After the king, our lord, succeeded to the crown of Portugal, there
began to open a new commerce between the Philipinas Islands and the
western Yndias belonging to the domain of Castilla and China, Maluco,
Amboino, Banda, and other parts of the Portuguese conquest. As soon
as this was known in the eastern Yndias, the viceroys and governors
thereof were continually writing to his Majesty, that from this new
commerce many heavy injuries were sustained by his Majesty's service,
in regard to the preservation and support of that state of eastern
Yndia, and the quiet of its inhabitants.
His Majesty after reading their letters and going over truthful
reports of the great injury that the continuation of this new trade
might cause, both to the crown of Castilla and to that of Portugal,
resolved to prohibit anyone from going from the western Yndias to
China, Maluco, Amboino, and Banda, and other places belonging to the
crown of Portugal; or from the Eastern to the Western Yndias. Decrees
for this prohibition, signed by his Majesty and by the Portuguese
ministers, were passed and sent to Yndia, where they were published
and ordered to be observed under heavy penalties. The same was to be
done by the ministers of the crown of Castilla and certain memoranda
of it were to be given. We do not know whether this has been done yet.
Because they have again written and continue to write from Yndia
that the said decrees prohibiting the said commerce are not being
observed by the Castilians, and because they everywhere encourage it
and increase to a great extent the evils that result therefrom, which
might be very serious indeed, and difficult to remedy, and involve the
total destruction and loss of those states: his Majesty ordered, for
the more thorough understanding of these details, that they should make
this report of the existing causes for not continuing this commerce,
and even for prohibiting it. These reasons are as follows:
The state of Eastern Yndia is very large, and its cities and
garrisons very distant and remote from one another, and situated in
the territories of kings and princes of great power. On this account
they are maintained by regular soldiery and very powerful fleets, of
large and small galleys and galleons. All the Portuguese resident in
those places, and other Christian vassals of his Majesty, easily bear
the excessive expense. The latter is made up by the income from those
cities and strongholds. This income, although it exceeds a million, is
not sufficient to obviate its being always pledged. Some aid in money
is sent from Portugal. This income from Yndia consists principally
in imposts from the said cities, which are paid for entries and
clearances. The entire amount of these imposts is raised on merchandise
from China, Maluco, Amboino, Banda, and other regions of the south;
for the taxes that are raised on merchandise coming from the northern
districts are of so much less importance, and the merchandise likewise,
that they cannot be compared with those of the south. The principal
commerce that the Portuguese have to live upon, is that from China
and other southern districts, because the other traffic is contracted
for by his Majesty's treasury and belongs to it. The better and more
valuable trade through the southern districts belongs to the crown.
From all this it may be inferred that if we continue this commerce
with China and other southern regions by way of the western Yndias,
the income from the customs duties, on which Yndia is supported,
will necessarily be lost. Nor will there be money or forces with which
many large fleets may be organized by his Majesty for its preservation
and defense, or with which to pay the soldiery stationed there, or to
bear all the other state expenses incurred by the public government,
or those incurred by his Majesty for the ecclesiastical estate in
those places the conquest of which was granted to him by the apostolic
bulls. The rest of these reasons which concern his Majesty's service,
the profit and loss of his treasury, and what is expedient for common
good of the inhabitants of that state, should be considered in this
case with the greatest care. For the inhabitants of Yndia have no
other resources to live upon except trade and commerce; and of these
the principal is the trade with China and other places to which
reference has been made. On this account, they feel very strongly
the seizure of this commerce by the Castilians, saying that they and
their fathers and forefathers conquered it for the royal crown with
their blood and lives. There are and were on this subject practices
and complaints of base character, principally in the city of Goa,
the capital of that state.
And even if all the above (in respect to what concerns Portugal and
the preservation and quiet of Yndia) were not of so great moment and
consideration for his Majesty's service, so great are the injuries
to the crown of Castilla which result from this new commerce that
only for that (both for reasons of state and finance) it should be
strictly prohibited. For if navigation is permitted from the western
Indias to China, all the money and coin in the kingdom will flow
thither and none will go to Hespaña, because China is so large and
has so much to exchange and sell that, however much coin is sent,
that country will absorb it all. The Indias will come to have no need
of Hespaña, because all the products obtained from this country can
be obtained from China in much greater abundance and more cheaply,
except wines and olives, which can be very easily introduced in the
Yndias. They might also do without them, because they are not very
necessary or requisite. So they would care for trade with Hespaña
only on that account, especially since they may get them from China
itself through the Portuguese traders. Of how much consequence and
importance this is in state matters, it is unnecessary to point out,
because it may be well understood. It is, moreover, understood that
the Indians have wine of their own.
And above all, when Chinese merchandise is in the western Indias and
money is flowing toward China, trade and commerce with Hespaña will
necessarily fall off, together with the income of the custom house
at Sevilla, while money will be scarce there and throughout España.
Let it be further noted that among the sworn promises which his Majesty
made to the kingdom of Portugal, there is one clause (the copy of
which accompanies this) in which it is said that traffic with Yndia,
Guinea, and other regions belonging to the kingdom of Portugal, both
discovered and to be discovered, will not be wrested from them or any
innovation made in present conditions; and the officials who are to
go out for the said commerce and on the ships for that purpose shall
be Portuguese. According to this clause, no alteration can be made
in the commerce with China, Maluco, Amboino, Banda, and other parts
of the Eastern Yndias. The Castilians shall not go there, nor shall
the Portuguese go from here to the Castilian Yndias. [30]
The Lord Cardinal Archduke, [31] to whom his Majesty has entrusted
the government of Portugal, seeing and considering all these dangers,
wrote many times to his Majesty that it would be greatly to his
interest to prohibit this commerce; and besides what he says in
many of his letters, in one letter of December 23, of last year, 89,
he wrote as follows:
"In this despatch is sent a report of all that has been written to your
Majesty by the viceroy Don Duarte, and by the governor Miguel de Sosa,
and other persons, affirming that it is of no use to your Majesty,
and unsafe for the state of Yndia, to continue the commerce which has
begun to be opened from the Indias of the Castilian crown to China;
and what your Majesty has had written in regard to it--in order that
your Majesty may have it examined. According to the information
which I possess in this matter, I advise your Majesty to order,
under heavy penalties, that no one shall further this commerce from
the said districts to China, nor from China the other way, because it
is known that if there is no remedy applied, we will lose the customs
receipts of the state of Yndia, and the trade of the merchants. It
seems to me that the lack of confidence and the suspicion which the
ships and embarkations of the Castilians cause in the Chinese are of
even greater consequence. The latter is referred to in the letter which
the city of Nombre de Dios wrote to your Majesty, on this matter."
Hereunto is added the copy of one clause from a letter by the governor
of Yndia (which was received a few days ago, having come by land)
that what he says in regard to this matter, and the way in which this
commerce is looked upon there, may be known. He concludes by explaining
how well it suits his Majesty's service, and how advantageous it is
to both Castilla and Portugal, to prohibit this commerce in such a
way that all the ports shall be closed to it.
+
[_Instructions_: "On the new commerce of the Western Yndias, with
China. His Majesty orders that this shall be examined in the Council
of the Indias. The Council shall then advise him of their opinion,
so that his Majesty can determine what measures must be taken, before
the sailing of the ships. Pardo, March 3, 1590."] [32]