Book: The Philippine Islands, 1493 1898

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[The rest of the letter is badly torn, but a sufficient amount
remains for the general meaning to be discovered. The writer calls
for the expulsion of the Sangleys so far as this is possible. The
city desires them to remain only from avarice, desiring the rents
from their shops, and the profits arising from their business. The
Sangleys have corrupted some of the most illustrious persons in the
country. Severity is requisite.]


June 28, 1597.
_Luis Perez Dasmarinas_


_Notes regarding the Sangleys_

First, it is meet that the governor order, with all care and
exactness, an investigation and exact and unexaggerated calculation
to be made of the number of Sangleys who are needed in the ordinary
and necessary occupations for the service of the commonwealth, in
this city of Manila, and in Cagayan and Cibu. This done, it should
be ordered and brought about that the Christians occupy and serve in
those occupations which they understand and formerly filled. Thus
it will follow that fewer heathen will serve in these occupations;
and that the Christians will profit thereby, and will be occupied
and provided for, and many other difficulties and injuries would
thus cease. And then, having diminished the number of Christians
who understand and can be used in occupations, and having left,
as is necessary to the service of the commonwealth the required
number of heathen, who are not imprudent or gamblers (for there are
many who are too dangerous and cunning to be permitted to remain),
all the other heathen Sangleys of these islands should be collected,
put on vessels, and sent back to their own lands, with great care,
rigor, and despatch. This diligence should last until this country
is cleansed and freed from people so injurious to it.

But I must also say, in order to relieve my conscience, that the person
to whom this business and the execution thereof is entrusted should
be worthy of the greatest confidence, and as good a Christian as can
be found. He should claim no temporal interests, but look only to the
service of God our Lord, and that of your Majesty, and to the common
welfare of this land. If he be not such a one, no better opportunity
could be imagined for large thefts and substantial bribes, involving
thousands of pesos, thus failing to provide the relief which is meet
and due.

_Item_: That every year, as some Sangleys are converted and made
Christians, care be taken that they be given occupation, and an equal
number of heathen who have hitherto filled positions be expelled.

_Item_: That in the trading-ships which come every year, it be not
permitted to bring more than the sailors necessary for the care of the
vessels (according to the capacity and tonnage of the ship), and the
merchants who come with their property. The latter must return to their
land that same year after the sale of their goods, and must not remain
in the country; nor shall they be permitted to do so for any reason
whatever. The ship shall return with all the persons whom it brought,
together with those who came before and had remained in the country.

_Item_: In no case shall license or permission be given for heathen
Sangleys to carry on trade and contracts, sales, and business in these
islands and at large among the natives. The Christians, however,
shall be allowed such occupation for their convenience and greater
safety, and in order to avoid many distrusts, dangers, and troubles.

_Item_: No Sangley who is not a Christian should be allowed to go
inland more than two leguas from the city, or remain or trade in the
settlements of the natives, especially those of Christians, under a
severe penalty for doing so, and one much greater to the magistrate
who should consent thereto.

_Item_: It is meet that the religious do not keep or aid heathen
Sangleys, in their convents and districts, by giving them advantages
and employments; for these may be accomplished by the natives, without
employing the Sangleys, thus avoiding no few inconveniences, as can
be seen and understood. It is scarcely less (and perhaps even more)
to the service of our Lord that these works be postponed somewhat,
or that some of them which are less urgent be abandoned; as it is
not meet that for neatness or greater excellence in the work, the
Sangleys live as they do at present.

_Item_: That to no heathen Sangley should be given license to make
rice-wine as so much of this is consumed. If license be granted
it should be to some poor Christians, in order to aid and relieve
their necessity.

_Item_: It is of great importance that neither consent nor permission
be given to any Sangleys to enjoy or exercise any occupation whatever,
outside of the parian and the public place assigned to them and
to the service of the state. They should not be allowed either to
live and remain during the day, or to sleep at night, in the city,
in any convent or in any house of any citizen of whatsoever rank,
under a heavy penalty. Upon the citizen who should consent to and
conceal this act, it is meet that a greater penalty be imposed and
executed. It would even be proper to add to the penalty incurred by
him in person and estate the penalty for treason to the service of your
Majesty, and to punish the guilty person as a traitor. Thus would this
evil be corrected and remedied; for it is a pity, sorrow, and shame,
that it should exist and be permitted for the aforesaid causes and
reasons. Consequently, it is meet that the penalty be executed with
more severity on the citizens, since--as they are responsible for
the greatest injury, and are most to blame--from them must emanate
the remedy, which consists of applying severity and chastisement.

