Information, Petitions, and Stipulations Concerning Sending Aid to
the Kingdom of Camboja
_Petition of Diego Beloso, ambassador of the king of Camboja_
I, Captain Beloso, appear before your Lordship and say that I have
lived ten years in the kingdom of Camboja, where the king of that
country has always shown me great graces and favors, since I was
acquainted with his language, and has appeared highly satisfied with
me, as well in the conducting of matters of peace as in matters of
war and government. For these reasons I am under great obligations to
him, and likewise because he is a person bound by close ties to the
Spaniards, and who consents and desires that there should be in his
kingdom churches and Christians. He also maintains their ministers, as
appears from the two orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans which he
has in his country, whom he is providing with provisions and personal
service; and he has not only maintained them but has sent to Malaca and
Macan a great deal of rice and wine, and other presents. He has always
held all Spaniards as his friends, and received them in his courts
and lands with great friendship and graciousness. He has lent aid to
them in their need, as appears from the case of Captain Gregorio de
Bargas, and Blas Rruys, who in the year of ninety-two sailed from the
city of Canton in the land of China, with the intention of going to
the said kingdom of Canboja in order to examine and explore the said
country, and to bring about communication between the said king and
this city, for they were already aware of his desire and his friendly
disposition. During the voyage the king of Chanpan, like the tyrant
and pirate that he is, treacherously robbed and captured them, and
held them in that captivity until they were obliged to leave in flight,
with much cunning and craft, alone and taking nothing with them. After
suffering immense hardships, they arrived at his city poor and in ill
condition. The said king of Canvoja received them kindly, treated them
well, and lent aid to their needs. He was much pleased with them when
he found that they were from this country, and that they had intended
to come to his. He was greatly pained to learn of their captivity and
loss, and had much pity for them when he found what misery and hardship
they had endured. For their coming was a thing which he desired much
on account of the many things which I often told him, because he had
always been interested in them, and because of the many conversations
which I had with him. I recounted to him the greatness of his Majesty
and of this city, whereupon he showed a lively pleasure in all, and
was led to wish to communicate with the city, of which communication
he was already greatly desirous. With the arrival of the said persons
and what they told him, he completed his information concerning the
matters that he had learned from me. At that time he was suspicious
of the king of Ssian, who was his bitter enemy, as well as the enemy
of Christianity and of the Spanish nation, and with whom he was in
a state of open warfare. He preferred to avail himself of aid from
the Christians rather than from the heathens or Moros who dwelt in
the neighborhood, if he could do so. He gave entire credit to what
we had told him, and what we were then telling him. He confirmed by
deed the love which he had shown to all of us Spaniards, and decided
to send an embassy to the governor of these islands, seeking aid
for the conflict in which he feared he would soon find himself. This
embassy he entrusted to me and to Captain Gregorio de Vargas, placing
more confidence in us than in any of his own subjects. The said Blas
Rruiz he kept in his service to satisfy the wishes of some of his own
subjects, who, because they do not like him, opposed the voyage and the
embassies. He wrote to the said governor a letter, written on a leaf
of beaten gold, and sent as a present an elephant, slaves, and other
articles, as appears by the said embassy, to which I refer you. This
embassy we carried out, on arriving at this city, delivering the letter
and the presents, and were engaged in it many days, beseeching the
last governor to send the king some aid, in order to redeem him from
the utter ruin which afterward happened. As this country was on the
point of sending an expedition to Maluco, the governor deferred the
aid. After your Lordship succeeded to the government, you despatched
me and gave me an answer for the said king, sending him a Castilian
horse with trappings, and a rich jewel of emeralds. When I arrived at
the said kingdom of Canvoja I sent a soldier named Pantaleon Carnero
to give the news to the king, and to take measures to learn the state
in which the country was--all of which is explained more at length by
this information which I am presenting, and which I drew up in Sian
before the religious, together with the persons who went with me,
to clear myself and in order that it might appear thereby that the
embassy was accomplished. I petition that it be examined, and a copy be
given me as a safeguard for my exoneration in all particulars. In fact
the Sianese robbed and captured us and we were carried as prisoners
to the city of Judea, [26] which is in the kingdom of Sian. Here we
found the fathers and other Christians, who had come from Canvoja,
and who were in a sad and unfortunate captivity; they were allowed
no churches or provisions, but must seek their food as alms from the
heathen, so that the affliction and misfortune which they undergo is a
most pitiable thing. When we were all joined together and saw what we
must suffer, we decided to seek some remedy. We considered the state
