who with four pipas of wine, and other wares of little importance, would be quite sufficiently supplied; and that, if this were so, the Portuguese and Dutch would take the merchandise away, for nothing escapes their notice. Both of these take silver, and whatever else they take is of small importance; so that it would soon be necessary, in order to maintain the trade, to carry silver from España and risk it again. It is less trouble to carry it from the Indias, beside the incomparably greater risk from the sea and from enemies [by the other route]; and Nueva España would be ruined.
To the third reason, in which they say that many [243]troops are used up, I would say that it is true that there go each year sometimes two hundred men, and other years less, and again none at all; and of these more die from their excesses than from the war, and they do not count those who return and go through India and other regions. If those islands were to be abandoned on account of this difficulty, the same reason holds in Flandes and Italia, which use up more men in one campaign than do the Filipinas in twenty years.
To the fourth, that because your Majesty is so hard pressed he needs must attend to matters here, etc., we could say that it is in no wise expedient that your Majesty should abandon that country, on account of the dependence of all the Indias upon it; because if the Dutch possessed themselves of that archipelago (which they are attempting to do), they would draw from it resources sufficient to destroy the Indias—not only by the power which they have, but also through the opportunity of keeping an open port in those regions where your Majesty could not defend himself without spending much more than the profits of the Indias. For that reason it is necessary to preserve that country, as well as all the rest; for your Majesty is under expense for the same reason in preserving Habana, Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Jamayca, Florida, and the whole continent, without securing profit, merely on account of the damage which enemies could inflict upon the Indias. Not alone for this reason are the Filipinas important to your Majesty, but for another of no less consequence, and which these countries do not have, namely, the great profits which can be drawn from them.
To the fifth I say that although this maxim, that [244]united forces are stronger, is usually true, yet there are occasions when this union consists not alone in compressing them, but in conserving the parts of which the whole is composed, although these are distant from one another, as are those which your Majesty possesses in his monarchy. At first, when the Filipinas were discovered, this might have been done without any harm while that country was new and strange, unknown to the nations of Europe, uncultivated and in disorder. No one desired it until Filipo Second of blessed memory brought it to notice; and at that time, even if it had been abandoned, there was no one who coveted it; but now that the great wealth contained in it is well known, all are desirous of it, and are trying to take it from your Majesty, so that they may thereby carry on their war. This was well considered by the exceedingly prudent grandfather of your Majesty; for he considered not only the service which he was doing to our Lord God, by spreading His Catholic faith and bringing so many souls to recognize Him, but likewise that, at the rate at which it was growing, it would increase for his posterity with greater magnificence. He told those who were persuading him to abandon it that, if the silver of the Indias was not enough, he would send what was needed from España. For if your Majesty possesses the Indias with so honorable a warrant as that of the Catholic church for the purpose of converting souls, and there has been and is being taken so much wealth from the Indias, where your reputation and royal conscience are to such an extent engaged, what reason can be so pressing that you should not attempt with great care and energy the preservation of that country, where the obligation of [245]your Majesty is so pressing? And what excuse would your Majesty have before the Divine Majesty for not aiding it in time, if for this reason so many millions of souls should retrograde from the faith? Then, too, consider the great multitude who, it is hoped, will come to the knowledge of the true God, in whose hand, as David says: Domini est terra, et plenitudo eius, orbis terrarum, et omnes qui habitant in eo.12 Who but He gives kingdoms and monarchies? for how could He be under greater obligation—if there is any way in which to oblige Him from whom nothing is due—than to procure His own greater honor and glory in the salvation of souls, which cost him so much? For these services are paid for, both here and in heaven, bountifully, and the holy Scriptures are full of examples to this effect. How many blessings did He shower upon Obededon for preserving the ark of the testament, and what favors has the most fortunate house of Austria13 received from His hand, which was presaged in that manna which was once sent! God is very generous, and knows well how to further the affairs of him who charges himself with His; but as for those who, on the contrary, put temporal good before His service, what success can they hope in this? I might well cite many examples which I do not, that I may not pass the bounds of my memoir.
Although some give as an example the king of Great China, who abandoned many kingdoms of which he was the lord in order to preserve his own, [246]this is not suited to your Majesty’s position; for Great China is very extensive and holds as many people as eight Españas, and its king has one hundred and fifty millions of revenue, or even more, and is made thoroughly secure by nature and art. What he abandoned, moreover, was not taken from him, nor was there any risk of putting himself in a position to make enemies—although where these reasons are present, those who advised this are right.
Chapter III. How the city of Manila at present bears the burden of all this structure. I have already explained how the city of Manila is like the center of a circle, whose circumference includes all the kingdoms mentioned. It remains to explain how it maintains this structure and bears the whole burden of it.
In the first place, it maintains the war of Maluco and feeds it with troops, supplies, and munitions continually, a thing which Portuguese India could not do. I argue the matter thus, that I may not seem to be actuated only by affection for my own country, instead of making a just estimate. It must be considered that people cannot go to Maluco from India more than once a year, on account of the weather; this is well known to all those who sail on those seas. From Manila the voyage can be made almost the whole year; whence it follows that Maluco could not be reënforced so conveniently [if the Filipinas were abandoned], especially in cases of great need.
Item: They cannot so well send news [to India as to Manila], or receive advices, of the difficulties in which they find themselves, in order to seek aid; for they are very far away and there is no favorable [247]weather except during a certain monsoon of the year in order to go to India, and still less to come from there.
