To ordain that there be no preaching contrary to the decalogue, under
penalty of expulsion, which is justified by so cruel and scandalous
an act.
Another of the most grievous abuses is, that religious who have served
as missionaries in the islands are generally chosen as bishops in
those islands. They having been brought up under the conditions
already stated, are influenced, even though they might desire
to exercise their jurisdiction as ordinary in certain districts
conquered centuries ago, most by the abuses and the domination of
their respective orders. Consequently, they overlook wrongs, and
keep silent, from which results the despotism of the orders over the
two powers [i.e., secular and ecclesiastical]. It is true that, even
if they should wish to exercise their jurisdiction, the orders will
not allow it; for they are so blind and obstinate in their sway and
privileges that they are capable of killing any bishop who makes such
an attempt. Doctor Fray Domingo de Salazar, first bishop of Manila,
began that dispute with the Augustinians, as Fray Gaspar relates
in the above-mentioned history. Others have defended the same idea,
but, nevertheless, we see that the said fathers and other regulars
still maintain their domination in opposition to the bishops--with
detriment to both jurisdictions, and perhaps to Christianity, that
cannot be exaggerated.
There are other abuses against the royal treasury worthy of the most
prompt relief, such as that of the storehouses of Manila and Cavité,
which cost the king huge sums on account of the lack of system therein.
Another abuse is that the post of commander of the Acapulco ship
costs his Majesty four thousand pesos. Besides the enormity that such
an office should be conferred for only one ship, the further abuse
follows that neither the captain nor other officers are of any use,
as the commander orders everything at his own caprice; in consequence,
either he is superfluous, or they are.
Another abuse is that, after so many years in which so much gold
has been produced in the islands, this precious metal makes no
acknowledgment to its king in Filipinas by paying him the tenth, nor
is it weighed in a mint, nor is it by any other expedient made useful
to his Majesty; for the religious orders, the Indians, the Spaniards,
and the mestizos make free use of this trade.
Another abuse is, that there has been no thought of conquests in the
mountains of Pangasinan, Ilocos, and Cagayan, where, according to
accurate information by the fathers themselves, there have been more
than three hundred thousand tributes. It would be an easy undertaking,
according to the reports of the fathers themselves and the mildness
of those Indians.
On account of the advantage which may result for his Majesty and his
vassals there, the following points should be considered:
It is known (and I have information in my possession) that there
are mines of a special copper, with a mixture of gold, in Ilocos and
Catanduanes; and it would be an advantage to open and work them for
the casting of artillery and other manufactures.
The iron mine of greatest yield was in operation until the time of
the war, when the works were burned. [105] If they were placed in
operation again, there is nothing more to do than to begin the work,
and they will make whoever operates them wealthy.
The post of commissary of the Inquisition ought to be placed in charge
of a secular priest, and withdrawn from the regulars, who have always
held it and have practiced very many abuses.
Trade ought to be placed on another footing than that of the regulation
of 1734, as it is impossible to subsist on that basis, for thus the
islands will be ruined. After they had suffered a year and a half of
war, which was one continual pillage, there remained no other wealth
than that which was made safe in the "Filipino;" and that wealth has
suffered greatly through the continual losses of the trade since that
time, and the excessive rise in prices.
A ship ought to sail regularly every year for Manila, to carry
secular priests for the object which I have explained, and laymen
who are accustomed to the commerce here; for, to speak plainly, those
in Manila are not Spaniards, but Chinese, in their customs, usuries,
etc. It does not seem out of place to put the shipyard there into good
condition for ship-building, and even to create a navy department,
like those at Ferrol, Cartagena, and Cádiz. [106]
The recoinage of the mutilated money of the islands ought to be
considered, for the Sangleys have pared and clipped it so much that
it is almost half-size. On that account no one wants it, and all
desire to get rid of it, with the loss of ten to twelve per cent,
which is the usual discount. There is always fraud in that, although
the greatest fraud is in the purchases which are made with that money,
in which the goods are sold forty per cent dearer, so that the Chinese
profits and cheats in everything; for, as he does not carry to his
own country other money than that with the milling around the edge,
he cheats by forty per cent more in the goods, and the discount does
not cost him more than ten or twelve. [107]
In the management of the royal treasury, and especially in that of the
storehouses at Manila, Cavite, and other places; in the contracts and
charters for the transportation of provisions from the provinces to
the capital; in the care and conservation of arms and ammunition; in
the collection of tributes; in the collection of all the royal duties;
in the appraisals for the sales of offices; in the auction of the
revenues leased and held by monopoly; and finally, in everything of
advantage to his Majesty: there are most enormous frauds, which need
instant correction by planting deeply the order, system, and method
which justice and the laws demand, in order to suppress the thefts
which have hitherto enriched the governors, royal officials, and other
employees who have made a private patrimony out of what belongs to the
king, destroying the royal revenues and ruining the islands generally
by their insatiable greed. Consequently, although the country has
resources for maintaining superabundantly all the obligations and
business of the royal service, his Majesty has expended immense sums
in the annual situados sent from Nueva España, without other benefit
than that of feeding the avarice of faithless ministers, both secular
and ecclesiastical--who, although charged with the conservation and
prosperity of those islands, abandon them without defense, and in the
miserable condition which was made plainly evident in the last war,
to our utmost grief, where even the hearts of those most honored and
put under obligation by the king were alienated, and they forgot the
loyalty and love due to both Majesties. [108]
For the radical correction of the above ills it is indispensably
necessary to frame and send from here clear and full instructions for
establishing the just method of procedure that is fitting, conferring
on the governor all the authority necessary for its execution,
by the means which prudence and the actual condition [presencia,
misprinted paciencia] of affairs dictate to him.
Finally I direct attention to the undeniable assumption that the
Filipinas Islands, on account of the natural wealth of their soil,
their advantageous situation for carrying on the commerce of Asia with
this Peninsula [i.e., Spain], and still more as being the outpost which
defends and insures the peaceful possession of the rich and extensive
empire of the two Americas, Northern and Southern, on their Pacific
coasts, in which is situated the greater part of their wealth--for
all these reasons, they demand in justice, in reason, and in all
good policy, that the greatest attention be given to them, without
sparing any means or effort that may contribute to the conservation
and success of so important a matter.
The choice of a zealous governor will contribute especially to
erecting the foundations of that great work, but it is necessary to
honor him and give him authority, so that he may work to advantage
and without the obstacles that have many times frustrated the best
and most carefully conceived ideas, by secret information, by tricky
and criminal artifices, and in other evil ways.
The ideas expressed thus far are quite adequate, if they are carried
into execution, and they become more important, on account of the
persons by whom they must be carried out, many of whom have reached
the end of their usefulness, and belong to different estates, and
very opposing interests--the most influential of whom are accustomed
to and have grown old in despotism and lack of restraint. In order to
remove that despotism from the provinces, to make the city secure,
and succeed in obtaining that one "render to God what is of God,
and to Cæsar what is of Cæsar," that governor needs a body of troops
suitable to cause respect for the name of the king. This object
can be attained only by being carefully followed up by a ruler who
is disinterested and zealous for the royal service, it being well
understood that such military force ought to be placed on the same
footing of pay as that of Nueva España, since otherwise there will
be no one who will serve in it.
The king has capable and zealous ministers who can examine the points
which are here briefly indicated. They may be certain that what I
have set forth is accurate and reliable in all its parts, and that
I have had no other motive and impulse in exposing it than my love
and zeal for the service of God and of the king. The latter will
deign to determine what may be most to his royal pleasure. Madrid,
April 12, 1768.