Chapter I

[Diaz mentions the calamitous times experienced in the islands during the rule of most of the governors from Corcuera to Salcedo, which at last are succeeded, in the plan of Providence, by peace and comfort.] The peacemaker [iris] whom divine Providence seems to have selected for this general benefit was Governor Don Manuel de León y Sarabia; for his taking possession of his government was the shifting of the scenes in this melancholy theater, the calming of the tempests, and the succession of rest after fatigue, and peace after war. The former lines of commerce were renewed, and other and new ones opened up—such as that of the coast of Malabar and Santo Tomé, called the Coromandel [118]coast; and those of Suratte, Macán and Batavia. All these improvements were facilitated by the wholesome purposes and the kindly disposition of Don Manuel de León, and especially by his great disinterestedness; this last would, if it had not been accompanied by the rest, have failed of success, as did the lofty and incomparable [disinterestedness] of Don Diego Fajardo, since it was obscured by his coldness and excessive severity—which, although accompanied by justice, was, being excessive, known as injustice.

As soon as the new governor commenced his fortunate rule, he sent to Macán General Don Juan Enrique de Losada, accompanied by Father Francisco Mecinas,1 of the Society of Jesus, in order to further the interests of that commerce, and to endeavor to open up the richer trade of Cantón. This was accomplished by the said envoys with so much ability that in the following year the Chinese began to come [to Manila], with barks from Macán and somas from Cantón, with great wealth of silks, damasks, and other stuffs. Trade was opened with Ningpú, a port of the province of Che-Kian in the empire of China, where is cultivated the greater part of the silk which supplies the world, a commodity [119]which greatly advanced the commerce of Nueva España. The governor maintained courteous intercourse with Sipuán, the son of Kuesing, and from this originated the frequent visits of so many champans from China and somas (which are larger champans) from Cantón, which every year engage in the commerce with Manila; for in some years are counted thirty barks, and nearly as many from other regions, which supply merchandise to Manila, and contribute to the royal revenues great sums with their customs duties.2

The flagship “Buen Socorro,” which had made the voyage to Nueva España in charge of General Diego de Arévalo, had a fortunate arrival at the islands—although not at the port of Cavite, but at that of Palapag in the province of Leyte, outside of the Embocadero. It brought an auditor, Licentiate Don Fernando Escaño, a native of Ecija; he was a great jurisconsult, as is evident from the learned books which he had printed in España—De testamento imperfecto, and the history of the Order of St. John of Malta, which he wrote in the Latin language, by order of his most serene Highness Don Juan of Austria, grand prior of Castilla and León. He came with his wife, Doña Leonor de Córdoba, a native of Sevilla, and four [six] children: Don Fernando, who was a captain, and lived but a few years; Don Juan de Escaño, an alférez who reached the age of fifty years, an unmarried man, very virtuous, [120]and an example for laymen; Don José and Don Manuel, afterward religious of St. Dominic; Don Alonso, who was an Augustinian religious, and at his death a minister in Pampanga; and a daughter, Doña María, who married the sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Moya y Torres, alguazil-mayor of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. The auditor’s wife was a professed member of our tertiary order; and all of them were people of great virtue.

With appointment as bishop of Nueva Segovia came the dean of Manila, Master Don José Millán de Poblete, a priest of much virtue and discretion, and nephew of the archbishop Doctor Don Miguel Millán de Poblete, of honored memory. The vigorous age at which this dignity came to him (for he was not yet fifty) did not enable him to enjoy it [long]; for he lived very few years in the government of that church, not long enough to reach his consecration—with general regret in these islands at having lost a grand prelate, heir to the many virtues of his uncle....

Auditor Don Fernando de Escaño began to fill his office with great rectitude and disinterestedness, for he was a learned man, and stood in fear of God, which is the true wisdom. But, influenced by his desires for good, yet lacking in judgment and experience, he proceeded to enter the labyrinth of trying to reform more than what is in need of reform—being counseled by persons who aimed only at gaining by calumny what they could not prove in law. From this he undertook to follow the opinions of Auditor Don Salvador Gómez de Espinosa, of whom we have already written, and to subscribe to his manifestoes, as the Parenético; and without further [121]investigation than the depositions of persons who were prejudiced against the clergy and the religious orders, he made attacks on them in letters written to his Majesty. Afterward, he recognized that the evidence did not agree with what had been told him; and he came to repentance when the shot was already fired and much damage done thereby. These false notions, and others like them, as well as his considering the little or nothing that can be accomplished in these islands by the ministers of his Majesty, who never goes beyond what the governors desire, wore him out in a few years; and he died as the excellent Christian that he was, and so indifferent to worldly advantages that he had not money enough for his burial, and was buried in our convent at Manila. All his family inherited his virtue, and were the only children of an auditor who came out so well, for all strove to grow in virtue to the standard of their honored father; they were therefore highly esteemed, and their lives came to a holy end. Don Juan de Escaño, who attained the rank of general, was an example of virtue in Manila, and died with the reputation of unbroken chastity [con opinion de virgen]; and his property, which was large and justly gained, he left, well invested as it was, for the building and maintenance of the beaterio of Santa Catalina de Sena [i.e., St. Catherine of Sienna], of the tertiary Order of St. Dominic in Manila, in which foundation he had much share and influence.

About this time came to Manila the prince of Siao,3 son of the king Don Ventura Pinto de Morales, [122]to ask the governor for religious of the Society of Jesus to instruct the natives of his little kingdom, where there were many Christians—although the majority of that people were infected with the errors of the cursed Mahoma. These islands are in five and one-half degrees of latitude north, and one hundred and forty-nine degrees of longitude from the meridian of Tenerife; the seas about them are difficult of navigation, on account of being in the midst of a large and widespread bank [placer] of shoals which lie on all sides. They share the reputation of Maluco, not only for the warlike nature of their inhabitants, but for many spice-bearing trees, of clove and nutmeg; but in other means of support that country is very poor. This prince was received by the governor with much honor; he gave him the use of his own coach, and lodged him at the college of San José, in charge of the religious of the Society; and he took much pains to forward the business of the prince, since it was for so holy a purpose, the propagation of our holy faith. The prince returned to his own country, with the satisfactory result which he could desire; with him went four religious of the Society of Jesus—Father Juan de Miedes,4 a native of Alcalá de Henares; Father [123]Jerónimo Cebreros, a native of Acapulco; and Fathers Esquibel5 and Español—all well fitted for so holy a ministry. The governor gave him twenty Spaniards and some Pampangos, to serve as an escort for the religious; and for their commander Captain Andrés Serrano—a veteran soldier, who had just finished a term as alcalde-mayor of Panay (a province in our spiritual charge)—as he was a very devout Christian and well suited for that occupation, so much to the service of God.

These religious remained a long time in the islands of Siao, increasing that Christian church; but the enemy of mankind, who resented their driving [124]him out after he had so long possessed the souls of those unfortunate people, influenced the Dutch heretics of Nueva Batavia, in the island of Jacatra, to destroy them by a secular persecution. For, as they are lords of all the islands where grows the clove of the spice-trade, in Maluco—Amboyno, Tidore, Ternate, Montiel, and many others—and this is the commerce which has returned most profits to their company they have always endeavored that this aromatic merchandise be not transported by any other hands than their own, in order to assure their gains. They knew that some Spaniards [125]had settled in the islands of Siao, and that by them was carried away the clove product of that region, and that it might eventually diminish their own commerce. For that astute nation has so perseveringly maintained that the Dutch alone shall be absolute masters of the cloves and cinnamon; and so skilfully do they manage these commodities that in any year when there is an abundant product of cloves they burn such quantity of it as they consider superfluous, according to the computation that they have made of that crop (which is sufficient for the supply of the whole world), in order that their price may not be lowered, and that the commodity may not fall in value by becoming common and abundant. So great is the wisdom of these children of the world, in which they greatly exceed the children of the light.

They manned two ships with three hundred men-at-arms; and when our people in Siao were least on their guard the Dutch arrived, and landed their men, which the Spaniards were unable to prevent, as they were so inferior in numbers.6 The Dutch committed no other hostility than to carry away as [126]prisoners the religious of the Society, and Andrés Serrano and his soldiers—together with their standard, which our men could neither hide nor destroy—all of whom they conveyed to Batavia. But before they left the islands of Siao they rooted out and cut down all the cinnamon trees that grew there, until no roots or other trace of them were left—all which they did quite at their leisure, without any one saying a word to them. Andrés Serrano died in Batavia of grief, although the Dutch treated him and his soldiers well, as also the fathers. The religious afterward came to Manila, some in the time of this governor, and others during the term of his successor, Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado.

All the triennial during which our provincial father Fray Dionisio Suárez ruled was very propitious for this province—not only because he was a religious very observant, kind, and lovable, but because this province possessed so many members of virtue and learning that they restored it to its first luster. The ministries in the doctrinas were well served, by one or two religious, according to their needs. The erection of many new convents was begun, some having been ruined by the earthquakes, and others torn down by military orders, when we were threatened with the coming of Kuesing Pompoan; but there was so much to restore that it kept us busy for more than three succeeding trienniums. Our provincial applied himself closely to the repairs on the magnificent convent at Manila, which greatly needed them, on the plan which he had made in the preceding triennium, when he was prior of that house; [and he accomplished] so much that to the diligence and zeal of that devout religious may be attributed its preservation. [127]

While he was engaged in these occupations, the time came for him to finish the task of his government, so peaceful and prosperous, and for holding another chapter-session—to the great regret of all, for it seemed as if they divined that it would result less happily; but never did they expect that it would be so calamitous as it proved to be. For, just as the condition of the commonwealth had experienced its change from calamities and miseries to peace and happiness, so this our province changed from tranquillity to sudden fear. Tempus pacis, tempus belli.7 And the most remarkable thing is that, just as the governor Don Manuel de León was the main cause of the peace and prosperity of Manila, so this same excellent gentleman was the prime cause of many troubles and disturbances, which occurred not only at the time of this chapter but throughout the triennium. I do not throw all the blame on him, because he was a great governor, very pious and of sincere intentions; but all disturbance has another cause, and the vulgar and common Spanish adage is very true which says: “He who is burning the woods is he who comes out of them.”8 No sensible person will admire seeing among religious the activity of flesh and blood and the passion of ambition, which they cannot leave behind in the world when they take refuge in the asylum of the cloister.9... [128]

The fourth definitor, Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, who was associate and secretary of the provincial Fray Dionisio Suárez, had displayed so much ability and good intention in administering his office—for he was an angel of peace, following the advice of our holy constitutions—that all desired that he should succeed to the office of him to whom he had been so capable an associate. This was desired by the provincial most of all; for, as he was of so peaceable a disposition, he wished to leave the province in the hands of one who could maintain it in the tranquillity which it was enjoying. But the malign father of discord was not pleased at seeing the great peace and concord which this province had enjoyed for so many years; he therefore strove with his arts to disturb and disunite it. The time for holding the chapter-session arrived apparently as peaceful as usual; and so the religious who were its members assembled, quite unconscious of what was to occur.

The chapter was convened on April 23, 1671, in the convent of San Pablo at Manila; and its president was father Fray Bernardino Márquez, by commission from our very reverend father the general of all the order of our father St. Augustine, Master Fray Pedro Lafranconio, a native of Ancona; and the other affairs which precede the election were transacted that afternoon with great peace and concord. But on Saturday, the day for the election of provincial, Governor Don Manuel de León sent to notify them that he would be present at the election, and sent over his official chair. This caused great uneasiness, for they recognized that this was an effort to prevent the election of the father definitor Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, on which thirty-one [129]of the voting fathers were agreed. The father president of the chapter was one of the eight who were opposed to this election, and these were favored by the governor—which in these islands means, to have whatever one may desire. Accordingly, the first thing that he did that afternoon was to make charges in virtue of which he deprived father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco of the right to vote or to be elected [voz activa y pasiva], and commanded him to leave the chapter-meeting—which he did with great humility and resignation, saying only those words of Jonah, Si propter me orta est haec tempestas, projicite me in mare,10 and went to his convent of Tongdo. On the following day the governor came to the convent, accompanied by the senior auditor, Don Francisco de Coloma, Sargento-mayor Don Juan de Robles, and Captain Don Pedro de Tortesa, with their [military] company, as if it were to invest a fort of enemies. The religious were astonished at seeing such a military display, but with much decorum and gravity they proceeded with the transactions of the chapter; and at the first ballot father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco was elected by thirty-one votes, and the remaining eight fathers voted for father Fray Juan Caballero11—a religious who had come to this province two years before, as I have already stated, and whose merits deserved [130]such a mark of esteem. The governor would not allow them to sing the Te Deum laudamus, and the president declared that he would not confirm the election, on account of its being inhibited by the suit which Father Francisco had brought when Licentiate Don Juan de Rosales was counselor; and one heard only protests on both sides, although the voters recognized that they would be overpowered by the side which the governor supported.

The latter went out from the hall, leaving the capitulars within under the guard of the soldiers, so that these should prevent the fathers from going out of the room until they should elect another provincial who should not be father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco; for father Fray Juan Caballero was not canonically elected, for lack of one more than half of the ballots of the voters. All that day, until evening, they remained shut up in the chapter-hall, experiencing great harshness; for the guards would not allow even a pitcher of water to be given to them, a cruelty very unlike the kindly nature of Don Manuel de León. The provisor and vicar-general of the vacant see, Doctor Don Francisco Pizarro Orellana, came out in defense of the ecclesiastical immunity, which had been violated by that compulsion; and it resulted in the religious being allowed to go to their cells, weak from hunger and thirst. But the governor ordered that two soldiers should be stationed at the door of each cell, so that the fathers could not leave their cells or communicate with one another. In these disturbances passed that Saturday until sunset, the limit peremptorily allotted by our holy constitutions within which the chapter can proceed to the election of a prior provincial; and, when that time was spent, the [131]authority for such election devolved upon our very reverend general [of the order]. But as this adjustment of the limit was made by violence, this prescription of the limit was, in a case so irregular as this, invalid. What I can assert, on the best information, is the great patience and humility which all the fathers of the chapter displayed in these tribulations, enduring great privations in this imprisonment, which lasted through Saturday and Sunday. Finally, recognizing that their strength was very inferior to that which was opposing them, and that further effort was only to struggle against the current of a freshet, they, acting on the advice of the said provisor, again assembled in the chapter-room on the following Monday, and made a new choice, that of father Fray Jerónimo de León—a native of Mexico, a son of the convent of Manila, quite advanced in years; he was an excellent minister in the province of Tagalos, and formerly prior of the convent of Bulacán, and was much beloved by all for his devout religious spirit and peaceable conduct. They appointed as definitors Master Fray José de Mendoza, father Fray Isidoro Rodríguez, father Fray Luis de Montufar, and father Fray Juan Bautista Bover; and for visitors father Fray Carlos Bautista and father Fray José Duque.12 As for father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco, they appointed him prior of the convent at Cebú and vicar-provincial of that island, which he accepted with much resignation and humility. The tempest in the chapter ceased, and the province again enjoyed its former tranquillity for some time.

Father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco lived [132]but a short time in Cebú, for while officiating there human weakness, resulting from melancholy and grief at what had occurred, prostrated him with a long illness; this time he knew how to improve to good purpose, seeking the welfare of his soul. His confessor, director, and teacher was the bishop of Cebú, Don Fray Juan López, a prelate of great wisdom and virtue, who took such personal interest in the spiritual welfare of this afflicted religious that he spent most of his time with him, until in his care the sick man gave up his soul to the Lord, with great consolation to the holy bishop and to all who were present at his death. [The proceedings of] this chapter went to Rome, to our very reverend father general; he confirmed father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco as provincial, and annulled the second election, that of father Fray Jerónimo de León, commanding the chapter to guard their prerogatives; otherwise, it would have been a legitimate election, on account of his having conducted himself as merely passive in his election, and it appeared that he had not taken part in the tumults of the chapter-session....

Chapter II

[Chapter ii opens with an account of the rebellion in Otón, already told in VOL. XXXIX.] In September of 1671 was celebrated in Manila the festival of the dedication of the cathedral, which the holy archbishop Don Miguel Millán de Poblete had not been able to attain; but this was done by his nephew the dean, Don José Millán de Poblete, the bishop-elect, of Nueva Segovia. A solemn feast of one week was solemnized, beginning with the day of the [133]Nativity of our Lady, and there were other demonstrations of public rejoicing; for Don Manuel de Leon’s term of office produced many of these diversions, through the agency of his secretary, Don José Sánchez de Castellar—who had a very brilliant and versatile mind, and a flowery imagination; he had a great propensity for poetry, music, and studies in language, and was very liberal, so that he did not hesitate on account of the expenses which such festivities demand for their brilliant display.

On one of the nights of this celebration occurred at the port of Cavite the destruction by fire, without its being possible to prevent it, of the galleon “Nuestra Señora de la Concepción,” one of the largest and finest which had been built in these islands; it had served, with prosperous voyages, on the trade-route to Nueva España. In the year 1672 also the commonwealth of Manila experienced a great calamity; the galleon “San Telmo,” which had sailed for Nueva España in charge of General Antonio Nieto, had to return to Cavite—a misfortune which was keenly felt. But very soon afterward the galleon “San Antonio” was launched, in order to make a voyage under the command of General Don Juan Durán, nephew of the General Pedro Durán de Monforte, who has been so often named [in these pages]. The general remained in Nueva España with his wife, Doña María Jiménez, widow of Doctor Don Diego de Corbera, his Majesty’s fiscal, who died in Lubán in the year 1668.

About this time arrived a patache from Macán, in which came a nobleman belonging to the Order of Christ, named Don N. de Tábora, who came as an envoy from that city on affairs belonging to the [134]commerce of both cities. This knight was very hospitably received, and made a brilliant figure on all festal occasions (which were many), displaying his liberality and magnificence; and he added much to the credit of his nation, although it does not need the reputation of individuals.

Among so many gayeties and rejoicings the fear of wars was not lacking; for news had come that the son of Kuesing, named Kinsie or Sipoan, intended, following his father’s example, to fall upon the Filipinas. But this was false, for he was of a very different opinion—harassed by the Tartars and cornered in Hermosa Island; lacking followers and champans for so extensive an undertaking; and, besides, very inferior to his father Kuesing in courage and military training.

Notwithstanding that all this was well known in Manila, these reports came so plausibly fabricated that Don Manuel de León thought that he ought not to neglect or leave in uncertainty a matter which could occasion us irreparable injury; he therefore decided that it was less of an evil to seem credulous and over-cautious than to fail in his duties as commander through heedlessness and lack of foresight. He endeavored to take all precautions for such a contingency, warning the Pampangan and Cagayan peoples (who are the most warlike ones) to be ready in due time. He regulated the Manila garrison, which needed much reformation; and appointed experienced leaders. He commanded the armed fleets of the Pintados to be made ready; those of Panay and Ogton were taken by Captain Don Jose de San Miguel to be united with those of Cebú and Caraga, and all together formed [135]a fleet of more than a hundred joangas—which, if occasion arose, would be under the command of Don Fernando de Bobadilla. All this armada arrived at Manila at a time when it was quite certainly known that Kinsie was not undertaking any such attacks, and was quite destitute of forces to do so. And as I shall not have occasion to speak of him again, I consider it excusable to relate here the condition in which he found his affairs after the death of his father Kuesing. [Here follows a long account of this matter, which has no further relevance to our subject, and is therefore omitted.]

In the ship which came in the year 1672 arrived Doctor Diego Calderón y Serrano, a native of Granada—a student in the collegiate school13 of Master Rodrigo at Sevilla, and professor of canon law14 at the university there—who came as auditor of the royal Audiencia of Manila; he entered that body to fill the office of fiscal, which is customary for the most recent auditor to do, when there is no proprietary fiscal. He was married to Doña Catalina Ansaldo, a very honorable and virtuous woman, who died soon after her arrival. He was one of the excellent, and even of the best, official judges that Manila has had—very conscientious, with much fear of God, and very disinterested, which is a great virtue in one who is a judge; and therefore he [136]always remained poor, contenting himself with the income which he received from the royal treasury (which is three thousand pesos), and even from that he gave much in alms. He lived until the year 1688, and had a very pious death; he humbled himself to ask absolution from the censures which he, with his associates, had incurred in the banishment and exile of the archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who refused it to the others—as we shall see in the proper place, if by God’s favor we reach the discussion of those times!

Chapter III

[Most of chapter iii is devoted to the coming to Manila of a French bishop, François de Palu, titular bishop of Heliopolis and vicar-apostolic for China, accompanied by several other Frenchmen, both priests and laymen; he is one of three envoys sent to promote the missions in Siam, Camboja, and other provinces, and in China, and to endeavor to reopen those of Japan. They make their headquarters at Ayudia, the Siamese capital, but their efforts to convert the Siamese fail, on account of the obstinacy with which they hold to their false religion and idol-worship—in which they surpass all other nations, whether heathen or Mahometan, “for it is not known that any Siamese has abandoned his idolatry and professed the law of Christ.” Moreover, the Frenchmen get into a controversy with the Portuguese ecclesiastics of Malacca, who claim all the above-named regions as being under their spiritual jurisdiction, since they are still classed as missions, not having a formal ecclesiastical hierarchy, as do the churches of Manila, America, and Goa. Palu’s [137]coming to Manila stirs up much commotion in official circles. It is reported that he had set out for China, and was driven back by unfavorable weather to this port; and the Audiencia consider that it will not answer to allow him to go to that country, as, having been sent by authority of Alexander VII and the Propaganda, his entrance into China on such a mission would be an infringement of the royal patronage, since a large part of China is included in the demarcation of Castilla laid out by Alexander VI; and ecclesiastical appointments and jurisdiction therein belong to the jealously-guarded prerogatives of the Spanish crown. The royal officials at Manila therefore detain Palu, lodging him at the Jesuit college, where he is very hospitably entertained. When the Acapulco galleon is ready to sail, these French ecclesiastics are all placed aboard it and sent to Nueva España, and thence to Madrid. There Palu is well received, and has “much communication with the Conde de Medellín, the president of the supreme Council of Indias, an able minister and a man of great virtue.”] The bishop filled him with strange notions, basing his information on the little which he could have comprehended of the mode of government of these islands, and their religious conditions; for his retirement in the college of the Society of Jesus was for a short time, and his knowledge came not from ocular experience, but only from information by secular persons who visited him—who must have been only corrupt alcaldes-mayor who were trying to get rid of the gospel ministers, with whom those officials could not be on very good terms since the ministers had restrained them in their illegal and oppressive acts; [138]this [conflict with the officials] is the greatest hardship that is experienced in the ministries. The president, desiring to do what was right, listened attentively to the information furnished by so reverend a person, not considering that the prejudice of a person from a nation so opposed to us, and who had not found at Manila what he was expecting, rendered his account unreliable. From these reports ensued many royal decrees, which came [to Manila] years afterward, with mandates which were very difficult to carry out; because, as all the peoples [here] are different, they need different laws and rules. From this also originated the ordination of Indians as priests, of which there had been no previous example [here]—a wise precaution against the inconveniences which the Portuguese had experienced in Eastern India from ordaining canerines15 under the pressure of necessity. This is a usage which even the Dutch heretics abominate, saying that it is one of the three causes through which India has been ruined. And as in Filipinas that necessity does not exist, because of the admirable arrangements which the Catholic monarchs of [139]España have made for sending, at the cost of their royal exchequer, religious from their kingdoms as missionaries, there was no need of resorting to the extreme measure of ordaining the Indians as priests—as the Portuguese of India had done, and as now do the bishops sent out on the part of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide in their missions of Eastern India; and the latter do so because of their urgent necessity, since the said holy Congregation has not the funds for the support of European priests. On the contrary, the few whom they have in China, Tunquín, and other regions are supported by the alms which the citizens of Manila send them—except the bishops and priests of Siam, who have more means of support from fixed incomes in France.

