Sire:
On every occasion which has arisen I have regularly advised you of
whatever seemed desirable for the proper service of your Majesty,
which is my only desire. Accordingly, last year I sent a letter by the
two ships which were despatched, a duplicate of which I send in this,
with other matters that have come to my notice. Your Majesty will
be pleased to have this examined, as it treats of some affairs which
demand remedy; and in regions so remote many difficulties arise when
due provision is not made--as will be seen in some papers which are
sent with this, concerning the little respect which the soldiers and
troops of war show toward the auditors, as the governor claims that
we are not their judges; and regarding the galleys which the governor
has built, and their excessive cost, which is the ruin of this country;
likewise will be seen therein the many offices and positions of profit
which the governor has given to his creatures, against the decrees of
your Majesty and the instructions for his office, so that all those
who have served here feel very indignant over it. These things,
and the obligation of my office, have constrained me to give this
report, and to try to secure the remedy which the vassals of your
Majesty hope for, when your Majesty shall cast your gaze upon this
land which was so cared for and favored by his Catholic Majesty
(whom may God keep!) which your Majesty is still caring for, with
the great favors which your Majesty grants it for the spiritual and
temporal good which is your object.
The royal [estate] in these islands is in debt for a large sum of
money in gold, as your Majesty has been informed; on this account
all those who draw salaries and stipends therefrom are in the utmost
need--so much so that we have not been able to pay this year the
president, auditors, archbishop, bishops, prebendaries, or ministers
of instruction and justice, not having the means to pay them. Most
pitiable of all has been the plight of the soldiers, who are suffering
the utmost extremity, without there being any resources with which
to aid them. All this has been caused by the excessive cost of the
galleys, and the great expenses incurred by some expeditions made
with them without anything being thus gained. In the interim, until
your Majesty be pleased to order some provision, we shall take great
pains to do what is most expedient so that these expenses may cease
and the country be defended without them. [_In the margin of this
paragraph is written_: "No answer to be given."]
This year it will be very necessary to appropriate a considerable
loan of money from what comes from Nueva Spaña--because the viceroy of
Mexico has not sent the usual aid, and it is impossible to get along
without obtaining it from private persons--that the land may not go
to ruin; for I can assure you that it has come to this extremity.
Last year I advised you of the many offices which the governor had
granted, and in this he has continued--going so far that, observing
the general complaint of all the meritorious persons, I have tried to
restrain him. At this he showed little inclination to favor my efforts,
and offered me some affronts--which I shall not mention, as they were
of such a nature as to affect only me personally and not my office
or its authority. But, because it appears to me expedient to inform
you concerning one such case, I shall do so, as it is a matter which
touches the preëminence of the officers whom your Majesty maintains
here, so that your Majesty, if you please, may order it to be set
right. [_On the margin of this paragraph_: "Concerning the offices
which the governor has filled; join this relation which Don Antonio de
Ribera sends to that which the governor writes concerning the offices,
and have it all brought."]
