The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898
Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and
their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions,
as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the
political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those
islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the
close of the nineteenth century,
Volume XLVII, 1728-1759
Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson
with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord
Bourne.
The Arthur H. Clark Company
Cleveland, Ohio
MCMVII
CONTENTS OF VOLUME XLVII
Preface 11
Documents of 1728-1759
The Santa Misericordia of Manila. Juan Bautista de
Uriarte; Manila, 1728 23
Survey of the Filipinas Islands. Fernando Valdés Tamón;
Manila, 1739. (To this is added, "The ecclesiastical
estate in the aforesaid Philipinas islands," by Pablo
Francisco Rodriguez de Berdozido; [Manila], 1742.) 86
The Order of St. John of God. Juan Maldonado de Puga;
Granada, 1742 161
Letter to the president of the India Council. Pedro
Calderon y Enriquez; Manila, July 16, 1746 230
Letter of a Jesuit to his brother. Antonio Masvesi;
Cavite, December 2, 1749 243
Commerce of the Philipinas Islands. Nicolas Norton
Nicols; Manila, [1759] 251
Bibliographical Data 285
Appendix: Relation of the Zambals. Domingo Perez, O.P.;
Manila, 1680 289
ILLUSTRATIONS
Map of the Philippine Islands; photographic facsimile
of original MS. map (ca. 1742) in Museo-Biblioteca de
Ultramar, Madrid Frontispiece
Plan of Manila, ca. 1742; photographic facsimile from
original manuscript in Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar,
Madrid 89
Plan of Cavite and its fortifications, (ca. 1742);
photographic facsimile from original manuscript in
Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar, Madrid 107
Cebú and its fortifications, ca. 1742; photographic
facsimile from original manuscript in Museo-Biblioteca
de Ultramar, Madrid 115
Plan of fort at Zamboanga, 1742; photographic facsimile
from original manuscript in Museo-Biblioteca de
Ultramar, Madrid 121
Church of San Juan de Dios, Manila, in Religiosa
hospitalidad, by Juan M. Maldonado de Puga (Granada,
1742), facing p. 148; photographic facsimile from copy
in collection of Eduardo Navarro, O.S.A., at Colegio
de Filipinas, Valladolid 177
PREFACE
The documents presented in this volume (which covers the years 1728-59)
form a comprehensive and interesting survey of the islands and their
condition--social, religious, military, and commercial--during the
middle portion of the eighteenth century; and the writers of these
are prominent in their respective spheres of action. The appendix
furnishes a valuable description of the savage Zambals of western
Luzón, written by a Dominican missionary among that people in 1680.
The first document is a translation and condensation of the Manifiesta
y resumen historico de la fundacion de la venerable hermandad de la
Santa Misericordia (Manila, 1728), by Juan Baptista de Uriarte. This
poorly-constructed work is chiefly valuable, not for the direct
historical facts that it gives, but for the social and economic
deductions that can be made from those facts. For instance, in spite
of the great poverty prevailing among certain classes of Manila, it
is apparent that the city possessed much wealth, else it would have
been quite impossible for the brotherhood of Santa Misericordia to
carry on its beneficent work to so great an extent. The brotherhood
is founded April 16, 1594, after the model of the brotherhood of
the same name in Lisboa, its first establishment being in the school
of Santa Potenciana. The rules of the new organization are ordained
January 14, 1597, and first printed in 1606. The favor and protection
accorded it in the beginning by Luis Perez Dasmariñas is continued
by many succeeding governors and ecclesiastics, many of whom act as
purveyors. As might be expected, the first attempts toward charitable
aid are weak, but strength is gradually attained, and the noble work
of the brotherhood receives due recognition. Certain pious funds
are gradually established; the brotherhood executes many wills;
a hospital is early founded, under the spiritual charge of the
Franciscans. In 1597, the royal hospital is taken in charge by the
Misericordia at the request of Governor Tello, in order that it may
be managed better. Amid all the many disasters from the time of its
foundation to 1728--shipwrecks, other sea accidents, invasions by the
