The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898; Volume 50 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century

The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898; Volume L

Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century,

Volume L, 1764–1800

Edited and annotated by Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson with historical introduction and additional notes by Edward Gaylord Bourne.

The Arthur H. Clark Company
Cleveland, Ohio
MCMVII

CONTENTS OF VOLUME L

ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

In this volume is a brief outline of events from the restoration of Manila by the English (1764) to 1800; and a group of documents relating to the more important topics in the first decade of that period. The condition of the islands and their people at that time is well described by the able and patriotic officials Viana and Anda; and the “ordinances of good government” are an important addition to our sources of information regarding the administration of justice in Filipinas. The most important event of that time was the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions, although its great significance in Europe was but feebly reflected in those remote colonies.

In a brief summary are noted the leading events in Filipinas from 1764 to 1800. Manila is restored to the Spanish authorities by the English on March 31, 1764; a few months before, Archbishop Rojo had died, in captivity. The brief term of the temporary governor, Torre, contains little that is noteworthy, outside of a controversy between the civil government and the religious orders, occasioned by the imprudent utterances of a Jesuit preacher. In July, 1765, arrives the new governor, José Raón, in whose term occurs the expulsion of the Jesuits from the islands, a matter treated more fully in a later document; he also publishes a revision of the laws compiled earlier by Arandia. The city of Manila first coins small copper money about this time. The old controversy regarding episcopal visitation of the regular curas is revived (1767) by Archbishop Santa Justa y Rufina, and it is complicated by Raón’s attempt to enforce the royal rights of patronage; bitter controversies arise, and are carried to the Madrid court.

After the capture of Manila by the English, the Moros had renewed their piracies, and ravaged the entire archipelago, year after year—even entrenching themselves and opening a slave market on Mindoró Island. Later, an expedition is sent to drive them out of this stronghold, which is successful. In 1770, the patriot Anda returns to Filipinas as its governor; he brings suit against Raón and other officials for misconduct in office, which is proved against them; but they and their friends rouse bitter opposition against him, and hinder his labors for the country. Incited by reports of another English invasion, he strengthens the fortifications of Manila Bay. His appointment was unwelcome to the friars, and he makes official remonstrance against the abuses prevalent among them, and calls for corrections of these. Attempting to enforce the royal rights of patronage, all the orders save the Dominicans refuse to obey; but later royal orders (1776) make provision for more gradual secularization of the curacies in Filipinas, and somewhat modify the enforcement of the episcopal visitation—to secure which Santa Justa had convened a provincial council at Manila in 1771, which was afterward disapproved by the king. Difficulties arise with the Moros of Joló through the imprudence of an envoy sent thither by Anda, and through the military establishment made by the English on an islet near Joló. The Moros seize this fort by treachery (1775) and kill most of the Englishmen in it; this success emboldens the Moros to ravage the Spanish islands again. In the following year the king sends 50,000 pesos to Filipinas for building light vessels to follow up those pirates. The weight of Anda’s official responsibility, and the constant attacks of his enemies, cause his death, October 30, 1776. He is succeeded by Basco y Vargas, an energetic, able, and conscientious officer. The auditors conspire against him, but he arrests them and ships them to Spain; he then devotes himself to the welfare of the country and the development of its resources. He makes all possible efforts to promote agriculture, industries, and commerce; founds the celebrated “Economic Society;” improves the schools, punishes highwaymen, reorganizes the army, and repairs the forts; visits the provinces in person, and informs himself of their condition; places the public revenues on a sound basis; and checks the Moro piracies for a time. Nevertheless, he is disliked and opposed by some of the citizens, and resigns his post as governor (1787); his temporary successor is Pedro Sarrio, who finds it necessary to allow the regular curas to resume their parish charges.

The next proprietary governor, Félix Berenguer de Marquina, assumes his office on July 1, 1788. After becoming acquainted with the condition of the islands, he sends to the home government proposals for the reforms which seem desirable for Filipinas. Various events in his term of office are related, but there is little in them of unusual importance. In 1793 he is succeeded by Aguilar. New alarms of another English invasion oblige him to give attention first to the defenses of Manila and the improvement of the army. In the last days of 1796, a powerful Spanish fleet, commanded by Álava, arrives at Manila, sent thither for the defense of the islands in the war with Great Britain, which began in that year. Sailing to attack the English trading-fleet from China, Álava encounters a fierce hurricane, which drives him back to Manila. Endeavoring to improve the navy of the islands, and to reorganize the arsenals, he encounters official corruption and other difficulties, and is involved in long controversies with Aguilar and the royal officials at Manila. In 1797, the Acapulco galleon is wrecked soon after leaving Cavite, through “its commander’s complete ignorance of nautical affairs,” occasioning heavy loss to the citizens of Manila. Álava is compelled, by the continual danger of an attack by the English, to remain near the city for its defense; but he does all in his power to protect its commerce and improve the administration of its navy, and finally returns to Spain in 1803. On August 8, 1806, Aguilar dies, having held his office longer than any other governor before or since.

A detailed statement of the financial affairs of the islands in 1766 is furnished by the royal fiscal at Manila, Francisco Leandro de Viana. He aims to show how the Philippines can be made self-supporting, and even more, by proper retrenchments of expense and by increasing the revenues of government through the abolition of certain privileges and exemptions, the establishment of various monopolies, and, if necessary, the increase of the tributes paid by the natives. This last item produces 250,000 pesos annually; but nearly all of this is paid out for “the spiritual administration” of the Indians, so that, according to Viana, “the religious orders profit by and receive almost all the proceeds from the tributes.” Hence the need of the royal situado each year from Mexico, to pay the civil and military expenses of the government. Viana enumerates the other profits derived from the Indians by the religious who are charged with their spiritual care, and mentions numerous other sources of income which they possess. In short, “all the profit of the islands accrues to the ecclesiastical estate;” the royal treasury is heavily indebted, and cannot meet the enormous expenses; “the provinces are at the mercy of the Moros, and everything is in danger of total ruin, unless suitable remedies are applied in time.”

For this purpose Viana advocates various retrenchments of expenses, especially of those now incurred for the support of the ecclesiastical estate in the islands. He recommends that the exemptions of certain Indian chiefs and church servants from tribute-paying be abolished; that the “barangays” be suppressed, and the native villages reduced to parishes; that changes and reforms be made in the dealings of the provincial alcaldes with the crown; that offices be not sold, but granted as rewards of merit; that certain royal imposts be increased; that some privileges be sold at auction; and that monopolies be established on playing-cards, cock-fighting, and tobacco, not only in Manila but throughout the provinces and islands—to all of which the monopolies on wine and buyo might profitably be extended, which “would produce for the royal treasury enormous sums.” From all these sources, the royal treasury will obtain enough income “to maintain the islands with respectable forces, and to make good the expenses hitherto caused to the royal revenue,” without the necessity of increasing the tribute paid by the natives. But, if this last expedient be deemed necessary, he shows what will be the proceeds from increasing the tribute from ten reals to two, three, and four pesos respectively. The fiscal Viana shows himself to be a capable and honest official; but he evidently must contend with forces and conditions—greed for gain, official corruption, fraud, negligence and waste—that cannot be overcome without entire reform and reorganization of the colonial administration. With all his ability, he nevertheless regards the native peoples, as so many other European officials have done, as legitimate subjects for reckless exploitation; but in the light of modern thought and investigation his proposed expedients seem both short-sighted and ruinous. In some cases they would be diabolical, if their author could have realized what their effects would be, as with the proposed extension of the vicious monopolies (gambling, and the use of tobacco and wine) throughout the islands. He himself says, “Even the boys and girls use the said tobacco before they are old enough to exercise their reason.”

Another document of especial interest is a report by Viana (May 1, 1767) to the king and the Council of the Indias, apparently the final one sent by him as fiscal. The subjects which it chiefly discusses are, the necessity of rendering trade free between the Spaniards and the Indians in the provinces, and that of instructing the natives in the Spanish language. As it is, the Indians seldom understand that language, outside of Manila, and dare not use it in presence of the religious. The latter, Viana says, are absolute despots in the islands, and, to conceal this from the authorities, they keep the natives in ignorance of the Spanish language; and they allow no Spaniard to enter their villages except by special permission of the cura, and for the time of three days only. He complains of their insolence, greed for dominion, disregard of all laws that do not suit their convenience, intrigues to prevent the enforcement of law, and oppression of the natives. These evils are incurable so long as the present mode of secular government continues. The interests of the king and his exchequer, and the government of the provinces, are shamefully neglected; the governor is indolent and covetous, seeks his own profit, and leaves business affairs to his secretary—who in turn neglects those which do not yield him gain. Viana urges that the superintendency of the exchequer be separated from the governor’s office, as a partial remedy for the disorder and neglect which it has suffered; also the surrender of civil government in the provinces to the sole charge of the Audiencia, and the reduction of all the natives into parishes. He describes the intrigues within the orders which attend the appointments therein to the parishes under their charge, and claims that the missions are in consequence rapidly decaying. He renews his complaint of the despotic rule practiced by the friar curas, over both natives and alcaldes; and declares that the only cure for this will be, to subject the curas to episcopal visitation. Viana closes by urging that better governors be sent to the islands.

Further light on the condition of the islands after the English invasion is furnished by a notable memorial to the Spanish government, written by the patriot Anda (April 12, 1768). Far the greater part of this is devoted to the abuses resulting from the arrogance and lawlessness of the friars, with Anda’s recommendations for measures to counteract those abuses; and to his text we add the helpful annotations made thereon by Dr. Pardo de Tavera. The inadequate and defective education furnished by the Manila universities leads Anda to recommend that they be abolished, and replaced by a secular foundation. He complains of the tyranny exerted by the regulars over the secular clergy and over the Indians, their refusal to acknowledge the episcopal authority, their defiance of the secular government, their greed for gain (extorting all they can get from the Indians, although they receive large stipends and contributions from the government, and acquiring large estates, besides engaging in a lucrative trade), their persecutions of any Spaniards who attempt to visit or trade in the Indian villages, their protection of the infidel Chinese, their persistent neglect to teach the Spanish language to the Indians and their holding the latter in ignorance in order to retain their domination over them. The regulars also neglect their spiritual work, do nothing to check the vagrant life of many Indians, tyrannize over the alcaldes, and incite the Indians to hate the Spaniards. Anda urges that they be compelled to submit to episcopal visitation, to give up trade, to cease from meddling with all affairs of secular government, and to teach the Spanish language to the natives; and, if they prove contumacious, that they be expelled from the islands. At the end of the memorial, Anda touches on some other abuses which need correction: the choice of friars as bishops, the mismanagement of the royal storehouses, the undue expense of the Acapulco galleon, the failure to tax the production of gold, and the neglect to subdue the inland tribes of Luzón. He advocates the operation of the Philippine mines, revision of the commercial regulations, recoinage of money, reorganization of the colonial government, and more care in selecting the governors of the islands, with the grant to them of more power to correct abuses.

Of decided importance in this series are the ordinances of good government of Corcuera and Cruzat (with later additions), and those of Raón (revising those of Arandía, of 1768), which were intended for the guidance of alcaldes, corregidors, and other judicial officials. While in actual use they were never of the transcendental importance in executive, legislative, and judicial matters that might be imagined from their context, because they are for the most part merely a record on paper (especially those of Raón), and were almost entirely disregarded; yet they are valuable, as they show the Spanish treatment of natives, and reveal social and economic conditions. Although the source from which we translate and synopsize presents first the ordinances of Raón, we have preferred to follow the more chronological arrangement, and hence begin with those of Corcuera and Cruzat. The ordinances of Corcuera, which were formulated in 1642, are revised by Cruzat, because such revision is demanded by the changed conditions that have come with the lapse of time. The first thirty-eight are the more valuable portion of these first ordinances, and are the result of the revision of those of Corcuera. They are much more clear-cut than most of the remaining twenty-three ordinances, some of which are vague and full of loopholes. As a whole, these first sixty-one ordinances regulate the conduct of the alcaldes-mayor in their official and private life in all lines—moral, religious, judicial, economic, etc. From them one obtains almost a full glimpse of the life of the times; he sees the canker of graft which was working in and through everything; gains a knowledge of the Spanish treatment of their wards, the natives, from the different standpoints of government paternalism, and individual rapacity, half-contempt, and cruelty of subordinate officials and others; notes the corrective measures that were taken, often halting and inadequate; and above all, is conscious of that peculiar method of Spanish legislation which, while apparently giving subordinate officials a free hand, drew them back to the center by threats of the residencia. The ordinances of Raón are ninety-four in number, many of which are repetitions of the foregoing, while some contain amendments and additions, and some again, are new. There is, for instance, considerably more legislation relating to the ecclesiastical estate in these later ordinances, which touch upon certain abuses common among them in their treatment of the natives and in their relations with the government. Less drastic, in many ways, than those of Arandía (of which no known copy is extant), they are more drastic than those of Corcuera and Cruzat, in the treatment of both religious and natives. The scheme of government outlined in both sets of ordinances is a simple and in some ways effective one, but its effects were never fully seen, because of the almost total disregard of the measures contained therein.

In 1771, Archbishop de Santa Justa issued instructions to the secular clergy which forcibly indicate the need of many reforms among them, in both their official and their private conduct.

One of the most important events in the history of Filipinas was the expulsion of the Jesuit order therefrom in 1768, an account of which is here presented, prefaced by a brief statement of the expulsion of that order from Spain and its domains, and the causes of that measure; it proves to be the final stroke in the long conflict between the Spanish crown and the popes of Rome over the prerogatives of authority claimed by the former in ecclesiastical matters. The Jesuits had always upheld the principle of authority, as exercised by the Holy See, and were therefore opposed to the claims of the Spanish monarchs; moreover, the ideas of freedom brought from France in that period were already fermenting in Spain, and had great influence in the minds of Carlos III and his ministers; and they saw that the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish dominions would remove the chief obstacles to their designs for governmental reforms and independence of papal interference. In Filipinas this expulsion does not proceed as desired by the Spanish court, with secrecy and promptness; the venal governor (Raón) warns the Jesuits of their fate, enabling them to make all preparations for their departure. Legal proceedings are therefore brought against Raón and his associates in their residencias, but some of them die before the suits are ended; and Anda, who instituted these by royal order, is nevertheless impeded in every way, and afterward sentenced to heavy fines, through the machinations of his enemies. A decree by the archbishop (November 1, 1769) censures the officious proceeding of an auditor, who seized and prohibited certain books hostile to the Jesuits.

A letter (December 13, 1771) from a Franciscan friar at Manila, relates various ecclesiastical disputes in connection with the diocesan council of 1771.

The Editors

April, 1907.

DOCUMENT OF 1764–1800

• [Events in Filipinas, 1764–1800]. Compiled from Montero y Vidal.

Source: Compiled from Montero y Vidal’s Historia de Filipinas, ii, pp. 66–70, 115–140, 229–382.

Translation: This is made by Emma Helen Blair.

EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1764–1800

Archbishop Rojo, ad interim governor of the islands at the time of the English attack on Manila, died on January 30, 1764, a prisoner in the hands of the conquerors.[1] A few days later, Anda received despatches from Spain notifying him of the treaty of peace made with England, and he immediately entered into negotiations with the English for the surrender of Manila, which was accomplished on March 31 following. There was a dispute over the question of who should succeed Rojo in the government of the islands, an honor which was certainly due to the patriot Anda, who was, however, opposed by some of the citizens; but this was settled by the arrival of Colonel Francisco de la Torre, appointed governor ad interim of the islands, to whom Anda surrendered his command on March 17. The revolts and other disturbances in the provinces, consequent on the English occupancy, and their suppression, are noted in VOL. XLIX; cf. Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, ii, chap. iii, and Ferrando, Hist. PP. dominicos, v, pp. 640–644, 651–740, for fuller accounts of these, and of the Chinese insurrection which then occurred. Ferrando makes (p. 739) the following interesting citation from an unnamed but “reliable” writer: “There died in this war some seventy Spaniards and two hundred and fifty natives, who, as good subjects, fought even unto death for their king. Before the insurrection there were in the province [of Pangasinan] 60,383 souls; and according to the computation which was made on May 13, 1766, there were in it only 33,456; consequently the loss for the entire province was 26,927 souls. Many of these inhabitants emigrated, others perished from their privations, and no small number were killed by the barbarians.”[2] During Torre’s temporary command the most important occurrence was a noisy controversy which was called forth by the imprudent and meddlesome utterances of a Jesuit preacher in Manila, Francisco Javier Puch, attacking government officials.[3] The governor with the aid of the fiscal Viana, attempted to secure the punishment or rebuke of Puch, but the Dominican theologians took sides against them with the Jesuits;[4] the dispute was carried to the court at Madrid, and produced long and bitter controversies and dissensions, and probably was one of the motives which influenced the king, some years later, to expel the Jesuits from his dominions.

On July 6, 1765, the new proprietary governor, José Raon, a military officer of high rank, relieved Torre; he appears to have been able but unscrupulous.[5] He is most conspicuous for his revision of the “Ordinances of good government” drawn up by Arandía (see post, pp. 191–264), the revision being dated February 26, 1768; and for the expulsion of the Jesuits from the islands (1768), in pursuance of the orders received from Madrid dated March 1, 1767—which matter is related in detail in the last document of this volume. In 1769 he also decreed the expulsion of the Chinese from Filipinas, although this was not fully enforced. Early in October, 1766, the French astronomer Le Gentil, whose Voyage (Paris, 1781) is a valuable contribution at once to science and to the history of Filipinas at that time, arrived at Manila, commissioned by the French government to make observations on the approaching transit of Venus. “On account of the scarcity of copper money in Manila, the senior regidor of the municipal council, Domingo Gómez de la Sierra, in 1766[6] requested authorization to make the said coins, with the name of barrillas, because their shape was that of a parallelogram. The government complied with this request, ordaining that only [the amount of] 5,000 pesos should be coined, to be used only in Tondo and Cavite. From that time, the Indians gave the name barrilla to copper coins.” “The municipal council again asked for authority to make the barrillas, for use in various provinces; and by royal decree of December 19, 1769, order was given to send from Mexico 6,000 pesos in cuartillos (that is, fourths of silver reals)—with the provision that the coin [previously] made should be gathered in, and that what should be necessary should be made with the royal arms, within the limits allowed to San Domingo, as appears in ley 8, tit. xxiv, [book iv,] of the Recopilación de Indias.” In 1766 there were two very fierce eruptions of the volcano Mayón, in Albay, occurring on July 20 and October 23; in the second, vast quantities of water were ejected, forming rivers and torrents, which destroyed some villages and many lives, and ruined many homes and farms.[7]

On July 22, 1767, the new archbishop, Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina,[8] took possession of the see of Manila, and immediately undertook to subject the regular curas to his diocesan visitation, thus reviving the Camacho controversy of 1697–1700 (see VOL. XLII, pp. 25–116) with the religious orders; but Santa Justa had the support of the civil authority, which had orders to enforce the royal rights of patronage. “The governor of the islands, on his side, communicated to the provincials of the religious orders rigorous commands that they must submit to the royal rights of patronage: that within a short time-limit they should present their lists of three names each [sus ternas] for appointments to all the curacies; and that in future they might not remove any religious from his post without informing the viceregal patron of the causes, whether public or private, for such action.” The Dominican province, in a provincial council of August 5, 1767, yielded to the archbishop’s claims, and during the following year he visited all the parishes administered by them; but some individuals refused to obey the council. The other orders obstinately resisted the episcopal visitation, declaring that they would abandon their curacies if it were enforced. Thereupon, the archbishop appointed secular priests to the vacant curacies, including those of the Parián, Binondo, and Bataan, which were in charge of the Dominicans.[9] As the number of Spanish priests was so small, the archbishop made up the deficiency by ordaining natives from the seminaries; but this measure caused great resentment among the regulars and their supporters, and Santa Justa himself was disappointed in its effects, as the native clergy were generally so unfit for the office of priest in both education and morals.[10] Complaints to the king were made by both the religious orders and the archbishop, filled with mutual accusations and recriminations; and Raon withdrew his support from the latter, ceasing to press the claims of the royal patronage—influenced thereto, according to Montero y Vidal, by the intrigues of the Jesuits, who were enemies to Santa Justa. The support given by the Dominicans to the Jesuits in the Puch affair was censured by the Dominican general (Fray Tomás de Bojadors), who punished the Philippine provincial, Fray Joaquín del Rosario, and two of his brethren by depriving them of office and recalling them to Madrid. They availed themselves of various technicalities to delay their return for a long time; but finally two of them were sent from Manila late in December, 1778. Fray Joaquín del Rosario (his companion having died on the voyage) was captured by the English, but afterward regained his liberty and proceeded to Madrid, where the dispute was finally settled in an amicable manner.

