I had given to your Paternity account [of affairs] last year, by
way of Mejico, of the wretched condition in which this commonwealth
and these islands were, and of the unspeakable grief with which I
was living at seeing the lawlessness, tyranny, misgovernment, and
insatiable greed of the new governor, Field-Marshal Don Fernando
Manuel de Bustillo Bustamante y Rueda; and afterward in the same
year, by the Eastern [India] route, I also sent to your Paternity an
account of the commotion [here] and the violent death of the said
gentleman, who perished on the eleventh day of October in the same
year. Nevertheless, as the latter route is so irregular, and it may
have happened that the said letter of mine has not reached your hands,
it has seemed to me prudent to repeat my last letter, and send it
by the galleon which is now sailing for Acapulco, in order that your
Paternity may be fully informed about that event (although summarily),
on account of what may yet occur.
The said gentleman reached this city on the thirty-first of July in the
year 17; and from the outset it seemed, with his disposition--unquiet,
changeable, petulant, and with inordinately bad tendencies--that he
directed all his efforts to the ruin of these islands. He persecuted
the citizens, arresting some, exiling others with pretexts of
embassies, conquests, and new expeditions, and causing others to
seek refuge for themselves, fearful of his harsh treatment; and he
fattened on the wealth of all the people.
To these evil beginnings corresponded like ends; and from so
mischievous causes were experienced the effects in the unlooked-for
and miserable death which he, with his eldest son, encountered on
the eleventh day of October in the past year. At that time the common
people rose in rebellion, and, going to his palace, deprived him of
life, without his having at his side any person who would defend him,
even among his own servants. This is a proof that he was hated by all;
and it is notorious confirmation of the truth of this statement that
the great precautions which he had taken since the tenth [of that
month] for his safety in his own palace availed him nothing; he had
provided soldiers, both infantry and cavalry, who, as they affirmed
to me, numbered more than three hundred. In the general opinion this
success [in killing the governor] was gained by especial permission
of His [Divine] Majesty, who by this act of providence, through His
lofty and venerable judgments, chose to furnish relief when it could
not be looked for so soon from human sources.
This tumult was caused by the arbitrary nature of the governor's
proceedings; for, without conforming to laws, either human or divine,
it seems as if he had--according to my judgment before God, in whose
presence I speak--no other law than his own will, from which proceeded
his despotic decisions, directed to his own advantage and not to the
general and public welfare, which ought to have been his chief care.
With this consideration [i.e., his own advantage], and in order to find
the goods of the master-of-camp Don Esteban de Higuiño (whom he had
kept a prisoner since the beginning of August), he gave orders that
the chief notary of the municipal council of this city should demand,
at the end of September, the official records of a notary-public who
had taken refuge in my cathedral on the same day when the arrest of the
said master-of-camp occurred. The consultation which he held and the
petition which he presented to the ad interim fiscal of the Audiencia
were merely formal; the matter was referred to the royal Audiencia,
without stating whether it was by a consultory or a decisive vote;
and the papers were considered in the royal Audiencia, which was
composed of only one official, who had for associate judge the
counselor [asesor] of the government. This auditor was commanded to
despatch officially a royal decree for the surrender of those notarial
records; and I was notified of this on the twenty-sixth of September,
and the papers offered to me with a view of the decree of August 11,
in which the said auditor was qualified for [transacting] the business
of the Audiencia--a copy of which decree I send with this. There
were various difficulties in regard to the fulfilment and observance
of this decree [49] on account of the serious injuries which might
result to the administration of justice in the ecclesiastical estate,
and to the sheep of my flock. Obliged as I am in conscience to attend
to their relief, I conferred regarding these doubts with persons in
whom I had confidence, and with the [heads of the] two universities
of this city--in whose opinions I tried to find ground for the decree
which enabled this single auditor to have his abode in the royal hall
[of justice]; because for this he had exchanged the imprisonment
in which he had remained in the fort and castle of Santiago. Their
uniform reply to me was, that I ought not to consider the Audiencia
which was formed in this manner as a royal Audiencia, or the decree
which was issued [by it], with the royal name and the seal of his
Majesty, as a royal decree. I did not [at once] come to a decision
in a matter so important, and on which so many things depended;
and moreover, in order to show my profound veneration for the royal
prerogatives of his Majesty and my earnest desire for the public
tranquillity--to which I have given attention from my first entrance
into this archbishopric, as also to the amicable relations which I
have maintained with the royal officials of his Majesty (especially