This is a subject on which there is much to be said on both sides; but this is not the place for it, nor do I feel under obligation to continue it. I suppose that many Indians will be more worthy than are many Europeans to attain so high a dignity; but since the former usually do not enter the priesthood through the gate of a vocation, and only strive to attain it for the sake of advantage to themselves and their relatives, the danger is evident that the result will seldom be satisfactory. They cite the example of the primitive Church, which made bishops and ordained priests among the recently converted—like St. Paul in Ephesus and Athens, and in other parts of Greece, and the holy apostles for all the world; but there is a great difference [between that case and this], in the needs of those times and the nobility of those nations. These and many other changes resulted from the information given in Madrid by [140]the bishop Don Francisco Palu, who went to Roma, where also his information caused changes. I suppose that the intentions of this holy prelate were good; but he was lacking in experience. His representations also affected the governor Manuel de León and the auditors; for, although the royal Council of the Indias approved the caution with which they had acted in this so delicate matter, at Roma the result was very different. For his Holiness Clement X excommunicated them, and declared that they had incurred the censures of the bull In Cæna Domini, by a brief which, printed and authorized in Roma and Paris in the year 1675, was sent to Manila from China and Siam. [Here follows a sketch of Palu’s further career, his death, and some matters relating to the Chinese missions.]

This year the galleon “San Telmo,” which was going to Nueva España, in command of General Antonio Nieto, was driven back to port, which caused great losses in the property of the citizens of Manila.

Not less were the troubles which the archbishop of Manila, Don Fray Juan López, encountered from the time when he began to govern his church. He was a prelate of great virtue and learning, and of a pacific nature, disinclined to quarrels and discords; but as he was very firm in the defense of his jurisdiction and dignity, he greatly regretted that occasion should arise for disturbing the peace which he so loved. During his time, there were many occasions for recourse to the royal Audiencia, and controversies over jurisdiction; but that which most exercised the patience of this great prelate was the audacious conduct of Master Don Jerónimo de [141]Herrera y Figueroa, who filled the post of chief chaplain of the royal chapel of the Incarnation; this was founded by Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, for the cemetery of Manila, for the burial of his soldiers, as we stated in its place. The said chief chaplain attempted to arrogate to himself the privileges and exemptions which the army chaplains enjoy when they are actually in the field; and thus he sought to be exempted from obedience to the archbishop and from his jurisdiction, although he was only the chaplain of a chapel in a presidio. He had on his side the favor of the governor, Don Manuel de León—which in Filipinas is to have the lawsuit already gained and all one’s efforts successful. Made confident and daring by this, he opposed his prelate, not only refusing to obey him, but even being so insolent as to post the archbishop as excommunicate, to the scandal of all the heathen peoples who resort to Manila; and these abominable disputes lasted a long time. A long manifesto was written and printed in favor of Don Jerónimo de Herrera by Licentiate Don Juan de Rosales, an advocate in the royal Audiencia, proceeding on the false assumption of the privileges and exemptions of the chaplains who go with the armies in their campaigns; and reply to him was made, with very superior arguments, by the cura of the Spaniards in Manila, Bachelor Don José de Carrión. But, although the archbishop had justice on his side, the opposite side had a hold on the governor, and thus they did not care much for the lack of equity. This controversy was so bitter that the judges would not decide it, on account of the strained relations between them; and so it was necessary to refer the [142]case to España, to the royal and supreme Council of Indias. They, as unprejudiced judges, rendered sentence in favor of the archbishop; but when this decision arrived he was already dead. Then the chaplains of the said royal chapel learned that they were not exempt from the jurisdiction of the ordinary, as the army chaplains are exempt for other and reasonable causes.

These and other troubles, together with those of old age, hastened the death of the archbishop, Don Fray Juan López; this was as holy as his life, and occurred in April of the year 1674. He was buried in the convent of Santo Domingo, among his brethren. He was a native of Martín Muñoz de las Posadas, and came to this province of Santo Rosario in the year 1647. He taught theology in the convent of Santo Tomás in Manila, and went to España and Roma as procurator of the province, returning as consecrated bishop of Cebú in the year 1666. In 1672 he began to govern the archbishopric of Manila, with great reputation as a vigilant pastor, although that church enjoyed only two years of his prudent government. The regret for his loss was increased by the fact that a general vacancy in the office of consecrated bishop ensued in all the islands; this lasted until the year 1680, when the bishop of Cebú, Don Fray Diego de Aguilar arrived here—great affliction being caused in all that long period, by the lack of any one to confer holy orders on men who might assist the ministers who gave instruction. Many, both clerics and regulars, were obliged to journey to the kingdom of Siam, where they were ordained by Don Luis de Lanoy Faces, bishop of Metelopolis and vicar-apostolic of that kingdom; [143]and others went to Nueva España to be ordained, for even the city of Macán was without a bishop. Don Fray Payo de Ribera,16 the archbishop and viceroy of Mexico, was careful to send them the holy oils every year; he belonged to the order of our father St. Augustine, and was a prelate worthy of eternal remembrance on account of his great virtues—on which he placed the seal by renouncing the bishopric of Cuenca and retiring to the convent of our Lady of El Risco. He died there, with a great reputation for sanctity, being an example for prelates and for very austere religious.

Chapter IV

The triennial of our father Fray Jerónimo de León passed with some disturbances, which did not fail to cause considerable disquiet in the minds of the religious, and disturb the peace of the order. The reason was, that after the first year of his term, [144]he began to doubt whether he was lawfully elected, as it seemed to him that the real provincial was father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco; and indeed this was the case, as affirmed by our very reverend father general, Fray Nicolas de Oliva, of Sienna. Father Fray Francisco de Medina Basco had met a holy death in Zebú; and therefore our father Fray Dionisio Suárez, as provincial of the preceding chapter, began to govern [the province] as rector-provincial. Then Fray Jerónimo de León had recourse to the royal Audiencia17 on a plea of fuerza, alleging this spoliation. And inasmuch as such proceeding acts as a stay, since it is a principle in law that Spoliatus debet ante omnia restitui, omni alio casu postposito,18 they ordered that the government be restored to Fray Jerónimo, and that the question of title should be acted on later. But as judicial procedure is so slow, and of such bounds that they usually make a lawsuit eternal, our father Fray Dionisio Suárez was not inclined to secure his right at the cost of so much vexation; and therefore the triennial was completed in great peace; for father Fray Jerónimo de León was a religious very affable and worthy of being loved, and he deserved that his election should not be hampered by so notable a defect.

The time arrived for holding the session of the provincial chapter—the time in which the troubles which so many difficulties had caused to this province [145]were to cease, and when not only the former peace and concord were to return, but great gains were to be secured in religious observance; for from the time of this chapter-meeting this province began to grow more strict, and to grow in all that conduces to its greater splendor, every chapter-session increasing in strictness of observance, to the greater glory of our regular institute. Such are usually the benefits that arise from the judicious choice of a good superior, who undertakes to fulfil the obligations of his office. The chapter was convened in the convent of Manila on April 14, 1674; its president was the father definitor Fray Luis de Montuyar, on account of the deaths of the two senior definitors, Master Fray José de Mendoza and Fray Isidro Rodríguez. By general agreement the election for provincial fell on our father Fray José Duque, commissary of the Holy Office. He was a native of Oropesa, and was fifty-six years old; a son of the convent of San Felipe at Madrid, and a very near relative of the glorious saint Teresa de Jesús; and an able minister in the province of Pampanga, besides having much to do with its pacification in the disturbances in that province which we have already related. He came over to this province of Filipinas in the year 1645, and always had the reputation of being a religious of very strict observance, with great ability as a ruler; and this province found him to be such during an experience of many years in his four terms of office therein—three as provincial, and one as rector-provincial—being always reverenced as the father of it. As definitors were elected fathers Fray Enrique de Castro, Fray José Gutiérrez, Fray Bernardino Márquez, and Fray Bartolomé de la Torre; [146]and as visitors fathers Fray Antonio de Villela and the reader Fray José Rubio. Ordinances and regulations very suitable for the good government of the province were enacted, not many in number but useful and judicious.

At that period, this province was found very deficient in religious, on account of the many vacancies caused by death; on this account the ministries lacked the service which their extent and the arduous nature of some rendered necessary. Accordingly, as soon as the chapter-session adjourned the first care to which the new provincial devoted himself was to choose a well-qualified religious who might go as procurator to the two courts of Roma and Madrid, where the discords of the troubled chapter of the year 1671 had made a strong impression. For this purpose a private chapter-session was assembled, and therein a very judicious choice was made for this position, that of father Fray Juan García—a native of Las Encartaciones, and a minister in the province of Ilocos. The necessary despatches were given to him, and he embarked in the same year for Nueva España, in the galleon “San Telmo;” it was commanded by General Tomás de Endaya, a most successful man in these islands, where he died as his Majesty’s master-of-camp for them, in the year 1745. This religious had a prosperous voyage, and arrived at Nueva España and Roma; he successfully fulfilled his commission in all respects, and afterward returned to this province with a mission of religious, in the year 1679, so long was he detained in the negotiations at Roma and Madrid.

Chart of Manila Bay; photographic facsimile from Valentyn’s Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien (Dordrecht en Amsterdam, 1724)

[From copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society]

Through the peaceful rule of Don Manuel de León, in which term all was prosperous and fortunate, [149]the Filipinas Islands began to take breath after the troubles of so many preceding years; and in a short time they were gathering new strength and vigor. Don Manuel de León was a man of very good intentions, and had the excellent virtue of being very disinterested—which is very important in these regions, where the vice opposite to that has temptations so ready to make one fall headlong into the abyss of greed, which causes so many wrecks, as the root of all evils. Trading vessels came frequently from China, of which country the Tartars had gained entire possession; the Chinese, therefore, having laid aside their defensive arms, strove to accommodate themselves to the times, being anxious to repair the losses caused by war with the gains from trading—which is more adapted to their disposition than is war, Mars giving place to Mercury. The Chinese trade is the mainstay of the maintenance of Filipinas, by means of the silver which comes from Nueva España, which is the blood that gives life to this land; for from China come the stuffs necessary for clothing, from the shirt in their delicate fabrics to the needle and thread. Thence comes the fine earthenware which is, with reason, so celebrated throughout the world as choice and inimitable, because the material and clay of which it is made are found in no other place. Thence come drugs, and very rich coloring stuffs—especially vermilion, which is the best in the world. Finally, one cannot imagine any exquisite article for the equipment of a house which does not come from China, both cheap and excellent—especially the wares that come from Japón, with which country the Chinese have free commerce, just as it is totally prohibited [150]to us. In some of the years of that fortunate governor thirty champans would land at Manila, and many from the province of Cantón, where is the city of Macán, a Portuguese colony—which is so rich in silks that it has enough of that noble commodity to supply nearly all of the whole world; it is conveyed in ships belonging to the Dutch, English, French, and Portuguese, and that which is carried to Manila and thence to Nueva España is the smallest part of it. The great city of Cantón (or Kuang-tung, as they call it) is far greater than the great Cairo or Babilonia of Egypt, for those who are most moderate in estimating its population allow it four millions of inhabitants; but although it is so great it is not the largest city in the extensive empire of China, for that of Nanking has eight millions, according to Father Martino Martínez in his Chinese atlas.19 It is very commonly said in Manila that the city of Cantón has sixty thousand silk-looms, on which are made various fabrics of cloth and damask; and thus in one month enough is woven to lade many ships. By this some idea can be formed of the other industries of that city—or rather, that little world.

Commerce was also opened with the Portuguese of Macán, a trade which had been quite forgotten with the disturbances in China; and from that time it has continued, in varying degree, until this day. This trade, moreover, had been prohibited since the [151]year 1640, on account of the wars with Portugal; but through the negotiations carried on at the court of Madrid by Don Fray Álvaro de Benavente, when he was procurator of this province—asserting that this was the best and safest means for the entrance into China for the missionaries who were going to Filipinas—the trade with Macán was opened and authorized, as was accordingly published in Manila by a royal decree; and it was made known to the Portuguese at Macán by another from their king, Don Pedro II. The pretext which was given for opening this commerce was the entrance of the missionaries into China, and its results have been various, according to what the Portuguese have found expedient for their own interests, on account of the pretensions which they make to the [ecclesiastical] patronage of China—in accordance with the line of demarcation [between the dominions] of the two crowns, by the celebrated bull of Alexander VI, a question which is not yet decided by a competent judge; and therefore our missionaries enter China when the Portuguese choose to let them do so. But the latter come every year to Manila with one or two shiploads of goods, which is the most profitable trade that they have, on account of its nearness and of their securing in barter the silver that is so esteemed by the Chinese. But as the Portuguese are so courtly and liberal a people, and inclined to boast of the obligations of nobility, some Portuguese gentlemen usually return quite destitute of funds—as occurred this year to Juan Tabora, a cavalier of the Order of Christ. He spent the wealth which he brought here, which was much, in elegant gallantries and in bull-fights; for he arrived here at a time [152]when these and other sports were very frequent in Manila—not only on account of the prosperity and peace which were experienced during the entire term of office of Don Manuel de León, but through the jovial disposition of his favorite and secretary, Don José Castellar, who was a very witty and courtly man, and very fond of such pastimes. In these he spent whatever he was able to acquire, and when he came to die he was so poor that he was buried, through charity, in a chapel of St. Roque in the village of Mambong, belonging to the doctrina of Malolos in the province of Bulacán, which is in our charge.

Not only was the commerce with China, Cantón, and Macán set free in the time of the fortunate governor Don Manuel de León, but another was begun—indeed, almost discovered—which was very large and profitable, which has greatly increased the wealth of the citizens of Manila. This is the trade and traffic of the coast of Coromandel or Malabar20 in Eastern India. This is the coast which extends from the mouths of the river Ganges, at the beginning of the large kingdom of Bengal, as far as the cape of Comorin; it is inhabited by Malabars, a people very shrewd and intelligent, and fond of work, and so crafty that when it is worth their while they deceive [even] the Chinese, who excel in the ability to cheat. The Malabar and Bengal people are unsurpassed in the art of spinning and weaving cotton cloth; for they weave pieces more delicate than the finest cambrics and Dutch linens, and [153]gauzes so fine that when they are spread upon a table, the thread can hardly be discerned, it is so thin and delicate. But that in which they most excel, and have been alone and inimitable, is in their very fine cotton cloth dyed exquisitely with the finest colors; and this has another quality most excellent and admirable, which is that the more it is washed, the finer and more lustrous the colors appear, and they never are washed out or become dull. Without doubt these so rare colors are those which Job mentions in the twenty-eighth chapter, when making comparisons with Wisdom, he says: Non conferetur tinctis Indiæ coloribus.21 On this coast of Coromandel the English, Dutch, French, and Danes maintain their factories, and possess an extensive commerce in cotton cloth, which is consumed throughout Europa—and much more in the regions of the north, because cotton is so good for protecting them [from the cold]. But the largest settlement, and the one most frequented for commerce, is that which the English have, named Madrastapán, or Fort St. George;22 it is peopled with innumerable dwellers of all nationalities, not only those of India but Europeans. This is greatly favored by the policy that is in use in this great town, very different from that which obtains in Inglaterra, which is to permit the exercise not only of the apostolic Roman Catholic faith, but of all the heathen doctrines and ceremonies; and thus the Catholics have their churches, and so do the schismatic Armenians, with [154]schismatic Basilian monks.23 The heretics have their meeting-houses,24 according to their sects; the Moors [i.e., Mahometans] their mosques, and the heathen their pagodas; nor even is their synagogue denied to the Jews; and all live peaceably, exercising the occupations of trade, as harmoniously as if they all had but one faith and religion. About two leguas distant is the city of Santo Tomé, a noted colony of the Portuguese, which in former times enjoyed [the distinction of] being the emporium of all Eastern India; and the cause of its destruction was its enormous wealth and the lack of harmony among the Portuguese, a people who are naturally inclined to disagree. On a lofty height near the city there is an ancient church, in which is venerated an image of Our Lady, which is said to have been painted by St. Luke and deposited in that place (called Meliapor) by the apostle St. Thomas, who preached to the Malabars our holy faith and suffered martyrdom in this place—where is guarded a stone cross near which he was put to death; and the lance with which they pierced him, stained with his holy blood, is displayed, with other memorials of this glorious apostle. [Diaz here mentions the great probability, [155]fortified by citations from Juan de Barros, that the remains of the apostle repose there.]25

This commerce with the coast of Coromandel had remained quite neglected by the Spaniards of Filipinas—who never had maintained any other trade and commerce than that with China, Japón, and Macán—until this year of 1674. Then a citizen of Manila, a Catalan, named Juan Ventura Sarra, a courageous man, having first made with a fragata which he owned a voyage to the kingdom of Siam, from which he gained some wealth, extended his navigation to this coast of Malabar, where he left trade established; and in the following year Don Luis de Matienzo went thither, with much silver, and gained enough profit to persuade the citizens of Manila to engage in this traffic. The principal commodity which is brought from the Coromandel coast is certain webs of cotton, many of them forty varas long, which they call “elephants,” which are highly valued in Nueva España; accordingly, it is this merchandise which is chiefly shipped to those regions.

The governor placed on the stocks the frame of the galleon “Santa Rosa,” the work of that accredited master of this important and useful art, Juan Bautista Nicolá; and it came from them one of the finest and largest galleons that had been built in the port of Cavite and made very successful voyages, [156]sometimes being driven back to port. The governor commanded Juan Canosa Raguses, a very able builder of vessels with lateen sails, to build two galleys; these proved to be very suitable and swift, and rendered much service in driving away the Camucones, very crafty and troublesome pirates, who almost every year infest the Pintados Islands, plundering and taking captive. This is a barbarous people, cruel, and cowardly; indeed, they could not be the one without being also the other. They inhabit a chain of small islands, which extends from Paragua to Borney; some of them are Mahometans, and others heathen. But they [all] cause much damage to the Bisayan Islands, which they ravage without opposition—going so far as to carry away, in the year 1672, the alcalde-mayor Don José de San Miguel, as we have related in another place. They have a great advantage in the exceeding swiftness of their vessels, which enables them to find their defense in flight. Their confidence and boldness reached such a height that they even dared to infest the coasts of the island of Manila. The provincial of that time (of whom this chapter treats), Fray José Duque, while on his way to visit the islands of Pintados, came very near being made a captive, with his companion Fray Alvaro de Benavente; for they were attacked by a squadron of these pirates near the island of Marinduque, where they would have been a prey to their cruelty if they had not been protected by divine kindness, through the valor of Captain Francisco Ponce—a veteran soldier, who killed the captain and another of the pirates—and also the coming of a high wind, which gave wings to the champan to place itself in safety. [157]

At this time, in the year 1675, Governor Don Manuel de León was in great danger of dying, on account of having placed himself under medical treatment, without being actually sick, solely for the sake of improving his health—a proof that it might have cost him his life. Don Manuel was a corpulent man, and had grown so fleshy that he was almost unable to move about without aid, at which he grieved much because he could not attend to many functions which belonged to the obligations of his office. In view of this hindrance and his desires, Juan Ventura Sarra (whom I have already mentioned in the voyages to Siam and the coast of Coromandel) bound himself to cure Don Manuel and remove from him that great encumbrance [of flesh]—confident because he was a very expert surgeon, and the governor a man of great courage and reared in and accustomed to the perils of war. The governor accordingly accepted this treatment; and the skilful surgeon opened his abdomen in many places and removed from him many lumps of fat, and then sewed up and treated the wounds. In a few weeks the governor became well, and his flesh was much reduced, to the wonder of those who saw how the surgeon cut the flesh from his body, and the courage which the governor displayed—and what caused most dread [of the result] was his being an aged man, but little less than seventy years old. The king of León, Don Sancho I, was cured about the year 920 of a similar infirmity of excessive obesity, by the physicians of the Moorish king of Córdoba, Abderramen; but their treatment was not so harsh and sanguinary. It is certain that Juan Ventura Sarra was a great surgeon, and showed that he was [158]such not only with this governor, but also in the year 1682 with his successor, Master-of-camp Don Juan Vargas Hurtado. There was no hope for Don Juan’s life, on account of a large abscess in the hip, which was not understood to be such by the physicians; but Juan Ventura knew what it was, and opened the abscess with a large lancet which he made from a dagger, more than a tercia26 long, since the cavity was very deep. In this operation he showed his skill as much as Don Juan de Vargas displayed his great bravery and endurance, which aroused admiration.

