The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898. Volume 18 of 55. Unknown
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procure vessels in Portuguese India. Some private persons in the islands are building ships, but the Indian labor employed thereon is paid and voluntary. Fajardo makes some suggestions for the better management of naval affairs. He also forwards the request of Manila citizens that encomiendas be granted for three lives; and asks for rewards for certain brave military and naval officers. The Audiencia finally compel Geronimo de Silva to furnish his residencia in person, and clear himself from charges made against him.
To the governor’s letter are appended several others, which concern Malucan affairs. Manuel Ribeyra, a Jesuit, states that the governor there, Gaviria, has fortified the Spanish posts in his care, which are in unusually good condition; certain supplies, however, are needed for them, as also a better class of subaltern officers. Gaviria is somewhat overbearing in disposition, but Ribeyra commends his ability. That officer himself writes to Fajardo, explaining why he cannot at present fill the governor’s order for a quantity of cloves. The Dutch and English are contending with each other in the Moluccas; and the former, it is said, are intending to attack the Spanish forts there soon. Gaviria has but few men, and some of these are unfit for duty. He needs a few galleys, as he has “only one rotten galliot”; also troops, money, and clothing. Gaviria thinks that the Dutch are being to some extent supplanted by the English; and that the latter will gladly unite with the Spaniards against the common enemy. He recommends the abandonment of the Spanish posts in Gilolo. A letter from the king of Tidore accompanies Gaviria’s letter, in which that ruler demands that Fajardo succor the Spanish forts promptly.
Letters from the king to Fajardo (December 19, 1618) give him orders regarding certain matters in the administration of the Philippine government. Offices shall be given to these citizens of the islands who deserve rewards for meritorious services. The alarming expenses of the Maluco establishment are not counterbalanced by any returns from the spice-trade there, and it is openly declared that the Spanish officials have embezzled what profits might have accrued therefrom to the royal treasury. Fajardo is therefore ordered to investigate this matter and punish those who may be guilty; and to take charge, for the present, of the conduct of the clove-trade at Ternate. The force of men there should be reduced, if practicable; and certain forts in Maluco should be abandoned. In these and other ways expenses must be reduced. The governor and the archbishop must warn the religious orders to cease their exactions upon the Indians. A separate letter warns the governor that expenses must be reduced to the utmost; and that he must maintain the colony on its own revenues, without aid from the government. He is advised to endeavor to open and work the mines in the islands; but in doing so he must not molest or injure the Indians. He should endeavor to enlist their aid in this undertaking, and the missionaries should use their influence with the natives.
The Jesuit Joan de Ribera writes to some high official in Spain (December 20, 1618), urging the importance of Manila and the Philippines, and the necessity of opposing the progress that the Dutch are making in India, Japan, and the archipelago, so as to preserve for Spain the rich trade of the East. Another most important consideration is the need of maintaining these islands as a center for religious labors among the heathen tribes.
A naval officer, Sebastian de Pineda, sends from Nueva España (1619) to the king a paper on ships and shipbuilding in the Philippines. He begins by describing various kinds of timber used for this purpose; then enumerates, the shipyards in the islands, and the wages paid to the workmen. Fourteen hundred carpenters were formerly employed at one time in the Cavite shipyard alone; but half of them were killed or captured by the Moros in 1617, many have died from overwork, and many others have fled to parts unknown because they had been unpaid for five years. Iron is brought to Manila from China and Japan, and wrought by the Chinese and Indian artisans; the Chinese smith “works from midnight until sunset,” and earns less than one real a day. Iron should be imported from Biscay, however, for some special purposes. Much useful information is given as to the material, quality, and prices of rigging and canvas. Pineda makes recommendations as to the shipment to Manila of various articles, showing how present expenses may be lessened, and waste avoided, in many ways. He states that the naval defense of the islands is quite inadequate, and they are consequently in danger of being seized by the Dutch. But it is at present impossible to build in the islands the ships needed there; for the natives are exhausted by the labors and exactions imposed upon them in previous years, and by the deaths of so many at the hands of the enemy or through the hardships of enforced naval service. Pineda recommends that the ships needed for the islands be built in India or Cochin, and that slaves be brought thence to serve on the Philippine galleys. Many Filipino natives are migrating to Nueva España, which should be checked. One reason for this is the fact that these Filipinos distil palm-wine, which will soon ruin the wine-trade of Spain in Nueva España. The incursions of the Mindanao pirates have also been a serious obstacle to shipbuilding in the Philippines; and they have rendered the use of La Caldera, as a station for the Spanish vessels, impossible, while they welcome the Dutch to their shores. Pineda recommends that the king proclaim that any one who wishes may wage war upon and enslave these Mindanao infidels, as thus only can they be subdued. He ends with a report on the measurements of the galleons in the islands in 1617.
