Volume 42 — Chapter XVI

The peace and pious tranquillity which this province enjoyed throughout the three years’ government of our father Fray José Duque was like that which it had enjoyed during the three years of his former term, and was what this province had expected from him on account of the knowledge and experience which all had of his piety, great discretion, and sagacity in making way through the greatest difficulties. Accordingly, they bade farewell to his paternal government with much regret, and determined to reëlect him for a third term—which they did afterward at the proper time, opportunity being afforded for this by the long span of his life and the robust constitution with which he was endowed, which were astonishing.

The time arrived which our Constitutions assign for holding the provincial chapter, and it assembled in the convent of Manila; over it presided, with letters from our very reverend father general Fray Antonio Paccino, our father Fray Diego de Jesús. Our father Fray Juan de Jérez was elected provincial for the second time, with great satisfaction to all; and as definitors were chosen the fathers Fray Luis Diaz, Fray Juan García, Fray Felipe de Jaurigue, and Fray Diego de Alday. The visitors of the past triennium were present, Fray José de la Cruz and Fray Alonso de Arniellos; and as visitors for this triennium were appointed father Fray Ignacio de Rearcado and the father reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte. Very judicious ordinances were enacted for the proper government of the province, and for the maintenance of the strict regular observance which in those times flourished therein—in which the new provincial had taken a prominent part in his first triennium (which was from 1677 to 1680), and in the past one, in which he had been prior of [the convent in] Manila.

The provincial began to govern with so much zeal and industry that it would be tedious for me to tell how much he accomplished in one year only—the least being that he had visited all the provinces, even to those of Ilocos and Bisayas, without omitting in one point his exercises of prayer and mortification. Of this I can give reliable testimony, as one who was his secretary and companion during the twenty-two months while he governed, his death being caused by the great labors of this visitation, in which with holy zeal and activity he performed incredible labors in promoting the religious observance, and in securing the cleansing and adornment of the altars and the ornaments, in which he was exceedingly careful and assiduous. He suffered much from the continual harassment of the scruples which tormented him, so much that it caused one grief to see the so heavy cross which the Lord placed on the shoulders of this His creature, which he bore with great fortitude and courage....

Among the excellent arrangements made by this chapter was the chief one, which was that father Fray Álvaro de Benavente should go to España as procurator; he had a few months before returned from China, where he left our missions very well established in the kingdom of Cantón, with houses at Xaoquinfú and Nanhiunfú, and two others in other places of less note. At the same time he was appointed definitor for the general chapter which was to meet in Roma, to which father Fray Alvaro was very desirous of going on account of the affairs of the missions conducted by the regulars in China, from whom he carried letters and authority to act in regard to the remission of the oath of subjection to the apostolic vicars. They gave him the necessary despatches, and he determined to make the voyage by way of the Cape of Good Hope, because that year there was no galleon going to Nueva España, the cause of which will be told later. He embarked for Batavia on a Portuguese vessel, and as his companion was assigned the brother Fray Juan Verganzo, who had come with the mission of the year 1684. He arrived at Batavia, where he encountered great difficulties in making the voyage to Amsterdam; but all these were overcome by a Dutchman, a Calvinist preacher named Teodoro Zas—a very benevolent and courteous man, and very fond of doing good to others; this caused grief in those who knew him, at seeing him misled by the false doctrines of Calvin, when he was so eminent in the moral virtues.

For these missions the chapter designated the father reader Fray Juan de Aguilar, who remained in them several years, and afterward retired on account of failing health; but the chapter sent in his place father Fray Juan Gómez, who continued there until his death. Afterward a large reënforcement of religious was sent to China for the aforesaid missions, which have increased and become very large; and they would have prospered much more, if they had not been so hindered by the claim of subjection to the vicars-apostolic, who made so strenuous efforts to introduce it.