with the governor of these islands), since this contributes much to
the service of God and of his Majesty--I presented my doubts, with a
copy of the replies given by the universities, to the said deceased
governor, at a conference which was held on the seventh of October. I
charged him as his friend that, considering these questions with the
careful reflection which is demanded by the strict account of our deeds
which we must render to God, he should do what was most safe for the
discharge of our consciences in the service of God and his Majesty. To
this advice he gave me no answer, either written or verbal; and when
I was waiting for one, in order to choose the safest [course] and
avoid consequences which always are injurious to the public welfare,
on October 8 (which was Sunday), a little before twelve o'clock,
I was annoyed by a second royal decree--in which, professing not
to understand the reasons which I had for doubts, he insisted on
the surrender of the said records. Having answered that in order to
make my decision I was waiting for his reply, I pressed him for it
[on the next day,] the ninth, with another [written] communication
of substantially the same tenor as the first one, exhorting him to
make the best decision, that is, the one which he would at the hour
of death wish to have made; but he declined to receive it for that
morning, on the pretext that he was ill--although it was plain to me
that he was well [enough] to hold conferences with the single auditor
of whom the Audiencia was composed. In the afternoon, he gave orders
to receive my communication, at the repeated insistence of the chief
notary of my archbishopric, who carried it; but he would not allow
the notary to enter the palace or to see him.
From this stoppage of friendly relations and lack of civility which
I began to experience in regard to this matter, and on account of the
news that I had of the repeated deliberations that he held [with the
auditor], I could only expect very evil results in the banishment
of myself and of the ecclesiastics--which I mistrusted from the
twenty-seventh day of September, when I had sent my provisor with
the cura of Balayan, for them to certify to the said governor the
information which on this very point had been privately given to the
said cura by an alférez named Antonio de Torres, who had much familiar
intercourse with the said governor. This information was reduced to
the statement that a certain alférez had told how his Lordship had
resolved to banish me from this city by the middle of October, because
he had made ready to demand from me, about that time, that he might
remove to the most distant of these islands all the persons who had
taken refuge in these churches, both within and without this city;
and, taking for granted, at the start, that I would not permit it,
with that ground for action he would proceed to carry out the said
banishment. When I learned that the said alférez, when summoned
to the governor's presence, confirmed his statement, although he
exculpated himself with frivolous pretexts; and when I did not see any
punishment inflicted on him for this insolence, and knew, moreover,
that they only gave him orders that the matter should be kept secret
(as it was): I had sufficient grounds for the said suspicion. And
as it was quite consonant with prudence to prevent the dangers and
obviate the measures from which might result these evil consequences,
having assured myself of the only arguments [50] with which I could
prevent this act--to command the single minister in this Audiencia
and his associate, under penalty of major excommunication and [a fine]
of five hundred ducados in silver, to abstain and refrain from sitting
as judges and transacting the affairs of the Audiencia, the formation
of which, in my judgment, had been invalid--I acted accordingly, in
conformity with the opinions for which I had obtained confirmation
by the vote of my cabildo and the superiors of the holy religious
orders. Availing myself of this means for ending the controversy,
as conducive to the public tranquillity for which I was striving,
without intermeddling with the governor I issued two monitory decrees,
in which I gave orders as above, in order that at the very same time
they might be notified, to the said minister and his associate;
and I committed this business to the doctoral canon of my church,
in order that, as a discreet and capable person (since he is morning
professor of canon law for his Majesty), he might conduct it with
the judgment and the precautions which are desirable in a matter
so delicate. He went to execute this commission in the hall of the
Audiencia, in which building this single minister of that court has
his abode, abandoning the obligations of his rank, and trampling on
both human and divine laws. Hardly had he heard my name, when the
notification of this decree was begun, when he snatched it from the
hands of the doctoral canon and tore it to pieces; he demanded a sword
and buckler, and the protection of the king; and he uttered so many
cries, and left his room with so much noise, that he disturbed the
entire palace of the governor. He goaded on the governor so that,
without any warrants and without a session of this so-called royal
Audiencia, he seized the said canon and the prebend Doctor Don Juan
de la Fuente, who accompanied him, in the porch of the court prison;
and there they remained, surrounded by soldiers with pikes and naked
cutlasses, during all the night of October 10. At that time he gave
