The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55

Antonio Alvarez de Abreu, Diego Aduarte

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55 / Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXX, 1640

Preface

The present volume contains no record of events in the year 1640; but its two documents are retrospective from that date. The first, an historical survey of Philippine commerce with Nueva España, from its beginning until 1640, is taken from the Extracto historial (Madrid, 1736), a work devoted to that subject and compiled by order of the Spanish government. The second is Aduarte’s noted history of the Dominican missions in the Philippines; although much of it is briefly synopsized, its great length permits us only to begin it here, two more volumes being necessary to complete it.

Valuable information regarding the trade between the Philippines and Nueva España is furnished by the Extracto historial (Madrid, 1736), from which we take such matter as pertains to that commerce up to 1640. A brief summary of royal ordinances thereon is followed by a memorial sent (1640) to the royal visitor for Mexico, Juan Palafox y Mendoza, by Juan Grau y Monfalcón, agent at the Spanish court for the Philippine Islands. As Palafox is commissioned to investigate the condition, needs, and commerce of the islands, Grau sends him this memorial by way of information thereon, and as a brief for the islands in their controversy over the grievous restrictions placed on their commerce with Nueva España (which is mainly their export thither of Chinese silk fabrics). Grau’s argument is carefully divided and subdivided; it is not always ingenuous, and sometimes he overshoots his mark, or uses the same premises for different and at times incongruous results; but it is on the whole a forcible presentation of the difficulties and embarrassments under which that commerce is laboring, and even the colony striving for existence. He constantly urges the great importance of the Philippines to the Spanish crown, not only as a center of missionary effort in the Orient, but for the defense of the Moluccas and the spice trade, the maintenance of Eastern India, and the diversion from that region and from the American coasts of the Dutch enemy, on whom the Philippine colony is a continual and effective check; all these considerations are discussed at length. He lauds the bravery, loyalty, and piety of the Spaniards in those islands, and their great services to the crown. He computes the expenditures necessary to sustain the Philippine colony, and the revenues which it yields, and shows that its actual expense is but moderate, and far less than is supposed. From even this should properly be deducted the expenses of sustaining Moluco, a burden which falls on the Philippines, although the Spice Islands and their trade are the property of Portugal; such computation leaves but 26,000 pesos annually as the actual cost of maintaining the Philippines, Grau proposes two plans for securing this end: one, to pay all the expenses of the islands directly from the royal treasury; the other, to grant them a sufficient amount of commerce – the latter being the most expedient and desirable method. Granting this, it remains to consider the character, amount, and form of such commerce; Grau expatiates on the third of these in especial, recounting the annoyances and injuries inflicted at Acapulco on Philippine merchants and their goods.

Grau notices the accusations that have been made against the Philippine commerce, of infractions of the ordinances regulating it; while not denying these, he claims that they are not more extensive or serious than those that are committed in the India trade, and do not deserve the severity which has been employed against them. In behalf of the islands, Grau asks for an increase in the amount of trade permitted to them; for the restrictions on their commerce have greatly reduced their wealth, on which heavier burdens are constantly laid by the necessity of defending themselves from so many and so powerful enemies. The population of Manila is also much larger than when the trade was first limited, and needs more for its support; moreover, much of the amount permitted is granted to convents and other institutions, and to certain privileged persons, and various deductions are made from its total, thus diminishing its actual value. Grau argues that a sufficient increase in the trade of the islands would put a stop to illegal shipments of goods; and that the exporters cannot make any reasonable profits unless they are more liberally treated. He suggests that they be allowed to export goods freely, a limitation being placed only on the returns of silver therefor; and urges that the products of the islands be free from all restrictions, and not included in the amount permitted – which latter should apply only to Chinese goods – for which he adduces various forcible arguments. Discussing then the commerce between Nueva España and Peru, he shows that the suspension of this trade during 1635–40 has been very injurious to the Philippines, for various reasons; it has also hurt both Peru and Mexico, especially by checking the latter’s silk industry, which found a market in Peru. He defends the Peruvian merchants from the accusations made against them of transgressing the trade permission that had been accorded to them, and urges that, for the sake of all the western colonies, this permission be restored to Peru.

