I have no doubt that by other ways your Majesty [23] will learn of
the affairs of Manila. Even to seek correction for them I would be
unwilling to recall them to mind, were I not obliged to do so by the
service of God and the welfare of my afflicted fellow men. With the
fidelity which I owe to your Majesty, I must proclaim aloud before God
and your Majesty everything in Manila outside of the monasteries, and
declare what thing or what person is offensive to God, to your Majesty,
and to his fellow man. God is severely punishing that city by poverty
and losses of property. Such is the chastisement in spiritual affairs,
that, after so many years had passed without a prelate or father to
sympathize with and help the people, the archbishop who came last
year fell into a profound melancholy; and when he had been here two
months and a half God called him to Himself. He was removed from many
misfortunes which could not be relieved; and before he had preached
a single time, or given one call to his flock, the Lord took him. It
was said, however, that he died of a poisonous herb which was given
him; and they say that his symptoms proved it. Whether that is true
or not, this land is such that it could be suspected and said that in
so short a time they took the life of their prelate. In the temporal
government, the death of the good licentiate, Alvaro de Çambrano, was
very unfortunate for the poor and for persons of little influence. He
was a pious man and one of noble purposes, and he died of grief, as may
be deduced from a letter which he wrote me before his death. There is
no doubt that the reason we do not die is because we have not grieved
over matters with the charity and good zeal which were his.
Something has been done by the governor of these islands, Don Francisco
Tello, in which the auditors also must have been concerned. A ship was
sent from these islands to China, and, as I understand--your Majesty
will learn the facts by other means--it sailed to a port very near to
the town of the Portuguese. If God and your Majesty provide no remedy,
this expedition will be the total destruction of what is held here by
the crowns of Castilla and Portogal, with great offense to the faith,
or the destruction of preaching and conversion. It is most difficult
of correction, for there are interested in this matter first, the
governor; secondly, the auditors; and thirdly, their followers and
ministers. I hope, God helping, that all the good works which have
been commenced here will not be abandoned for aught but the interest
and profit of those who, according to right, should not regard their
private welfare, but the common good, and the service of God and their
king. In this I do not refer to the present auditors and governor, for
I do not know what they have done of good or of bad in this despatch to
China, but I speak of what is their custom and what is infallibly done
by governors and auditors, unless they are people very much devoted
to God's service. There are few if any persons that come who do not
destroy this land, by sending much money to China. Of this there is
no doubt, and every day more light is shed upon the subject. From
this vessel sent to China is resulting the total destruction of the
Portuguese town called Macan. Its sole support consists of the trade
carried on there with the Chinese, exporting goods thence to Japon and
elsewhere. By means of the friendly relations between the Portuguese
and the Chinese, they succeed in buying the stuffs very cheaply, and
by the little which is afterward gained in Japon and other places,
these people are supported. Even should we go there, we have not that
success in business, that concord among ourselves, or that patience
and phlegm, and we seek greater profits. Necessarily, we must greatly
increase the price of the goods--more especially as the Chinese are
very shrewd traders; and on seeing our ship there laden with money,
and knowing that it could not return empty, they may raise the prices
at their pleasure. As the profits of the Portuguese are not so great
that they can afford to suffer this, they must therefore give up that
trade, and abandon that town, which has no other means of support,
thus leaving the Christian Chinese to return to their idolatries and
mingle again with the heathen.
From this great and evident wrong, follow others even greater;
for whatever of Christianity there is in Japon, and the beginning
which your Majesty has there is supported solely by the traffic of
the Portuguese of Macan with Japon. When Macan is lost, Japon is
destroyed. The other parts of India which have traffic in Chinese
goods, and in goods which are carried to España--such as porcelains,
silks, and chests--must lose very materially. The royal income of
your Majesty must be greatly diminished, because all the duties from
Chinese merchandise are collected in India. Then in conveying them to
Portogal and from thence to Castilla you must also lose, for all these
affairs are moved by but one wheel, namely, Macan. Not the slightest
doubt can be entertained of the destruction of Macan, if ships from
the Philipinas go to that port or to any other of China, unless it be
very far away from Macan. Even in the latter case, Macan must receive
serious damage. It will also be necessary for the Portuguese to fit
out ships and try to capture what vessel or vessels go there from
the Philipinas. That there will be war between us is not doubtful,
but certain.