_Luis Perez Dasmarinas_






Bibliographical Data


The royal decree of April 27, 1594, is taken from Santa Ines's
_Cronica_, ii, p. 607; those of June 17, 1595, and March 20 and May
15, 1596, from _Doc. ined. Amer. y Oceania_, xxxiv, pp. 86-98 and
101-103. All the other documents in this volume are obtained from
original MSS. in the Archivo general de Indias, their respective
pressmarks being as follows:

1. _Second embassy to Japan._--First part: "Simancas--Secular;
Audiencia de Filipinas; Cartas y espedientes del gobernador de
Filipinas vistos en el Consejo; anos 1567 a 1599; est. 67, caj. 6,
leg. 6." Second part: "Simancas--Filipinas; descubrimientos,
descripciones y poblaciones de las Yslas Filipinas; anos de 1582 a
1606; est. 1, caj. 1, leg. 3|25, ramo 50."

2. _Letters from G.P. Dasmarinas._--June 20: The same as No. 1,
second part (but no ramo). September 27: "Simancas--Filipinas; cartas
y espedientes del presidente y oidores de dha Audiencia vistos en el
Conscio; anos de 1583 a 1600; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 18."

3. _Memorandum of troops._--The same as No. 2, first part.

4. _List of Philippine villages._--"Simancas--Secular; Audiencia
de Filipinas; cartas y expedientes del presidente y oidores de dha
Audiencia vistos en el Consejo; anos de 1583 a 1599; est. 67, caj. 6,
leg. 18."

5. _Letter to king of Camboja, 1594_.--The same as No. 4.

6. _Investigation of the hospital_.--The same as No. 2, first part.

7. _Report by Ortega_.--"Simancas--Eclesiastico; Audiencia de
Filipinas; cartas y espedientes de religiosos misioneros de Filipinas
vistos en el Consejo; anos 1569 a 1616; est. 68, caj. 1, leg. 37."

8. _Reply to Japanese emperor_.--The same as No. 1, first part.

9. _Letters from L.P. Dasmarinas, June, 1594_.--The same as No. 4
(except that of June 22, the same as No. 1, first part).

10. _Letter from Carbajal_.--The same as No. 1, first part.

11. _Letter from Morga, 1595_.--The same as No. 4.

12. _Expedition to Camboja, and Instructions to Figueroa_.--The same
as No. 2 (letter of June 20).

13. _Reestablishment of Audiencia_.--"Audiencia de Filipinas; registros
de oficio y partes; reales ordenes dirigidas a las autoridades y
particulares del distrito de la Audiencia; anos de 1568 a 1605;
est. 105, caj. 2, leg. 11, libro 2, fol. 100a-101b."

14. _Letter from Dasmarinas, December 6, 1595_.--The same as No. 4.

15. _Instructions for Tello_.--The same as No. 13 (except
fol. 146--170).

16. _Letters from Dasmarinas and others, June-July, 1596_.--The same
as No. 4.

17. _Pacification of Mindanao_.--The same as No. 2 (letter of September
27). The last section (headed, "The campaign"): "Simancas--Filipinas;
cartas y espedientes del presidente y oidores de dicha Audiencia
vistos en el Consejo; anos de 1600 a 1606; est. 67, caj. 6, leg. 19."

18. _Memorial by Los Rios_.--The same as No. 17, second part.

19. _Letter from Dasmarinas, June 28, 1597_.--The same as No. 4.






NOTES

[1] Another corruption of Kuwambaku (see _Vol_. VIII, note 42).

[2] The province of Satsuma, in the southern part of Kiushiu Island,
the most southern of the main Japan group.

[3] Miako (more generally known by its Chinese name, Kioto) was the
capital of the Japanese emperors from the year 794 until 1868. Mengoya
is probably the same as the modern Nagoya, an important city in the
province of Owari; in the other MS. the name is Nongoya.

[4] Firando is now Hirado; and Mangasatte is apparently a corruption
of Nangasaki.

