Therefore we petition and supplicate your Majesty to examine this cause with your own eyes, and provide redress for the injuries received—annulling these acts of violence and rebuking your said auditors, so that it may serve them as a correction, and others as an example and warning; and so that the ministers of the gospel and the orders in these islands may not be annoyed or injured by the evil example furnished to the newly converted, whereby they would esteem the ecclesiastical estate and divine worship less. For such is not the will of your Majesty. In this respect, there is in these regions a great deficiency in all your officials; consequently the ecclesiastical class need to have your Majesty renew your decrees that give injunctions to your agents. By so doing your Majesty will render a great service to His Divine Majesty, favor to all of us, and good to these new plants. May God our Lord preserve your Majesty for years, as we desire, and augment your happy state, as we your least and unworthy chaplains desire, etc. Given in this convent of your Majesty, Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, Manila, in 1621.

Fray Pedro de San Pablo, minister provincial. Fray Agustin de Tordesillas, [MS. uncertain] [19] and definitor. Fray Andres del Sacremento, definitor. Fray Antonio de Nombela, definitor. Fray Christoval de Santa Ana, [20] definitor.



Letter from Fajardo to the King

Sire:

In the ships which left here this year for Nueva Spana I gave your Majesty a long account of everything which, up to that time, could be related, or which occurred to me, with duplicates of different letters, therefore the most that I have to add today is the reception of your Majesty's letter and your royal decrees. I have not done this before as I had not sufficient leisure to examine them, or do so in the interval allowed by the season. What I have to say at present concerning their contents is, that I shall act in all respects, and carry out what your Majesty orders therein, according to my ability, and as best I can, and as is most expedient for your Majesty's service. In conformity therewith and in due form, acts of obedience were rendered; and, in some points which appear to me to demand more detailed explanation than was given in that general answer, I will furnish it.

As to what your Majesty wrote to the Marques de Guadalcaxar, [21] former viceroy of Nueva Spana, in regard to [the statement] that on the ship "San Nicolas" three hundred and thirty persons died on account of its late departure from these islands, all that I can say is that, since a person of his position and character undertook to write it, he should certainly have first informed himself thoroughly in the matter. Although I was present at the despatching of this ship and went out with it well outside of Cavite, it did not appear to me that, in regard to the people who were going, the ship was carrying half [of its quota]; for at most there are accustomed to go with the officers usually seventy seamen and gunners, more or less, according to the tonnage of the ships, although the number mentioned is for a ship of very large tonnage. With these there usually go as many more, Indians from this country, as common seamen, and some slaves that the said officers and the passengers are allowed to take with them for their service, paying the duties which are usually paid to your Majesty. The passengers are usually kept down to as small a number as possible; and if so many died as is affirmed in the supposed relation, they were not Spaniards, because of these not many died. They must have been negroes and slaves, who were hidden after embarkation by those who took them aboard, with an eye to the great gain which there usually is in this, by saving the cost and the duties that they owe, when the royal officials at Acapulco are friends of theirs, or those who thus convey slaves are of the household of the viceroy. [22]

In so far as concerns their departure, the regulation of that is not at present in the power of the governor of these islands; for the enemy are accustomed to come hither, as has been evident during the little more than three years while I have been here; they have come twice, and I am likewise expecting them now—and always with at least twice the fleet and troops that we have. Every day they are gaining more strength, as is seen by the presence of so many of them on this coast. The ships from China do not come, and it is with their merchandise that our ships must go to Nueva Spana. We are, moreover, obliged to keep the small vessels which can be manned, ready for war, in order to compel the enemy not to divide their forces and thus inflict the damage which, without this check, they would accomplish; and in order to fight with them, offering them an opportunity to do so even though they might obtain from us some advantage, which might be made up by the gain [of keeping them in check]. As we had to attend to this and then direct our efforts to fitting up the ships for Nueva Spana—shutting up the gun-ports, and changing the vessels so that they are suitable for merchant ships, and even at times enlarging them and increasing the conveniences within, and waiting until the amount of the merchandise has been completed, so that they may carry it—we could not get them off so quickly as was wished, nor upon an appointed day as before, when there was no war, and when at Christmas we used to have thirty or forty ships from China. The viceroy can inform you of this, for he too can ascertain this through the relations, as well as I.

As for the memorial which your Majesty orders me to send touching the diminution of the quantity of silver which comes from Nueva Spana to these islands, having looked into the matter it appears to me that not only is this design a proper one, but that it is very necessary to bring about this result; for I judge that only with the utmost difficulty can the drain of so much silver every year from that country and those mines be continued. They, too, are being exhausted like those of other countries, and the natives are diminishing; so that the silver is obtained in the most costly and scanty fashion, to be carried hither and go away to lie in the treasure-house of the king of China. I did not neglect to consider this when I proposed to your Majesty that the trade of these islands with Nueva Spana should be exclusive of silk and woven goods, except linen and other products of this country, which are not of great importance; for although the coming of silver from there would not thus be altogether stopped, there is no doubt that it would be less, and we would avoid the drain from Espana by the French, English, and Flemish, of what they are accustomed to take away [in payment] for the linens which they carry thither to sell, and this saving would pass to the Yndias, as I have explained more at length in the letter which treats of this, a copy of which accompanies the present. If this is done, there will undoubtedly be more trade with Xapon, with the opportunity given by the silk trade; and in this manner we might continue establishing a trade so that the linen trade with Nueva Spana might also be restricted, if linens for Indias could be more advantageously provided by some other part of Espana.

Although in the memorial there is a matter which demands so much attention as the depopulation of a town like Macan, and the difficulties are set forth arising from its occupation by the Dutch or English, and their admission [to trade] by the Chinese—who, with their greediness, would seek the profit which they formerly gained from the Portuguese, thus destroying, at a single stroke, the commerce of this country with Nueva Spana, which is the means whereby all who reside here support themselves—to do so would appear a matter of the most difficulty. It would seem necessary and requisite for the [preservation of the] Japanese trade to transport some or the greater part of those people [of Macao] to the province of Nueva Segovia, or to the island of Hermosa, getting a foothold there whence we might better continue and carry on the navigation from China to that place and from there to Xapon, and not from here; for silks are already as high in this city as in Nangasaqui, on account of the danger from enemies which the Chinese risk in coming here. It has appeared best to me not to make any hasty decision in this matter without informing myself more thoroughly and considering it, so that I may be better able to state my judgment to your Majesty by the first ships which shall be despatched, by the favor of God. While my opinion is that, in the meantime, no more definite plan or decision should be adopted, there is no more effective remedy for limiting the drain from Nueva Spana through this country than to regulate the capacity and cargoes of the ships which go from here; because if they are large they are bound to be filled, even though it be with clothing and useful articles for households, and they must bring back the price of these things, cost what they may. But if they are smaller vessels they cannot take on so large cargoes, and accordingly what is bought to be carried in them, as less has to be bought for this purpose, is cheaper, and, as not so much is carried, it brings a higher price in Nueva Spana; in this manner, therefore, the investment of ten is worth as much as that of twenty going in large ships, and it is rather profit than loss for the citizens here, and likewise for the service of your Majesty—although the citizens of the city of Mexico who have correspondents and secret factors here will be affected by it, because they will not obtain so large a portion of the investment and the cheap cargo, as the people here will need all that the ships can carry. This is all I can say regarding this at present.

As for what your Majesty writes me concerning the factor and inspector, Diego de Castro Lisson, in the matter of this office of accounts, in which relation your Majesty orders me to appoint to the office of accountant thereof someone who is a fit person, I will say that you may have information as to what the said Diego de Castro Lisson is, as he was already in your service when I arrived here. I do not find him, but in his place Luis de Vera Encalada, a person who for this office or any other of this profession, or one of trust, ought not to be preferred to Juan de Messa Suero, if the latter were not dead (as I have explained to your Majesty in another letter). As for your Majesty making the choice and appointment of this office, there will be no other difficulty than that the salary must be larger—as the authority will be, if the appointment is from the royal hand of your Majesty—and the business is of so little importance and no profit; for although he is called accountant of accounts, in my opinion he is coming to be the director thereof, since the examination and decision of difficulties or additions is made by us, the president, two auditors, and a fiscal.

