1. _This recounts that on all occasions the state of affairs of
these islands has been reported, and was not enlarged upon because no
instruction had been sent nor has been up to the year 1598, on which
account many things pertaining to the service of his Majesty, and of
importance for this country, have failed to receive attention._ [31]
As I have at various times written to your Majesty, you ordered me
to come here and serve in this country, without giving me the royal
instructions of despatches to that end. Accordingly many things of
importance which your Majesty commanded me to attend to were left
undone at the time I came. When I arrived in these islands I wrote
to your Majesty at length of those things which could be managed in
spite of the short time I had spent here. These despatches were lost
in the ship "San Phelipe" which Don Luis Perez Dasmarinas despatched
in the year 1596, and which was lost in Xapon. The next year, 1597,
I awaited the royal instruction of your Majesty in order to govern my
action by it; but neither did that come, until the past year, 1598. I
govern my action according to that of Gomez Perez Dasmarinas, my
predecessor, and with that I have stumbled through various matters. In
the past year, 1597, I wrote at length to your Majesty describing
the condition of the country and that of Japon, together with the
state of the expedition to Mindanao, and all other things which seemed
expedient. I also wrote that I had married Doña Tomasina, my relative,
and the daughter of Doctor Horosco, president of your royal Audiencia
of Guadalaxara--humbly beseeching your Majesty to approve of this,
since Doña Tomasina was not a native of this country; and I had not
gone beyond your Majesty's intentions, for you gave me permission
to bring my wife to this land. As she died on the way I married
Doña Tomasina, whom I brought from Mexico. In the past year, 1598,
I received the royal instruction of your Majesty and other royal
decrees which were mentioned therein, at the time when the ships
were being despatched. Those things which could be done at that time,
considering the short time before they left, I attended to then. I have
in everything worked for the service of our Lord and your Majesty,
conformably to the pious zeal and spirit with which I am serving you
here; and I have carried out those things entrusted in your royal
service to my predecessor.
2. _That it is expedient, in order to realize the results of the great
expense in these islands, that religious should be sent each year to
gather the harvest which should be taken from it; and that an account
should be sent of the Indians here, both Christians and infidels,
and a memorandum of the religious._
As the holy intention of your Majesty, in the expenses which from your
patrimony you incur in this country, is principally the conversion or
the heathen here, and the establishment of the holy gospel in place
of their idolatries, there is no better means than the teaching
of the Christian doctrine and the presence of its ministers. That
your Majesty may have a fuller report of it, I am sending an account
stating how many Indians are pacified, and acknowledge the royal name
of your Majesty in these said islands; the number of Christians and
infidels; and how many are taught and how many to be taught--not
only in the encomiendas under your royal crown but in the private
ones. Accordingly I beg your Majesty to be pleased to further this,
appointing each year, as usual, religious of exemplary life, so that
they may bring with more love and gentleness our holy Catholic faith
to the Indians; for certainly as much as a good minister edifies,
finding fault injures. With this goes the memorandum which your Majesty
ordered me to send, of the religious in these islands and those whom
it will be necessary to bring from España each year. Those who are
here are assigned as well as was possible, so as to give instruction
to all. The mission villages are in some confusion and the orders
somewhat mixed with one another. This could not be remedied as it
should have been, owing to the untimely death of the archbishop,
which occurred on the fourteenth of August of the said year of 1598.
