The King. To Don Juan Niño de Tavora, my governor and captain-general
of the Filipinas Islands, and president of my royal Audiencia there:
Six letters which you wrote me--five on the twentieth of the month of
July, and the other on the twenty-second of the same month last year
(1626)--dealing with the wars, have been received and considered in my
Council of War for the Indias, and you will be satisfied on all points.
You say that Pedro de Heredia wrote to you that he had not fortified
the island of Manados [32] and the straits of Santa Margarita, because
it seemed to him of little use. Afterward, however, seeing that many
tributarios might be acquired; that, being pagans, missionaries were
needed; and that the expenses of these strongholds might be lightened
by the rice which they furnished--he sent to you asking for fifty
men to occupy the fort which he was to build there. Seeing that he
had orders for it and that it was so advantageous for the service of
God and myself, you sent them to him. It is well, and I order you, as
having the affair under your present direction, to provide everything
which is necessary thereto.
In your advices, the said Pedro de Heredia wrote also that it would
be to our great advantage to send him the lord of Terrenate, who is
in this city, in order to bring about some agreement between him and
the king of Tidore, which will be of considerable value. Your orders
in this matter have already been sent you.
I am advised by you that three of the enemy's ships were in the port
of Malayo, and that it was understood that a fleet would arrive in
May, 1625; I am also advised of the ten ships which the said Pedro
de Heredia had.
I have considered the number of galleons and pataches with which you
are provided, and the galleys which were in process of construction. I
confide in your zeal and care to provide for the defense of those
islands, as I expect from you, doing on your part all that you
shall find possible. You will have assistance from here, and I have
written to my viceroy in Nueva España regarding the measures to be
taken therefor. He and my royal officials have now been ordered to
send at the first opportunity to these kingdoms six thousand ducados,
on account of the usual situado that goes to those islands. The money
will be sent on a separate account to the House of Trade in Sevilla,
to buy the arms that you ask for; when it arrives there, these will
be forwarded to you.
You informed me that at the death of Don Geronimo de Silva his property
was distrained, on account of the suit that was proceeding against
him for beating a retreat two years ago with the fleet. You petition
that in such a case property should be distrained from no one, except
the proceedings be always taken in conformity with justice. The same
[33] in the other matter which you mention, that in prosecuting the
commanders of the ships of the said fleet, process should be conducted
by written charges.
You say also that because the Order of Saint John was the heir to the
estate of the said Don Geronimo, you ordered that whatever property
might be found should be deposited in the probate treasury, and that
the landed property should be administered by the courts. You also
notified the said order, that it might decide what course to take,
and that any debts of the said Don Geronimo must first be paid. The
matter has been considered, and you and that Audiencia will take such
measures as are just, in case the estate is any further indebted.
You say also that the office of sargento-mayor was held at first by
alférezes, and afterward by captains--who drew, however, only the pay
of captains; and that sixty-five escudos of ten reals were assigned
to Don Fernando de Silva by the treasury council that was held in
that city--which sum you understood was paid everywhere to captains
ranking as sargentos-mayor--on condition of obtaining my approval,
which has not yet been presented, and you ask me to approve it because
it seems just that if captains and the master-of-camp receive what
is elsewhere received by the sargento-mayor, who has more arduous
duties, the latter should receive a salary accordingly. It has seemed
unwise to me to make any change. You will give orders, then, that the
payment of this salary shall proceed no further; and that no person
filling the said position of sargento-mayor shall receive any more
than the salary formerly paid; and you will cause the increase to
be collected from those who have obtained it, or ordered it, or from
their bondsmen, so that the amount shall be immediately deposited in
my royal exchequer. In order that this be more exactly fulfilled,
I have had decrees to this effect sent to the inspector of that
Audiencia and the officers of my royal exchequer in that city. This
must also be understood in the case of Don Juan de Quinones, whom
you appointed to this place.
In conformity with what you wrote regarding the sentence which Doctor
Don Alvaro de Mesa y Lugo issued against Captain Miguel de Villegas
(who had been a captain in the infantry, and was a substitute in
your personal service), of three hundred lashes and ten years in the
galleys, I have sent a decree that the said sentence shall not be
executed. The said sentence is overruled; and the said Don Alvaro
is to send to my said Council an official copy of the proceedings,
and the reasons which he had for giving that sentence. In the future
military customs must be observed, and no such punishments imposed, as
you will see by the said decree, which is sent to you with this letter.
In regard to your request that it be proclaimed that the shipmen
who serve in those islands--such as pilots, masters, and other
officers--need not pay the tax on their salaries in virtue of the
decree which I commanded to be sent, ordering the collection of dues on
all the grants for offices, incomes and gratuities that are conferred,
I think it well that the said shipmen--mariners, pilots, masters, or
other persons who draw pay on the rolls--shall be excused from paying
the said salary tax; but it must be collected from all other officers
holding commissions or decrees in which our favor is declared. You
will cause the said decree to be executed in conformity with this.
In the letter in which you spoke of the offices to which you had
made appointments after you took possession of your duties, you
say that on account of the resignation of Pedro Sotelo de Morales,
[34] who served as the warden of the Santiago fort in that city, you
appointed Don Antonio de Leoz to that office with a yearly salary
of eight hundred pesos, the same salary which his predecessors
have received, with the condition of receiving my approval within
five years. But because persons who hold the offices _ad interim_
are not to take more than half the salary which is attached to the
office, in conformity with the provisions of various royal decrees,
you will take measures and give orders that the said Don Antonio de
Leoz or his bondsmen shall return to my royal exchequer any sum that
he has received exceeding half the said salary; and I shall write to
my royal officials in that city to collect it. You are advised that
in the future such appointees are not to receive more than half the
salary. [Madrid, September 3, 1627.]
_I The King_
Countersigned by Don Fernando Ruiz de Contreras.