The two pataches proceeded in search of the pirates to the locality of the Babuyanes; and the commander, Don Tomás de Endaya, went with a strong force of men by land to the province of Ilocos to look for them—where, it was said, the said corsairs had arrived, although the news did not prove to be accurate. He went as far as the capital town of Vigan, where his encomienda was; and after having spent some time there, not receiving information of the enemy, he returned to Manila. He left there established a village of the blacks from the mountains, called Santo Tomás, between Tarlac and Magalan, headed by a notable chief of theirs named Don Juan Valiga. A few months after Don Tomás de Endaya had arrived at Manila, he succeeded in the office of master-of-camp to Don Fernando de Bobadilla (who held it by proprietary appointment from his Majesty), who died about this time. The latter was a great soldier, and the governor of Zamboanga, and is often named in the history; he was a native of Sevilla, and a son of one of the “twenty-four” of that city. The ships that went by sea, after having searched many ports where they thought to find the corsairs, and having no further news of them, returned to Manila without having accomplished anything remarkable. Don Tomás de Endaya was confirmed in the post of master-of-camp, and held it twenty-eight years; and then he died from old age.

In this year of 1686, about June, occurred the revolt of the Sangleys of the Parián of Manila, which I related in book ii, chapter 21, as I did not suppose that I would reach these times with the thread of the narrative; and therefore I do not repeat it [here], as it was written with sufficient fulness, and the curious reader can find it in the place I have cited. [This citation is incorrect, in the arrangement of the chapters as given in Fray Lopez’s edition of Diaz; the number of the chapter should be xxxiv. Diaz’s account, as there given (pp. 440, 441), we transfer to this place, adding his comments on the question of allowing the Chinese to reside at Manila; it is as follows:]

While these islands were governed by the admiral of the galleons, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui y Arriola, of the Order of Santiago and one of the “twenty-four” of Sevilla, in the year 1686 [misprinted 1636] there occurred a tumult in the Parián which it was feared would become a general uprising [—which was planned,] according to the investigations afterward made. In the said market there were many recently-arrived Sangleys, of so bad reputation that the Sangley merchants themselves had no confidence in these men, and said that they were disguised thieves and highwaymen who had come from China that year, having fled from a mandarin who was a very severe judge, whom the emperor had sent from the court to drive out so mischievous a sort of folk from the province of Fo-Kien, which at that time was infested by criminals of that sort. The said mandarin had executed his commission with such severity that those who were put to death numbered more than sixty thousand—which in China is a small number, because that country abounds in robbers—and for this reason many had made their escape to Manila and other regions, fleeing from the harshness of that judge. These people did all the harm that they could, robbing inside the Parián the Chinese themselves, when they could not rob outsiders.

About this time there came out of the public prison at Manila a Sangley named Tingco, who had been imprisoned for the unnatural crime, and had been there so long that in prison he had learned to read and write our language, and had come to be a sufficiently competent scrivener to write petitions and other papers for the rest of the prisoners, for he was very clever and had a keen mind. He went about [the prison] freely, as being a prisoner of so long standing, and aided the jailer greatly by acting as guard to the other prisoners; and he supported himself very comfortably on what he gained by his pen. Finally, after many years of confinement he succeeded in gaining his full liberty; and, as he had a restless disposition and evil inclinations, he associated himself with other Chinese criminals, of those who were fugitives from the province of Fo-Kien, and they lived on what they could plunder from other Sangleys and from the Indians and Spaniards. As they regarded this occupation of petty thieving as too disagreeable, and it could not extricate them from their wretchedly poor condition, they planned to assemble together three hundred of these vagabonds, and to undertake some exploit which should better their fortunes so that they could return to China free from danger. It seems certain that this resolve was talked about with the multitude of the Parián who were least supplied with funds, and these were on the watch to aid the bold attempt of those promoters if the result had corresponded to their plans; and what is most surprising is the secrecy with which they kept these from the rich Sangleys—who not only would not have entered into the plot, but would have revealed it for their own safety; for they were going to lose much and gain little, and with very evident risk. The day and hour of the conspiracy having been settled—a day in the month of August, at daylight—they assembled in a disorderly crowd, armed with such weapons as they could procure by stealth, their leader being one who had newly come, that same year, from China. In a mob, and without order, they attacked the house of the alguacil-mayor, Pedro de Ortega; and they killed him and another Spaniard, named Nicolás de Ballena. With this beginning they went to the house of the alcalde-mayor of the Parián, Captain Don Diego Vivién, and entered it to do the same to him; but, having heard the noise, he escaped without clothing, and reached a safe place in the little fort which defends the entrance to the great bridge, where there is always a garrison of soldiers. The insurgents entered his house, and their greed satisfied itself on what they found nearest to their hands, although they had not the luck to find three thousand pesos in silver which the alcalde possessed. While they halted for this pillage there was time to bring up soldiers and other armed men, and they easily arrested many of the Sangleys, although most of them escaped; and the rest of the Parián remained tranquil. It was made known that this conspiracy was plotted in the bakery of Manila, and [it was said] that they intended to place pounded glass in the bread, in order to kill the Spaniards. This was not positively ascertained, but the management of that business was taken from the Chinese—to which, however, they afterward returned, at the urgent request of our people. This was because, during the time while the Sangleys did not carry on this trade, they were replaced by Spaniards who in their own country had been bakers, but in Manila they did not succeed in doing anything to advantage; the Sangleys therefore again took charge of the bakery, after they had been asked by many to furnish the supply of bread, of which great quantities are consumed in Manila.