of that kingdom, and that the king had expended his substance and had
few Sianese troops, on account of the many who had died in the war
with Camboja and the war which he was carrying on with Pegu--who had
sent a great army against him, so that there were none left in the
city except children and women; and that he is a very cruel tyrant
and a persecutor of the holy Catholic faith, and will consent to no
Christian place of worship in his kingdom, but rather destroys them,
and burns those which he may find in other kingdoms. He receives
in his kingdom the worship of Mahoma, which is preached with his
consent, and he gives permission to his subjects to turn Moors. We
also considered the king of Canboja was such a friend of ours that
he protected our faith, and that he was so placed that he would be
heartily pleased to aid the Spaniards with all his power against that
tyrant, because the latter would then be destroyed and put in the
power of the Spaniards. For this is what he wishes, even although he
should help the Spaniards to win all the kingdoms in the neighborhood,
of which there are more than twelve; for I have always heard this from
him, and further that he wishes to be a Christian and that his whole
kingdom should be Christian. Accordingly, pondering over what means we
could use to advise your Lordship of all this--as you are a person so
jealous of the honor of God and the service of his Majesty, and are in
a position to remedy it all; and, with so good and certain an ally,
would win all those rich kingdoms and reduce to the holy Catholic
faith so many thousands of souls, which are being lost, not by their
own fault--we noticed that the king of Sian had been much pained by
the death, before he had seen it, of the horse which was brought from
your Lordship. And, considering the great pleasure which he took in a
philosopher's stone, we promised him that if he would send me to this
country I should bring him back a large horse and mare for breeding,
and a philosopher's stone a cubit long, which he had said he would
prize much. Out of desire for these things, he ordered that I be sent
back; and told the fathers that they on his behalf should write to
your Lordship--for he is so arrogant that he even sets no store by
writing. He ordered to be given to me, to present to your Lordship,
two elephants and an ivory tusk, which I have already delivered to your
Lordship. After I set out upon the voyage I underwent many hardships,
as I arrived at Malaca with ill weather, and when the chief captain
found what message I was carrying and learned my intentions in the
matter, he wished to interfere with me and detain me and stop the
voyage. He attempted to take the elephants from the junk, in order to
send them to Goya, and to take me prisoner. And in fact I suffered in
the said city and fortress of Malaca, more hardships and hindrances
than among the heathen before I was sent on the road with these
letters to bring to your Lordship, as appears more at length by the
information which I have given your Majesty for the remedy of all this.
In the name of the king of Canvoja, whose ambassador I am, and on
behalf of the religious and other Christians who are in captivity
in the kingdom of Ssian, and on my own behalf, as ambassador to your
Lordship, I petition and beseech that you be pleased to attend to the
giving of the aid which has been sought by him. And now I petition
in the name of this poor and much-beset king of Canvoja, who is so
friendly to our nation and to Christianity, more especially at present,
when he has been ruined and is in danger of a return of the king of
Sian against him (who would make complete the ruin and desolation of
his country), so good a friend of ours, who has no one to aid him. And
especially will this aid now be of profit and of immense importance,
as the king of Sian is without troops of war and has them scattered;
and each day he is becoming more powerful and is possessing himself
of the kingdom of Pegu--whose king likewise is a very close friend
of the Christians--and he is destroying Christian lands and churches
which lie within that kingdom, in large numbers. If the aid which
your Lordship would send were joined to the power of Canvoja, the
principal city of Sian might easily be taken; and then the other
kingdoms could immediately and easily be won, for when this one is
undone the others have no spirit to defend themselves singly. As the
said king of Canvoja continues always to favor and help the Spaniards,
as it is certain that he will do, Yndia cannot come to aid in this as
it has so many enemies at its gates; and, if your Lordship lend this
most just aid, you will add greatly to the service of God our Lord,
and it will redound to the great increase of the Christian religion,
and will augment the royal crown of the king our lord--besides being
a work of charity to succor the man who cries for favor and help,
that he may become a Christian. For when he becomes so it will be very
easy to bring all those of his kingdom over, with some little effort
to see that so good a desire is realized. There are a number of other
things which your Lordship can examine and consider in the letters
sent by the bishop of Malaca, and those of the religious who remain
in Ssian. Beside this there would result an important entrance onto
the mainland whence great increase and wealth might result. As to the
doubt which exists as to the state in which the king of Canvoja is,
I will say that at the time when I was about to leave the city of
Ssian there arrived some Sianese soldiers of the number who were in
the garrison in Canvoja; and they said that the king thereof had come
down from the mountains where he was, and had killed and captured all