The offices which, being vacant, are filled in the interim until your Majesty shall grant the appointment and favor thereof have been in my term merely for half the salary, without the person who served in them in this way having received any allowance for expenses, in any manner whatsoever; nor is there anything here with which to make such allowance, and I have understood that this has always been the case.

The memorial of the pilot Gaspar Conquero, which treats of the exploring of the island of Oro, which is here called Rica de Oro, has been examined; and as soon as he makes this port, or there is any other person suitable for conducting this exploration, and to be given the island as an encomienda, I shall do so as your Majesty orders.

As for what your Majesty orders to the effect that I should inform you of the wound which was given Captain Matheo des Villerias, all I can say is that on the night when it was given I sent to tell the auditor, Don Alvaro de Messa, that he should conduct the investigation, and take the proper measures; but he did not do so, although there was no reason which should hinder him; accordingly, not to lose any time in this, the auditor Hieronimo de Legaspi undertook the work, and before him the case was tried. No guilt was charged against any one, although the wounded man said that he conjectured that it was Captain Silvestre de Aybar. Afterward his suspicion was changed, and he told me personally that he suspected Admiral Don Luis de Cordova; and, although we could not be sure that it was he, the presumption was stronger since it was learned that Captain Villerias had spoken very ill of matters which concerned the viceroy Marques de Guadalcacar, to whose party the said Don Luis de Cordova belongs. Villerias had another quarrel of this sort with the latter, after which they were quite friendly. This is not the first trouble which has happened to Villerias on account of having talked and interfered too much, but he has had other and more important ones. This would not be any too small to be worth judicial consideration if the matter could be cleared up, and if the occasion which, it is said, he gave for his wound by speaking thus concerning the said marques, could be ascertained.

I have not been able to learn in these islands that there are any Jerominian, Benedictine, Carmelite, Trinitarian, or Victorian friars here, although I have tried to exercise the care which your Majesty directs in this regard.

In accordance with the contents of another decree of August 25, of the past year 620, it appears that your Majesty has been informed that the reason why the ships left these islands for Nueva Spana later than in past years was because the president and auditors were interested, and principal shippers therein. The truth is, that their not leaving earlier was due to the coming of the enemy with large fleets to these coasts, and to the fact that the ships which bring the merchandise for these shipments [to Nueva Spana] were late or did not come for fear of the enemy (as I have already written to you more at length and in detail), and likewise on account of negotiations and agreements between the auditors and the present president. I will swear to it that the report which has been made to your Majesty on this point is untrue, because I was not brought up in the households or under the instruction of merchants, but in the good way of military exercises, as were my ancestors. It must be evident to your Majesty, as the property that I possess could well attest, that it would be very well for me if it were increased by the amounts that are lacking and pledged.

As for the property of deceased persons, this treasury has a judge, on which account I have less knowledge of its administration—although whenever opportunity offers and it is expedient to take any action regarding it, I do so according to my duty, and before your Majesty orders it, as he does order in the decree which treats of this. I made strenuous efforts not to have individual depositaries appointed for this property; but not only in this but likewise in the court fines, and other condemnations and various deposits which ought to enter into the said treasury, and into the royal treasury and general depositary in each case where it is concerned, there has been no way of forcing the auditor Hieronimo de Legaspi to cease making the deposits with various persons that they might have the profit thereof. For it is plain and well known that as my occupation keeps me most of the time encumbered with duties outside of the Audiencia, and often outside of the city, in my absence these things are done, and others which should not be. I attempt to correct them, although I do not hope for amendment from the licentiate Legaspi in this matter of money and other very unlawful things, ill-befitting his office and his age, the illegal character of his acts eliciting many complaints which I have received. I have received a memorial, a copy of which I send with this, containing more than forty separate heads against him, and offering proof of them—which, although they are not unknown or secret things, it will be no little matter to prove against an auditor while holding his office. Since I have given your Majesty at other times an account of this person, although summarily, I shall not say any more of him in this letter; yet more may be said concerning both him and the auditor Alvaro de Messa. The latter is still in [the convent of] Ssancto Domingo, stirring up trouble and revolution, as is his nature, and making people jealous of me—sowing discord and untrue and evil words to this end, and to destroy my reputation and render null my services; and afterward to go back and gather them up in sworn statements and depositions in documents, as a public matter, without considering that this act of his is insubordination. With this, and as he has gone so far as to seek false depositions against me—as is evident from the true ones which I have sent your Majesty—I do not think that anything further can be said concerning a professing Christian. Nor can we live in safety and honor where such infernal actions are committed, if they be not punished and corrected by your Majesty's just and powerful hand—by ordering that with him shall also be rebuked the friars of that convent, who not only keep the said doctor in their house and aid him in his actions against my person and office, but also give refuge with the same object to a certain Pedro de Lussara and one Pedro Alvarez, his men, who are working in his cause. I have given your Majesty other reports of this; but they interfere so much in this government and in the desire to command, that at times I have been in fear lest it was not the affairs of their missions and the Sangleys for which they wish to do everything, and lest some disturbance should arise that would demand punishment. If they could be relieved from some of the excessive ardor that they have, and the desire to go out into secular life with their own lawsuits and quarrels, seeking to have every one fear them and esteem their friendship, in other respects they would be the best friars which I have seen in the Indias.

As for the review of accounts which the said factor and inspector Diego de Castro Lisson had in charge, I refer you to the report which he will make or has made, as he has told me, giving the reasons why he has not continued therein. In the second place, I have learned that it is a matter of no little importance that this should be done quite thoroughly and fully—if not for the property that might be taken from him, yet to put into better condition the documents and despatches of his department, by which a great amount will be gained at once forever. It is also equally necessary that the intelligence and energy of him who comes for this purpose should be greater [than that of the said factor]; and the inspector-general, Thomas de Yvio Calderon, is not a person of sufficient prominence, nor is he discreet enough, for an affair of the greatest importance to the service of your Majesty—although his standing is not a poor one, and if a higher position were conferred on him, with the honors and favors that your Majesty might give him, everything might be well arranged. I dare say that I have information of no other person who is more suitable, by his abilities and qualifications, which are well known and have been shown in the service of your Majesty; and I have such information concerning his conduct of affairs that I should consider him very good for you to approve for this commission. If your Majesty shall decide to send anyone to do this work, I warn you, in order that he may fulfil his duties with exactness, as is due to the service of your Majesty, that he should not come as subordinate to or dependent upon the Audiencia or the governor, if it can be avoided; but his only business should be to separate entanglements and untie the knots. It will be no less unadvisable to have him remain here with an office or allowance; for in such case he would not wish to offend many persons, but would conciliate their good-will. If your Majesty will accept mine, you will pardon me for being longer in the answer than was the question.

As for several points mentioned in the royal decree of your Majesty of the twelfth of December, one thousand six hundred and ten—by which persons who come with the viceroys, governors, presidents, captains-general, auditors, and royal officials, are prohibited and incapacitated from receiving the favors and rewards of offices, encomiendas, and other things which are usually given to those who serve and labor; and preference over other claimants is given to the sons and descendants of conquistadors, and likewise of the settlers; and it is directed that for the distribution of the said favors or rewards the new order and form should be followed which your Majesty ordains in the said decree, taking away the power from those who before held it in this matter, and giving what was held by them to the auditors and fiscals—it has seemed best to me to inform your Majesty of what presents itself to me in this regard, so that concerning all this you may provide and command what is most suitable for your royal service, and for the divine service, in behalf of which the former is conducted.