If the Portuguese must receive these serious damages, greater injuries
must be suffered by the Philipinas and the unfortunate Castilians
who have settled them, sustained them with their blood, maintained
in them the faith of Jesus Christ, and fulfilled their duty to your
Majesty by means of the continual labors of themselves and their
descendants. If this is continued, the governor, the auditors, and
their followers will send their property to China, and have the ship
brought back full of merchandise for themselves alone; and consequently
will supply the cargoes for the ships which sail hence to Mexico. Thus
the poor vassals of your Majesty, who have nothing whereby to support
themselves or their poor children except in this traffic with Mexico,
must be left like poor Indians, only because the devilish avarice
of those persons sent by your Majesty to govern and care for this
land leads them to take for themselves all the profits thereof. At
present--with much honor to your Majesty's royal crown and to the
Spanish nation--the Chinese come with their goods to the Philipinas,
and each Spaniard may buy and export goods; although even of this
traffic, it is said commonly that there is nothing to be expected
except thunderbolts from heaven to punish what is done, if report
be true. But at last shame must check these injustices sometime,
and not permit them to be done so openly. But if vessels are sent
from here to China, the Chinese merchants will not come here, nor
will goods from China be brought here; and should such goods come,
the governor and auditors will export their own goods, depriving of
space those to whom all the exportation is granted, according to the
just and holy will of your Majesty.
Even were it only for the sake of not seeing the Spanish nation so
defamed as it must be in China, and hated and scorned in these regions
even by the school-children, the governor and auditors should not be
willing to enter into a traffic so costly to the honor and reputation
of our nation. Here we have no large armies to sustain us, nothing
but reputation alone, and if they treat us as avaricious persons,
there will not be an Indian who will not be insolent to the Spaniards
on account of this, and more in proportion as we are always blinded
by avarice. What must be lost by the holy gospel and the Christian
law is evident; for sailors and soldiers will go hence in the ship--an
ungodly people, guilty of sins of the flesh as well as other offenses,
who know naught except to commit offenses against those with whom
they deal. Moreover, the heathen cannot receive a very good example
from the wars and enmity which will exist between the Castilians and
the Portuguese. The Chinese who come here to Manila have some poor
examples; but they also receive very good lessons from the religious,
and in the churches, the holy ceremonies of the church, and in the
life of several very good Spaniards, and even of some Indians. But
when the ship of the governor and auditors, or any others, is sent
there, the Chinese can have but the examples of soldiers, sailors,
and impious people.
God knows what the import and export duties and incomes of your
Majesty would profit and gain by the bringing of goods from China and
exporting them to Nueva España, because everything has to pass through
the hands of avarice, and of ministers who can do as they please here.
I do not know what can have been the reason for sending this ship to
China and beginning an enterprise so prejudicial. In a general clause,
however, of an instruction to the governor, your Majesty ordains that
the governor may send to Japon, Macan, or other pagan countries, also
to ports of the heathen and of the Portuguese in order to ascertain
if they would like trade with us. But China is not mentioned by name
in said clause; and the law of justice is that what is not conceded in
particular is not understood to be granted in a general statement. The
point under discussion was not only not particularly conceded by your
Majesty, but had been expressly prohibited by a special decree. Not
only did your Majesty ordain that no ship whatever should go from other
Spanish possessions to China, but it is even decreed that the Chinese
merchants coming here shall not take back Spanish money to China;
and that merchandise shall not be exported from China on account of
the Spaniards, but on account of the Chinese themselves. Even in the
same instruction, in the two clauses immediately preceding the one
to which I refer, your Majesty commands a thing incompatible with
the sending of a vessel to China, which has been undertaken this
year. Your Majesty decrees that all the goods coming from China
should be sold at the pancada and that nothing should be bought on
private account until after the pancada. The aforesaid decree would
be futile if license were then to be given to send money to China,
and also ships, to buy there the stuffs and merchandise for the
Spaniards. It may be that there are those who represent that this
has been done for the sake of opening a door to the evangelization
of China; but such persons do not have as a profession the preaching
of the gospel. The evident truth is what I state.
The sole correction for these evils, and for all the misfortunes of
this land, is for your Majesty to send--besides a holy and learned
archbishop, zealous in honoring God, your Majesty, and the common
welfare--a disinterested and God-fearing governor, such as Don Luis
Perez Dasmariñas, and, according to my information, Don Pedro Brabo
de Acuña, who has been governor for some years in Cartagena in the
Indias. But I understand that, at the receipt of these letters and
other things, your Majesty will have ordered Don Francisco Tello to
return [to España] and another governor will be provided. May God have
granted light to your Majesty, and continue to give you light always,
in order that your Majesty may be guided aright in a government so
far away from the royal eyes as this, where the governors have so
many opportunities to cause the destruction of the poor vassals of
your Majesty. Tulac, May 17, 1599.
_Fray Miguel de Benavides_,
Bishop of Nueva Segovia.