By the ordinance of this royal Audiencia it is directed that an
Audiencia building be erected in which the president and auditors
shall live; and by a later decree it is ordered that there shall be
a royal building, very imposing, so that these infidels may see the
authority with which your Majesty is served and which the officers
who serve in these offices must possess. I, as the senior auditor,
lived in the royal building, whence, on the occasion when your Majesty
directed the treasury of the royal exchequer to be established in the
royal building, the governor ordered me to move, in order to make room
for the treasury. As this wrong was done to me, I laid it before the
Audiencia, saying that he was exceeding the commission given by the
royal decree; and that, in accordance therewith, it was not the will
of your Majesty that my place of abode should be taken from me, as it
had been occupied from the time when it was built by the president
and auditors. This was shown to the governor by the [Audiencia's]
record of proceedings; and it was decreed in the Audiencia that in the
royal building where I was two main apartments should be cleared out,
in which the treasury and the books of the royal exchequer should
be accommodated. The governor, in spite of this action, took all my
apartments from me and lodged therein a royal official; whereupon,
as there is a great lack of houses in this city, I was obliged to
move into a house of wood and thatch, which was unsuitable to the last
degree, and attended by much danger because of the frequent fires which
occur in this city. Accordingly, in the two fires which have occurred
this year I have been obliged to go with my effects and books from
one place to another, until at last I rented for them and my papers
an apartment outside of my house in a building of stone belonging
to a citizen, where I keep them. Besides experiencing so great
inconvenience, this country is so warm that I assure your Majesty,
with all due regard for truth, that my health is failing; and I fear
that I shall lose my life, through the poor appointments of the house
and on account of the intemperate heat from which I suffer in going
to the Audiencia. But so great is the dislike which the governor
has taken toward me, that neither the injustice and wrong, nor the
danger of fire, nor the failure of my health has moved him to give
me a lodging; nor is one to be found at any cost. I beg your Majesty
that, even if it may not be necessary for me, you may command what is
to be done in regard to the other auditors, for he has depreciated my
authority and maltreated me in such manner that I would consider it a
great neglect of duty to your Majesty if I did not advise you of it,
and this has led me to give so detailed an account. [_In the margin_:
"No answer to be given."]
In the letter of last year which will accompany this, I communicated
an expedient which has occurred to me whereby this land might be
maintained in abundance, with only the property which the royal
treasury has in these islands, without there being any need of aiding
it from the royal exchequer of Mexico; and the paid soldiers could
be increased, and other good results might be achieved. I beseech
your Majesty to have it examined, as it appears desirable to both the
archbishop and the bishop of Nueva Segovia, to whom I have communicated
it, and who thought it very good. [_In the margin of this paragraph
is an order which says_: "Let the governor and the Audiencia inform us
concerning this plan, sending them a copy thereof without issuing any
decree; and let them send an account of the advantages and difficulties
which may have occurred to them, with their opinion."]
It is more than eight years since your Majesty was pleased to do me
the favor of giving me a post as auditor of Mexico, with an order to
establish the Audiencia in these islands. I sat therein four years,
and I am now advised by way of Nueva España that the place in that
Audiencia which was occupied by the licentiate Francisco Alonso de
Villagra, who passed on to the royal Council of the Yndias, has been
given to me. Although the time for which I was to serve here is already
past, I have not dared to leave these islands this year, as I have
no order expressing the wish of your Majesty; and likewise because
the governor, Don Pedro de Acuña, is obliged to go on the expedition
to Maluco, and, if I go to Nueva España, only three auditors will
remain. The eldest of these, who, according to the ordinance, must take
up the duties of the captain-general, is so burdened and his health
so poor that he cannot attend to the affairs of war. On this account,
and because I understand that your Majesty would be better pleased
to have me in this country, I have not gone to enjoy the favor which
has been extended to me in Mexico--which is very great, and a notable
promotion--although the greatest favor that I can receive is to let me
serve in this Audiencia at a time when important affairs may occur,
whereby I may show my desire. I beseech your Majesty that what I am
doing in staying here to further serve your Majesty be permitted and
approved. [_In the margin is this order_: "Let him go immediately,
in accordance with the decree which was sent him." [45]]
During the whole time since I have been favored with this post in
Mexico, I have been occupied in your Majesty's service, and with
sitting in this royal Audiencia. I beseech your Majesty that, since
in similar offices of justice all the privileges are enjoyed from
the day of the nomination, as if the office were being exercised,
the favor may be done me that I may not lose my seniority, from the
day when your Majesty was pleased to appoint me auditor in Mexico
(especially as I have been occupied in what I was commanded to do),
as was done with Doctor Francisco Alonso de Villagra when he went to
fill the same post at Mexico; he was detained by an official visit
at Santo Domingo, and did not lose his seniority, [_In the margin_:
"What he asks is unreasonable."]