This country is most distant from Espana of any which is known in the world and it, with the persons who inhabit and maintain it, are today the most borne down with troubles of all the Indias; for here is the force of the war which is not felt there, and between so many nations as are our neighbors, who can wage and maintain it; it seems, therefore, as if no person who is free to do what he will, and who aspires to honor and fortune, would come here to serve, without expectation of those rewards, if he were able to do it nearer the eye of your Majesty and of his fatherland. For if it is true that hitherto there have been many of this kind who have come, it has been in the hope that after three years they could leave, entering the honored or profitable occupations which they might have merited. The official persons with whom they came, or to whose land they belonged, and who were friendly, or appreciative of their abilities and qualifications, would help them, nor did it appear that favor would be extended unjustly. All the more now, when on every hand is barred any one of this class of persons who would desire to come; only those come whom some misdeed or ill-fortune drives into this land, and those who legally come to trade and live as merchants, and those whom the royal Audiencia of Mexico sends by way of condemnation, besides the people for our defense, and who are levied in companies in the markets and fairs of that city. And with these people there would come no noblemen of good parts and honored character, or many accomplished soldiers with merits acquired in war, such as the viceroys, governors, and other officers of this sort who come to serve your Majesty are accustomed to bring with them—without any suspicion that they ought not to do so, for the importance of having such men is already known, and is all the greater on account of the more occasions for war and other emergencies. I assure your Majesty that it is a well-known and evident fact that there are in this city honored knights and persons of excellent qualities, merits, and abilities, worthy of esteem. I assure you that it is also true that almost all of them came attached to the persons who filled the said offices, and attracted by their promises and expectations, whereby this country was greatly distinguished. This could not have been said if such persons had not come here, but we would already be very destitute of nobility without them, and would even have forgotten the way to carry on and fulfil their duties.

That the sons and descendants of conquistadors and original settlers should be preferred to those who are more recent and have not rendered greater services is a just and holy thing, especially in the peaceful countries of the Indias. But if this preeminence in life and in the favor of your Majesty is granted to them in consideration of the services which their ancestors have rendered in their conquests and pacifications, and on occasions of wars which were there carried on, it also appears just that present services which are being rendered in this land on occasions of war here and upon these seas, ought not to take their position behind those of the ancestors. For it is certain that the services of today are more important, on account of the greater need which there is for them, and because the creole sons and descendants of conquistadors or colonists claim the favors entirely in consideration of this (although there are not many who show their deserts by continuing their services), going so far as to demand that those who served Terrenate should have no recognition in granting the favors and encomiendas of this country, as if there were anything to provide them with in those islands. I beseech your Majesty to command that your royal will be declared in this matter—although, for my part, I have understood that it is those whose services are the greater, whether in the present or the past, who should have the first or greater reward, considering the quality of those services, the rank of the persons, and their abilities and character.

In the distribution of the offices, encomiendas, and other rewards and favors which are given in the name of your Majesty to those who serve who deserve them, the auditors and fiscals hold the authority, and the viceroys, governors, and captains-general lose what they used to possess. There will surely be great difficulties from this, and much greater in this country where there is so much war, and in others where war shall arise, than in the other parts of the Indias, which are tranquil and quiet and enjoy peace. For if in them all the offices and occupations are of advantage and utility, and for that reason sought through different methods, and on this account there are many worthy persons to receive them, among whom to choose, therefore this new order ought to be put into operation [there]. In this country it is different, because most of them are engaged in the exercise and labor of war, and there are by no means too many men for the needs thereof; it thus necessarily results that, as certain offices are demanded for them, those who appoint to these are importuned; but here it has to be the governor who importunes, and who is under obligation to the persons of ability and services, who are charged with matters which are important. And if beside this, and besides employing them in dangerous affairs and commissions (liable to result in an unfortunate end and the loss of life and reputation through the mutations of fortune which they encounter), if, when they have carried these out well, the governor cannot be satisfied with this for them, nor with good will, being under obligation to reward them, if they do not hold from him the other said offices which belong to the Audiencia (which is almost always ill-disposed toward the governor), it will bring about great trouble, not only for those who seek to toil and win merit, but likewise for the governors, who, without the aid of such men, could not fulfil their obligations. And as these services and merits are for the most part acquired in war, almost always most of these men are counting on rewards, and upon binding in this manner their captain-general, without having recourse to submissions or other negotiations. It will be seldom that there is not some ill-feeling in the Audiencia—now for having proceeded in the said manner, and again for not having complied with the claims of every leader and proprietor—but only to the governor. If, on the one hand, there is this annoyance, and the familiar entrance into his house in order to seek the offices and rewards; and, on the other, the entrance into those of the auditors and other persons mentioned in the said decree—it would necessarily be here, where there is not much from which to choose, that we would have to give assistance to those who, on account of their low condition or incapacity, are not esteemed or well known.

Besides the above arguments, I wish to furnish the latest example of the difficulty which was experienced here is the previous year of 617, as there were so many who had to decide the allotment of offices. This was when Don Joan Ronquillo, with that great fleet, went out and fought the one that the enemy maintained along these coasts. As each one of them [i.e., the auditors and fiscal] sought the best galleon and the most prominent post for his relative or favorite, the galleons were divided among these, ignoring persons who could manage them better than some of those who were chosen. No admiral was appointed for the fleet, from which resulted no advantage, but rather injury—and there might have been more if the commander of the fleet had died, as might have happened, and each one would have sought to take his place, as this was not specified. This [same defect] was found in the ordinances which the Audiencia of Mexico issued, with so many opinions, when the government was in its charge, that your Majesty ordered them to be repealed and amended, as they were so insufficient for such emergencies; and because it was so evident and certain (as it likewise is to my knowledge) that through the power which appoints those who serve, and punishes them when they are in the wrong, they ought to be rewarded when they are right. For otherwise the governor and captain-general would be the man who persuades or compels them to serve and labor, and it would be the auditors who must reward them; for it is in their power to say who are competent and who not, without its remaining in the power of the governor to do more than make a proposition in their favor—which would be of no force if two auditors joined against his opinion, as they almost always do. Such persons, therefore, would very seldom succeed in obtaining the reward of their services; and this office of governor and captain-general would become the most down-trodden, wearisome, and undignified of all that your Majesty has in his pay and service—and it should be well considered that the office today is one of the most laborious and least profitable, when it is served as it should be, considering its importance. Your Majesty will make suitable provision, adding to these observations the fact that the prestige of Espana has been greatly endangered by the lack of troops and money in parts so distant from aid, and in a country which has so many enemies—the worst in this respect being those who are nearest, and who are able to make the most cruel thrusts at our honor, directed and guided by the auditors, without their heeding truth or conscience, and of which I have already often complained to your Majesty. If the said auditors are to be given still greater authority, whether it be for conferring benefits or taking them away, your Majesty will see how they will treat his president and those who are helping him. Moreover, if authority be taken away from him, in place of being given to him for his greater honor and so that he may be able to carry on better the labors and duties of this office [it may be doubted whether] persons of the ability that is needed for that position will be willing to risk inconveniences and losses so obvious—it being certain that a man is necessary here of integrity and accomplishments and of excellent abilities; he must also be proficient in various professions and functions for which occasions continually arise here, so that he must practice and exercise them. Then in regard to property the greatest difficulty of all is touched—that is, to need it and not to have it; for it is necessary to spend all the year and all one's life in contriving. In regard to war it is the same thing, since there are so many occasions for it here, and the forces and means to enable him to carry out what he would undertake are lacking; nor can he show who is at the head of the enterprise and has in charge what means are available for his purposes. He must also be accomplished with weapons, and experienced in the preparation and management of marine affairs and artillery, for here the governor must be almost always, and in most affairs of these islands, the head master; for it is not the same as in Espana, where each office has its own man, but in the affairs of government it is certain that this is the most difficult office that is known. For the greater the obligation, and the less the means for fulfilling it, so much greater is the labor and so many more are the demands; and the less there is to give them, the more captious and more numerous are the complaints and discontents, which they both utter and write, that they have never seen a worse governor. Nor are there lacking friars to help them, who preach the same thing with great effect—all the more if by chance something which the friars have asked for has been denied them.

Other reasons beside those that I have given could be added to this effect, which I do not set down, as the city are doing it on their own part. I beg your Majesty to have all these matters examined and considered, and to decree what is most fitting for your royal service—in attention to which it has seemed to me just, fitting, and proper to make this representation and supplication.