Although the cure of Don Manuel de León was so marvelous, he did not, since that inordinate obesity was now a disease and a corruption of nature, long enjoy the agility and lightness of body that the medical treatment had obtained for him; and so he gradually fell back into that unusual infirmity, and again found himself, as before, without the use of his limbs. He had many wounds in his body, which he had received in more than fifty years of military life in Flandes, Alemania, and Galicia, where he had taken part in battles more celebrated than were known in those times [i.e., of which Diaz was writing]. He had been so courageous in not fearing dangers that they called Don Manuel de León “Ironhead.” Among these he had one deep wound, which must have been imperfectly or only apparently healed; and this in course of time, and with the pressure on it that would be caused by the increase of flesh, opened, a great flow of blood issuing from it. This occurred so inopportunely [159]that he was present in the church of Santo Domingo, clothed in mourning garb, assisting in the funeral rites for Doña María Cuéllar, wife of Auditor Don Francisco de Coloma.27 His blood flowed very copiously, but those near him could not see it on account of the mourning garments, and because the chair and cushion were of black, until he began to swoon, and sank into the chair. They carried him in their arms to his coach, and thence he was conveyed to his palace, where all the care due to the cure of such a personage as he was furnished. The above-mentioned Juan Ventura Sarra treated him, applying all means which the art of surgery imparts to those who are so skilful as was Juan Ventura, who within four months brought him to what seemed a state of convalescence. But as his age was so great, and could not give much aid to the medicine (which only assists nature), Don Manuel could never regain sound health. The physicians ordered him to go to one of the houses that stand by the river opposite Manila, where he spent a long time—until, on the night of April 8, 1676, they found him dead in his bed, although he had retired without any indications [160]of such danger. They found a power of attorney authorizing the father provincial of St. Dominic, Master Fray Diego de San Román, to make a will in his name, and directions that he be interred in the royal chapel of the Incarnation belonging to the soldiers of Manila, where he lies in a little chapel which stands on the gospel side. He was one of the best governors who has ruled these Filipinas Islands, very disinterested, pious, affable, and clement; and his death was therefore regretted by all classes. The estate that he left was the only property belonging to a governor that was put to good use,28 the religious who acted as administrator applying it to pious works which the governor had named to him—such as the holy Bureau of La Misericordia, so that for years many orphan girls were given in marriage by means of that part [of the governor’s donation] [161]which belonged to their dowries, until, with the successive wrecks of the two galleons “Santo Cristo de Burgos” and “San José,” in the years 1693 and 1695, the principal of that great endowment was entirely consumed. He also left directions to found a well-endowed chaplaincy in his native place—Paredes de Nava, in the district of Campos—and many other good works, worthy of his piety.

On account of his death the senior auditor, Don Francisco de Coloma, took charge of the government, in company with auditors Don Francisco de Mansilla and Don Diego Calderón y Serrano for civil affairs—for already had come the decision, in the controversy between the two auditors, by the royal and supreme Council of the Indias in favor of Don Francisco de Coloma, although his government lasted but a short time, on account of his death. During the time while they governed, however, they were very well agreed. The new governor despatched the ship “Santa Rosa” (which had just been completed) for Nueva España, in charge of General Don Francisco de Teja, a Navarrese gentleman; and it had a very prosperous voyage, as we shall see in due time.

Chapter V

All the triennial during which our father Fray José Duque ruled was a very prosperous time for this province, on account of the great improvement which was accomplished by his assiduity in reforming it, with both zeal and discretion; for he was as respected as beloved by all. The religious greatly regretted that the end of his term of office was approaching, and to see themselves deprived of so [162]excellent a prelate, who had so built up the edifice of strict observance of our rules, and had much better regulated the administration of the mission villages and ministries in our charge—his excellent management making up for the great deficiency of laborers which existed, which made it necessary, in many respects, to burden each minister with the work of two. Not his least care was that he had found the common property of not only the province but the convent of Manila greatly diminished, and everything reduced to the utmost necessity of restoration; for this is usually the greatest hindrance and impediment to the superiors in promoting with energy the regular observance, which requires many means for its preservation. But all was supplied by the diligence of that discreet prelate, making easier the removal of the most serious hindrances.

The time came for holding the provincial chapter, which assembled on May 8 in the year 1677, and, according to custom, in the convent of Manila. It was presided over—by commission of our very reverend father general, Master Fray Nicolás de Oliva, of Sienna—by the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio; and the election for provincial fell, by the general consent of all the voting fathers, and with the approval of all who were outside of the order, on our father Fray Juan de Jeréz, a religious excelling in virtue. He was a native of Baños in Extremadura, bishopric of Plasencia—a place belonging to the Duke de Béjar and the Marqués de Montemayor—and was a son of the convent of Valladolid and fifty years of age. He had been for many years master of novices in the convents of Salamanca and Burgos, which is a sufficient proof [163]of his religious devotion and virtue. He left España for these islands in the year 1669, and had been a minister in Pampanga; and in this chapter he cast his first vote as visitor of the province.29 As definitors were elected the fathers Fray Pedro de Mesa, Fray Juan Labao, Fray Francisco de Albear, and Fray Pedro Canales; and as visitors the fathers Fray Domingo de San Miguel and Fray Juan Guedeja. They enacted statutes very useful for the government of the province, and for the stricter observance of our religious estate, many of which were reproduced in various following chapters, having been found by experience to be well-chosen and advantageous.

The acting governor despatched the galleon “San Telmo” for Nueva España, in charge of General Don Tomás de Endaya, a regidor of the city of Manila; and it encountered so many storms before doubling the point of Santiago that fears were entertained that it would not have time to make the voyage before the vendavals. But the bravery of the commander and of his pilot, Leandro Cuello, over-came great difficulties, and they succeeded in reaching their destination.

The galleon “Santa Rosa,” which had sailed for Nueva España the year before, had also experienced storms, from the time when it reached the Embocadero of San Bernardino. For this reason Sargento-mayor Alfonso Fernández Pacheco came to Manila, bringing the despatches from his Majesty and information of the ship’s arrival on the thirtieth of [164]August. This galleon brought the news that Don Carlos II had begun, at the age of fifteen years, to rule the monarchy of España in person, freed from the guardianship of the queen-mother, Doña Mariana of Austria; and commands were issued that his royal name and seal be used in the despatches, and that royal fiestas proper to so important an event be celebrated—which took place afterward, in the month of December, as we shall soon relate.

[At this time] came the despatches for the presentation made by his Majesty for the archbishopric of Manila, of the person of the very reverend father master Fray Felipe Pardo, of the Order of Preachers; he accepted this dignity, and began to govern his church, the ecclesiastical cabildo yielding up the government to him. This appointment found him at the time engaged in the duties of commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition; his place therein was taken by father Fray Juan de los Angeles, a man who was worthy of such a name on account of his virtue and mild disposition. Also came the presentation of the reverend father Fray Andrés González for bishop of Nueva Cáceres or Camarines; he also accepted, and was consecrated, and ruled that church creditably, as he was a devoted religious, and very charitable; and he left behind him, when he died, a great reputation for sanctity.

On September 27, the acting governor, Auditor Don Francisco Coloma y Maceda, died at the age of sixty years, from an intestinal hemorrhage; he was an official of much integrity and uprightness, and was buried in the convent of Santo Domingo with his wife, Doña María de Cuellar. The government was assumed by Auditor Don Francisco de Mansilla, [165]a native of Ceniceros in Rioja, who was no less upright than his predecessor. His term of office was short, because a proprietary governor came in the following year; but even in the short time while his rule lasted he showed that he deserved that it should continue during his life, on account of the very peaceable and equitable manner in which he exercised his office. The first thing which he did was to look for all those who had been opposed to him in the year 1668, when he was exiled to Iloylo by Don Juan Manuel Bonifaz; and he honored all of them, more than some deserved, displaying a generous spirit, and that of a Christian ruler, which aroused the admiration of those who saw his prudence and moderation. These islands were much grieved that he must so soon have a successor, for the people loved and reverenced him. He was of corpulent figure and venerable aspect; and his hair (which was scanty) and his mustache (which was large) were white as snow—all which conciliated respect. Two years afterward, promotion came to him, the post of alcalde for criminal cases in [the Audiencia of] Méjico; but he died at the height of the voyage.30 He had two sons: Don Felipe Mansilla, a knight of the Order of Santiago, who lives in Méjico; and Father Antonio Mansilla, of the Society of Jesus, in these islands.

The city and municipality of Manila having determined to celebrate the festivities due to the great rejoicing which was caused in the Spanish domains by the assumption of sovereignty over them by their [166]king Don Carlos II, decided that these should be actually held in December, from the fourth to the seventh day of that month. This was done with great pomp and brilliancy. In the morning three sermons were preached: one by the dean of the cathedral, Master Don Miguel Ortíz de Covarrubias; another by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente of the order of our father St. Augustine (the secretary of our province, and often named in this history; he died in China, as bishop of Ascalon and vicar apostolic of Kiengsi); and the third by the reverend Father Jerónimo de Ortega, of the Society of Jesus. For the afternoons there were various bull-fights and comedies. On the last day, December 7, after the bull-fights and comedies, there were demonstrations of rejoicing; and for a climax to the festivities there was, at six o’clock in the afternoon, a beautiful and splendid masquerade, with magnificent costumes, and parades of servants in costly liveries. The most distinguished citizens of Manila went therein, two by two, representing the realms of the monarchy of España, with shields and mottoes proper for each kingdom; those who came last were the two alcaldes-in-ordinary of Manila, General Francisco Rayo Doria and Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Moya, representing the kingdoms of Castilla and León. They rode in pairs on handsomely-caparisoned horses, to the destination which was prepared for this purpose with palisades, and with so much splendor from wax tapers that the night had no cause to envy the brighter day. With this brilliant and elegant masquerade these royal festivities came to an end, the city remaining in the quiet and silence proper to that hour, which was about seven at night. [167]

Quite ignorant were all those who had celebrated and enjoyed this gay festival of the sad and melancholy catastrophe which was to follow on this so joyous scene; all were forgetful of the uncertainty of the pleasures of this world, which suddenly shifts its scenes, passing from gayety to mourning. Hardly had the people time to shelter themselves in their houses—some fatigued with the exercises of the masquerade, and others sad that the royal festivities had come to an end—when at half-past seven in the evening the earth began to tremble with horrible vibrations, changing their recent gayety into fear, horror, and lamentable perplexity. This first earthquake lasted a long time, so that it was feared that the last and fatal day for the sad city of Manila had arrived. The continuous and unequal vibrations of the ground; the frightful cracking of timbers; the [falling of] tiles from the roofs, and of stones which, loosened from the walls, came to the ground, raising great clouds of dust: all these made a most gloomy night, the image of death. Some hastened to seek confessors, and not finding them soon, published aloud their own sins. This first motion of the earth ceased, which people affirm to have been more violent than that of August 20, 1658, but it did not last so long; if it had been equal in duration to that one, it would have caused a large amount of havoc in the city of Manila.

It was worth much to the city that the earthquake found it greatly improved over former times in regard to the height of its buildings; for now they were reduced to more humble stature, and without the projections which would cause its greatest destruction, as has been experienced in previous earthquakes. The use of the harigues or wooden pillars [168]on which the heavy timber-work of the roofs leans and rests was recognized to be a sure protection and defense from such disasters; and therefore, although the earthquake demolished many buildings, breaking open the solid mass of masonry, they did not suffer entire ruin by being thrown down to the ground. Some few were destroyed through being old and in bad condition; but only one or two persons perished, and they of little account in the world. The kind-hearted governor went out with many followers to visit the [military] posts of the city, and aid, if he could, those who were in need; and the same was done by the alcaldes-in-ordinary and the regidors, accompanied by many citizens. The religious orders were well occupied in the ministries of their profession—some preaching from tables placed in the streets, others hastening to hear the confessions of those who asked for this sacrament, that is, of all. While all these were occupied in exercises so holy and pious, the trembling of the earth was again repeated many times; but, through the divine kindness, these vibrations were much slighter, continually diminishing—so that it seemed as if the divine anger were gradually being appeased, just as men were continually showing themselves more penitent. All that night until daybreak the earthquake shocks continued; for there were so many of them that one man counted forty, although to me it seemed as if there were many more. Many came out [from this calamity] crippled and lame; but all recognized that it was a miracle that the city had not been utterly destroyed with so repeated shocks. Later, it was ascertained that some chasms and air-vents in the earth had opened, and which is [169]surely the cause of these disturbances. One chasm opened in the bounds of the village of Bauang, in the province of Balayán; and another in the mountains of Gapang, in Pampanga. Those who arrived here after navigating the seas of these islands recounted the horrible perils in which they had found themselves, tossed by great billows and almost submerged in the swell which was caused in the sea by the earthquake; the sea even rose until, in many places, it swept over the land, occasioning great damage. With this slight mention I will close the sad account of the melancholy termination of these royal festivities.

The master-of-camp of these islands died, Don Agustín de Cepeda y Carracedo; he was a native of Talavera de la Reina, a relative of the glorious saint Teresa de Jesús, and more than eighty years of age. He was one of the most valiant soldiers who has belonged to these regions, and with that reputation he has been mentioned in this history in the greatest military exploits of his time, and in the government of Zamboanga and Ternate; and, what is his greatest glory, he was an excellent Christian, devout and charitable, and died with strong indications that he had been very earnestly such. For acting master-of-camp the governor appointed General Alonso López, a soldier of long standing, and also very aged; and therefore he did not long serve in that office.

Governor Don Francisco de Mansilla despatched the galleon for Nueva España, appointing as its commander his son, Don Felipe de Mansilla y Prado, a young man of much courage and ability, who at the time was serving in the post of sargento-mayor [170]of the Manila army, which is the second, in the esteem of military men, after that of master-of-camp. As sargento-mayor of the galleon he appointed Juan Ventura Sarra (the Catalan so famous for his successful surgical operations), on account of his being a man of much valor, and experienced in military service in Flandes and Cataluña. This galleon made a very prosperous voyage, both going and returning, as we shall see in the following chapter.

About the end of July in this year of 1678 came news that the galleon “San Telmo” had sighted these islands; it was under the command of General Don Tomás de Endaya, and had sailed for the port of Acapulco in the preceding year. It brought the proprietary governor, Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a native of Toledo, and nephew of the venerable mother Jerónima de la Asunción, foundress of the convent of Santa Clara in Manila—whose admirable life has been written by the father reader Fray Antonio de Leytona,31 of the Observantine Order of St. Francis; and the investigations preliminary to her beatification have been begun. This knight had served many years in Flandes, Cataluña, and Extremadura, always with great commendation for his valor, which was as great as his nobility. He came with his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, a native of Badajoz; and brought in his company her uncle, a captain of cuirassiers, Don Francisco Guerrero y Ardila—a man of lofty stature, who, like another [171]Saul, surpassed by the head and shoulders the tallest man in the Manila garrison—who showed that he possessed great valor. The new governor brought with him a numerous and brilliant retinue, and those who afterward attained most note were: his secretary, Miguel Sánchez Villanueva y Tejada, a man of great virtue, who came with his wife and three children, and afterward, having lost his wife, was ordained as a priest, and lived a long time an example for ecclesiastics, as before he had been one for laymen; Captains Don Juan Gallardo, Don Pedro Oriosolo, Don Jacinto Lobán, Don Tomás Martínez de Trillanes, Don Diego Vivien, Don Felipe Ceballos, Don José Armijo, Don Francisco Fabra, Don Antonio de Tabora, Don Juan Castel, Don Juan de Tricaldir, Don Manuel Alvarado; and others, all of whom served long in these islands. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Diego de Viga, a native of Bejar; he was afterward an auditor for many years, and was a very upright and disinterested official. The governor also brought some reenforcements of troops. The appointment of commandant of the castle of Santiago came to General Fernando de Bobadilla, who afterward was master-of-camp.

On the day of our Lady’s nativity Don Juan de Vargas entered Manila, being received with great festivities; there were two ingenious triumphal arches, which were erected by the religious orders of our father St. Augustine and the Society, because both had their houses on the principal street through which the procession would pass. Don Juan began to govern with much prudence and desire to do well; he was very punctual in fulfilling his duties, and [172]never failed in his daily attendance on the sessions of the Audiencia (in which some governors had displayed much negligence); and therefore in his time the court business was despatched more promptly, for he found many suits unsettled and delayed. This is an insuperable difficulty in these islands, where the lawsuits are eternal and constitute a perpetual source of income for court reporters, secretaries, and commissioners32—who, with the slow steps of judicial procedure, are continually plundering the litigants, until, impoverished or exhausted, they give up the suit, which is incorporated into a great mass of documents, which they call “Proceedings in lawsuits” [autos] in the archives of the court. Don Juan de Vargas was more fit for a soldier than for a governor; and gradually he looked with distaste on the duties of so arduous a post, and turned his attention to the means for securing his own advantage. The uncle of his wife, Don Francisco Guerrero de Ardila, became so much the master of Don Juan that, by his craftiness and great ability, he came to be the arbiter of the government. Accordingly, it was he who was governor, and he was the drayman who guided Don Juan de Vargas, while the latter, like a wagon, was carrying the weight of the government. Yet later Don Francisco Guerrero left him alone, and went to Nueva España, at so important a juncture that he met in the Embocadero the succeeding governor, Don Gabriel Crucelaegui, and Don Juan de Vargas in the residencia was laden with his own transgressions and those of others, as we shall [173]see in due time. He had a great advantage for thus making himself arbiter of everything, in having more affability and more shrewdness than the governor, who was naturally harsh and unamiable and easily fretted. Accordingly, every one set on foot his claims with more confidence by the hand of the uncle, who, as all knew, was the fly-wheel for the movements of the government; and thus in a short time he secured following and applause, [although] without the formal marks of respect which belong to the dignity of a ruler; and he came to direct the entire government, with authority and without opposition. The authority of Don Francisco Guerrero was greatly increased because the governor had made him master-of-camp, because of the death of Alonso López, who died within a short time [after his appointment], at an advanced age; this increased Don Francisco’s authority, and strengthened his influence over the governor. The servants [of the governor] made more effort to secure their own advantage than that of their master, and therefore Don Juan de Vargas found himself alone in everything that was not to the profit of the uncle and his familiars. He appointed as castellan and governor of Cavite Don Juan Gallardo; this is the most influential and profitable position that the governors of Filipinas have at their disposal—although at the present time his Majesty fills this office from Madrid; and in this way it was held more than twenty-eight years by Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Atienza y Bañes, who died while holding the post of master-of-camp, in the year 1718. Another servant, Don Francisco Fabra, he appointed chief guard of the Parián, an office which affords great [174]opportunities and facilities for securing the best goods; and thus in this occupation he was, so to speak, the governor’s agent, for which employ he had much ability.

Don Juan de Vargas, during his entire term of office, maintained trade and commerce with foreign nations, as those of the Coromandel coast, Bengal, and Surrate—which is the greatest emporium of Eastern India and of all the kingdoms subject to the emperor the Great Mogor [i.e., Mogul], a monarch more powerful than the Great Turk, and without doubt more wealthy. From this emporium of Surrate almost every year come one or two ships of great burden, like those that are called “ships of the line,” laden with many and varied wares of Eastern India. Within the last few years these traders are Mahometans, although before they were heathens; this is because they were obliged to accept the cursed doctrine of Mahoma by the former Great Mogor, Payxa Ali Ramasticán—who, trained up in his early years (when he was a fugitive from his family) by the house of Meca, was the cause of the total perdition of so many souls; for it is easier to convert to our holy faith a thousand heathens than one Mahometan. Trade and commerce were also very freely carried on with the Portuguese of Macán, and through their agency in Nueva Batavia in the island of Jacatra, the capital of the rich factories which the Dutch possess throughout India—where of the former Portuguese dominion only their language is left, since with that they trade and traffic; for they have been deprived of the fortified posts, which promised some advantage and profit, leaving to them only Goa (for the interment [175]of Portuguese), and some posts to the north, such as Chaud, Dama, Diu, and Bassain. Only one who has seen it, as I have, can describe the great extent of every kind of trade which Manila enjoyed in the time of Don Juan de Vargas de Hurtado; and in that time, therefore, great fortunes were accumulated, and the city was adorned with magnificent edifices—the old ones being rebuilt, and new ones being erected, thus repairing the late havoc and destruction.

Chapter VI

[This is occupied with an account of the attempt made by the Augustinian Fray Juan de Rivera to go to the forbidden mission-field of Japan; it proved unsuccessful, and he was obliged to return to Manila.]

Chapter VII

On the day of the apostle James news came to Manila [in 1679] of the safe arrival of the galleon “San Telmo” at these islands, and of its being outside of the Embocadero; this news was brought, with the royal mails, by Sargento-mayor Juan Ventura Sarra. In this galleon came two large and well-selected mission bands of religious; one was composed of thirty-one from our order, conducted by father Fray Juan de García, who had been sent for this purpose in the year 1674. The other mission was composed of religious belonging to the Society of Jesus, who were brought by Father Francisco Salgado,33 a religious of great learning and virtue. [176]This mission [of ours] arrived at the most opportune time that could be imagined, for our province found itself in extreme necessity, on account of the scarcity of religious; for in ten years it had not received even the smallest reenforcement with which to replace them in the extensive and numerous ministries in its charge. So great was this lack that our province was already taking measures to give up some of those ministries; but all the religious orders and the secular clergy were suffering from the same need as was our province, on account of not having a consecrated bishop who might confer the holy orders. The ship “San Telmo” could not enter the Embocadero of San Bernardino, for it was hindered by the vendavals; and therefore it made port, after many hardships, in Palapag, in the province of Leyte—a very safe harbor, but outside of the Embocadero, and more than a hundred and twenty leguas distant from Manila. The religious of the mission came hither through the provinces of Camarines and Laguna de Bay; the roads were bad, for it was the rainy season, but the hardships of their journey were alleviated by the charitable hospitality which was given to them by the religious of St. Francis—who, heirs of that saint’s seraphic love, vied with each other, on such occasions, in showing themselves true sons of so holy a father.

They arrived at Manila, where they were received by the community as sons beloved by their affectionate [177]mother, who was so eagerly expecting them; and on September 18—the day of the father of the poor, St. Thomas of Villanova—a private meeting of the definitors was held, and they were received by this province as her sons.

