_Jesus_
Admitting the information received against the Negrillos and certain
Zambales, who commit assaults; and admitting (what is generally
known) the murders committed daily, both past and present, and which
have not been committed in their just defense or in just revenge
for injuries--as is evident because indeed the Batanes, Panpangos,
Pangasinanes, and Ylocos (and these last are the worst sufferers) were
at peace with them, and, since that peace, neither the Panpangos nor
the others have disturbed them in their villages or on the highways,
but, on the contrary, have tried to preserve friendly relations; and
admitting (likewise a well-known fact) the custom of this race from the
earliest period of killing, whenever possible, Spaniards and Indians,
without any distinction, and without having received any injuries,
for the sole purpose of proving their courage by their ability to
kill men, collecting heads and hanging them up in their houses, as
such proof; _item_, admitting one other certain fundamental, that no
incursion has been made into their lands for the sake of provoking
them in their common habitation, but that they, on the other hand,
invade, from their lands, the royal open highways and the settlements
of the peaceful natives, in order to kill those who are living in
peace with them, and with all: we render freely an exact opinion.
1. The Negrillos and mountain Zambales have not, because of their
former wars, before the arrival of the Spaniards in this land,
at present any just title to war against the settled and peaceful
people of these islands. This is proved, for, although in those former
times force ruled, and injustice held full sway, and meant different
things to each individual, and no distinction was made--as, where
two persons quarrel with words, and injure each other equally, there
is no satisfaction other than to stop, and there is no distinction in
the injury--now, after the pacification of the Indians in settlements,
these wars ceased for many years; for which reason the old animosities
do not furnish any just pretext for war to either Negrillos or Zambales
against the Ilocos, Panpangos, etc. _Item_: Since those petty wars
ceased, the Panpangos, etc., and all the others have not incited the
Negrillos or Zambales to war; nor have they done them any injury,
either personally or in their lands. Therefore the present action
of the Negrillos and mountain Zanbales in committing assaults on the
highways and killing as many as they have killed, has no just pretext
of war from their neighbors.
2. Second, we assert that the Batanes, Panpangos, Pangasinanes, Ylocos,
and other tribes living near the Negrillos and mountain Zambales, have
a just pretext for war against the Negrillos and mountain Zanbales--a
proof of which is admitted in the fact of the murders, robberies,
attacks, and assaults on the highways, made without any just pretext,
as we have said in the first conclusion. Therefore, on the contrary,
the injured ones have a just pretext against them.
There appears to be no doubt regarding these two conclusions, for
they are most certain according to natural reason and to all law. The
whole difficulty is whether the injuries committed, the present harm,
and that which with some reason is feared (which will be greater each
day)--considering also the condition of the Negrillos, and the sort
of country in which they live--whether all these together constitute
sufficient pretext for an expedient so severe as war; and if fire
and sword are necessary.
To answer this doubt, we must admit that, with the diversities and
natural features of countries, and with the characteristics of the
peoples therein, is entwined most intimately the _jus gentium_, as
we call it. Accordingly, in some lands some things are regarded as
established, and classed with the _jus gentium_, but not in others;
and some things lawful in certain lands are not so in others. On the
contrary, things that would be wrong for some would be lawful and _jus
gentium_ for others; while things wrong for others would be lawful and
honorable to the first, because of the diversity of countries, customs,
and race, whence arises this _jus gentium_. Therefore we say that,
if in Castilla, where neither the land nor people of these islands
are known, this case were to be judged on only the things written
and proved, nothing more than that these people were assaulters would
be decided; and an order would be issued to proceed against them as
against assaulters. If these things should happen in Sierramorena,
no orders would be given to destroy the towns near by; or, if in the
Pyrenees, for that reason war would not be declared upon the Gascons
or Navarrese. For this would be esteemed a personal offense, and not
one committed by the community. But here, where we know the land,
the people, and their abominable and long-standing customs, we must
esteem it, not a personal, but a communal offense; nor must we presume
amendment where ferocity springs from custom, now rendered almost
natural instinct, and from the land being unconquerable. Therefore it
must be presumed that, if they are not punished by force superior to
their own, they will grow worse each day; for they consider cruelty
honorable, and esteem him most who kills most. Therefore, with people
of this nature, we apply the saying of Aristo--namely, that it is
lawful to make war on and kill like wild beasts, those people who
live unsettled and wandering like wild beasts. It is quite evident
that Aristo means people harmful to others; for, even when they live
like wild beasts, but are not harmful, war is not on that account
lawful. And inasmuch as these arguments extend to the Negrillos and
Zambales, it is our opinion that the war must be judged as just or
unjust rather by the condition of the land and people, the injuries
that will be inflicted, and the little relief obtained by employing
other methods, than by the severity of the injuries received. It is
no remedy to guard the roads, as is quite evident, because they do
more harm in one night than the soldiers in a week. Likewise it is
no remedy to guard the villages, for the people are obliged to go to
the fields, etc. Consequently we say:
That, it is justifiable--by methods which will not cause greater
annoyance to the regions adjoining the Negrillos and Zambales--to make
war upon the Negrillos and Zambales, even with fire and sword, whenever
the above reasons are evident. We prove this by the above statements,
for ferocity is a quality among them now almost a natural instinct;
and they place all their honor in killing, without caring for any
other object. Again, these ills cannot be obviated and prevented,
except by destroying them, if it be possible. _Item_: because there
is no hope that they will make peace and settle down; for their
happiness consists in living a nomadic life, without any restraint,
and they are a race who never keep any promise.
_Item_: We say that, because the method of warfare as employed by
the Castilians is not by means of rough ground, forests, and dense
thickets--as witness the war of Granada, in which Hespaña lost so many
men because the rising was in places unknown to the Spaniards but known
to the Moors. It has been seen here many times that the Spaniard needs
ten or twenty servants to take care of his person, furniture, food,
and clothing, alone--from which results more loss than that which the
Negrillos and Zambales can inflict in a lifetime. We think, in the
absence of better judgment, that, for a specified time, those captured
alive should be handed over to the neighboring districts as captives,
or remanded to the galleys. Whoever is put to death, let it be by
order of the captains, and at the time and place appointed. We render
this opinion, as long as this measure does not appear more harmful
[_i.e._, than the harm caused by the Negrillos and Zambales]. If any
measure whatever is more harmful, then we shall consider it unlawful,
although we are assured that a most justifiable right exists for
making war, and for destroying with all the harm possible to them,
and less harm to the surrounding people, than is done or can be
done by the Negrillos and Zambales. _Item_: We declare that, as the
losses of war are accidental, and depend on artifice, seasons, and
innumerable other circumstances, it might well happen that what is
advanced one time as justifiable may, given a change of conditions
at the time of execution, become unjustifiable; for with the change
of conditions the argument of justice or injustice is altered.
_Item_: Because the term "Zambales," in general, comprehends many
people to whom the above arguments do not apply, we say that, under
the terms Zambales and Negrillos, we understand only those who are
nomadic, as above stated. As to whom these may be, we refer to the
investigations in detail; it is not for us to judge the information
given, but to credit it. This we advance as our opinion, and as such
we sign it. Given in the convent of Santo Domingo at Manila, January
1, 92.
_Fray Juan de Castro_
_Fray Alonso Ximenes_
_Fray Juan de Castro_
_Fray Juan de San Pedro Martir_
_Fray Juan Cobos_
_Fray Thomas Castellar_
_Fray Juan Garcia_