Volume 18 — Proposal to Destroy Macao

The royal Council of the Indias has tried many methods to prevent considerable amounts of silver being sent to the Philipinas from Nueva Spaña; but those methods have been without result, as experience has demonstrated. One has occurred to me, and I think, God helping, that it will have good results. It is as follows:

The inhabitants of the said islands have no other means of support than commerce, and in the shelter of their trade is sustained all that church which now numbers so many faithful that it already has an archbishop and three suffragan bishops for its government. Inasmuch as that trade has hitherto consisted of Chinese merchandise with Nueva España, it has been, and is, necessary to obtain from that country the value of the merchandise in money, and to take the money there in order to make the investment of the following year. Trade is there [i.e., in the islands] like sowing in order to reap; and consequently, if the door were to be partly closed to this trade, the said inconvenience would cease. The door might be shut without any harm to the said islands, if another door were to be opened to them, which would be also as remunerative as the other, and would not be with his Majesty’s countries. In this way his money Page 186would not be taken away, for they could engage in that trade with Japon. In this same manner as the inhabitants of Manila lade the silks that they buy in that city from the Chinese, and send them to Nueva España, they should lade them to send to Japon, where there is a great consumption of these goods and much excellent silver with which to buy them. This would be a very good thing for the people of Manila; for, although the profits for any year might be less than those of Nueva España, still they would be more sure, because of the much greater frequency and shortness of the voyage. Furthermore, they would enjoy the entire proceeds from the returns for their goods. Of the returns from Nueva Spaña they enjoy only to the sum of five hundred thousand pesos—the amount that his Majesty allows to be sent annually to the Philipinas, and no more, although the value of the goods in Mexico amounts to much more. Besides that, this relationship with Japon would prove very beneficial to the Philipinas for their security; because the Japanese are those who are more feared in the islands than all the other neighboring nations, for they are very courageous and arrogant. Consequently they would prove excellent friends to oppose the Dutch, who are navigating those seas. Also by means of this trade the church of that kingdom, which is now so disturbed, would be made safe. By it would also be reëstablished the trade of the Indias with Spaña, from which so many profits would follow if that drain of money to the Philipinas were stopped; and it would be without hurt to those islands.

This trade between Manila and Japon has already been usual for many years, although in ships of Page 187small burden. It has been demonstrated by experience that if all the trade to Japon were theirs, all that country [i.e., the Philippines] could be very easily sustained without needing anything further from Nueva Spaña and Spaña than soldiers and the products of those countries. Consequently it would be sufficient for two small vessels to sail in that route of the South Sea. That would cost but little and that expense might even be met from the royal treasury of Manila.

But the greatest bulk of this trade is from the Portuguese of Macan, a town on the Chinese coast, which is about the same distance from Japon as Manila. All its inhabitants, in number about three hundred, support themselves by that trade; for, although they have other trade, it is of slight importance.

Although such a thing appears harsh, and seems like falling out with one saint to placate another, still it will seem an easy and very advisable measure to those who have seen that town, or know it close at hand—and there are several such persons here in this court. And even if it were not evident that the good Page 188results above mentioned would follow from it, this step should be taken as a policy of good government, as such a course is advisable for the service of God. For his name is blasphemed by the people of that kingdom of China because of that town of Macao—such are the deeds of its inhabitants; for they live as a people without any master, and are not under the control of his Majesty, for the dwellers in that town are not his vassals, but those of the king of China. They pay tribute to him, and are subject to his mandarins, but not to others. Consequently his Majesty does not derive one maravedi’s profit from it, while he incurs considerable expense; for he supports all its ecclesiastics out of his royal treasury of Malaca, for the honor of the Portuguese nation. For there they are so subject to those mandarins that, unless they kneel on the ground with both knees, they cannot talk to them; nor can they build one palmo of a wall, even in their own house, without the mandarin’s license, while [they practice,] besides, innumerable infamies. [The transfer of] those people will be for the welfare of the state of Yndia, because its fortresses are without soldiers, by reason of the lack of dwellers in their ports. For the Portuguese, being so eager for liberty, go to live in the lands where there is most liberty, as in that land of China and that of Vengala. There go most and the best of the soldiers of Yndia, who take service with infidel kings and fight in their wars. Thence it follows that India is lost, land and sea, while the Dutch have become masters of it; and through their efforts much of the commerce between certain ports has ceased. The consequence of that is that the public storehouses [at Macao?] have become very poor, Page 189on account of the deficiency in their usual supplies; and they do not possess the means to bear the expenses, either in war or in peace, for the food of laymen or ecclesiastics—nearly all of whom live on what is paid to them by the king. Consequently, were that town of Macan dismantled, at least that protection would cease; and they would settle in his Majesty’s lands, as is just, since the majority of them have gone to Yndia at the cost of his royal treasury. That would also be a matter of importance for the welfare of the kingdom of Portugal, since that country gains so much in having a quantity of silver sent to Spaña from the Indias, because of the large amount of it that oozes from the latter country into Portugal; and just so much more would flow thither as less is drawn off from Spain to other parts. Portugal does not enjoy one single maravedi of the fruits of the trade of that town, all of which are consumed in it and in China, where it is situated. Besides for the maintenance of Portugal’s state of Yndia, the helpful proximity of the Philipinas is of much more importance to it than one or two towns of that state, for it has been very evident, for some years past, how important are the forces of the Philipinas to cope with the common enemy of both states, namely, the Dutch. Those forces have been sufficient to defeat the Dutch more than once. Since money is what enables war to be carried on, it is advisable for both states that Philipinas have considerable of it, at so little expense to the state of Yndia as the possession of a town—at least, one of the importance and advantage which we have mentioned—and also at little expense to the treasury of his Majesty and of his kingdoms. Page 190