Dutch, earthquakes, etc.--the brotherhood ever lends a helping hand
cheerfully. The city is divided into three parts, for the greater
good of the poor and destitute. The various amounts of the alms
distributed, which are given throughout the work, show how well the
brotherhood discharged the purpose of its foundation. Christianity is
debtor to this organization through the aid furnished to the religious
orders at various times. Generous aid has been given to the prisons,
to poor widows, to orphan girls (for whom a school is founded), and
to noble destitute families, and others. Its activities extend even
to the ransoming of Spanish and Portuguese prisoners from the Dutch;
to the care of the native, Spanish, and foreign soldiers who fight
under the banners of Spain; and even to Japan. A productive rule of
the brotherhood is the one compelling all the brothers at death to
leave something to the association. From 1619 on, many loans are
made from the coffers of the Misericordia to the royal treasury,
which is generally in a state of exhaustion; and these loans are
always cheerfully given, even in the midst of the depressions that
the association experiences. That the brotherhood has enemies is shown
by citations from a manifesto which charges it with neglect and poor
business management. These charges are, however, disproved by our
author. Indeed, the Manila house exceeds in the amount of its alms,
those given by the Lisbon or mother house. Elections are annual,
and are made by ten members chosen by the brotherhood as a unit. The
board is composed of thirteen brothers, chief of whom is the purveyor;
his duties, as well as those of the secretary, treasurer, and three
stewards, are stated. The remaining brothers of the board are known as
deputies. Royal decrees of 1699 and 1708 exempt the association from
visitation by either ecclesiastical or civil officials, a concession
that had been long before conferred upon it by Tello. An important
event in the history of the brotherhood is the completion in 1634
of its church and school of Santa Isabel, whereby it does much good,
especially among the orphan girls under its charge. Confessions in the
school are in charge of the Jesuits. Many of the girls of the school
enter the religious life, but others marry, and to all such a generous
dowry is provided. Regular devotions are prescribed for the girls;
and for the brothers of the association various church duties are
ordained. The girls are also required to help in the kitchen and to
learn the duties of housekeeping, so that at marriage they are quite
ready to assume the position of wife. The number of girls and women
aided in this school and church reaches into the thousands, and the
expenses of the church have been considerably over 100,000 pesos. In
1656, the brotherhood makes a transfer of its hospital to the hospital
order of St. John of God. Chief among the funds established for the
use of the brotherhood are those by Governor Manuel de Leon of 50,000
pesos, and by the famous Archbishop Pardo of 13,000. Notwithstanding
the many disasters that have occurred in the islands, many of which
affect the brotherhood, the latter has never been in a better condition
than at the time when this manifesto is written. In his final chapter,
Uriarte gives a list of the members of the board of the brotherhood,
of which he is secretary. He also gives in full various documents
which he has mentioned in the body of his relation. Under charge
of the association is the appointment of twenty-nine chaplaincies
(apparently among the religious orders, for ten chaplaincies for lay
priests are also mentioned); and a certain number of fellowships are
supported in San José college. The brotherhood is composed of 250
members, whose qualifications and duties are given. The work ends
with an account of the annual alms given by the association.
The condition of the islands in 1739 is well depicted in the
relation furnished in that year to the home government by Governor
Valdés Tamón. Brief descriptions are given of the city of Manila,
and the port of Cavite, with their fortifications, gates, artillery,
garrisons, and military supplies; the document contains similar
accounts of all the other military posts in the Philippines, and
short descriptions of the various provinces in which the islands
are governed. Lack of space, however, obliges us to omit the greater
part of these accounts, presenting only those concerned with Manila,
Cavite, Cebú, and Zamboanga.