After the capture of Manila by the English, the Moros renewed their piratical incursions, the Spanish authorities being so burdened with the insurrections of the natives and the Chinese, the lack of revenues, and the general disturbance of the colony’s affairs, that they could do nothing to curb the insolence of the Moros. Those cruel pirates therefore ravaged the entire archipelago, even capturing fishing-boats in Manila Bay; and everywhere the coast villages were destroyed or depopulated, and the native population kept in continual terror of this inhuman foe. Bishop Ezpeleta, while temporary governor, had disbanded the little fleet at Iligan commanded by the Jesuits Ducós, which had been some check on the enemy, but Governor Rojo reëstablished the Pintados fleet, with headquarters at Cebú; nevertheless, this could do little to restrain them. There was a general attack by the Joloans and Mindanaos,[11] well aided by the Tirones and Malanaos; and so insolent did they become that they captured two richly-laden champans on the Mariveles coast, and entrenched themselves at Mamburao, on Mindoro Island, and sold their Filipino captives to the Macasar traders who resorted thither. A small squadron was collected at Cavite, which conveyed over 1,200 men to attack this Moro fort;[12] after several days of skirmishing, the enemy fled, and the Spaniards seized their stronghold, finding therein sufficient rice and other property to more than pay the expenses of the expedition. Another Moro band, however, made amends for this loss by gaining possession of the fort at Cateel, with all its contents; but on going to besiege that at Tandag they were repulsed and defeated, leaving behind all their arms and supplies.

Plan of the city of Manila and its environs and suburbs on the other side of the river, by the pilot Francisco Xavier Estorgo y Gallegos, 1770

[From original MS. map (in colors) in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]

In 1767 Anda went to Madrid, where he was praised and richly rewarded for his brave conduct during the English invasion; and the king made him a member of the Council of Castilla. Later, the post of governor of Filipinas was offered to him; he several times refused the honor, but finally yielded to the urgent request of the government, and in July, 1770 made his entry into Manila, where he was received with unbounded enthusiasm. His instructions made it necessary for him to institute legal proceedings against his predecessor Raon, who was accused of having warned the Jesuits of their intended expulsion, and of having secreted important official documents. Raon was held a prisoner in his house, but died before the suit could be tried in court. In this suit were also included two auditors and the royal fiscal, and they and their friends attacked Anda bitterly, causing him numberless vexations in his efforts to fix on them the responsibility for misconduct in the affair of the Jesuit expulsion. It was reported in Spain that the English intended to make another attack on Manila; Anda therefore repaired the walls of the city[13] and constructed ships, and within eight months had built and equipped twelve armed vessels of various sizes, besides several smaller craft. Notwithstanding this enterprise, the public revenues were greatly increased during the first year,[14] and thus Anda was able to send several expeditions against the Moro pirates. An earthquake[15] occurred on the night of February 1, which fortunately did no great damage.

“The religious corporations, notwithstanding the support which they generally lent to Anda during the war with the English, regarded with displeasure his appointment as governor of Filipinas. That strict magistrate, obeying the dictates of his conscience (which some persons attribute, but without sufficient grounds, to feelings of personal revenge), had addressed to the king on April 12, 1768, an exposition which treated of ‘the disorders which exist in Filipinas, and which ought to be corrected.’ In this document he points out most serious abuses among the friars; in the university, which was in their charge; among the Jesuits; among the Chinese, protected by the friars, who preferred them before the Spaniards, driving away and expelling the latter from their villages; and he censures certain frauds and practices in the public administration in specified branches of the civil service. The seventy with which Anda laid bare those abuses drew upon him the hatred of the friars.[16] In this document he demanded a remedy for the disorders which he denounced, pointing out the method by which this might be effected, and declared that ‘for the radical correction of these evils it is indispensable to draw up and introduce here a form of procedure which is clear, and capable of securing the just system which corresponds thereto, conferring upon the governor all the powers necessary for carrying it into execution, by those measures which prudence and the actual condition of affairs shall dictate to him.’ He added: ‘The choice of a zealous governor will materially contribute to laying the foundations of that great work; but it is necessary to reward him and give him authority, so that he can work to advantage, and without the hindrances which have often, by means of secret communications, cunning and disloyal maneuvers, and other malicious proceedings, frustrated the best and most carefully formed plans.’ This exposition[17] by Anda was certainly taken into account, for in the ‘royal private instructions’ which were given to him when he was appointed governor of Filipinas we see that he was ordered to put an end to specified abuses and disorders, the king using the same terms which Anda had employed in describing those evils.”

“The archbishop Santa Justa, a man of unparalleled firmness and energetic character, from the first moment assailed the new governor of Filipinas on the question of the diocesan visitation, to which the friars continued their opposition, and demanded his support in order to make it effectual. Anda, who regarded obedience to the laws as a rule of conduct, and who brought orders from the court to subject the regulars to the royal patronage, addressed an explicit communication to the superiors of all the religious institutes, requiring their obedience to the mandate of the sovereign, and assigning a definite term, which could not be prolonged, for the presentation of their lists of appointees, in order that the curacies might be filled in this manner. All the orders of regulars openly refused to yield obedience of this sort, excepting the Dominicans—who, more circumspect, and endeavoring to avoid the dangers which they foresaw in resistance, agreed to submit to this command—although many of the parish priests of the order soon were disobedient to this decision of their superiors.”

The archbishop convened a provincial council at Manila, which held six sessions during the period May 19–November 24, 1771; various matters of ecclesiastical administration came before it, the chief of which was the diocesan visit. In the fifth session, the subjection of the parish priests to the diocesan visitation and the royal patronage was ordained; and at the final one it was ordered that the decrees of the council should immediately be promulgated, declaring that those of the council of Mexico (which Urban VIII had ordered to be observed in Filipinas) were not now binding. In the first session the bishop of Nueva Cáceres, Fray Antonio de Luna (a Franciscan), became involved in disputes over the appointment of secretaries, and was expelled from the assembly; he then retired to his diocese, and during the entire period of the council opposed its proceedings, with protests, legal formalities, and official edicts. Bishop Ezpeleta of Cebú died soon after the opening of the council, and the government of that diocese devolved upon Luna, but, it seems, not its representation in the council. A secretary of that body, Father Joaquín Traggia, was sent to Madrid as its agent and bearer of its despatches; but the king refused to accept his credentials, and ordered him to go to his convent at Zaragoza, forbidding him to return to Filipinas. (Toward the end of this council, the archbishop, in concert with his suffragans, drew up a tariff for the parochial fees to be collected by the curas.) The religious orders finally secured, through influence at the court, the revocation of the order given to Anda in regard to the regular curas, which had resulted in many of them being removed from the Indian villages and replaced by native priests; but no change was made in regard to the diocesan visitation. The bishop of Nueva Segovia, Fray Miguel Garcia,[18] claimed this right, and convened a diocesan council in 1773; the only result was, to arouse a hot controversy between Garcia and the Dominicans, to which order he belonged. That order also had a dispute with the archbishop over his attempt to visit the beaterio of Santa Catalina; but in 1779 the king decided that this institution should continue to enjoy its exemption from visitation.

“By royal decree of November 9, 1774, it was ordered that the curacies held by the regulars should be secularized as fast as they became vacant. Anda suspended the execution of this command, and wrote to the court, specifying the evils which would ensue from the secularization of the curacies which the archbishop desired; and in consequence of this and of the urgent appeals of the Franciscans, Augustinians, and Recollects, the king ordered by a decree of December 11, 1776, that what had been decided on this point in the decree of November 9, 1774, should not be put into execution, and that affairs should be restored to their former status and condition, and their curacies to the religious; that the regulations for his royal patronage and the ecclesiastical visitation should be observed, but that the latter might be made by the bishops in person, or by religious of the same order as those who should serve in the curacies, and without collecting visitation fees. The king also directed in the said decree that efforts should be made, by all possible means and methods, to form a large body of competent clerics, in order that, conformably to the royal decree of June 23, 1757, these might be installed in the vacant curacies, thus gradually establishing the secularization that had been decreed.”

Anda took what precautions were available to restrain the Moro pirates, but great difficulties arose in his way. Ali-Mudin, whom the English had restored to his sway in Joló, and his son Israel (in whose favor the father had abdicated) were friendly to the Spaniards, with many of their dattos; but another faction, led by Zalicaya, the commander of the Joloan armadas, favored the English, who had established themselves (1762) on the islet of Balambangan[19] in the Joló archipelago, which they had induced Bantilan to grant them; and the English were accused of endeavoring to incite the Joloans against the Spaniards by intrigue and bribery. Anda decided to send an expedition to make protest to the English against their occupation of this island, as being part of the Spanish territory, and entrusted this mission to an Italian officer named Giovanni Cencelly, who was then in command of one of the infantry regiments stationed at Manila; the latter sailed from Zamboanga December 30, 1773, bearing careful instructions as to his mode of procedure, and to avoid any hostilities with the English and maintain friendship with the Joloans. But Cencelly seems to have been quite destitute of tact or judgment, and even of loyalty to his governor; for he disobeyed his instructions, angered the Joloans,[20] who could hardly be restrained by Ali-Mudin from massacring the Spaniards, and at the end of three weeks was obliged to return to Zamboanga. He was on bad terms with the commandant there (Raimundo Español), and refused to render him any account of his proceedings at Joló; and he even tried to stir up a sedition among the Spanish troops against Español. The English gladly availed themselves of this unfortunate affair to strengthen their own position in Joló, stirring up the islanders against Spain and erecting new forts. Later, however, the English at Balambangan showed so much harshness and contempt for the Moro dattos (even putting one in the pillory) that the latter plotted to surprise and kill the intruders; and on March 5, 1775, this was accomplished, the English being all slain except the commandant and five others, who managed to escape to their ship in the harbor. The fort was seized by the Moros, who thus acquired great quantities of military supplies, arms, money, and food, with several vessels.[21] Among this spoil were forty-five cannons and $24,000 in silver. Elated by this success, Tenteng, the chief mover of the enterprise, tried to secure Zamboanga by similar means; but the new commandant there, Juan Bayot, was on his guard, and the Moros were baffled. Tenteng then went to Cebú, where he committed horrible ravages; and other raids of this sort were committed, the Spaniards being unable to check them for a long time. A letter written to the king by Anda in 1773 had asked for money to construct light armed vessels, and a royal order of January 27, 1776, commanded that 50,000 pesos be sent to Filipinas for this purpose. This money was employed by Anda’s temporary successor, Pedro Sarrio, in the construction of a squadron of vintas, “vessels which, on account of their swiftness and exceedingly light draft, were more suitable for the pursuit of the pirates than the very heavy galleys; they were, besides, to carry pilots of the royal fleet to reconnoiter the coasts, draw plans of the ports, indicate the shoals and reefs, take soundings in the sea, etc.”

Notwithstanding the great services which Anda had rendered to his king and country, his enemies succeeded in procuring from the Spanish government the revocation of the sentences which had been pronounced in the suits brought by Anda (at the instance of that very government, and as its representative) against Raon and other corrupt officials; and Anda was condemned (by decrees in 1775–76) to pay the costs in these suits, and the further sums of four thousand pesos to the heirs of Raon and two thousand to the former fiscal, Juan Antonio Cosío. These unexpected and heavy blows, added to the strain of his official responsibilities and the annoyances caused by the attacks of his personal enemies, broke down Anda’s health; and he died at the hospital of San Felipe, Cavite, on October 30, 1776, at the, age of sixty-six years.[22]

Sultan Israel of Joló was poisoned by the followers of his cousin Ali-Mudin, son of Bantilan, who therefore assumed the government (early in 1778); immediately the Moros renewed their raids on the Spanish provinces nearest them, and the expeditions sent against them by Sarrio could do little to punish them.

In July, 1778, the new proprietary governor arrived at Manila; this was José de Basco y Vargas, an officer in the Spanish royal navy. The officials of the Audiencia forthwith sent a remonstrance to the court, against their being subordinated to a man whose rank “gave him only the right to be addressed as ‘you’ while each one of the magistrates [of the Audiencia] enjoyed the title of ‘Lordship,’ ” and they asked for the revocation of Basco’s appointment: but of course this was refused, and they were rebuked for their officiousness. As a result, the auditors opposed all that Basco attempted, and even conspired to seize his person and put Sarrio in his place. That officer, however, refused to join them, and informed the governor of the scheme; in consequence, Basco arrested the recalcitrant auditors and other persons connected with their plans (including Cencelly), and sent them all to Spain.[23] Now free from hindrances, he devoted himself to the administration of the government, the welfare of the country, and the development of its resources.

“In a document entitled ‘A general economic plan,’ he extolled the advantages which are inherent in the promotion and development of agriculture, commerce, and industries. He offered therein to bestow rewards and distinctions on the persons who should excel in agriculture, in making plantations of cotton, of mulberry trees, and of the choicer spices, as cloves, cinnamon, pepper, and nutmeg; to those who should establish manufactures of silk, porcelain, and fabrics of hemp, flax,[24] and cotton like those that were received from the Coromandel Coast, Malabar, and China; to those who would undertake to work the mines of gold, iron, copper, and tin; to those who should make discoveries useful to the State; and to those who should excel in sciences, the liberal arts, and mechanics. He also circulated instructions in regard to the method of cultivating and preparing for use cotton, silk, sugar, etc. He also, in Camarines, compelled the planting of more than four millions of mulberry trees, which for several years yielded an excellent product; but these important plantations were abandoned after his term of office [expired].[25] He improved the schools, and aided the diffusion of knowledge by promoting the knowledge of the Castilian language. In order to repress the boldness of the murderous highwaymen who infested the roads in the provinces nearest to Manila, he appointed judges with power of condemnation [jueces de acordada[26]]; these, accompanied by a counsellor and an executioner, by summary process tried the malefactors whom they arrested in their respective districts, and applied the penalty—a measure so efficacious that in a short time there was complete security everywhere. The Audiencia appealed against this measure, and the king issued a decree notifying the governor to abstain from meddling in the jurisdiction of that court. In acknowledging the receipt of this sovereign command, Basco remarked that ‘unfortunately it had arrived too late.’ As war had been again declared between España and Inglaterra, Basco caused the fortifications of Manila and Cavite, and the forts in the provinces, to be repaired, changing a great part of the artillery therein for new pieces. He also reorganized the army. In 1778 the order for the expulsion of the Chinese was revoked, and a considerable number of them returned to Manila.

A royal decree of November 15, 1777, recommended the establishment of an institution in which vagrants and dissolute persons might be shut up. Accordingly, Manuel del Castillo y Negrete, minister of justice for the Philippines, drew up and printed (Sampaloc, 1779) a manual of ordinances for the management of a general refuge for poor persons, beggars, women of lewd life, abandoned children, and orphans. For this project he had obtained the opinions of learned persons, all of whom extolled it; and he sent this document to the king. Besides promoting all interests of morality, and the development of agriculture, industry, and commerce, Basco founded the noted “Economic Society of Friends of the Country.”[27] A royal decree dated August 27, 1780, had ordered him to convene all the learned or competent persons in the colony, “in order to form an association of selected persons, capable of producing useful ideas;” but when this decree arrived, Basco had already founded the above society. On February 7, 1781, the active members of the general tribunal [junta] of commerce had assembled, and agreed upon the constitution of the society, a number of them signing their names as its members—among them the Marqués de Villamediana, the prior of the consulate of commerce. “The body of merchants endowed the society with a permanent fund of 960 pesos a year, the value of two toneladas which were assigned to it in the lading of the Acapulco galleon.” The society was formally inaugurated on May 6, 1781, under the presidency of Basco, who made an eloquent address. Its first president was the quartermaster-general of the islands, Ciríaco González Carvajal; according to its first regulations, it contained the following sections: natural history, agriculture and rural economy, factories and manufactures, internal and foreign commerce, industries, and popular education. “Stimulated by Basco, the society undertook with great ardor to promote the cultivation of indigo, cotton, cinnamon, and pepper, and the silk industry, according to the orders published by the superior authority. The parish priest of Tambóbong, Fray Matías Octavio, taught his parishioners to prepare the indigo, presenting to the society the first specimens, which were adjudged to be of superior quality. In 1784, the first shipment of this article to Europa was made in the royal fragata ‘Asunción.’ The society also recommended that effort be made to attain perfection in weaving and dyeing. (The society declined greatly after the departure of its founder; and Aguilar roughly opposed it. In 1809 it was extinguished; two years later, orders were received for its reëstablishment, but this was not accomplished until 1819. In the following year, its constitution was remodeled; and in 1821 it founded at its own cost a professorship of agriculture and an academy of design, and established special instruction in dyeing. In 1824 it resolved to bestow rewards on the most successful farmers; and it introduced from China martins, to fight the locusts that were desolating the fields. In 1828 its constitution experienced another revision; but during more than half a century it gave hardly any sign of its existence. It had a flash of vitality in 1882, but soon fell again into a decline. To-day [about 1893] there is hardly any indication that Manila remembers a society of this sort; and, as it is not in the Guía de forasteros [“Guide for strangers”], it may be said that it has ceased to exist.)

“Filipinas had been, until the arrival of the illustrious Basco y Vargas in the country, a heavy burden on the capital, since every year the situado was sent in cash from México to meet the obligations of the islands. In order to free España from this sort of load, and to raise the country from its depressed condition, he conceived the vast project of stimulating the cultivation of tobacco, by establishing a government monopoly of it.[28] He communicated his plan to the Spanish government; and by a royal order of February 9, 1780, the monopoly of tobacco, similar to that which was in force in the other dominions of the nation, was decreed. He immediately published two proclamations, on December 13 and 25 respectively, in 1781, prohibiting the sale, traffic, and manufacture of tobacco; and on February 16, 1782, he issued (signed and sealed by himself), ‘Instructions which are given to all the commanders or heads of the patrols, the provincial administrators, the market inspectors, and other persons who are under obligation to prevent loss to the revenue from tobacco.’ These were directed to the prevention of smuggling, showing the way in which investigations should be conducted—including the houses of parish priests, the convents, colleges, and beaterios, the quarters of the soldiers, etc. He created a board of direction for this revenue, a general office of administration or agency, and subordinate offices to this in the provinces. Basco’s idea was strongly opposed by various interests; but the governor’s energy was able to conquer this unjust opposition, and the monopoly was organized on March 1, 1782; it constituted the basis of the prosperity of the exchequer in that country, and its most important source of revenue.

“The zealous governor visited the provinces in person, in order to inform himself of their needs and to remedy these, compelling their governors and other functionaries to fulfil their trusts as they should. He also organized various military expeditions to occupy the Igorrot country.”

From the first, Basco did what he could to restrain the incursions of the Moro pirates; but he had many difficulties to encounter. He repaired the forts in Mindanao and the Visayan Islands; he built small vessels, and stationed them in Cebú, Iloilo, Zamboanga, and Calamianes, from which points they could more promptly set out to punish the Moros; and he sent an expedition to Mamburao, in Mindoro, which drove out the pirates who, as we have already seen, had established themselves there. These raids being thus checked for the time, trade began to improve; “and from Sámar alone, whose traffic with Manila had been paralyzed for more than ten years, forty-three caracoas went to the capital in 1779.” The sultan of Joló humbly asked Basco for peace, and returned to the Spaniards a small vessel captured near Antique by one of his dattos, “an unusual proceeding among the pirates.” The natives of Bulacan voluntarily offered (December, 1781) to pay for the cost of two vessels to sail against the pirates, and imposed on themselves for this purpose a tax of one-half a real a year on each tribute; this proving insufficient, they increased it, in the summer of 1784, with a ganta of unhulled rice per tribute. This example was immediately followed by the natives of Pampanga. In 1782, the Visayas were invaded by a Mindanao host; but on several occasions the Spaniards succeeded in defeating the pirates and sinking many of their boats. Basco conquered the Batanes Islands, north of Luzon,[29] and this enterprise for a time diverted his military forces from the Moros, who consequently increased their depredations on the Visayan natives and carried away many captives from Calamianes, Panay, and Negros.