In this private session father Fray Juan García declared under oath, in verbo sacerdotis, that, having kissed the feet of our most holy father Innocent XI on September 20, 1677, among other favors which his Holiness had granted him the latter had told him that by his apostolic authority he made good all the defects which might have occurred in the elections of this province, from its foundation until the said day. His Holiness granted him several jubilees for certain convents, and eleven thousand ordinary indulgences, in the new form which his Holiness has promulgated; and gave him two notable relics, a bone of St. Venturino the Martyr34—the first for the hospice at Méjico, and the other for the convent of San Pablo at Manila. Father Fray Juan García also obtained from his Holiness, on petition by this province, a bull in which he granted that all the procurators who may go to Rome and bring hither missions of religious shall enjoy the same exemptions which those possess who have been provincials (who are called absolutos); this was accepted [by the Council of Indias], and father Fray Juan García was the first who enjoyed this privilege, all his life. But he, as the devout religious that he was, would [178]not allow the religious to address him as “Our Father,” as is the custom with the provincials, both active and retired; and, retiring to the province of Ilocos, where he was minister, he devoted himself to leading an exemplary life, abandoning himself entirely to meditation, mortification, and prayer until his death, and leaving behind a noble example as a sincere religious.

[The rest of this chapter is occupied with the coming (in the “San Telmo”) to Manila of Fernando de Valenzuela, the disgraced favorite of the queen-mother, and a sketch of his career in Spain. The last paragraph reads thus:] Don Juan de Vargas, learning of his arrival, and that he was already coming by land through the province of Camarines, sent to escort him General Don Francisco Enriquez de Losada and Captain Alfonso de Castillo; they conveyed him to the port of Cavite and the fortress of San Felipe. In that place a house was built for him, of timber, according to his taste and plan, with all possible conveniences; and there he lived—at the beginning, with much strictness, watched by sentinels, and receiving few visits; but afterward with more freedom, and visited by everyone, but always in the presence of Captain Juan de Herrera, the warden’s deputy. In this seclusion Don Fernando made use of his great mental ability, employing for his recreation the many talents which he possessed, especially in music and poetry; for in both these arts he had no equal in España. With the news which came by way of the coast of the death of Don Juan of Austria, the severities which, while he lived, had been employed toward Don Ferdinand were mitigated; and the prisoner enjoyed so much [179]diversion and company that in these regions he could not have had more. Every month he was allowed a thousand pesos from the royal treasury, which was sufficient for his support and comforts, and for the expenses of the amusements which his cleverness and ingenuity devised for his recreation. I have taken more time than I should in this narration (which might pass for a mere ornament of my proper task), because this gentleman was much devoted to us—although he had received from us and from the Society of Jesus (to whom he acknowledged his obligations) much assistance in his seclusion and in certain difficulties which he had experienced. The rest of his fortunes I will relate in the proper place, when we reach the termination of the ten years of his retirement, his return to Nueva España, and finally his death. The author of the additions to Father Juan de Mariana’s Historie general de España,35 at the end of the second volume, speaks very sharply and indignantly of this gentleman, and as he might speak of a wicked highwayman or of a cruel Nero. He certainly was wrong, for Don Fernando de Valenzuela was very zealous in the [180]service of his king, and his power and influence in the government were very beneficial to the monarchy, as after his fall was recognized by all, even his greatest enemies. But flattery36 must have mended the pen for him, so that in this matter he might show himself very prejudiced. Let the name of that writer be his apology, for it was Don So-and-so. [Fulano] Malo. The posthumous fame of Don Fernando de Valenzuela, however, will not be obscured by his errors.

Chapter VIII

The government of Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado proceeded with prosperous results, on account of the favorable seasons and the great abundance of the crops which were experienced in the years 1679 and 1680; and through the success and extent of the commerce which was maintained with China and the Coromandel coast, Surrate, and other ports of Oriental India and the kingdoms of the Great Mogor—which formerly were more than fifteen in number, and furnished much income to the royal treasury with the customs duties [derecho de a nojarifazgo]. Not only from the Coromandel coast—on which the Manila trade had founded populous settlements, as Portonovo and Cololu—but from the city of Goa came ships almost every year, commerce little known [to Manila] before, and very remote. The governor devoted much attention to the sessions of the Audiencia and the obligations of his office, and thus the legal business which devolved upon that court was expedited, through the uprightness [183]and integrity of the auditors, Don Francisco Mansilla, Don Diego Calderón, and Don Diego de Viga; the last named filled the office of fiscal acceptably to all.

Map of Eastern Islands; photographic facsimile of map in Coronelli’s Atlante Veneto (Venetia, 1696)

[from original copy in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris]

About this time there came to the general a solemn embassy from the principal ruler of Borney, whom those people revere as an emperor. This is the largest island of all Asia, and, according to the best cosmographers, has as great an area as all España and the kingdom of Portugal. It is thinly populated, as its surface is very mountainous; and therefore it is only on the shores of the sea and a few leguas inland that there are settlements of civilized people, if that name can be given to those barbarous nations. Borney has much wax, and in its seas are pearl-fisheries; it abounds in amber, camphor, and gold; and in its mountains are found large elephants, although smaller than those of Siám. Its inhabitants are partly Mahometans, partly heathens; but in color and disposition they resemble the natives of Filipinas, who say that they had their origin in these islands of Borney [and] the coast of Malayo. The ambassador was received with more ostentation than his person seemed to merit. Although he was corpulent and robust, he and all his retinue (which was not a small one) came barefooted and half-naked; he wore a broad bahaque, which tired him more than it covered him, and some wore a loose jacket, short and without a shirt (which is not known among these peoples); but all were well armed with lances and crises—which are swords as short as daggers, with which they are well able to defend themselves or attack, for usually they have these weapons dipped in poison. He made his entry [into the city] with [184]great pomp, in the coach and with the halberdiers of the governor, and accompanied by the sargento-mayor of the garrison, Don José de Robles; and the governor received him under a canopy, as being he who represented the royal person. The ambassador’s credentials came in the Malayan language, written in Arabic characters; these were interpreted by the Borneans themselves, and by a Ternatan named Pedro Machado. The object of the embassy, they said, was to establish trade and commerce on both sides, and to adjust some disputes over the limits of the island of Paragua and in regard to some hostile acts which had been committed in the lands of Borney by Alcalde-mayor Don José de Somonte, in vengeance for the injuries which the Camucones had inflicted in our islands. Everything was settled to the satisfaction of both parties, and the ambassador returned well content and handsomely entertained, with a valuable present for his king in return for another (and very ordinary) one which he had brought. In the following year, the governor sent in turn an ambassador, General Don Juan de Morales Valenzuela, a man of gallant nature and tall stature, with a very goodly escort of Spaniards. He was very hospitably received by the king of Borney, in a large pavilion of bamboo and nipa, which was erected for this solemn function; and the king allowed himself to be seen by all his vassals, a favor which, they say, is very rare in that royalty. Don Juan de Morales returned very successful, the king ceding to the Spaniards dominion over all the island of Paragua, and making satisfaction for the ravages by the Camucones; and since then we have remained very good friends [with the Borneans]. [185]

All the three years’ term of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jeréz was very peaceable, our order and the observance of our rules nourishing in this province, which continually increased in prosperity through the opportune measures which this judicious and devout prelate employed; for certainly he was one of the most observant superiors it had had, and it made great advancement in every way during the time of his government.

At last the time for the chapter-session arrived, and when the voting fathers from the four provinces were assembling, with great peace and harmony, suddenly a storm arose, which they feared would occasion the destruction of peace within the order, and produce divisions and contentions very difficult to adjust; and from which might originate great losses to the religious and their ministries. The trouble was this: some of the religious who were born in Nueva España, and others born in these islands, where they had assumed the habit of our order, attempted to renew the old controversy over the alternate elections37—which arose in the year 1637, as we have related in book ii, chapter 26—incited to this by having found a copy of the first bull of Gregory XV, and the royal decree for its passage by the supreme Council of the Indias, attested by Don Diego Núñez Crespo, at that time court secretary of the royal Audiencia. With this slight foundation, without heeding that the matter had already been decided by apostolic authority—by the legate of his Holiness, that is, the archbishop of [186]Manila who was then in office—according to the bull of his Holiness Urban VIII, issued “at Castel Gandolfo, diocese of Albano, May 18, 1634” (of which they probably were not aware), [they made this claim]. They had on their side many citizens of Manila, and employed as their leader Doctor Don José Cervantes Altamirano, a cleric in minor orders—who afterward was married, and at his death was alcalde-mayor of the Parián of the Sangleys, and chief clerk of the cabildo and municipality of Manila; he had a very keen mind, and with that he would, if he had been master and disciple of himself, have made a great jurisconsult.

They appointed as judge-executor Master Jerónimo Fernández Caravallo, cura of the village of Quiapo, a priest of little ability and easily influenced. This man accepted the commission with much pleasure, believing that it would bring him honor and profit; and he therefore set up his tribunal, and appointed as his secretary Bachelor Martín Díaz, cura of the natives and Morenos in Manila. At once he sent this man to notify the provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, of the said bull of Gregory XV; but the provincial would not accept the notification, not recognizing Master Caravallo as a judge until he should establish his right as such before a competent tribunal, and because this proceeding found him unprepared, and with little knowledge of this controversy, because neither official documents nor information about it were found in the archives of the province. Investigations were made, and the original documents were found in the archiepiscopal tribunal; and an authentic transcript of these was found in a writing-desk which stood in the cell of [187]the provincials, of which the key could not be found, and it served only as an ornament. In the said desk was also found the above-mentioned bull of Urban VIII, with which and the acts issued in the year 1657 the procurator-general (who was the writer of this history) presented himself before his Lordship Don Fray Felipe Pardo of the Order of Preachers, the archbishop-elect and ruler of this archbishopric, as being the legate appointed by his Holiness Urban VIII to render decision and sentence in this question. He looked at the bull and declared himself judge, and as such examined the documents, with the assistance of his counselor the father presentado Fray Raimundo Verart of the same order, a doctor in both branches of law from the university of Lérida. They found that this controversy was already authoritatively decided,38 and with the lapse of forty-three years had become established as a matter of law; that there was not the least room for the claim made by the fathers of the Indias; and that the province possessed the same right as before of making its choice [of officers] freely, without respect of persons. Upon the litigant religious—who had taken refuge in, and by order of the royal Audiencia were committed to, the college of the Society of Jesus and the convent of San Francisco—was imposed perpetual silence; and with censures they were commanded to return to their convents, and to follow what obedience should direct to them. They did so, and there was no farther discussion of this matter; for in the following chapter-meeting attention was given to consoling them. Those who [188]made amends for all were the judge-executor, Master Jerónimo Caravallo, and Bachelor Martín Díaz, whom the archbishop punished with pecuniary fines for not having first appeared before him with their commission, and for having erected a tribunal without his permission. But intercession was made for them on the part of our province, and their fines were diminished. Information of the affair was given to our very reverend father general, Fray Domingo Valvasorio, of Milan, who commanded that the religious who had been the movers of this innovation (which might so greatly have disturbed the peace of this province) be punished; and again imposed silence regarding the claim to alternation; but the whole matter was adjusted, for at the end the order, like a mother, must regard them as her sons.

The time for the chapter-session arrived, which was May 11, 1680, at the convent in Manila; its president, by commission from our father general already named, was our father Fray José Duque; and father Fray Diego de Jesús, prior of the convent of Pasig, was elected provincial, to the satisfaction of all, by the unanimous vote of all the fathers in the chapter. He was a zealous religious, very observant, and enamored of poverty; and had great learning, prudence, and discretion. He was fifty-eight years of age, a native of Pejar in Extremadura, and a son of the convent at Salamanca—where, and in that of San Felipe at Madrid, he had been for many years master of the novices. He came to this province in the year 1669, as has already been said, influenced [to come] at so great an age by scruples at having excused himself in the year 1660 from coming as commissary for the mission which reached this [189]province in the year of 1663, by the appointment given to him by our very reverend father general Master Fray Pablo Luquino, who was then visiting the provinces of España. The definitors appointed were fathers Fray Juan Ponce, Fray Carlos Bautista, Fray Pedro Martínez, and Fray Álvaro de Benavente. Father Fray José Camello and the father reader Fray Juan Martínez were present as visitors from the previous triennium; and for the present one were appointed father Fray Juan Guedeja and the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio. As procurator for going to España was appointed father Fray Manuel de la Cruz, a native of Toledo, and a son of the convent of Badaya; and they elected him definitor of this province for the next general chapter to be held, and agreed upon39 the choice of a discreet for the said general chapter.40 This choice was so judicious that to it is due the conservation and advancement of this province, for he fulfilled so carefully the obligation of his commission that he conducted to Nueva España three [190]mission bands—the largest and most distinguished that this province has gained, for in all they contained over fifty religious—the first in the year 1684, the second in 1699 and 1700, and the third in 1712.41 He himself remained in Mexico, where he died with the reputation of great virtue, at the age of seventy-four years, in 1712.

It was decided in this chapter to ask our very reverend father general to extinguish the votes of the discreet of the convent at Manila, and those of the priors of the convents of Hagonoy and San Pablo de los Montes in the provinces of Tagalos, Mexico in Pampanga, Narvacán in Ilocos, and Dumarao in the province of Panay—on account of the usual scarcity of religious, and the deficiency which might be caused, by their absence while at the chapter, in Ilocos and Bisayas, provinces which are so remote. The other arrangements and ordinances which were made in this chapter publish its great zeal for promoting the regular observance, and the nourishing condition of that observance in this province.

Governor Don Juan de Vargas despatched for Nueva España the galleon “San Antonio,” under command of General Don Francisco Enríquez de Losada, then accountant of the royal exchequer; and in this galleon went the father procurator Fray Manuel Losada, and in his company father Fray Miguel de Negrea—a son of the convent of San [191]Felipe, and native of that city [i.e., Madrid]; he was going back to his own province, and died on the voyage, in the high northern latitude. The voyage was a very distressing one, on account of the severe tempests which suddenly came upon them; and many of those on board died, not only seamen but passengers. A better voyage was that of the galleon “Santa Rosa,” which had sailed the preceding year by the same route from Nueva España, in charge of General Antonio Nieto; for on the morning of the day of St. John the Baptist it entered the bay of Manila, to the great joy of those who were watching it, and anchored at the port of Cavite—a good fortune which seldom has been enjoyed in these islands since the banishment of Don Fray Hernando Guerrero, in the year 1635, as we have with sadness related. In this galleon came Don Fray Diego de Aguilar, of the Order of Preachers, a native of Rioseco, as consecrated bishop of Zebú; for several years he had been detained in Nueva España. He brought in his company father Fray Manuel de Olivares, of the same order, who afterward was provincial of the province of Méjico; his nephew, Captain Don Juan de Urías; and other Spaniards. His arrival occasioned great rejoicing, on account of these islands having remained so many years destitute of a consecrated bishop, and many clerics and regulars were waiting to receive holy orders.

In this galleon arrived three religious belonging to the mission of father Fray Juan García; they were choristers, and had been left in Nueva España, to be ordained as priests, and their names are as follows: father Fray Francisco Castrillón, a native of Madrid, and son of the convent of San Felipe; he [192]was twenty-four years old, and had spent nine in the order. He was a minister in Tagalos until the year 1690, when he returned to Méjico, where he died soon afterward. Father Fray Dionisio Navarro, a native of Leganés, and a son of the same convent of San Felipe; he was twenty-four years old, and had spent seven in the order. He was a good preacher, and well versed in the dialects of the province of Tagalos. He went to España and returned hither, and died in the convent of Manila from a long and painful infirmity, on November 2, 1714. Father Fray Antonio Gutiérrez, a native of Medina Sidonia, and a son of the province of Andalucía. For only a short time he was a minister in Tagalos, because he soon fell ill with a contraction of the tendons [tullimiento], which lasted until his death; this occurred at Manila, in the year 1693.

The arrival of this bishop of Zebú served as a great spiritual consolation for these islands; for he repeatedly performed pontifical functions, conferring holy orders on a great number of religious and clerics. He interceded with the governor, in order to reconcile with him those who had taken refuge in the churches through fear of some oppression from the absolute power of the governor—which can not be compared with any other power in the universe; and the worst is, that no means can be thought of for moderating and tempering it within the bounds of reason, because the distance of five thousand leguas which lies between the royal court of Madrid and Filipinas cannot be diminished. The swiftest post, therefore, requires three years, and most of them four; and if it happens that the galleon is obliged to put back to port, the mail is delayed to five or six [193]years. At the end of so protracted a term as this, the most peremptory royal rescript is exposed to the danger of being withheld by the governor, according to his pleasure. The lord bishop with his intercession withdrew from asylum in the house of the Society of Jesus the secretary of Don Juan de Vargas, Captain Miguel Sánchez de Villanueva y Tejada, and restored him to favor with his master—although soon afterward the governor removed him from his service, making him alcalde-mayor of Laguna de Bay.

About this time the convent of Angat in the mountains of the province of Bulacán was received, with the title of our mother St. Monica, and father Fray Juan de Morelos was appointed its prior. It was composed of the visitas of the convent of Quingua—Tabuquillo, Abarungco, Catalonan, Guinapusan, and Santa Lucía—which, on account of being very distant from Quingua, were administered with much difficulty; and therefore the ministry of Angat was founded, more than three leguas distant from [the convent of] Sandago at Quingua. It has ordinarily two hundred and fifty tributes, with a church and convent of wood. The district is very healthful and pleasant, because the land is fertilized by a river of the best water that is known in these islands; it is the river celebrated by the name of Quingua, the waters of which, compared with many others, have been found to weigh less. This mission is bounded on every side by very fertile meadows, on which abundant harvests of excellent tobacco are gathered; for this reason it is thickly settled with people who cultivate this plant, which is so esteemed throughout the world, and which now has made its way to the [194]chief personages therein. This district has forests, although they are scattered, of heavy and valuable timber; for they are very dense, and so extensive that they join those of Balete and San Mateo, at a distance of more than eight leguas. In the district of this ministry the religious of St. John of God possess a fine ranch stocked with cattle and horses, which is the most that they have for the support of their convent and hospital at Manila, where they aid the sick poor with their usual charity. The convent of Angat has no vote in the chapter-meetings, and therefore is counted in the number of the vicariates of this province.

Although the citizens of Manila are not easy to please, no matter how good their governors are, it appears that in the time of which we write they had much reason to be discontented with the government of Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado; for not only did he devote himself excessively to his own personal interests, to the detriment of the commonwealth, but he was of a harsh and unpleasant nature, and gave sharp answers. Besides this he spoke in a treble voice, and people heard him with difficulty. He kept every one angered at his harsh behavior, and disgusted by his being engrossed with, the pursuit of gain. This was recognized in the lading of the galleons, which is the net of the merchants; and in this year [of 1680] the galleon “San Antonio” was in danger of not making the voyage, on account of its being so overloaded by his henchman Don Juan Gallardo, the castellan of Cavite—not only with his own goods, but with those of his master the governor—that its commander, Don Tomás de Endaya, was compelled to unload the vessel and return to lade [195]it anew, accommodating the entire cargo to the vessel’s capacity. On account of these and other well-known animosities against the governor and his retainers, the citizens this year determined to inform his Majesty against him; and they did so, the auditors and the city uniting for this purpose and making charges against him. They sent letters, with great caution, in this galleon; and these papers caused his removal in the year 1684.

About October of this year the governor sent to Macán General Antonio Nieto, in order to settle some disputes relative to commerce; he accomplished this with much discretion, his excellent procedure reflecting credit on the Castilian nation. He also, with great charity, relieved many cases of necessity, which in the said city are very numerous; but this was done without injuring one iota of the Portuguese tenacity and pride, in which that people exceed all others in Europa.

Chapter IX

[This chapter describes a remarkable comet which was visible in the islands from the middle of November, 1680, to February 14, 1681; and relates at much length the condition of the Chinese empire at that time, and the founding of Augustinian missions therein. Of this matter, we retain only the description of the comet and its course.]

The frightful comet [was] so large that it extended, like a very wide belt, from one side of the horizon to the other, with but little difference [in its breadth], causing in the darkness of the night nearly as much light as the moon in her quadrature. The course of this comet was, like those of the [196]planets, a rapid one from east to west, so that every day it disappeared and was hidden. The other movement was a retrograde one, so that it moved from west to east three or four degrees, and sometimes more than five, each day, at times less. This movement lasted from November 20 until February 14, 1681, in which time it passed through the signs of Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries—passing the equator from the south, from the handle of Libra and Ophiuchus [Serpentario]. It crossed the ecliptic and southern solstice, and through the constellation Antinous to the tail of the Dolphin, to the tail of the Little Horse [i.e., Equellus], and the breast of Pegasus, and thence to the head of Andromeda; and it passed over the equator at 310° from the point of Aries. Its magnitude was frightful, for its circumference and head [i.e., of the coma and nucleus] was two thousand one hundred and four leguas; and its magnitude was equal to that of Mercury, which is nineteen times larger than the earth. Its tail reached, on January 8, an extent of seventy-five degrees, which at its distance made 1,437,919 leguas. It was a celestial comet, and not elemental;42 and according to its parallax it was in the celestial quarter distant from us 1,150 semidiameters or halves of the line which we regard as crossing the center43—[197]which, according to the measurement of Father José Zaragoza, a distinguished mathematician of the Society of Jesus, are 1,153,000 leguas, which was its apogee. Its movement was 7,458 times as swift as the velocity of a cannon-ball weighing twelve libras, which, according to those who are curious, travels in each minute, or sixtieth part of an hour, two-thirds of a legua. This comet was visible throughout the world, giving rise to much discussion over its effects, which in truth were generally very evil. On the second of January it passed the parallel of our zenith. These observations were made by Father Eusebius Kino,44 a German, of the Society of Jesus—a mathematician of the university of Ingolstad, a missionary in California—while he was in Méjico; and he printed them, with a dedication to our Lady of Guadalupe. [198]

Chapter X

General Antonio Nieto returned from Macán, leaving the affairs of the commerce with these islands regulated, as well as the entrance of missionaries into China by that door—although it never has been assured, because the Portuguese allege that such entrance is opposed to the right of patronage of their king, with other absurdities which only excite a smile; for it is a fact that many of the more southern provinces of China fall within the demarcation of Castilla, in proof of which not much mathematics is needed. Moreover, the Portuguese do not hold a palmo of conquered land on which they have erected churches, or founded bishoprics, with the right of patronage; for in that very city of Macán the emperor of China possesses as much authority as in Cantón, and they pay him customs, duties and other royal tributes. And within that same city, while General Antonio Nieto was there, an incident occurred which would cause shame [even] to a nation less Catholic than the Portuguese, whom no other people outdo in that respect.