The Sangley Tingco was captured, and in company with ten others was hanged and quartered; and the bodies were placed along the river of Manila and the estuary of Tondo, as far as Point Tañón in Tambobong. The conversion of those who were heathens (as were most of them) was secured, and for this conversion labored earnestly father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, an Augustinian, and Father José de Irigoyen of the Society of Jesus, both of whom knew the dialects of the provinces from which the criminals came; and for those of Fo-Kien the fathers of St. Dominic [ministered]. News came that many of the insurgents had taken refuge at Pasay, and General Don Tomás de Endaya went out against them with soldiers and Merdicas (who are very brave Malay Indians); they came back with eleven heads of those whom they could kill, and the disturbance was quieted, nor has any other occurred up to the present time.

In this danger Manila maintains her existence, clinging to it as the means of her preservation even though she grieves over what is the cause of her greatest decline. The shrewdness of the Chinese in business dealings and their skill in carrying on the mechanical trades turn us from these callings so entirely that Spaniards who in their own country practiced them here consider it foolish to do so; accordingly they allow the Chinese to conduct and manage the crafts, believing that the latter are serving us when they are most imposing upon us. And as the Chinese recognize this weakness of ours, and see that it is without remedy, on account of the Spanish vanity, they treat us with contempt in their acts, although with great submission in their words. Whatever they make is defective and does not wear well, in order that they may have more work to do. The unnecessary expense that Manila suffers on account of the frauds that they practice in the trades of baker, candle-maker, and silversmith is very great; we recognize this, and endure it through necessity, and the matter is not set right, through reluctance to apply the remedy. Many persons understand the injury which the Chinese cause here, but much more numerous are those who defend them, since this peril is dear to those who regard it as an advantage [to have the Chinese here.]

In the year 1678 there reached our hands a very judicious opinion, printed at Madrid by a devout person who had had experience in dealing with that nation, and was well aware of their acts of guile. It was presented before the royal and supreme Council of the Indias, its president being the Conde de Medellín; and when the arguments adduced therein made a very strong impression, another pamphlet appeared in print at the same court, against the former one and in favor of the Sangleys; this delayed the decision, so that it seems as if they have in all quarters those who defend them. And so we go on, enduring this incurable disease—although today the number of the Sangleys is less than ever; for it is supposed that the number does not reach the six thousand whom the royal decrees allow, and judging by the poverty to which the commonwealth of Manila is steadily being reduced, each year there will be fewer Chinese here through the lack of profits; for that is the craving which draws them from their own country.