By royal orders of July 17 and 26, 1784, the post of quartermaster-general of the islands was created, in accordance with a request by Basco; and that of deputy-intendant of the exchequer was united with it, independent of the superior government of the islands. It was placed in charge of one of the auditors, Ciriaco González Carvajal, also at Basco’s recommendation; and from this time the royal officials were styled “ministers of the royal exchequer.” Carvajal aided Basco greatly in establishing the monopoly of tobacco, and it was he who drew up the instructions to officials on this subject. In 1785, a dispute arose between them over the establishment of the tobacco monopoly in Camarines and Albay, each regarding this undertaking as the prerogative of his own office. Carvajal proposed that provincial intendancies should be created in Ilocos, Camarines, Cebú, and Iloilo; this was done, and approved by royal orders of November 24, 1786; but a year later the Spanish government suppressed Carvajal’s office, and these provincial intendancies as well.

In 1785, there was a revolt of the heathen Indians in Ituy and Paniqui, headed by a Calinga chief named Lagutao, who assembled over 1,200 men; but it was put down by a force of 300 musketeers sent from Cagayán, and Lagutao was killed in battle. A royal decree of February 25, 1785, ordered the immediate expulsion of all Chinese from Manila,[30] allowing the governor to fix a place outside the walls where a small number of them might reside, under supervision; and another decree (April 1, 1785) approved the foundation of a colony of 200 Chinese on Lake Candaba, in Pampanga. At Carvajal’s instance, a monopoly was decreed (November 4, 1786) on gunpowder in Filipinas. In the following year, instructions for the execution of this measure were issued (December 11); and about the same time the monopoly of wines was placed in control of the exchequer.

The constant opposition to Basco’s reforms and efforts which he encountered finally wore out his patience, and he offered his resignation; at first it was not accepted, but he insisted, and the king allowed him to hand over the government of the islands to Pedro Sarrio. Basco embarked for Spain at the end of November, 1787, and for his eminent services was promoted in the navy, ennobled, and made governor of Cartagena. Montero y Vidal praises in high terms the character and achievements of this distinguished governor, who had secured for Filipinas greater benefits than had any other, establishing its revenues on a firm basis, introducing most important reforms, and advancing its material and moral progress; but he was assailed by “the envy, rivalry, spite, insane hatred, and lack of patriotism of the auditors, merchants, and other classes, who were governed by base motives and despicable passions, or by ignorance and covetousness.”

The natives in northern Ilocos were displeased at the monopolies[31] on tobacco and wines, and revolted; but the alcalde-mayor of the province went to meet them, with Fray Agustín Pedro Blaquier,[32] cura of Batao, and persuaded the insurgents to disperse without bloodshed. Sarrio held the office of governor but six months. After the death of Archbishop Santa Justa (December 15, 1787), he found it necessary to allow the regular priests to resume the charge of the parishes, as is shown in the following extract from his letter to the king, dated a week after that event, explaining his reasons for this course: “First, because in temporal matters as well as in spiritual is seen a manifest and notorious difference between the villages administered by the regulars and those which are in charge of the seculars of Indian and mestizo (Sangley and Chinese) birth; these are almost the only ones dedicated to the cure of souls, for in all the islands hardly six curas can be named who are Spaniards or Spanish mestizos. It can be said, in general, that the villages which are under the direction of the regulars have adequate spiritual nourishment, which cannot be asserted of those which are in charge of the Indians and mestizos. These, when they receive the name of priest, are not thereby deprived of that innate negligence and indolence with which nature has endowed all these islanders; and hence it results that, given up to idleness, gambling, and other [like] pursuits, they abandon study, and begin to lose whatever fitness [for the office] they may have possessed at the time of being ordained or receiving the curacy. The consequence of this is, that they grow remiss in their preaching and the instruction of their parishioners; these functions they are unable to discharge competently, not only because they are little used to books, but because not many of them are thoroughly instructed in the Latin and Spanish languages, in which those authors have written of whom the curas must avail themselves in order to distribute to their flocks the proper food of doctrine. Once possessed [thus] by ignorance, it is not astonishing that no greater impression is made on their minds by the rigid law of residence,[33] or that of the other obligations that are inseparable from the parochial ministry. On the other hand, accustomed from childhood to live in houses of bamboo or wood, they regard stone dwellings with indifference; and to this may be attributed the fact that some of them abandon the parish houses which formerly were the homes of the regulars, and make separate dwellings for themselves. Others, even though they live in the parish houses, take little pains to repair and keep them in good condition. This would be to some extent endurable if their neglect did not also extend to the church building and the ornaments which are used in the divine worship; for it is noticed that there is seldom a church in their charge which is sufficiently clean and well kept, since they do not make repairs in time, or apply to this purpose any of their perquisites. These they spend for their own use and on their own families, who inevitably remove from their own natal village to that of the curacy, and thus become even more slothful than they are by nature. They are quite unlike the regulars, who, being reared in different principles and trained in the purest teachings of our Catholic religion, generally have no other aim than that of the proper care of their churches.”

On July 1, 1788, the proprietary governor Félix Berenguer de Marquina assumed the reins of office, and all matters connected with the exchequer returned to their former condition. In a decree of March 29, 1789, he ordered that the appointment of the heads of barangay should be made by the provincial governors, after being proposed by the notables [principalia] of the respective villages. An expedition was sent out from Spain by the government in July, 1789, to make scientific observations and draw plans and maps of the coasts of Spanish America and the Marianas and Filipinas islands, with new sailing routes. One of its members was Antonio Pineda, a native of Guatemala and a Spanish officer, bearing official commission to study the flora of Filipinas and the condition of agriculture. Unfortunately he died while there (July, 1792), while making scientific observations in Ilocos; he was but thirty-nine years old. A monument was erected to him at Malate, but has been practically destroyed by the ravages of time. The archbishopric of Manila was administered, from October 16, 1789, by Juan Orbigo y Gallego,[34] a Franciscan, previously bishop of Nueva Cáceres. Marquina drew up, in January, 1790, a “Plan of reforms for the government of Filipinas,” which he considered necessary for the prosperity and advancement of the islands, and in order that the yearly remittance from the Mexican treasury might be stopped. He proposed the fortification of Manila and Cavite, an increase in the military force, and an increased capitation tax on the Chinese in order to meet this greater expense for the army; also the opening of the port of Manila to all foreign commerce, and various changes in the Acapulco trade. He advised that Filipinas should be made a viceroyalty, and the viceroy be rendered independent of the Audiencia and of the religious orders. Other reforms proposed were: “The formation of a company of marines for manning the vessels sent out to cruise [against the Moros], and another of marine artillery for the same purpose; the reform of the chief accountancy by limiting its exorbitant powers; the establishment of an acordado,[35] or a sort of police, in the provinces, directed rather to intimidating and restraining [criminals] by means of vigilance than to punishing them with harshness and violence; allowance of fixed and decent salaries to the alcaldes-mayor, and putting a stop to their trading (which absorbed all their time, with great risks to impartial conduct and justice); the desirability of abolishing the odious monopolies on playing-cards and gunpowder; the transfer of the natives from the Batanes Islands to Cagayán, on account of the wretched condition of the former; and the advantage of occupying, in preference to the Batanes, the island of Mindoro—which was richer, and nearer to Manila, and [at the time] reduced to the utmost indigence by having been abandoned [by its inhabitants] and by the incursions of the Moros.[36] The colonization of various islands with Catalans, Valencians, and Galicians, in order that they might be preëminently devoted to agriculture; taking advantage of the gold placers, so abundant in the country, from which was obtained no less than 200,000 pesos’ worth of gold a year; the establishment of a mint, with which the exportation of gold from the country would be avoided. The increase of the cruising vessels, and distribution of these into three divisions, placing in each one a panco, in order to fight the pirates better; the necessity of conferring ample powers upon the governor (who had to establish all these improvements) without his having to be subject to the board of the royal exchequer, ‘since I know by experience that the opposition which I am accustomed to meet there is not actuated by zeal for the benefit of the royal service, but for personal ends;’ and the creation of another secretaryship, in order to attend to the crowd of matters which were a burden on the governor and captain-general.” He also proposed to place in one fund the revenues from tobacco, wine, and customs duties. On March 2, 1790, were published the regulations for the sale of wine under the monopoly arrangement; the dealers were declared exempt from polos and personal services,[37] must sell only pure wines, without any mixture of water, and must always keep a supply on hand.

A royal decree of May 14, 1790, ordained that the Chinese should pay a capitation tax of six pesos a year. In the same year the regiments of Pampanga and Zambales and Bataán were formed, in order to increase the disciplined militia of the provinces. In July the governor received a letter from the king of Cochinchina, asking that two of his ships, then at Canton, might be aided on their arrival at Manila, with money to make needed repairs and buy a quantity of sulphur,[38] on the king’s account; this was done, and afterward approved by the Spanish government. In October, the curacies of Ilocos—which, formerly held by the Dominicans, had remained vacant since Santa Justa’s effort to enforce the diocesan visitation—were placed in the hands of the Augustinians, with the provision that the royal right of patronage should be observed in the appointments to these new ministries. The death of Carlos III occurred on December 14, 1788, but the official notification (despatched a fortnight later) did not reach Manila until July, 1790. In the following November the solemn proclamation of the accession of Carlos IV, and the oaths of allegiance to him, were celebrated at Manila with fiestas which lasted from the third to the twenty-first of that month. A description of these festivities was published (1791) by the Dominican Fray Manuel Barrios, a lecturer in Santo Thomás university, from which Montero y Vidal quotes liberally (pp. 329–338). They included, besides the splendid and solemn character of the ceremonies themselves, “a general illumination of the city during three consecutive nights, pontifical mass and Te Deum in the cathedral, levees at the palace, dances in the cabildo buildings, masquerades, banquets, fireworks, comedies, and even a bullfight.” The Filipino natives and the Chinese[39] also contributed to the festivities, with devices or entertainments peculiar to their customs. Thus says Barrios: “It ought to be understood that the taste of the Chinese, in the matter of spectacles and public diversions, is based on ideas that are very different from, or rather quite contrary to, our own. As proof of this, is sufficient the spectacle which they presented on this night, the first sight of which might astonish any European who might not have seen beforehand some diversion of this people. A lion spitting fire, more terrible than those which grow up in the deserts of Zaara [i.e., Sahara], was followed by an enormous serpent, more than fifty cubits long, which made extraordinary movements and contortions on account of swallowing a globe of fire which floated before it through the air; and behind the serpent came another lion, no less fierce than the first. This spectacle was made even more terrible by the confused din of the gongs, which the Chinese beat without ceasing. The lions fought each other, with the greatest ardor and pertinacity; and the serpent performed many pleasing movements and evolutions, causing admiration of the skill with which so huge a mass moved about so swiftly. Finally, the two lions began to swell, and brought forth an abundance of fireworks; and it would be unjust to the Chinese if I did not state here that this display, although of short duration, was very handsomely designed. One of the lions being now set on fire, it began to run around through the plaza, with an incredible velocity, which spectacle gave much pleasure to those present. On the following day the Chinese presented a comedy in Royal Street, Binondo, which, begun at three in the afternoon, lasted until four the next morning; and even then they say that it was a short one compared with what they are accustomed to. During the following nights they went out through the suburbs, and there was no street through which the huge serpent did not move, to the intense delight of the people who followed it.” On this occasion the royal consulate (of commerce) of Manila distributed 3,000 pesos in alms to poor widows and orphans, and doweries to penniless girls. One Pedro Galarraga displayed both ingenuity and profuseness; “he diverted the crowds of people, and carried to the stars the name of his august sovereign, by means of a large aerostatic globe, which crossed the bay and was lost to sight among the clouds. The festivity was crowned by the liberality of the said Don Pedro, who flung to the people a quantity of coin bearing the stamp of the new monarch; and on the following day he also distributed these to all persons of distinction.” Finally, the rector of Santo Thomas and the Dominican provincial had a celebration of their own, with fireworks, a dance at the palace performed by the students of that university, and the recitation of a poem before the governor and all the distinguished personages of Manila, eulogizing the loyalty of that city and its people.

Marquina took much pains to have the obras pías honestly administered. He ordered that the nipa houses which still existed within the walls of Manila should be torn down, as being both a disfigurement and a danger to the city. During his term of office, a severe epidemic of smallpox was experienced in Filipinas; and he gave large sums to the parish priests to relieve the poverty caused by the pestilence. The islands were ravaged by the Moros year after year, the naval force of the Spaniards doing little more than to remain on the defensive; and in 1789 Marquina wrote to the king saying that the continual warfare of the Moros was “an evil without remedy.” Mahomet Sarpudin, the successor of Ali-Mudin II, was very crafty and deceitful, and, while professing to be a friend of the Spaniards, he sent out Illano pirates against the merchant vessels, some of which were captured by Mahomet’s own followers. Marquina met with much trouble in his government, from “class interests” and from the ingratitude of those whom he had helped; he resigned his office, “and returned to España poor and disheartened.”[40] The king made him Viceroy of Mexico.

Marquina’s successor was a military officer, Rafael María de Aguilar y Ponce de León; he began his duties as governor on September 1, 1793. From the first, he was desirous of checking the Moro raids; but reports came that the English were going to attack Filipinas again, and his first efforts were directed to the defense of Manila and Cavite. He raised a force of 10,000 armed men, forming companies of Spaniards and of mestizos, and stationed detachments in outpost batteries in the environs of the city. He strengthened the walls, and tore down houses which menaced them; and increased the naval forces, also establishing a naval station and lookout on Corregidor Island. The English learned of Aguilar’s preparations to receive them, and concluded not to go near Manila; “but they allied themselves with the Joloans, inciting them to invade the Visayas.” Marquina’s “plan for reforms” was sent back to the islands, the king asking that it be considered by the royal officials there, who should send him a report and their decision as to its advisability; “but as it attacked objects so powerful in the islands as the regular orders, the Audiencia, and the comptroller and officials of the exchequer, it is useless to show what report would be that sent out [by them] in regard to the plan of Marquina, which was in many respects extremely clear-sighted.” In 1794 a shipyard, independent of that at Cavite, was erected in Binondo, its principal purpose being to construct vessels with which to follow up the Moro pirates; it was called La Barraca (“the barracks”),[41] and was “famous for the enormous expenses which were suspected in the construction work carried on there.” It was placed in charge of Juan Nepomuceno Acuña, and its directors were, ex officio, the royal officials. On Christmas Day in 1796, a Spanish squadron of five vessels arrived at Cavite, commanded by an officer of high rank, Ignacio María de Álava;[42] it was sent for the defense of the islands in case of another war with Great Britain—which indeed was declared soon after the fleet’s departure, the news of it reaching Manila in March, 1797. Álava set out with his squadron on April 19, to attack the English fleet which was on its way from China to London, little dreaming that a powerful squadron of their enemy was so near. But an unexpected hurricane arose just before the fleets met, and nearly wrecked the ships of Álava, which after a hard struggle made their way back to Manila with broken masts and torn rigging. A royal decree of September 24, 1796, ordered the transfer of the shipyard at San Blas[43] in California to the port of Cavite, in order (to quote from the decree) “that a shipyard may be formed there of sufficient capacity to protect the settlements in that colony from European forces and from the piratical raids of the Mahometans who occupy the neighboring islands, and to assist with doubled power and resources our squadrons in South America and Asia.” At its head was placed Juan Villar, a competent and experienced constructor from the shipyard at Havana, furnished with competent foremen to work under him, and with “plans and specifications suitable for every class of vessels;” and provision was made for the immediate construction of lanchas carrying guns and mortars. “This measure was the origin of the arsenal of Cavite.”[44] The royal officials were angry that the management of La Barraca, with its opportunities for profit to themselves, should be taken from them; and they refused to allot to Villar the salary to which he was entitled—that which he had received at Havana, and one-half more for going to Manila in the royal service. This brought on heated controversies between Aguilar and Álava, which lasted a year and a half before they were settled, Villar and his subordinates meanwhile residing in Manila; finally, Álava carried his point, and Villar was placed in his post at Cavite, with the salary which he ought to receive. In 1796 the grenadier regiments of Luzón and Batangas were created, as a part of the provincial disciplined militia; also five battalions of militia, the Malabar company at Cavite being abolished.[45] In the same year there was felt in Manila and in many other provinces of Luzón one of the greatest earthquakes which has ever occurred in the archipelago; and in October, 1797, another calamity was the loss (on the coast of Albay) of the galleon San Andrés, laden with a rich cargo for Acapulco—“due to its commander’s complete ignorance of nautical affairs;” he was a merchant of Manila, instead of an experienced navigator. In 1799 Aguilar published (January 30) a decree prescribing the method for making the registration of the natives for the punctual collection of the tributes; and another (October 30), prohibiting the exportation of small silver coins. The home government recommended (August 5, 1799) to the governor of Filipinas that he encourage the cultivation of the mulberry, cinnamon, pepper, cacao, and cotton. In that year, the fragata “Pilar” arrived from America with $1,200,000 for the aid of the islands. “In 1800 Aguilar ordained that no public work should be commenced without the previous knowledge of the government of the islands, in order to avoid their being constructed with injurious consequences to the natives, as was found to be the case in many places. Also, by edict of July 19 in the same year he prohibited the construction of vessels having more than fifteen cubits of keel, without the permission of the authorities, obliging the owners, under penalty of 200 pesos fine, to comply with the plans which would be furnished to them for a moderate sum by the [government] shipbuilder Don José Blanchic.” Álava and his squadron were unable to do much toward checking the Moro raids, being continually detained at Manila on account of the threatened attack on that city by the English; but that officer vigorously organized and regulated the naval station at Cavite, made excursions into the provinces in order to become better acquainted with the resources and topography of the island, and protected the commerce of Filipinas with China and Nueva España. A royal decree of September 27, 1800, ordered him to establish a naval bureau at Manila, “with the full powers of command and jurisdiction prescribed in the Ordinances of the navy and subsequent royal orders,” which he should place in working order before his return to Spain; its objects were, “the defense of the Filipinas Islands, improvement in the construction of the vessels, knowledge of the hydrography and navigation of those seas, and the management of the arsenal at Cavite;” and for its first chief was appointed Captain Ventura Barcáiztegui. When Álava undertook to execute this commission, Aguilar refused to surrender La Barraca to him, as also the men and vessels of the privateer force which had been organized earlier to punish the Moros—alleging that this fleet had its own rules and was not affected by the naval Ordinances; and that the internal defense of the islands belonged to him, as being captain-general therein. Álava had to yield, and established the naval bureau as best he could with the scanty means at his disposal; he also drew up regulations for its administration. He left Manila, to return to Spain, on January 6, 1803. In 1806 Aguilar, being seriously ill, surrendered his office of governor to the king’s lieutenant on August 7, and died the next day, after thirteen years’ rule; (this is the longest term of a governor’s office during the entire history of the islands).[46]

[1] This résumé of events during the latter part of the eighteenth century is compiled from Montero y Vidal’s Historia de Filipinas, ii, pp. 66–70, 115–140, 229–382; that work is mainly annalistic. Of those which we have used in former volumes, Murillo Velarde’s stops at 1716, and Concepción and Zúñiga at the siege of Manila (evidently for the prudential reasons, connected with persons still living, which Zúñiga frankly assigns in his own case); Montero y Vidal is therefore the only writer now available who follows the thread of secular events connectedly throughout the later history of the islands. Wherever possible, we have used his own language—which, in long citations, or special phrases, is distinguished by quotation marks. [↑]

[2] On March 27, 1765, Viana declared (Respuestas, fol. 113) that the natives of Pangasinan ought to be compelled to pay all arrears of tribute due since the last collection made before the English invasion; that the village notables should not be exempted; and that each tribute ought to pay two reals extra to reimburse the government for the costs of putting down the rebellion in that province. Later (fol. 134), he estimates that the tributes in that province are the same as before the war; “for, although it is certain that a great many of the insurgents died, it is also evident that the reduction [of the province] prevents the concealment of the tributes which was formerly practiced by the heads of barangay.” [↑]

[3] Puch specified the alcaldes-mayor (VOL. XLIX, p. 337, note 208)—cf. what Viana says of those officials in his “Memorial” (VOL. XLVIII), chapter v, sections 34–38—but his remarks were considered as reflections on higher officials. [↑]

[4] Ferrando (v, pp. 9–16) says that Puch was engaged, by order of his provincial, Father Bernardo Pazaengos (more correctly written Pazuengos), and at the urgent requests of other pious persons, in conducting a sort of mission in the city, “with the object of correcting the many vices which had been introduced into Manila during the invasion by the English;” and in one of those sermons he made the utterances which brought him into trouble. The Audiencia resolved to notify the provincials of all the orders and the dean of the cathedral that they must order their subordinates to conform to the laws in regard to their preaching; and the Jesuit provincial in particular, that he also take care that Puch should give satisfaction to the Audiencia and the public for his reflections on government officials. Pazuengos laid the case before the heads of Santo Tomás university, and, as their decision was in his support, he answered the Audiencia that he had ordered the priest hereafter to obey the law cited by the Audiencia; but that he declared Puch to be “immune and exempt from blame” in regard to the remarks made in the sermon before mentioned, and protested that he did not intend to censure in the least the acts of the Audiencia. He added that, if this were not enough, he would send Puch to the Mindanao missions. This aroused Viana’s anger, first “against the Jesuits, and afterward against all the other orders; and he finally issued an official opinion filled with calumnies and invectives, which might rather be called a defamatory libel.” At this all the orders took up the matter, especially resenting Viana’s attitude because they had supported the government so loyally during the English invasion: the superiors held a special conference in the convent at Tondo, and agreed to draw up a remonstrance to the king against the fiscal’s unjust attack on them, demanding that he investigate the whole affair and decide it according to justice. Ferrando condemns Puch’s imprudent remarks, but regrets that the matter had not been settled by his superior, instead of dragging the other orders into the quarrel and thus eventually causing trouble at court for all of them, especially for the Jesuits. Ferrando adds (p. 24): “We have also another key to explain the hostility which certain persons at that time manifested toward the religious orders in these provinces over seas, in the sinister Pleiad of ministers who then surrounded the Catholic king. Aranda, Roda, Campománes, Azpuru, and Floridablanca all had connections, more or less evident and close, with the French encyclopedists and philosophers of that time, and all emulated Tanucci in regard to regalist doctrines”—that is, maintaining the rights and prerogatives of the state as against the church (Gray’s Velázquez Dictionary).