In that city the Chinese make their idolatrous processions, and commit other abominations, as they do in every other part of their lands. It happened that in one of these processions, at that time, they carried an idol, a figure of a beautiful woman with a child in her arms, whom they call Sanpuerstsa; this is the idol to which they pay most devotion, for they call her “Mother of Mercy.” This confirms what is told by the traditions in China, which declare that our holy faith was preached in that country; and that when it was forgotten some images of saints remained which were made idols. Captain Nicolás Pérez [199]looked closely at the idols, and asked a Chinaman in the procession what image that was; and the Chinaman replied, “Here, like St. Mary at Manila.” Nicolás Pérez, hearing this, raised his hand, and gave the Chinaman a heavy blow in the face. The procession was thrown into confusion, and the Chinese and the whole city disturbed; the aggressor was seized; and it cost Nicolás Pérez and General Nieto many pesos and much effort to leave the Chinese satisfied, and the Portuguese free from their fear that their city and all their royal patronage would be destroyed.

When Antonio Nieto returned to Manila, he was accompanied by three clerics, who came to be ordained as priests, as at that time they had no bishop in Macán. One was Antonio Melo, the son of a rich Portuguese of much repute in Macán named Basco Barbosa; and the others were people of the country, that is, mestizos of Portuguese and Chinese blood. They were ordained by the bishop of Zebú, Don Fray Diego de Aguilar; and soon afterward they returned to Macán in a patache belonging to that city, accompanied by two priests of the Society of Jesus, mathematicians, who had come in the year 1679 with Father Francisco Salgado, assigned by their general to the mission of China. This vessel sailed about October, which is the time of the monsoon that is unfavorable to this voyage; and no information whatever has been received about it, or how or where it was lost, although great efforts have been made for this by the citizens of Macán.

[Here follows an account of a punitive expedition against the Zambals, which we have already given; see VOL. XXXVIII, pp. 226–228.]

The galleon “San Antonio,” which had sailed in [200]the previous year in charge of General Don Francisco Enrique de Losada, reached Acapulco, although it encountered heavy gales in the high latitudes, and returned prosperously to these islands. It had not the good-fortune to come in as far as the point of Cavite (a piece of luck which seldom occurs), on account of the vendavals having set in steadily; and therefore it made port in Solsogón. In this galleon came the following persons: The father master Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, of the Order of Preachers, and preacher to his Majesty, consecrated as bishop of Troya, to be assistant for the archbishopric of Manila. He was a son of the convent of Peña de Francia, and native of a place in Sayago called Barroco Pardo; he was a very learned scholastic, a great preacher, and a very observant religious. The father master Don Fray Juan Durán, of the Order of Mercy, and a native of Lima; he came as consecrated bishop of Sinopolis, and assistant to the bishop of Zebú; he was very learned, and of very handsome figure and lofty stature. The entreaties of his Majesty had obtained from his Holiness these two auxiliary bishops, with two thousand pesos of income from his royal treasury, and with the right of future succession to assume the government of the vacant sees as they might occur. They brought the bulls and pallium for the archbishop Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who in virtue of these was consecrated on October 28; this was performed by the bishop of Zebú, Don Fray Diego de Aguilar and the bishop of Troya, with the assistance of the dean, Master Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias, who carried the mitre. [201]

Presentation came as bishop of Nueva Segovia to Doctor Don Francisco Pizarro de Orellana, the archdeacon of Manila, and a native of that city; [the see was vacant] by the death of Master Don Lucas de Arqueros de Robles, a native of Vigan in Ilocos; and a son of Lorenzo Arqueros, so renowned in the revolt of the Zambals and in their destructive raid into Ilocos. [The said archdeacon] was a priest of lofty virtue, the fame of which had secured for him this dignity—which he did not enjoy, as he lived but a short time, and died before the bulls for his consecration arrived.

[Others also] arrived: Doctor Don Cristobal Herrera Grimaldos, a native of Méjico—who was a professor in the university there, and dean of the faculty of law, and had been counselor of the archbishop of Méjico, the viceroy of Nueva España, Don Fray Payo de Rivera, of the order of our father St. Augustine—who came as auditor of this royal Audiencia of Manila. Doctor Don Pedro Sebastian de Bolívar y Mena, a native of Méjico—a son of Licentiate Don Juan de Bolívar y Cruz, a former auditor of Manila [sic] and Clementina45 professor—also an auditor of this royal Audiencia. Also Doctor Don Lorenzo Esteban de la Fuente Alanis, a native of Murcia—a professor in Granada and Sevilla, and competitor for positions in Salamanca—as fiscal of the Audiencia. All were able lawyers, and the fiscal not only surpassed the rest, but was [202]very skilful in music; and he excelled all who had been here in the rare art of playing well the guitar [vihuela],46 an instrument handled by many, but understood only by him. Besides these came Licentiate Don Miguel de Lanama Altamirano, an advocate of this royal Audiencia; he was a married man, as also were the auditors, and they brought their wives with them. Don Miguel was a lawyer of much ability, and held important positions in his profession. An appointment came for Don Francisco Montemayor y Mansilla as alcalde for criminal cases in Méjico; he sailed for that country in the second year, with his son, Don Felipe Mansilla Prado, and died on the voyage. His son is still living—a knight of the Order of Santiago—as also is Father Antonio Mansilla, of the Society of Jesus.

The bishop of Troya was accompanied by father Fray Alonso García, a native of Tamanes in Sayago, a religious of the order of our father St. Augustine, who had been left in Mexico, belonging to the mission of the year 1679; he was a son of the convent at Ciudad Rodrigo, and was twenty-five years old; he was a minister in Tagalos, and died in the convent at Bulacán, in the year 1704. [With him was] also father Fray José de Andrada, a Portuguese, a native of Lisboa, and a son of the congregation of Eastern India. Having spent several years in this province, and desiring to be adopted into it, but not being able [203]to secure that privilege for lack of the consent and permission of his Majesty and of our very reverend general, he went by land to Roma and Madrid—going to Surrate, and thence to Alepo and Venecia—and obtained a warrant from our father general, and a decree from his Majesty, ordaining that he be received into this province, but with a clause which stated that this should not be regarded as a precedent. This religious was an excellent minister in the province of Ilocos, where he died at an advanced age in the year 1705. He deserves that record be made of him, since his adoption into this province cost him so many peregrinations and hardships; for to obtain it he made the entire circuit of the terraqueous globe.

This galleon brought one of the best and most copious reënforcements of soldiers that had been received here; for they numbered more than three hundred Europeans, and came from Nueva España, without the stigma of being convicts or men taken from the jails.47 This accession was very timely for filling up the military forces in Manila, which was accomplished by removing many colored men and replacing them by Spaniards; for in this Don Juan de Vargas took great pains, showing himself an able soldier. Thus in the time of no governor since Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera was the garrison of Manila in so fine a condition as in that of Don Juan [204]de Vargas. The baton of master-of-camp was given to General Don Fernando de Bobadilla (who was castellan of Santiago), in place of Don Francisco de Ardilla [sic], who held it ad interim. The scene began to change with the coming of so many bishops and of auditors and lawyers—an event which, it seems, tended rather to augment the forces so that the shock of battle might be more violent and fierce for both sides, the winds again returning for the fearful commotions which were to disturb the peace and tranquillity which the commonwealth of Manila had enjoyed. For although the government of Don Juan de Vargas did not prove to be what the citizens of Manila desired, on account of his natural harshness and his excessive devotion to his own private interests, nevertheless, as he did not rob any one of anything, and was only a hindrance to the merchants gaining the profits of the trade more to their own satisfaction; and as, on the other hand, the islands were in a Nourishing condition, the commerce with China and India was very firmly established, and wealth was not diminishing, there was [something] for all if their desires were not excessive, and for the governor more than all together. But, as covetousness is the root of all evils, ... from this resulted the greatest troubles and Calamities.

Time had passed agreeably for the people with some festivities that were celebrated at the dedication of the church of Santa Potenciana, on May 19, which were very diverting and ingenious. There were poetical competitions, which were arranged for that celebration by the cleverness of Don José de Castellar, who had been the secretary of Governor Don Manuel de León—at whose [205]posthumous expense had been rebuilt that church and royal seminary. In these exercises the geniuses that are in Filipinas showed that in that remotest corner of the world is hidden much that could shine in the principal courts of Europa; for the poems that were presented therein, both Latin and Castilian, might have been a credit to the leading universities. And certainly there was verified the saying and opinion of some critics who assert that Filipinas is composed of quintessences,48 for many of these are found there, not only of good but of evil; and therefore in the pulpits as well as in theology (both scholastic and moral) there never lack stars of the first magnitude; and in all the rest “a hair is cut in the air,”49 as the common saying goes.

The first misfortune which was felt was the return to port of the galleon “Santa Rosa,” in command of General Tomás de Endaya; it is these losses which are most deeply felt, since all are interested in the prosperous voyages of the galleons; and it is one of the greatest troubles of these islands, if not the worst, that all are dependent on two bits of wood,50 and those entrusted to the fickleness of the sea—the one that goes [to Acapulco], and the other that is expected. [206]The sad news of its return came late in December, about Christmas, and caused general sorrow. The year 1682 began with the melancholy feeling which was inspired by seeing that we were deprived for that year of having a galleon from Nueva España, which is the artery that communicates the blood and the life for the preservation of these isolated islands—that is, the silver which, like a lodestone, attracts the most remote nations to the commerce and trade; and by the lack of the silver [which comes] with the galleon commercial transactions are greatly retarded.

Now, it seems, the two camps had made ready their opposing forces for one of the most sanguinary battles which for many generations had been waged in these islands; and its consequences lasted many years, and its echo was a scandal to the universe. The auditors began the duties of their office with great care and attention, for they were all very erudite men, who had filled chairs in the universities of España; but, as the true wisdom is the fear of God, when this is lacking all human knowledge is useless.... In the Indias a great source of disputes is the desire which some ministers have for extending the royal privileges [regalias], expecting through this channel greater advancement—as if kings, and especially those who are so Catholic and pious as are ours of España, would be willing to do anything else than to render to God that which is God’s, content with what is rendered to them, which is Cæsar’s. The great privileges of the royal patronage are not opposed to the integrity of the episcopal dignity and ecclesiastical hierarchy; rather, they are in accord with each other, and [207]both use their powers to promote the greater prosperity of the faith.... And, since the greatest privileges of the patronage of the Indias are pontifical concessions, how can they be used against the power of him who concedes them, who necessarily must be relatively greater?... Therefore, there neither is nor can be wrong in such privileges, which are founded in justice and right, and there is no opposition between those which are pontifical and those which are royal, as there is not and cannot be any between the virtues. The fault is in those who interpret these privileges as they do the laws, for they say that they give their mind to them, as if they no longer had any mind, and were now mente captas.51... Excellent and learned officials were all the auditors who at that time were members of the Audiencia of Manila; but, to judge by results, self-will greatly blinded their good understandings, and therefore occurred to them the lot of those whom our father St. Augustine mentions (treatise 4 on [the gospel of] John): Temporalia perdere timuerunt, et vitam æternam non cogitaverunt; ac sic utrumque amisserunt.52 The infinite mercy of God probably did not permit that, although all met very painful and some very sudden deaths—except Doctor Don Diego Calderón y Serrano, who died as a good Christian, who did not choose to entrust the safety of his soul to opinions. But at the least we saw them lose temporal prosperity, [208]when they were confidently expecting even more. [Here follows (pp. 751–766) Diaz’s account of the Pardo controversy, which we omit, since it has been sufficiently used for annotation of other documents relating to that subject, for which see VOL. XXXIX, pp. 149–275.]

Chapter XIII

During all the three years’ term of the provincial Fray Diego de Jesús this province enjoyed great tranquillity, and made great progress in strict observance, and in care and watchfulness in the mission villages in our charge. All regarded the provincial as a mirror, and seeing him they corrected their own negligence, on account of the great virtues that shone in him. His poverty and disregard of earthly things was of heroic degree. Of many of his surpassing virtues I can be a witness, for I had much to do with him during this triennium, on account of having duties near his person. It cost much urging to make him lay aside a habit, very old and worn, which he had used many years; and to induce him to change a hat which was so old that it appeared unsuitable and ludicrous. On many occasions he had no water even in his cell; and when he needed it, for visitors or for himself, he asked for it from others.53 So [209]close was his attendance in the choir that it seemed as if he had no other occupation. He never handled money during his term as provincial, to which I can testify, since I was his depositary and almoner (for he possessed the virtue of charity in a very high degree). He was frequent in prayer, and so severely did he mortify the flesh that after death there were found on him the marks of the cilices54 of copper, even to the soles of his feet; a little before he died, these had been taken from him by father Fray José de Orense, of the Order of St. Francis, a religious of great ardor, to whom Fray Diego had communicated his own. Although I have not reached the time at which his holy death occurred, I am not willing to pass over in silence what happened on that occasion to this noble religious Fray José de Orense. The death of our father Fray Diego de Jesús was hastened by his infirmities, and by his age, which was seventy-four years. They rang the bell for giving him the holy sacraments, and at the same time father Fray José de Orense came in at the convent door. They told him that his dear friend was in danger of death, and he replied with a serene face that he already knew this, and had come to the convent on that account; for the two had agreed that, whoever should die first, the other would assist him at death. The wonderful thing is, that the brethren had not [210]informed Fray José of it, nor had there been time for that. He remained with our father Fray Diego until the latter expired in his arms. Our father had completed his term as provincial, to the great regret of all, and then retired to a cell, which, during the thirteen years while he lived, he did not leave except for the choir-services; nor did he go outside [the convent] except with the body of religious. In no chapter-meeting which followed would he vote, although he was past provincial; and in order to carry this out better he endeavored to secure that his brother, Fray Buenaventura de Béjar, should obtain the function of voting. If in the year 1686 he presided in the chapter-meeting, it was by commission of our very reverend father general, and because some persons had magnified it as a charge on his conscience that it was important for him to accept that post; and therefore he did so, although with evident reluctance. They desired to elect him provincial for six years before [his death], but they never were able to attain this.

The chapter-session was held in the convent at Manila on May 8, 1683; and it was presided over by father Fray Juan Ponce, the first definitor for the past triennium, as we had not a special appointment for that duty from our very reverend father, the general of the whole order. The election for provincial fell on our father Fray José Duque, for the second time, with the unanimous consent of all the voting fathers and the general satisfaction of the whole province—who knew from long experience his great talent for governing, and his great devoutness and prudence; on account of these qualifications [211]he was afterward commissary of the Holy Office. As definitors were elected our father Fray Juan de Jérez, the father reader Fray Juan Bautista Bover, and fathers Fray Alonso de Escos and Fray Francisco de Zamora. The visitors for the past triennium were present, the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio and father Fray Juan Guedeja; and the new visitors appointed for this triennium were fathers Fray José de la Cruz and Fray Alonso de Arnillas. The mandates and statutes of this chapter-session, although not many, were exceedingly useful for the proper government of the province.

Strong recommendations were made that they should send to the mission of China religious who might aid fathers Fray Álvaro de Benavente and Fray Juan de Rivera; and for this holy employ, after a few months, the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio offered himself, and, renouncing the office of prior of the convent of Cebú and the responsibility of vicar-provincial for that island, he embarked for China; and afterward he was followed by fathers Fray José Gil and Fray Francisco Patiño, who rendered excellent service for several years in those missions—although finally they withdrew on account of impaired health, and returned to these islands.

When the father reader Fray Miguel Rubio arrived at Cantón, it was but a short time after the entrance into China, by way of Hermosa Island, of the bishop of Heliopolis, Don Francisco Palú, on a journey from Roma; he resided in the city of Moyang, from which place he sent to the regulars who were ministers notifications of the decrees of the holy Congregation of the Propaganda upon the subjection of the regulars to the apostolic vicars. This [212]occasioned great disquiet, and hindered the preaching of the gospel; and from it originated bitter controversies, which began in that time, and are not ended up to the present; may it please God to bring them to an end in future days. Nevertheless, at the visit to Roma of father Fray Alvaro de Benavente some relief was given by the decree which he obtained from the holy Congregation of the Propaganda, which suspended the subjection, and left only the visitation of the vicars-apostolic and some other and lesser duties of obedience, in other matters leaving the regulars subject to their own regular superiors—which is the same as to leave them subject to two masters. But this is impossible, by the saying of Christ our Lord, according to chap. xvii of St. Luke: Nemo potest duobus Dominis servire55—which is what was attempted in Filipinas by the archbishop Don Diego Camacho y Avila.56 Bishop Palú, who styled himself vicar apostolic for the entire empire of China, sent to Cantón a notification of the bull of his Holiness Clement X and the subjection of the regulars, to a French priest named Filibert Leblanc—who is still living, a very old man, and is vicar apostolic of a province. His coming occasioned much grief to the fathers of St. Francis, and to father [213]Fray Miguel Rubio, who made such answer as at that time seemed expedient. The bishop of Heliopolis lived but a short time in China, dying in the city of Moyang.

This year the governor despatched to Nueva España two galleons, with a considerable interval between, thus providing a remedy against the returns to port which had been experienced in preceding years; for it was very possible that, in case one ship were driven back, the other could make its voyage—which had been known to occur many times, since they could not keep together in that dangerous navigation, and might follow very different courses; and one will suffer from a storm, and the tempest not reach the region where the other vessel is sailing. Accordingly, he sent the galleon “Santa Rosa” as flagship, in charge of General Antonio Nieto; and as almiranta the galleon “San Telmo,” under his follower Admiral Don Francisco Fabra, a very sagacious and active man. These two galleons made a prosperous voyage and reached the port of Acapulco, where General Antonio Nieto remained as castellan of the castle there (until his Majesty should give him a proprietary appointment), because he who held this office was dead, and the viceroy of Nueva España, Marqués de Laguna and Conde de Paredes de Nava,57 appointed ad interim General Antonio Nieto. [This resulted] to the great improvement of that fort, for he strengthened and [214]repaired it, and provided it with military supplies, in which it was very deficient—most of this at his own cost, because he had a generous disposition.

Governor Don Juan de Vargas also placed on the stocks, at the port of Cavite, a galleon to which he gave the name “Santo Niño Jesús de Cebú,” one of the largest ships ever built in these islands; its builder was Juan Sánchez, a man well skilled in the art of such construction, on account of having practiced it many years in Yucatán. So much diligence was used in constructing the ship that it made a voyage to Acapulco in the year 1684, as we shall relate in its place.

In this year of 1683 there came to Don Juan de Vargas an envoy extraordinary from the king of Siám, and from his barcalón (or prime minister in all the kingdom), who was a Greek and very Catholic, named Constantius Falcón. The envoy was a religious of the order of our father St. Augustine, a native of Lisboa, named Fray Estebán Sousa; [he was formerly] a lecturer on theology in the convent of Évora, and had been rector at Goa and visitor for Macán, and was a religious of great learning and greater virtue. It seems that one of the things solicited by the barcalón Constantius Falcón was, to retire to Manila with his family and all his wealth, which was great, on account of his being the royal favorite and having great influence with the king of Siám—who, although a barbarian and very superstitious, as are all that people, had a very amiable disposition and much esteem for Europeans. Sargento-mayor Don Francisco de Moya, with whom Constantius was on very intimate terms, dissuaded him from this purpose; and certainly the arguments which he brought forward were reasonable, based [215]on the extreme and incredible power of the governors of Manila, which is very unfriendly to the possessor of much wealth, as has been confirmed by experience. I could set down here many instances of this which have occurred in my own time; but I omit this, as being a matter that is both delicate and offensive.

It would have been very prudent on the part of Constantius to have retired from Siám; for within a few years the king died, and his successor was not so kind and well-intentioned. This king inflicted on Constantius a most cruel death, and appropriated his enormous wealth, which, according to report, was counted by millions. It is true that Constantius was very guilty, for he had formed an alliance with the French, and was planning to surrender to them the kingdom of Siám; and for this purpose he had corresponded with the king of France, who sent many Frenchmen for this enterprise—which ended very badly, and cost most of them their lives; and the missionary bishops suffered very great privations. The intention of Constantius was a good one; it was, to establish the Catholic faith in Siám, for which he had built some churches. For the adornment of these, he sent [orders] through the said Don Francisco de Moya for many chalices, monstrances, and vessels of silver covered with gold, to be wrought in Nueva España; on account of his death, these were sold in Manila, and now they are in many churches of these islands. Only his wife escaped—a Japanese woman, a very good Christian—and a son of his, who went to Francia, where the most Christian king conferred honors on him, and gave him an income and the title of count.

Father Fray Estebán de Sousa, having concluded [216]the business which he had to transact in Manila, returned to Siám; and the king of that country sent him as his ambassador to the king of Portugal, accompanied by two Siamese nobles [mandarines] who carried a rich present. With them he went to Goa, where the viceroy of India sent him on his way to Lisboa with the best ship that he had. But when they arrived at the Cape of Good Hope the ship was dashed to pieces, at the place which is called “the false cape,” and most of its people perished, including one of the Siamese nobles. Father Fray Estebán and another religious of Ours—a Portuguese named Fray José de Gracia, who had spent several years in Filipinas—with a very few others, saved their lives. They traveled by land more than forty leguas, through those desert shores of Africa, where they encountered only lions of fearful size; they saved themselves from the lions at night by surrounding themselves with fires, on account of the antipathy which those fierce beasts have for fire. They ate some herbs of the field, and, weakened by hunger and fatigue, they fell dead along the way; more than forty Portuguese perished, among them two religious of the Society of Jesus, for they were old men and unable to travel so far, or to suffer such privations. After many days, having endured incredible sufferings, they reached a city which the Dutch have at the Cape of Good Hope, called Santa Elena; they were received there with much kindness, and the Dutch treated them very well, and relieved their many necessities.

