Events of the years 1651 and 1652.
[Manila had been in distress for some years because of the loss
of various galleons, and because of the unfortunate temperament of
the governor, Diego Fajardo, and his consequent governing through
his favorite.]
That internal war lasted for seven years in the afflicted community of
Manila, and no one dared to undeceive the severe governor regarding
the injuries committed in his name by his favorite, who made him
hated in the community, and guilty of the imprisonment and exiles
that were executed not only on laymen but also on the secular clergy
and religious. For in order to have control of those whom the Church
exempted from his jurisdiction, he succeeded in removing the dean,
Doctor Don Juan Vélez, from the post of provisor and vicar-general
of the vacant see, and having it given to his intimate friend and
confederate, Doctor Don Francisco Fernández Ledo. With that same
diligence he contrived and obtained the exile of Doctor Don Diego de
Cartagena y Pantoja [75] and other secular clergy to Macasar.
Those who suffered most from his harsh and violent acts were the
[fathers of the] order of our father, St. Augustine, the cause of
his wrath being that they had refused to elect as provincial one
of their members who was acceptable and dear to him. Although the
abilities of that father made him merit the office, yet it was not
allowable that it be conferred by that method, so strictly forbidden
by the sacred counsels and canons. Consequently, his wrath was aroused
against the order of our father St. Augustine, and he sent malicious
reports against it to his Majesty in the royal and supreme Council
of the Indias, in letters apparently signed by Governor Don Diego
Fajardo--who, when he waked from that lethargy, declared under oath
that they were not his. At our petition, the following governor, Don
Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, made a full investigation before Auditor
Don Álvaro García de Ocampo, the commissioned judge, in January,
1654--which proved that all that was charged by the said favorite
against the order was false. He sent that report to the said royal
and supreme Council, and a copy of it is kept in our archives.
The divine clemency did not choose that the troubles of afflicted
Manila should go further. Therefore He encouraged and strengthened
our father Fray Jerónimo de Medrano--who had been provincial of
this province of ours for three terms, and was its true father--to
penetrate the deep retirement of the deluded governor (in whom the
father's virtue and age had inspired some affection and considerable
veneration). He informed the governor of the truth with efficacious
arguments, showing him the deceit in which the cunning of the favorite
had kept him buried, while he yielded to the violent operations of the
ambition and cruelty of that man, injuring his own reputation. Divine
Providence permitted him to open the eyes of the deceived governor,
because of the favorable idea that the latter had formed of the
accuser; and, seeing that his honor and his conscience were being
endangered, he made the investigations on his part that were necessary,
in order not to discredit his determination as being precipitate. He
found all that father Fray Jerónimo de Medrano had said, and much
more, to be true. Thereupon, he resolved to come to himself, for
the sake of the community of Manila, and had his favorite arrested,
September 16, 1651. Formulating legal proceedings against him for
the crimes that he had committed, he questioned him under torture,
in which the prisoner answered nothing--either because of his great
courage, or because he had taken some confection of opium, which they
purposely gave him to drink, and which has so narcotic a virtue that
it renders those who drink it insensible to pain.
Among many other injuries that the said favorite had done to the
citizens of Manila was this, that he caused the governor to hold back
the reward that his Majesty granted to General Don Pedro de Almonte,
[in appointing him] master-of-camp, with the bestowal of the habit of
Santiago, for his great services in Ternate, Mindanao, and Joló (some
of which we have mentioned before in this history). [Don Diego did so]
because that favorite had risen to the said post (the second after
the governor of Filipinas), as the regularly-appointed master-of-camp,
Don Fernando de Ayala--a brave soldier of Flandes in the time of the
count of Fuentes, who added so great luster to the Spanish arms--had
died in the beginning [of his term].
The governor surrendered the appointment to Don Pedro de Almonte,
and put him in possession of the government of the army as
its master-of-camp. Also, as a professed knight of the Order of
Santiago, he gave him his habit in the convent of Santa Clara for
the consolation of a daughter who was a nun there. The prior of our
convent of Manila, Fray Dionisio Suárez, was present at the ceremonies
that were celebrated at the said function.
Afflicted Manila began to take breath and that so long storm died
down. For although the governor was by nature so retiring, he was
very upright, and in the highest degree disinterested--a quality that
rendered his harsh rectitude tolerable. Many who had been exiled to
the presidios of Ternate, Zamboanga, and other forts in these islands,
began to come back to their homes. Many citizens were released from the
prison where they were confined, and returned to attend to the common
welfare, the governor substituting methods of more peaceful operation,
which tempered the austerity of his integrity. The favorite remained
in prison until the new governor, Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara,
gave sentence in his cause. [76]