“ So many lawless acts in men who say that they profess religion are worthy of correction. This is hoped from your Majesty as soon as possible; for, if it be delayed long, I doubt whether these islands can be saved. For there is no measure that the governor enacts for your Majesty’s service that they do not resist and oppose in toto. The most effective method that I find for cutting roots that produce so evil fruit is to deprive the religious of their missions, and send virtuous seculars to serve these in their stead. May God put His hand to the work, so that so many disorders may be driven out. ”

“ But the governor had already seized the entrances of the streets by means of soldiers, in order that they might not pass, and they accordingly returned to their convents. The city and the magistracy sent their commissaries to the archbishop, begging him to avoid compromising himself, which was equivalent to telling him to allow himself to be arrested and exiled. For, as these islands are one body which has only one head, it is the latter which attracts all wills to his own; for fear (which is very powerful here) , or self-interest, has more place here than anywhere else in the world. ”

“ Having gone through those kingdoms and experienced the delay of the long time during which they have been suffering this molestation, and the others who, as aforesaid, have escaped it by availing themselves of the said churches, these have employed their capital in buying the merchandise of the Portuguese of that city—and always at so high prices that, from one hand to another, the Portuguese gain twenty-five or thirty per cent with our people. For no lesser rate was open to the latter, in order to redeem themselves from the injury inflicted on them, of little or no liberty ”

“ On the contrary, I think that the said fathers of the Society are worthy of praise and reward for their great devotion, holy doctrine, and excellent method of procedure—of which it is not proper to deprive the faithful, by taking from them the fruit that is received from their sermons and admirable instruction everywhere. In order that this my sentiment and opinion may be apparent for all time, I affixed my name to this present document in Manila, October eighteen, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five. ”

“ Manila is the only market for this trade, and can easily hold it. The Portuguese have even carried their insolence so far as to attack the Chinese trading ships (for which the Audiencia has neglected to render justice to the Chinese) ; they also ill-treat Spaniards who go to trade at Macao, and deal dishonestly with those who let them sell goods on commission. If the Portuguese are forbidden to trade in Manila, the Chinese will again come to trade; the citizens will enjoy good profits on their investments, and incomes from their possessions in the Parián. ”

“ The auditor Marcos Zapata set forth the manifest violence shown him by the archbishop. The lawyers were sworn so that they might serve as judges, and they so acted. The auditor Marcos Zapata leaving the hall, they judged that fuerza was employed against him. Without doubt it was so, for the auditor Marcos Zapata had not sinned further than in admitting Don Andres Xiron into the royal Audiencia on his appeal from fuerza. If that were a sin, so also was it to admit the said archbishop, when, in his suit with the judge-conservator, he appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza. ”

“ The ships give little or no place for the lading of cotton cloth and other wares needed so badly by the poor, because of their volume and of the little profit made from such cargoes. Such things are also needed by those who are not poor; and even a single ship of those usually brought by the Sangleys from China to this city fills the land with the said common goods, which are so necessary, as can be understood; and the poor are supplied with these by the convenience of their prices, which are very low. ”

“ The governor answered the above letter of the archbishop as follows:
“I do not think that your Lordship desires peace [222] and harmony as you say, since you order me to receive the excuse of Don Pedro de Monrroy in what I ask from him, which is fitting to the service of his Majesty. I am doing it with all peace, without desiring war, and without seeking war with anyone. Many can supply your Lordship’s need of his person, who are better intentioned and more learned, in accordance with his Majesty’s orders in his royal decree. ”

“ It is usual for the governor and captain-general of Filipinas to appoint a person for the inspection of the Chinese ships when they come with their merchandise to the city of Manila. That person is usually one of his household, and from it follow certain injuries, and no one dares to demand satisfaction. We order the said governor and the royal Audiencia of Manila to meet to discuss this matter, and to choose a suitable person for this office. They shall endeavor to select one fitted for this task, and acceptable to the natives and foreigners. ”

“ The great investments which are made today through the hands of agents who are here—who have the money of certain citizens of Mexico [127] in large quantities, many thousands of pesos, with which they disturb the trade and commerce of our citizens—will be prevented. For, as these men who have the agencies enjoy an interest of ten per cent of what they thus invest by their own authority (even though it be bought very dear) , they will not consider the removal of obstacles in the prices of the merchandise—making them exceptions to the general loss of all this community ”

“ The common enemy of the human race was not content with the lamentable tragedies of which he made the Filipinas Islands the sad theater; on the contrary, fearful that the peace which all desired might be established between the governor and the archbishop, he commenced to arouse new contentions. Although they did not result in scandalous outbreaks, they were sufficient to make the archbishop, Don Hernando Guerrero, live in the midst of continual warfare, the matters of controversy threatening to assume very quickly an evil aspect. ”

“ Father Teofilo Raynaudo7 of our Society, in the book that he published, De martyrio per pestem, in the year 1630, proves in a very learned and wise manner that those who die through the exercise of the works of charity with the sufferers of the pest are really and truly, and can be called, martyrs. And clearly it is not less to give one’s life than to exercise spiritual works of charity, for one’s neighbors. ”