[5] Evidently an error in the MS. (which seems to be a duplicate copy
of the original); the other MS. has "Chaxuma"--_i.e._, Satsuma.

[6] From this point we follow the second and fuller account given
in the other MS. (see Bibliographical Data at end of volume). The
two agree nearly to the end of Solis's deposition; then follows,
in the first, a brief statement by Antonio Lopez, and a letter from
Dasmarinas to the Japanese emperor (which we shall give at the close
of the second report).

[7] In the original, _cha_, a word of Chinese origin.

[8] The Christian religion was first introduced into Japan by the
preaching of the great Jesuit St. Francis Xavier, in 1549. Favored by
the Japanese ruler Nobunaga, the Jesuit missions rapidly increased; and
by 1581 "they reckoned nearly one hundred and fifty thousand adherents
in all classes of society, and over two hundred churches." (Rein's
_Japan_, pp. 265-271.)

[9] Liao-Tung, a province of Manchuria which lies between Korea and
the Chinese province of Chi-Li (in which is Pekin); the former is
also known as Mukden, from the name of its capital city.

[10] This plan is not in the Archivo de Indias.

[11] A textile fabric of cotton made by the natives of the Philippines;
see Zuniga's _Estadismo_ (Retana's ed.), ii, 88, where the word is
spelled _lompote_.

[12] Spanish, _encomenderos temporales_; apparently referring to grants
of encomiendas made for a limited time, or to those which were held
subject to an annual pension.

[13] It has been generally supposed that the first book printed in
the Philippines was the _Arte y reglas de la lengua Tagala_ (Bataan,
1610). J.T. Medina cites the _Historia eclesiastica_ of Fray Alonso
Fernandez (Toledo, 1611--but he cites p. 100 of edition of 1693),
to show that in 1602 a book was published at Manila concerning Our
Lady of the Rosary. But this letter of Dasmarinas proves conclusively
that printing in the islands goes back to at least as early a date as
1593. It was published by Retana in _Politica de Espana en Filipinas_
(October 23, 1899); and in part by Medina, who conjectures that the
"Christian Doctrine" there mentioned was composed by Fray Juan de
Plasencia. Aduarte states explicitly (_Historia,_ ed. 1640, i, p. 108,
and ii, p. 16) that the first printer in the islands was Juan de Vera,
a Chinese convert, in the Dominican convent at Manila; and that he
was incited to do this work by the Dominican friar Francisco de San
Joseph. But he also states that the latter came to the Philippines with
Benavides (1595). For further accounts of printing in the islands, see
Medina's _Imprenta en Manila_ (Santiago de Chile, 1896), pp. v-lxxvi;
Retana's _Zuniga_, ii, pp. 93*-100*; and Middleton's _Notes on
Bibliography of Philippines_ (Philadelphia, 1900), pp. 27--37.

[14] Apparently meaning pieces of canvas on which the arms were
painted.

[15] According to Morga, this king was named Prauncar (Phra
Uncar) Langara; and his ambassador was Diego Belloso (Veloso),
a Portuguese. On returning to Cambodia with this letter to its king,
the envoy found that country conquered by the Siamese. He was captured
by them and carried, with the presents that he bore from Dasmarinas,
to Siam. Later, he aided in the restoration of the exiled royal
family of Cambodia to power; and for these services a province was
given to him. See Morga's _Sucesos_ (Hakluyt Soc. trans., London,
1878), pp. 44--52.

[16] Regarding Dasmarinas's death, see note 44, _Vol_. VIII. He was
succeeded by his son, Luis Perez, the writer of this letter; he acted
as governor until the summer of 1596.

[17] Belloso secured aid from Luis Perez Dasmarinas for the exiled
king of Cambodia; but Morga says (p. 46) that this was done against
his advice and that of other leading officers.

[18] Francisco Ortega (thus Perez; but de Ortega in the MSS. which we
follow) made profession in the Augustinian order, at Toledo--in 1564,
according to Perez, but various allusions in this document render
1554 a more satisfactory date. Two years later he went to Mexico,
and thence (about 1570) to the Philippines. In 1575, when he was a
missionary in Mindoro, he barely escaped death at the hands of the
natives, and was then appointed prior of the convent of Manila. In
1580 he went to Spain as commissary for the Philippine province of
the order; and ten years afterward returned to the Philippines with
a considerable body of missionaries. In 1597 Ortega was transferred
to Mexico, where he died in 1601.