I once more beg your Majesty to have examined and considered what this city so often requested from you, for a long time before I came here, in regard to releasing them from the Audiencia—although, as I have said in other letters, I shall not enjoy this relief from the burden which is resting upon and is, in every way, irksome to all the people. I shall refrain from bringing forward this claim again, but I assure your Majesty that the Audiencia does more harm than good, as is manifest from the many arguments adduced in regard to this matter; and there is justice there for no one, except when it suits the pleasure or convenience of some auditor or auditors, because the more care is exercised to make them administer justice, the more they pervert it when they wish to, using the freedom to vote which belongs to them. On the occasion of the unfortunate event which happened to me on the night of the twelfth of May past [23]—and it was so important and serious an affair, as your Majesty already knows, or will learn by the judicial record and papers regarding the matter, which I despatched by way of Nueva Spana and am now despatching via India—they made (although I am their president) no more demonstration against the agents, go-betweens, and apologists who were guilty in this affair than if it had concerned the most wretched and degraded of the Chinamen who go about here. As it was my own case, and as I was satisfied in regard to the principal matter that concerned me (thanks be to God), I did not wish to exercise my authority in the case; but it may be seen to what lengths the blindness of their desires and passions leads them.

I have already despatched the supplies to Terrenate, and to the island of Panay. The larger ships of this expedition will carry the cargo that is to be brought thence, and the smaller vessels will go to join the larger ones with the supplies from here inside of two days, with the aid of God; may He convey in safety the relief for those places. It is quite sufficient, and is sent earlier than in former years—although there are not many soldiers for it, on account of the number which I have sent in past years, and because we have here a very small force. I have had good news from those forts that, for the present, they have no enemies, according to what they write from there, thanks to His Divine Majesty.

In the principal island of the Celeves, otherwise known as that of Matheo, and by still others as that of Macazar, [24] as the chief man of that island is lord of that region, there is, at a certain point of it, a strait which makes an islet. This waterway was recently discovered, and by it there is a better route to Terrenate than was formerly followed. According to the information given me a post can be occupied there, whereby this passage (which is very narrow) can be guarded, and the enemy be prevented from using it. Likewise your Majesty will have shelter for his vessels, and a foothold in that country, which abounds with meat and rice. This would be very useful and convenient for sending supplies thence to Terrenate, during the whole year. During most seasons of the year the voyage from Macazar to the islands of Panay and the Pintados, or to this island, can be made. As there have been some Spaniards and friars there, and this was pleasing to those Indians and their master; and as they are receiving the water of holy baptism in considerable numbers, and have now shown signs that they are troubled at the lack of religious; and as the Spaniards have retired by the order of Master-of-camp Don Luis de Bracamonte—it has appeared best to me to send again some men and a couple of religious of the Order of St. Francis, together with Captain Francisco Melendez Marques, who has been very well received and is much liked by the said Indians. I ordered him that, through friendship, or in whatever way he could best do it, he should strive to win their good-will, so that they might not only consent to give us a place where fortifications might be built, which would be a sufficient foundation for greater works, but that they should also aid in that labor; and that he should use and take possession of the site as soon as it should be conceded to him, or as soon and as fully as possible. Or having examined and chosen the spot, he should leave it until I should be able to send the troops and what was necessary therefor. For the said purpose he took nearly a thousand pesos in money, or in stuffs and other articles which are most valued there. I take it that this is a thing more than expedient; and, if I had been informed of it before, I would have tried to do this earlier. I shall be glad if your Majesty is satisfied and pleased with it, as in all I desire to win your approval.

The chief captain of Ffernanbuc, [25] Martin Dessosa de San Pago, and his wife and three children, who were prisoners in the hands of the Dutch, I have had exchanged for prisoners whom I held here. He and his household are going with their goods in the galliots which are now leaving this city for Yndia.

I also freed from the same captivity Captain Miguel de Sequeira Sanudo, who also has already set out for Yndia, by the "Aura" [i.e., "Breeze"], of Macan. As for the stuffs and merchandise which remained to be got out of the ship called "Nuestra Senora de La Vida," which was wrecked, a great deal more of its cargo has been unloaded than what I informed your Majesty of in the last despatch which I sent by way of Nueva Spana. All the artillery that was in it was likewise taken out; and I have ordered it to be conveyed to a shipyard in this island, where two ships are being built, which were already necessary to supply the place of the old ones. There is no anxiety about raising money for the future when the Indians are helping with a good will, as they are doing now; and this work is being paid for, as well as that on some galliots or little galleys, of seventeen benches each, which also I am having built, as I save in that way half the crew, and they are sufficient for this country and its coasts. There are no other vessels belonging to the enemy that can secure any advantage over them, for our vessels, to aid in fighting, can carry very good artillery; and, as for going about where occasion arises to punish or intimidate the Indians, they are excellent—although for attacking the vessels with which those called Mindanaos, Xoloans, and Camucones (who are bad neighbors of ours) usually sally out, we need other boats like theirs. But if we had a fourth of their number, and a couple of these galliots, they would not dare to await attack, even though as many of their ships as could be found in their islands were assembled, as has lately been seen; for some of these tribes having recently been tardy [in their payment of tributes], when we sent a galley with four or five smaller boats from here we could find no more of them, although the sargento-mayor Don Fernando de Silva, who went out for this purpose, is even now in search of them.

In the last few days, news has come from the province of Nueva Segovia that some Indians on four or six of the encomiendas there had fled to the woods, driving away the religious and burning the churches. Although it is not a thing to create much anxiety, I thought best to despatch immediately, without losing an hour of time, Admiral Joan Baptista de Molina, with a sufficient number of soldiers—some Spaniards, and some from the province of Panpanga—for their pacification and the punishment of the leaders and the guilty ones, for it is well to quench the fire, however small it may be, before it extends and increases. On the other hand the enemy's greatest desire is to see these natives disaffected toward us, and disposed to favor them, as they have intimated to some who were in their power, and whom afterward they set free—[telling them] that they levy no tributes from them, nor have they any friars to flog the Indians, nor any religious teaching; on this they base their hopes of limiting our power in this land, which without this means they cannot expect. It is necessary on the one hand to punish severely the presumption of these natives, and on the other not to afflict them or make them desperate. It is very certain, thanks be to God, that for my own part I have kept them all contented, favored, and well paid, without consenting that, even for the service of your Majesty, they should suffer any oppression; and they prove this by the contentment in which they live and with which they aid [me] in every way, as is well known. There must be in that court [of Espana] enough persons, both religious and laymen, who have gone from here who can tell you this. But all this is not enough, nor even holding in check the alcaldes-mayor, encomenderos, and collectors, if the ministers in the missions will not treat them well. For it is not sufficient to protect them from the oppressions of the passing Spaniards, who will be forgotten, if on the other hand they are liable—on account of their service, or for some displeasure, or for gain, or because they do not know as much theology as the others—to be flogged or put in the stocks, and to suffer other hardships, which they feel, even though they are Indians. These fathers of St. Dominic are not their least oppressors, although I do not know whether they take from them anything which is of importance; and they favor them much and even at times in a manner not very honorable. The friars serve as protectors to them and inspire them to boldness; and now by this path of protection, and again by that of punishment, the Indians are all being brought to recognize them as powerful lords, in both spiritual and temporal matters. So far has this gone that, if the alcalde-mayor orders anything, even though it be just and necessary and for the service of your Majesty, if the friar orders something else, it must be as the latter desires, at least for the time being, until a more urgent order is issued. Your Majesty will be pleased to consider what is best to decree in regard to this for the future, as I am applying the most gentle and expedient means and correctives for the present.

According to the distribution of licenses to Sangleys, it appears that the care which I took to reduce the number of those here has had a good effect, and that they have gone back to their own country. For, as strict measures were taken to the effect that all those in this country should not remain here without securing licenses, a much smaller number of these have been issued this year than last. Likewise a large part of the Japanese have been expelled, so that for a long time there have not been so few of them here as now. I sent an order and what was necessary for the fortification at Oton, and had that port put in a state of defense. The same thing is being done with the fort at Cavite, as I wrote to your Majesty.