3. _That the bishop of Camarines has not come, and that the other two
arrived in the year 98, and did not bring bulls for the partition of
their bishoprics, and that they are getting along well._
The bishop of the province of Camarines [32] did not come, and
therefore it is being ecclesiastically governed by the chapter of the
cathedral of Manila, _sede vacante_, as has been done hitherto. The
bishops of the city of Nueva Segovia and of Cebu arrived in these
islands in the past year of 1598, as I wrote to your Majesty. They
did not bring bulls from his Holiness nor decrees from your Majesty,
directing the division of their bishoprics. Each one has therefore
taken what seemed best to him: he of Nueva Segovia took the territory
beyond the province of Pangasinan, and he of Cebu took possession
of the island of Panay, saying that his bishopric included all the
province of the Pintados. The chapter of this holy metropolitan church,
_sede vacante_, held otherwise, and the case was brought before this
royal Audiencia. Its decision left the bishop in possession, to avoid
disagreement, until your Majesty should command that the partition
be definitively made. He is at present in this city celebrating
confirmation in the place of the archbishop, and will officiate at
the obsequies of the king our lord, of glorious memory. The bishop of
Nueva Segovia is in his church. They are men of holy life and fulfil
their duties well.
4. _That to finish the work on the great church entirely, there is
needed a tower and sacristy; and that these are not built, for lack
of money, which is being raised by various alms and grants._
The work on the great church of this city would have been completed
some time ago, but for the lack of money; and, with the tower and new
sacristy which are being built, it will be finished in all points. The
work is of stone, moderately elaborate; when the means are at hand
it will be continued to completion. I manage always to help it with
various alms and expedients, and at present I am assigning it two
toneladas for the chalices and ornaments, which sell at two hundred
pesos. That you may know how the fourteen thousand ducats which
your Majesty, in your royal instructions, ordered me to assign it,
has been spent in it, that sum was given toward the building and
ornaments; I have ordered that the accounts be rendered, and when
they are settled I shall inform your Majesty of their substance.
5. _That, in accordance with a royal decree, inspection has been made
of the great church, and it has been found very poor in ornaments;
and that two prebends and two half-prebends have been erected._
In accordance with a royal decree of your Majesty, directed to the
archbishop and myself, your Majesty directed us to make a visitation of
the church, inspect the ornaments which it has, and give our opinion
regarding the dignities and prebendaries which it would be expedient
to have there, and with what stipend. The said visitation was made,
and we found the church very poor in ornaments; and your Majesty is
informed that for the time being it would be sufficiently supplied with
two prebends and two half-prebends, which we established--the prebends
with a stipend of two hundred pesos per year, and the half-prebends
with a hundred and fifty. I await your Majesty's approval.
6. _That the hospitals are in good condition, and are being helped
with alms and grants; and there has been incorporated, in that for the
Spaniards, the Confraternity of La Misericordia; and that possession
has been taken of that for the natives and the accounts audited,
a sworn statement of which goes with this._
Your Majesty orders me, by a clause in your royal instructions,
to provide carefully for the hospitals. In fulfilment of this I
have inspected them, and have ordered the auditors to do the same
in their turn. They are in very good condition, each one having two
apartments of its building finished in stone, with its work-room,
stewards, nurses, and two Franciscan religious for each, who live
in the hospital. At the royal hospital for the Spaniards I have
incorporated the Confraternity of La Misericordia, which includes
the richest people of this country. It has more than a thousand eight
hundred and sixty pesos of income, and I am adding five hundred more
for eight years, making in all two thousand three hundred and sixty,
besides which they have a farm for raising cattle. The accounts of
these funds are kept, for the superintendent, by him who enters in his
place each year. The royal hospital for the Indians has five hundred
pesos of income, two hundred pieces of cloth from Ylocos, one thousand
five hundred fanegas of rice in the hull, one thousand five hundred
fowls (which your Majesty presents to them), and a farm for breeding
cattle. I am aiding both of them with various alms and grants, and,
as I have informed your Majesty, I regularly assign to that of the
Spaniards eight toneladas, which are worth eight hundred pesos each
year; and to that of the natives four, which are of proportionate
value. I took possession of that of the natives in your Majesty's
name, according to the royal patronage, and audited the accounts,
a sworn statement of which will go with this.
