Juan de Salcedo

“ He had conferred a great benefit on this Tiberius of an uncle; but as affection is heightened by the conferring of benefits, so it is often lessened by the acceptance of them. Not long after, Juan de Salcedo was sent to Santo Domingo for permission to colonize New Spain, and Benito Martin, chaplain and man of business, was despatched to Spain [10] with a full account of the discovery, and with gold for the bishop of Búrgos. Haste seemed necessary to Velazquez lest some one might anticipate and rob him of the honors and emoluments won through Grijalva's efforts. ”

“ The officials admit that the natives pay tribute only under compulsion, but say, “They like to be compelled to do so;” and they consider all poverty among the Indians as due to laziness and drunkenness. It is also far better for them to pay tribute than to be raided by the Spanish soldiers for the means of supporting themselves, as was done before the encomiendas were made.
Two letters from Lavezaris (July 17 and 30, 1574) give account of the past year's events. Juan de Salcedo has conquered the rich province of Los Camarines in Luzón ”

“ During these transactions between Juan de Salcedo and Limahon, the Augustine friars held a chapter, and appointed priests in the towns of Candaba and Macabebe, in the province of Pampanga, in Bizan, in the province of Ylocos, and in the island of Negros. They were not satisfied with the innumerable converts, they made in [153] these islands, but they became desirous of attempting the spiritual conquest of the empire of China. ”

“ Then, taking the money of Governor Don Diego de Salcedo which had been seized,4 on that very day, the night after Don Diego’s arrest, Don Juan ordered the signal to be given for calling the soldiers together, and paid the infantry their arrears of wages. All, delighted with the money then received and the greater amounts that they expected afterward, rendered thanks to the possessor, or rather usurper of the new post of command; for it has ever been that novelty is applauded by the common crowd. ”

“ Salcedo (Don Pedro Gonzalez de) , procurator to the king in the Council of Castile, published a treatise On Political Law, and some other works, in which he attacked the abuses committed by the judges of the privileged tribunals, and the pretensions of the inquisitors and other ecclesiastics to the royal jurisdictions. He was persecuted, and his works were condemned, but Philip IV. revoked the prohibition ”

“ Augustine in the convent of San Felipe in Madrid. The successor of Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, namely, the master-of-camp Don Diego Salcedo, a native of Bruselas—a son of a Spanish gentleman (a native of Cuenca) and a Flemish lady—was then in the city of Méjico. He had been a very brave soldier in the Low Countries for many years, and for his services had been made master-of-camp of an army of Walloons.60 For that reason, and because he was a favorite of Don Juan de Austria, whose captain of the guard he is said to have been, he was granted the government of these islands. ”

“ The system established by Juan Salcedo was to let the conquered lands be governed by the native caciques and their male successors so long as they did so in the name of the King of Castile. Territorial possession seems to have been the chief aim of the earliest European invaders, and records of having improved the condition of the people or of having opened up means of communication and traffic as they went on conquering, or even of having explored the natural resources of the colony for their own benefit, are extremely rare. ”

“ As captain goes Felipe de Salcedo and Juan de Aguirre, persons whom we know will serve your majesty with all fidelity, faith, and cheerfulness." He asks (in addition to the "two hundred well armed and equipped men" requested from New Spain) from the king "six hundred well armed men ... of whom four hundred should be arquebusers and two hundred pikemen; large artillery, such as culverins, with ammunition; and ammunition and weapons for those who are here now. The people should be the best that can be found and of good lives." ”

“ All things have an end. We rejoice in hopes of a better future.’”
“The wretch!” exclaimed another of the camarilla. “I know him well; he was always a negro.”
“A knave grown grey in the sins of the Exaltados,” cried a third.
“He must be looked to,” said the sick King. “Salcedo, what have you to tell?”
“I have gathered intelligence,” replied Salcedo, “from an equerry of a certain illustrious personage.” He paused and looked meaningly at the King, whose brow contracted, and whose lips muttered a well-known [Pg 45] name. ”