[19] In MS. _dos_ (two); evidently an error for _doce_ (twelve).

[20] In the original, _las galeras que estan la Havana_. It must be
remembered that these Ortega papers are in abstract only--apparently
summarized for the use of the royal council by some clerk, who may
have been more familiar with affairs in Nueva Espana than in the
Philippines. _La Havana_ is probably his error or conjecture for
_a Cavite_.

[21] Carbajal was the captain in whose ship sailed Pedro Bautista,
envoy of Dasmarinas to Japan (_Vol_. VIII, note 33). A full account
of this embassy is given by La Concepcion in _Hist. de Philipinas_,
ii, pp. 341--376.

[22] Miguel de Benavides (born about 1550) came to the Philippines as
a member of the first Dominican mission band (1587). Three years later
he went to China as a missionary; returning to Manila, he accompanied
Salazar to Spain (1592). He was created the first bishop of the new
diocese of Nueva Segovia, and afterward archbishop of Manila; he died
in that city on July 26, 1605. To him was due the foundation of the
college of Santo Tomas.

[23] Ignacio de Santibanez, a Franciscan, was appointed first
archbishop of Manila; he then went to Nueva Espana, where he was
consecrated in 1596, but did not take possession of his see until
1598. His term of office lasted less than three months, for he died
on August 14 of the same year.

[24] The maravedi was a money of account; thirty-four made a real (see
_Vol_. III, p. 177). A royal decree dated June 14, 1595, granted to
Santibanez an annuity of 500,000 maravedis from Salazar's death until
such time as his successor should enter upon his duties as archbishop.

[25] By bulls given at Rome, August 14, 1595, the bishoprics of
Nueva Segovia, Cebu, and Nueva Caceres were established. The right
of changing the boundaries of the dioceses was reserved to the
papal nuncio in Spain; and the patronage was granted (as in the new
archbishopric of Manila) to the king of Spain.

[26] Better known as Yuthia (a name corrupted from the Sanscrit);
it was the ancient capital of Siam, and lies on the river Meinam,
fifty-four miles above Bangkok.

[27] See the detailed account of the ceremonies with which the
royal seal of the Audiencia was received on its arrival at Manila,
as related by Morga in his _Sucesos_ (Hakluyt Soc. trans.), pp. 89--91.

[28] The archbishop of Manila, in a letter to the king dated August
15, 1624, makes the following interesting observation on the state
of affairs in Manila after the suppression of the Audiencia: "The
principal motive that influenced Philippo Second, our sovereign, to
reestablish, in the time of the governorship of Don Francisco Tello,
the royal Audiencia in these islands, which had been suppressed some
years before, was that, in districts so remote and distant from his
royal presence, the governors might not be so absolute, but that there
might be a superior arm to check them, and not allow extortions upon
an innocent people."

[29] The letter here mentioned is found in a group of papers in
the Sevilla archives (see Bibliographical Data for "Instructions to
Figueroa"), and is (in somewhat condensed form) as follows: "Since
writing the letter of embassy, the king has ordered me to write another
for your Lordship, as the former was not necessary on account of the
embassy which Diego Beloso was conducting for the king of Canvoxa,
whose kingdom the king of Sian has taken. Accordingly he would have
your Lordship send the first embassy, or allow commerce, since the road
is open to all vessels and persons who desire to go thither from Sian,
for he will do the same for that trade as for Malaca. He desires from
your Lordship a horse and mare for breeding, and will take it as a mark
of esteem from you. He orders Captain Diego Beloso to command this
junk, and the latter will negotiate with your Lordship. He carries
a number of presents for your Lordship. I recommend Captain Diego
Beloso to you, although I know it to be unnecessary after what he
has done in Canvoja. He is carrying to your Lordship two elephants,
male and female, at his own suggestion, together with a beautiful
piece of ivory. Done on October 8, 1594.

_Fray Gregorio da Cruz_."

[30] Champa (Chanpa) was the Malay name of Cambodia (Camboja); it was,
however, first applied to a Malay settlement on the eastern coast
of the Gulf of Siam. Later, the province of Champa was a part of the
kingdom of Anam, and is now part of French Cochin-China.

[31] _Veinte e cuatros_, literally "twenty-fours," aldermen or regidors
in the town councils of certain towns in Andalusia.

