Most Illustrious Lord:
Your Lordship [89] asks me to give, in writing, my opinion of affairs
in this land; and to invent a remedy which shall result more to the
service of God, our Lord, and of his Majesty, and to the security of
the consciences of those who live in this land. I say the same that
I said lately in conversation with your Lordship, when your Lordship
asked me in the autumn whether it would be right that the Indians
should give tribute. I told your Lordship that I had determined to call
an assembly of all the religious that were in this land, so that all
of us in common could discuss the affairs of the country. Until then,
it did not seem to me that any change should be made, except that the
Spaniards should raise tribute by similar methods to those employed
farther down on the coast--namely, a small amount of rice, equivalent
to seventy gantas, [90] and a piece of cloth, for each Indian giving
tribute. Having assented to this--although some religious, and that
rightly, have found fault with the tribute, both in the pulpit and in
the confessional, and in other and private discussions--I waited until
all should come here, and the conference should be called as I desired,
in order that everything might be better reasoned out. Seeing now the
great delay of some, and that we would have to leave this town--some
alone, and others in company--have taken the opinion of all the fathers
who were to be found here. They unanimously affirm that none among
all these islands have come into the power of the Spaniards with just
title. For, although there are many and just causes for making war
on some nations or towns, no governor or captain can do so without
an express mandate for it from his Majesty, excepting only that war
which is waged in defense of their persons and property, others being
unjustly undertaken; since neither in the first instructions that we
received, nor in later ones, has his Majesty ordered us to make war
on the natives of these islands. Rather did he order the contrary,
in a letter that Juan de la Isla brought from his Majesty, written
from the Escorial to the governor (who is now in glory), and which I
saw. That letter declared that any conquest made in these islands by
force of arms, would be unjust, even if there were cause for doing
so. All the more unjust are these conquests that in none, or almost
none, of them has there been any cause. For as your Lordship knows,
we have gone everywhere with the mailed hand; and we have required the
people to be friends, and then to give us tribute. At times war has
been declared against them, because they did not give as much as was
demanded. And if they would not give tribute, but defended themselves,
then they have been attacked, and war has been carried on with fire
and sword; and even on some occasions, after the people have been
killed and destroyed, and their village taken, the Spaniards have
sent men to summon them to make peace. And when the Indians, in order
not to be destroyed, came to say that they would like to be friends,
the Spaniards have immediately asked them for tribute, as they have
done but recently in all the villages of Los Camarines. [91] And
wherever the Indians, through fear of the Spaniards, have left their
houses and fled to the mountains, our people have burned the houses
or inflicted other great injuries. I omit mention of the villages
that are robbed without awaiting peace, or those assaulted in the
night-time. Pretexts have been seized to subjugate all these villages,
and levy tribute on them, to such amount as can be secured. With what
conscience has a future tribute been asked from them, before they
knew us, or before they have received any benefit from us? With what
right have three extortions, of large amounts of gold, been made on
the Ylocos, without holding any other communication or intercourse
with them, beyond going there, and demanding gold of them, and
then returning? And I say the same of Los Camarines and of Acuyo,
and the other villages that are somewhat separated from the Spanish
settlements. In all this is it not clear that tribute is unjustly
raised? Likewise he who sends them for it or orders it, as also the
captain in the first place, next the soldiers and those taking part
in it, and those who advise it; and those who, being able to, do not
prevent it; and those who, being able to make restitution, do not do
so--all these together, and each person individually, are entirely
responsible for all injury. And it is the same in the villages in
the neighborhood of the Spanish settlements; because, although they
may have some religious instruction, and under the shelter of the
Spanish are safe from their enemies, and some injuries which have
been done them have been redressed, they do not fail to receive great
molestation and injury through the continual presence of the Spaniards,
and never-ending embarcations. Finally, they were free, and, to speak
openly, not reduced to vassalage. And when base and foundation fail,
all that is built thereon is defective--all the more as the Indians are
not protected from their enemies, nor maintained in justice, as they