Father Fray Estebán returned to Goa, and by order of his provincial went back to Siám, where in the Bandel58 of the Portuguese he made a hermitage; [217]and there, allowing his beard to grow, he devoted himself wholly to prayer and mortification, being an example for all the Europeans in that kingdom. He had his grave always open, in which he often placed himself, and there meditated on the end of the glories of this world. In the year 1698 he returned to Manila, in order to procure a bell for his hermitage and some other articles for its adornment, and to collect some alms. In the following year he went back to Siám, to continue that mode of life, [which he did] until the year 1709, when they found him dead in his hermitage, on his knees; they buried him in the grave which he had always kept open. The spirit of this religious was approved in Manila by men consummate in virtue—especially by fathers Fray Francisco de la Concepción and Fray José Orense, Franciscans, who were very spiritual men, and well qualified to decide on souls truly mystical. He practiced great mortification in his food, for he never ate flesh or fish, but only fruits (and those without any additional relish), roasted sweet potatoes and bananas, and a little boiled rice.

In a vessel from the Coromandel coast came Juan Antúnez de Portugal, a knight of the Order of Christ, and a son of the celebrated Portuguese jurist Domingo de Antúnez de Portugal (of the same order), who wrote the very learned book, De regalibus. He came with an appointment from his king as governor of the islands of Timor and Solor, and, having fallen dangerously ill at Malaca, he feared, as a good Catholic, to die among those Calvinistic [218]heretics; and therefore embarked in a coasting vessel which was coming to Manila with merchandise. He was received by Governor Don Juan de Vargas with the hospitality which his person and noble rank merited, and medical treatment was provided for him with great care. As soon as he became well and was ready to continue his voyage to Timor, the governor sent him, well provided, in a very good vessel belonging to some Portuguese traders, and gave him some Spaniards to accompany him.

The islands of Timor and Solor are the last of which we have knowledge toward the south beyond the island of Jacatra, where the Dutch have founded the city of Nueva Batavia, the capital of all the colonies and factories that they possess in Eastern India from the Cape of Good Hope, which are numerous and rich. The islands of Timor and Solor abound with gold, and in them alone grows the sandalwood, a very fragrant and esteemed wood, and a great article of trade for China—although the transportation of it is very unbecoming for Christians, because it is the incense and timiama which the Chinese use most in the sacrifices to their idols; and therefore the Portuguese have found by experience that wealth gained by this wretched traffic never is profitable. These islands are under the Portuguese dominion and are relics of its ancient colonies, although they are but little subject to it on account of being more than twelve hundred leguas from Goa. At that time the rule over them had been usurped by a Dutch mestizo (although he feigned to be a Catholic), named Antonio de Ornay, a very sagacious man and an able politician, who governed [219]them more as a king than as a vassal (as he said he was) of the king of Portugal—whom he recognized so far as it seemed good to him, and made contributions to his revenues with part of the great and almost incredible riches which it was said he possessed, especially in gold; but most of his wealth was hidden and buried in the ground. The king of Portugal and the viceroy of India, knowing that they could do no more, allowed him to remain in that power, and sent him [the insignia of] the Order of Christ, and other titles of honor. It seems that the cabinet at Lisboa were displeased at the limited power that the Portuguese crown possessed in Timor, and decided to send Juan Antúnez to replace Antonio de Ornay, but armed and escorted only by the royal warrant, which is more than enough for Portuguese loyalty. Juan Antúnez arrived at the principal port of Timor, and found it in hostile array and garrisoned by soldiers of all nations, sent by Antonio de Ornay, who already had information (by way of Batavia) of his new successor; these soldiers had orders from him not to allow Juan Antúnez or any other person to land from the vessel, and not to accept from him any despatch or letter. The new governor spent many days there, waiting to see if he could at least write a letter to Antonio de Ornay; but seeing that he had no remedy except to return to Manila, he did so, with much difficulty and lack of provisions. From Manila he set out for India, where he was afterward governor of Mozambique and other places in Africa. Antonio de Ornay remained absolute master of Timor and Solor, until he died suddenly, of old age; and without the assistance of a priest, because the influence [220][aires] of the neighboring Batavia had so weakened his scruples. At his death was present a citizen of Macán, Antonio de Vasconcelos, of the same Order of Christ, who told us in these islands that all the wealth of Antonio de Ornay, a great quantity of gold, had been lost; for, as he had buried all his treasures and died suddenly, they remained for the court of Pluto, the imaginary god of riches and also of hell.

About the end of the year, Auditor Doctor Don Cristóbal Herrera Grimaldos died, aged more than seventy years. The cause of his death—which came rapidly, in an illness of a few weeks—was that a running sore that he had in his right arm became cancerous. It is said that it was this arm that he stretched out to seize the archbishop when he ordered [the soldiers] to carry out the prelate in the chair on which he was sitting; such is the story, but it is not confirmed.... What is certainly known is, that he made no effort to secure absolution from the excommunication. He publicly received the holy viaticum, which was administered to him by the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; and they buried him in the church of the Society of Jesus at Manila. Afterward the archbishop, having returned from his exile (as we shall soon relate), by sentence and demand from his attorney-general ordered that the auditor’s body be disinterred; but this proved ineffectual, because it was alleged that the body had been buried in a general sepulchre, in which were the bones of others of the faithful, and those of the auditor could not be recognized. At this, the ecclesiastical officials desisted from their attempt; but there was no other declaration to the contrary. [221]

While the archbishop was enduring his exile in Lingayén—or, to speak more correctly, his imprisonment, since he had not the liberty that exiled persons enjoy—in Manila the tempest continued against the religious of St. Dominic, who, as being his brethren in the order, had great share in his troubles. The usurping provisor, Dean Don Miguel de Covarrubias, and the cabildo, successful in maintaining the vacant see [sede vacante], arrested and harassed all those who, as it seemed to them, did not agree with their opinion. And as it seemed to them that all the force in this opposition came from the religious of St. Dominic—especially from the provincial, Fray Antonio Calderón; father Fray Cristóbal Pedroche, commissary of the Holy Office and vicar-provincial; father Fray Bartolomé Marrón, rector of the college of Santo Tomás; and the two lecturers in theology, father Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas—they demanded aid from the governor, Don Juan de Vargas, to banish those religious. The governor issued a royal decree, signed only with his own name, directing the provincial to send the five religious above mentioned to the village of Lalo, the capital of the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, distant a hundred leguas from Manila, on the pretext that some of them were preaching, and others teaching, erroneous doctrines in the community. The said provincial replied to this that if the errors consisted in saying that the cabildo and their provisor had usurped the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and that the persons who had banished the archbishop and arrested the ecclesiastics deserved the censures [of the church], it was himself who had most influence [in forming that opinion in them], and who with [222]most firmness maintained it; and that as his subordinates were not to blame in the matter, since they obeyed the commands laid on them, he could not fulfil the orders given by the royal decree. The said master-of-camp issued a second decree in the same form as the first, repeating its commands, and ordering that the provincial with the five religious be brought to this capital.

To the end that this order might be executed, he gave commission to Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, auditor of that Audiencia—who, accompanied by several companies of arquebusiers and other soldiers under the command of the said governor, went to the convent of San Domingo; and, leaving it surrounded with many of the soldiers, with others he entered it to make known the said royal decree. He actually notified the provincial and Fray Cristóbal Pedroche, commissary of the Holy Office and vicar-provincial of Manila; and the soldiers looked through the entire convent in search for the rector, Fray Bartolomé Marron. Not finding him, they went on to the college of Santo Tomás, and, after making the same efforts to find the said rector, but in vain, notified the two professors of the same decree. They made substantially the same reply as the provincial—all of them saying that they could not voluntarily leave their offices and province; but that they were ready to endure any violence for the sake of God and His cause. The news of this was sent to the said master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas, and he was told how in the convent and the college all the doors and offices had been opened to the soldiers, without resistance; he gave orders that the soldiers should remain round about the convent [223]and college, and should not permit the entrance of any provision of food or water for the religious until the six should be surrendered, and should go alone to the places designated in the said royal decree. This blockade, with this rigor, lasted four days, and on the last day, which was the day next following Corpus [Christi], the same auditor went to the convent; and, having made various protestations and requisitions, ordered the usurping provisor (who was present) to remove those religious. After some questions and replies the provisor commanded the soldiers to carry in chairs, in their arms, to the place of embarkation of the provincial and his vicar-provincial; this was actually done, carrying them until they placed the religious in the vessel which had been made ready for this purpose. This having been accomplished at the convent, they went to the college of Santo Tomás, and the same thing was done to the two professors of theology; and, all being placed together in the same vessel, they were conveyed to the port of Cavite. From that place the two professors were transported in another vessel to the island of Mariveles; and the provincial and vicar-provincial were detained there until the time for the sailing of the ship for Nueva España, in which they were embarked. The said provincial reached the kingdom of España, where he died a few months after his arrival.

At the same time, by order of the said master-of-camp, Doctor Don Diego Calderón went to the convent of the Parián (which is the village of the heathen Chinese), with the same display of arms and soldiers, in quest of the said vicar-provincial, and searched the entire convent—where he could not be [224]found, since he was, as has been stated, in the convent of Manila, in company with the provincial. With the same commission Captain Don Luis de Morales Camacho, alcalde-in-ordinary, went with armed soldiers to a ranch named Biñán, distant eight leguas from Manila, and belonging to the said college, to seize the rector, thinking that they would find him there; and General Antonio Vásquez went, with the same accompaniment of soldiers, to the convent of Abucay, a ministry for the Indians, distant eight leguas from Manila by sea, to look for Fray Raimundo Verart; but, as they could not find those two religious, they could not in their case put into execution the [sentence for their] removal from the islands. Strenuous efforts were made in Manila to look for the father rector, Fray Bartolomé Marron, but they could not find him; for he was safely hidden in the house of a person who was strongly attached to the order; so they desisted from their search for him.

Chapter XIV

The two galleons which had sailed for Nueva España in the preceding year arrived safely at Filipinas [1684], although they did not make port at Cavite, but at Solsogon, within the Embocadero. The flagship “Santa Rosa,” which had gone out in charge of Antonio Nieto (who had remained as warden of the castle at Capulco), brought back as its commander Don Juan de Zalaeta, a native of Vizcaya, and a knight of the Order of Santiago. He had spent many years in these islands, and had been a soldier in Ternate; and, having returned to [Nueva?] España, had held several honorable [225]offices—as, being alcalde-mayor of Hicayán and Puebla de los Angeles, and warden of Acapulco. In this galleon came the governor who was to succeed Don Juan de Vargas; this was the admiral of galleons, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, a knight of the Order of Santiago, and a member of the “twenty-four” of Sevilla and of the supreme Council of War. He had been commander of the Windward fleet,59 and had held other responsible positions on sea and land; and he was a Vizcayan, a native of Elgoibar. Don Juan de Zalaeta carried the commission for taking the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, and other warrants; but the most important person among those whose residencias he must take was the master-of-camp Don Francisco Guerrero de Ardila, uncle of Don Juan de Vargas’s wife. It was this man who had enjoyed the profits of the office of government, and this year he was returning to España as commander of the galleon “Santo Niño.” That vessel met within the Embocadero the galleon “Santa Rosa,” and, learning that in the latter had come a successor to Don Juan de Vargas, he hoisted the anchors without waiting for further information, whether opportune or not [con tiempo ó sin él], and sailed into the sea outside; and he was not ill-advised in this step, since in the residencia he would have been the chief personage. When Don Juan de Zalaeta learned that the best of the hunt had escaped from him, he was much grieved that he could not catch him; although it would have grieved Don Francisco Guerrero more [226]if they had seized him. That gentleman knew how to enjoy the advantages of Filipinas quite alone, and to go away laughing at the citizens and every one else; but Don Juan de Vargas remained behind, in custody, to make amends for his own faults and those of others.

In company with the above-mentioned governor came very distinguished officers, all Vizcayans; there were Don José de Escorta, Don Pedro Uriósolo, Don Francisco Alvarez, Don Bernardo de Endaya (who carried the despatches from his Majesty), Don Pedro de Avendaño, Don Matías de Mugórtegui, Don Francisco de León y Leal, Don Juan Bautista Curucelaegui, Don Andrés de Mirafuentes, Don José de Herrera, Don Manuel González, Don Lorenzo Mesala, Don Francisco Carsiga (who died a priest), Don José Arriola, Don Martín Martínez de Tejada, and Don Lucas Vais; all of them were generals and sargentos-mayor, whom we know as captains, and rendered much service and honor to these islands. In this galleon came Don Mateo Lucas de Urquiza; also Captain Lorenzo Lázaro, a noted pilot; Captain Don Francisco Cortés, boatswain; and for ship’s storekeeper Juan de Aramburu, a brave Vizcayan who served in many important exploits.

View of Strait of Manila; photographic facsimile from Recueil des voiages Comp. Indes orientales (Amsterdam, 1725)

[from copy in library of Wisconsin Historical Society]

In the almiranta “San Telmo,” in which returned the admiral Don Francisco Manuel de Fabra, came a numerous and excellent mission of religious of our father St. Augustine; it was sent by father Fray Manuel de la Cruz, who left these islands in the year 1680; he himself had been left in our hospice of Santo Tomás de Villanueva, outside the city of Méjico. This galleon “San Telmo” was in great [229]danger of not being able to return hither, for, having set sail several days after the flagship, on leaving the port the rudder-irons broke, and the ship was almost unmanageable—a defect very difficult to repair in that place, on account of the scarcity of artisans at Acapulco. If it had not been for the diligence and energy of the warden Antonio Nieto, who sent to a great distance to get workmen, and made the repairs at his own cost and with his personal attention, this loss would have been irremediable; but his zeal and good judgment enabled the ship to pursue its voyage with but a few days’ loss of time, and to succeed in making port at these islands.

On the eve of St. Bartholomew’s day, August 23, in the afternoon, the distinguished mission of our religious entered Manila; in numbers it was the largest that had entered this province,60 and in quality unequaled. This province received them with great tokens of rejoicing; and the land welcomed them with an earthquake, and not a slight one, which occurred that night. On August 29 the private session of the definitory was held, to draw up the formal statement of receiving and incorporating them [into the province].

On the day following the entry of our religious into Manila, that is, the day of St. Bartholomew, the new governor, Don Miguel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, made his entry into the city; this was done with great pomp, and two triumphal arches were erected for him, by the college of the Society of Jesus and our convent, with very ingenious emblematic [230]allusions in Latin and Castilian verse, and very expressive laudations. At this entry occurred a disaster which might have served to the heathen as a bad omen. Hardly had the governor entered through the Puerta Real, which they call Puerta de Bagumbayan, when a balcony that was on the side within the city wall above the said gate gave way, and fell, with great injury to those who were within it; so that many were left cripples, and among these a Recollect religious named Fray Luis. The fiscal of the royal Audiencia, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis, escaped the danger, the falling balcony striking his horse’s tail; and Captain Don Francisco de Arcocha, the equerry of the new governor, was hurt. But, although many were injured, the life of no person was endangered.

The religious of this mission brought with them an image for devotion, a painting of the holy Christ of Burgos, touched up to accord with the original. This was received in Manila with great solemnity, in a procession, the new governor taking part therein on account of being much given to that devotion, and with him the most distinguished persons in the city. The image was deposited in the main chapel, with an altar and retable which were very suitable for it, until the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi, provided that which the image has at the present time. The governor went to mass every Friday, and there was a large attendance of citizens of Manila—I know not whether out of complaisance with him; for at the death of Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, who was buried at the foot of the aforesaid altar, at the same time was buried with him the devotion of the citizens of Manila. The [231]same occurred in the government of the said Conde de Lizárraga, who again revived this devotion; for it was likewise buried with him, in the same place. So much influence has the example of the governors in these islands, and so great is their power, that even devotion seems to need their aid. The religious also brought a brief from his Holiness Innocent XI for the erection of a confraternity of the holy Christ of Burgos; this undertaking was carried out, and its first director61 was this devout governor. In his time it had a large membership, but today it has very few confriers; but they are most devout and sincere when they are least influenced by vain and worldly considerations, and most please the Lord when they are anxious to please not princes—men in whom there is no real prosperity—but the King of kings, who always repays them in money of infinite value.

Much did the Catholic governor grieve over entering upon his office without the benediction of the archbishop, and at finding the people of the city as a flock without a shepherd, their consciences loaded with scruples over matters of so much importance, and all of them perplexed and entangled in these dissensions; and therefore he resolved, with firm purpose and heroic determination, to cause the archbishop to be restored to his church. The opposition which he encountered among the auditors in his efforts to secure this cannot be expressed; but he firmly maintained his resolution, even to the extent of saying that he would restore the archbishop, even if it should cost him his head. He [232]consulted the religious orders, asking them to give him their opinions, on the basis of law, both civil and canonical. I have not seen what the other corporations replied, which I suppose must have been what the governor desired; but I know well that the Order of St. Augustine adduced many and very substantial arguments in favor of the restitution of the archbishop to his church, and this with many citations from the authors on whom the auditors had taken their stand—who, as the royal Council of the Indias afterward declared, were greatly at error in their method, according to what the royal laws ordain in case it should be necessary to enforce the penalty of banishment against any prelate. The same error was committed by the capitulars of the ecclesiastical cabildo in declaring and proclaiming a vacant see, through their misunderstanding of the chapter Si Episcopus, “De supplenda negligentia prælatorum,” in VI62—an error which afterward cost them all so dear, especially the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Cóbarrubias.

The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, determined to restore the archbishop to Manila, sent to Lingayén as his agent for accomplishing this, General Don Tomás de Endaya; and the city of Manila sent a regidor, Sargento-mayor Don Gonzalo de Samaniego, and some citizens. With them [233]went the past provincial of Santo Domingo, Fray Baltasar de Santa Cruz, commissary of the Holy Office, and many others, with an escort of soldiers. On November 16 the archbishop came back from his exile, to the general rejoicing of the entire city, which had been so long a time afflicted by the absence of its pastor and prelate. The artillery was fired [as a salute], from the castle, and from the wall adjoining the gate of Santo Domingo, by which the archbishop made his entrance; and after he had visited the church he went to the palace, to see his liberator, the Catholic governor—who said that, in case his proceeding should displease his Majesty and the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, he would regard it as a great glory to have a punishment, even were it capital, imposed upon him. This may be believed of him, as he was a man of a great soul, although small in body; Major in exiguo regnavit corpore virtus.63 What we saw in him was, that he was one of the best governors that these islands have had—affable, pious, magnanimous, and in the highest degree disinterested, and with this very liberal. And therefore he was wont to say that he had come to Filipinas to be poor, where other governors had come to be rich. This he said with truth, because in España and the Indias he had possessed much wealth, gained in the many voyages that he had made in command of the fleet and galleons to Perú and Nueva España, which had been consumed by his ostentation and liberality. We may therefore regard it as a punishment of God upon these islands that He removed him from us in the fifth year of his term of government—in which time [234]he was severe with those only to whom he could not in justice be kind—unless it were that divine justice chose him for the punishment of those who had deserved it before his time.64

Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui began his government with great acceptability and satisfaction to all, and taking the measures necessary for the maintenance of these islands. The year of 1685 was a hard one on account of the general epidemic of smallpox which raged, not only in these islands but in all the kingdoms of China and Eastern India—especially on the Coromandel coast, where many millions of Malabàrs died. In Filipinas the ravages of the epidemic were great, principally among the infants; but the place where, it is affirmed, the pest caused incredible loss was in the mountains of Manila where the insurgent blacks [i.e., Negritos] dwell, so many dying that those mountain districts were left almost uninhabited. But it was not only among them that the disease wrought such destruction, but also among the deer and wild swine, of which there is an innumerable multitude in these mountains, even after they have contributed with their flesh to the support of so great a number of blacks. The reason why so many die with this contagion is, first, their weak physique; and second, the custom that they have of abandoning those who are attacked by the disease, on account of which they die much sooner—and, what is worse, in their heathen blindness. In China many millions of people died, so that there was no one to cultivate the fields; from this resulted great famine and mortality, after the epidemic of smallpox. [235]

Chapter XV

The first vessel that the governor despatched for Nueva España was the galleon “Santa Rosa;” and he appointed as its commander Don Francisco Zorrilla, a native of Granada; as its chief pilot, Admiral Don Lorenzo Lazcano; and as sargento-mayor, Don Bernardo de Endaya. The voyage of this galleon caused great damage to the citizens of Manila, on account of the difficulty in disposing of their property caused by the poor market65 that they found at the port of Acapulco, because a fleet of many vessels, laden with merchandise, had arrived at Vera Cruz. From the time of this voyage, the shipments which were sent from these islands to the commerce of Nueva España began to decrease—not only on account of the above-mentioned fleets, but through the numerous imposts and contributions which were levied on the galleons of Filipinas, which continually increased;66 consequently, [236]seldom was a voyage made from which the citizens obtained any profits beyond their principal from the goods which they shipped.

During the time which the archbishop spent in his exile at Lingayén occurred the death of the bishop of Nueva Segovia—Doctor Don Francisco Pizarro de Orellana, a native of Manila—at the village of Vigan, the capital of the province of Ilocos, a few months after his consecration. He was very learned, and greatly beloved for his very affable manners and his angelic gentleness. He had been for many years provisor and archdeacon, and commissary of the Holy Crusade;67 he was therefore greatly esteemed by all, and his loss was keenly felt. His death caused [237]a long vacancy in the said church [of Nueva Segovia], which lasted until the year 1704, when his successor arrived; this was Master Don Fray Diego Gorospe é Irala, of the Order of Preachers, a native of Puebla de los Angeles. This prelate made strenuous endeavors to establish the visitation of the regulars in charge of missions, and gave much occasion for patience to the religious of St. Dominic and St. Augustine as long as he lived, which was until May 20, 1715. On account of the death of Don Francisco Pizarro, the cabildo of Manila named for governor of that bishopric Don Diego de Navas, who had been expelled from the Society of Jesus, a man of impetuous disposition; this was one of the charges afterward made by the archbishop against the cabildo. That prelate, after he was restored to his church, sent his assistant the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés de Barrientos, to rule that bishopric. [Here follows an account of Pardo’s dealings with the ecclesiastical cabildo and other persons who had been excommunicated on account of their share in his banishment, which is here omitted, as having been sufficiently recounted in “The Pardo Controversy,” VOL. XXXIX, q.v.]

This year the galleon “Santo Niño” arrived from Acapulco, and Master-of-camp Don Francisco Guerrero [238]remained behind in Nueva España, thus escaping from the numerous lawsuits of the residencia, with all of which Don Juan de Vargas was laden. It would have been of great assistance to him to have had the aforesaid Don Francisco at his side, since the latter was very crafty and sagacious, and not so easily perplexed in matters that concerned him as was Don Juan de Vargas; for the governors in that country need to be very liberal in the residencia, and to have much patience and courage.