In the same way we are steadily engaged in repairing and equipping the ships, not only the capitana and the almiranta, but the ship which this year came from Nueva Spana, and another small ship and three galleys. I do not know whether they can be manned, but everything is being prepared for any emergency that may arise. What we cannot make is money and Spaniards, the lack of the latter being the most serious; and I have many times represented to your Majesty that the aid from Nueva Spana has come in scanty measure, as if from one who was not obliged to give an account of this matter. The infantry, of whom a very small number have come, are in such a state that I would be glad if most of them had remained there; and, in short, counting them all—aside from those who are crippled, and those housed in the forts here and at Cavite—they do not amount to seven hundred and fifty in all these companies, as appears from the certified official statements which I send with this. Deducting those who are usually left in the ports, and the number who are ordinarily sick in the hospital, there will be barely enough to defend the capitana and almiranta, two galleys, and a patache (or another galley in its place), if they are also accompanied by some respectable citizens and persons who are anxious to serve and merit reward. There are not yet here, however, the usual number of unpaid soldiers—who are here called "irregulars" [extravagantes] because nearly all of them are so, and serve in these companies; but now, when there are not many troops, they are thus far well provided and paid, and are content, thanks be to God. With their help, when occasion arises, I hope that the soldiers will do their duty very well; and for such time I shall collect all that I can of those whom I have mentioned who are off duty, and likewise those who are to return to carry on their work in the mines of the Indians who are called Igolotes, the neighbors of those in Pangasinan. With the help which has been offered me by Doctor Don Juan de Rrenteria, bishop of Nueva Segovia and of that region, who displays a zeal for the service of your Majesty conformable to his obligations, my hopes have increased for the good results which I desire in this. May God our Lord, for whom it is done, grant us this and all other things, and protect the Catholic person of your Majesty, according to the needs of Christendom. Manila, December 10, 1621.



With the arrival of a ship which has come from Xapon to the island of Mariveles, at the mouth of this bay (whence I do not know where it went), I received the letters which came for me. I learned by them that nine armed ships were ready to sail from that country to join on this coast two others which came out earlier to cruise along the coast of China. It appears, however, that they certainly have left Xapon, as this was made known and affirmed by a Dutch factor, who fled from them in Malayo. His declaration accompanies this letter, to the effect that this fleet is already equipped, and that it has been detached merely to come to these coasts to rob the ships from China, and to bring about an encounter with those from Nueva Spana, keeping a place to retire to and fit up in some Japanese ports. I am not surprised if this also is true, as it has been learned from many besides this factor that the Flemish and English nations have a hundred vessels and more in these parts, besides those that are expected, and are said to be coming. But God is before and above all. Your Majesty will arrange and decree what is most suitable; meantime, while I live, and remain here, I shall do what I can, and, with the divine favor, I expect no evil result.

Don Alonso Fajardo de Tenca

[Endorsed: "See whether this letter is a duplicate, for it is old."]



DOCUMENTS OF 1622

Letter to the king. Alvaro Messa y Lugo; 1621 and July 30, 1622. Letters from the archbishop of Manila to the King. Miguel Garcia Serrano, O.S.A.; 1621-22. Royal decrees regarding the religious. Felipe IV; December 31.



Source: These documents are obtained from MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla.

Translations: All these are made by James A. Robertson.



Letters from Auditor Messa y Lugo to the King

Sire:

Immediately upon my arrival in this country, I informed your Majesty, at the first opportunity, of everything possible, both of the condition in which I found affairs here, and of what I could conjecture in the beginning made by the new governor, Don Alonso Fajardo—of whom I immediately conceived suspicions and fears—and in the little that I saw of the beginnings of his government, by which he would not satisfy the need of the country for justice and [good] administration. Then in my next despatch, [26] [I informed you how this idea was confirmed] by the demonstrations which may be called want of prudence; then, at intervals, I continued to add to my letters whatever occurred that was more intimately connected with this particular. Thus have I been doing on all the other occasions when ships have sailed from this country, both for Mexico and via Yndia, in addition to what the Audiencia has written to your Majesty. Although it has been impossible to inform your Majesty so minutely of everything, because it must be done with all possible caution and secrecy, in order to escape the violence and force of the governor—who with extraordinary vigilance and solicitude examines the mails, in order to seize the letters—and this obstacle has been aided by the multitude of affairs, still less, Sire, can that be attempted now when they have an exact number. But the extravagance of the governor's actions seems to be in excess of human capacity, and of such sort that, although it be morally impossible to point them out, it is more impossible, even when inadequately described, to believe them; for in my opinion it is incredible when spoken or heard, and scarce will be believed when seen, at least to men who recognize the loyalty that they owe to their God and their king. Accordingly, and as it is so necessary, in order to fulfil the obligations of my conscience, to inform my king, continuing the account that I have given hitherto of the wretched condition to which the governor has reduced the country (and this cannot be specific and particular, because of the multitude of his reckless acts or excesses, as above stated), I shall relate, as succinctly as possible, some little that will serve as an indication of what I shall leave unsaid. Hence, Sire, I say that, from what we see here, what the governor is doing is to expend your Majesty's royal revenues on the one hand, uselessly, without the careful consideration of facts which is necessary to obtain results for the service of your Majesty, and with very indolent attention; and on the other hand, contriving to secure with them his own advantage, under color of service to your Majesty, by sending your Majesty's ships to Yndia, Macan, and other regions for his own negotiations, under pretext of sending them for military stores and other things for the royal service. In this way he defrauds your Majesty of a vast sum of ducados, a thing that could be given another name. In still another direction [he acts unjustly], by giving warrants to pay due-bills, and that not to the owners of those bills, but to persons who buy them at one-third and less [of their face value]. To such persons does he open the doors to pay them, while they are shut on the wretched owners without recourse. [That is done] perhaps, in order to make them sell their claims; for of the two-thirds or more remaining from the face value of the due-bill for their service of wealth, a great share of profit falls to the governor, as is openly muttered. This is affirmed by many conjectures, and especially by the fact that it all passes through the hands of his retainers and partisans, and those of his household. All this is done to the neglect of building ships and preparing the supplies necessary for the defense and conservation of the country.

The governor is also managing to make vast profits from consignments of goods; and—as is hinted, and even affirmed, however secretly he attempts to keep his affairs—a great part of the consignments are supplied by the royal treasury of your Majesty, and the royal income from the licenses given to the Chinese to remain in the country aids him not a little. That sum amounts nearly every year to one hundred and thirty thousand pesos, for many of the Chinese remain, thus incurring the risk of another insurrection, notwithstanding the so strict decrees in which your Majesty orders the very opposite, and prohibits their remaining. That money was formerly collected and placed in the treasury through the intervention of the royal officials. The governor has ordered it to be collected by one of his servants and paid whenever the latter chooses, so that vast sums are always due to the treasury. I have been assured that forty thousand pesos are still owing this year, which it is said that the governor is using for his trading, as well as even the salary which is generally given the collectors. For that reason, when the servant receives the money that the Chinese pay for their licenses, it is weighed, and if it is under weight, he demands two or three reals more; but when he delivers that part of it which he chooses to pay into the treasury, as I have said, he does not deliver it by weight, but by count, and thus keeps the profit of the two or three reals. That amounts to about four thousand pesos. It is sometimes even said that what he delivers into the treasury on the principal account he pays in warrants bought by the schemes and channels above mentioned. So many of these things are attributed to his master, the governor, that I am ashamed to relate them, for I do not believe them—or at least I suspect that they are exaggerated. For it is even said that that servant gives false licenses instead of the true ones, which he distributes to the Chinese at the same price as the good ones, and keeps the money for them. It is said that the governor has money taken from the royal treasury secretly at night. Thus do they say, and attribute things to the governor by so many and so diverse roads, that one is scandalized on hearing them—both about the royal revenues and about other particular things in the matter of profit. What I know for certain is that the governor does not have the accounts audited annually in January, as your Majesty orders, by the president and two auditors. On the contrary, the accounts for years before he assumed the government are so far behind that they have not yet come to those of his government, although he has been here three years. In those accounts preceding—although I am one of the two auditors whom your Majesty orders to audit the accounts together with the president; and although I say many things about his negligence—I have not been sufficient, for he is the one who has to take action therein. I believe that he has not attended to this matter, but rather has utterly neglected it; for I am persuaded that, in reaching the accounts of his own term, he has to keep things very private for the above-mentioned reasons. I do not know whether he fears to have the accounts made public; and besides that I should be the judge of them, for he knows that many worlds could not, through God's mercy, move me one jot from my strict observance of your Majesty's service.