Last year two ships were despatched somewhat late, and the flagship
arrived in a dismantled condition at the end of four or five months of
sailing, with little damage; but the other was lost on the opposite
coast of these islands, without any person or any part of her cargo
being saved. This was a great pity, and especially so after so many
wrecks as we have had in years past. God was pleased to bring hither
in safety two other ships, which go out this year, which has been some
relief to the citizens and merchants of this city. [_In the margin_:
"No answer to be given."]
The licentiate Geronimo de Salazar y Salcedo, fiscal of this royal
Audiencia, is dead. He leaves his wife in very poor circumstances
and a daughter who is without any resources, which is a great pity.
In a letter of last year I told your Majesty how the sargento-mayor
went to La Laguna, which is about fifteen leguas from this city,
in pursuit of the Sangley rebels. As they were in two bodies of
at least two thousand each, unarmed, wounded, and fatigued, and
without any means of defense; and the sargento-mayor had two hundred
Spanish arquebusiers, and three hundred others from Pampanga who are
natives of these islands, armed with arquebuses and muskets, and eight
hundred well-armed Japonese, besides five or six thousand natives with
lances, pikes, halberds, partizans, javelins, and bows and arrows,
their strength was so great that, without the Sangleys facing them,
the natives killed them--attacking first one troop and then the other,
with perfect safety and not the slightest danger. In this affair twelve
or fifteen days were spent in the going, the work, and the return, and
for this he claims more remuneration than if he had pacified the states
of Flandes; and he is not even contented with the governor having given
him an excellent encomienda in the vicinity of this city, besides
another good one which he possesses in Pangasinan. At present he is
enjoying both of them contrary to the instructions of your Majesty,
and they are among the best in the islands. I advise you of this so
that the service which he has rendered, the time spent, the danger of
the expedition, and the risk that he personally ran, may be known,
so that the reward may be conformable to that and not to the favor
which the governor extends to him and the claim which he makes. For
he dares not ask to have investigations made in the Audiencia, nor
should an opinion be given in it as your Majesty orders by the royal
decrees; for it is not known in the royal Council how little he did,
that it was not a service of such importance as to demand more reward
than what he held in the first encomienda.
All the welfare of this land, for its maintenance and the prosperity
of those who reside in it, lies in the cargoes of the ships which
are despatched to Nueva España, with which your Majesty favors the
citizens of this city and the settlers. I assure your Majesty with
the truth that I desire to employ, that much wrong is done them,
and that the ships are laded for the dependents and connections of
the governor, by which they are benefited with great riches; and
the same thing is done by the commanders and admirals who come from
Mexico, who, as they are persons from the household of the viceroy,
are the ones who get the benefit. The governor will not allow the
Audiencia to interfere in this; and thus the persons to whom this
favor was extended suffer, and those enjoy it who were prohibited
from doing so, and counted undeserving. I communicate this, that
your Majesty may be pleased to order it corrected; for it is a matter
which affects all with much grief and resentment. [_In the margin_:
"No answer to be given, for suitable provision has already been made."]
The plan which appears suitable for this (which I humbly beseech may be
looked into, according to my desire) is what your Majesty has commanded
by his royal decree--that there should be sent each year to the Council
a report of what is laded in the ships, and to what person it belongs;
and this is not done. In order that this should be carried out, it is
expedient that an auditor should be sent by the royal Audiencia--and
not by the governor, as that is not fitting--who should take, on the
oath of a notary, account of everything which enters in the ship,
nothing being laded without his presence and supervision. In this
manner the freighting will be justly done without the freighters
who are appointed having a chance to sell the tonnage, as they do
today. Thus they leave the citizens without the share which belongs to
them, defrauding the royal customs, as would appear if this plan were
observed--at which I know your Majesty would be very glad, and all the
citizens would enjoy fully the favor which has been granted them. God
protect the Catholic person of your Majesty. Manila, June 28, 605.