Item: On account of the lack of available funds in India, for it is well known that that country is quite exhausted; and news is coming continually to Manila from, Maluco, for information comes and aid is sent in a fortnight or less. Likewise on account of the abundance [in Filipinas] of provisions and other necessary things with which your Majesty provides them.
Item: Because, beside the garrisons of troops which your Majesty has in Maluco, you have ships of war which molest the enemies. It is necessary, for the profit that they obtain, that they should not buy14 cheaply, since they have to maintain, for the safety of the trade, a number of fortresses and armed ships on account of the Spaniards of the Filipinas; but, if the latter were not there, there would be no enemy to cause them anxiety, nor occasion for expense.
Item: Because the trade from Manila with Great China prevents the Chinese from trading freely with the Dutch; but if they could do so, it would induce the former to drain from their country great quantities of merchandise, in order to satisfy their greed.
Item: The check and apprehension which is imposed on the enemy lest they extend their navigation farther, for fear of encountering our people; accordingly they do not sail on those seas excepting with great caution.
Item: In the city of Manila is a concourse and [248]traffic between many nations, by whom it is supported—which proves how important it is to maintain it for the greatness and reputation of your Majesty, with all those nations and with all the world. For they see with how few vassals you subject and make so many nations tremble, with the aid of God, who protects them surrounded by so many enemies as you have, even within the gates; and yet they live in as much security, but not heedlessness, as if there were no enemy.
Chapter IV. Explains the error which is generally prevalent that the money for the reënforcements which your Majesty sends to the Filipinas, and other things, is spent for their maintenance; and of the resources which they possess available (if it were not for Maluco) for their own maintenance.
Since your Majesty sent an order and command to Don Pedro de Acuña to go with a force of troops to recover Maluco, which the Portuguese had lost, all the reënforcements of money, troops, and munitions which have since been raised here are spent in maintaining the forts of Maluco; and the great quantity that Don Juan de Silva expended was in the expeditions which he made. Not only has this been spent, but Manila and all the islands are today almost ruined because of this, besides the embarrassment in which that placed your royal treasury, so that if it had to pay what is due to the Indians, excluding what it owes the citizens, that would be more than two millions. If it had not these calls upon its revenues, there would be enough to maintain it without your Majesty expending any more than the profits which he obtains from the islands, as [249]may be seen by what follows, which is copied from the royal books of the royal accountancy with all fidelity.
Pesos
There are assigned to the royal crown tributes amounting to 36U516 and a half, of which 28U483 and a half of 8 reals are collected. The rest, amounting to 5U033 of 10 reals, which is the province of Ylocos, amounts to 39U807
There are in all the islands 130U939 tributarios in encomiendas, and those under the crown pay your Majesty two reals of income 32U734 The tenths of gold are worth 2U000 The tenths on herds of cattle 2U500 The customs duties from the Chinese at six per cent on merchandise 80U000
Licenses imposed by Don Juan de Silva on every Chinaman who remains in the country, at 8 pesos 80U000 Duties on cloth belonging to citizens, which is brought in the ships from Mexico. 2U500 Customs duties on ships that go to Mexico sent by citizens of Manila, at three per cent of the merchandise 12U000 Other items, 4U pesos 4U000 Total amount 255U541
In this way your Majesty has, from year to year, a little more or less than two hundred and fifty thousand reals of eight, and in this there are included neither the freight charges of the ships which go to [250]Nueva España, amounting to more than 30U pesos, nor the twelve per cent paid there on the merchandise which is sent, because this enters into the royal treasury of Mexico. The expenses which your Majesty has in these islands are not so great that, if it were not necessary to furnish support for the war in Maluco with the Dutch, there would not be rather some surplus than a deficit; and you could well maintain four galleons and six galleys for its protection and defense.
Chapter V. That your Majesty possesses in the Filipinas enormous wealth, even with the little effort made to realize it. What most discourages many servants of your Majesty, and even prevents others who are striving to forward your royal service from giving credence to great things, has been the incredulity which they display regarding the greatness of the Indias. This has been true since the first discoverers, as is well known. For not only are we to believe that the Holy Ghost gave them that impulse to persevere in their intention—even if that were not (which ought not to be believed) the glory of God and the saving of souls—but our Lord, who sought by this means to accomplish His work, gave them so great perseverance and fortitude in breaking through the midst of so many difficulties and so much opposition and so many hard rebuffs that, indeed, if one look upon and read the history of the Indias, it would seem that men would be unable to suffer so much. But God would encourage them, for whose cause they persevered in their projects, bringing so great increase of grandeur to the kings of España. Although [251]since that time some, more desirous of wealth and honor than moved by God, have tried to imitate those discoverers, and have had ill success, they ought not all for this reason to be condemned and reproved without first examining their intentions and objects, and the real nature of the affairs which they are conducting.
I have said this briefly, for in what I wish to say I think there will be many of this sort mentioned; and, just as it is imprudent to believe all, it would be going to the other extreme to give credit to no one.
In the Filipinas Islands, in so far as I have been able to learn (and I consider it certain), your Majesty has, without going to conquer foreign kingdoms, the greatest wealth which has been found in the Indias;15 and I base this upon these arguments, for in all those islands it is well known and established.
