ANNO DOM. 1596.
The Administration of Don Francisco Tello de Gusman, the fourth
Governor of Manila.
The news of the death of Dasmarinas, reached Madrid through the
medium of India, and immediately the King sent as his successor Don
Francisco Tello de Gusman, Knight of the order of Santiago, born at
Seville, who had been treasurer of the Indies. He arrived at Manila
the 1st of June 1596, and the following month despatched the ship San
Philip to Acapulco; but she encountered in her voyage heavy gales,
was dismasted, and lost her rudder, and having no other resource, bore
away for Japan, where the relief she sought was denied, except on the
condition of her entering the port of Urando; in effecting which she
touched on a sand bank, and made so much water, that she was under the
necessity of being unloaded. The Governor, allured by the prospect of
such rich booty, immediately conceived the design of making himself
master of the vessel and cargo, and accordingly secured it in the
royal store-houses, sending information to the Emperor Taycosama,
that the Captain having given a false representation of the matter,
he had proceeded against him according to law, and had secured the
whole of the property. By this means he so warped the whole affair,
that the cargo was condemned, and a prosecution was commenced, in the
progress of which those Franciscan friars fell martyrs, who had come
to this kingdom in quality of ambassadors.
Taycosama named one of the four principal Governors of his kingdom,
called Uximonoxo, to take charge of the ship, in order that the
cargo might be delivered up; for our Captain, Don Mathias Landecho,
had petitioned the Emperor, sending two Spaniards and two friars, of
those he had in the ship, with a present worth twenty thousand dollars,
to soften him, and, if possible, to obtain justice. Upon their arrival
at Meaco, the court of the Emperor, they applied to the Franciscan
friars, who, by their experience in this city, they conceived, could
procure a favourable reception to their application. The Franciscans
judged it better to apply to Ximonoxo, another of the four Governors;
but this crafty Japanese, possessing more abilities than the friars,
deceived the whole of them, found means to make them deliver up
the present of the Emperor to him, offering to give them a letter
to Uximonoxo, which they agreed to, and acceded to his wish. The
Spaniards returned quite content with this letter; but it was the
letter of Uriah, the Hittite, for immediately they delivered it,
Uximonoxo imprisoned them. When they found out the deceit, they
sent the Friar Guivara to Meaco, to procure their liberty from the
other Governors, and, with the assistance of the Franciscan friars,
attempted to get an audience of the Emperor, to explain to him the
conduct of his Governors; but Uximonoxo was too crafty for them,
prejudicing the Emperor against the friars, through the medium of
the Bonzos, who are priests of their idols, to whom he suggested the
propriety of complaining against them, because they propagated a new
doctrine against the gods, which must be prejudicial to the state.
Taycosama, who began to be desirous of keeping possession of the
merchandize of the wrecked vessel, imprisoned the Franciscan friars,
on pretence of their having preached the gospel of Christ against
his command; and likewise pretended that they were employed as spies
by the Spaniards, and that, with these views, they had quitted their
own country. He now openly seized the property saved, and condemned
the friars to death. With them the following were comprehended in
this sentence; the Friars Pedro Bautista, Francisco Blanco, Gonsalo
Garcia, Francisco de San Miguel, Martin de la Asumpcion, together
with Phelipe de Jesus, who was going in that ship to New Spain to
be ordained, and had resided with his brethren since his arrival in
Japan. These six Franciscan friars, with three Japanese Jesuits, and
seventeen Japanese laymen, who professed Christianity, all shared the
same fate. They were paraded through the streets of Meaco, with their
left ears cut off, and then marched above two hundred leagues into
Nangasaqui, where they suffered martyrdom, by being placed on crosses,
and put to death with lances. This transaction took place on the 5th
of February 1597, in the presence of Senor Martinez, a Jesuit Bishop,
many other Jesuits and Franciscan friars, and the Spaniards lately
arrived in that ship, and who returned to Manila, after suffering
many hardships, and certified what they had witnessed on this occasion.