Also the governor tries to violate justice, and to prohibit the punishment of evildoers, [at the same time] prosecuting and punishing the good and innocent; for he protects the former and abhors the latter, inasmuch as the one class do his will, while the others note and hate the evil things that he does. To them he offers insults, and to the others he gives offices and honors. In suits there must be nothing done but his pleasure, even though the suits be pending in the Audiencia, especially if they belong to persons devoted to him, or to those whom he hates; and he acts therein with so great violence that, when his desires are not carried out, he stops the course of the suits and takes them to his own house, so that the Audiencia may not pass any sentence contrary to his will. No one dares to demand justice from him, or any clerk to notify him of the vote of the Audiencia, while the parties to the suit call out to God in the streets. When it suits his pleasure, he takes charge of the criminal causes, and says that he does not wish a case to be prosecuted further, or that such a person be punished. Consequently, the number of the evildoers (and it is for them that he acts thus) increases so greatly that the scandal arising from it is pitiful. Malefactors also are more numerous because, when the whim takes him to forsake the other methods, the governor orders the warden of the prison to let the prisoners go, even when they are imprisoned for serious crimes; or he does this secretly, so that no one should know it, and under pretext that they are needed for war or your Majesty's service. But he does the very opposite if it is a matter not to his taste, even though the prisoners be guiltless. His actions are still more objectionable when he goes to inspect the general prison, where he prevents the auditors from having any vote, and they are allowed to do only what he wishes; while he threatens them that he will dash out their brains with a club, and other serious things.

The governor also makes a practice of neglecting and not observing the decrees and orders of your Majesty, interpreting them to his own satisfaction, or pretending that he has not got them, when he does not wish them to be known, even though he should be plainly told of them; and even if he knows it, he regards everything according to his own pleasure and preference. If any one murmurs or says a word, he is prosecuted, and his innocence is punished with violent imprisonment. The governor even takes away his natural defense so that he cannot appeal or demand justice; and the governor searches for contrivances to annoy those who do not approve his doings.

The governor also makes a practice of being so absolute in everything, that he does not only what is mentioned above so summarily and in general terms—for, as I have stated to your Majesty in the beginning, it appears difficult in each of these subjects to enumerate the things that he does (even, in my judgment, only the weighty and more serious ones)—but also in regard to various other matters does he act and proceed in the same manner. Consequently, I believe that there is no man who will not affirm that from the time that the governor entered this country, he has done no good thing, but all in disservice of your Majesty, at least in the regular procedure. For if he calls treasury meetings, if he sometimes attends the Audiencia and sessions, or does any other act by reason of his office, there is no one who does not understand that the ends and objects of his acts are his own conveniences, vengeance, and passions or the conduct of his own affairs and those of all his following—as has been apparent to me at many times, on occasions when I have been able to be present by virtue of my office. Yet he neither wishes the auditors to counsel or advise or influence him, nor that a word be said about his actions. On, the contrary he manages to get all his affairs approved especially by those persons holding office, such as regidors, royal officials, and others, and not only laymen but ecclesiastical persons. Consequently he seeks with most strenuous efforts the life of those laymen who do not approve his acts, both in public and in private. He threatens to proceed against them, either personally or through intermediaries, for the most remote and trifling irregularity that can be imagined; and he brings suits without hesitating, when he finds no witnesses, to secure others, even though they be false. To them he furnishes offices and other accommodations for that service, as many dare to say; and there is no longer any redress or protection, or at least that which is usually a safeguard destroys them. Consequently they endeavor to please him, without considering what he asks or what they do. Hence it results that neither the royal officials nor the regidors, nor any other persons whatever whom he may need—either that they may give him their approval, or that they may suit his pleasure—whether in violation of ordinance or decree of your Majesty or for whatever he might desire, exercise their offices with freedom. Thus outraged and tyrannized over is all this community—so much so, that I have been told secretly that the regidors have sent your Majesty a chart of a certain victory which they pretend that the governor has gained from the Dutch enemy who generally frequent these coasts, in which they pretend that the governor burned and put to flight their ships by his plans and arrangements. God knows the truth, and whether that is so; but I can never persuade myself of so great corruption; for such a thing never happened, and the governor has here a sufficiently wretched reputation. In this matter, and regarding a matter of such gravity, it was told me that when a regidor who privately told it was asked how they had done such a thing, he had answered by asking what they would have done if a traitor had come to govern them. Although that is not public, but was told in private, your Majesty will learn it there by its effects if that chart has reached you. But what is public is that the governor says that your Majesty should have patience; and since you sent him here he will conduct affairs according to his own pleasure. He either threatens ecclesiastical persons, even though they are friars, that if they do not act the same as the laymen, he will take from them the stipends given them by your Majesty, or he does not pay them; and he has oppressed them so that not even do the preachers dare to utter truths in the pulpit, both by his threats and because he dishonors them, and says that they are living in concubinage, and that he will have them stabbed. However, the chief reason why they have ceased to preach, as I have been told, is because all conclude that it is a matter that has no remedy, and that, since they attain no results, they do not care to ruin themselves; and so they abandon it as a matter already adjudged. By these acts of violence on the one hand, and with the flattery of some on the other, he obtained a guaranty to your Majesty in order, as is understood, to screen by it, or at least to moderate, the enormity of his acts. He also avails himself, for this purpose, of threats to the notaries, of nothing less than the galleys and their ruin; or they are given to understand that they must not give official statements of anything requested from them, especially to persons who he thinks will write to your Majesty. He has under his influence one Pedro Munoz de Herrera, who is clerk of court for the Audiencia, with whom he negotiates those statements that he wishes; and there is even a very evil rumor that the latter will give them even though they are not true, and that he gives them from the official records as demanded, even when these are defective—not only by what is known of the person of each one, but because the governor has favored, protected, and placed him by force in the Audiencia. [This has been done] both in a murder that the governor committed on the person of his wife, and in many other matters. Finally in violation of your Majesty's decrees which order that the offices be sold, he has, after having granted some gratuitously for his own objects, without selling them, refused to adjudge the office of secretary held by Pedro Munoz to one Diego de Rueda, who bid eight thousand pesos for it, in order that Pedro Munoz might not be deprived of it; while he gave it to the latter for one thousand five hundred pesos, which the said Munoz had bid for it, and that sum was paid in purchased pay-warrants, in order to give it to him gratis, as is well known. He manages the clergy in the same way; and, as he suspected that the cabildo of the church wrote a letter to your Majesty last year, they have, since he learned something of this matter, endured a little tempest until they have been able, by certain paths that they have learned, to watch him. This present year I fear that they will not write, in view of the extraordinary care with which they see that the governor seizes the letters that are sent to your Majesty. The whole country is so fearful of such interference that each one, I think, will seek an extraordinary way in order to save his letters. Some are thinking of putting them in boxes of merchandise, for which reason I fear that some will be left; and, as I have said, it might be that these will be the letters of the cabildo of the church—not only because of the aforesaid reason, but because, although I see that the archbishop is annoyed at the acts of the governor, and as I understand, those affairs cause him internal anxiety through his desire of remedying them, there is among outsiders considerable grumbling because he flatters the governor and humors him in many ways (which leads people to think that the cause for it is certain accommodations for his servants and relatives that the governor gives him); and because of certain injuries which they think could at least be abated with less compliance [on the archbishop's part]. But I do not agree with that, notwithstanding that I might commend [more] effort [by the archbishop]; for I know the governor's temper.