In 1742 an additional report was made for the king in regard to the
status of the ecclesiastical estate in the islands; this is here
given in full. The four cathedral churches are first mentioned,
with the jurisdiction, incumbent, expenses, and sources of income of
each. The other religious and the educational institutions of Manila,
and its hospitals, are enumerated, with statements of the aid given
to each by the royal treasury. A list is given of all the encomiendas
in the islands granted for such purposes, also of those granted to
private persons. Another section is devoted to the missions which are
carried on by the religious orders, and to the expenditures made for
them by the government of the islands, tabulated statements of which
are given, as in the other sections of this report. There is also
a table of the amounts collected by the religious who are in charge
of the mission villages as offerings on feast days. At the close are
found some remarks eulogistic of the friars' labors in the islands,
with an expression of regret that they have not carried out the king's
orders to have the Castilian language taught to the Filipino natives.
The work carried on by the Misericordia was well supplemented by that
of the hospital order of St. John of God, an account of which was
published (Granada, 1742) by one of its brethren in Manila, Juan Manuel
Maldonado de Puga. He describes the urgent need of aid for the sick
there, the efforts made in early years (chiefly by the Misericordia)
to supply this want, and the coming of the hospitalers of St. John
(1641) to Manila. The government places in their charge the royal
hospital at Cavite (1642), and the Misericordia surrender to them their
hospital in Manila (1656); and for a time they conduct a hospital for
convalescents at Bagumbaya. A full account is given of the transfer
of the Misericordia hospital, and of its history up to 1740. Some
difficulties arise between the hospitalers and the Misericordia, which
are decided in favor of the former by the Jesuit university. Maldonado
presents a careful description of the new church and convent erected
in 1727 by the hospitalers, and narrates the leading events in their
history. An interesting digression by our author describes the system
of weighing in use by the Sangley traders in the islands, and the
substitution therefor (1727) of the Castilian steelyard and standards
of weight; he states that he is the first to explain the Chinese
system, and we know of no other writer who has done so. He proceeds
to give an account of the manner in which the Filipinas province of
the hospital order is governed, with lists of its provincials and of
its present officers and members; and then enumerates the incomes and
contributions of the order in the islands, relating the history of
these, and similarly the grants of royal aid to its work there. In
this connection is described the personal service called reserva or
polo, which is imposed on the natives. Another chapter enumerates
and describes the charitable foundations [obras pias] from which the
hospital receives aid. Maldonado describes the present condition of
the other hospitals in the islands, those outside Manila being mainly
for special classes--the lepers, the Chinese, the soldiers, etc.; and
few of them are properly managed or served. He ends with an apology for
numerous errors in his text, due to the blunders of native amanuenses.
A letter from Manila (July 16, 1746) to the president of the India
Council recounts the difficulties and dangers with which the islands
are threatened by the Dutch and English, who are sending goods
from their Eastern factories to America, lying in wait to seize the
Spanish galleons, and even menacing Manila. The writer suggests that
the former trade between Luzón and the Malabar coast be resumed,
and that more effective measures be taken to overawe the Dutch and
English in Eastern waters.
The Jesuit Antonio Masvesi informs his brother (December 2, 1749)
of the failure of the Joló and Mindanao missions, and severely
criticises the governor, Bishop Arrechedera, for his infatuation with
the sultan of Joló, and his lavish entertainment of that treacherous
and crafty Moro, against the advice of the Jesuits. Masvesi sends
also an account of these matters by a brother Jesuit, these letters
being intended to counteract the influence of Arrechedera's reports
to the home government.
A curious memorial to the king, by an Englishman named Norton
but naturalized in Spain, urges that that country open up a direct
commerce with the Philippine Islands by way of the Cape of Good Hope,
and that mainly in cinnamon. He enumerates the products and exports
of the islands, and urges that these be cultivated more than they
are--above all, the cinnamon, which is now purchased by Spain and her
colonies from the Dutch, at exorbitant prices. The finest quality of
this spice could be produced in Mindanao, and Norton recommends that
plantations of cinnamon be made there, thus furnishing it to Spain
and the colonies at a lower price, and retaining their silver for
their own use instead of allowing their enemies to get possession
of it. He recapitulates the great advantages which will accrue to
Spain, to her people and colonists, and to the Indian natives, from
the execution of this project; and he would cultivate in the islands
not only cinnamon but pepper. He cites figures from the Amsterdam
Gazette to show how great quantities of commodities which might be
produced by the Philippines are brought to Europe from the Dutch
factories in the East; and he points out how Spain might profitably
exchange cinnamon and pepper for the lumber, cordage, etc., which
she now purchases for cash from Norway and Russia. He urges that
Spain should no longer submit to the tyranny of the Dutch and other
heretics, who are really in her power, since they must depend on her
for silver. He asks that the king will appoint a commission to examine
and report on his project, and enumerates various conditions which he
requires in order to establish the direct commerce between Spain and
Filipinas. At the end are stated the numerous advantages which would
accrue to Spain and the colonies from the execution of Norton's plan.