Immediately on the death of these martyrs being made known in Manila,
the Governor sent two Spaniards and an Augustine friar, to solicit
their bodies, and complain to the Emperor of the ill treatment which
the Spaniards had experienced in regard to their ship, contrary to
the treaty which had been made with the government of Manila. They
likewise had instructions, to procure the establishment of commercial
regulations for the future; and to pave the way for these views, they
took with them a present of an elephant, an animal seldom seen in
Japan. Taycosama was delighted with this present, and he esteemed it
the more, as it knelt three times in his presence, on a certain signal
being made to it. He received the ambassadors with great cordiality,
and pleaded the laws of the empire, in justification of the conduct
which had been observed, with regard to the ship and cargo; but made
a promise, for the second time, of protection to the commerce of the
Spaniards, assuring them that these vexations should never be repeated,
and despatched them with a present to the Governor, together with the
relicts of the martyred saints. The Spaniards had little confidence
in the duration of this good understanding, for Faranda incessantly
instigated the Emperor to commence hostilities on Manila, promising to
reduce the whole of the islands to his obedience. The four Governors
of the kingdom seconded the representations of Faranda, and measures
were adopted with the view of carrying them into effect by collecting
an armament; but the chief men of the country, who considered Faranda
as a despicable character, much retarded this scheme. It was at
first understood in Manila, that this armament was directed against
the island of Formosa, as the first step towards the conquest of the
Philippines. Our Governor took every precaution, and among others,
sent an embassy to Canton, as the Chinese were the ancient enemies
of the Japanese; and it was their interest to prevent the latter
from making this conquest: nothing of this, however, was eventually
necessary, as Taycosama died, and peace immediately followed.
While this was passing in Japan, the two expeditions which Luis
Dasmarinas had sent to Camboxa and Mindanao were proceeding in their
operations; that which went to Camboxa began successfully, but it was
afterwards completely ruined by Major Juan Gallinato, and returned to
Manila without effecting any thing. Don Luis Dasmarinas having pledged
himself for the success of this expedition, armed, at his own cost,
two ships and a galiot, and with the approbation of the Governor,
left Manila for Camboxa, and in a little time after arrived at China,
at the port of Pinae, twelve leagues distant from Canton, where he
encountered the Governor of Malacca, took him prisoner, and returned
to Manila. His galiot arrived at Cagayan, and proceeded on his voyage
to Camboxa, where he found the King re-established on his throne
by the Portuguese, Cabos Diego Belloso and Blas Ruiz. The other two
Spanish ships also arrived there, and an attempt was made to establish
themselves in that kingdom; but although the King seemed to desire it,
they were compelled to abandon the project, as it was opposed by his
step-mother, and the Malays had already freed themselves from the
control of the Portuguese by the murder of Belloso and Ruiz; indeed
a few only had escaped, with Captain Juan de Mendoza in his ship.
In Mindanao, Captain Figueroa, who had the charge of this expedition,
and who bore, by the King's order, the title of Marquis of what
he might conquer, arrived at Buhayen, where the Moors had some
fortifications, from whence he retired to the kingdom of Tamoncaca,
whose King was in amity with the Spaniards. The Senor Salazar having
come out about this time to see the Royal Audience re-established,
the ecclesiastical establishment was likewise arranged, the first
Archbishop being the Senor himself. He, however, scarcely enjoyed
his dignity three months, as, in August in the same year, he died of
a dysentery. There had come with him Friar Pedro de Agurto, of the
order of St. Augustine, first Bishop of Zebu, and Senor Benevides,
of the order of the Dominicans, first Bishop of New Segovia. In the
same year the Oidores arrived, who were to form the Royal Audience,
the President of it being the Governor. The chief Oidor was Morga,
nominated as successor ad interim to the Governor. The others were Don
Christoval Telles Almanza, Alvaro Zambrano, and Geronimo de Salazar. In
eight days after their arrival, the Royal seal being carried with
much pomp to the cathedral, and from thence to the palace, the Royal
Audience was, by this ceremony, considered as fully established.
