_Comments of the Council_
In regard to the deductions [from their pay] that are levied on the
soldiers and sailors, since it is with their good-will, as is supposed,
his having introduced this plan is approved.
Since that aid amounts to seven thousand pesos annually, and since not
only the soldiers are treated in the hospital, but other citizens;
if this is so, it seems that it will be necessary that the cost of
the hospital be not entirely charged to the soldiers, but that the
others contribute their share, whereby the deductions [from the pay]
of the soldiers will be less and less felt.
That in regard to passing to the Yndias it has not been considered
as very advisable that the brothers of [St.] John of God go; but that
in its general aspect the matter is being considered, and he will be
advised of what shall be resolved.
That in regard to placing alferezes on half-pay as nurses, it is not
advisable; nor do such men proceed with the charity that is necessary,
and that such ministry requires.
That in regard to the hospital which has been established in Cavite,
by taking the house of the governor, it is not approved, and that
is another innovation of which he must give account; for, although
the work is good in itself, it has the inconvenience that when the
governors go to that port, they have no house in which to lodge, and
that they will have a motive for building one. Consequently, he shall
not go ahead with that undertaking. To apply some encomienda for that
hospital of Cavite appears advisable, and he is permitted to assign it
an encomienda of about five hundred ducados of income. Let him advise
of what he does in this, and whether the quantity is sufficient, in
respect to the expense, and considering the aids which he mentions
in his letter, which will be made voluntarily by the contributors.
In regard to the cattle-farm which has been bought for the hospital of
Manila with the money from the gifts, see whether the royal officials
or any other persons write of this; and, if they do not write, have
him told that if it is money donated as a gift to his Majesty, that
expenditure is not approved; for he was not authorized to make it,
and has rather exceeded his authority, and it will be necessary to
restore the money to his Majesty. But if it is a gift made as an alms
by citizens, that will be well; and it is expected that he will have
it administered as is advisable.
Let information be asked separately on all the points of this letter
from the archbishop, Audiencia, royal officials, and the superior of
the Order of St. Francis.
Write to the governor not to make any innovation.
_Governor's act regarding convalescent ward_
Don Sebastian Urtado de Corcuera, knight of the Habit of Alcantara,
governor and captain-general of these Philipinas Islands and president
of the royal Audiencia herein, etc. Inasmuch as by a clause of a letter
from his Majesty dated San Martin de la Vega, April twenty-nine, one
thousand five hundred and seventy-seven, directed to the governor of
these islands, it is ordered that, as it is so fitting and necessary,
as he has been informed, a convalescent ward be established where
the poor soldiers who served in these islands may be cared for and
entertained when convalescing after having left their treatment in
the hospital; and that he shall maintain and supply it by assigning
one thousand Indians as an aid to the support of the hospital, or as
shall seem best to him. That, as is well known, has not been done;
and no effort has been made to fulfil the royal will in so many
years, although this enterprise is so useful to the community. On
the contrary, it has been the cause of many wrongs, as experience
demonstrates; for, by not having had the said convalescent ward,
so many soldiers, sailors, and other poor wretches have died by
reason of lacking care and comfort when they recover from their
illness. And great disorders have been and are caused with such
sick when they leave the said hospital with little health and
strength--some returning to their own houses, and some to those of
others, where because of the little or no comfort, and the poor and
injurious food, with wine, tobacco, buyo, and other similar things,
and the continual temptations to associate with women of evil life,
they relapse, so that their sickness has no cure. These having been
examined by me and certified to me, in order to check these evils,
and to comply with what his Majesty ordered so many years ago but
which has not been done, and as it is so pious a work in itself,
and for the service of our Lord and the good of the community:
I have resolved to establish a convalescent ward near the royal
hospital for the Spaniards of this city of Manila. And [it shall be]
incorporated with the same [hospital] because there is no other place
where it can be established--so that in it may be treated, entertained,
and entirely cured, the sick of the hospital. These, without leaving
the hospital, may pass from the sick wards to the convalescent ward,
where they will be treated and entertained as well as possible from
the proceeds of one thousand two hundred tributes of encomienda,
which I have assigned and given to the said ward in his Majesty's
name in the province of Pampanga, in the encomienda of Macabebe,
which became vacant because of the end and death of Don Nicolas de
Rivera, who possessed it for the last generation. The building of the
said room and ward has been begun for more than two months; and the
foundations are laid in some parts by order of Captain Santiago de
Gastelu, citizen and regidor of this city. I entrust its work to him,
as he is a competent person. He has represented to me that, in order
that he may continue the work to the completion that is required, and
with the divisions and pantries that are necessary for its service,
it is advisable that he tear down a small old house, with some cells,
that are built close to the said work in the said hospital. There
live the discalced fathers of St. Francis, who have attended and
attend to the hospital. The men cannot continue further with the work