The governor also makes a practice of neglecting and sleeping over affairs of good government, a policy that is fitting [27] for the conservation of the country in peace and in the service of God; and he lives in a profound slumber, and neglects taking any precautions whatever—although the enemy so frequently invades these coasts, with new forces each day on the sea; while on the land are great numbers of Chinese Sangleys and Japanese. This has long caused many men of loyalty and high standing to be anxious with the memory of the past insurrection of the Sangleys; and not less is the anxiety caused by the Japanese, for they are numerous and are an extremely warlike race. [28] And although the governor has orders and decrees from your Majesty that only the number who would be necessary for the ordinary service of the trades of the country shall remain here; and although the facts are well known to him, besides that he has been often told of this, both in and out of official meetings: yet he does not discuss its remedy, but only talks of making outside demonstrations by which he will accomplish much. But one would believe that he means that he will do much evil. May God in His mercy keep that evil far away. The governor does the same in what concerns the enemy on the sea; for not only does he not discuss, nor has he discussed, the building of ships in order to be prepared, as did Don Juan de Silva, to go to meet the enemy, but on the contrary, when he reached this land, although the galleons built by Don Juan de Silva had been wrecked, and although the Audiencia which was then governing had ordered, notwithstanding that the treasury did not contain a single real, some ships to be built, so that they might be finished in place of those which had been wrecked, yet the governor, on finding them on the stocks at his arrival, ordered all work to cease, and only two ships were finished. He ordered even those vessels to be reduced in size, whereat there are not wanting those who grumbled that he did it in order to have trading-ships instead of warships. [29] He has not built any others during all these three years, although the employees in the accountancy of the royal treasury assure me, and it is without doubt so, that he has spent three millions [of pesos] of your Majesty's royal incomes from these regions, and of the funds brought from Nueva Espana, during three years. That is a very great pity here, for it is to be presumed that he has spent a great portion of that sum in paying due-bills bought at one-third and less [their face value], as I have said above. The employees of the accountancy have assured me that five hundred thousand pesos were paid in that way last year, and that fact is very well known. It is also known that the due-bills outstanding have been exhausted, so that now they are being sought very anxiously in the same districts, but cannot be found.

Although we generally have six or seven months' sure notice from Xapon before the coming of the enemy, that they are going to come, the governor makes no preparation, small or large, nor does he build any vessels, but allows the time to pass as if he had no such warning. When the enemy arrive at the coast, the governor, without any intention of going to meet them—as is known publicly and generally, and is known by the results, as he has already spent the money—lays hands on the inhabitants and mainly by force gets a loan of one hundred thousand pesos from them, or what he thinks best, and has the ships in the port repaired. Those vessels often do not exceed three, and he spends on them a vast sum of ducados, even loading them with food and war-supplies of all that is needed. He troubles the soldiers in making them go and come to and from Cavite, and even making them embark. He says with show of great courage that he is going out, although he is told that such a thing is impossible with the ships that he has, for the enemy have many. Having spent all the money and exhausted the miserable inhabitants whom he has thus burdened, he calls a council at this juncture, and asks whether it is advisable to go out. Since the enemy are so superior they cannot tell him to go out, and in addition they see little gain in it; accordingly it is resolved that it is not advisable to go out. Your Majesty's royal treasury thus remains depleted, and the enemy are left to pillage the vessels that they seize from those who come to this city, especially those from China. It is even asserted, although I do not know whether it is true, that he makes underhanded efforts in the midst of all these braveries, by the hands of certain persons who are masters of his secrets, so that the city may come out and disapprove of, and protest against, his going [against the enemy], and may inform many of the council of the danger if they should say that he should go out. And it is said that thus, in the matters above related and in many things left unsaid, the governor wastes his time—which he ought to spend in pleasing God our Lord, and in imploring His mercy, so that He might aid us in the conservation of the country, in succeeding in serving our king, and in preparing matters for his royal service—in many feasts and games, parties, weddings, christenings, and entertainments with women, even while the enemy are along the coasts, and often even anchored inside the bay; for I believe, and it is understood, that the Japanese inform the enemy of the slight preparations of the country. As a result, the governor has acquired a wretched reputation and character, even among the Chinese Sangleys and the Japanese of the country (who are infidels), not only for sensuality and lasciviousness, but for other and worse doings. We have the country in the most wretched condition that can be imagined. Never has it been so wretched, as is affirmed openly by the oldest residents here, as well as by me. They bewail Don Juan de Silva, for, although they say that he was covetous and revengeful, yet he was moderate in these faults; besides, he was prudent, and watchful of your Majesty's service, and of the preservation [of the country] and credit in war, and of the honor of your Spanish nation. Many of them fear, and I with them, some great chastisement from heaven, because of the publicity and multitude of the sins of us who live here.