As commander [of the galleon] in place of Don Francisco Guerrero came General Antonio Nieto, because a proprietary appointee had succeeded him in the castle of Acapulco. There also came in his company three religious, sent by father Fray Manuel de la Cruz—two who had remained [in Nueva España] sick from the last mission; and the other because he had enlisted for this province, a son of Mechoacán. [The next two paragraphs relate to the residencia of Vargas; part of this has already been used for annotations in the account of that trial in VOL. XXXIX, q.v.]

Chapter XVI

The peace and pious tranquillity which this province enjoyed throughout the three years’ government of our father Fray José Duque was like that which it had enjoyed during the three years of his former term, and was what this province had expected from him on account of the knowledge and experience which all had of his piety, great discretion, and sagacity in making way through the greatest difficulties. Accordingly, they bade farewell to his paternal government with much regret, and determined [239]to reëlect him for a third term—which they did afterward at the proper time, opportunity being afforded for this by the long span of his life and the robust constitution with which he was endowed, which were astonishing.

The time arrived which our Constitutions assign for holding the provincial chapter, and it assembled in the convent of Manila; over it presided, with letters from our very reverend father general Fray Antonio Paccino, our father Fray Diego de Jesús. Our father Fray Juan de Jérez was elected provincial for the second time, with great satisfaction to all; and as definitors were chosen the fathers Fray Luis Diaz, Fray Juan García, Fray Felipe de Jaurigue, and Fray Diego de Alday. The visitors of the past triennium were present, Fray José de la Cruz and Fray Alonso de Arniellos; and as visitors for this triennium were appointed father Fray Ignacio de Rearcado and the father reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte. Very judicious ordinances were enacted for the proper government of the province, and for the maintenance of the strict regular observance which in those times flourished therein—in which the new provincial had taken a prominent part in his first triennium (which was from 1677 to 1680), and in the past one, in which he had been prior of [the convent in] Manila.

The provincial began to govern with so much zeal and industry that it would be tedious for me to tell how much he accomplished in one year only—the least being that he had visited all the provinces, even to those of Ilocos and Bisayas, without omitting in one point his exercises of prayer and mortification. Of this I can give reliable testimony, as one who was [240]his secretary and companion during the twenty-two months while he governed, his death being caused by the great labors of this visitation, in which with holy zeal and activity he performed incredible labors in promoting the religious observance, and in securing the cleansing and adornment of the altars and the ornaments, in which he was exceedingly careful and assiduous. He suffered much from the continual harassment of the scruples which tormented him, so much that it caused one grief to see the so heavy cross which the Lord placed on the shoulders of this His creature, which he bore with great fortitude and courage....

Among the excellent arrangements made by this chapter was the chief one, which was that father Fray Álvaro de Benavente should go to España as procurator; he had a few months before returned from China, where he left our missions very well established in the kingdom of Cantón, with houses at Xaoquinfú and Nanhiunfú, and two others in other places of less note. At the same time he was appointed definitor for the general chapter which was to meet in Roma, to which father Fray Alvaro was very desirous of going on account of the affairs of the missions conducted by the regulars in China, from whom he carried letters and authority to act in regard to the remission of the oath of subjection to the apostolic vicars. They gave him the necessary despatches, and he determined to make the voyage by way of the Cape of Good Hope, because that year there was no galleon going to Nueva España, the cause of which will be told later. He embarked for Batavia on a Portuguese vessel, and as his companion was assigned the brother Fray Juan Verganzo, who [241]had come with the mission of the year 1684. He arrived at Batavia, where he encountered great difficulties in making the voyage to Amsterdam; but all these were overcome by a Dutchman, a Calvinist preacher named Teodoro Zas—a very benevolent and courteous man, and very fond of doing good to others; this caused grief in those who knew him, at seeing him misled by the false doctrines of Calvin, when he was so eminent in the moral virtues.

Father Fray Alvaro carried with him the first part of this History, which after a long time came from the press, although only as far as the year 1616—while I had given it to him complete up to the year 1647—because at that time this province had not funds at Madrid sufficient to print it all. That first division of the history was printed at the said court in the year 1698, by Manuel Ruiz de Murga; and it was dedicated to her Ladyship the Duquesa de Aveiro, although it was my intention that it be dedicated to the king our sovereign, in his royal and supreme Council of the Indias. The rest of the said first part remained laid aside and forgotten in the convent of San Felipe at Madrid, until I determined to write it again and complete it, by means of the rough drafts that had remained here.68 [242]

About April of 1687, father Fray Alvaro sailed from Batavia in [one of the] galleons of the Company of Holanda, and after many and fearful tempests it reached the Cape of Good Hope, where the Dutch made a halt of two months at the great colony and settlement which that nation maintain there for this purpose; it is a very populous city, and well supplied with all that is necessary to human life, for it possesses a very healthful climate, at the latitude of 36° [on the side] of the tropic of Capricorn. In this city they have a large hospital for treating the sick, with very skilful physicians and surgeons, and with all the comfort that could be found in any other part of the world. Among the magnificent and delightful things which are in that city is a garden, the largest that is known, which, according to report, is only second to the earthly Paradise. It is many leguas in circumference, and is divided, like the world, into four parts. In the part called Europa, [243]there are trees of all the fruits that grow in our Europa; in that called Asia, all those from Asia; and the same in those of Africa and America. This garden has a river, opened by hand-labor, which waters all the four divisions; and for its cultivation many Dutch gardeners and more than two thousand Cafres are kept there. In this place is produced very rich wine, which they call “Cape wine;” for the climate is the same as in Andalucía and Extremadura, although in the opposite zone [trópico], and is different only in having summer at Christmas and winter at St. John’s day.69

Father Fray Alvaro left this pleasant town and pursued his voyage to Holanda, and landed at Roterdán, the native place of Desiderius Erasmus;70 and [244]thence he went to Amsterdam, where he remained some time. There he made inquiries to ascertain whether he could print the history that he carried in that great city, on account of the beautiful work done by its famous printers; but he gave up this intention, on account of the numerous errors which they made, being ignorant of our language. Thence he embarked for Bilbao, where he and his companion resumed wearing their habits, which they had laid aside in order to go on shore at Batavia. The rest of the tedious peregrinations of father Fray Alvaro will be related, if we can reach the time when he returned [to Manila] with a mission in the year 1690, when we shall observe his entrance into Madrid and his voyage to Roma, and his negotiations at that court in behalf of the regulars of the China missions.

For these missions the chapter designated the father reader Fray Juan de Aguilar, who remained in them several years, and afterward retired on account of failing health; but the chapter sent in his place father Fray Juan Gómez, who continued there until his death. Afterward a large reënforcement of religious was sent to China for the aforesaid missions, which have increased and become very large; and they would have prospered much more, if they had not been so hindered by the claim of subjection to the vicars-apostolic, who made so strenuous efforts to introduce it.

The governor, Don Gabriel Curucelaegui, had determined to send this year [1686] to Nueva [245]España the galleon “Santo Niño,” in charge of General Lucas Mateo de Urquiza; but his efforts to despatch it were ineffectual, because information was received that seven vessels of corsairs or pirates were sailing outside of the Embocadero, and it was feared that their principal intention was to seize the galleon “San Telmo,” which was expected on the return trip from Nueva España. Two fragatas of theirs had been in the Babuyanes Islands, between Cagayán and Hermosa Island, and had slain two religious of [the Order of] St. Dominic; these were father Fray Jacinto de Samper, a native of Caspe, an able minister to the Chinese in the Parián, and father Fray José Seijas, a nephew of the archbishop of Méjico, Don Francisco Seijas, both of them being religious of great virtue.71 Moreover, the pirates had committed other acts of hostility in Cagayán and Ilocos. The governor determined to suspend the voyage of the galleon for Nueva España, and gave orders to equip it for war—cutting in it many portholes, in order to furnish it with more than a hundred pieces of artillery of large calibre (all of bronze); and placing aboard it a thousand soldiers, Spaniards, Pampangos, Merdicas, Malays, and Zambal Indian bowmen. In its company went two pataches, which had just come for trade with the Coromandel coast, well armed and furnished with soldiers; and for commander of this enterprise the governor appointed Don Tomás de Endaya, with the title of deputy captain-general. To his valor could be entrusted any undertaking, [246]however perilous it might be; for he was valiant, and had great skill in navigation, and had gone three times to España as commander [of the galleons]. This splendid armada set out, small in number [of ships], but having great strength. Having escorted through the Embocadero and secured the galleon “San Telmo” (which reached these islands safely), the armada reconnoitered all the places where the piratical enemy might be, but did not find them, but learned that there had been no more than the two vessels which had been in Babuyanes. Thereupon the armada returned to Cavite, without accomplishing anything more than the great expenses which the royal treasury had incurred, and having weakened the great strength of the galleon “Santo Niño,” with the numerous portholes which had been cut in it for mounting the artillery; for it was necessary for this purpose to cut through the ribs of the ship’s sides, in the preservation of which consisted its greatest strength.

The two pataches proceeded in search of the pirates to the locality of the Babuyanes; and the commander, Don Tomás de Endaya, went with a strong force of men by land to the province of Ilocos to look for them—where, it was said, the said corsairs had arrived, although the news did not prove to be accurate. He went as far as the capital town of Vigan, where his encomienda was; and after having spent some time there, not receiving information of the enemy, he returned to Manila. He left there established a village of the blacks from the mountains, called Santo Tomás, between Tarlac and Magalan, headed by a notable chief of theirs named Don Juan Valiga. A few months after Don Tomás de Endaya [247]had arrived at Manila, he succeeded in the office of master-of-camp to Don Fernando de Bobadilla (who held it by proprietary appointment from his Majesty), who died about this time. The latter was a great soldier, and the governor of Zamboanga, and is often named in the history; he was a native of Sevilla, and a son of one of the “twenty-four” of that city. The ships that went by sea, after having searched many ports where they thought to find the corsairs, and having no further news of them, returned to Manila without having accomplished anything remarkable. Don Tomás de Endaya was confirmed in the post of master-of-camp, and held it twenty-eight years; and then he died from old age.

In this year of 1686, about June, occurred the revolt of the Sangleys of the Parián of Manila, which I related in book ii, chapter 21, as I did not suppose that I would reach these times with the thread of the narrative; and therefore I do not repeat it [here], as it was written with sufficient fulness, and the curious reader can find it in the place I have cited. [This citation is incorrect, in the arrangement of the chapters as given in Fray Lopez’s edition of Diaz; the number of the chapter should be xxxiv. Diaz’s account, as there given (pp. 440, 441), we transfer to this place, adding his comments on the question of allowing the Chinese to reside at Manila; it is as follows:]

While these islands were governed by the admiral of the galleons, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, of the Order of Santiago and one of the “twenty-four” of Sevilla, in the year 1686 [misprinted 1636] there occurred a tumult in the Parián which it was feared would become a general uprising [248][—which was planned,] according to the investigations afterward made. In the said market there were many recently-arrived Sangleys, of so bad reputation that the Sangley merchants themselves had no confidence in these men, and said that they were disguised thieves and highwaymen who had come from China that year, having fled from a mandarin who was a very severe judge, whom the emperor had sent from the court to drive out so mischievous a sort of folk from the province of Fo-Kien, which at that time was infested by criminals of that sort. The said mandarin had executed his commission with such severity that those who were put to death numbered more than sixty thousand—which in China is a small number, because that country abounds in robbers—and for this reason many had made their escape to Manila and other regions, fleeing from the harshness of that judge. These people did all the harm that they could, robbing inside the Parián the Chinese themselves, when they could not rob outsiders.

About this time there came out of the public prison at Manila a Sangley named Tingco, who had been imprisoned for the unnatural crime, and had been there so long that in prison he had learned to read and write our language, and had come to be a sufficiently competent scrivener to write petitions and other papers for the rest of the prisoners, for he was very clever and had a keen mind. He went about [the prison] freely, as being a prisoner of so long standing, and aided the jailer greatly by acting as guard to the other prisoners; and he supported himself very comfortably on what he gained by his pen. Finally, after many years of confinement he [249]succeeded in gaining his full liberty; and, as he had a restless disposition and evil inclinations, he associated himself with other Chinese criminals, of those who were fugitives from the province of Fo-Kien, and they lived on what they could plunder from other Sangleys and from the Indians and Spaniards. As they regarded this occupation of petty thieving as too disagreeable, and it could not extricate them from their wretchedly poor condition, they planned to assemble together three hundred of these vagabonds, and to undertake some exploit which should better their fortunes so that they could return to China free from danger. It seems certain that this resolve was talked about with the multitude of the Parián who were least supplied with funds, and these were on the watch to aid the bold attempt of those promoters if the result had corresponded to their plans; and what is most surprising is the secrecy with which they kept these from the rich Sangleys—who not only would not have entered into the plot, but would have revealed it for their own safety; for they were going to lose much and gain little, and with very evident risk. The day and hour of the conspiracy having been settled—a day in the month of August, at daylight—they assembled in a disorderly crowd, armed with such weapons as they could procure by stealth, their leader being one who had newly come, that same year, from China. In a mob, and without order, they attacked the house of the alguacil-mayor, Pedro de Ortega; and they killed him and another Spaniard, named Nicolás de Ballena. With this beginning they went to the house of the alcalde-mayor of the Parián, Captain Don Diego Vivién, and entered [250]it to do the same to him; but, having heard the noise, he escaped without clothing, and reached a safe place in the little fort which defends the entrance to the great bridge, where there is always a garrison of soldiers. The insurgents entered his house, and their greed satisfied itself on what they found nearest to their hands, although they had not the luck to find three thousand pesos in silver which the alcalde possessed. While they halted for this pillage there was time to bring up soldiers and other armed men, and they easily arrested many of the Sangleys, although most of them escaped; and the rest of the Parián remained tranquil. It was made known that this conspiracy was plotted in the bakery of Manila, and [it was said] that they intended to place pounded glass in the bread, in order to kill the Spaniards. This was not positively ascertained, but the management of that business was taken from the Chinese—to which, however, they afterward returned, at the urgent request of our people. This was because, during the time while the Sangleys did not carry on this trade, they were replaced by Spaniards who in their own country had been bakers, but in Manila they did not succeed in doing anything to advantage; the Sangleys therefore again took charge of the bakery, after they had been asked by many to furnish the supply of bread, of which great quantities are consumed in Manila.

The Sangley Tingco was captured, and in company with ten others was hanged and quartered; and the bodies were placed along the river of Manila and the estuary of Tondo, as far as Point Tañón in Tambobong. The conversion of those who were heathens (as were most of them) was secured, and [251]for this conversion labored earnestly father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, an Augustinian, and Father José de Irigoyen of the Society of Jesus, both of whom knew the dialects of the provinces from which the criminals came; and for those of Fo-Kien the fathers of St. Dominic [ministered]. News came that many of the insurgents had taken refuge at Pasay, and General Don Tomás de Endaya went out against them with soldiers and Merdicas (who are very brave Malay Indians); they came back with eleven heads of those whom they could kill, and the disturbance was quieted, nor has any other occurred up to the present time.

In this danger Manila maintains her existence, clinging to it as the means of her preservation even though she grieves over what is the cause of her greatest decline. The shrewdness of the Chinese in business dealings and their skill in carrying on the mechanical trades turn us from these callings so entirely that Spaniards who in their own country practiced them here consider it foolish to do so; accordingly they allow the Chinese to conduct and manage the crafts, believing that the latter are serving us when they are most imposing upon us. And as the Chinese recognize this weakness of ours, and see that it is without remedy, on account of the Spanish vanity, they treat us with contempt in their acts, although with great submission in their words. Whatever they make is defective and does not wear well, in order that they may have more work to do. The unnecessary expense that Manila suffers on account of the frauds that they practice in the trades of baker, candle-maker, and silversmith is very great; we recognize this, and endure it through [252]necessity, and the matter is not set right, through reluctance to apply the remedy. Many persons understand the injury which the Chinese cause here, but much more numerous are those who defend them, since this peril is dear to those who regard it as an advantage [to have the Chinese here.]

In the year 1678 there reached our hands a very judicious opinion, printed at Madrid by a devout person who had had experience in dealing with that nation, and was well aware of their acts of guile. It was presented before the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, its president being the Conde de Medellín; and when the arguments adduced therein made a very strong impression, another pamphlet appeared in print at the same court, against the former one and in favor of the Sangleys; this delayed the decision, so that it seems as if they have in all quarters those who defend them. And so we go on, enduring this incurable disease—although today the number of the Sangleys is less than ever; for it is supposed that the number does not reach the six thousand whom the royal decrees allow, and judging by the poverty to which the commonwealth of Manila is steadily being reduced, each year there will be fewer Chinese here through the lack of profits; for that is the craving which draws them from their own country.

I am aware that I have expatiated on a matter which seems to be an affair of state, rather than of history, although history, as a teacher of truth and a witness of the times, should include all events. I much regret that I cannot enlarge my account by saying something of the much which I could tell about the great indifference with which the Sangleys [253]who are baptized attend to their obligations as Christians; most of them do so for worldly objects, such as being married and living as lords of the country; but this subject is one for tears rather than for the pen. Many lamentations have been made by many Jeremiahs zealous for the honor of God; but no results have followed beyond the reward which will be given to them in glory for this so holy labor. A very learned apologue is kept in the ecclesiastical archives, written by the reverend father Fray Alberto Collares of the Order of Preachers, at the request of the archbishop of Manila, Doctor Don Miguel Millán de Poblete, which causes horror to those who read it; and the worst is, that it tells but little, according to the opinion of other religious of the said order, who, as ministers to the Parián mission, know the Chinese best. And still more is this occasion for censure to some of the religious of that order who have been in China, and know how much superior the Christians of that empire are to these; and therefore they take great care to prevent those who come from China (who are few) from holding intercourse with the Christians of the Parián, in order that these may not corrupt them. Thus do they look upon the matter; and when in our convent at Manila was lodged Don Fray Gregorio López, a Basilitan72 bishop of the Order of Preachers, a Chinese by nationality—who was a phœnix among that people, on account of his virtue and sanctity—he [254]prevented from going to the Parián, whenever he could, two good Chinese Christians whom he brought hither in his company.

Many (and most) persons are greatly deceived in imagining that the Sangleys who live among the Indian natives outside of Manila do no harm to the faith, saying that the Chinese are more atheists than idolaters, and that they only seek worldly advantages. But this is not always the rule, for some teach sects and doctrines that are very evil, as experience shows. In the year 1706, father Fray Antolín de Alzaga, one of the apostolic missionaries whom we have in the remote mountains of the province of Pampanga, converting and instructing the warlike peoples called Italones, Ituriés, and Abacas—whose wonderful conversions present notable material to him whose duty it is to write the history of those times—this apostolic missionary came to Manila, making light of the hardships of [travel by] those roads so long and rough, in order to ask the governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu, to take measures for banishing from these mountains two infidel Sangleys, who with greed for the trade in wax had penetrated even those unexplored hills, where they taught false dogmas and perverse opinions, such as palingenesis, or transmigration of souls—a dogma which Pythagoras taught, and which was propagated much among heathen peoples. At the present time it is accepted by all nations of Asia, and in China and Japon with the greatest tenacity; they believe that when a man dies his soul goes to animate another body, either rational or brute, according to the deserts of him who is dead, and for either punishment or reward; and thus they allot an infinite [255]succession of transmigrations. This diabolical dogma was taught by these Sangleys to the Italon Indians, with other evil doctrines, such as polygamy (which permits a man to have many wives), idolatry, and others which ensue from it. That accursed doctrine spread rapidly among those simple mountaineers, so much so that it became necessary to have recourse to the said governor—who, being so zealous for the increase of the Christian faith, sent to the alcalde-mayor of Pampanga a very urgent command to expel from those missions the two Sangleys, and to be very careful to prevent the entrance of others therein; and this order was carried out, to the great tranquillity of the new Christian church. Experience has shown the same thing in other villages where Sangleys have fixed abodes. I will not delay longer over a matter on which there is an endless amount to be said, since I have sufficiently exceeded the limits of my obligation; and I refer to many persons who have officially discussed these matters, although they have obtained no results from their earnest efforts.

The natives regard them with contempt, having no further inclination toward them than that of self-interest; consequently, neither affection nor fear draws either toward the other. And ordinarily selfishness courts the Sangleys, while aversion urges the natives to make complaints against them—except that the bond of matrimony is a check on the women; for, as is usually the case, if a native leads a bad life, he is on the watch for the acts of the Sangleys, in order to make the evil-doing of another serve as an excuse for greater freedom in his own wrong mode of life. Accordingly, they are in more danger from [256]testimony arising from the malice of the accusers than from facts brought forward in zeal for their correction—as is seen by the few complaints or accusations that are decided against them, and how still more rarely do these bring them to punishment. Nor can this be attributed to the negligence of the judges, for they are delighted to receive the lawsuits of the Sangleys, our covetousness selling to them even justice very dear; and when harshness finds an object, it makes their punishments (since their wealth offers so much to avarice), although less bloody, more keenly felt, since in the estimation of the Sangley money is his very heart’s blood.

The precedents set by the sovereign kings Don Fernando the Catholic and Don Felipe II are examples of their piety, and of their successful policy in separating from their Catholic vassals those who are perfidious, who if mingled with the others might pervert them, through the passion which the Indians and Moros have for propagating their [false] sects—a danger much to be feared among the simple people of the villages and the common herd.