This memorial by Grau is followed by several royal decrees (dated February 14, 1640) addressed to Palafox; these are mainly “informatory,” and lay before that official the representations made by the citizens of the islands regarding their distressed condition – ordering him to investigate the affairs of Philipinas carefully and thoroughly, and report thereon to the home government. In later volumes of this series will be presented a considerable part of the Extracto historial – a work which, as we understand, has not before been Englished – on account of the importance attached not only to the book as an official report, but to the commerce of the Philippines as a factor in the history and development of that Spanish colony in the Far East.

Aduarte’s Historia de la provincia del Sancto Rosario (Manila, 1640) is here presented for the first time in English dress – partly in full translation and partly in synopsis, because this work, besides being voluminous, contains much about Japan and other countries, and other matter outside our scope. The earlier chapters (i–ix) of book i, here briefly summarized, describe the foundation of the province and the voyage of the first Dominican missionaries to Manila; also the unsuccessful effort at the same time to open a mission in China. In chapter x is described their entrance into Manila, their affectionate reception by all, and their establishment there as a religious community. The new arrivals are initiated into missionary labor at Bataan, and soon afterward are placed in charge of the Pangasinan natives, and of the Chinese at Manila. With the aid of Bishop Salazar, the Dominicans secure a piece of land for their convent and church; and they receive many gifts and alms from pious citizens. They labor for the good of the Spanish residents of Manila, and soon effect a great change in their morals and religious life. They prosper, and are able to erect a new and handsome stone church and the other buildings necessary for their establishment; but the noted fire of 1603 destroys all this great work. It is afterward rebuilt, even more solidly than before, and all by the alms of the faithful. Chapters xii-xv are devoted to an account of an image of our Lady of the Rosary possessed by this Dominican convent, and of the miracles wrought through its agency. Some of the friars had complained of the severity of their mode of life and of the rules imposed upon them; but all finally agree thereto, with great self-forgetfulness and devotion. Aduarte proceeds to recount the great advantages arising to the province from this procedure, and the holiness displayed by the Dominican religious in Luzón – statements confirmed by various letters written to Spain by trustworthy persons, not only within but without that order.

Chapter xix is devoted to an account of the Dominicans’ first mission-field, that of Bataán, and their labors therein. This field had been transiently occupied by other missionaries, but was so hard and barren that none of them had persevered in its cultivation. But the Dominicans “licked their fingers over the hardships,” and devote themselves most heroically to the care of these poor souls, and to learning their language – a difficult task for old men. One of them, Pedro de Bolaños, is overcome by the labors and privations of this sort of life, and is compelled to return to Manila, where he finally dies; and the others suffer much from illness. As soon as the fathers learn the language of those natives, they acquire great influence over the natives, especially through the confessional. They greatly abate drunkenness, the worst vice of the Indians, by “sending to Coventry” every intoxicated person; and they persuade the heathen to abandon their idols and superstitious practices, and even (perhaps the greatest triumph of all) to set free many slaves, and restore what they had taken from others in usury and by other unjust means. All this is accomplished within one year; and Bataán acquires a wide reputation for the religious and peaceful life which its natives lead. Various marvelous works are wrought for the fathers by divine power; “on the other hand, the devil played some tricks on them.” They have to encounter witches and devils, but the Lord gives them the victory over these evil beings.

Pangasinan is another mission-field assigned to the Dominicans, which also had been barren of gospel fruit through the obstinate hostility of its natives to the Christian faith. At first, they try to drive away the Dominicans also, but the holy lives of those fathers work a miracle in their hard hearts, and convert them to the faith. This is told in a letter from Bishop Benavides to the pope, written in 1598. He relates their hardships, patience, and devotion, in the face of the hatred and hostility of the natives – so bitter that the missionaries are entreated, not only by Spanish officers but by Bishop Salazar, to leave Pangasinan. But they refuse to go, and finally their persistent and unwearied kindness to the Indians, and their consistent Christian characters, soften those hard hearts; and, after three years of patient waiting, the fathers gather a rich harvest of souls. Those Indians are excellent Christians, and show most edifying devotion and piety, a statement thoroughly confirmed by later reports. The early persecution of the missionaries is explained by the fact that after their arrival the oracles of the native idols became silent, and by false accusations which the devil and his emissaries concoct against the religious. The conversions and pious acts of two prominent chiefs are related, as well as various miracles which occur in this mission.