A royal decree dated February 19, 1619, confirms the ordinance enacted by the dean and cabildo of Manila cathedral, refusing benefices and ecclesiastical dignities to religious who have been expelled from their orders.
The Dominican missionary Diego Aduarte proposes to the Council of the Indias (probably in May, 1619) a means to check the outflow of silver from Nueva España to the Philippines. Aduarte recommends that the trade of the islands with Nueva España be suppressed, and that their inhabitants be allowed to trade with Japan, selling in that country the silks that they buy from the Chinese. But the bulk of this trade is already in the hands of the Portuguese of Macao; in order that it may be monopolized by Manila, Aduarte advises that Macao be abandoned, and its inhabitants transported to other cities of India. This can be accomplished easily by a royal decree forbidding them to engage in the Japanese trade, which would compel them to go elsewhere. He enumerates the beneficial results of this measure, and declares that even without these Macao should be abandoned; for its people are lawless and irreligious, and are not even vassals of Spain, but of China. The Portuguese of Macao are needed in India, which country would be benefited in many ways by the measure proposed, as also would the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. Moreover, they hinder, by their evil example, the conversion of the Chinese natives.
One of the Manila Jesuits writes (July 12, 1619) an account of events in the Philippines and in the neighboring countries during the past year. The city of Bassein, near Bombay, has been destroyed by storms and earthquakes. In China there has been a persecution of the Christians, and four Jesuits were expelled from the empire. Others remain there, who are preaching the gospel wherever they can. In certain inland districts, these missionaries have encountered a large colony of Jews, and a people who worship the cross, although they are heathens. The Tartars have invaded Chinese territory, and our writer copies the text of a memorial regarding this invasion, sent by the mandarins of Pekin to the ruler of China, detailing the defeats and misfortunes suffered by the Chinese. They complain of his neglect of public affairs, and his harsh treatment of a certain mandarin, and ask him to take measures to drive back the Tartars, in Cochinchina the recently-begun missions of the Jesuits are prospering. For the Japanese mission are coming a large reënforcement of Jesuit missionaries; but affairs there are so disturbed that they cannot enter the country at present. The writer recounts various omens and portents which are said to have occurred in China and Japan. In the latter country, a fierce persecution of the Christians serves but to display the steadfastness and zeal of both the missionaries and their converts. Several naval encounters between the Dutch and the English and Portuguese are narrated. Good news comes from the Moluccas: the petty king of Manados, with many of his chiefs, is converted to the Christian faith; Tidore and Ternate are at war; and Maluco is well supplied. Both Dutch and Spaniards are building more forts in those islands. Other European nations also are acquiring a foothold in the archipelago. The writer describes two remarkable comets which have been visible in Manila. A plague of locusts is destroying the grain-crops. In October, 1618, the Dutch again come to Luzón to plunder the Chinese merchant vessels; but they do not attack Manila, and in the following spring they depart from the islands, perhaps overawed by the forces of ships and guns which the Spaniards collect.
Pedro de Arce, bishop of Cebú, writes to the king (July 30, 1619); he