After the Spaniards founded the city of Manila and reduced that island to peace, they learned that in some mountainous regions which lie about forty leguas from the city, in the province of Pangasinan, there were many mines of gold, according to the information which the Indians gave them; but that they were inhabited by warlike and barbarous Indians, [252]who never permitted those of the plains to go up there. This was known because they came down at certain times of the year to buy a quantity of cattle, and brought a great deal of gold. On this information, although it was somewhat indefinite, Guido de Labaçares, who governed at that time, sent a number of soldiers to climb up the mountain.16 These, being unprovided with necessities, and fewer in number than were needed, encountered much resistance from the natives. As the country is rough, and their food soon failed them, they went back, many of them ill. Although they brought some information, it was not sufficient to encourage the governor or to cause him again to further the enterprise. Therefore, little by little, this knowledge was fading away among the Spaniards, notwithstanding that the religious who ministered in the neighboring provinces were well informed, and certain Indians told them of it. Accordingly, considering the host of vexations, injuries, and losses, and the diminution of numbers that are suffered by the Indians in all the Western Indias on account of the labor in the mines, the Order of St. Dominic especially, who administer the province of Pangasinan, have tried with all their might to cover up this information, on account of this fear which possesses them.
Many years ago I learned something of this, but I sided with the others who gave little credit to it, owing to the little knowledge that we had. But as time is a great discloser of secrets, while I was discussing with some religious the difficulties of the future which the kings of España, the successors of your Majesty, must meet in maintaining this country [253]if there were in the country itself no wealth or sources of profit which would oblige them to do so, I succeeded in securing a great deal of information concerning the wealth which is there. Particularly, he who is now archbishop17 told me that a religious of St. Dominic—the vicar of a village named Vinalatonga, who was named Fray Jasinto Palao, and who at that time had come from Luzón to this kingdom [i.e., España]—had shown him some rocks which an Indian had brought him from a mine, and which appeared extraordinarily rich, beyond anything that had been seen. But he enjoined the bishop to secrecy, because he himself had heard it in the same manner. I, who desired the preservation of that country, took occasion to make friends with that religious, in order to inform myself the better under pretence of curiosity. I asked him to tell me what he knew of those mines, whereupon that religious (who was already en route for the return to the islands) told me that what he had said was true; and further he said: “No one knows as much about those mines as I, because some Indians came down from the mountains and I entertained them. They told me that there was a great deal of gold up there, and that of what they took from the mines, half the ore was gold.” And he said that when one of them, who was already somewhat versed in our tongue, saw reals of eight, he said to him: “We have much of this metal there, Father, much in the mines; but Indian wants nothing besides gold.” I conferred with the bishop of Nueva Segovia (as that province falls under his jurisdiction), who was Don Fray Diego de Soria, a Dominican, and with another religious, [254]the provincial of the same order, named Fray Bernardo de Santa Catalina, in regard to this matter; and I gave them so many arguments to incline them to my plan that they were brought to my way of thinking. The most convincing argument which I used was to persuade them that the same reason did not hold there as in Nueva España and Piru, for ill-treating the Indians; for there are so many Chinese who are raising their hands to God to find something to work at—as many as are necessary, as was well known by them. Thereupon they told me all the information that they had for certain from various Indians—not only from the Christians, some of whom had gone up peacefully to trade, but likewise from those from above who came down to the province. The bishop certified that there was the greatest wealth in the world; and that they had brought him from one hill a little red earth, of which the whole hill is composed, which was as much as they could put upon a silver platter. They washed it, in his presence, and took out seven taes of gold, which amount to forty-four castellanos.18 He asserted that in every part of the hill the earth was all of this richness. With all this information I went to Don Juan de Silva and told him what had happened, and how I had pacified the friars. He agreed that we should go and discover it and said that he would go in person when he finished that expedition. He was overtaken by death, as has been said, and accordingly [255]the matter has remained in this condition. And even if there were not in these mountains the wealth of which we are told, it seems that the obligation to pacify these Indians exists, and that the holy gospel ought to be preached to them—in the first place, because your Majesty has undertaken so just and holy an enterprise; and second, because they are in the same island [with our Spaniards]. It is a shame that, being in the neighborhood of Manila, they do not enjoy the blessing that the others do. Beside this, there is the fact that these as well as their neighbors will not allow other people to trade in their territory; by the law of nations, therefore, the Spaniards have a right of action.
The ease and little cost connected with this enterprise are such that if the governor would send a single person suitable for it, with two hundred soldiers from the garrison of Manila, and levy a thousand Indians from the two provinces to help them and transport the supplies, they would subdue those savages without difficulty, if the man who does it is prudent and has ambition to make the enterprise a success. This is not the place to discuss the other measures and affairs in detail; but if your Majesty should be pleased to have this done, I offer to give information of all that is necessary to provide, and to solve any doubts that may arise. I protest before the divine Majesty that I am not moved by covetousness, nor by desire that your Majesty should grant me any favor for this, nor am I trying to secure favors by this means; but I am only seeking the glory of God, the service of your Majesty, and the welfare of that land.[256]
Chapter VI. Of the persons who are needed in the government of the Filipinas. One (and the most important) of the matters which are necessary for the preservation and growth of that kingdom—whereon depends, as it were, the attainment of its object—is that the governors should be such men as are suitable for that post, and have the requisite qualifications demanded by that government. As so few have hitherto gone there who are thus qualified, the hindrance to the growth of that country has been much more than can be understood here.
