We, the undersigned notaries, certify that Juan Bautista de Cubiaga,
whose mark and name appear at the end of this certification of eleven
pages, is auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of the
Filipinas Islands, as he styles himself. To the certifications and
papers of these and other records that he has despatched, touching
the said his office, entire faith and credit has been, and is, given,
in and out of court. In order that such may be obvious, we signed
this in Manila, April thirty, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.
Alfonso Baeza del Rio, royal notary.
Francisco de la Torre, notary of the royal crown.
Andres Martin del Arroyo, notary of the royal crown.
_Reduction of expenses_
Sire:
In my endeavor to be a good steward of your Majesty's estate, having
noticed and considered the many expenses and the lack of profit that
you encounter in these islands, solely in order to maintain in them
the Catholic religion, I have thought it advisable to reduce some of
the expenses--as your Majesty will please to have examined by means
of the orders for the said reduction, and which your Majesty will
please approve or censure, according as you judge it most for the
good of your service. My only desire is that God will not ask account
from me for doing it badly, and for unjustly causing expense to your
Majesty. Although I desire to render your Majesty so just an account,
I could not fear it so much as the first, if I gave it as many others
of us who serve you do.
I thought it advisable to save the pay of six hundred pesos per year,
which a captain receives for serving [as such] in the company that he
raised in Mexico; and although my officers are careful to station and
retire the guards, and serve as those of the master-of-camp, I see
to it that they do it well, and that they are not derelict in their
duty. I have given the same orders to the governor and sargento-mayor
of the forts of Terrenate, who also have command of two companies;
the governor and sargento-mayor of the island of Hermosa, of two other
companies; the warden of Camboaga [_i.e._, Zamboanga], of another;
and the alcaldes-mayor of Oton, Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Caraga, who
have a company together, and command their men in the forts in the
above-named islands. Also in this army, from now on, a captain will
have command of another company, and will receive the pay of the chief
guard of the Parian, which will be paid from the communal fund of the
Chinese, and his pay will be saved to the treasury of your Majesty. The
captains who will serve without pay from your Majesty's royal treasury
will thus amount to eleven; and hence a great sum of money will be
saved by the end of the year, as well as the [expense for] the post
of sargento-mayor of this army, which is held by my nephew, Don Pedro
Hurtado de Corcuera--who serves without pay, together with a company
of thirty horsemen, whom I thought to be very expedient for your
Majesty's service, for the following reasons. First, just as I caused
and ordered the raising of four companies among the citizens of this
city, in the infantry, in order that they might exercise themselves
in the squadrons, and be ready for any emergencies that may arise,
I also had two companies of fifty horse apiece raised--one made up of
the nobility of the city, who can keep horses, and the other of the
overseers of the royal stockyards--all armed with spears. In order that
the above horsemen might have someone to instruct and exercise them,
this company of thirty horsemen was enlisted. The actual officers in
it are captain, alferez, and lieutenant. It would be very advisable
to raise the number to fifty, if that would be agreeable to your
Majesty; for besides being necessary for the guard of the coast, and
to keep these nations--the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians--in check,
they patrol the city nightly, and shut and open the city gates,
on horseback. For that reason the poor infantrymen are excused from
patrol duty, and from locking the gates, and thus from going about
almost every night knee-deep in water, from which many diseases
and deaths ensued; that has been avoided by this means. Experience
has demonstrated, also, how useful and profitable these cavalrymen
may be when stationed as a troop among the artillery on a campaign,
for skirmishing--for which they are greatly esteemed in the Flandes
army; and, at the very least, the sight of them strikes terror in
those present, and the noise made by them in those absent. Will your
Majesty be pleased to approve and confirm this company of cavalrymen,
and grant permission that it consist of fifty soldiers. Notwithstanding
the savings and the reductions, of which I inform your Majesty, not
only is there no expense incurred in this company but there is even
a saving of money for the following reasons. In recent times there
have been eight companies of infantry for the guard of the city; but
immediately upon my arrival, I reduced them to six. When I sent the
reenforcements to Terrenate--for two hundred Spaniards went there in
three companies, and one hundred Pampangos (who are as good and as
faithful here as are the Burgundians in Flandes)--and the guard of
the city remained in four companies, seeing that it was impossible
to cover the posts and to stand guard with so few men, I ordered
two hundred Pampangos to be enrolled into two companies, so that now
there are the six hundred necessary guardsmen. The Pampangos are in
place of the two hundred Spaniards who went [to Terrenate]. Seeing
that the said Spaniards are lacking, there is nothing but to appeal
to the Pampangos; they are being instructed, and are managing their
arms in a manner that makes me very well satisfied with them. Both
the captains and other officers, and the soldiers, receive half the
pay of the Spaniards. Thus the two companies of Pampangos cause your
Majesty an expense of ten thousand pesos, and that of the cavalry
seven thousand, making a total of seventeen thousand pesos. The
two infantry companies which were here before caused an expense of
twenty-two thousand pesos or thereabouts; so, if the former expense
was this amount, and that of the Pampangos and the cavalry now is
seventeen thousand, there is an annual saving of five thousand pesos
to your Majesty. There are thirty more soldiers than before. Will
your Majesty please have this approved and look favorably upon it;
and believe that I am spending your Majesty's revenue with great
care, and that I can have no scruple of conscience in what I am
doing. Your Majesty will learn the truth of this by experience, in a
short time. May our Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty,
as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Sire,
your vassal kisses your Majesty's feet.