[32] A decree of like import, and couched in exactly the same language,
was issued at the same place and on the same date _in re_ the bishopric
of Nueva-Caceres. This decree is published in _Doc. Ined. Amer. y
Oceania_, xxxiv, pp. 99--101.

[33] Contract for disposing of goods by wholesale.

[34] As early as 1550 a decree was issued that, "when possible,
schools should be established for the instruction of the Indians
in the Castilian language" (_Recop. leyes Indias_, lib. vi, tit. i,
ley xviii); but apparently this was not fully enforced.

[35] See the document here referred to, at the end of _Vol_. V,
and completed in _Vol_. VI.

[36] Figueroa, "before leaving Iloilo, made his will, endowing
the Jesuit college at Manila with two thousand pesos of income;
and directed that in case his daughters should die their inheritance
should pass to that college of San Jose" (Montero y Vidal's _Pirateria
en Mindanao_, i, p. 140).

[37] See _Discovery of the Solomon Islands_ (Hakluyt Soc. publications,
2d series, nos. 7, 8; London, 1901); this contains Mendana's and
other narratives of his expeditions in the southern Pacific Ocean.

[38] A title given among Mahometans to certain persons of religious
profession.

[39] This and other italic headings to paragraphs in this document are,
in the original MS., marginal notes in another handwriting--probably
made by a clerk, for convenience of reference.

[40] When Figueroa began the conquest of Mindanao (1596) he was
accompanied thither by two Jesuits--Juan del Campo, a priest;
and Gaspar Gomez, a lay brother. The former was carried off by a
fever, dying on August 10, 1596, at the age of thirty years, after
little more than a year's stay in the islands. In his place, Juan
de Sanlucar and Pedro de Chirino accompanied Ronquillo's expedition
in the following year. Sanlucar entered the Jesuit order in 1570,
and came to the Philippines in time to join the Mindanao expedition;
he died at Palapag, April 26, 1612.

Pedro de Chirino entered the Jesuit order in 1580, and arrived
at Manila ten years later. He died there on September 16, 1635,
at the age of seventy-eight. His noted work, _Relacion de las Islas
Filipinas_ (Roma, 1604), will be presented in subsequent volumes of
this series. La Concepcion says of him (_Hist. de Philipinas_, v,
p. 198): "A man of great industry and of studious habits, who devoted
to study and books all the time which was not occupied by his ministry
to souls."

[41] _La Caldera_, "the Caldron"--a port in the extreme south of
Mindanao, not far from Zamboanga; its primitive name, Cauite.

[42] The original MS. of this document is illegible or torn in many
places: these are indicated by leaders (...).

[43] This ship was wrecked on the coast of Japan, driven thither by
tempests; and its rich cargo was seized by the Japanese. Detailed
accounts of this event and its consequences are furnished by Morga
in his _Sucesos_ (Hakluyt Soc. trans.), pp. 75--79; Santa Ines,
in the _Cronica_, ii, pp. 252--272; and La Concepcion, in _Hist. de
Philipinas_, iii, pp. 106--119, 143--148.

[44] Francisco de Ibarra was a prominent Spanish officer in Mexico
(1554--72); he subjected to the dominion of Spain the province of
Copala, which he named Nueva Vizcaya, founding therein the cities of
Durango, Sinaloa, and others.

[45] For accounts of early explorations on North American coasts, see
the following works: On the northeastern coast, Winsor's _Narrative and
Critical History of America_, iv, pp. 33--102. On the Pacific coast,
H.H. Bancroft's _History of the Northwest Coast_, i, pp. 1--136. The
voyages mentioned in this document are regarded by Bancroft as
apocryphal. Bacallaos ("cod-fish") was an early designation of the
island of Newfoundland, but was afterward extended to the mainland of
eastern Canada. The cape of Breton evidently refers to Cape Breton,
on the island of that name.

[46] Sedeno, as vice-provincial of his order in the islands, governed
all its missions there. On a journey of inspection he suffered greatly
from the hardships of a stormy voyage, and died at Cebu on September
1, 1595. La Concepcion gives an interesting sketch of his life and
labors, in _Hist. de Philipinas_, iii, pp. 7--12. Before coming to
the Philippines, Sedeno had accompanied the expeditions of Pedro
Melendez in Florida.

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