The leading events and persons of the next mission (1588–89) are described. Amid the greatest difficulties and dangers, those religious make the perilous voyage to Manila. The first provincial chapter-meeting is held in that city, on June 12, 1588; on this occasion the new province is organized, and officers regularly elected. Some progress is made this year in Pangasinan; but some of the natives are obstinately hostile, and the missionaries are often ill-treated, and sometimes in danger of death. Their acts of charity to the Indians, and especially their success in curing some sick persons, gradually win the affection of the natives; and the fathers are able to do much to improve the condition of those people – above all, in furnishing them hospitals and medical care for the sick, thus saving many lives.

Soon after reaching the islands the Dominicans also undertake to minister to the Chinese who come to Manila. In this field, as among the Indians, they obtain a foothold by their generous and unwearied care for the sick; and soon they erect a hospital for the care of poor Chinese sick persons, which rapidly increases in size and in the aid bestowed upon it, and where nearly all the patients are converted before they leave it. One of their converts devotes himself to the service of the hospital for many years, and greatly aids the fathers in charge of it. New buildings are erected, and the number of converts is greatly increased. The village of Binondo is enlarged, and a large and beautiful church is erected, for this Chinese Christian population. The pious works of several of these converts are related.

The harvest of souls continues to increase, and in 1589 a small but helpful reënforcement of missionaries arrives at the islands. A full account is given of their labors in Pangasinan and Bataán, the marvels wrought for them, the renunciation of idols by the heathen, the devotion and piety displayed by the converts. Fathers Castro and Benavides go to China (1590) to attempt the establishment of a mission there; but their enterprise is a failure, on account of the Chinese hostility to foreigners. Juan Cobo, acting provincial during Castro’s absence, visits the missions and makes some arrangements for their more advantageous management. Excellent crops for several years, and the advice and aid of the missionaries, increase the temporal prosperity of the Indians; and they become more friendly to the religious, and more inclined to receive religious instruction.

Gomez Perez Dasmariñas arrives at Manila in 1590, as governor of the islands. Dissensions soon arise between him and Bishop Salazar, and the latter departs for Spain (in June, 1591), accompanied by Benavides. The governor is afterward slain by his own Chinese oarsmen. In April, 1592, Fray Alonso Ximenes is chosen provincial; the various missions are apportioned, and certain ordinances for their conduct and the better government of the province are enacted. Fray Juan de Castro and Fray Juan Cobo die soon afterward, of whom Aduarte presents full biographical accounts. A special assembly of the religious is convened in December, 1594, at which additional rules for their conduct are adopted. They are also asked to send religious to Nueva Segovia, for which mission two fathers are allotted. Aduarte describes that province, and its conquest (1581) by the Spaniards, to prevent it from becoming a Japanese possession. The Indians of that province are so warlike that for a long time the Spaniards can keep but a precarious hold upon it; and the friars find that they can accomplish nothing there with either Spaniards or Indians. The Dominicans, therefore, enter (1595) upon a hard and sterile field; but a considerable reënforcement of missionaries opportunely arrive to aid them, although many die while en route from España. Aduarte recounts the superstitious beliefs and observances current among the Cagayán Indians, notions which shape or modify nearly all of their social customs; they are, from his standpoint, slaves to the devil in all things. The Dominican missionaries, now eight in number, plan and begin the spiritual conquest of Cagayán. For nearly a year they endure, on account of the hostility of the natives, great sufferings from hunger, exposure, and apparently vain efforts; but gradually they subdue the natives by their unwearied self-denial, patience, and love. Their first-fruits consist in eight converted chiefs, who are baptized at Easter (1597), and these are the beginning of a rich harvest – at first, mainly of children baptized before they die from the prevalent epidemic of smallpox. Gradually, they are able to build churches in the respective villages, and to introduce among the Indians a civilized and Christian mode of life. At the time of Aduarte’s writing (ca. 1637), those people have become very fond of their religious, and ask for them to come to teach them – even changing their own residences, when necessary for their obtaining religious instruction. The supply of missionaries for that region is very inadequate, and should be promptly increased.

The Editors

July, 1905.