because the said old work is in the way, and because it is necessary
to make the foundations alike all over. As the said religious are
there, he could not begin to tear it down; while there was no place
where the said religious could be accommodated in the said hospital
because of its small capacity; nor was there room for the physician,
surgeon, barber, steward, and apothecary, who are the persons who
must live within. And likewise the house where the apothecary-shop
is located, and where the apothecary and steward live, he must tear
down in order to proceed with the said work. Likewise he must do
the same and tear down the church of the hospital in order to make
there a low living-room and an infirmary, where the soldiers of the
Pampanga nation who fall sick in this camp of Manila may be treated
and cared for, as they have no other place for it. A church is not
necessary in the said hospital, because another one for the infantry
is being built, as quickly as possible, next to the royal palace in
the Plaza de Armas, where all those who die in the said hospital will
be carried for burial. To say mass, confess, and console the sick
in the hospital, they will be attended by the regimental chaplain,
to whom it properly belongs. His Majesty has assigned a special pay
for that here. Consequently, the said religious can be dispensed
with and are not necessary, since they neither confess those who
go there, nor attend to anything else that is important. Therefore,
the father-provincial of the Order of St. Francis shall withdraw the
religious (both priests and lay-brothers) who are in the said hospital;
and shall take them to his convent, since it is within the walls of the
city, and is capacious enough for them and for many others. There they
will live with all comfort, care, and shelter, as is fitting, as it is
advisable for the service of God and the welfare of the community that
the work and quarters be continued where the said convalescents and
soldiers of the Pampanga nation may be treated. By this act he ordered
the said Captain Santiago de Gastelu that the work be immediately
proceeded with, tearing down the said room and church and all else
that seemed necessary for the said purpose, as quickly as possible,
since he has been given money for the said work and building. In order
that the aforesaid might be done, the said captain Santiago de Gastelu
shall be notified. By this act, accordingly, he issued this command,
and signed it. The government secretary, or another public or royal
notary, will notify the aforesaid, and the said father provincial,
so that what is ordered by this act may be fulfilled. Manila, March
five, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.
Sevastian Hurtado de Corcuera
Francisco de Ortega
_Notification_. In the city of Manila, on the eighth day of the month
of March, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, I, the notary,
read and notified the order and act of this paper, as is contained
therein, to Captain Santiago de Gastelu, regidor of this city, in
his own person. He said that he heard it; and I attest the same.
Alonso Mendez de Almada,
royal notary of mines and registers.
_Notification_. In the town of San Pa[b]lo, on the tenth of March, one
thousand six hundred and thirty-six, I, the notary, read and notified
the said act and order of this paper, as is contained therein, to
father Fray Jeronimo del Espiritu Santo, provincial of the order of
the discalced religious of St. Francis of these islands. He said that
he heard it, and that he would talk with the said governor concerning
the matter. I attest the same, witnesses being Alferez Diego Salgado
Colmenero and Matheo Mexia.
Alonso Men[d]ez de Almada,
royal notary of mines and registers.
Collated with the originals, which are in possession of Don Sebastian
Hurtado de Corcuera, governor and captain-general of these islands
and president of the royal Audiencia herein, and to which I refer. In
order that this might be evident, I gave the present, authorizing it
in public form at his petition, and gave it the authentication which
takes the place of law. As witnesses at its examination, copying,
correcting, and collation were Simon Delgado, Jhoan Correa, and
Francisco Gomez, here present.
In testimony of law, I have affixed my seal:
Augustin de Valenzuela, notary-public.
In the public service; fees dispensed with; I attest it.
We, the undersigned notaries, certify that Agustin de Valenzuela,
before whom passed this authorization, and who signed and sealed
this copy, is notary-public of the port of Cavite; and as such,
entire faith and credit have been and are given, in and out of court,
to the acts, copies, and other despatches which have passed and pass
before him. In order that this might be evident, we gave the present,
July five, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.
Alonso Baeza del Rio, notary-public.
Alonso Mendez de Almada,
notary-public and clerk of registers.
_Money deducted from pay of soldiers and sailors as alms for the
hospital_
We, the official judges of the royal treasury of these Filipinas
Islands for the king our sovereign, certify that, by virtue of an order
of the governor and captain-general, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera,
there has been and is deducted from [the pay of] the soldiers of this
camp, in the settling of their accounts that has been made and is
being made from the first of July of the past year of one thousand six
hundred and thirty-five and thereafter, for the balancing of accounts
of the service of his Majesty in various parts and presidios of these
said islands, from each soldier, that which will be stated hereafter,
of what they had to contribute as an aid in the expense and support of
the sick in the royal hospital of this city of Manila. And, according
to what it has been possible to ascertain with greater certainty, the
said contributions from all the soldiers of this said camp, and in the
forts and presidios of these islands, will amount to the following sum.