orders to surround his entire palace with a guard of infantry, and
would not allow that three ecclesiastics should go up to see him, whom
I sent with a courteous message, in order to obtain information as to
the motive of this singular proceeding. The governor gave orders to
detain them in the guard-house, where they remained among the rabble
of soldiers, exposed to the inclemency of the wind and of the rain
which fell that night, until the morning; and then they locked up the
ecclesiastics in a small room which was connected with the guardroom
of the halberdiers, without any food--at which the city began to be
disquieted. The doctoral canon and the prebend were conveyed by an
escort of soldiers with an officer to the castle and fort of Santiago,
where the castellan kept them confined under a guard of his soldiers,
and without any communication [with other persons]; and as soon as they
reached this place, at daybreak, the military watchword was changed,
[accompanied] with [the firing of] a cannon loaded with balls, and
[the beating of] war-drums; and the bells were rung as a summons
for the entire city. Disturbed at this signal--which, by an edict
published in the preceding year, was given for their attendance at
the royal palace--all the citizens gathered there; and when they were
assembled the late governor addressed to them a vigorous exhortation
that they should defend the royal jurisdiction, which he assumed
that I had injured and usurped. He censured the opinions of the two
universities, and berated the persons who signed them, saying that
they did not understand the laws, and that they were disturbing the
church just as one Molinos [51] and one Luther had disturbed it.
After six on the morning of October 11, as it was evident to me that
the notification had been actually made--by the information which by
my order was received; and by a brief letter which they brought me
from the said doctoral canon and prebend, in which they assured me
of their imprisonment on account of the notification to the single
minister of the Audiencia of the monitory decree (which was made
ipso voce) warning him that his name would be placed on the list of
excommunicates [tablilla]--as also to the eldest son of the governor
(who was sargento-mayor of this army) and his adjutant, I gave orders
that they he posted as publicly excommunicated, about seven o'clock
in the morning.
At that hour the superiors of the holy religious orders, with other
prominent religious who were under their direction, assembled at my
archiepiscopal palace in order to console me in the trouble that had
come upon me from such noisy preparations and violent demonstrations;
and while we were discussing these matters, and inferring from these
premises the evil consequences which openly were dreaded for the
ecclesiastical estate, through the doors of my archiepiscopal palace
(which were open) entered military officers, armed, with a great
number of soldiers; and, having filled the palace and surrounded it
with infantry, the officers came upstairs, with the adjutant who had
been publicly excommunicated, until they reached the room where I
was with the said superiors and religious. A captain named Don Pedro
de Velasco said that he came in behalf of his Majesty, and by order
of his governor and captain-general, in order that I might go with
him to the royal court; and he would not accept the reply which I
gave him in writing, assuring me that he was under penalty of death
if he acted differently. Although I did not consider the court to
which he summoned me as the royal court, since the single auditor who
composed it was execrable, I resolved to go (as I solemnly declared)
in consideration of the public tranquillity and the respect due
to the royal name of his Majesty. But as soon as I left my palace,
the military officers and soldiers surrounded me; and when we reached
the door of the governor's apartments, by which I had to enter, I saw
that it was locked. I recognized the deceit and malicious subterfuge
by which they had drawn me [from my house]; and I declared this, as
well as that I would not go of my own will to any other place than
the royal court. I tried to shelter myself in the royal seminary of
San Felipe, in order not to be wet by the heavy rain that was falling,
but the military officers would not allow me to do this; and therefore
I leaned against the lintel of a door that stood open in a private
house. The sargento-mayor, who was a son of the governor, apologized
for taking part with his father in this deceit, since it was required
from him. Don Benito Carrasco, an alcalde-in-ordinary, came to tell
me of the order of his Lordship that I must go wherever the military
officers and the soldiers carried me. They, seeing my unwillingness,
lifted the chair in which I was sitting, and by force carried me to
the public street, where my sedan-chair was--which I had to enter,
in order to avoid even more disgraceful, scandalous, and sacrilegious
acts; and I allowed myself to be carried--surrounded by armed soldiers,
as if I were a criminal who had committed atrocious offenses--through
the public streets to the fort and castle of Santiago. There they
delivered me as a prisoner to the castellan, Don Ygnacio Navamuel,
and he received me as such, and kept me in his dwelling-house; nor
would the sargento-mayor, who remained in command at my archiepiscopal
palace, permit them to bring me the bed and small chest of clothing
which the members of my household tried to send me for my personal
comfort and cleanliness.
