The Conde de Mondova, [114] viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that
for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas,
[influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given
for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for
the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia
who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the
auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered
that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the
owner of which was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy
appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet,
Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the
best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked
the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate
Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcalde de casa y corte [115] of
Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new
auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes,
a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had
recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos;
[the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of
the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina
y Havalría, a native of Sevilla--who is still living as a religious
and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus,
who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second
in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima,
failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and
having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal
for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also
an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal
auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which they were
to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this
went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don
Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de
Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died
at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at
Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew
of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.
With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of
their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an
Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and
Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe
de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de
Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house
there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He
retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and
served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was
procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.
This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the
Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where
it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon "Santo
Christo de Burgos" for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the
port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches
which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it
were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of
oppression and tyranny which are committed, not only in the cutting
of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for
this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these
islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.
The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices
in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their
predecessors--some being dead, and another in banishment--and the
only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente
Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his
commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He
sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort
of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages
of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return
for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as
being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.
To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees
from his Majesty--who thanked him for what he had done in the
restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself
well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable,
which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and
because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter
or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop,
since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff
so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great
sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish;
it simply expresses the approval of the pope for Pardo's course, and
encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]
The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement
of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of
his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the
Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their
orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors
and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this
atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may
be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this
matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many
writers--Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon,
in his learned Observaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,
De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado, De regia
potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed
by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation,
without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power
(the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius
de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo--confining his
person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual
jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right of sede
vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had
made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence--because this
does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur
the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that
all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal,
had held chairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada;
but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom,
one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over
his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of
Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where
they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi,
no. 3 of Wisdom. [116]
The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in
his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis,
and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that
he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same
with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their
executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas,
which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges;
and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the
village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken
away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor
Martínez León. He went hither as excommunicated, and unable to have
any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his
arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa,
where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña
Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until
they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España;
and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].
This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a
bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained
for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous,
and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many
persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the
Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much
pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline
strictly maintained--and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián
Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances
indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those
times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling
the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost
without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal
court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find
them at the present time.
In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of
the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those
persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should
be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; for so many persons
of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards
and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and
the villages were full of beggars--and, what is worse, of thieves
and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost
distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago,
had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with
arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the
execution of the other be suspended.
The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young
man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor
Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos--a
woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater,
and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood,
suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity
by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a
numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the
city of Méjico--from which place no news has come of her death, but
we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo,
who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.
The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an
order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando
de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from
the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in
person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty,
as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and came to Manila, but
he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent
possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the
sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth
from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only
one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all
the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey,
in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva
España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty
should decide whether or not he should go to España.
He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found
as viceroy the Conde de Galves, [117] who, as the son of the Duke de
Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his
career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont
to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It
seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered
the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and
fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of
Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was
an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His
death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a
fever attacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously
fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his
body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls
of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders
to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts
a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]
The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in
ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought
with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very
skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia
of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped
the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were
accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo,
of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but
these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which
[such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers,
and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and
just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands,
as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched,
notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents
belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods,
and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his
old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he
arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he
enjoyed for several years.
The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against
the principal members of the [cathedral] chapter, of whom only one
had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the
archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza,
and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in
the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter
and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of
Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón,
and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de
Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all
the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured
permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the
income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few
years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.
While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in
making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating
judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente
Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina,
with many other persons who were going to embark--such as the dean
and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop's
attorney--while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed
by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few
days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He
died at ten o'clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the
age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila,
at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he
had been very devoted, and had gone punctually every Friday to hear
his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse
to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later,
during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín
de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in
these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons,
and these are not wont to be very long.
The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was
worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had,
because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to
constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain
in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority;
he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in
body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested,
and of placing little value on riches--which in these regions,
where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer,
is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world,
since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long,
it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions
there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little
esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find
himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to
please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after
it is lost, the governor's death caused much regret. He left as
his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was
his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the
expenses of his burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.
On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the
senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the
Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed]
also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time
while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it
was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived),
this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were
any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them;
and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences
would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.
With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of
the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed
another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in
his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his
clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from
these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time
when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him
resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison,
and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila,
where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de
Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome
of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly
desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to
him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies,
and died there suddenly....