In the garrison of Caldera, Juan Pacho had remained as Governor, and
being of an active disposition, he attempted to reduce the natives of
Jolo, on which island he landed immediately after a storm of rain, and
attacking them, was killed, with the greater part of his people. The
residue retreated to Caldera; but in consequence of this defeat,
the natives of Jolo and of Mindanao, with fifty Caracoas, invaded the
islands of Zebu, Negros, and Panay, pillaging and burning the towns,
and making many prisoners. In the following year, 1590, they repeated
the attack, and the natives retiring to the mountains, refused to quit
them again, as the Spaniards were unable to protect them. Those in
particular of the island of Panay were most pertinacious, and would
not come near the town, as one of their priestesses had asserted,
that the Spaniards were in league with the Moors, and had been the
cause of these hostilities for years back. It cost the friars a great
deal of trouble, to eradicate the effects of the impression, made by
this means on the minds of the Indians, but at length they succeeded,
and the towns were re-occupied.
To chastise these insults of the Moors, the Governor sent Juan
Gallinato, with two hundred Spaniards, to Jolo; but after making an
attempt to possess himself of a fort, which the King of Jolo had on a
lofty hill, he returned to Manila, without having effected any thing
of consequence.
From that time to the present, the Moors have not ceased to infest our
colonies. It is incredible what a number of Indians they have made
prisoners, what towns they have plundered, what villages they have
annihilated, and what ships they have taken. I am inclined to think,
that Providence permits this as a punishment on the Spaniards, for
delaying the conquest for no less a period than two hundred years [21],
notwithstanding the expeditions and fleets, that have almost annually
been sent to attempt it. On the first arrival of the Spaniards in
those seas, they conquered, in a short time, all the Philippines,
excepting the small island of Jolo, part of Mindanao, and a few other
very insignificant islands near them, which, to this period, have
not submitted. These Moorish Indians are certainly very valiant, and
their enmity has been drawn upon us by our own conduct; for instead of
following the laudable example of the first settlers in these islands,
who brought the natives under subjection, principally by the mild
interference of the friars, it seems, of late years, to have been the
object of the Spaniards, since the great increase of the lucrative
commerce of Manila, to acquire, by oppression and force, lands and
establishments on these islands, without any view to conciliate the
natives. Those, therefore, who have been sent on different occasions to
reduce the country, have, instead of attending to the object of their
mission, been solicitous only to serve their own purposes, considering
that as a primary, which ought to have been a secondary object; and
the natives profiting by constant experience in warfare, during which
they discovered that the Spaniards were mortal like themselves, have
at last become very formidable. There can be no doubt these Indians
may be reduced by the same means employed with the others, that is,
by sending missionaries amongst them, and a sufficient number of
Spanish stations might be established, to command respect. These
garrisons ought to be independent of the Governor of Manila, and
ought to have a chief, who should reside there, directing his whole
attention to the improvement of the settlement, by the extension in
the country of the Spanish influence, by temperate measures.
As the matter is now ordered, these appointments are made with no
other view than to enrich, by any means, the individuals sent there as
Governors. Such, too, is the situation of the Governors of Zamboanga
and Marianas; who appropriate to their own use all the revenue sent
by his Majesty's Governors for public purposes, and then return to
Manila, leaving the colonies as poor and miserable as the first day
they were established.
In October 1600, two Dutch pirates took their station at the entrance
of Marivelez, waiting for the ship Saint Thomas, which was expected
to return from New Spain about this time. The Governor sent against
them the Oydor Morga with two galleons, an English patache which had
come from Malacca, a galiot, and other small vessels. On the 12th of
December an engagement took place, when Morga took one ship, and the
other fled, very much disabled; but he was incapable of pursuing his
advantage, for his ship had suffered so much that she foundered, and
fifty of the crew were drowned, the rest being saved on the island
of Fortune. The ship which he had taken from the Dutch had on board
twenty-five men, whom the Governor ordered to be hanged, as a warning
to other pirates. During this year, two ships sailed for Acapulco; one
was lost on the island of Catanduanes, but all the people were saved;
the other took shelter in one of the Marianas, where she was seized by
the Indians, who murdered most of the Spaniards, reserving only a few,
whom the ship Saint Thomas rescued on her return to New Spain; but the
various disasters which had befallen Manila during this government,
were far surpassed by a terrible earthquake, in which many houses,
and the church of the Jesuits, were destroyed.