“ To this father Fray Domingo Gonzalez, the provincial, and commissary of the Holy Office, answered that it was not the provisor who was there, but Don Pedro de Monroy, adviser of the Holy Office, which was not situated there; and, as such, he had kept him busy with matters pertaining to that holy tribunal, as might be seen by these disagreements which existed between the two heads [of government] .
The most illustrious lord archbishop decided to call a council of the most grave and learned men of all the religious orders, in order to determine what was expedient. ”

“ The aversion and hatred that they show against the fathers of the Society is incredible, doing them all the ill turns possible in all things, and talking maliciously of them. The orders had recourse by a plea of fuerza to the royal Audiencia, which declared that the judge-conservator had not employed it, and that he [51] was legally appointed. Thereupon, seeing that they had no means by which to embarrass the judge-conservator, they tried to make use of the authority of the Inquisition, the fathers of St. Dominic threatening the judge-conservator with it. ”

“ The Augustinians are in need of reform, as their proceedings are unscrupulous and selfish, and they are trying to usurp the royal authority among the Indians. Corcuera advises that a coadjutor be appointed for the aged archbishop Guerrero, and that hereafter no more friars be made bishops in the islands. The orders have brought over more religious than the government had allowed them, to which the governor objects; he also recommends that those who do come should be procured from Mexico, to save unnecessary expense in their transportation, [6] and that seculars be preferred to friars. ”

“ The heathen Chinese who live in these islands and come to trade with the vassals of your Majesty, pay annually nine pesos less one real for the general license which is given them for permission to live in your Majesty’s lands, and by way of recognition. They live in a place which has been built for them near the Manila walls, called in their language “the Parián.” Many of them have gone to live outside in the stock-farms and gardens of the inhabitants, and in other parts, because of their convenience, without permission of the government. ”

“ Leaving his lack of learning out of the question, your Majesty can consider what the [ecclesiastical] government will be by having peace. In order that your Majesty may establish a thing so to your service, I will give [110] that coadjutor two thousand pesos annually from my own salary. If he should assume the archbishopric during my term, I shall arrange so as to leave that sum to him as an income, besides the four thousand pesos that the archbishop receives—so that the two thousand may not be paid from your Majesty’s royal treasury, from your royal incomes, or from those of your vassals. ”

“ In the said pay-office and accountancy, there shall be a subordinate official with an annual salary of two hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else, which is the sum that he has been receiving.
There shall be two clerks in the said office, so that they may become experienced in the management and handling of papers; they shall succeed to the others who shall be employed in the other higher places; and they shall work there and aid them, because of the press of matters there, as I have been informed. Each of those clerks shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, without ration. ”

“ Two men have been punished by hanging—one for having stolen the monstrance of the most holy sacrament; and the other for the murder of a slave girl whom he had owned, and whom the archbishop had caused to be sold because he was living with her in illicit relations. In order that he might not be deprived of her, he declared that he would marry her, although he had said the year before that he had been married in Nueva España. The slave girl said that she preferred to belong to another than to be his wife. ”

“ Augustine (who was aiding the archbishop to hold the monstrance) against the foot of the monstrance, drawing blood from his hand. The archbishop fell to the ground, as did the lunette of the monstrance. When the governor (who was in the street in disguise) learned of it, he sent infantry to drive out forcibly all the religious, with orders to leave the archbishop all alone. They were not to allow him to take food or drink. Thus did they, dragging away the religious, upon whom the vilest men in the world laid hands, since now they could. ”

“ For almost all such are in the possession of the religious; and the seculars who are now studying in the colleges, from whose number some very good candidates graduate, have nothing to which to aspire. It is a shame that there is nothing in which to occupy them. They do not cause any expense to your Majesty in a journey hither, nor in their studies, [113] and are more easily reduced to reason; while the friar is one with his community, and no one denies that the religious outside his convent would die as a fish out of water. ”

“ In the city of Manila, November twenty-one, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five, Licentiate Manuel Suarez de Olivera, auditor-general of war, declared that it had come to his notice that although the governor and captain-general of these islands had ordered that no corporal at the gates of the city should allow Licentiate Don Pedro de Monrroy to enter this city, Alférez Don Francisco de Rivera, corporal at the gate of Santo Domingo, with three soldiers had allowed him to enter into the said city contrary to the said order. ”

“ Some persons have been able to negotiate and to obtain from your Majesty the favor and grace of being able to enjoy them for ten years, even though they live in Nueva España. Such are the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, whose services and those of his father well deserve that honor and reward from your Majesty; also Don Fernando de Silva, of the Order of Santiago, who, because of the death of Don Alonso Faxardo, governed these islands with general approbation, and has served your Majesty for many years in the States of Flandes with the same approbation. ”

“ Beyond question, it is not at all fitting for Observantines to come; for so long as there shall be Observantine and discalced friars, there can be no peace; and most serious troubles will result, both to the order itself and to the natives under its charge. Will your Majesty be pleased to order the father commissary-general to check these proceedings, and to prevent these scandals which have occurred so often among his friars; and that he obey your Majesty’s decree not to send Observantine friars. For, notwithstanding your Majesty’s order, they come here clad in the habit of discalced friars ”