Appendix: Domingo Perez, one of the most noted of the seventeenth
century Dominican missionaries, writes an account in 1680, from
personal experience, of the newly-acquired Dominican province of
Zambales, in which he describes that province, and the people in
their manifold relations. He gives much interesting information,
for the truth of which he vouches, concerning the Malayan race of
the Zambals, whose peculiar characteristics he describes, from
the standpoints of their religion and superstitions, and their
social and economic life; describes the changes effected by the
softening influences of the Christian religion; and gives various
suggestions as to their management. They are seen to possess a
religion somewhat vague in its general concept, but quite specific
and complex in its individual points, with a graded priesthood, to
all of which, however, not too great importance must be attached. In
their superstitious beliefs, they approach quite closely to the other
peoples of the Philippines. Birds are a good or bad omen according to
circumstances; sneezing is always a bad omen; great credence is given
to dreams. Marriage is an important ceremony, and chastity is general
among the women, who exercise great power among the people. Feasts are
occasions for intoxication. Above all, they are fierce headhunters,
and strive to cut off as many heads as possible, although they are
a cowardly race. The Dominican policy of governing the Zambals is
one of concentration, in which they are well aided by the garrison
of Spanish soldiers stationed in the Zambal country.
The Editors
December, 1906.
DOCUMENTS OF 1728-1759
The Santa Misericordia of Manila. Juan Bautista de Uriarte; 1728.
Survey of the Filipinas Islands. Fernando Valdés Tamón; 1739. (To this
is added, "The ecclesiastical estate in the aforesaid Philipinas
islands," by Pablo Francisco Rodriguez de Berdozido; [Manila], 1742.)
The Order of St. John of God. Juan Maldonado de Puga; 1742.
Letter to the president of the India Council. Pedro Calderon y
Enriquez; July 16, 1746.
Letter of a Jesuit to his brother. Antonio Masvesi; December 2, 1749.
Commerce of the Philipinas Islands. Nicolas Norton Nicols; [1759].
Sources: The first document is translated (partly in full and
partly in synopsis) from Manifiesta ... del hospital de la Sancta
Misericordia (Manila, 1728); from a copy in the possession of
Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. The second, from an original MS. in the
Museo-Biblioteca de Ultramar, Madrid; part of it (of minor
importance) is necessarily omitted here. The third (largely in
synopsis), from Religiosa hospitalidad por los hijos del ...
S. Ivan de Dios en Philipinas (Granada, 1742); from a copy
belonging to E. E. Ayer. The fourth, from an original MS. in the
library of the Academia Española, Madrid. The fifth, from a
transcript in the Ventura del Arco MSS. (Ayer library), iv, pp.
297-305. The sixth, from an original MS. (or possibly a
contemporaneous copy) in possession of E. E. Ayer.
Translations: The first is made by James Alexander Robertson; the
remainder, by Emma Helen Blair.
THE SANTA MISERICORDIA OF MANILA
CHAPTER I
Of the beginning of this venerable brotherhood of the city of Manila,
in the year 1594
[The Santa Misericordia of Manila [1] was founded in imitation of the
association of the same name which had been established in the city
of Lisbon in August 1498 with the consent of the vacant see and of
Queen Leonor, wife of Juan II. At the time of the foundation of the
Manila branch, Clement VIII occupied the papal chair, and Luis Perez
Dasmarifias was governor of Manila.]