Commerce between the Philippines and Nueva España

[From Extracto historial.1]

Period I

Of what has been ordained by royal decrees, now compiled, in regard to the commerce of Philipinas

1–15. [This “period” consists of a very brief summary of the laws regarding the above commerce, issued from 1593 to 1635; this matter, in fuller form, has been already given in VOLS. XVII of this series, pp. 27–50, and XXV, pp. 48–73, with which this document should be read.]

Period II

Of the debates on this commerce which occurred in the royal Council of the Indias up to the year 1640, and the commissions which on that account were entrusted to Señor Don Juan de Palafox, who, being an official of the [India] House, went as bishop of Puebla de los Angeles

Although in the collection of documents which was furnished to us by the Council, for the compilation of this Extracto, nothing appears relative to the controversies which occurred during the greater part of the last century in regard to the commerce of Philipinas, in order that the long silence on this matter – from the earliest decrees up to the year 1684, of which an account is given us by the papers in the Secretary’s office (with which “Period III” begins, and which the Extracto will follow) – may not seem irreparable, it has seemed to us desirable to form the present “Period” from a printed quarto book which was placed in the hands of Señor Palafox (who is now in Nueva España) by the deputy of those islands, and has reached us among other interesting documents. In this book are enumerated, for the purpose of furnishing information to that prelate – who was charged by the royal orders to inform [the government] regarding that affair [of the commerce] – the arguments which during the years 1638–40 were presented in behalf of the maintenance of the commerce of Philipinas, and the enlargement of the amount of trade allowed to that colony. We have not been able by any search to obtain the “Memorial” of one hundred and thirty-six sections which is said, in this printed book, to have been presented to the Council on this subject, in behalf of the city of Manila; but the insertion of the present document will not be unwelcome – not only because it contains substantially the same arguments which in following years up to the present time have been adduced, and which, it may reasonably be believed, those same islands will reproduce in the future whenever this subject is discussed; but because at the same time it presents certain information which is of no little value for better understanding the importance of that remote domain.

Justification of the maintenance of the Philipinas Islands and their commerce

To the very illustrious and reverend Señor Don Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, member of his Majesty’s Council, in the royal Council of the Indias, and bishop of Puebla de los Angeles: by Don Juan Grau y Monfalcón, procurator-general of the Philipinas Islands, agent for the principality of Catuluña, and syndic of the city of Barcelona.

Very illustrious and reverend sir:

Although I wrote for the city of Manila, the capital of the Philipinas islands, a memorial of one hundred and thirty-six sections – at the examination and discussion of which in the Council your illustrious Lordship was present – in regard to eighty-five petitions, to which can be reduced all the more important matters which may be presented concerning those islands and their trade-route and their maintenance; and that memorial with its petitions your illustrious Lordship is carrying with you, as it is printed, so that it seems as if there were no need of further information – and even these were superfluous to one who is so well informed on all the matters which he has in his keeping, and is so quick to understand those which may come before him: nevertheless, in order that I may to some extent relieve and set free your illustrious Lordship from the burdens imposed upon your memory, as I know the number and importance of the commissions that you must execute and the matters that you must decide in Nueva España (all which will be successfully accomplished, as we are assured by your wide experience in affairs), I have determined to comprise in this single treatise the matters which concern the city of Manila, and which it can present to you. It relates to the four leading points which were entrusted by his Majesty and the royal Council of the Indias, by royal decrees, to the judicious decision and accurate information of your Lordship, as follows:

First, to what extent and in what manner shall the commerce of those islands be tarried on?

Second, whether it will be expedient to increase and extend the permission which they at present enjoy, both in the export of merchandise and in the returns of money.

Third, whether in the amount of merchandise allowed to them shall be included the products of the islands, or only those of China shall be understood.

Fourth, whether the commerce which Perù was accustomed to hold with Nueva España shall be resumed, on account of the loss which results to the Philipinas and Nueva España from its suspension.

Point first

As for the first decree, which is so general as to include all, for treating of the commerce of the islands, which is essential to their preservation: this point, which in the memorial that I have cited is argued at length, can be reduced to an argument of three infallible propositions, of which, when two are proved, the third cannot be denied; and they are in this form.