Only two objections can be opposed to this, but they are only apparent objections. The first is that two ships are wont to ply between Goa and China every year for cargoes of silk, which are afterward consumed in India. That is the chief trade of the Portuguese in India. Those vessels anchor at the city of Macan, and thus it seems as if [the abandonment of] that city would cause the lack, [of a port] there for this trade. But I answer that this is not so; for the Chinese would not deny the port to the Portuguese, since they do not deny it to many other nations who trade in their country without having a town of their own there. On the other hand, the Chinese use that town of Macan so harshly, that were it not for the large amounts that its inhabitants owe them for the goods that the Chinese have supplied to them on credit, the latter would already have driven the inhabitants of Macan out of their country. But the Chinese act thus toward the Portuguese, and treat them like negroes, so that they should go away [of their own accord]. That town is rather a very great injury to the Portuguese merchants who sail from Goa in the said ships—so much so, that they avoid trading with its inhabitants, who generally sell the goods that they have bought from the Chinese during the year, to the Goa merchants at higher prices than the Chinese themselves ask. For several years, the merchants in that region have been wont to go with all their silver twenty leguas up stream in small boats to the city of Canton, in order to trade with its natives, leaving their vessels in the port of Macan—the inhabitants of which are mocked and disappointed in the profit that they expected from the coming of the ships. Page 191

The second objection is that, were that town abandoned, all hopes for the conversion of that great kingdom—which seems to have made a beginning through Macao—would be crushed. But to that I answer, that Macao is rather the great hindrance to the conversion; for the infidels only see in that town evil examples. It is a great inconvenience to have the Portuguese so prominently before the Chinese, for the latter judge from them that all other Christians must be like those whom they see there. Besides the ministers of the gospel, who would have to conduct the conversion, cannot enter the interior of the country unless in native costume—as is done there by some fathers of the Society—and under protection of certain natives who conceal them. That can also be managed from Manila, in the return voyage of the Chinese ships, as well as from Macan.

Consequently, the suppression of that town by taking away its trade involves no injury, but rather the said advantages. And, if there were any difficulty, one should reflect which is the greater—to abandon a church like that of the Philipinas, with so great a number of the faithful, from which so much more may be expected, since there is hope that from the Philipinas it could extend to all that world (which is, beyond comparison, much more densely populated than this world of our Europa); or, in order to preserve the church, to use the lands of his Majesty so greatly to their injury; or to order three hundred inhabitants to settle in another region, and to abandon that location. May God give understanding to him who shall have to decide this matter. I pass over any other better opinion. I am of the above Page 192opinion, and affix thereto my signature. At Santo Thomas, etc.

Fray Diego Auduarte

[Endorsed: “Have this sent to Don Alonso Fajardo, so that after examining the contents of this paper—which was furnished by a competent person, who has spent considerable time in those islands—he may use what portion of it seems most advisable, in accordance with the present condition of affairs. The Council; May 26, 619.”] Page 193