In regard to this last statement, cf. Manuel Danvila y Collado, in his Reinado de Carlos III, ii, pp. 561–564: “Religious intolerance, still great in the reign of Felipe V, tended to extinction in succeeding reigns. In the almost half a century during which he occupied the throne, there were in España twelve inquisitors-general; and such was the hold which the Holy Office possessed in public opinion that, in order to entertain the new king, a solemn auto de fe was held in 1701, which he declined to attend. Nevertheless, he protected the Inquisition, because Louis XIV had advised him to support it as a means of maintaining tranquillity in the country; he availed himself of it to inspire respect for the oath of fidelity which was given to the new monarch; he repressed the Jewish worship which, again and secretly, had been propagated in España after the annexation of Portugal; but it was the general opinion that rigor against the heretics diminished after the advent of the house of Bourbon. The sect of Molinos was persecuted and punished with severity; even Macanaz, the enthusiastic defender of the royal prerogatives, was banished from España, for political rather than religious motives; and the third volume of the Historia civil de España, by Fray Nicolás de Jesús Belando, who dared to defend the regalist idea, was prohibited. These rigorous proceedings diminished during the reign of Fernando VI, who permitted Macanaz to return to España, and who established as a principle that the coming of the Bourbons to the throne of the Españas was to produce a complete modification of the system of the Holy Office … Even the Concordats of 1737 and 1753, by recognizing the royal prerogatives of the crown of España, authorizing the taxes on the estates of the clergy, and reforming various points of discipline, allowed the admission of some ideas which ignorance or superstition had until then deemed irreligious or favorable to impiety. The Diario de los literatos also enlightened many people in regard to knowledge of the books which were being published, and the judgment which ought to be formed of them; and the weekly sheets gave acquaintance with foreign works which no one knew of, and which were a preparation for the interesting literary transformation of the epoch of Fernando VI; while at the same time the rigors of the Inquisition were relaxed, in harmony with the change which had been produced in public opinion. Indeed, from that time the Holy Office occupied itself only with persecuting the Jesuits and the Free Masons (who had been excommunicated by the bull of Clement XII of April 28, 1738, renewed on May 18, 1751)…. There certainly is no room for doubt that, partly through the progress of public opinion and partly through the knowledge which was obtained here of the works of Diderot and D’Alambert—and especially of the Encyclopedia, begun in 1751, and concluded in 1772—it became the fashion and people were proud to have acquaintance with the tendency of the philosophy proclaimed by the French freethinkers—but they did not comprehend that this philosophy necessarily led to revolution, and with it to the loss of all property rights (which was the foundation of its influence in society), and the annihilation of all political influence within the state …. The Spanish nobility were seduced by the philosophic or Encyclopedistic propaganda of France.”

The official opinion by Viana regarding the Puch episode may be found in a MS. volume entitled, Respuestas dadas por el fiscal de S. M., fol. 22v–26; it is apparently Viana’s own original record of his official opinions delivered to the Audiencia during the year 1765, and is in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. This book furnishes valuable information regarding conditions in the islands after the departure of the British forces. [↑]

[5] Le Gentil (who sojourned in Manila from 1766 to 1768) relates in his Voyage (t. ii, pp. 199, etc.) various incidents to show this; and Raón even displayed to Le Gentil the magnificent presents which he had received from the officers of a French ship which came to Manila in evasion of the prohibition of foreign trade there. Raón was also condemned, in his residencia, for having revealed to the Jesuits, beforehand, for a large sum of money, the news that their expulsion had been decreed, and for other acts of disobedience to the royal commands regarding that expulsion. [↑]

[6] This date is incorrect, for the fiscal gave his assent to the manufacture of barrillas on February 16, 1765. This is shown by the entry for that date in Viana’s Respuestas (MS.), fol. 89; he makes the express stipulation that these barrillas be used only for petty payments, and not for important transactions. From fol. 108v it appears that these coins were immediately made, but in too great haste, and were called in by the authorities, late in March. [↑]

[7] See Jagor’s description of the great volcano of Mayon and his ascent of it (September, 1859), with a list of its known eruptions, in his Reisen, pp. 75–84. Cf. Le Gentil’s description of it and of this eruption (Voyage, ii, pp. 13–19); he cites at length a letter from the then alcalde of Albay. Its summit was considered inaccessible until two young Scotchmen made the ascent in April, 1858. [↑]

[8] Santa Justa belonged to the Order of Escuelas Pías (see VOL. XLVIII, pp. 52–54, note 10). See list of writings by this prelate, in Montero y Vidal’s Hist. de Filipinas, ii, pp. 228, 229, 318; also in Vindel’s Catálogo biblioteca filipina, pp. 380–389; they are mainly pastoral letters, and memorials to the Spanish government. [↑]

[9] When Raón insisted on enforcing the royal rights of patronage, the orders all resisted him, repeating the arguments which they had alleged to Arandía in the like case. The Dominicans declared that they could not obey the governor’s commands until they could receive orders from their superiors in Europe; Raón refused to wait, and the provincial declared that his curas would rather surrender their ministries, but would continue to serve therein until the governor, as vice-patron, should command that these be surrendered to other curas. “This was sufficient to make the archbishop hasten to deliver to the secular clergy, first the ministries of the Parián and Binondo, and afterwards those of the province of Bataan, notwithstanding that he could have no cause for complaint against our religious, who without resistance or opposition had accepted his diocesan visit, as he himself confessed in letters to the king and the supreme pontiff. He found a pretext for proceeding to the secularization of the curacies in Bataan, in the banishment of the Jesuits, whose expulsion from the islands occurred at the same time as the events which we are relating.” “As the ministries in the island of Negros were left vacant in consequence of the expulsion of the Jesuits, the governor addressed himself to our provincial, asking for ministers to occupy those vacant posts. The latter excused himself from this, on account of the lack of religious; and the archbishop made this a pretext for informing and counseling the governor that, since the Dominicans had offered their resignation of the doctrinas in the province of Bataan, on account of the controversy over the right of patronage, the religious who were ministering in that district could be sent to the island of Negros. He offered to provide secular priests in their place, and availed himself of this opportunity to despoil our religious of the curacies or ministries of Bataan. In effect, this was done; and our religious were compelled to abandon to the seculars this province of the archbishopric, in order to go to learn a new dialect and minister to strange peoples in the inland of Negros.” “The bishop of Cebú had no secular priests capable of replacing the Jesuits (as deserving as persecuted), who were administering the island of Negros and the province of Iloilo,… consequently, our religious began to minister in the villages of Iloilo, Himaras, Mandurriao and Molog, in the island of Panay; and those of Ilog, Cabancalan, Jimamaylan, and Guilgonan, in that of Negros. With great repugnance the province took charge of an administration of which the Jesuit fathers had been despoiled in so unworthy a manner; and not only on this account but on that of the great difficulties which arose from this separation of provinces and villages, in the regular visiting of them and in intercourse and the supply of provisions, our fathers abandoned those ministries at the end of some years; and in the meantime the bishop of Cebú undertook to transfer their administration to the secular priests. Thus it was that by the year 1776 our religious had departed from all those villages.” (Ferrando, Hist. PP. dominicos, v, pp. 39, 42, 43.) [↑]

[10] “All the curacies of the banished Jesuits, those of the Dominicans and Recollects, and those of the Augustinians in Pampanga, were handed over to the secular clergy. In order to fill so many curacies with ministers for instruction, the archbishop was obliged to ordain so many Indians that it became one of the most reprehensible abuses that can be committed by a prelate. On account of this it was a common saying in Manila that rowers for the pancos could not be found, because the archbishop had ordained them all.” (Buzeta and Bravo, Diccionario, ii, p. 279.)

The result was a great disappointment to the archbishop himself, as may be seen by his exhortations and pastoral letters addressed to them; some of these may be found in Ferrando, Hist. PP. dominicos, v, pp. 51–61. He recounts their ignorance, neglect of duty, sloth, vicious practices, cruel treatment of the natives, and even thefts from the churches entrusted to their care; he reproaches, exhorts, commands, and threatens, and calls them to account before God for their transgressions. From Ferrando (pp. 59–60) we translate Santa Justa’s “Instructions to the secular clergy” in 1771; it will appear later in this volume. [↑]

[11] Forrest makes the following statements about the laws and government of the Mindanao Moros (Voyage to New Guinea, pp. 277, 278):

“Though laws are similar in most countries, each has some peculiar: the principal of Magindano are these. For theft, the offender loses the right hand, or pays threefold, just as among the Mahometans of Atcheen. For maiming, death: adultery, death to both parties: fornication, a fine. (The industrious Chinese seem to be excluded from the benefit of law: those in power often forcing kangans upon them, and making them yearly pay heavy interest. The ordinary punishment of incontinence in female slaves to their masters, is cutting off their hair; which was a custom in Germany, in former days.) Inheritance goes in equal shares to sons, and half to daughters; the same to grandchildren. Where are no children, whole brothers and sisters inherit. If there are no brothers or sisters, or nephews, or nieces, or first cousins, the Sultan claims it for the poor. It is the same, ascending even to the grand-uncle. If a man put away his wife, she gets one third of the furniture; also money, in proportion to his circumstances. A child’s name is not given by priests, as in the Molucca islands, and in other Mahometan countries. The father assembles his friends, feasts them; shaves off a little lock of hair from the infant head, puts it into a bason, and then buries it, or commits it to the water.

“The form of government at Magindano, is somewhat upon the feudal system, and in some measure monarchical. Next to the Sultan is Rajah Moodo, his successor elect. Then Mutusingwood, the superintendant of polity, and captain Laut, overseer of the Sultan’s little navy, are both named by the Sultan. There are also six Manteries, or judges named by the Sultan, and six Amba Rajahs, or asserters of the rights of the people: [elsewhere, Forrest calls them “protectors of the people’s privileges”]; their office is hereditary to the eldest son. Although the Sultan seems to act by and with the advice and consent of the Datoos, not only of his own family, but of others; yet, this compliance is perhaps only to save appearances. When he can, he will doubtless be arbitrary.” [↑]

[12] Montero y Vidal gives no date for this expedition, but the reader would infer that it occurred about 1766. Later, he ascribes this proceeding to Governor Basco; so he has either confused his data, or neglected to state whether (as is possible) the pirates were twice expelled from Mamburao. [↑]

[13] “Plan of the present condition of the city of Manila, and of its environs and suburbs. Explanation.—A. Royal fort. B. Small bastion of San Francisco. C. San Juan. D. Santa Ysabel. E. San Eugenio. F. San Joseph. G. Ancient redoubt. H. Bastion of the foundry. I. A kind of ravelin. J. Bastion of San Andres or Carranza. K. Bastion of San Lorenzo of Dilao. L. Work of the reverse. M. Bastion and gate of the Parian. N. Bastion of San Gabriel. O. Bastion and gate of Santo Domingo. P. Bastion and gate of the magazines. Q. Bastion or stronghold of the fortin. R. Royal alcaiceria of San Fernando. S. The cathedral church. T. San Domingo. V. San Francisco. X. San Agustin. Y. The church of the former Society of Jesus. Z. San Nicolas de Recoletos. 1. San Juan de Dios. 2. Royal chapel. 3. Santa Clara. 4. Santa Ysabel. 5. Santa Potenciana. 6. Beaterio of the former Society, and now of Buena Enseñanza [i.e., good teaching]. 7. Beaterio of Santa Cathalina. 9. College of San Phelipe. 10. College of the former San Joseph. 11. College of Santo Thomàs. 12. Royal hospital. 14. Convent, parish church, and the capital village of the province of Tondo. 15. Parish church of the village of Binondo. 16. Parish church of the village of Santa Cruz. 17. Parish church of Quyapo. 18. Convent and parish church of San Sebastian. 19. Convent and parish church of the Parian. 20. Chapel of San Anton, a chapel of ease. 21. Convent and parish church of Dilao. 22. Parish church of San Miguel. 23. Hospital of San Lazaro. 24. Ruined convent of San Juan de Bagombaya. 25. Hospital of San Gabriel. Here the Sangleys are treated. 26. Convalescent hospital of San Juan de Dios. 27. Mayjalique, a former estate of the Society of Jesus. 28. Palace where the Governor resides. 29. Royal Audiencia and accountancy. 30. Houses of cabildo. 31. Battery of the English. 32. Spanish battery.” [Below is given the scale to which the map is drawn: 700 varas to 13 cm. The size of the original MS. map is 94 × 64 cm.] [↑]

[14] Cf. Anda’s earlier management of revenues: “Anda insisted that his successor should review the accounts of his administration; and the result of the expert examination was, that in spite of the war which Anda had maintained, and of the fact that he had paid for whatever expenditures were necessary, he had consumed only the comparatively insignificant sum of 610,225 pesos. Thus out of the 3,000,000 pesos which he received by the ship ‘Filipino,’ the large amount of more than 2,000,000 found its way into the treasury.” (Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, ii, pp. 115, 116.)

On January 14, 1765, Viana rendered an opinion (see his Respuestas, fol. 67v–74) regarding the protest made by the citizens of Manila against the royal order that they must contribute 180,000 pesos for the king’s needs; he rebukes their selfishness, timidity, and lack of loyalty, but advises the governor to convene the citizens, and ask them for spontaneous and loyal offerings to meet the needs of the royal treasury. The contribution demanded was to be repaid by lading-space on the Acapulco galleon, with which arrangement the citizens were dissatisfied; but Viana refutes their objections, and reminds the Audiencia of the expenses for troops, administration, etc., which are necessary for the protection and defense of those very citizens. In this document, Viana states that of the money saved from the treasure brought to Manila by the “Filipino,” 1,000,000 pesos was distributed among the obras pías, and half as much to the citizens; and that later Torre ordered that all of it be handed over to the latter. [↑]

[15] See also Le Gentil’s account of the earthquakes which he experienced while at Manila (Voyage, ii, pp. 360–366). He states that the Spaniards distinguished two kinds of earthquakes: terræ moto, a trembling which “makes itself felt from below upward;” and temblor, when the trembling is felt in undulations, like those of the sea.

A list of the earthquakes which the Philippine Islands (and especially Manila) have suffered was made by Alexis Perrey, and published in the Mémoires of the Academy of Dijon, in 1860. (Jagor, Reisen, p. 6.) [↑]

[16] See, as an instance of this, the citation made by Mas (Informe, i, part ii of “Historia,” pp. 18, 19) from a MS. by Martínez Zúñiga, complaining of Anda’s conduct toward the friars. Mas, however, cordially endorses most of Anda’s conduct while in command in Filipinas. [↑]

[17] See this document, post (Anda’s Memorial). Montero y Vidal cites a section from it, and compares several paragraphs of another one with the royal instructions, to show their similarity; see his Hist. de Filipinas, ii, pp. 239–244. [↑]

[18] Fray Miguel Garcia, bishop of Nueva Segovia, died at Vigan, on November 11, 1779. [↑]

[19] The present lists of the islands contain no such name as Balambangan. As Montero y Vidal says that it was next to Cagayán de Joló (now Cagayán Sulu) it may be the islet now called Mandah, just north of the former; its area is one-half a square mile. [↑]

[20] When the Chinese were expelled from Manila in 1758, many of them went to reside in Joló, where some 4,000 were found at the time of Cencelly’s expedition; these took sides with the Joloans against the Spaniards, and organized an armed troop to fight the latter. (Montero y Vidal, Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 265.) [↑]

[21] “The Datos at once feared the vengeance of the English, and declared Tenteng unworthy of the rights of a Joloan and an outlaw from the kingdom with all his followers. The Sultan wrote to the governor of Zamboanga, assuring him that neither himself nor the Datos had taken part in this transgression; and he asked the governor to send him the Curia filípica and the Empresas políticas of Saavedra, in order that he might be able to answer the charges which the English would make against him. (This sultan Israel had studied in the college of San José at Manila.)” Tenteng repaired to Joló with his booty and the captured English vessel; “these were arguments in his favor so convincing that he was at once admitted.” He surrendered to the sultan all the military supplies, besides $2,000 in money, and divided the spoils with the other datos; they received him with the utmost enthusiasm, and raised the ban from his head. “About the year 1803, in which the squadron of General Álava returned to the Peninsula, the English again took possession of the island of Balanbangan; and it appears that they made endeavors to establish themselves in Joló, and were instigating the sultan and datos to go out and plunder the Visayas, telling the Joloans that they themselves only cared to seize Manila and the Acapulko galleon …. In 1805, the English embarked on thirteen vessels and abandoned Balanbangan.” (Mas, Informe, i, part ii of “Historia,” p. 16.)

Montero y Vidal says (pp. 380–382) that the English attacked Zamboanga (1803) on the way to Balambangan, but were repulsed with great loss. They had at the latter place three ships of the East India Company, and five ships belonging to private persons; the garrison included 300 whites, 700 Sepoys under European officers, and 200 Chinese. “In a short time the greater part of these forces abandoned Balambangan to go to Batavia.” “The English, after burning the village and the fort, abandoned Balambangan, on December 15, 1806, doubtless on account of the insignificance of that island.” [↑]

[22] Regarding Anda’s birth, see VOL. XLIX, p. 132, note 74. According to Montero y Vidal (Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 281), he studied at four different schools (jurisprudence, at Alcalá) taking several degrees, including that of doctor in law. He opened an office in Madrid, and attained great fame as an advocate. In 1755 he received an appointment to the Audiencia of Manila, of which post he took possession on July 21, 1761.