“ He says it would free millions of people, my countrymen."
"Your countrymen? You come from Old Spain! No! And what if that man should sell himself for your beauty? Could such a man be trusted? Yet suppose he held true to his pledge to lead the revolution, and suppose the revolution should triumph, would it not be the triumph of Salcedo? Would this wretched land be less oppressed under Salcedo the King than under Salcedo the Governor-General? Answer me, Alisanda Vallois. You know the man!" ”

“ Salcedo said, “tattled of great bustle and many visits at his master’s palace. For days past its courtyard had been filled with carriages, bringing generals, ministers, dignitaries of the church, and many officers, chiefly of the Royal Guard.” On hearing this, a feverish and uneasy flush reddened Ferdinand’s pale countenance, and his dim eyes glared angrily.
“I know them,” he said, “the old conspirators, the Catalan volunteers, the Agraviados. Why have I not heard this sooner? But I will take order with them. Ha, Tadeo!—you there? ”

“ In Nicaragua the rumor of these doings had impelled the natives to assume a threatening attitude, so that when the Spanish party finally arrived at the city of Leon they were hailed as saviors. This 602 helped to pave the way for Salcedo, and when he submitted his commission to Martin Estete, the officer in charge, and to the municipal body, they gave one glance at the sturdy forces by his side and then recognized it as valid. The new governor was sworn in May 7, 1527. Once in undisputed possession the humanity of Salcedo underwent a change. ”

“ An only son left with an only mother Is brought up much more wisely than another. Sagest of women, even of widows, she Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon, And worthy of the noblest pedigree (His sire was of Castile, his dam from Aragon) : Then for accomplishments of chivalry, In case our lord the king should go to war again, He learn'd the arts of riding, fencing, gunnery, And how to scale a fortress—or a nunnery. But that which Donna Inez most desired, And saw into herself each day before all The learned tutors whom for him she hired, Was, that his breeding should be strictly moral ”

“ The three envoys of Pedrarias, whom he had sent to Española to answer false charges, and who had returned acquitted, were to be compensated, and he must give security for twenty thousand pesos to appear in case a residencia should be instituted against him. On Christmas eve, 1528, the prison doors opened before him, and the once dashing Salcedo tottered forth, pale and emaciated, weighed down with infirmities of body and mind, an object of pity even to the down-trodden Indians. ”

“ The number of missionaries in the order is far too small for its needs (a lack shared also by the other orders) , and they are rejoiced when a reënforcement of seventeen religious arrive in that same year at Manila. Certain shipwrecked people from some remote and unknown island are driven at that time [17] on the shores of Capul Island; and some Spaniards are drowned while trying to cross the Embocadero. Salcedo governs five years, incurring great enmities among prominent persons in the community, which end in his arrest by the Inquisition, and a harsh imprisonment until his death. ”

“ And all mankind turn with it, heads or tails,
And live and die, make love and pay our taxes,
And as the veering wind shifts, shift our sails;
The king commands us, and the doctor quacks us,
The priest instructs, and so our life exhales,
A little breath, love, wine, ambition, fame,
Fighting, devotion, dust,—perhaps a name.
I said that Juan had been sent to Cadiz—
A pretty town, I recollect it well—
’Tis there the mart of the colonial trade is
(Or was, before Peru learn’d to rebel) ,
And such sweet girls—I mean, such graceful ladies,
Their very walk would make your bosom swell ”

“ The learned Blumentritt, however, dissents from this opinion, which he considers to be a modern invention, and gives Salcedo credit for doing his work very thoroughly, and not letting many of the pirates escape. ”

“ From his youth he was surrounded by such representatives of the old school of poetry as Alfonso Álvarez de Villasandino. Castile might go to ruin, but there was always time to hear the compositions of this persistent mendicant, or those of Juan Alfonso de Baena, with the replies and rebutters of versifiers like Ferrant Manuel de Lando and Juan de Guzmán. It was no good training for either a poet or a king. In the few poems by Juan II. which have come down to us there is an occasional touch of laborious accomplishment: there is no depth of feeling, no momentary sincerity. ”