For thirty years I have been a resident in the Filipinas, and have not seen one governor such as was needed there, excepting Gomez Perez de las Marinas, who improved and bettered that land in only the three years during which he governed, more than all together who had gone before or have come since have done. The reason for this is, that those who have succeeded since that time either had not had experience in government, or did not possess the divine gift which is necessary for this so delicate task. Over there, although a soldier is needed who understands matters of war and knows how to regulate and direct them as they should be, yet he should be receptive of instruction; and he would learn much more there through the counsel of those who have broad experience, and through what experience can teach him, than through any knowledge that they can carry from here. This is the reason why matters there are very different from those in this kingdom, as if we were speaking of different species—not only of people and of their opinions, but of their modes of life and their natures. From [257]this it has resulted that those who have undertaken to conduct affairs by the rules current here have committed irremediable blunders. But the principal thing which is necessary there is that he should be a good public man, for the basis and fundamental need is good government, and efforts for the increase of the land, and directing all one’s care toward its welfare, according good treatment to the citizens, showing kindness to foreigners, and attracting and winning the affections of all. Great care should be taken to despatch the ships from Nueva España promptly, and with proper supplies. All the people should be encouraged to go to trade with the neighboring countries, to build vessels, to extend their interests, and to bring wealth from those lands. They should be not only governors, but fathers and protectors of the Indians. This land, I assure you in all truth, if it had been thus governed, would be the best and richest in the world, and your Majesty would possess many sources of profit. Thus all the misfortunes and losses of property that have occurred there (which have been very great), have resulted by reason of and through the fault of those who have governed it, without any one thus far having been punished or his residencia taken thereon. If Gomez Perez was successful, it was because he already had had experience in governing, and had been corregidor many times, in which capacity he was obliged to consider not only affairs of government but also those of war. Above all, he was a very good Christian and desirous of doing right, which is the basis on which is founded all that is good. Accordingly, at his death, that country lost the special character that he had given it; but his memory will endure for many years in that city, [258]as that of the father of the country. About the city of Manila he built a wall of great strength, fortified it, cast artillery, and performed many other works with no ado, nor cost to your Majesty. He took to Maluco the choicest fleet which has ever been collected in the Indias, without having used for it the thousands from Mexico which your Majesty has ordered to be carried to other governors; and all this he did by his prudent plans and energetic action. Hence may be seen the importance of sending a governor there who is possessed of the traits that I have mentioned; for, besides so many advantages and good results as he can secure, and the evils which he can obviate, he will be able to save for your Majesty many ducados. Indeed, if the money which could have been dispensed with this year had been saved, your Majesty would be able to accomplish many military works and gain much wealth. And since your Majesty entrusts to him more than to all the other governors of the Indias, it is right that you should seek more carefully for such a man in that place than for any of the others; since not alone does your Majesty entrust him with a kingdom, but with your reputation and renown, which among so many different nations is only known through your governors for your Majesty. I even dare to say that hence also comes their knowledge of God. For to him is principally confided the honor of God and the conversion of so many souls, since we have seen so plainly how important is his good example; and, on the other hand, he will abolish evil and scandal not only there, but that which is spreading in Great China and other nations. They believe that our king is such a one as they see reflected in him who represents him. [259]What is still more to be deplored is that, within the last few years, there has arisen blasphemy against God and derision of your Majesty among those infidels, on this account. So great is the importance of your Majesty sending a person such as I have here described; for those who have not these qualities will destroy rather than build.
Chapter VII. Of the measures which should be chosen for the growth and preservation of that kingdom. The first thing which offers under this heading is the consideration of the matters pertaining to the war with the Dutch, which is the basal and fundamental question for all the rest; for the enemy is making such efforts and using so many measures to get control of that archipelago, and drive out the Spaniards.
Three ways and means present themselves to the mind, beside which I find no other one, although I have considered it well.
The first, if it be possible for your Majesty, is to manage to have an armed fleet sent. If, when Don Alonso Faxardo was already your governor, he had taken the one which had been made ready, the time was opportune so that he could have driven out the enemy from their posts, together with the fleet which was in the Filipinas, which was weakened in men and artillery by its loss at Manila. On account of this, the natives of the island of Maluco, fearful of the power of your Majesty, entered our service. This fleet, which I say your Majesty should have despatched, should have been sent with a previous warning to the governor of the Filipinas so that he could [260]collect there as great a force as possible, and provisions with which to resupply the fleet which would go thither from here, the money for this purpose to be sent him from Piru or from Nueva España.
Yet besides this, on account of the straitened circumstances of your Majesty, and the need of attending to other pressing matters, it is indeed true, in view of the great importance to your Majesty of not allowing the enemy to get possession of that archipelago (for he would infallibly become master of the whole of India, and become more powerful than can be understood here), that there appears to be another measure less costly in the meantime; although it will not result in dislodging them, at least it will give them such diversion and do so much damage that the profit which they will secure will be dearly bought. This is, that your Majesty should command the governor of the Filipinas to build eight galleys, and keep them in Terrenate; I will explain what their cost would be, shortly. These would be of great importance, as can be readily seen here, if one considers these reasons and the letter which Don Geronimo de Silva writes to his cousin, and another from Master-of-camp Lucas de Vergara to the dean of Manila, and to myself—the originals of which I possess, and which, as they explain the situation of those islands, I place at the end of this relation.
In the first place, the enemy has no ports in those islands in which to take refuge; and ordinarily his fleet goes about, one way and another, among the coasts there.
Second, every day in the year (or almost every day) there are six or eight hours of dead calm, at which time galleys never meet a galleon under these [261]circumstances without taking it or sending it to the bottom; for it has been seen by experience with a galleon and a galliot which the Spaniards possess there, what excellent results they have produced.
Third, on account of this expedient of the galleys the enemy will not dare to divide their forces among the factories to carry on their negotiations; and, as they will have to go together, the cost will be so great that they cannot support it.