“ For always with the consideration of having a port to leeward (which is that some of the said Portuguese remain in this city to sell their goods which they have left over, in which no opposition has been shown them, either, although it is so much to the prejudice of the common welfare of this city) , they become obstinate in whatever they desire—those who spend the winter making a monopoly of their merchandise that is left over, selling it at very high prices to the inhabitants who need it, and selling some to the Sangleys of the Parián. ”

“ He states that in earlier years the authorities of Manila forbade the Portuguese to come to Manila, for the same reasons that are now so urgent; that investments of capital are now seldom made by citizens of the Philippines, for lack of returns thereon; and that the royal revenues are defrauded by the enormous losses in the proceeds from the customs duties on the goods brought by the Portuguese, as compared with those realized on the goods of the Sangley traders. The Portuguese are making enormous profits, and this is ruining the citizens of the islands ”

“ Licentiate Don Juan de los Cobos is a learned and exemplary man, who has been six years governor of the bishopric of Nueva Caceres, sede vacante, where he acquitted himself well, and is today chaplain of the royal college of Santa Potenciana.
Licentiate Manuel Rabelo is a learned man, and is a very good preacher in Spanish and in three native languages, each different from the other. He has the benefice of the district of Tabuco, as he is as well acquainted with the Tagal language as are the Indians themselves; and he is loved by them, because he treats them with gentleness. ”

“ It is not right to snatch the bread from the hands of the [137] inhabitants of Manila, who have no other trade or means of gain save that in the merchandise of China. If relief is not given in this very quickly, all the commerce of that city will be destroyed, and it is now so fallen for this reason. Besides, it is prohibited to the inhabitants of those islands by decrees, and in particular by one of the year 593, to go to the Canton fair or to China, as the Portuguese go to buy. ”

“ They accepted a man who is filling the office by appointment from the governor of these islands, who is named Don Fabian de Santillan. Not only is he not graduated, but he is ignorant and lawless; and for his excesses while a canon ad interim, he was excommunicated, and kept out of the cabildo for four months. Although he has no qualifications for the dignity, and is serving merely ad interim, contrary to the fundamental rule of the church, he was accepted as judge-conservator by the fathers of the Society, and proceeded in the manner of which I have advised your Majesty. ”

“ The bishop (himself an Augustinian) arraigns all the friar orders except his own, in scathing terms, saying of these religious: “They live without God, without king, and without law, ... as they please, and there is no further law than their own wills.” “They say openly in their missions that they are kings and popes.” Zamudio accuses them of being “notorious traders,” of domineering over both the Indians and the alcaldes-mayor, and of infringing upon the royal patronage; and claims that the conduct of the Franciscans in Camarines is such that he cannot remain there in his own diocese. ”

“ In order to visit the friars of my bishopric, which the religious there would not permit, it was needful to seek the aid of your Majesty from your governor. He gave me a dozen soldiers with a corporal, so that [304] they might guard my person; and yet the friars refused to let me visit them de moribus et vita1—saying that they knew of no royal decrees, bulls of his Holiness, or decrees of councils, that treat of the matter, and they shut the doors of the churches against me. Let your Majesty judge whether I have courage to return to my bishopric, among such people. ”

“ Peradventure these are not [89] blessings that enrich those who possess them, but they give courage, fervor, and glory to our province and Society of Jesus, which has such sons and so valorous soldiers, the imitators of their Society of Jesus, their blood shed to deliver their spiritual children and that which pertains to the Divine and Christian worship—which blessings will he not bring to our islands and fields of Christendom, and to our Society of Jesus in those islands? ”

“ In fact, Sire, they are trying to make themselves masters of the spiritual and temporal. In all the provinces of these islands they live so absolute masters of all things that they do not recognize your Majesty. ”

“ Inasmuch as many slaves are usually carried in the ships from Filipinas, who consume the provisions, we order and command that no passenger or sailor shall take more than one slave, except persons of rank, and that for good cause, and with careful restriction. And inasmuch as the duties are paid in Acapulco on those who are sold there, because of the inconvenience of paying them in Manila, we order that the president and auditors of our royal Audiencia of Filipinas provide that it be so observed and executed. ”

“ The said Portuguese make those efforts in order to have the monopoly for themselves of the merchandise brought to this city from the kingdom of China, and so that all might pass through their hands; since, in whatever form the aforesaid goods are brought, the Portuguese prove to be so interested, and, for the same reason, as has already been stated, the inhabitants of this city come to be so despoiled of their wealth. No less [injury] is possible, except that, if the said trade is not suppressed, they will finish by losing the little that they have within very few years. ”

“ The latter exchanged a great part of their merchandise for products of the country, which the Portuguese do not do, but take away the money in bars and reals. And although they allege in their favor, in order to continue the trade, that they are vassals of his Majesty, and that it is right for them to trade and traffic in Manila as in Castilla and in other parts of España, the fact is excluded that the inhabitants of that city have conquered those islands and shed their blood in that conquest, and always have arms in their hands for their defense. ”