7. _That the seminary for the training of girls is in good condition,
and the building finished; but it has little income, and will have
to be reduced to a convent of professed nuns, and its income somewhat
increased._
The Seminary of Santa Potenciana is in very good condition; for
not only has the church been finished for some years, but it has
a capacious building entirely of stone, in which some thirty women
are leading a religious life. Most of these are the maiden daughters
of honorable men; others are poor mestizas, and still others have
been left there who have husbands or fathers absent on your Majesty's
service; there are also a few older women. They have a superior who is
a woman of quality, and who lives a very exemplary and pious life. All
of them intend either to remain there in the service of God, or to
leave married, and in a bettered situation--as several have done and
are now doing (thanks to the good name which the institution has),
which is the holy intention of your Majesty. They have a director
and a confessor who do not live in the building, as no apartment has
been built for them. For two months past the holy sacrament has been
administered there. These women, thus secluded, celebrate the divine
offices with singing, and with as much veneration and as fittingly
as if it were a convent of nuns founded forty years ago. It has four
hundred pesos of perpetual income and as much more temporarily from a
shop in the Parian of the Sangleys; but this is not enough to maintain
it, and so they are in great need. I contrive to help it with alms
and various grants wherewith it may be supported. I have tried to
reduce it to a convent of professed nuns and have done my best with
the viceroy of Nueva España, to have him send me two religious women,
of pious life, from Mexico to found it. He answers me that there is
no one who dares to go to these islands, on account of the difficulty
of the journey and the inconvenience of the ships. I beseech your
Majesty that--as this work is so important to this commonwealth,
and in order to place in a better position here the daughters of
honorable men who have not the money to marry them, on account of
the depreciation of the encomiendas and property--you may be pleased
to order the viceroy to be diligent in coming to our aid by enabling
these religious to come; and that you will give to this seminary an
income adequate for its maintenance, or give me permission to apply
to it some repartimiento of Indians.
8. _That Captain Don Luis Perez and the fathers of the Society are
establishing a seminary for the natives; that this had not been done
earlier because the income assigned to it has not been furnished;
and that the work should be furthered._
Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas, according to an order which he had from
your Majesty, agreed with the fathers of the Society of Jesus that
they should establish a seminary for the natives, where they might be
taught civilized ways and instructed in religion; and that he should
give them the wherewithal to erect a building, and a thousand pesos
of income for its maintenance. To begin the work, he presented to the
said Society six hundred pesos, and the income was put in the treasury
of the fourths. When I arrived here I confirmed these negotiations,
according to the royal decree of your Majesty in which you gave me the
same orders; and likewise the royal Audiencia, being petitioned to
confirm them, did so. This work has ceased because enough money has
not been furnished for it, and because the income is not sufficient,
owing to the fact that the said treasury of the fourths is much
embarrassed. If it be your Majesty's pleasure, it would be well that
this holy intention of your Majesty be furthered, so that the Indians
may learn the Spanish language in an orderly manner, and in this way
be better instructed. For this it will be necessary to give the said
Society the means to build the said seminary, and the thousand pesos
of income each year in perpetuity, from the royal treasury of your
Majesty, or else a repartimiento of Indians, as soon as one becomes
vacant--your Majesty giving me permission to apply it in such wise
that, besides this instruction, education and a living may be given
there to a few poor students, who will be learning the language at
the same time. When they are ordained they will act as ministers of
instruction, and will make it unnecessary for so many ministers to
come out here at so great cost to your royal estate.
9. _That measures have been taken for the execution of the royal
decree brought by the bishop of Nueva Segovia in regard to rendering
submission; that difficulties have begun to arise in its execution,
and that information concerning them is sent_.