Fourth, the supplies will be taken away from their fortresses; for they have nothing wherewith to support themselves except it be brought from other islands. This would be very easily accomplished, and the enemy would have no means to remedy it. The natives who are devoted to them would be so terrorized that they would be obliged to come over to our side. If they accomplish that in this way and through the effective plans of whomsoever shall govern there, and the negotiations which he would conduct with them, it is quite certain that the enemy would be ruined, and could not maintain himself a year in his forts; for it is the natives who aid and sustain him, and furnish the cloves for his profit.
Fifth, it would be easy to make an invasion with the galleys on all the factories where they have not fortresses—and especially in Bantan, which is in Greater Xava, whither they carry all the spices which are shipped to Holland—and then to gain them all and burn them. They have no port there for large vessels, but only a bay where vessels which anchor there are kept at a distance from the land in the mud, aground, so that they cannot make use of them when they wish. Accordingly the galleys could easily burn those which lie there. If Don Juan de Silva had [262]adopted this measure, the enemy would already be subdued; and your Majesty would not have spent so great sums of money, and so exhausted the Filipinas Islands.
Sixth, the forces which your Majesty possesses in Maluco would be maintained with much less cost than at present by means of these galleys. For as there are no supplies in those islands it is necessary to send them from the Filipinas, which entails three difficulties. The first is that prices are thus made higher in that country, and the natives thereof are oppressed; the second, that it costs your Majesty a great deal, with the ships and men that are needed to man them; and the third, that the enemy gets a great deal of the aid which is sent. All this would be obviated by keeping galleys there; for it must be understood that the island of Macaçar is very large, rich, and abundantly supplied, and lies a two days’ journey from Maluco. The king there is desirous of friendship with us, and has even sent to the governor of Terrenate to seek religious, as he says in the letter which is at the end of this relation. Last year he wrote a letter to the governor of the Filipinas, offering to furnish him all the supplies that he might need for the forces in Maluco; and saying that, if he had not the money to pay for them, he might have them on trust until the money came. Things are very cheap there, costing less than half as much as in the Filipinas, and the said galleys could transport them easily, without the danger which they now encounter of being taken by the enemy. Rather, on the other hand, those which the enemy carry from there could be taken away with ease, and they would be caused to perish with hunger. If an ordinary [263]amount of care were taken in negotiating with this king, he would, as he is so well disposed to the Spaniards, be so devoted to your Majesty that he would not allow the enemy to enter his port. Besides, his friendship with them is already greatly strained; and there is a great disposition among all that people to receive the gospel.
Seventh, as those islands have no posts where cloves may be laded, the Dutch send their ships far from the artillery of their own forts, which they cannot approach; and it will be easy to secure the vessels, or not allow them to lade anything. Considering the calms which prevail, even if there were many ships they could not aid one another, whatever injury the galleys were inflicting upon them—the least being to dismantle them, so that they cannot sail, for there is nothing there with which to make a mast or rudder.
Eighth, as they have a number of posts where they only keep twenty-five or thirty men with a squadron commander, and the forts have no ditches or drinking-water, they could be deprived of these at any time with ease. Galleons would be of no use in such engagements, as they cannot vie with galleys, which can get under cover whenever they wish. Likewise it must be understood, as their forts are in such danger, they will need so many men to keep them from being taken, and so much to maintain them, that their profit will be so small that it will be gain for them to abandon it. This would indeed be making a pretty game of war, and cutting their throats with a wooden sword. And I assure your Majesty that this idea is not only my own, but that of all experienced men in Maluco There resides at this court [264]Juan Gomez de Cardenas, who gained considerable experience in Japon with a Dutch factor, who never thought that this man was a vassal of your Majesty. The latter made known to him the said reason, and said that they feared nothing until your Majesty should send there six or more galleys.
It now remains to tell the ease and little cost with which your Majesty could maintain these galleys and man them; and if this is explained for one, it holds in regard to all. The hull of a galley of twenty-four benches, put together and fitted for sailing, costs in the Filipinas four thousand ducats. The gang to man it must be secured in this manner. The governor of the Filipinas should send to Mindanao three hundred soldiers, by whom—besides setting free more than ten thousand Christian captives, vassals of your Majesty in the Filipinas—sufficient men could be captured to man the galleys. If this measure be not sufficient, a frigate or two should be sent to Malaca for cloves on your Majesty’s account, which would bring back negroes at two hundred reals, more or less, with which to man them; these oarsmen are very satisfactory, as experience has shown. In order to maintain the crew and replace those who die, men could be captured continually from our enemies, on a thousand occasions, without fail.
The support of the galley slaves is inexpensive, for they live on rice, fish, and a little jerked beef—which, besides, is often captured from the enemy there; and is very low in price when it has to be bought, as, at present, in the island of Macaçar.
The third and last measure is, if these two fail, such that I dure not write it, for that is not expedient; [265]but I will explain it to your Majesty, if you are pleased to learn it. I shall not go into this matter any further, nor explain the reasons more in detail, as this is not to be long; but if your Majesty should be pleased to carry out any of the suggestions here made, I shall explain away the doubts which may present themselves.
In the second place the person who is to govern should have the said requisites, for he is the soul of the undertaking; and it is he who must execute whatever your Majesty orders and commands. Whatever he is, such will be the rest. That this may not appear an exaggeration, I will prove it by evidence.