No doubt, intercourse with these infidels is very necessary, on account of the merchandise which they furnish to us from their kingdom; but this could, in my opinion, be accomplished without danger to us—for one thing, by permitting to remain in these islands [only the] six thousand Sangleys, as his Majesty decrees; and for another, by not permitting them to trade in the provinces, or to live in the villages mingled with the Indians. But they should be kept in subjection, as Joshua kept down the Gaboanites, and as now Roma, Florencia, Venecia, and Orán hold the Jews in subjection, and our people in [257]Ternate kept the Moros in his Majesty’s galleys, the rabble of that sort. It is an obvious disadvantage to live subjected to such peoples, because the law of subjection, the adulation offered to rulers, and ambition to secure their favor are powerful to subject religion to their pleasure, as has been found by experience in all the countries where this misfortune has been suffered—such as Mesopotamia, both the Arabias, Egipto, and Africa, and that one which was the supporter of religion, Constantinopla, with all of Grecia. And for the same reason heresy has so prevailed and lorded it in Inglaterra, Irlanda, Dinamarca, Suecia, Sajonia,[i.e., Saxony], the Palatinate, and many other provinces and free cities—the most fatal poison that attacks the faith being the sovereignty of infidel princes, their grandeur and power being the sure ruin of religion. I consider that I have used more space than is required by my obligations, in treating of so pernicious a nation, which is allowed here in greater number than our needs demand—I know not whether through our fault or our misfortune—and maintained in the subjection which experience has shown [to be necessary] at times when too great confidence has relaxed the rein of caution.

[Here we resume the regular narrative of this period by Diaz, at p. 786:] This revolt caused great anxiety to the governor, Don Gabriel Curucelaegui, on account of the many champans which had come that year from China; but in the course of time the danger disappeared.

Among the great hardships which in this year were suffered in Manila, one was that the rains were heavier than any known to living men. Not only [258]were they very heavy, but they lasted many months, and were the cause of many fields and crops being ruined, which caused a great scarcity of provisions; and, as it was impossible to work the salt-beds, the price of salt rose so high that it came to be worth twelve pesos for half a fanega, although its ordinary price was two or three reals—and some years even less, depending on the [height of the] water and on the heat of the sun, on which conditions this so necessary industry depends.

The most memorable event of this year, and one which may be counted among the most important which have occurred in these islands since their conquest, is the imprisonment of the auditors, Don Diego Antonio de Viga and Don Pedro Sebastián de Bolivar, by the governor. It is an event to cause astonishment—and more, as it came so soon after the imprisonment and exile of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo—at seeing in so short a time Doctor Don Cristóbal de Herrera Grimaldos dead, and two auditors deprived forever of their togas (since never again could they put these on), and their families ruined and almost destroyed. It is not my intention to interpret the inscrutable secrets of divine justice, but only to set down the times and occasions in which so notable events occurred. [Diaz’s account of the imprisonment and deaths of the auditors is here omitted, as it has already been sufficiently related in VOL. XXXIX.]

Chapter XVII

The governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two associates to assist [259]the auditor in despatching the business of this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera, an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando Guerrero—and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.

Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year 1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687 was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens, in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their offenses, since always proves true the proverb, Delirant reges, semper plectuntur Achivi.73 The first was the failure of the galleon from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great expenses to the royal treasury, [260]the wreck of the galleon “Santo Niño,” and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years—which, as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and of all these Filipinas Islands.

The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon “Santo Niño,” ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be; but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the construction of the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” which they had placed on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did, about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced through the failure to receive a galleon that year.

At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the “holy burial,” (which is one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the point of land which is called Punta de [261]la Estacada, and the crowd of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement [of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo—which, as contiguous villages, together constitute one body—for [if the fire had reached them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people who saw their poor houses and property disappear.

The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.

To this local calamity at La Estacada succeeded [262]another affliction, which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets at the locusts to drive them away—as is usually done at other times in the invasions of this pest, with some effect—on this occasion found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the great scarcity and want of provisions—so great that a cabán of rice (which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions) cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number of beggars—some through necessity, and others through laziness and dislike for work—that it was impossible to relieve them; for [263]when there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that all shall be sufficiently cared for.

To these great troubles was added another; that in that year occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions, Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere (Psalm ciii, v. 32).

Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy, which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show that Viga died impenitent; he was [264]buried in the cathedral of Lalo, and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent, and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter, to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her buried “in the plaza of the said village of Oriong.” Her husband meets “a better end;” he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having “devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings and other mortifications.” Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); “this auditor was a very upright and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community.” Master Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687) to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos, the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. He had “issued a decree of excommunication against the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise their offices. This excommunication [265]was the cause of many lawsuits, for Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán, defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple.” Returning to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to which he is entitled as Pardo’s assistant; the archbishop therefore despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]

This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May 16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San Mateo—establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of the Society, by [266]decree of March 16, 1688—with the approbation, not only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron, Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with the title of vicariate.74

We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order, we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan—called “Binangonan of the dogs,” to distinguish it from the other town of the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at first administered by the [267]religious of St. Francis, who had exchanged it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono—its patron saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr—of a few tribute-payers. To this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for any other profit, either spiritual or temporal—not only on account of its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.

On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year, while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching] death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which had [268]been throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul, imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas (Matthew viii, v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial chapter.

Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688, with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the streets with jars of [cooked] [269]rice, and went up into the houses and provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country, but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.

The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)—killing many travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages near Tarlac—Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards, but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco; and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León, and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto; the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan, [270]although with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense; they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza, which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].

Chapter XVIII

The Conde de Mondova,75 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 [271]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 corte76 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 [272]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 [273]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 [274]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 [275]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.77

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 [276]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 [277]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 [278]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,78 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 [279]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 [280][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 [281]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 [282]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.... [283]

Chapter XIX

During the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general, [284]and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.

The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.

The governor ad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that the ad interim governments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedence [285]of seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.

His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. The [286]galleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.

In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,79 he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should give [287]this man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said, Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis (Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.

The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare: Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states: Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.80 They tried to persuade him, by very [288]learned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.

The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingenious [289]and apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said, Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi (Mark vi, v. 18),81 alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.

During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, and [290]especially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.

After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title, The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.

This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the government [291]here should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.

Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being one [292]of the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.

What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commanded [293]to take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.]

[Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he might [294]exercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.

For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since he [295]had passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.

Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.

Chapter XX

On the third day after the solemn entry of the governor, the religious of the mission here by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente made their entrance into [296]the convent of Manila; and on July 28 a private session of the definitory was held in order to admit and adopt them into this province. The following is a list of them:

1. Father Fray Diego Bañales, a native of Coruña, and a son of the convent at Santiago; aged forty years, and twenty-three in the order; a preacher and confessor. He came as confessor to the governor’s wife; was prior of Guadalupe, a definitor, and president of the chapter; and died at Manila, on January 29, 1706.

2. The father reader Fray Carlos Terrazas, a son of the house at Valencia, thirty-two years old and having professed sixteen years before; he was minister in the Pintados or Bisayas provinces, and of very great virtue; he died in the convent of Dumarao, on October 18, 1694.

3. The father reader Fray Nicolás Bernet, a native of the town of Epila, and son of the convent at Zaragoza; twenty-seven years old, and a professed for ten years; he was prior of Cebú; and died at Manila, on May 1, 1701.

4. The father preacher Fray José de Ribera, a native of Madrid, and son of the convent of San Felipe; forty years of age, and twenty-three in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos; and died at Pasig on May 21, 1706.

5. The father preacher Fray Gelasio Giménez, a son of the convent at Valencia; twenty-seven years of age, and ten and a half in the order; was minister in the province of Ilocos; and died there on August 12, 1694.

6. The father reader Fray José Carbonel, son of the convent at Valencia, and master of the students [297]therein; twenty-five years old, and nine in the order; was minister in the province of Ilocos; and died at the village of Candong, on March 19, 1711.

7. The father preacher Fray Martín Fuentes, a son of the convent at Zaragoza; twenty-seven years old, and nine years and four months in the order; has been a minister in the province of Pampanga, and a definitor; and is still82 living, a minister in Bisayas, and examiner of literature for the Holy Office.

8. The father preacher Fray Nicolás Servent, a native of Valencia, son of the house at Alcoy; aged twenty-eight years, and ten in the order. He is still living, a minister in the province of Pampanga, the prior of Macabebe.

9. The father preacher Fray José de Aranda, a native of Estella, and son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged thirty-one years, and five in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos; and died at Manila, on October 11, 1698.

10. The father reader Fray Blas Díaz, son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty-three years, and seven and a half in the order; he was minister in the provinces of Tagalos, and returned to España.

11. The father preacher Fray Pedro Beltrán, a native of Valencia, and son of the house at Alcira; aged thirty-two years, and six in the order; he is now living, a minister in the provinces of Bisayas.

12. Father Fray Pedro Baldo, son of the convent at Valencia; aged twenty-six years, and nine in the order; was minister in Bisayas, where he died on [298]April 27, 1716, while prior of the convent at Dumarao.

13. The father preacher Fray Juan Barruelo, a native of Candelario, in the bishopric of Plasencia, and son of the convent at Salamanca; aged twenty-four years, and six in the order; was minister in China for several years, and at the present time is definitor and prior of the convent of Apalit in Pampanga.

14. The brother chorister Fray Tomás Ortiz, a native of Dueñas, and son of the convent at Valladolid; aged twenty-two years, and three in the order; was minister in China eighteen years, and vicar-provincial of that mission; afterward he was prior of the convent at Manila, and still lives, the present provincial of this province.

15. The brother chorister Fray Diego Megía, a native of Madrid, and son of the convent of San Felipe; twenty-one years of age, and three and a half in the order; was minister in the provinces of Tagalos, where he died as prior of the convent of Tanauan, on October 4, 1699.

16. The brother chorister Fray José Ruiz, son of the convent at Burgos, and native of that city; aged twenty-two years; is minister of the province of Ilocos, and has been visitor of this province.

17. The brother [chorister?] Fray José de Echebel, son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty-two years, and six in the order; was a minister in Bisayas; and died about March, 1706.

18. The brother chorister Fray Facundo Trepat, a native of Caspe, son of the convent at Zaragoza; aged twenty years, and three and a half in the order; has been definitor, and is now a minister in the provinces of Bisayas. [299]

19. The brother chorister Fray José Bosquet, a native of Valencia, and son of the house at Epila; twenty years of age, and two in the order; is a minister in the provinces of Bisayas, and now definitor of this province.

20. The brother chorister Fray Guillermo Sebastián, a son of the house at Vinaroz; aged nineteen years, and two and a half in the order; was a minister in the province of Ilocos, and died as prior of Bantay, on December 13, 1698.

21. The brother chorister Fray Eugenio Costales, a son of the convent of Sevilla; aged twenty-one years, and three in the order; is now a minister in the province of Ilocos.

22. The brother novice Fray Juan Hidalgo López, a native of Extremadura; aged twenty-eight years; is a minister in the province of Pampanga.

23. The brother novice Fray Juan Núñez, a native of Medina del Campo; aged twenty-three years; was a minister in China for many years; and at present is a minister in the province of Ilocos, and its vicar-provincial.

24. The brother novice Fray Fernando Ricote, a native of Asturias; aged twenty-eight years; was a minister in Bisayas; and died at Cebú in the year 1698.

25. The brother novice Fray Isidro López, a native of Madrid; aged seventeen years; was a minister in the provinces of Pampanga and Tagalos; and died while he was visitor, and prior of Guiguinto, on February 21, 1716.

26. The lay brother Fray Francisco de Sevilla, a son of the convent at Játiva; aged thirty-one years, and five in the order; he was eminent in virtue, prayer, and mortification, and rendered much service [300]to the convent of Manila, where he met a pious death on March 31, 1711.

27. The lay brother Fray Nicolás Codura, a son of the convent at Epila; aged thirty years, and seven in the order; he lives in the convent at Manila, where he has rendered good service, and still does so.

All these religious have been very useful to this province in its ministries and instruction, and in the missions of China—the progress of which from their foundation will be set down separately and all together, by way of recapitulation,83 ending this history with this chapter. For if I were to continue it further it would be necessary to speak of the living, and [personal] considerations might render the truth liable to suspicion; and although truth is the essential form and the soul of history it cannot become the instructor of the times, or be a [reliable] witness about them, when suspicion can challenge it. I will, however, record in this chapter some of the acts of Don Fausto in his government84—which, although they were just, were rendered intolerable by the violence and harshness with which they were executed; for the body politic of the Manila colony is not fit for so strong cathartic remedies, since its weakness can only endure anodynes and emollients.

This gentleman commenced the course of his government with great integrity and rectitude, and very [301]clean hands—grand qualities from which to expect a good government, although not well liked by all. All his desire, assiduity, and effort were directed to the increase of the royal revenues; and this he kept up to the end of his government, with such extreme application that what appeared to the governor justice seemed [to the people] cruelty. But here Justice used only the edges of the sword, without weighing with the balances that she held in the other hand the difficulties of time and occasion. Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui had not pushed this matter very far before troubles which gave him greater anxiety diverted his mind from this occupation. In a short time Don Fausto acquired great comprehension of the conduct of government and of all the measures which could increase the royal revenues; and he found that a very considerable amount was due to the exchequer, not only from the living but from the dead, from the collections of the royal tributes and from other sources. Don Fausto applied himself to the collection, with excessive rigor, of what the citizens of Manila owed to the royal treasury, without considering that most of the debtors were bankrupt, and almost destitute through lack of means; others were now dead, and search was made for their heirs and executors, in order to compel them to satisfy these claims.85 While these [302]investigations were being made, the prisons and fortifications were filled with debtors, more fit to ask alms than to pay their debts; others took refuge in the churches, where they remained a long time without being able to look for means of support. In every direction there were seizures and auctions, exactions and investigations. By this assiduity Don Fausto placed much silver in the royal treasury; but his Majesty does not choose to flay thus his vassals, but rather, as a good shepherd, to shear off the wool without cutting away the skin in which it has its roots. This inflexibility in collecting the debts owed to the royal exchequer, and his great eagerness to increase it, have caused great expenses, some superfluous and others necessary; and these traits in Don Fausto continued throughout the period of his government—which was the longest that has occurred in these islands, since it reached eleven years.86

Considering that in these islands there is no equipment of iron-works for making anchors, and that the Dutch of Batavia, as they are so ingenious, have abundance of all that pertains to navigation, he sent Don Pedro de Ariosolo with title of ambassador, accompanied by some Spaniards—Don Martín de Tejada, Don José Pestaño de Cueva, Don Juan de Tejada, and others, among the prominent citizens of [303]Manila. These envoys were very well received in Batavia, and so well did they succeed in their errand that they brought back many and excellent anchors, which were used for many years. This transaction was repeated afterward by Governor Don Domingo de Zabalburu, who sent for the same purpose General Miguel Martínez, Don Gregorio Escalante, Don Juan de San Pedro, and others, whose errand was as successful as that of the former envoys, through the good management and great liberality of the ambassador. Such endeavors have not always had the desired effect; for in the past year of 1717 the present governor, Mariscal Don Fernando Bustillo Bustamente y Rueda, sent General Don Fernando de Angulo as ambassador to Batavia to procure some anchors, but he returned without them.

The first galleon that Don Fausto despatched for Nueva España was the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” in charge of General Don Francisco de Arcocha, his pilot being Lazcano; the voyage was a prosperous one, and the galleon returned in the following year of 1692, in charge of the captain of mounted cuirassiers Don Bernardo de Bayo, who was sent by the viceroy Conde de Galves, who took away that office from Don Francisco de Arcocha. It is said that the cause of this change was resentment on the part of the said Conde because he had in the year 1689 sent Don Gabriel de Arnedo y Escudero, a gentleman of his household, as commander of the galleon—because the commander who had come with the ship, Lucas Mateo de Urquiza, had remained at Acapulco sick (not being willing to follow the second route, which Don Pedro de Ariosolo was taking)—and Don Gabriel de Arnedo y Escudero [304]had returned in the said galleon “Santo Cristo” as a passenger and not as a commander (although he died on the way); and, annoyed at this, the viceroy had taken the office from Don Francisco de Arcocha and given it to Don Bernardo de Bayo. It would have been better if the galleon had not come at all, for it was wrecked on the return trip, as we shall see later.

With Don Gabriel de Arnedo came the auditor Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, with his wife and children, who the preceding year had not been able to embark on account of the lack of accommodations in the patache “San Fernando,” in which came the investigating judge and the three auditors. Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta was highly esteemed for his learning, and for having been an official of great integrity and uprightness. He completed his six years’ term as auditor of Filipinas, and embarked for Méjico, where he was for many years alcalde of criminal cases for that city, with the same reputation for integrity and rectitude. The new auditors brought orders from his Majesty that two of them should go first to visit the provinces87 of these islands, and [305]draw up an enumeration of the royal tributes, their two associates remaining [at Manila] to serve in the royal Audiencia. For this task two auditors set out—[306]Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes to visit the provinces of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pampanga; and Don Juan de Sierra to visit those of Cebú, Ogtón, and Panay, although he visited only the last two. After Don Alonso Fuertes had returned from his commission, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta went to visit the provinces of Tagalos, and made the enumeration of the tributes. [307]

Don Fausto placed on the stocks the largest galleon that had ever been built; for it was three codos longer than the largest that had been built in the world. This enterprise was carried on by Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, who by application had become very skilful in this art, and he was therefore the superintendent of this construction; which was completed in less than nine months, to the [308]astonishment of everyone—although with some cause for scandal, since the men worked on it even on the most important feast-days, not stopping even on Holy Thursday. He gave it the name of “San José,” and appointed Don José Madrazo its commander; and it was launched very successfully. It sailed from this headland of Cavite on the day of Sts. Peter and Paul in 1694;88 and on July 3, in the night, it was dashed to pieces on the coast of Lubán, and more than four hundred persons were drowned. It was reckoned that if the men had not worked on the feast-days the vessel would have been completed more slowly, and would have sailed many days later, and the furious hurricane that was the cause of its wreck would not have caught it on the sea, with the [309]deaths of so many persons and the loss of the great amount of merchandise that it carried; for it is considered certain that no larger or richer galleon had plowed the waters of the sea, for the wealth that it carried was incredible.

While this loss was so great, one of the most grievous losses that these islands have suffered, it was made worse by the non-arrival of the galleon that was expected that year, the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” in charge of General Don Bernardo Ignacio del Bayo—who, as we have said, was sent by the viceroy Conde de Galves in the year of 1691, and returned in the same ship the following year; and it put back to the port of Solsogón, after having endured great tempests. It remained at Solsogón in order to continue its voyage the year of 1693, as it did; but it not only failed to reach port, but was wrecked, without our gaining the least knowledge of the place where that occurred. There were some suspicions that it was destroyed by fire (a danger for which there is on the sea no help), for at one of the Marianas Islands were found fragments of burned wood, which were sent [here] by the governor of Filipinas, Don José Madrazo, and were recognized to be of woods that are found in these islands only. Careful search was made for many years along the coasts of South America, and in other regions; but not the least news of this ship has been received. Among the persons who were lost in this galleon was a religious who was most highly esteemed by this province for his great virtue and learning; this was the father reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte, a Vizcayan, a native of Marquina, who came as superior of the mission which reached this province in the [310]year 1684; he had been sent in this galleon to España, as procurator of the province, to ask for a new reënforcement of missionaries. Much could be said of the great virtue of this religious, of his frequent prayer and mortification, his poverty, his extraordinary humility and affability—which I omit, in order not to seem too partial to him, or expose myself to the censure which I have seen incurred by many historians among the regulars, who have indulged in so excessive praises of this sort that they expose themselves to the charge of being too partial, because the persons eulogized are of their own houses.

By these so calamitous events the islands were reduced to a miserable condition, on account of the loss of two good galleons and of so much wealth, belonging to so many that one might say it was the wealth of all [the citizens of Manila]. There was a little alleviation of our affliction that year, but it was so little that it could hardly be regarded as succor—that before the great galleon left Cavite a small patache entered that port which the viceroy of Nueva España had sent with some slight assistance, in charge of Don Andrés de Arriola, a Sevillan gentleman of great courage and renown. He returned to Nueva España in a small vessel which was purchased for 6,000 pesos from a Portuguese merchant named Juan de Abreu; it was so small that the authorities ordered, under heavy penalties, that no citizen should send in this vessel anything except letters, a rule which was enforced most rigorously. This patache made a very prosperous voyage; for, having passed the Marianas Islands, which is the most difficult part of this navigation, and finding that their provisions were nearly gone, and that it was almost impossible to pursue their voyage, [311]divine Providence aided them by revealing to them an unknown island, not set down on any navigation chart. They found it uninhabited by men, but abounding in certain birds, large and heavy, and little inclined to fly, and so easy to catch that the men gave them the name of “fool birds”89 either because of their stupidity, or as being the same as those birds which are found in Brasil and some islands of India which the Portuguese call dodos, which is the same as tontos [i.e., “stupid”]. The flesh of these birds is very good, and so, by killing many of them and drying their flesh in the wind, the sailors made a very good provision of food. They also found very good water and firewood, so that they were able to continue their voyage to Acapulco. What they most regretted was, that they could not fix the latitude and situation of this island, for lack of seeing the sun; and thus the island became again unknown, and inaccessible for another like emergency. [If its location were known], it would be a great assistance in making easier this arduous and severe navigation from Filipinas to Acapulco.

Don Andrés de Arriola was afterward a knight of the Order of Santiago, commander of the Windward fleet, and governor of Vera Cruz and of Pançacola, where he rendered great services to his Majesty King Don Felipe V—his great courage enabling him to furnish large supplies of silver [to the king], despite the perils of the sea and the enemies of the crown, in the time when the armed fleets of Inglaterra and Holanda were infesting the seas and obstructing the commerce with America.

Among the losses which Governor Don Fausto [312]experienced in the time of his government, the greatest in his estimation was the death of his spouse Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui, in 1694; he loved her dearly, an affection deserved by her beauty, the many children that she had borne him, her great virtues, and sweet disposition—for which all the people loved her as the rainbow of peace, as she greatly moderated the choleric disposition of her husband. She died, this Rachel in beauty and Leah in fruitfulness, in the second year of the government of Don Fausto.90 She was given a burial with honors in our church at Manila, and in the following year her remains were transferred to a beautiful chapel in the chancel, erected and adorned for this purpose. [This chapel contains the sculptured figure of the lady, with some Latin inscriptions, which are here omitted.] Well was this monument merited by a matron so virtuous, loved and reverenced by all for her great virtues; and her death was all the more regretted on account of her youth. The funeral honors which were solemnized for her were the most splendid ever seen in these islands (and it would be difficult to equal them in any other country, even with great expenditures); for the great abundance in these islands of wax and of the other materials for pomp which can increase the magnificence of functions of this kind, render them very easy. But this abuse is at present greatly moderated, as a result of the recent royal decree which was published that these vain parades be diminished. [313]