Anda was succeeded ad interim by Pedro Sarrio, “who found himself obliged to compel the obras pías to lend some money to the government” (Mas, Informe, i, part ii of “Historia,” p. 21). [↑]

[23] A full account of this controversy, with the text of some of the official documents therein, may be found in Mas, ut supra, pp. 23–28. [↑]

[24] By a royal decree of January 12, 1777, it was ordained that the Indians should devote themselves to the cultivation of flax and hemp; this must have originated from a suggestion by Anda. [↑]

[25] Zúñiga thus relates the result of this experiment in the village of San Pedro Tunasan (Estadismo, i, pp. 29, 30): “The owner of these lands is the college of San José in Manila, which has there a good stone house, and a Spanish manager who attends to the collection of the rent from the tenants. The land is quite fertile; it produces abundance of mangas, cocoanuts, oranges, lemons, camias, balimbins, buyo, sugar, and various other kinds of trees and garden produce. Also there are a good many mulberry trees, and silk is made in the farm buildings. When the Economic Society was established in Manila, when Señor Basco was governor, the rector of the college gave orders that all the land adjoining the farm should be planted with mulberry trees; and, as this tree grows as easily as a weed in this country, in a short time were seen around the house extensive and beautiful plantations of these trees, which could produce an abundant harvest of excellent silk. Silkworms were imported from China, and it was seen that they multiplied readily. Not only on this estate, but in all directions, the promotion of this industry was taken up with ardor. A considerable quantity of silk was made; but on selling it the owners found that they lost money in cultivating this article. When a calculation was made of what the land which the mulberry trees occupied could produce, it was found that even when it was planted with nothing more than camotes it yielded them more than the silk did; add to this the care of the worms and the cost of manufacture, and it will be found that those who devote themselves to its culture must inevitably lose. In other days the promotion of the silk industry had been considered at Manila; and an old printed sermon has been found, written by an Augustinian father, who stated therein the measures which had been taken to introduce into the Filipinas islands an industry which could be very profitable for them. The father preacher exhorted the inhabitants to devote themselves to an occupation which could be so useful to the nation; but those who directed the Economic Society of Friends of the Country took good care to keep that quiet, so that the farmers might not be discouraged by seeing that in other days the cultivation of this product had been attempted, but had been abandoned because, without doubt, no benefit resulted to the producers. But, no matter how many precautions were taken, and efforts made to persuade those who might devote themselves to this industry that much profit could be obtained from it, every one abandoned it. The rector of San José alone continued to manufacture the silk that was yielded from the mulberry trees which he had planted, although at last he had to abandon his project. The silkworms multiply well in Filipinas, and are in a condition to make silk throughout the year; and, as the mulberry trees are always in leaf, silk is yielded all the time. There is practically not a month [in the year] when some silk cannot be obtained—very different from España, where it is necessary to stop gathering silk throughout the winter, as the trees have no leaves. Notwithstanding all these advantages, as we are so near China, which furnishes this commodity very cheaply, it cannot yield any profit in these islands—where, besides this, the daily wages which are paid to workmen are so large, and what they accomplish is so little, on account of their natural laziness, that it is not easy to push not only this but even any other industry in this country.” [↑]

[26] Acordado, literally, meaning “decision;” lo acordado, “decree of a tribunal enforcing the observance of prior proceedings.” Mas says that these magistrates were appointed in imitation of those who performed such functions in America. [↑]

[27] See Jagor’s note on this association (Reisen, pp. 307, 308). [↑]

[28] “Only one plant of those that were carried to the Filipinas Islands was introduced, and its cultivation directed, by the government; this was the tobacco. Perhaps there is no other which is more enjoyed by the natives, or more productive of revenue, than is this plant. So important for España is its utility that it alone, if his Majesty’s government promotes its maintenance intelligently, can become a greater resource than all the other incomes of the colony.” “Tobacco is the most important branch of the commerce of these islands; its leaves, which in all the provinces are of excellent quality, in some of them reach such perfection that they cannot be distinguished from those of Havana. The government has reserved to itself the right to sell tobacco; its manufacture is free only in the Visayas, but in all the island of Luzon this is subject to the vigilance of the government. Nevertheless, the proprietors or growers are permitted to cultivate it in Pampanga, Gapan, Nueva Ecija, and in the province of Cagayan; but the government buys from them the entire crop at contract prices.” “To the far-seeing policy of the captain-general Don José Basco is due the establishment of this revenue, one of the richest in the islands. Its direct result, a short time after it had been established, was that the obligations of the colony and its political existence, far from depending, as before, on an allotment made in its favor by the capital, were advantageously secured; and in the succeeding years this branch of the revenue displayed a very notable increase, with well-grounded indications of the greater one of which it was susceptible. In 1781 this income was established; and at the beginning of 1782 it was extended to the seventeen provinces into which the island of Luzon was then divided. It is easy to estimate the resistance which was encountered in establishing this revenue—not only through the effect of public opinion, which immediately characterized the project as foolhardy, but through the grievance which it must be to the natives and the obstacles continually arising from the contraband trade. Certainly it was hard to deprive the natives suddenly of the right (which they had enjoyed until then) of cultivating without restriction a plant to the use of which they had been accustomed from infancy, being regarded among them as almost of prime necessity. But there was no other means, if that worthy governor’s economic idea was to be realized, than the monopoly, which should prohibit simultaneously in the island of Luzon the sowing and cultivation of the said plant, reducing it to the narrow limits of certain districts, those which were most suitable for obtaining abundant and good crops. If to this be added the necessity imposed on the consumers of paying a higher price for a commodity which until then had been easily obtained, we must admit that the undertaking was exceedingly arduous and hazardous.” “At the outset, districts were set aside in which its cultivation was permitted: Gapan, in the province of Pampanga; some districts in Cagayan, and the little island of Marinduque—although in these last two places only an insignificant amount was harvested. Notwithstanding the difficulties which surround every new enterprise, from the year 1808 the net profits which the monopoly annually produced exceeded 500,000 dollars [duros].” (Buzeta and Bravo, Diccionario, i, pp. 51, 173, 438, 439.)

See Jagor’s interesting account of the tobacco monopoly (especially in the middle of the nineteenth century), in his Reisen, pp. 257–270. One of his notes (p. 256) states that the income from this monopoly was $8,418,939 in the year 1866–67; another (p. 259) cites authorities to show that tobacco was first introduced into southern China from the Philippines, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, “probably by way of Japan.”

The idea of establishing the tobacco monopoly had been urged by Viana in 1766 (see pp. 109, 110, post). [↑]

[29] The title given to him was “Conde de la Conquista de las islas Batanes” (“Count of the Conquest of the Batanes islands”); and the principal village in those islands bears the name of Basco. [↑]

[30] Regarding the Chinese in Filipinas, see (besides many documents in this series) the following works: Mallat, Les Philippines (Paris, 1846), ii, chapters xxii, xxvii, xxix; Jagor, Reisen, pp. 271–279; Rafael Comenge’s Cuestiones filipinas, part i, “Los Chinos” (Manila, 1894); F. W. Williams, “The problem of Chinese immigration in further Asia,” in Report, 1899, of American Historical Association (Washington, 1900), i, pp. 171–204; China en Filipinas (Manila, 1889), articles written mainly by Pablo Feced; Los Chinos en Filipinas (Manila, 1886). [↑]

[31] When the tobacco monopoly was established in Cagayan, the natives so resented this measure “that many of them abandoned the province and went to Manila” (Buzeta and Bravo, Diccionario, i, p. 438). [↑]

[32] Agustin Pedro Blaquier (Blasquier) was born at Barcelona in 1747, and entered the Augustinian convent there at the age of twenty-one. In 1772 he arrived at Manila, where he completed his studies; and was then sent to Ilocos. Later, he held important offices in his order; he was made assistant to the bishop of Nueva Segovia (1795), and succeeded to that office four years later. He died at Ilagan while visiting his diocese, December 30, 1803. He was of scholarly tastes, possessed a fine library, and left various MS. writings. [↑]

[33] Apparently meaning the obligation of the cura to reside in the home belonging to the parish, provided for his use. [↑]

[34] Huerta gives his name (Estado, p. 437) as Juan Antonio Gallego or de Santa Rosa, and Orbigo as the place of his birth (1729). He came to the islands in 1759, and after serving in both the missions and Manila, spent the years 1771–79 as procurator of his province to the court of Madrid. Returning to Filipinas, he took possession of the bishopric of Nueva Cáceres (which had been vacant during thirteen years) on April 27, 1780. In his first official visit of that diocese he showed so much devotion and zeal that even the hardships of travel in mountains and forests there did not prevent him from completing his task, and he was the first bishop to set foot in the Catanduanes Islands. After nine years of this service he was promoted to the archbishopric of Manila, where he was beloved for his virtues. He died at Santa Ana, on May 15, 1797. Montero y Vidal says (Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 353) that this prelate was “very peaceable, and of excellent character; learned, and plain in his habits; on which account he had no enemies.” [↑]

[35] See note 26, p. 50, ante. An opinion rendered by Viana on April 22, 1765 (Respuestas, fol. 126v, 127), shows that the institution of the Santa Hermandad had been transplanted from Spain to the Philippines. It seems that the “alcalde of the Hermandad,” also styled the “provincial alcalde of Manila,” claimed that he ought not to be obliged to go outside of Manila in the exercise of his office (which, by the way, was one of those classed as saleable). The fiscal decides that the alcalde is under obligation to act within the municipal territory and jurisdiction of Manila, which includes all the land within five leguas of the city; that outside that limit he may send a suitable deputy, instead of going in person; that the laws of the kingdom do not fix any definite limits for the jurisdiction of the Hermandad, and that the wording of the alcalde’s commission is ambiguous in the same matter; and that the Audiencia is competent to settle the present question. Viana therefore recommends that suitable action be taken by that court, who are reminded that the aforesaid alcalde receives no salary and his agents [quadrilleros] no pay, and therefore he cannot be compelled to go outside of Manila when he maintains and arms these men entirely at his own expense. “The said office can never be of public utility unless it be placed on some other footing.” [↑]

[36] Montero y Vidal cites (Hist. de Filipinas, ii, p. 361) the following from Fray Nicolás Becerra’s Estado general de la provincia de S. Nicolás de Tolentino de padres Agustinos descalzos de Filipinas (Sampaloc, 1820): “Before the invasion of the Moros, Mindoro was the storehouse of Manila, on account of the great amount of rice harvested in it. In that epoch—truly a fortunate one for this island, for our order, and for the State—so great was the number of inhabitants that they formed fourteen large ministries (curacies) and one active mission; all this was the result of the careful attention and apostolic zeal of the Recollect fathers, who took into their charge the furtherance of Mindoro’s conquest, at a time when its reduction had only been begun. Then came its desolation by the Moros, leaving it without inhabitants or ministers; and for the two ministries of Calapan and Naujan which remained, and which this province resigned, the illustrious archbishop appointed two clerics. These administered those parishes during twenty-nine years, that is, until the year 1805, at which time Mindoro returned, by special favor of the superior government, to the administration of the Recollect fathers.” Montero y Vidal also states (ut supra) that in 1803 Aguilar created a corregidor for Mindoro, with special charge to persuade its remaining inhabitants—who in fear of the Moros had, years before, fled into the interior of the island—to return to their villages on the coasts. He made his headquarters at Calapan, the chief village of Mindoro, and soon the natives returned to their dwellings, while the Moros seldom troubled that region. [↑]

[37] “Besides the tribute, every male Indian has to serve 40 days in the year on the public works (pólos and services), a week for the court of justice (tanoria), and a week as night-watch (guard duty). The pólos, etc. consist in labor and service for state and community purposes—the building of roads and bridges, service as guides, etc.” This requisition may, however, be commuted to a money payment, varying according to the wealth of the province—usually $3, but sometimes as low as $1. “The tanoria consists in a week of service for the court of justice, which usually is limited to keeping the building clean, guarding the prisoners, and similar light duties; but those who in turn perform this service must spend a week in the government building, on call. One may buy his freedom from the tanoria also, for 3 reals; and from the patrol, for 1¾ reals.” (Jagor, Reisen, p. 295.)

On pp. 90, 91, Jagor says that the moneys collected for exemption and pólos were in his time sent to Manila, and in earlier days appropriated by the gobernadorcillos (sometimes with the connivance of the local alcalde himself); but that they ought to be spent in public works for the benefit of the respective communities where the money was collected. He instances this use of it in the province of Albay (in 1840) by the alcalde Peñaranda, who spent the money thus collected for roads, which Jagor found still tolerably good, although the apathy of later officials had neglected to repair them when injured and to replace worn-out bridges. [↑]

[38] Spanish, azufre; in another sentence, apparently misprinted axúcar (“sugar”). The former reading is more probably correct. [↑]

[39] Regarding the Chinese in the Philippines, see Reports of the Philippine Commission, as follows: 1900, vol. ii (testimony taken before the Commission; consult index of volume); 1901, part ii, pp. 111, 112; 1903, part iii, pp. 619–631; 1904, part i, pp. 707–711. Also the recent Census of the islands, especially vols. i and ii. See also the works mentioned ante, p. 57, note 30. [↑]

[40] Mas says (Informe, i, part ii of “Historia,” p. 37): “Marquina was accused of selling offices through the agency of a woman; he suffered a hard residencia, and was not permitted to depart for España except by leaving a deposit of 50,000 pesos fuertes, with which to be responsible for the charges made against him. At Madrid, he was sentenced to pay 40,000 pesos.” Mas also states that during the terms of Basco and Marquina (in all, fifteen years), over 1,500,000 pesos fuertes were spent in building and arming vessels to chastise the pirates. [↑]

[41] Thus named from the barrack or sheds of San Fernando; the locality was originally a barrio of Binondo called Santisimo Niño, destroyed by a conflagration in the time of Basco. On this account, the spot was appropriated by the government, in order to establish thereon a shipyard or dock for the vintas. (Barrantes, Guerras piraticas, p. 163.) [↑]

[42] It was Álava’s expeditions which gave Father Martínez de Zúñiga the opportunity to examine the condition of the islands which he used so well in his Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas; for he accompanied Álava therein, at the latter’s request. [↑]

[43] “The naval department at San Blas was established to aid the government in its efforts to occupy vacant coasts and islands adjoining its settled provinces, especially the west coast of North America. Arsenals, shipyards, and warehouses were established. All orders given to expeditions passed through the hands of its chief. It was, however, on the point of being abandoned, when Father Junípero Serra’s suggestions in 1773, on its usefulness in supplying the Californias, led to its being continued and carefully sustained …. Conde de Revilla Gigedo during his rule strongly urged removal to Acapulco; but it was not removed, and in 1803 remained at San Blas without change.” (Bancroft, Hist. Mexico, iii, p. 420.) [↑]

[44] Mas says (Informe, i, part ii of “Historia,” p. 47): “In that same year 1800,… the king ordered that the arsenal called La Barraca should be abolished, and that only that of Cavite should remain, in charge of the royal navy. The execution of this decree was the cause, in 1802, of a dispute between the governor-general, Aguilar, and General Álava.”

See Barrantes’s fuller account (Guerras piraticas, pp. 200, 201, 217, 249–263) of the arsenals at La Barraca and Cavite, and the controversies over them. According to this authority, the naval affairs of those places, as also of Corregidor Island, were in bad condition; the service was inefficient, the methods and tools were antiquated, and lack of discipline prevailed—to say nothing of the fraud and “graft” already hinted at. [↑]

[45] In 1797 the following military forces were maintained in Filipinas: Infantry regiment of the king, created at the conquest of those islands, composed of two battalions on the regular footing; infantry company of Malabars (created in 1763), containing one hundred men; squadron of dragoons of Luzón (created in 1772), containing three companies, in all one hundred and sixteen men; corps of artillery, of two companies, and containing two hundred and six men. There were also bodies of provincial militia, both infantry and cavalry, one being composed of mestizos; and an invalid corps, created in 1763. (Guía oficial de España, 1797; cited in Vindel’s Catálogo biblioteca filipina, no. 123.) [↑]

[46] The Spanish régime in Filipinas lasted 333 years, from Legazpi’s first settlement until the acquisition of the islands by the United States. During that time, there were 97 governors—not counting some twenty who served for less than one year each, mostly ad interim—and the average length of their terms of office was a little less than three and one-half years, a fact which is an important element in the administrative history of the islands. [↑]

MISCELLANEOUS DOCUMENTS
1766–1771

Sources: The first of these documents is translated from a MS. copy (probably official duplicate of above date), in possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago; the second, from Viana’s MS. book, Cartas y consultas, fol. 39v–46, in possession of E. E. Ayer; the third, from Pardo de Tavera’s publication (with many annotations), Memorial de Anda y Salazar (Manila, 1899), from a copy belonging to James A. Robertson; the fourth (partly translated and partly synopsized), from José Felipe Del-Pan’s Ordenanzas de buen gobierno de Corcuera, Cruzat y Raon (Manila, 1891), from a copy in the Library of Congress; the fifth, from Ferrando’s Historia de PP. dominicos (Madrid, 1871), v, pp. 59, 60, from a copy belonging to E. E. Ayer; the sixth, compiled from Danvila y Collado, Crétineau-Joly, and Montero y Vidal, as indicated in the text—the archbishop’s decree being obtained from a printed copy (dated 1770) in the Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid; the seventh, from a copy of the original Latin MS. sent to the Editors by a friend in Germany.

Translations: The text of the third, and of the fourth, is translated by James Alexander Robertson; the seventh, by Rev. T. C. Middleton, O.S.A.; the remainder, by Emma Helen Blair.

FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF THE ISLANDS, 1766

Statements of the amount contributed to his Majesty by the natives of the Philipinas Islands; that which is spent in their spiritual administration; what the ecclesiastical estate receives from the king and from the Indians; and the economies which the royal treasury can practice, and the augmentations which it can receive, in order to maintain these dominions with respectable forces, without the necessity of the royal situado which comes annually from Mexico—and with the advantage that the royal exchequer can in the future make good the expenditures incurred during the 202 years which have elapsed since the conquest of the said islands. By Don Francisco Leandro de Viana, a student in the old college of San Bartholome el Major of the university of Salamanca, and formerly rector of the said college; graduated as a licentiate by the chapter of Santa Barvara; a member of the Council of his Majesty; his fiscal in the royal Audiencia of Manila, and promoted to the post of alcalde of criminal cases in that of Mexico.

STATEMENT I

The number of tributes in these Philipinas Islands, and the amount that they produce yearly

By the official statement which I sent to his Majesty with my report and advices of July 14, 1760, it appears that there were one hundred and seventy-eight thousand, nine hundred and seventy-one whole tributes of Indians, at the rate of ten reals each. It also appears that there were eight thousand, one hundred and sixty-nine and one-half whole tributes of mestizos, at the rate of twenty reals each, which are equivalent to sixteen thousand, three hundred and thirty-nine whole tributes of Indians. Adding this item to the aforesaid one, they make a total of one hundred and ninety-five thousand, three hundred and ten tributes; and adding those paid by the blacks, the grand total, stated in round numbers [numero cerrado] for greater convenience in this reckoning, is placed at two hundred thousand whole tributes belonging to the royal crown.

Tributes: 200,000

A whole tribute comprises two persons, and the two hundred thousand tributes aforesaid produce to the royal exchequer, at the rate of ten reals which each one pays, the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand pesos every year.

Note

The whole tributes belonging to private encomiendas number eighteen thousand, one hundred and ninety-six and three-fourths, according to the general statement of accounts of this royal treasury for the past year of 765. From these the encomenderos collect one peso for each tribute, and the king two reals; on this account, although the number of tributes belonging to the crown and to the encomiendas exceeds two hundred and ten thousand, at ten reals each, only the two hundred thousand above stated have been considered [in this account]; and their value is placed at two hundred and fifty thousand pesos, which is the utmost that the natives of these islands pay for the benefit of the royal treasury.

STATEMENT II

What the king expends in the spiritual administration of the Indians, and what is received on this account by the ministers of the doctrinas and the missionaries.

1. For the cash stipends which his Majesty pays, at the rate of a hundred pesos for every five hundred tributes, the curas and the ministers of the doctrinas receive, according to the number of the two hundred thousand tributes, the sum of forty thousand pesos.