After seizing me, they proceeded to convey other prisoners with
a guard of soldiers: my secretary, who was confined in the same
castle; the commissary of the Crusade; the schoolmaster and a
prebend of the cathedral; the commissary and secretary of the Holy
Office of the Inquisition, with two other religious of St. Dominic;
the prior of the convent of San Agustin; the rector of the college
of the Society of Jesus, together with the master Father Avina;
and my provisor--placing them in the infantry barracks and the
quarters of the royal accountancy, with orders that no one should
speak to them. [52] They would have carried away, in the same manner,
all the persons who were in my palace, if the common people had not
opposed them; for it seems that the intention of the governor was,
as his corresponding secretary has deposed, to seize all the persons
who signed the opinions which the universities gave me.
For this so execrable deed there was no cause on my part, since I
did not prosecute any determination of my own that was opposed to
the royal laws of his Majesty; nor was the monitory decree of that
character, which was notified to the single auditor of whom the
royal Audiencia was composed--for with that document I aimed, as a
prelate, to deprive the governor of the pernicious means which he
was employing in order that he might not have in his government any
other law than his own ambitious and depraved will. Nor for carrying
out my seizure, under the pretext of banishment, did he previously
take the steps which the royal laws provide; for the royal writs were
not issued which should have been, to know whether there had been
any failure of obedience on my part--a proceeding which is required
in order that the penalty of [loss of] the temporal revenues may be
applied to ecclesiastics--as the auditor himself and his associate
have testified. For it was resolved, in a session which they held
on October 9, that an official of the royal Audiencia should go to
confer with me over the difficulties about which I had consulted
the governor; but this formality was not carried out. On the other
hand, availing himself of his administrative [53] power--to which,
at the time, they likewise agreed--for use in case of any emergency,
when that arose of the outcry which this single auditor made at the
time when he was notified of the said monitory decree, the governor
compelled them [i.e., the auditor and his associate] to dictate an act,
assuming that it was one proceeding from the royal court (although
it was not such), on the night of October 10, in which they decided
that what had been agreed upon the day before should be carried out,
in regard to the use of the [governor's] administrative power against
my person and those of the other ecclesiastics. Although, in order to
excuse themselves for the many offenses that they committed in this
so discordant session [acuerdo], they undertake to avail themselves of
the fear and coercion in which they say the governor kept them, I know
not whether this evasion which they use as an excuse can assist them,
when as Christians they know that they ought to die rather than sin;
and when, since they could have availed themselves of the privilege
of sanctuary (as others did) to prevent injury to their souls, they
did not do so, through caring for the comfort of their bodies.
After the unfortunate event which I have related had occurred,
all the people hastened to the castle where I was, and, without my
being able to resist their impetuosity, they liberated me from that
place, generally acclaiming me as their governor in the name of his
Majesty. This was the greatest blow that could happen to me, and I
protested against it before God [saying that], if my imprisonment and
its previous hardships could serve as a mortification to me, this
demonstration grieved me far more, without comparison, as being so
entirely contrary to my own judgment and disposition. But the people,
who still remained under arms, cried out that they would not lay down
their weapons, until I should accept, in the name of his Majesty, the
government over them. At this I made all possible protests, and efforts
to resist this, with the prominent and learned persons of the city,
not only ecclesiastics but laymen; but as they were unanimously agreed,
with the general feeling and opinion that I ought in conscience and
justice to accept this post, for the sake of quieting this community
which otherwise would run great risk, and the disturbances would
increase, and be the cause of greater misfortunes and more violent
deaths--I was obliged to accept [54] the said government, sacrificing
my own [mode of] life to the service of God our Lord and that of his
Majesty (whom may God preserve), and for the welfare of the people.
It is impossible, even with the greatest care and attention, to relate
this affair with all its circumstances, so marvelous and mysterious
were many of them. Likewise, it is impossible to explain the ruined,
wasted, and unsettled condition in which everything remains; therefore,
I will only say to your Paternity that I ask you to have compassion
on me, and that you will earnestly commend me to God our Lord in your
prayers, that He may grant me light, and judgment, and strength for
the great task in which I am engaged. I remain, as I should, entirely
at your Paternity's orders, continually entreating that His [Divine]
Majesty may preserve you for happy years, as I desire. Manila, June
28, 1720.
[Francisco, archbishop of Manila].