From the hand of the bishop of Nueva Segovia I received the royal
decree of your Majesty in which you ordered me, by the best and most
gentle methods possible, to compel the natives of these islands to
render submission to your Majesty (this ceremony having been neglected
at first), so that the tributes which they pay may be collected with
more justice. I was ordered to join with the archbishop, bishop,
and other prelates, the superiors of the orders, in its execution. I
acted accordingly, having the said royal decree read to them, and the
intention of your Majesty explained, for the greater peace of your
royal conscience. Havings conferred and consulted in regard to it,
the said committee came to a decision regarding the matter, which
your Majesty will order to be examined by the authorized copy which
I am sending. This is what has been done since then, in virtue of
their decision. Instructions and directions have been sent to the
alcaldes-mayor and to the religious in all the provinces, that by
the gracious methods which your Majesty directs, submission shall be
rendered to your Majesty. In the province of Ylocos, in the diocese of
the bishop of Nueva Segovia, this was very well done; and submission
was rendered to your Majesty. Likewise the whole district of Manila, a
mission of the Augustinian fathers, has rendered submission. La Laguna,
in charge of the Franciscan fathers, has not so easily yielded; for
the natives there have asked a year's time in which to answer; and I
have left La Laguna in this state, until I should give an account of
it to your Majesty, as you direct me. The same thing will be done in
the other provinces which ask delays. Thus far I am not informed of
what has been done. Things have always been as they are now, without
there being any scruples; and, when these islands were conquered
and subjected, they were placed in obedience to your Majesty with
just as many requirements as the other parts of the Yndias. Your
Majesty has lost here many troops and much money. It is more than
thirty-four years during which they have had the true knowledge of
God our Lord, and of His holy gospel law, by virtue of which your
Majesty has possessed this country and collected tribute from his
vassals--who have received great benefit in being such; for in the
time when they were heathens they were subjected to many tyrannies,
imposed upon them by the chieftains whose subjects they were, who
took from them their wives and property during their lives. Now they
are secure in all these things, and much benefited in spiritual and
temporal goods. They are in no wise oppressed by the collection of
the tribute; and if the effect of this royal decree must continue and
be in operation as provided therein, there will be many difficulties,
such as have already commenced with the seeking of delay. Your Majesty
will hold nothing securely, and for the same reason will have no
justification for possessing this land. I am sending your Majesty
a copy of the instruction and directions which are ordered for the
execution of these measures, and one of the answers by the natives
of La Laguna; so that, seeing these difficulties, your Majesty may be
pleased to order a review of this affair and a determination of what
is most expedient for the service of your Majesty. In the meantime
I shall put matters into the best state possible.
10. _That two sermons have been preached on the bulls, and that very
little alms have resulted; that at present they are considering how
to preach to the Indians and that no doubt they will succeed, when
it will be necessary to send more bulls, according to the memorandum
of the treasurer_.
Before I came to these islands the first preaching of the bulls
concerning the holy crusade had commenced; and last year occurred the
second, which is now in progress. I have written to your Majesty my
sentiments in this matter; and now I say again to your Majesty that,
although the bulls which are preached here and disposed of among the
Spaniards are very necessary for them, the alms proceeding from this
source, allotted to your Majesty, are of very little importance,
because there are not many people here--for the Spaniards do not
amount to two thousand, and of these there are very few who are not
exceedingly poor. The proceeds of the first preaching, when reckoned
up, do not reach two thousand pesos; and that these alms might be of
more importance, I have considered how the bulls might be preached
to the Indians. I have found that in the time of Don Luis Perez many
difficulties arose, as it was said that they are a people only partly
and newly converted, and that with the bull their present simple
mode of life would be ended. For this and other reasons I did not
resolve last year to have the crusade preached to the Indians. At
present I am considering this more seriously, and the preaching will
doubtless be begun at the pressing demand which the fiscal has made in
your Majesty's name, although with a small number of bulls, because
few have come from Mexico. I wrote to them to send more than usual,
and gave an account thereof to the royal Council of your Majesty for
the holy crusade. I am sending a memorial which will go with this,
concerning the bulls which are necessary, with their kind and value,
both for the Spanish people and for the natives, that your Majesty
may provide according to your pleasure. [33]