2. For the stipends in rice, at the rate of a hundred fanegas (each of forty-eight gantas) for every five hundred tributes, at one peso a fanega—which price was established by the royal officials in the papers granting the contribution for wine used in masses—his Majesty pays, and the aforesaid curas and ministers receive annually, the sum of forty thousand pesos.

3. For the wine for masses and oil for the lamps[1]—as appears in the respective documents therefor, of which account is given to his Majesty—this annual expense is fixed at the sum of seventeen thousand, one hundred and ninety-three pesos, six tomins.

4. For the transportation of these supplies, the cost to the royal treasury is moderately estimated at two thousand pesos.

5. For the cash stipends of forty-one religious who are missionaries, at the rate of one hundred pesos each, his Majesty pays the sum of four thousand one hundred pesos.

6. For the stipend in rice of a hundred fanegas (each of forty-eight gantas) to each missionary, at one peso a fanega (reckoned at the lowest price), his Majesty pays the further sum of four thousand one hundred pesos.

7. For the supplies of cash and rice which are paid monthly to one hundred and ninety-two Indians as escorts, who assist thirty-two of the said missionaries, at the rate for each one of one peso in cash and twenty-four gantas of rice in the hull (estimated at four reals), these amount to the sum of three thousand, four hundred and fifty-six pesos.

8. For the supplies of medicine and clothing, and for the support and comforts of sick religious, the expense is placed at five thousand pesos.

9. In some villages which contain a small number of tributes, his Majesty pays the same stipends as in the villages of five hundred tributes, for which reason what is paid by the king exceeds the amount which was estimated for the number of two hundred thousand tributes, by the sum of one thousand pesos.

10. For the stipends which his Majesty pays to the chaplains of the fortified posts—who usually are the religious who are in charge of the native villages at the said posts—are paid one thousand, six hundred and eighty pesos.

11. For the expenses of the religious who come from España to these islands—who each five years average forty-six and one-half each year—estimating these at a thousand pesos for each person, the religious orders receive and the king spends forty-six thousand, six hundred pesos.

12. For the stipend of the archbishop, the prebends of his church, and the contribution that is given to it [for its expenses], the royal treasury expends nine thousand, eight hundred pesos.

13. For the stipends of the three suffragan bishops of Zebu, Nueva Segovia, and Nueva Cazeres, for the contributions which are made to these three churches, and for other stipends to their ministers, his Majesty expends twelve thousand, four hundred pesos.

The total amount of these items is 187,229 pesos, 6 tomins.

Summary

STATEMENT III

What should be deducted from the aforesaid 62,770 pesos, 2 tomins, as necessary expenses of the provinces of these islands.

1. The three per cent which his Majesty pays to the alcaldes-mayor for the collection of the tributes, calculated on the two hundred and fifty thousand pesos, amounts to the sum of seven thousand, five hundred pesos.

2. The pay of alcaldes, corregidors, and magistrates in the provinces of these islands amounts to the sum of seven thousand, five hundred pesos.

3. As in all the provinces the tribute is regularly paid half in money and half in kind, it is necessary to transport the said commodities from the villages to the capital; this expense costs the royal treasury, according to a fair estimate, the sum of six thousand pesos.

4. For one thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight men employed in the fortified posts the royal treasury spends, according to the pay [-rolls] of their respective garrisons, the sum of twenty-two thousand, four hundred and ninety-three pesos, two reals.

5. For fifteen thousand, five hundred and ten rations of unhulled rice, of twenty-four gantas each, estimated at the prices of two, four, and six reals, in proportion to the scarcity or the abundance of [the supplies in] the said fortified posts, the royal treasury spends seven thousand, one hundred and seventy-four pesos, six tomins.

6. For one thousand and forty-five uniforms for the said garrisons, estimated at the low price of three pesos each, the royal treasury spends three thousand, one hundred and thirty-five pesos.

7. For the consumption of balls, gunpowder, muskets, cannon, etc., estimated moderately and at the lowest price, there is an expense of five thousand, five hundred pesos.

Plan of the present condition of Manila and its environs, drawn by the engineer Feliciano Márquez, 1767

[From original MS. map (in colors) in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]

These indispensable expenses amount to the sum of fifty-nine thousand, three hundred and three pesos, which, deducted from the sixty-two thousand, seven hundred and seventy pesos, two tomins, of the net balance contained in the summary of statement ii, leaves only three thousand, four hundred and sixty-seven pesos, two tomins, in favor of the royal treasury.

Summary

Note

1. In the expenses of the fortified posts the forts of Manila and Cavite are not included; neither are the forts of Romblon, Cuió, Acutaya, Culion, and Linacapan, for these five forts are maintained at the expense of the natives in the respective localities, and without further cost to the royal treasury than some supplies of arms and gunpowder. Nor are the forts included which have been built since the end of the year 753, since their fixed charges and annual expenses do not appear in the book which was formed in the said year with the descriptions of the fortified posts.[2]

2. Attention should be directed to the following items: The exemptions from tribute which are usually granted to the villages in the cases for which the laws provide; the amount of what is not collected; that which is lost through the failure of the officials to render account, and through the omissions of the royal officials to collect as they should; the salaries which are paid to the said royal officials and to the subordinates of the established accountancy, mainly for the accounts and collections of the royal revenue in the provinces; the costs of transporting the proceeds of the said tributes to this capital; the losses of the vessels which convey the said goods, commodities, or products in which the said tributes are levied, according to the different production of the provinces; the pay of workmen [Tag., bantayes], and other petty expenses which are paid from the royal revenue in each province; the cost of the vessels which go out to cruise against the Moros, in the defense of the said provinces; and many other expenses, to ascertain and compute which would require tedious labor. But, as this report aims to show how much the king receives from the Indians and what he spends on their account, the aforesaid general computations are convincing that the royal treasury spends in these islands much more than what they produce; and that the ecclesiastical estate—or, to speak more accurately, the religious orders—profit by and receive almost all the proceeds from the tributes.

3. On this account the royal situado has been necessary in these islands, in order to pay the following expenses: the salaries of the governors, the ministers of the royal Audiencia, and their subordinates; the officials of the royal treasury; the soldiers in the garrisons of Manila and Cavite, with all their followers; the arsenal of Cavite; and numberless expenses which have grown since the retrenchments which were decreed by Señor Cruzat. And as the situado and the income-producing monopolies are not sufficient for all the said expenditure, the islands have been and will be in the most wretched condition, and in the utmost danger of being ruined, unless some remedy be applied.

STATEMENT IV

What the curas and ministers receive from the Indians

1. On account of the three reals which each whole tribute pays to the curas and ministers for the feasts of Corpus [Christi], the patron saint, and the monument at Holy Thursday, they receive from the two hundred thousand tributes the amount of seventy-five thousand pesos; and [therein] are not included the heads of barangay, the officials of the villages, and other persons exempt from tribute, who also pay the said three reals.

2. As for the value of the casual fees and parochial dues, although it is the general opinion that those same ministers of doctrinas regulate these at one peso for each tribute, it is estimated that from this source are received only one hundred and seventy thousand, four hundred pesos.

The total of these sums is 245,400 pesos.

Summary

Note

Thus, what the ecclesiastical estate receives from the king and from the Indians, for only the spiritual administration of the latter, amounts to the sum of four hundred and thirty-two thousand, six hundred and twenty-nine pesos, six tomins, without including what is produced by the chaplaincies founded in the churches of some ministries, or by the confraternities—which are worth much, on account of duplicated offerings, since in them are enrolled not only the living but the dead. Nor [does it include] the wax for novenaries, masses, and other services which through devotion are offered by the Indians and mestizos; or the offerings at the sanctuaries, to which in all the provinces many people repair with wax and offerings for masses; or the sure revenue [from the charge] of fifteen pesos for every feast of the numberless visitas and chapels which are in all the villages (more than those which are celebrated in the principal churches); or the amounts received, at the burials, from the distinction of the silver from the wooden cross—so that, although in a certain village there may not be a silver cross, there are two of wood, and one of them is distinguished from the other by the amount of the fees [imposed for its use].

Nor have there been included in the said item the five hundred pesos which are annually paid from the royal treasury to the convents of Manila in order that they may support one or two religious who are versed in the dialects of the provinces; or the alms which they receive from the charitable foundations [obras pías] of the Misericordia, and from those which have been founded in each order; or the proceeds from the leasing of their lands acquired by donations, chaplaincies, and legacies; or the premium or interest from the funds of the confraternities, etc.

Likewise should be added the fees for burials, which, although they belong to the fabricas of the churches, are received by the curas and ministers of the doctrinas, and they are not willing to render account of these to the vice-patronship.

Besides that which is for the spiritual administration, the religious orders in these islands receive enormous amounts of money every year from the proceeds of the houses, mills, ranches, and other properties which they possess, here and in México; for they collect some rents that are exorbitant for the cultivated lands, exacting more than twenty per cent of the actual value of the said lands.

Comparison

It is, then, apparently fully proved that what these Indians contribute to the king is not sufficient for the necessary expenses of their spiritual administration; since, even without counting the cost of the fortified posts (which serve only for the benefit of those same Indians), it is evident that the net balance which remains in favor of the royal exchequer, after deducting the expenses mentioned in statement ii, is lost, through the causes which are stated in the second note on statement iii. From this it follows: First, that all the profit of these islands accrues to the ecclesiastical estate. Second, that in order to aid the Indians the royal revenue has been burdened, to the injury of other vassals, with the charge of the royal situado which comes annually from Nueva España, in order to maintain the forts, troops, and courts, and meet other expenses of the royal treasury here. Third, that the latter is heavily indebted, because the royal situado and the monopolies of the royal exchequer are not sufficient for so enormous expenses. Fourth, that for lack of funds the king’s service is neglected, the forts are defenseless, the provinces at the mercy of the Moros, and everything is in notable danger of total ruin, unless suitable remedies are applied in time.

On account of this, I have established in my “Demonstration of the wretched and deplorable condition of the Philipinas Islands,”[3] etc., the necessity of maintaining them with respectable forces, and [suggested] the expedient of augmenting the tribute on account of the obligation which every vassal is under to contribute to his king what is necessary for maintaining the kingdom in peace, justice, and union, and defending it from enemies.

Even without the necessity of increasing the tribute, I have been of opinion, and still continue in the firm persuasion that these islands could support themselves alone, and save to the royal revenue the remittance of the situado. Desiring to demonstrate this truth—which has been taught to me by the experience and continual application of eight years—I will set forth the economies and augmentations which this royal treasury can observe in order to supply its urgent needs, and to support these islands more gloriously, and to the greater advantage of the royal exchequer.

STATEMENT V

The economies which the royal exchequer can practice, and the augmentations which it can receive, in what the curas and ministers of doctrinas collect from the king and the Indians.

1. In the paper of suggestions which I presented to the government [here], and sent to the commander[4] Frey Don Julian de Arriaga with my report of July 22, 1764, there was a discussion of the saving which the royal exchequer will be able to make by paying to each cura and minister of a doctrina one stipend only, and not so many as correspond to every five hundred tributes. For, since the cura is only one, it does not seem just, even when the curacy is one of two thousand tributes, that four stipends be paid to him; but he should content himself with one, the royal exchequer saving the rest. The amount of this will reach annually some twenty thousand pesos, very nearly. I have made representations on this point to the royal Audiencia, in order that they may settle this by an ordinance.

2. Each stipend for a village or mission is fixed at a hundred pesos in money, and two hundred cavans of rice; if all this be paid in cash, and not in the said produce, regulating this [amount for the rice] by the price in each province, the negotiations of the curas and ministers with the alcaldes will be avoided, and the royal treasury will save each year at least fifteen thousand pesos in the stipends of curas, ministers and missionaries. It should be remembered that the abuse of paying the stipend in rice was introduced in violation of the law (ley 26, título 13, libro 1 of the Recopilación de Yndias), as I have represented in the expediente[5] of ordinances which is pending in the royal Audiencia.

3. The fabricas of the churches have for funds the fees from the burials, and the eighth part of the occasional fees, with the others which I have stated in the document which treats of this subject, besides the [governmental] contribution of wine; and with the said funds there is a superabundance for paying the cost of the wine for masses and the oil for the lamps—which are set down as expenses of the royal exchequer in the third and fourth items of statement ii. These amount to nineteen thousand, one hundred and ninety-three pesos, six reals.

4. In the aforesaid paper of suggestions, and in the report of June 5, 760, the reasons were set forth why the king should not pay the cost of the missions which come from España to these islands; for the religious orders are rich, although they deny it. Thus the royal exchequer could save what is mentioned in the eleventh item of statement ii, which amounts each year to forty-six thousand, five hundred pesos.

5. The impost of the three reals for each tribute for the feasts of Corpus [Christi], the patron saint, and the monument, was granted by the provisor of this archbishopric at the instance of the religious orders, in the year 1697; and in that of 704 it was included in the provincial ordinances by Señor Zabarburo. This contribution is excessive, and the cost of the feasts is very small because the natives make the decorations of branches and furnish much wax; and the two feasts of Corpus Christi and the patron saint usually are held on the same day. For these reasons Señor Molina commanded, in his bishopric of Nueva Cazeres, that no payment should be exacted from the Indians on account of these feasts, further than half a real for each tribute, considering that this sum was sufficient to pay for their celebration. The same was the practice of Señor Arevalo, who succeeded him in the same bishopric; but Señor Matos, the last bishop there, did not act thus. It is also an intolerable burden to the Indians that at the time when they go to make their confessions, in order to fulfil the annual injunction, the said contribution is collected from them; and most of them are persuaded, through their stupidity and ignorance, that they are paying for the confession. All this I have explained in the expediente of ordinances which is pending in the royal Audiencia. It would therefore be expedient that the said three reals be collected by the alcaldes-mayor, who should give to the curas and ministers a third part of the proceeds, setting aside the other two thirds for the maintenance of the fortified posts. Thus the royal exchequer would have the benefit of this saving of expense, and would be increased by fifty thousand pesos, which is two-thirds of the proceeds of the three feasts, as is stated in the first item of statement iv.

6. The royal exchequer can save the cost of furnishing the medicines, clothing, support, and comforts for the sick religious; for the returns from the ministries are large, and the religious orders are rich. This saving, as is said in the eighth item of statement ii, amounts to five thousand pesos.

The total of all these items is 155,693 pesos, 6 reals.

Thus the royal exchequer can save expense, and increase its funds every year by the sum of one hundred and fifty-five thousand, six hundred and ninety-three pesos, six reals, the amount of the six previous items, which correspond to the costs of the spiritual administration of the Indians. This should be deducted from the amount which the ecclesiastical estate receives, for this very purpose, from the king and from the Indians—which, according to the summary of statement iv, reaches the sum of four hundred and thirty-two thousand, six hundred and twenty-nine pesos, six tomins—and there still remains, in favor of the ecclesiastical estate, two hundred and seventy-six thousand, nine hundred and thirty-six pesos.

Summary

Note

The escorts which are furnished to the ministers are, at most, proper in the first years of a mission; but ordinarily this is a useless expense, by which the religious orders profit—or rather their missionaries, who take no other escorts than their own servants; nor do they need escorts, especially in the well-peopled missions. Most of these are such, because many Indians from the villages take refuge in the missions, either fleeing from justice, or for not paying the tribute. Thus could be saved the cost of the said escorts; and even the stipend for every mission after twenty-five years from its establishment, by causing the people to be brought into villages.

STATEMENT VI

Other increases and savings which the royal exchequer can make, in the various directions which are here stated.

1. It is assumed that there are, at the lowest figure, six thousand heads of barangay in the provinces of these islands; for although, by the ordinance, each headship ought to have forty-five entire tributes, it is certain that there are few which reach that number, and that there are many of five, eight, ten, and twenty tributes. Therefore, assigning to each headship, on the average, at most thirty tributes, they make the six thousand above stated, the number of tributes [in them being] one hundred and eighty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty, the lowest computation that can be made of headships and of tributes. As three persons in every headship are exempted [from paying tribute], the royal exchequer is deprived of the value of nine thousand entire tributes, which, at the rate of ten reals, make eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos. Therefore, by abolishing the said headships, and making the governadorcillo or headman of each village responsible for the collection of the tributes therein (as is done in Nueva España), or by allowing the said headships and decreeing that those who hold them shall pay tribute (as they formerly did, by order of the visitor, Auditor Don Joseph Arzadun), this increase in the tribute will result to the advantage of the royal exchequer, by the sum of eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos.

2. It is generally the case that the heads of barangay keep back from the king, at a very low estimate, at least ten tributes each, on account of the dispersion of the houses of the Indians, which renders almost impossible any exactness in the tax-lists which for this purpose are committed to the said headships. Therefore, if the reduction of the villages into parishes[6]—which I have continually urged, and shall ask from this government—could be effected, not only would the aforesaid collection of the tribute be greatly facilitated, especially if it were committed, as I have said, to the governadorcillos and leading chiefs; but the tax-lists would be exactly drawn up by the alcaldes, and the said ten tributes in each barangay which have been mentioned would not be kept back from the king. This, estimated for the six thousand [headships], would come to the number of sixty thousand tributes; at the rate of ten reals each, the royal treasury would enjoy an increase from this source, which would reach the sum of seventy-five thousand, five hundred pesos.

3. By order of the above-mentioned visitor, no exemption from tribute was enjoyed by the officials of the villages, except by the governadorcillos and headmen; and counting six exempt persons [each] in three hundred and sixty villages alone—without including the visitas, which also have their officials—they make the number of two thousand, one hundred and sixty, which make one thousand and eighty tributes. These, at the rate of ten reals, amount to one thousand, three hundred and fifty pesos; consequently, by taking away these exemptions the royal exchequer will be increased by this sum.

4. The singers, sacristans, and doorkeepers of the churches in the villages are paid from the communal treasury of the Indians, and have their fees at all the feasts, burials, etc.[7] By exempting them from polos and personal services, and taking away their exemption from the tribute, [there would be gained] two thousand and thirty-eight and one-half whole tributes, which in the general [statement of] accounts for the year 765 are reckoned as exempted on account of the service of the churches in the villages tributary to the crown; the increase to the royal exchequer would be two thousand, five hundred and forty-eight pesos, one tomin.

5. Those who are for the same reason exempted in the villages of private encomiendas, according to the said general statement, number one hundred and ninety-six and one-half whole tributes. By abolishing this exemption, the increase to the royal treasury will be two hundred and forty-five pesos, five tomins.

6. The confusion in the accounts of the royal revenue in the provinces; the arrears [in despatch of business] which they experience in the offices; the increased losses of ships, with goods belonging to the royal account, which are made a pretext [for not settling their accounts]; losses by fire; uncollectible charges; negligence in pushing the collections that ought to be made; and other damages which follow from the said confusion—all these are reckoned at thirty thousand pesos a year. If the debits and credits were in money, and not produce, and the alcaldes were obliged to supply the royal storehouses, transporting at their own account the commodities from the provinces—these being placed to their credit, according to the stipulation made with each one—with the rest which I have presented before the royal Audiencia and superior government, the royal exchequer would render available the said sum of thirty thousand pesos.

7. Likewise I have asserted in the royal Audiencia that the Indians ought not to be paid for the conveyance of their tributes, [when paid] in kind, from their villages to the capital of their province, as being contrary to the laws (ley 1, titulo 9, libro 8, and ley 63, titulo 5, libro 6, in the Recopilación de Yndias) which treat of the tributes of the crown, and plainly show the obligation of the Indians to carry their tributes to the said capitals—differently from the tributes of encomiendas and from general appraisements, which are mentioned in ley 44, titulo 5, libro 6, in which it is commanded that the tributes be paid in the villages. Consequently, if the aforesaid conveyance is at the cost of the Indians, as seems just, and not at that of the royal exchequer, not only will the frauds arising from such entries in the accounts of the alcaldes be avoided, but his Majesty will save the expense which is mentioned in the third item of statement iv, which amounts to the sum of six thousand pesos.