The Philipinas Islands are absolutely necessary: first, to increase the preaching of the gospel; second, to maintain the authority, grandeur, and reputation of this crown; third, to defend the Moluco Islands and their trade; fourth, to support Eastern India; fifth, to relieve the Western Indias from their enemies; sixth, to aid the two crowns of Castilla and Portugal2 in breaking down the power of the Dutch; seventh, to protect for both crowns the commerce of China. In order to support the islands, the commerce with Nueva España is requisite and necessary; for by no other means can their defense, or means for supporting it, be provided. It immediately follows that it is also requisite and necessary to grant this commerce to the islands, or, by abandoning them, to lose all the advantages which result from their preservation, as here represented.

The first proposition of this argument consists of eight fundamental reasons, which are stated therein; but it seems as if they ought to be proved, in order that their force and cogency may be fully understood. Accordingly, I will run through them as briefly as possible.

The first one is the increase of the preaching and promulgation of the holy gospel. This was the principal object which the Catholic sovereigns of Castilla had in carrying on the discovery of the Western Indias, and in colonizing and supporting them – and, consequently, in doing the same for all the islands adjacent to them, among the number of which are the Philipinas; and although the richness of those provinces greatly aided their efforts, this was a secondary object with the sovereigns, and a fulfilment of what is promised in the gospel, that we must seek first the kingdom of God, and that all the rest which the world possesses and esteems shall be gathered and added to us. Therefore, since their intention was the conversion of all the infidels who inhabit that opposite hemisphere, He who became flesh in order to redeem them chose that this undertaking should gain, as a secondary result, the infinite riches which the Indias have given and are giving to España. Such a reason is not lacking in the Philipinas Islands. Their first discovery and settlement were solely for extending the Catholic faith; for then it was not known that those islands would be rich – as indeed they are not of themselves – nor that there could be any further result than the conversion of their natives to the gospel law, and the opening of a gate by which the preaching of the gospel could be carried to other provinces and kingdoms of Asia. That enterprise was prosecuted very successfully, as is publicly known; and it is now very evident that all those islands are today in the bosom of the Church – for they contain an archbishopric and three episcopal sees, and very many convents and hospitals; and there may be seen the Christian religion as pure, as valued, and as venerated as it is in España. And this rouses all the more admiration because the location of the colony is so remote, and so surrounded by heathens, Moors, and heretics; and that, in spite of all, the power and revenues of this crown are able to maintain it. But for this result, which was the main one, what was the second, and in what was seen fulfilled the promise of the gospel? It was, that God has placed in those seas a firm column, on which He could found, and by which they could support themselves, Eastern India, the Molucas Islands, their commerce, and that of China; and which shall prove for the enemies of this crown – heretics, Moors, and heathens – a check upon their advance, a resistance to their intentions, and a strong rock on which they shall be broken, or at least their success may be checked and their machinations prevented. Such are the Philipinas Islands, and this rank they acquired after the preaching of the gospel entered them; and it seems as if it were a providence of Heaven to make them so necessary from the human standpoint, in order that the divine influences might not be lacking in them. For if sometimes the attainment of the first result might not be sufficient for maintaining them (which the piety of the kings of Castilla renders incredible), that of the second result would suffice, because even the divine needs to be maintained in the world by human protection. This is an axiom which, in lands newly converted, is generally accepted in the Indias; and it has been thoroughly proved by experience that the gospel is more effective among the barbarians when it is under the royal banners and standards than when it goes without them. Accordingly, it pleased God to ordain that these standards should be necessary in the Philipinas, in order that the preaching of the gospel, which was the motive for their going thither, might be established in their shelter. It is therefore established by a well-grounded proposition that, even if no more is looked for than this aim of converting the heathen, it is now impossible to give up the preservation of the Philipinas, as being so important a part of the Catholic church. And if the kings of Castilla, in order not to permit liberty of conscience in Flandes, have during more than seventy years maintained in those states (and, through them, in all Europa) the most tedious and costly war that any monarchy in the world has waged: how can it be denied that by abandoning so vast a number of Catholics as there are in those islands, who have been instructed by the Christian zeal of Spaniards, there will, if we leave them now, be introduced among them liberty of conscience? not to mention a mingling of schismatic heretics, Moors, Jews, and heathens of various sects, as is seen in Bantan (which is the Oriental Ginebra [i. e., Geneva]), and in all other places where the Dutch find entrance; and they would soon enter those islands [if we abandon them]. Even if they caused great expenses to this crown (which they do not), they ought to be supported and preserved.