There are dependent upon the governor not only the secular Spanish residents of those islands, but the ecclesiastics; also war and peace, and the royal Audiencia, the archbishop, the bishops, and all the other soldiers and citizens; for it is he who must reward and honor them with offices of peace and war. He must assign the cargoes of the ships, the profits and advantages. The royal Audiencia, because he appoints their relatives and constituents to offices of profit, must needs keep in his graces. The archbishop and bishops, if they do not conform to his will, may have their temporal support taken from them; for if he cannot do it with good cause, he can easily do it in other ways. In a thousand things which occur, too, they need him for the direction of their affairs; and he can inflict on them so many burdens and annoyances that they realize how dearly they are buying the privilege of opposing him or contradicting his wishes. The chapter of the church is the same, or worse; for he makes appointments, [266]as your Majesty is patron, and orders the stipends to be paid. Accordingly it is necessary to be in his good graces. The cabildo of the city dare not do anything against his will; for those who oppose him or say anything in the sessions which is contrary to his wishes, it costs dear, and, besides, he is aware of whatever they do there. They dare not write to your Majesty, without taking to him the letters so that he may examine them; and there have been times when he has had these torn up, and ordered them to write others. Consequently, the religious who are teaching, and those of the convents, are all dependent upon him.
The royal officials do no more than he wishes, and, besides, they have the example of former ones, who for not acting thus were removed, and held prisoners for three years until your Majesty learned of it, and ordered their offices to be returned to them, and perchance the many hardships and afflictions which the governor inflicted upon them, and caused them to suffer, cost two of them their lives, and lost for your Majesty, in the factor, one of the best servants whom you had in the Filipinas. Accordingly, what I promised to prove is well established; for the complaints were so long in arriving, and the redress in returning, that he who awaited them was already dead.
In the third place, it is essential that he should not be excessively grasping; and that your Majesty should give him such expectations, if he conducts himself well, that his profit will rest more on them than in what the government is worth to him. He should be of mature age and great experience in handling the affairs of the commonwealth, such as [267]some knights possess who hold offices of corregidor on the coasts of España, and who govern in peace and war, as they never lack exercise for these abilities on the coasts. For if they were only required to be expert in war, the country would be in ruins before they became capable of governing it—as, for our sins, we have seen in past years. They should not come burdened with debts, which are demoralizing in a thousand ways. Notwithstanding that your Majesty has issued decrees which prohibit them from giving offices of profit to members of their households, rather than to the worthy persons of the kingdom, these decrees are the least complied with; nor is there any one who dares to interfere in this. If any one should make bold to put the bell on the cat, as the adage says, who would make him comply with it? By no means the royal Audiencia. At one time when I was petitioning for the execution of a royal decree of your Majesty there, an auditor, a friend of mine, said: “You should not do this; for, besides not accomplishing anything by it, you will get yourself into difficulty with him.”
With this in view, it is very important to forbid these offices to persons who are under obligations, which induce an insatiable greed and presumption; and, to fill that yawning void, the wealth of all the Indias is insignificant. The worst is, that they pervert a man, and lead him astray by their influence. If I were to recount here in detail all the difficulties which they occasion, I should have to take twice the space. In short, everyone there is lamenting; and these people come in smiles, and even negotiating for the honors which belong to others, with crass insolence; and, worse yet, it seems to the governor [268]that his own people alone deserve all there is, and the rest are of no account. To give color to their impudence, one of them has dared to write to your Majesty that there was not a person in all your kingdom who could in the least be trusted. The mistakes of these people are never punished, nor is there any one who dares to demand an investigation against them, even when they have done a thousand injuries. In short, he must be such a one as the emperor Theodosius spoke of to St. Ambrose, when he sent him to govern Milan: “Go; and, look you, I send you not to act as governor, but as bishop.” Such must be the governors of the Filipinas, if your Majesty would have them succeed.
And on this account I have no fault to find with Don Alonso Faxardo, whom your Majesty has sent at present to govern. On the contrary, I believe that he will conduct himself there as befits the service of your Majesty and the welfare of your kingdom. For I recognized such desires in him in the little intercourse that I had with him in Mexico, where I was acquainted with him. I am therefore very thankful to God to see him so desirous of serving you, and may He give him grace to succeed. As for the persons who are sent to that Audiencia, they should be in a degree like the governors; for your Majesty places as much confidence in them—although I think it would be more to the purpose to discontinue it, for the reasons which are given by most people in that country, in which matter I will give your Majesty a memorial.
The affairs of that kingdom are in such disorder, and move in so irregular channels, that people ask for an inspector to reform and adjust them and put [269]everything in its place, redressing injuries and punishing wrong-doing. The country is much in need of this; but that it may not be like the frogs who asked Jupiter for a king, and were given one that devoured them, it will be best for your Majesty to appoint some one from that country, who, through his great experience and knowledge, cannot be deceived, and knows what must be reformed, and who is possessed as well of the prudence and tact which are necessary in such a new country. And on the other hand, on account of the risks which exist in sending anyone from here who does not understand the affairs and conditions which must be remedied, and knows not how to proceed, it would be wiser to send no one, on account of the danger which exists of ruining the city.
Item: The governor should not consent to Japanese living in that country, as they are a great trouble and danger to the country, and the city is continually in danger from them.
Item: The Chinese should be very carefully restricted, so that no greater number of them than your Majesty has ordered be [allowed to remain there]; for they are permitted [to enter the country] without any exercise of caution, and we know by experience what this costs.