the Sianese who were there, except some few who had escaped into the
mountains; and that they had killed his brother, who had favored the
Sianese in Canvoja so that the natives should come to him. The virrey
which had remained there had surrendered to the king of Canvoja, who
was already possessed of all his lands. This was quite generally known
in Ssian, and the king learned of it; and, fearing lest he of Canvoja
should come to that country by sea, while he had no troops, he sent
three oared vessels to act as sentinels at the mouths of the rivers,
to see if he of Canvoja should come, and to advise him thereof. At the
time when I went down the river the other three vessels went down,
and at the mouth met a Sianese ship which was coming from Canvoja,
and they told me that the king thereof was lord of his land and sea,
and that they had escaped with much difficulty. They said that there
was not at present a Sianese in Canvoja who was not captured. With
this second news they confirmed that in the city. When this was
learned by the people in the three ships who were acting as sentinels,
they went back to tell the king of it, that he might send more men
to the sentinel ships, so that they should not be easily overcome,
since the king of Canvoja was lord of his lands. I have no doubt that
if the king of Sian were gone with all his army, he of Canvoja would
wage war; and the Sianese without their king are a people who have no
spirit, or arms for their defense, for they possess nothing more than
machetes, small bucklers, and javelins made of cane, all of which is
a mere trifling armament. The men of Canvoja have many arrows and are
very skilful with them. If the king was conquered at first it was
because of the little confidence which he had in his own subjects;
for, in short, it has since transpired that the larger part of them
went over to the side of the king of Sian to his own brother, whom he
afterwards killed, as I have said. I assure you that the Canvojans, in
company with the Spaniards whose aid they would have, are a stronger
nation than in all the rest of the country on the field, owing to
the advantage in arms which they have over all the other nations in
those regions. Accordingly I beseech you not to lose such a friend and
helper, and that your Lordship should not permit that through lack of
reënforcements, since they can be given, he and his subjects should
again become heathens and lose their souls. I remind your Lordship
that in the instructions which his Majesty has sent to this city he
instructs you that the neighboring kingdoms should be favored, and
especially that of Canvoja, for he knows that that is friendly. Again I
beseech your Lordship as respectfully as I can, since it is a matter
of so great importance which should not be lost, nor should such
a wonderful chance be allowed to pass and no advantage taken of it,
and of so great a benefit as it promises. I would remind your Lordship
that, in the sending of this aid, promptness is above all necessary,
in order that it may have a prosperous and successful result. It
would be best that it should leave here sometime during the month of
September of this year, one thousand five hundred and ninety-five,
for that is the best time of the year to follow up these enterprises
in favorable weather, since we have ready for it a well-supplied place
of residence in which to live and remain secure. In short I petition
everything which can be petitioned in such a matter, and which is
fitting and could be done, and would result in profit and utility
for my parties and for the persons for whom I speak; and above all
I plead for justice in asking the aid which of right should be given.
Furthermore I say that in the name of the king of Canvoja, as his
ambassador, I am prepared to draw up with your Lordship stipulations,
and I declare that what shall be agreed to in his name he will comply
with, without in any wise failing. For in this whole matter I hold
his authority to speak, which is the same as is in practice among
us, and which he gave me at my leave-taking, when he told me to use
every means to bring him help, and in his name to do and promise
everything which should appear best to me, for he should be pleased
to comply with all of them. He said that his final aim was to be
a Christian, and that this I should tell the governor; and further
that he wished to lend all his power to the Spaniards, so that they
could conquer the surrounding kingdoms and possess them. As for him
and his children, he wished no more than his own kingdom, converted
to the faith. Accordingly I am ready to make in his name whatever
stipulations may be just, and to bind him thereto as his ambassador,
since I am doing it for his sake. On account of this desire, I beg
your Lordship, in case this does not take place by reason of some
insurmountable difficulty, to order given to me a testimonial of all
these matters in such wise as will give them credit; for I intend to
go therewith and present myself before his Majesty, seeking justice.
_Diego Beloso_
In the city of Manila, on the first day of August of the year
one thousand five hundred and ninety-five, before Don Luis Perez
Dasmarinas: Have this petition and information presented, and let
Captain Diego Beloso present a memorial of the number of troops and
of other things which he desires and seeks as ambassador of the king
of Canvoja, so that, having been examined by his Lordship, he may make
the necessary provision. Likewise let him propose the stipulations to
be complied with by the king of Canvoja, and carried out, providing
the aid which he seeks is sent. Accordingly I have pronounced and
signed this.