“ Salcedo determines “to undertake some conquest that would result to the honor of God and extend the Spanish government;” the council that he summons for advice on this point agree (both military officers and superiors of religious orders) that the most promising enterprise of this sort is the conquest of the Igorot tribes in northern Luzón. Diaz gives a brief sketch of these peoples, and relates their conquest by a Spanish expedition (1668) , and the subsequent conversion of many heathen there by Augustinian missionaries. ”

“ And even Pedrillo, his most reverend tutor, Was for some rum a disappointed suitor. The good old gentleman was quite aghast, And made a loud and pious lamentation; Repented all his sins, and made a last Irrevocable vow of reformation; Nothing should tempt him more (this peril past) To quit his academic occupation, In cloisters of the classic Salamanca, To follow Juan's wake, like Sancho Panca. But now there came a flash of hope once more; Day broke, and the wind lull'd: the masts were gone, The leak increased ”

“ Let me speak of myself, for it is just thou shouldst know my resolve. I am thy friend, but I will not lift my hand against my countrymen."
The countenance of the king darkened:
"Is not the Great Eagle brave? He fears his enemies!"
"I fear nothing," said Juan, with conscious dignity, "else would I speak no words to lose thy favour. I will be thy prisoner, thy sacrifice, if thou wilt.—I lament the fate that is coming upon thee, but I cannot fight in thy cause." ”

“ The vessel by which Salcedo was shipped did not reach Acapulco until January 7, 1671, being the first that had come for two years. It brought the earliest direct intelligence of the events at Manila and the report of Paternina, but the news had already arrived there by way of Batavia, Holland and Madrid. In Madrid it had naturally aroused the Council of Indies which presented to the queen-regent a consulta embracing three propositions: I. If the commissioner made the arrest without orders from the tribunal, he should be severely punished for exposing the colony to{315} risks so great. ”

“ Before Governor Salcedo was arrested, imprisoned and sent to Mexico in 1668 by the commissary of the Inquisition on charges of a purely ecclesiastical character, the two oidores, Bónifaz and Montemayor, were consulted by the enemies of the governor as to the legality of the proposed action. There is every reason to believe that the entire plot was worked out beforehand with the fore-knowledge and consent of the oidores. ”

“ And though I can’t help thinking ’twas scarce fair
To strip the Saxons of their hydes, like tanners;
Yet as they founded churches with the produce,
You’ll deem, no doubt, they put it to a good use.
The gentle Juan flourish’d, though at times
He felt like other plants called sensitive,
Which shrink from touch, as monarchs do from rhymes,
Save such as Southey can afford to give.
Perhaps he long’d in bitter frosts for climes
In which the Neva’s ice would cease to live
Before May-day: perhaps, despite his duty,
In royalty’s vast arms he sigh d for beauty ”

“ Courting an alegra señorita, whether of Aragon, Catalonia, or Valencia, was the duty of every lad, albeit the fair one jokingly called it “pelando la pava” (plucking the turkey) . The royal romance was a charming example for all and sundry, and many an amorous French troubadour had his wings cut by Prince Cupid and never went home again at all, and many a glee-maiden, to boot, plucked a “turkey” of Aragon!
King Juan threw himself unreservedly into the arms of his merry Minerva-Venus Queen: no doubt she “plucked” him thoroughly! A “Court of Love” was established at Zaragoza. ”

“ But Juan never left them, while they had charms,
Unless compell’d by fate, or wave, or wind,
Or near relations, who are much the same.
But here he was!—where each tie that can bind
Humanity must yield to steel and flame:
And he whose very body was all mind,
Flung here by fate or circumstance, which tame
The loftiest, hurried by the time and place,
Dash’d on like a spurr’d blood-horse in a race. ”

“ Although they had not courage enough to adopt this remedy, women widely formed the resolution not to perpetuate a race foredoomed to slavery and cruel death.
At first, when numbers still gave self-reliance, they ventured to renew the hostilities which under Salcedo had led to such bloody results. Soon after Estete's departure for Cape Gracias a general revolt broke out. In the districts of Leon and Granada bloodshed was averted, but in the interior the slaughter of natives was great, and if the Spaniards lost comparatively few, the loss was increased by the horrors of cannibalism. ”