In the particulars of the above matters [your Majesty's revenues] have been and are being wasted during the time of this government, and I fear greatly that it will continue in the same way until the end of it; and I do not know that it can become worse. For I assure your Majesty that I am talking with some caution, although I could enlarge on this subject—because when I talk with my king, I am talking with God, for the satisfaction and security of my conscience; and because from my entrance into this Audiencia, I thought that I would not be fulfilling my obligations unless I endeavored to do my duty in what concerns me, and in the rest what I could, so that the service of God our Lord and that of your Majesty might be furthered. I thought that if evil beginnings be looked on with fear they could not increase. I always endeavored to furnish a good example in the matter of any actions and life, and at the same time to persuade and advise the governor of what I deemed worthy of reform, so that reason and not inclination might rule. I avoided conforming to his will in all things that came to my hands by reason of my office which were not to the service of your Majesty. By deed, example, and advice, or at least by efficient warnings, I exerted myself, so that only your Majesty's service should be striven for, and I am persevering in this course. I desire and am endeavoring to be on my guard respecting matters which concern his inclination and not his reason. For in fact, although the governor has done what he wished in many things, because he does not know how to conduct negotiations otherwise, at least he did not so act with me; and because of me and the openness of my nature, he ceased to attempt and to do other things—I persevering in my purpose, and he in his; and, although disabusing his mind of the idea that I would surrender myself to an evil thing, humoring him and giving him pleasure in all that I could freely. Inasmuch as that was so little and the matter of justice so great, because your Majesty's royal treasury and other most important things enter into it, he readily abandoned the path of perverting me. He said, with promises, that he would esteem my compliance more highly than that of all others, or than a great sum of money, besides other exaggerations (from which I think that he did not ill judge me), and changed the course that he had pursued by means of insults and injuries. [As an instance of the latter], after talking to me with his usual harshness while in his house—that which your Majesty assigns and gives to the president [of the Audiencia] by an order that you have given to the effect that there be houses for the president and auditors—one of the houses of one of the auditors having become vacant because Licentiate Alcaraz left it, the governor (although it pertained to me by my seniority, because Licentiate Legaspi already had a house) took it from me, moved into it, and left his own under pretext that he wished to demolish it, because it was falling down. He has lived in both houses (for one is near the other) for two years, although there have been most furious winds and storms, which makes his object evident. Besides, since your Majesty assigns a house to the president and auditors, if mine should collapse, I would rent a house which he could not seize afterward; and since by the mercy of God, I trust in His Divine Majesty, that all the world could not divorce me from the service of my king, I endured and concealed the annoyance of his having deprived me of my house. I think that the scope of his pretensions must have increased, and that, when I censured him more, he tried to drive me from the Audiencia by different methods that he attempted. One was to send me to inspect the country (where one goes mostly by sea, because of the multitude of the islands, the great distance, and the fact that the roads pass through the territory of the insurgent Indians) while the enemy was along the coast; yet an order was given to all the Spaniards who were living on their encomiendas, and others who are the chiefs—against whom, and not the poor common Indians, the inspection is aimed—to come to reside in this city because of the presence of the enemy. Besides, that inspection did not pertain to me, since I was neither the oldest nor the most recent auditor. Notwithstanding that the Audiencia resisted, saying that it was not advisable to make that visit then, he tried to have it done by his appointment alone, and without the concurrence of the Audiencia, having attempted to do that last year as well as at the present time. In order to constrain and annoy me more, he ordered me to go out in Holy Week, notwithstanding that I replied to him that I would go (although it did not pertain to me) if the Audiencia concurred in it, but that without that concurrence I could not go. In consequence, it appears that the governor desisted for the time, but did not abandon his project; on the contrary, he was more set on it. When the Christmas season came, the time for the distribution of offices, in accordance with your Majesty's ordinances, that of probate judge fell to me in my turn. But this so annoyed him that he tried to avoid giving it, withholding the commission signed by the entire Audiencia, for more than two months, I believe, with a certain scandal to the city; for litigants did not know to what judge they could have recourse, as my predecessor's time had expired. After he had delivered me the commission, when I commenced to exercise the office—with no greater pleasure than that of serving your Majesty, although others solicit those offices—the death of Licentiate Andres de Alcaraz happened, without his leaving a will. As judge, I set about collecting his property with much diligence, involving considerable hardship. That caused me certain fevers, for as he died in the country outside this city in a garden his property was in great peril. Of this I gave your Majesty an account after the property was collected and placed in order, with the precautions that I had taken—by which, notwithstanding the suits that had succeeded, I would continue to retain and reserve the property in case that your Majesty were pleased to send [some one to take] the said auditor's inspection or residencia. In conformity with that I had sent documents both to the probate court of Mexico and to the House of Trade at Sevilla, so that the property that the said auditor possessed there might be collected, and that your Majesty might be advised. Finally, I continuing in my office and the governor in his purpose—which was stimulated by his inability to reduce me to what I can morally believe, besides the public rumor and report—and he being most desirous of taking from me my office of probate judge, especially after the property had been entered in the accounts of the probate court; and I had begun the administration of the property of Licentiate Andres de Alcaraz: for certain purposes, which I do not dare to state, although they are reported, for I do not dare believe them, still by this and by many other reasons, and more because he had seized certain of the letters that I have written to inform your Majesty (for which, as persons in his confidence assure me, with whom he has communicated the matter, he has felt, and still feels, special anger and fury against me), he resolved to remove me, even though it should be by arbitrary act, from the Audiencia. Of that I am morally persuaded, and it is well known. Seeking occasion for this, but not finding it, and wearied perhaps in waiting for it, it happened one session that, while Licentiate Legaspi and Don Juan de Valderrama, auditor and fiscal, were at the door of the hall of his house, a message came in which Don Antonio Rodriguez de Villegas excused himself on the grounds of ill health. As the governor never attends the sessions of the Audiencia except for his private ends, under pretext of your Majesty's service, he was very angry that Don Antonio should excuse himself that day; for he was trying to secure the passage of a resolution [by the Audiencia] that I should go out to make the inspection—always persisting, as I have said, in his purpose; and also because it was understood that he had on his part managed to get the consent of Licentiate Legaspi to it. On hearing the message, he said very angrily that Don Antonio Rodriguez and I were always excusing ourselves from your Majesty's service by feigning to be sick. [That he said] in the presence of many people who were there, besides other quite unreasonable language. For that reason I was forced to ask him why, if your Majesty gave credit to an auditor when he excused himself, did not he have to do the same, all this with the intention to calm and satisfy him. He abandoned himself to a flow of words, somewhat disconnected, to which I replied, saying that your Majesty did not order a president to treat the auditors so; and that I served your Majesty punctually, and did not excuse myself when I was well. If I remember correctly, I think that I made witnesses of all; for he also came to me after all that, and told me that I lied, and I think that he said "villain." However, I do not believe that any besides Licentiate Legaspi and the fiscal heard that, And inasmuch as he told me to keep still and not reply, threatening me with execrations and oaths, I said to him with the greatest calmness, as is my custom: "If your Lordship tells us what is not so, are we not to remonstrate and answer you?" Thereupon he went to the meeting, where he told me that I was the worst Christian in the world, and that I took communion like Judas, besides other insults of like import, before Licentiate Legaspi and the fiscal. I was silent under everything, for I only told him that in the matter of sins I could confess many omissions; but I warned him that witnesses heard that, just as they had also heard at his house the other things that he said. Although he went ahead he may perhaps have thought that I persisted in silence, and did not answer him, in order that he might be led on to commit some imprudent act; thereupon he must have thought that there was now much to fear, and that he was not to find a justifiable opportunity, [for] he caught at that word, and said that I had intended to give him the lie, as if transgressions in thought were to be fought over—the more so, Sire, as I did not speak another word to him; for if I had spoken another word, I am not the man who would deny that to your Majesty or any one else. On account of that, the governor determined to make me the object of a lawsuit, and received his witnesses. To them he did not fail to tell what had happened, but not the words that I had spoken. When some wished to tell more, it is said that he insulted and threatened them. However, he did not do that with Licentiate Legaspi and Don Juan de Valderrama, the auditor and fiscal, whom he also received as witnesses, and whom I warned beforehand to give witness of everything that had passed; still, they said no more than what the governor wished, by which I am insulted, ashamed, and surprised beyond manner. Notwithstanding their great friendship with him, and that they know how to gratify him and be gratified by him (of which would to God there were not so much to murmur at in the community, because of the great aid they render him in ruining it), still I am consoled, and I praise God for everything. With this and, as has been declared publicly, with the advice of an advocate, to whom he gave an appointment so that he might be made judge of vagabonds—and who was, as is said, urged and even persuaded for it, that such action was not to arrest me, but only to intimidate me—the governor issued a warrant for arrest, and seized me. This was done while all the Audiencia was in a body, near the chapel where mass was being said, and about to go on general prison inspection, on Palm Saturday—although he had no sufficient reasons, as I told him so that he should not do it, as well as to the rest of the Audiencia so that they might discuss it. He sent me to the cabildo quarters, which are in the public prison, where he set over me seven soldiers of the guard and a corporal, with orders not to let me talk with any layman, especially any scrivener, and not to let me have paper and ink to write. Besides that guard, he set other soldiers in the street, so that I might not escape through the windows, as I believe. I am also told that the corporal had orders to kill me if I tried to escape, although I do not know what truth there is in that statement. But none of the orders given were more than oral, for the governor did not want them set on the records. Imprisoned in the above manner—on Palm Saturday, when [even] highwaymen are set free—he kept me prisoner during all of Holy Week and Easter, and two whole months—with the greatest scandal that, as I have heard, this community has ever had—until many religious, servants of God, and the archbishop, went to him to persuade him, and to undeceive him as to the gravity of the act that he had committed. But they obtained no beneficial result from it; on the contrary, considering as well founded the fears that they inspired in him, and thinking to justify his crime, he began to take a residencia of all my life. That lasted almost two months, and he summoned witnesses, and many of them, who told all that they knew about me. In order to persuade them to go into details, perhaps, as to what he desired, he proclaimed that I was not to be set free or to be an auditor any longer in the country; but that, on the contrary, he was going to place me aboard ship. By those efforts, and others—not only by demands on the one hand, but by fears that he inculcated through third parties, as has been told me, on the other—he obtained a great number of witnesses. However, he discharged many of these, in anger at them because they told him, with forcible arguments, that they were Christians, and that he should not involve them in matters with which they were unacquainted. Others of them, who tried to say, as was thought, many things that appeared to be in my favor, were not allowed to say these. All that took place under the efficient management of Pedro Munoz, court scrivener of the Audiencia, with whom the governor was hand in glove, as I have said. For, in order to do it, I am told that he suppressed the heading of the process which he had before made on account of only that word, and substituted another in its place which comprehended in it scope all the discourses in the life of a man—so that it might not be understood, as I believe, that he had made so great a mistake at the beginning, and for other objects that the governor will know. Notwithstanding that, and his cruelty, violence, and force, and the fears of the witnesses, I trust in our Lord that He will not have permitted them to give false testimonies against me, although the outrageous manner in which the governor proceeds, and the so mortal fear that all have of him, makes that much to be dreaded. Finally, at the end of the two months of so serious and scandalous an imprisonment, our Lord was pleased to perform a miracle for me, through the intercession of the Virgin, our Lady, to whom I attribute it (and that miracle is not the first that she has performed for men as unworthy as I). It occurred thus: One day I dressed myself in