Item: Your Majesty should command the governor finally to reduce the island of Mindanao to obedience to your Majesty; for those islands are so infested that they hinder the carrying of reënforcements to Maluco. And as they are in league with the Dutch, we have a perfect right to make war upon them and subject them to slavery. All this is easy for the governor if your Majesty command it, and is so [270]necessary for the security of your Majesty’s vassals, as I intend to explain to your Majesty more at length in a separate memorial.
Item: There is an island which lies about twenty leguas from Maluco, called Macaçar, which measures about two hundred and fifty leguas around; it is very rich and well supplied, and from it the forces in Maluco could be supplied with ease and at little cost. It will be necessary for your Majesty to order the governor to negotiate with the king there for friendship and commerce. For the latter has already sent and written, saying that he desires it and that he will furnish all the supplies that are desired, and, if there is no money, will give credit for them until it is procured; and he has sent to ask for religious to preach the faith. They are a capable people, of good disposition, and are disposed to receive the gospel. As this district lies nearest to that which the fathers of the Society hold, it would be of much importance to send a few religious assigned to that island; and for your Majesty to be pleased to have their general requested to give them, which is of much importance even for temporal objects, besides the great service which they can render to God. And the Dutch could not get supplies from there, which would take away from them much of the previsions with which they are supported. Two fathers of the Society have been there, and have written that they were very well received; and it is highly expedient to encourage them.
Item: Your Majesty should order the governor to attend with much diligence to the despatching of ships which go to Nueva España, for upon this so much of the growth of that kingdom depends; [271]and since he is so good a sailor and prides himself upon it, he should regulate that in the proper way, for at present it proceeds with great disorder and even recklessness, as I shall explain to your Majesty in a separate memorial.
Item: Your Majesty should command that the garrisons of that kingdom be made open, on account of the fact that experience has shown that more men would go, if this were the case. Those in Maluco should be exchanged with those in the Filipinas every three years, for otherwise so many refuse to go to Maluco, and the forts there are in such ill-repute, that those who are taken there are discontented, as if they were being sent to the galleys; but if they are exchanged, as I have said, they will go willingly. Beside, they would become experts, and the soldiers from Maluco are worth more than those who have not been there, on account of their constant exercise in war and labor.
Item: Your Majesty should command that the city of Manila be made an open garrison, like San Juan de Ulua and Habana; for in this way the men will go to the Filipinas willingly. As Don Juan de Silva has done otherwise for years past, this country has become depopulated, and they have fled to various parts from time to time, no one daring to go there on this account.
Item: Concerning the treatment of the Indians, and what it is well to inform your Majesty in this regard, as well in what concerns your royal conscience as the good of the country, a separate memorial is required.
Item: As to the manner of governing them and collecting their tributes, as has been seen by experience, [272]the religious have done a great deal of harm by preventing the Indians from paying tributes on the fruits which they harvest; because the religious have not the inclination or sense to leave many things free—as will be seen in the account I shall give your Majesty in regard to this, all of which has been taught by experience.
Item: Finally, it is very necessary that your Majesty should consider that that country is very new, and that your Majesty should desire its growth; and because, likewise, it was not so much in need of your Majesty’s protection and favor in the beginning as it is now—when so few wish to go there on account of ill-treatment, many misfortunes, and the fear of enemies—your Majesty should protect it so that they may be encouraged to go there. For this your Majesty should command your ministers to give those who wish to go a comfortable passage. For if in early days the king our lord, the father of your Majesty, who so greatly favored and loved that land, not only furnished a passage, but likewise the necessaries for their journey, to those who wished to go, and even freed them from duties and imposts, that aid is much more necessary today; and at least they should be given some exemptions, and should not be treated with such harshness as they now are. This I can affirm as an eyewitness, that when we arrived at the port of Capulco, after having been on the voyage five months, and a great many of our people had died, and God had brought us through such boundless hardships and dangers to the place where we were to refresh ourselves, they treated us worse, indeed, than they did the Dutch; for to the latter they gave food there, and sent them away satisfied, [273]and to us they acted as they should have done to the Dutch. Since a proper remedy for what happened at the port of Capulco, which I am bound to suggest to your Majesty, and for many other matters concerning your royal service, cannot be suggested in this place, I shall give it in other memorials.
Item: The encomiendas which your Majesty used to grant were formerly for three lives; and a short time ago your Majesty ordered by a royal decree that they should be, and it should be so understood, for two lives. This is a great difficulty in the preservation of that community, and especially so as your Majesty has granted the favor to Nueva España of giving them for four lives; and as the Filipinas have been, and continue to be thus far, the colony of Nueva España, and almost governed by the royal Audiencia thereof, it is a great hardship that they should enjoy no more than two lives. In the first place, because many are discouraged from serving your Majesty, and even from remaining in that country, when they learn that their sons and grandsons must be reduced to the greatest poverty, the said encomienda expiring with the holder’s first son or his wife, as at present happens; in the second place, because four lives are shorter in the Filipinas than two in Nueva España. The reason for this is the many occasions for war and naval expeditions, wherein men are easily killed or drowned, leaving their successors in the hospital—as is at present the case with many, which makes one’s heart ache with pity.
In answer to the tacit objection which might be brought up that it is better to have the encomiendas vacated quickly, so that others may be rewarded with [274]them, and with this hope will go to serve there, I would say that the important matter is to make a compromise—namely that your Majesty should concede the said encomiendas not for four lives, as in Nueva España, nor for two as at present, but for three, as formerly, which is a very necessary measure for the relief of some, and the encouragement of others to the service of your Majesty.