“ Will your Majesty kindly send such a coadjutor for the succor of these islands and the consolation and protection of the clergy, from among the so many virtuous and erudite and moral seculars in that royal court. Should such an archbishop have a bishop in partibus, in order to go to confirm and to visit, your Majesty can very well dispense with the three other bishops of Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Camarines, for they are in fact of but little use and service in their bishoprics. ”

“ Clare have no income, because they profess the first rule of St. Clare, and in their case is found the same cause and reason [for the royal bounty] as in the discalced fathers, and some others, they petition your Majesty to have the royal officials of Mexico give them annually what is necessary for sackcloth, breviaries, missals, wine, and oil; and that also the governor of Philipinas be ordered to give to the said convents the medicines that may be needed, from the royal hospital which your Majesty has in the city of Manila. ”

“ For the harmony that should reign in these islands, it is of the highest importance that the prelates be seculars instead of friars; for these latter side with the others and throw everything into confusion, and oppose the governor to the best of their ability. With secular prelates, things will go better, and great harmony will reign. ”

“ The lack of comfort in which we [20] live is very great, as we are without sufficient funds to finish the house and church, and the citizens are so needy that they cannot help us with the alms that we need— [although] they do not a little in aiding us with what is necessary for our ordinary support. Some devout people have given us as alms some pay warrants and other debts owed to them by the royal treasury. These amount to about twelve thousand pesos, and we could finish the work with that sum. ”

“ The nuns themselves write to the king (June 30, 1636) , through their abbess, Ana de Christo, informing him of their progress and growth in the Philippines, and other matters. They have founded a convent of their order at Macao; and have built a house at Manila for their residence. They complain that Governor Corcuera has driven the Franciscans from the administration of the royal hospital, and coerced the archbishop—the story of whose ill-treatment by the governor they briefly repeat, asking the king to grant the prelate redress therefor. ”

“ John of God come to these islands, will you be pleased to have the holy sacraments administered by seculars, the revenue put in charge of laymen, and several of the very aged alférezes, who have served long enough and now cannot bear arms, act as nurses—as they are doing at present with great willingness and promptness, in order not to lose the accommodations of the hospital by negligence and poor service. ”

“ If God grants me life, that I may employ it wholly in the service of your Majesty, and in efforts to increase your royal estate, I will not content myself with that, but more and more will send you all the cloves from the Malucas Islands which can be procured in trade at your forts in Therrenatte. ”

“ This increases our labor, so that our sufferings are very great—a prolonged martyrdom in which the sons of the Society pass their lives, exposed to innumerable fatigues, which are incredible even when seen. ”

“ Likewise he must do the same and tear down the church of the hospital in order to make there a low living-room and an infirmary, where the soldiers of the Pampanga nation who fall sick in this camp of Manila may be treated and cared for, as they have [286] no other place for it. A church is not necessary in the said hospital, because another one for the infantry is being built, as quickly as possible, next to the royal palace in the Plaza de Armas, where all those who die in the said hospital will be carried for burial. ”

“ At this time the archbishop was allowed to make appointments of persons to govern his archbishopric. He appointed the father reader Fray Francisco de Paula, of the Order of St. Dominic, and the father reader and definitor Fray Pedro de Santo Thomas, of the discalced Augustinians, ordering them not to raise the interdict and suspension of religious functions, or absolve the governor, Auditor Marcos Capata, and Don Andres Giron, as he reserved their absolution to himself. ”

“ Don Pedro de Quiroga y Maya, whom your Majesty has been pleased to send to Mexico to take the residencia of the Marqués de Cerralbo; sends me a certified copy of a section in the instructions which your Majesty gave him, in which your Majesty has commanded me, by one of your royal decrees that, in order to stop the illegal transportation to Nueva España of more merchandise than is permitted to the citizens, the ships shall be built thus: the almiranta, of four hundred to five hundred toneladas’ burden; and the capitana, of five hundred to six hundred toneladas. ”

“ Being questioned in accordance with the tenor of the said act, he declared that he knows the said captain Juan Dominguez; and although it is true that this witness stated that the said captain Juan Dominguez was not to go to Terrenate, he did not say that because he thought that he was going to Yndia, but because it was reported that the royal officials were going to arrest him for a sum of pesos which he owes to the royal treasury. He understands or knows nothing else than what he has declared, and that is the truth, on his oath, on which he affirmed and ratified his statements. ”

“ This is preached in the pulpits, and is winked at; for these religious are exciting and stirring up the community at any opportunity, and in order to avoid scandals, the mildest course possible is being taken. These religious, Sire, are very numerous, and must be trying to excite all these islands. They show humility only when the hostile Indians go to sack their missions; and then they come to ask for soldiers, and to set forth many things in favor of the honor of God, and the service of your Majesty. ”

“ He has commanded this, with very rigorous penalties of death and confiscation of property, that no vassal of his shall for ten years leave his kingdom, in any kind of vessel, so that religious may not go in their ships; he thus checks the trade with the Chinese also, so that they may not carry religious. Only the Dutch maintain commerce with Japon, from which has resulted great loss to these your Majesty’s islands—for they bring from Xapon much silver; copper and tin, for casting artillery; wheat; and many other products and conveniences which are very necessary for the said islands. ”