(In case the method which is suggested in the sixth item preceding this be established, the said sum will inure to the benefit of the alcaldes-mayor, who should at their own account and risk render a statement, with payment, of the entire proceeds of the tributes; and in the obligation or contract with each one the said benefit should be kept in view, in order that it may inure to the benefit of the royal exchequer.)

8. There has always been an outcry in España against the purchase of public offices in the Yndias, notwithstanding that these have been placed on sale only in the exigencies of the crown. If the sale of these offices on the royal account is a question involving much scruple, it necessarily follows that it would be an injustice to sell them on the account of those who have authority to make appointments to those offices ad interim. Consequently, by reëstablishing the oldtime method—by which the candidates for the posts of alcalde must present themselves before the royal Audiencia with documentary evidence of their merits, in order that three qualified persons might be presented to the superior government, in the first, second, and third places respectively, for each post of alcalde—the dangers arising from the sale of offices which has been practiced in some governments would be avoided; and the selection [of officials] would be more conformable to justice and less mercenary (as I represented to his Majesty in the year 760). The royal exchequer could thus save the salaries of the alcaldes and magistrates (as is done in Nueva España), which saving would amount, as in the second item of statement iii, to the sum of seven thousand, five hundred pesos.

(If the alcaldeships were knocked down to the highest bidder in the auction-hall, together with the farming of the tributes, it would result in even greater profit to the royal exchequer.)

9. The offices of commander and military officers of the ship which goes annually to Acapulco are bestowed on citizens of this city; and the appointments to these offices can be made without giving them the salaries which hitherto they have enjoyed; for they are sought not so much for the salaries as for the honor, and for the free passage, with comfortable berths and conveniences, [which is furnished to officers]. Consequently the royal exchequer could save the amount of the said salaries, which exceeds ten thousand pesos.

10. In the paper of suggestions and the report which I cited in the first item of statement v, are mentioned the many advantages which would result from the establishment of guilds [gremios] which I propose; and from the increase of the royal revenues by the half-annats from the officials [of the crown]; and by the duties of one-fifth on silver and gold. These metals are wrought, at the will of the silver-smiths, of various standards and degrees of purity, contrary to the provisions of the royal decree of March 17, 1735; and as I cannot fix the exact amount for the aforesaid duties, a moderate estimate is made, at the lowest [standard], that the increase of the royal revenue would amount to some seven thousand pesos.

11. In each village there is a governadorcillo or headman, a deputy (and, if the village is a large one, two or three), a constable (and likewise two others, in large villages), an inspector of grain-fields [juez de sementeras], another of palm-trees, and a notary. In the visitas of the villages there are likewise deputies, constables, and inspectors of grain-fields. The large villages are more numerous than the small ones. If we allow for each one of the three hundred and sixty villages one headman or governadorcillo, only one deputy and one constable, one inspector of palm-trees and another of grain-fields, these make in each village, on the average, six offices which annually pay the half-annat, by a custom which was introduced into these islands in violation of the law of the Indias, which exempts the Indians from this royal impost. But in the settlement of its amount there is an unusual variation and difference, by which in the provinces of Tondo, Bulacan, Balayan, and Laguna de Bay (which are close to Manila) a governadorcillo pays twelve pesos, a deputy six pesos, and the constables, inspectors, and notaries four pesos [each]; while in the other provinces which likewise are close to this capital—Pampanga, Batahàn, and Cavite—a governadorcillo pays six pesos, a deputy four pesos, and the constables, inspectors, and notaries three pesos [each]. In all the other and remote provinces, a governadorcillo pays only one peso, six granos; a deputy, six and one-half reals; and the constables, inspectors, and notaries, three and one-half reals. From this it results that each village in the four first-named provinces pays thirty-four pesos, and each village in the three other provinces close by pays only twenty-two pesos; and in the thirty-seven villages of these three provinces the difference which there is between paying twenty-two pesos each and (as in the former) thirty-four, is four hundred and forty-four pesos—which is the increase for the said royal impost, if the payment is fixed at thirty-four pesos.

12. The seven provinces above mentioned have one hundred and eleven villages, and to fill up the complement of three hundred and sixty there remain in the remote provinces two hundred and forty-nine villages. Each one of these pays only five pesos, one tomin; and by ruling that they shall pay twenty-two pesos this impost will be increased by sixteen pesos, seven reals in each village. Multiplying this by two hundred and forty-seven, the number of villages, the said increase will amount to the sum of four thousand, two hundred and one pesos, seven tomins; and by equalizing [the payments of] all the provinces, at the rate of thirty-four pesos for each village, the aforesaid increase will rise to seven thousand, one hundred and eighty-nine pesos, seven tomins.

13. In my report of May 10, 760, in which I demonstrated the defective foundation of the commerce here, I proposed the increase of sixty thousand pesos every year, [in the amount of the permission?] his Majesty to permit the return of the silver from Acapulco with the impost of eight to ten per cent; and it is certain that the ten per cent will produce to the royal exchequer annually, on the average, one hundred thousand pesos, which is the amount in which the royal officials at Acapulco are interested.

14. In a report of June 25 in the same year, I proposed that the boletas should be applied to the benefit of the royal exchequer;[8] this increase would be at least fifty thousand pesos.

15. In a report of June 5 of the same year, I proposed to save the expense of one [university] chair of civil law [Instituta], which would yield an increase of four hundred pesos.

16. In a report of July 14 of the same year was mentioned the abandonment of the sale of [papal] bulls; and it was shown that this could produce at each publication at least one hundred pesos, which would be an annual increase of fifty thousand pesos

17. The contract for working the iron mine called Santa Ynes[9] was knocked down to the highest bidder at the royal auctions, before the late war, and afterward its operation ceased entirely. Consequently, by working the said mine on the royal account, on the terms which I proposed in the cited paper of suggestions, and in a written statement which I presented to the government (from which no action has yet resulted), the royal exchequer will gain the increase and profit of more than fifty thousand pesos.

18. By reëstablishing the farming or monopoly of playing-cards, either (preferably) by contract or by its administration or the royal account, as is commanded by the royal decrees of February 5, 730 and November 28, 1734, it could produce in all the provinces more than twenty thousand pesos, at the lowest estimate, in increase of the royal revenue.

19. By establishing the monopoly of cock-fighting[10] in these islands (as in Mexico), with the charge of one grano for each Indian who resorts to the said sport, and reckoning forty-eight granos (which make four reals) for forty-eight times[11] when each, at the least, would bet each year, four hundred thousand persons would share [in contributing to] the royal exchequer two hundred thousand pesos, at the least reckoning. For it is certain that there are more than eight hundred thousand souls who are able to bet on the cocks, and that, on account of their vicious dispositions and extraordinary addiction to this sport, it might be reckoned that each one would gamble more than eighty times a year; in that proportion the proceeds of this income, which here is estimated at only two hundred thousand pesos, would exceed four hundred thousand pesos.

20. By establishing similarly the monopoly of tobacco,[12] there would be an enormous increase in the royal revenue, since in the form of snuff [polvos] it is used by nearly all the Spaniards (both ecclesiastical and secular) in the islands. By establishing monopoly shops in the villages of the provinces, the consumption [of snuff] would be great; but that of leaf tobacco and cigars would be incomparably greater yet, on account of being used by more than a million of souls; for it is certain (as is the case) that even the boys and girls use the said tobacco before they [are old enough to] exercise their reason [antes de tener vso de razon]. It can be asserted without exaggeration that this traffic would produce more than four hundred thousand pesos.

21. In a report of June 5 of the aforesaid year 760, I explained the increase which the royal revenues might obtain, and in the cited paper of suggestions I proposed the means, by which the monopolies of buyo and wine [13] could be augmented by more than a hundred and thirty thousand pesos; for it is certain that if these were extended to all the provinces (they now have no wider limit than five leguas from this capital) they would produce for the royal treasury enormous sums.

22. The casting of plows is permitted to one person only, who is appointed by the government; if this were sold at auction it certainly would produce, at the lowest estimate, the sum of seven hundred pesos.

Thus the savings and increases of revenue contained in this sixth statement would produce to the royal treasury the aforesaid sum of one million, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand, one hundred and thirty-nine pesos, five tomins every year.

Summary

Accordingly, the savings and the increases mentioned in the two foregoing statements are worth to the royal exchequer the sum of one million, three hundred and twelve thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three pesos, three reals; and even if it be reckoned at no more than a million, this annual product will be more than enough to maintain the islands with respectable forces, and to make good the expenses hitherto caused to the royal revenue, without the necessity of increasing the royal tribute from the Indians. And, in case it be thus increased, in the following statement will be set forth the value of the said increase.

Note

1. In the said savings and expenses have not been included the royal customs duties—on which I made a report to his Majesty under date of March 4, 760—because they are at the present time levied and collected with great increase of the royal revenue, time having confirmed what was contained in the report here cited. For, notwithstanding that the collections are now made on the Spanish ships only at the rate of three per cent, the royal exchequer has an increase of two hundred per cent, more than in past times when these duties were levied, either really or nominally [se exigia, ô se aparentava la exaccion], at eight per cent.

2. Reference can be made to the information which I furnished to his Majesty under date of June 5 in the aforesaid year of 1760, in which were discussed the savings which the royal exchequer could make in various directions, especially in the timber-cutting and in the royal storehouses, for the damage that the royal interests suffer [therein] is very evident; but no definite amount is set down for the value of the said savings, nor are they included in this account, since it is difficult to compute them.

3. For the same reason, the large retrenchments have not been included herein which can be made in the ribera of Cavite, and in the stricter examination of the accounts pertaining to military supplies, provisions, implements, and reserve supplies for the Acapulco ships and other vessels belonging to his Majesty; for there is great waste, and little care is exercised in what is furnished for consumption.[14]

These and many other economies can be facilitated only by disinterestedness, zeal, and application to the affairs of the royal service.

STATEMENT VII

What can be produced for the royal exchequer by an increase in the tributes

In statement i is reckoned the number of two hundred [thousand] whole tributes, at the rate of ten reals each, which is the amount that they actually pay. This computation was made by reducing the tributes of mestizos to tributes of Indians, and in the same sense ought the increase which is discussed in this statement to be understood; for, although the mestizos pay twice as much tribute as the Indians, and consequently the increase ought to be double, the number also is duplicated, in order to avoid discrepancies and to facilitate the greater perspicuity and clearness of these statements by the definite number of two hundred thousand tributes, at the rate of ten reals each. As this is a very moderate rate, it can be increased in such ratio as shall be considered necessary; for this reason, I have set down separately in the following columns the amounts by which the royal treasury will benefit from an increase in the tributes—from ten reals to sixteen, which are two pesos; to twenty-four reals, which are three pesos; and to thirty-two reals, which are four pesos.

Thus the increases and savings which the royal exchequer can practice in these islands, without increasing the royal tributes from the Indians, will be worth each year the sum of one million, three hundred and twelve thousand, eight hundred and thirty-three pesos, three tomins, as is shown in the items of statements v and vi.

If the tribute is increased from ten to sixteen reals (which are two pesos), the savings and increases will bring into the royal treasury the sum of one million, five hundred and seventeen thousand, and sixty-nine pesos, five tomins.

If the tribute is increased from ten to twenty-four reals, the said savings and expenses amount to the sum of one million, seven hundred and eighty-nine thousand, three hundred and eighty-four pesos, five tomins.

And if the tribute be increased to thirty-two pesos, the said savings and expenses amount to two millions, sixty-one thousand, six hundred and ninety-nine pesos, five tomins.

Note

All these computations of the savings and increases which this royal treasury can gain each year have been made without including in the totals the actual product of the tributes and other branches of the royal revenue in these islands; therefore, adding the said product to the total of the savings and increases which are here mentioned, there will result a greater amount than that which has been estimated. No matter how gloomily people may talk, the aforesaid statements are convincing that, even if these estimates are made lower, these islands can, notwithstanding these reductions, be maintained by their own resources alone; and in the future the royal exchequer can make good the great sums which the islands have hitherto cost, with the special advantage that the fortified towns and military posts can be put into very respectable condition, and be made superior to the forts of any hostile nation whatever.

I protest and swear that I have understood the matter thus, and that, because I consider it feasible, judging from the experience of my office, I have [here] devoted myself to demonstrating more specifically that which in general is contained in the work entitled “Demonstration of the wretched and deplorable condition of the Philipinas Islands,” etc., which last year I presented before this superior government, and of which I rendered account to his Majesty, whose royal mind will consider what is most expedient for the glory of his monarchy, the conservation of these islands, and the advantage of the royal exchequer. It is to those ends that the savings and increases of revenue are directed that are found in these statements—which are the children of the zeal, affection, fidelity, disinterestedness, and assiduity with which I have devoted myself to the affairs of the royal service. Manila, July 10, 1766.

Don Francisco Leandro de Viana

[1] These expenses were paid from the royal treasury, “at the rate of 34 p. 3 r. for every cura or religious, every year” (Viana Respuestas, fol. 161). [↑]

[2] Explanation of “Plan of the present condition of Manila and its environs:”—“1. Royal fort. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Small bastions of San Francisco, San Juan, Santa Ysabel, San Eugenio, and San Joseph. 7. Ancient redoubt. 8. Bastion of the foundry. 9. A kind of ravelin. 10. Bastion of San Andres or Carranza. 11. Bastion of San Lorenzo de Dilao. 12. Bastion and gate of the Parian. 13. Works of the reverse [obra de revez]. 14. Bastion of San Gabriel. 15. Small bastion and gate of Santo Domingo. 16. Small bastion and gate of the magazines. 17. Fortin. 18. Parish church and convent of the Parian. 19. Chapel of San Anton, a chapel of ease. 20. Convent and parish church of Dilao. 21. Parish church of San Miguel. 22. Hospital of San Lazaro. 23. Ruined convent of San Juan de Bagumbaya. 24. Ruined parish church of San Tiago. 25. Parish church of La Hermita. 26. Ruined hornwork of fascines. 27. Royal alcaizeria of San Fernando. 28. Parish church, convent, and large village of Binondoc. 29. Hospital for Chinese. 30. College, parish church, and village of Santa Cruz. 31. Parish church of Quiapo. 32. Convent and parish church of San Sebastian. 33. Convent, parish church, and village of the capital of the province of Tondoc. 34. Convalescent hospital and island of St. John of God. 35. House of Mayjalique. A. Masonry bridge of Maloza. B. Masonry bridge of San Lazaro. C. Masonry bridge of Dilao. D. Ruined house of Balete. E. Ruined edifice. F. Powder magazine. G. Ruined cavalier. Manila, September 30, 1767.

Don Feliciano Marquez”

[Below follows the scale of the plan, which is 500 varas to 9½ cm. The size of the original MS. map is 110 × 54 cm.] [↑]

[3] For the “Demonstration” here cited, see VOL. XLVIII, in which it is the final document. In the library of Edward E. Ayer, of Chicago, is a MS. book containing copies of letters by Viana written in 1767; the first of these (dated January 5) is addressed to the Marqués de Esquilace, and mentions the despatch to him and to the king, in the previous year, of copies both of the “Demonstration” and of the present statement of “Financial affairs of the islands.” He also relates how he has been actuated in his official duties by his zeal for the royal service, and has always upheld the rights of the crown; and in consequence he has been the mark for the hatred and enmity of all those who live by plundering the royal treasury, and who desire a fiscal who will allow them to do so without any opposition. The above-mentioned documents have, he says, “raised a furious tempest, the anger of those who fear the loss of their own profits, on which loss depends the rightful increase of his Majesty’s interests, and the saving of iniquitous expenditures.” Of the religious orders in the islands, he says: “They have great power, and much wealth which is acquired through what they unjustly collect from the royal exchequer and the Indians. No one dares to incur the hostility of the religious, for all fear the direful results of their power; and under pretext of a false piety, painted with the bright colors of the true, they have been wont to obtain whatever they have claimed. For this reason they have, ever since the conquest of the islands, burdened the royal exchequer with the increasing and numerous expenses occasioned in behalf of the said religious orders, instead of securing economies for it.” He claims “the glory of being the first one who, by dint of close application, has discovered the ‘philosopher’s stone’ for the enrichment of these islands and the royal exchequer.”

Viana also relates in this letter the enmity of Francisco Salgado against him, because he has, by insisting on the rights of the crown, secured sentences against Salgado in two lawsuits—one denying his claim for 36,000 pesos in the iron-mine contract, and the other compelling him to pay into the royal treasury the sum of 28,000 pesos, due from him as farmer of the wine monopoly—notwithstanding this man’s wealth and his persistent efforts to corrupt the royal officials. “This is a very unusual thing in Manila, where rich persons, like Salgado, know the method of making their iniquitous dealings secure, by dint of presents and bribes, which are frequent. It is by this means that the said Salgado succeeded in gaining the good will of the present governor of these islands [i.e., Raón], by offering him 20,000 pesos in cash (as is well known and notorious) in order that the wine monopoly might be awarded to him at its sale, for the sum of 24,000 pesos in each year. I opposed this, proving by documents that the said monopoly produced more than 54,000 pesos, after deducting all expenses; and that the poverty and the urgent necessities of the royal treasury protested against the sacrifice of the 30,000 pesos of which the exchequer would be deprived every year.” He says that the governor tried to secure the award at that low rate to Salgado; but Viana appealed to the royal Audiencia, in which the case was pending when he wrote, and Raón and Salgado were both afraid of losing the great profits which otherwise they would have gained. He implores the minister “to exert his influence to check the rapidity with which these islands are hastening to their utter ruin.” Further reports and letters by Viana in regard to the Salgado affair are found in this book (Cartas y consultas), at fol. 6–11, 15–23, 30–37; the wine monopoly was finally sold for 40,000 pesos a year, thanks to Viana’s persistent efforts. [↑]

[4] Spanish, baylio, meaning a knight commander of the Order of Malta—i.e., the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The following word is spelled “Frey” because it denotes a member of a military order. (Velázquez.) [↑]

[5] Expediente: this word has numerous meanings in Spanish, some of which are difficult to define in English. In this case it apparently means “the collection of all the papers belonging to a subject or business;” it may also denote “a summary or abstract, a legal process, official acts, or judicial inquiry.” Another meaning is, “any subject, claim, importunity, or analogous matter submitted to investigation, and depending upon a decision or warrant.” (Dominguez.)

The law here referred to (Felipe IV, June 18, 1658) provides that the religious who are charged with the instruction of the Indians shall receive “a stipend of 50,000 maravedis in each year for each doctrina of 400 tribute-payers, which rule shall be inviolably observed.” [↑]

[6] Spanish, vajo de Campana, literally, “under the bell,” i.e. of the church. In an opinion rendered on April 17, 1765 (Respuestas, fol. 121, 122), Viana recommends that the Audiencia issue strict orders to die corregidor of Tondo to proceed to the reduction of the Indians dispersed through his province into villages—providing them with suitable dwelling-places from the lands belonging to the respective villages, or from the vacant crown lands. He enumerates the advantages (the religious ones being most important of all) which will follow to the Indians as well as to the government from this change; and asks that the religious ministers be charged not to interfere with the secular authorities in carrying out this plan, but rather use their influence to persuade the Indians to submit to it quietly. This plan is but the beginning of his scheme to bring about, as fast as it can be secured, the reduction of all the natives in all the provinces to obedience to Spanish dominion.

On fol. 132v, 133 are opinions regarding applications which were made soon afterward by certain persons or communities to be exempted from the enforced reduction to village life; Viana refuses to entertain these, insisting that all the natives must be brought “under the church bell,” in order that they may be instructed in religion, that their souls may be saved. (Cf. fol. 146, 147, 156, 162, 185.)