Letter from Master-of-camp Lucas de Vergara, written to Don Francisco Gomez de Arellano, dean of Manila, which is the last that came from Maluco in the past year. By the ship “San Antonio,” which I despatched to that city on the thirteenth of May last, I informed you, with other matters pertaining to me, of my health, and my arrival at these forts safely with the three ships in which I took the reënforcements; and of how well I was received by everyone, and everything which had occurred to me up to that time. What I have to say to you since that time is that, from the persons who have come to me from the forts of the enemy, both native and Dutch, and from other inquiries that I have made, I have learned that of the ten Dutch ships which were at the harbor-mouth of Marivelez only four have come back to these islands. One of them brought the wounded men from Oton; a second one, when our fleet went out to seek that of the enemy, was going out to sea, picking up Sangley ships. When it saw our fleet, without going back to theirs, it cast loose a very rich junk which it was towing astern, and took to flight. The captain of this vessel, they tell me, the Dutch put to death for having fled. Two other vessels arrived [275]at the port of Malayo on the eighth of June. These had found occasion to fight with our fleet; and accordingly they arrived dismantled by cannon-shots, and with many wounded men. These brought the news that only six of their vessels had fought with eight of ours and three galleys; and that their commander’s ship and two others were lost, one going to the bottom and the other two being burned. Their commander escaped in a boat which they saw was being followed by two of our galleons and a galley—although they did not know the result, since neither this one, nor two others that are lacking from the ten, have appeared here thus far. Of six hundred men whom they took from the forts which they have on these islands to put in the ten boats, when they were at Manila, only a hundred came back alive. These two damaged ships are being put to rights, and in all they have five at present in these islands, with few men; so that if a part of our fleet had come, and followed up the victory, they might all have been captured. This loss has made both the Dutch and those of Terrenate very sad and cast down, for they were in hopes to come back rich and victorious. A few silks and other goods were brought in the ships which escaped and they sold them to us very dear, although not so dear as they cost them. What they are considering now, and urge for the consolation of those of Terrenate and the other nations friendly to them, is that they are going to collect a great fleet which they have in Ambueno, and in the Sunda; and with the whole fleet they are to attack the forts of his Majesty before our fleet arrives from Castilla and from the Filipinas. This you already know of. Beside this, they are putting their fortresses [276]in the best state of fortification possible, together with the posts which they hold; for they see that the natives here are very lukewarm in their friendship, and they fear that when they see our fleet more powerful than theirs, the natives will drop their friendship and try to win ours. The king of Tidore and I consider it certain, judging from what we have heard from themselves, and particularly from those of the island of Maquien, that that alone is richer in cloves and native inhabitants than are all the others there. Their Sangaje, who went there to treat of this matter, was taken and killed in the fort at Malayo, which irritated the natives of that island very much.
By a caracoa which I sent to Ambueno, to get word of what was doing there, I learned that the Dutch have seven ships in that island, and that they sent one ship laden with cloves to Holland. The natives there are, for the most part, at war with the Dutch, as are likewise those of the islands of Banda, where there are two or three English ships fortifying themselves with the permission and aid of the natives. The Dutch and the English have fought over this and the Dutch hold forty English prisoners—all of which is very good for us. It is rumored that in the Sunda there are twenty Dutch ships, but I do not know what truth there is in this. I am at present getting ready and fortifying, as well as I can, the forts which his Majesty has in these islands, so that they may be ready at any juncture; although there is a great lack of men for the necessary work, because there went this year to Manila more than came out, and some are sick, and there are many places to guard. Particularly there are three situated [277]in the island Batachina, which, as they are in an unhealthy country, exhaust the troops more by death and sickness. They are passably supplied with provisions at present, owing to the care which I take to seek out what is in the country; and thus, with the rice which I brought, and a little which was here, I have managed to get along. I shall have enough provisions for the whole of October, and if I am sent those that I await from the island of Mateo I shall have enough for November. By that time I hope to get aid from those islands, for I am very confident that the lords there will aid me as ever; and the lord captain-general, being a man of so much experience, as he suffered so many needs in his own time, will aid in this with the expedition and care which are necessary for its preservation, since everything is and continues to be for that object. In whatever may happen which concerns this, I beg of you to further it as far as possible, as I shall take it as a great favor, besides being a service for God and for his Majesty, and as you are so zealous. I beseech you to be pleased to advise me of what may occur there and I shall do the same always here.
By the last despatch I sent you three birds of paradise, and the bearer of this, Sergeant Romero, brings you two more. I wished that there were more, but I assure you that they were not to be found, as the boats which usually bring them have not arrived.
While I was writing this a Dutch trumpeter arrived from the forts of the enemy, and gave the same report as another who came two days ago, and whom I send by this ship, so that he may tell the whole thing there—for, considering the news and the state [278]of affairs, it is of the highest importance that our fleet should come here by the month of December. If those ships alone came which his Majesty has in those islands, it would be superior to the enemy’s fleet; for with this they could be kept from taking to Holland this year the great quantity of cloves which they will harvest. This is the greatest loss which can be inflicted upon them at present; since with the profits from this they are waging war upon his Majesty in these parts with such great fleets. This is the opinion of those who have most at heart the service of his Majesty in these regions. I am writing, above all, to the lords there; and you will do me the favor which you always do in such cases.
Although I do not know what new things there may be there, I leave it all to your good opinion and intelligence and that of Señor Canon Garcetas, as I know, since you are such friends of mine, that you will give the most fitting counsel. May our Lord protect you for the greatest possible number of years. I kiss your hands. Tidore, July 5, 1617. Your humble servant,
Lucas Vergara Gaviria