should be. Many piracies go on as before, and those most thoroughly
subdued suffer the worst, because, being robbed by others who are not
so subject, they are given neither any satisfaction nor allowed to
secure it for themselves. And there is not sufficient reason for his
Majesty to have ordered that the land shall be allotted and divided
into encomiendas; because his Majesty was ill informed, as appears
by his own letter, since he had been assured that, without any war,
they had of their own accord become his Majesty's vassals. Therefore it
seems to have been entirely against his Majesty's will. If at any time
we have been of opinion that the land should be allotted, as indeed
it now seems to us, or likewise if the land is to be maintained, it
was and is to avoid greater injury and robberies, which are committed
without any remedy, when there are no repartimientos. Therefore, only
one thing now works injury. We are trying to render the land orderly,
and not turbulent as it was before, when no one knew anything about
it. Even now some of the Spaniards treat the natives very ill. More
than all, the tribute which is now raised (three maez [mace] for each
Indian) is excessive, in our opinion, considering what we saw from the
beginning among them and our intercourse with them, and our knowledge
of their labors, and of the tools with which they cultivate the ground,
and their great difficulty in supporting themselves--for they even
live a part of the year on roots; and the common people can scarcely
obtain a robe with which to clothe themselves. Whence it happens that,
at the time of collecting the tribute, some of them demolish their
houses--which at the least would be worth as much as the tribute
itself, if they should be sold--and go into hiding, in order not to
pay the tribute. They say that afterward they will return to build,
with the labor of a month or two, another house. From others it is
necessary to demand the tribute with arquebuses and other weapons, and
men, in order to make them give it; and most of them it is necessary
to imprison to make them provide the tribute. Therefore most of the
owners of encomiendas maintain stocks, in which they keep as prisoners
the chiefs or _timaguas_ [freemen] who do not supply the amount of
the tribute from their slaves when they themselves cannot obtain it
from the latter. Thus, considering all this and other inconveniences,
that, in order not to go into greater details, I do not set down,
it was the opinion of the majority of the fathers, that--even if the
whole affair were justified, and the Indians maintained in peace,
justice, and religious instruction--for the present, and until the
Indians have other opportunities, and other and better tools to
cultivate the land, and until the land is more fertile, all that
is taken from each Indian, in general, above the value of one maez,
in food and raiment, is cruelty, and oppresses them too heavily.
Your Lordship should consider that in Nueva España, the Indians at
first gave nothing but food (then worth a great deal) and service. And
all times are not alike, for now they can give little, but in course
of time, the earth growing more fertile, they can give more; so that
what is collected of all this that the Indians now, in strict justice,
do not owe, and that which until now has been raised, has been unjustly
raised, on account of the evil way in which these Indians have been
conquered, and because his Majesty's orders regarding them have not
been obeyed.
And because your Lordship asks my opinion as to what ought to be
done, I say that, considering that the land is already subjugated and
divided into repartimientos--and for many reasons which, in order not
to be prolix, I omit--there is no reason to abandon it, since it is
very necessary that those who reside here should be supported. Your
Lordship ought, in the opinion of the majority of the captains, to send
his Majesty a true, simple, and clear report, without dissimulations,
of the methods that have been adopted in all this conquest; and of its
present condition, and the methods adopted in collecting the tributes,
so that his Majesty, as a thorough Christian, may decree what is to
be done in the matter. In the meanwhile, the least amount of tribute
possible should be taken for the support of all, considering that it
is not owed; and those who have repartimientos should support those
who have not. It seems to me that if the tributes should be regulated
to the one maez of food and raiment for each Indian, which I spoke
of above, there will be sufficient for both classes if our people aid
themselves with other profits that may be obtained. In order that this
may be collected with some tribute, your Lordship should in every way
try to protect these natives, and to do them justice; and to abolish
abuses and punish pirates, etc. We on our part, shall do what we can
to aid them, instructing them in our holy faith. Since this is my
opinion I sign it with my name. Done at San Pablo of Manila, on the
twenty-first of June, one thousand five hundred and seventy-four.
_Fray Martin de Rrada_
[_Endorsed_: "These opinions are to be kept on file, in order that
they may be passed upon by the Council."]