He also urged (fol. 139), on May 9, 1765, that all unsettled Indians in the province of Cagayan should be returned to their respective villages. [↑]

[7] See the tariff established by Archbishop Camacho (VOL. XLII, pp. 58–64.) [↑]

[8] Viana had said, in an official opinion rendered on January 14, 1765: “Notwithstanding these arguments [among which Viana mentions the frauds committed in the sale of these boletas], the royal junta of the exchequer would not have decided upon the application of the galleon’s lading to the benefit of the royal treasury if the necessity had not been most urgent, and this measure indispensable; and the distribution would have continued, in accordance with the favor bestowed by our kings and sovereigns to the commerce here—which has no right of justice to the boletas, nor is his Majesty under obligation to distribute them, since they have been assigned [to the citizens] by his royal clemency as a mere favor and benefit, and as alms. No one ought to be surprised that this favor, this benefit, and this alms should be suspended when there are no funds, and no means for paying it, and when it is applied in order to meet the unavoidable expenditures of the royal treasury, and to the payments which in justice must be made to the troops and other people employed in the royal service and the defense of these dominions. For it would not be just that for the sake of distributing the boletas, to which there is no obligation in justice, there should be failure in paying the claims which by every rule of law are due, and to meet the expenses which are unavoidable for the conservation of these islands.” (Respuestas, fol. 73.) It is evident from this that the above measure was put into force temporarily, at least, in 1764, as a necessary expedient in the distressed condition of the islands after the English evacuation; and that Viana now recommends it as a permanent regulation. [↑]

[9] There is an interesting statement in Viana’s Respuestas, fol. 151–155, regarding the iron mine of Santa Ynes and its early history. One Francisco Salgado claimed to have discovered it, and tried to operate it for some time; but he finally abandoned the work, and it (or rather the right to work it) was sold, some years afterward, by the government to the highest bidder. Viana says of this mine: “It is called a mine, but more properly is a quarry of rocks containing iron, with which rocks the mountains of Santa Ynes abound; and in order to obtain them no vein is followed, nor is there need for tunnels, as there is in the mines.” Salgado sold considerable iron from Santa Ynes, including 2,000 picos of it to the royal storehouses at four pesos a pico, instead of the current rate of ten pesos; this low price was claimed by the royal fiscal as the right of the crown, in the term of Ezpeleta as governor. In 1765, Salgado was claiming from the government 36,000 pesos, to reimburse him for the losses he had met in operating Santa Ynes; but Viana sturdily opposed this, saying that the mine naturally belonged to the crown, and that Salgado had forfeited any rights which he might have had therein, and did not make any claims to the mine at the time when it was placed in the hands of Francisco Casañas and Juan Solano, as he should have done in order to render them valid at the present time; moreover, he had made various misrepresentations of the matter at different times, and ought to be punished for falsehood.

In fol. 158, 159, Viana states that (in 1765) Casañas is dead, and Solano pays to the royal treasury five hundred pesos a year. Viana is anxious to prevent the abandonment of the mines (which he fears in view of the losses and injuries caused by the late war), since they contain enough iron to supply all India, and ought to be operated for the benefit of the royal treasury, thus saving the great expense which it incurs in buying iron from China, and preventing the drain of so much money from the islands. He therefore proposes that some two hundred Chinese be placed at work in the mines to operate and develop them, and build the necessary furnaces and other appliances; this will also reduce the population of the Parian, and will cost nothing to the treasury save the rations for the Sangleys, who should be compelled to cultivate the lands near the mines and raise most of what is needed for their support and that of their families (for the married ones should be selected for this colony). They should be placed under a manager of skill and energy, with twenty-five or thirty soldiers at his disposal. From this enterprise, “numberless advantages would ensue for the king and for the public. The consumption of iron in the islands amounts to from 80,000 to 100,000 pesos’ worth annually; and even the most ordinary sort, that from China, costs seven to eight pesos a pico for bars, and twelve to thirteen when wrought into nails, balls, etc.” By the above plan the cost of producing the iron would be reduced to about three pesos a pico. All the Sangley ironworkers should therefore be seized, and transported to the mines. [↑]

[10] “In the eastern part of the Philippines, cock-fights must have been unknown in Pigafetta’s time; he saw the first gamecocks in Paláuan.” (See Pigafetta’s mention of these fights, in VOL. XXXIII, p. 211.) “In the ‘Ordinances of good government’ of Hurtado Corcuera, in the middle of the seventeenth century, gamecocks were not mentioned. In 1779 they first added to the revenue from taxation; and in 1781 the government farmed the right to collect entrance-money in the cockpits (galleras, from gallo, “cock”), for $14,798 a year. In 1863 the revenue from these places made an item in the budget of $106,000.” A special ordinance regarding cock-fights was dated at Madrid, March 21, 1861; among its provisions is permission for this sport to be held on Sundays and feast-days, from the conclusion of high mass until sunset. “The craving to gain money without work they can with great difficulty withstand, and many are, through the passion for gambling, drawn into borrowing money at usury, embezzlement, and theft, and even highway robbery; the bands of robbers on both sea and land consist, for the greater part, of ruined gamesters.” (Jagor, Reisen, p. 22.) [↑]

[11] Spanish, vecinos, which is probably a clerical error for tiempos, as indicated by the context. The implication in “forty-eight” is, apparently, that the cock-fight would be a regular holiday amusement. [↑]

[12] This recommendation by Viana was carried out later by Governor Basco (see pp. 53–55. ante). [↑]

[13] In some of Viana’s official opinions (Respuestas, fol. 114v–117, 128–132), he gives advice regarding the farming-out of the wine monopoly. He protests (March 27, 1765) against the action of the board in charge of this matter, who proposed to give this privilege to Andres del Barrio (the only bidder at the auction), for 16,000 pesos a year for five years. He states that it had at the previous sale brought 26,000 pesos, when the amount consumed was the same as at present; and the farmer’s returns from this monopoly ought to be even more now, since the regular soldiery now number 2,000, against less than 1,500 at the last sale, and some years hardly 1,000, while the net profit of this trade, if it be carried on with energy and business ability, ought to average over 30,000 pesos a year. Viana also protests against granting the monopoly on buyo to Pedro Tagle (also the only bidder) for 10,000 pesos, when the board had decided to offer it for 12,000 in order to dispose of it more easily, while the royal officials had valued it at 14,000. The board made reply to these objections, with arguments which Viana characterizes as weak, and proceeds to demolish with his usual energy. He complains that they acted without even notifying him to attend their proceedings, when they ought to be aware that he, as fiscal, is a member of the board. They have cited the prices first paid for the wine monopoly (10,000 and 15,000 pesos respectively; cf. VOL. XLVII, pp. 118, 119), without considering that those were for the term of three years only, while the present term is five years; and the prices paid before the English war were, at the last sale, 26,000 pesos, and at each of the two preceding ones 20,500. He states that the Spaniards of the city are poor, and consume little wine from the monopoly shops; but this is not the case with the soldiers, nor with the natives, who now are receiving higher wages than before the war, and are comparatively rich through it since they are selling all kinds of supplies at higher prices than ever before. Viana says that Francisco Salgado, the last holder of this monopoly, began it without any means of his own (having lost all he had in working an iron mine); but at the end of the five years he had gained from the monopoly 200,000 pesos. He estimates that the expenses of administering the business are 40,000 pesos annually, and adding to this 26,000 for the government dues, and 40,000 for the contractor’s gains, the total amount of the business is 106,000 pesos a year. If the Acapulco galleon and its successful voyages could be depended upon more certainly, the Spaniards would have more money to spend, and the wine monopoly would be even more profitable. Viana makes an interesting comparison between the administration of monopolies in the islands and that in Spain, where the circumstances are so different that, as he says, the laws of Castilla on this point are “absolutely impracticable” in the Philippines; moreover, in Spain the monopoly must be considered in connection with the impost of alcabala, “which is not collected on anything in these islands.” He urges that the board at least restrict the term of the monopoly of wine to four years, if they sell it at the rate of 16,000 pesos; and that for six years the rate be made 20,000. Also, that if the buyo monopoly be sold for 10,000 the term be made four years, and the rate be 9,000 [sic] for six years. If they will not do this, these monopolies should be administered by the government directly, and not farmed out at all. (From an entry dated May 10 (fol. 141v), it appears that the wine monopoly was purchased by Theodora Fagoaga.)

Apropos of his statement regarding the alcabala, cf. what he says on fol. 134, regarding a request made by the alcalde-mayor appointed for the province of Pangasinan, who asked a reduction of alcabala and bonds [fianzas] (presumably required for his faithful administration of that office). Viana advises against such reduction, saying of the alcabala, “There is the same reason for paying the same amount as in the past, because the commerce is the same; and the said impost is not so much for alcabala as for the privilege of trading allowed to the alcaldes-mayor, relieving them from the oath which they formerly took.” [↑]

[14] Probably the worst of these abuses were checked by the formation of a naval bureau by the decree of 1800 (see “Events in Filipinas,” ante, last paragraph). [↑]

LETTER FROM VIANA TO CARLOS III

Sire: By a royal decree dated at Madrid on August 4, 1765, your Majesty ordered that this royal Audiencia should take pains to secure the observance of the laws (24 and 25, título i, book vi) in the Recopilación de Indias with regard to the trade and intercourse of the Spaniards with the Indians; and that it should report to your Majesty upon the other things contained in the copy of a letter from the venerable dean and cabildo of this holy church,[1] in which they chiefly set forth the request that your Majesty will deign to issue stricter orders so that the Indians may learn the Castilian language.

As the aforesaid report has not been despatched by this Audiencia—which is composed of two auditors, and there is only one of integrity, and zeal for the royal service—I have deemed it inseparable from my obligation to inform your Majesty[2] of what the experience of about nine years as fiscal has taught me regarding the aforesaid points, and to make known the zeal with which I have labored, to the end that in this particular the laws and your Majesty’s royal decrees might be carried out. For this it is necessary to assume (in confirmation of the statements in the above-mentioned letter) that the despotism of the ministers of the doctrinas is absolute, so that they are almost the only ones who command in these islands; and that they govern at their own will the villages and provinces, without recognizing your Majesty or obeying any laws or royal decrees save those which suit their own interests and opinions. It is evident and notorious that they do not obey any of the rest, except as they please. This is proved by the fact that there is no law or decree or ordinance which is observed by the said ministers of doctrinas in questions of the royal patronage, in the administration of the sacraments to the sick, in the tanorías and other matters in which their comfort is concerned, and, above all, in the schools, for instruction in the Spanish language.

All this lawless conduct (which results from the absolute sway of the ministers of doctrinas) will be evident to your Majesty from the copy which I enclose of two fiscal opinions, which are literally transcribed from the official records belonging to the year 765; the originals are found in the respective expedientes preserved in the office of the court secretary of this Audiencia. In these is told sufficient to give some idea of the despotism of the said religious, on whom nearly all the people of these islands are dependent—some through fear, and others through unjust acts of compliance and tolerance which at the present time make it exceedingly difficult to check that despotism. This will never be accomplished unless the governor and the ministers of the Audiencia proceed unitedly and with equal firmness, without yielding to the religious, and with inflexible zeal for the fulfilment of the laws and the municipal ordinances of these islands. But for this end it would be indispensable to confer the public offices of the provinces on men tried and true, who would fulfil their obligations; and not on persons who, buying the said offices in Manila, undertake to fill them by inflicting so many injuries [on the natives] that their very infractions of law oblige them to depend absolutely on the religious, and to maintain the latter in their possession of authority over the Indians and over the alcaldes. From this beginning it results that neither the orders of the governor nor of the Audiencia take effect, and that all the measures which are conformable to the laws and to your Majesty’s royal decrees prove futile; for there is a false show of fulfilling them, which leaves these matters in the same confusion which attempt was made to remedy.

In the laws of the Indias, in the former “Ordinances” of these islands, in those which were drawn up by Governor Don Pedro Manuel de Arandía[3] and in repeated royal decrees, this matter of the instruction of the Indians in the Spanish language is especially enjoined; but, notwithstanding this, the notion of the said religious has prevailed that the Indians shall remain ignorant of the said language, in order to keep them more dependent [on the fathers], and in order that no Spaniard may obtain information of what is going on in the villages. There are innumerable instances which have occurred, of the curas of doctrinas punishing the Indians who talked with the Spaniards in our language. In the villages close to this capital there are many Indians who understand the said language very well, but when they are in the presence of any religious they reply in their own Tagal language to the Spaniards who ask them questions in Castilian, through their fear of the father; and the latter never speaks to the Indians in Spanish, even though they may be proficient in it. This is convincing that the intention of the religious orders is certain and evident, that the Indians shall not know our language, so that they may be more secure of the doctrinas not being taken away from them, of the bishops not attempting to visit them, of the non-enforcement of the laws (none of which are enforced) of the royal patronage, and of the continuance of the despotism with which they govern the Indians in both spiritual and temporal matters, without fear of any noticeable result. For thus they find themselves necessary, and they mock at the zeal of a governor, of an archbishop, of a fiscal, and of all those who mourn the entire non-observance of the laws; and as these officials and the ministers of the Audiencia are seldom united to procure the enforcement of the laws, because the religious orders do not neglect to mislead some of them, the latter are always sure of a victory through this disunion (which is very frequent), when the same spirit of courage and firmness does not animate the minds of all [the officials] for the fulfilment of the laws and of your Majesty’s royal ordinances. Through your royal complaisance, I have continually inveighed against the main points in the opinions of the curas of doctrinas, which are opposed to the laws and ordinances; and especially against their persistent endeavor that the Indians shall not know our Spanish language—as your Majesty’s royal mind will be informed by the copy which I enclose. As contributing to fuller information on this point, and confirming it, I will state that in the year 762 I, as fiscal, made the same claims in this royal Audiencia which the venerable dean and cabildo set forth to your Majesty in the year 764.

There is equal proof for what I demanded regarding the trade of the Spaniards with the Indians. It is grievous to see that no one dares to carry on this trade; for, however strict may be the orders which have been issued, not only by your governors but by this Audiencia, the curas of doctrinas have many means for rendering them ineffective. They dissuade the Spaniards from going to the Indian villages, where, as a rule, they are treated with incredible contempt, and are denied even the food which they need (and for which they offer money), because neither the governadorcillo nor any other Indian dares to sell it without permission from the father minister. Not only does the father usually deny this, but he stirs up the anger of the Indians against the Spaniard—whom they call Castila; the name of Castilian has thus become exceedingly odious among the natives, and they regard every Spaniard with dislike, if indeed not with hatred. To see a Spaniard in their villages appears to them such a novelty that all the inhabitants—old persons, the youths, and the children—sally out to look at him, with loud yells and uproar, in which one can only hear, “Castila! Castila!” and amid the annoyance of being surrounded by Indians, without being able to understand them, the Spaniard has no other resource than to go in search of the father of the doctrina, and humiliate himself before him with the same abjectness as the said Indians show, in order that the reverence shown to this despot may furnish him with lodging and food, and render his life safe. This would not happen if the Castilian language had been extended into the provinces, for experience shows that every Indian who understands it feels much affection for the Spaniards; and the natives aid them wherever they meet them, if they are not in the presence of the fathers of doctrinas.

It is no less certain that many of the fathers trade in the villages which they administer, and that for this reason also they are undertaking to hinder, by the aforesaid means, the trade of the Spaniards. All this will seem as incredible to your Majesty as it seemed to me until my official duties, and the things that I myself have seen in the provinces through which I have traveled, proved its truth to me; and even more than what is notorious and public to all who have lived in these islands for some time can be told to your Majesty by Doctor Don Simon Anda y Salazar, who certainly was often undeceived, by experience, in regard to the aforesaid intentions of the religious.

I, Sire, would not dare to write on subjects so delicate, and so difficult to explain, if I were not fully convinced of what I have stated above, and of the fact that this abuse has not been nor will it be remedied, while a governor little acquainted [with his duties] in the early years of his term casts into oblivion the measures taken by his predecessor, or revokes them, through the persuasions of the religious; and when he reaches the point of being undeceived he comes to the last years of his government, and the measures that he takes then have the same fate as those already mentioned, on the arrival of his successor. The same thing occurs with the ministers [of the Audiencia] who have recently arrived at this city; for, under the influence of the said religious, they regard as recklessness and impiety that which afterward, with some experience, they recognize as zeal for the royal service. This disunion and lack of agreement in their opinions would not be experienced if the laws were punctually observed, and if the “Ordinances for the provinces” were established as law—which would regulate all these matters, and not allow freedom for failure in supporting them, as they ought to be supported, by an opinion that is equally firm in all the governors and ministers. For nothing so injures good government as the attempt of those high officials to temporize with every one, and not incur any one’s ill-will; and to look out for their own profit, to the detriment of the general good. It is notorious, at the same time, that for the said reasons whatever concerns his Majesty and the public is in almost utterly desperate condition; that the laws and royal decrees are not held in due reverence and respect; that they are transgressed with reckless readiness; that seldom is justice administered, on account of the intervention of influential persons; and that only where there is no advantage for self—as is the case in the affairs of poor people—are the laws observed. From this abuse—offensive to the supreme power of his Majesty, which usually is not obeyed in these islands, where a spirit of greed is the sole ruler with absolute dominion—it results that zealous and upright ministers are the only ones who are persecuted; and that those who remain inactive, and are susceptible to presents, and can be led into unlawful yielding and compliance, are popular with the citizens.

Another of the more important causes which occasion the said abuse is, that since the Audiencia has no cognizance of the affairs of the provinces in regard to their government, and as the governors on account of their military profession (in which alone they have been trained) have not the necessary knowledge of the laws and of the “Ordinances of good government,” or of municipal regulations, it results that an upright governor does not come to a resolve about anything, for fear of making some mistake; another, more resolute, goes headlong into measures to which his associates persuade him; and another governor, with interested motives, works for his own advantage. As a general rule, all or most of the governors are bewildered with the multitude of affairs which present themselves; they do very little work, and in nothing do they act with less vigor than in the government of the provinces; and enactments are made at the pleasure of the governor’s secretary, and occasionally of the assistant judge [asesor]. Here these usually are venal and have little sense of honor; and they attend only to such business as brings them gain, and not that of their office, which yields them nothing. These serious and notorious difficulties can be avoided only by separating from the government the superintendency of the exchequer[4] which is the department of business that is most neglected, and is most worthy of attention—and establishing ordinances, which shall be enforced without deviation, for the secure furtherance of the royal interests, and of the administration of justice in the provinces, leaving the absolute cognizance of the latter to the royal Audiencia, and of the former to an intendant, and forbidding them to the governors, who have more than enough field for action in military and purely political affairs in which to display their zeal. Then they would devote themselves to these important matters belonging to their profession, which are those which have seemed to them to merit least attention and care, because their application to other business produces them more gain.

If these departments of the government were separated in the above manner, there would be an invariable method of procedure in the two tribunals of the Audiencia and the intendancy. For in the former, even if one or another minister should pass away, there would remain others, who could instruct the new officials, so that the said method should never be changed without evident necessity, justified by documents and by unanimous opinions; and in the intendancy the same thing would occur, by means of the practical knowledge which would pass from some royal officials to others, and from some subordinates to others. Especially should be left to parties [in controversies] free recourse by appeal to the royal Audiencia from all the acts and measures of the intendant; and he, with the ministers [of that court], should proceed to the choice (by a majority of votes) of the [provincial] governors, corregidors, and alcaldes-mayor. Thus, likewise, would be avoided the sale of those offices, which is frequent; and the merit and services of the citizens would be rewarded, so that they might have some stimulus in regard to their conduct and valor, and be encouraged to serve your Majesty by these hopes—which are entirely lacking to them at the present time, in which he alone is preferred who gives most for the offices.

In regard to the “Ordinances for the provinces,” I have systematized those which Doctor Don Simon de Anda y Salazar can show you; he carried with him a copy of them, which I drew up with the knowledge and experience which I have acquired by dint of constant application. Thus far they have been neither approved nor censured by the royal Audiencia, in virtue of the royal decree which your Majesty addressed to that body, that they should frame and arrange some ordinances, keeping in mind the articles of the late governor Don Pedro Manuel Arandía, and those of the reverend father in Christ the bishop of Nueva Caseres;[5] but as the said ordinances cannot be framed without [incurring] the resentment of the ministers of doctrinas, and opposing their despotism and their designs (which aim at the overthrow of the ordinances which I composed), that court has left the matter in suspense for more than three years. And it will remain in this condition, at the pleasure of the senior auditor in the said Audiencia, on whom alone it depends, unless the efforts of those zealous ministers Don Manuel Galvan and the above-mentioned Don Simon de Anda, and those which I have exerted in the duties of my office, can secure the settlement of a business of so great importance—in which are included the two points which I have already mentioned, the trade with the Indians, and their instruction in the Castilian language.