Many (and most) persons are greatly deceived in imagining that the Sangleys who live among the Indian natives outside of Manila do no harm to the faith, saying that the Chinese are more atheists than idolaters, and that they only seek worldly advantages. But this is not always the rule, for some teach sects and doctrines that are very evil, as experience shows. In the year 1706, father Fray Antolín de Alzaga, one of the apostolic missionaries whom we have in the remote mountains of the province of Pampanga, converting and instructing the warlike peoples called Italones, Ituriés, and Abacas—whose wonderful conversions present notable material to him whose duty it is to write the history of those times—this apostolic missionary came to Manila, making light of the hardships of [travel by] those roads so long and rough, in order to ask the governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu, to take measures for banishing from these mountains two infidel Sangleys, who with greed for the trade in wax had penetrated even those unexplored hills, where they taught false dogmas and perverse opinions, such as palingenesis, or transmigration of souls—a dogma which Pythagoras taught, and which was propagated much among heathen peoples. At the present time it is accepted by all nations of Asia, and in China and Japon with the greatest tenacity; they believe that when a man dies his soul goes to animate another body, either rational or brute, according to the deserts of him who is dead, and for either punishment or reward; and thus they allot an infinite succession of transmigrations. This diabolical dogma was taught by these Sangleys to the Italon Indians, with other evil doctrines, such as polygamy (which permits a man to have many wives), idolatry, and others which ensue from it. That accursed doctrine spread rapidly among those simple mountaineers, so much so that it became necessary to have recourse to the said governor—who, being so zealous for the increase of the Christian faith, sent to the alcalde-mayor of Pampanga a very urgent command to expel from those missions the two Sangleys, and to be very careful to prevent the entrance of others therein; and this order was carried out, to the great tranquillity of the new Christian church. Experience has shown the same thing in other villages where Sangleys have fixed abodes. I will not delay longer over a matter on which there is an endless amount to be said, since I have sufficiently exceeded the limits of my obligation; and I refer to many persons who have officially discussed these matters, although they have obtained no results from their earnest efforts.

The natives regard them with contempt, having no further inclination toward them than that of self-interest; consequently, neither affection nor fear draws either toward the other. And ordinarily selfishness courts the Sangleys, while aversion urges the natives to make complaints against them—except that the bond of matrimony is a check on the women; for, as is usually the case, if a native leads a bad life, he is on the watch for the acts of the Sangleys, in order to make the evil-doing of another serve as an excuse for greater freedom in his own wrong mode of life. Accordingly, they are in more danger from testimony arising from the malice of the accusers than from facts brought forward in zeal for their correction—as is seen by the few complaints or accusations that are decided against them, and how still more rarely do these bring them to punishment. Nor can this be attributed to the negligence of the judges, for they are delighted to receive the lawsuits of the Sangleys, our covetousness selling to them even justice very dear; and when harshness finds an object, it makes their punishments (since their wealth offers so much to avarice), although less bloody, more keenly felt, since in the estimation of the Sangley money is his very heart’s blood.

The precedents set by the sovereign kings Don Fernando the Catholic and Don Felipe II are examples of their piety, and of their successful policy in separating from their Catholic vassals those who are perfidious, who if mingled with the others might pervert them, through the passion which the Indians and Moros have for propagating their [false] sects—a danger much to be feared among the simple people of the villages and the common herd.

No doubt, intercourse with these infidels is very necessary, on account of the merchandise which they furnish to us from their kingdom; but this could, in my opinion, be accomplished without danger to us—for one thing, by permitting to remain in these islands [only the] six thousand Sangleys, as his Majesty decrees; and for another, by not permitting them to trade in the provinces, or to live in the villages mingled with the Indians. But they should be kept in subjection, as Joshua kept down the Gaboanites, and as now Roma, Florencia, Venecia, and Orán hold the Jews in subjection, and our people in Ternate kept the Moros in his Majesty’s galleys, the rabble of that sort. It is an obvious disadvantage to live subjected to such peoples, because the law of subjection, the adulation offered to rulers, and ambition to secure their favor are powerful to subject religion to their pleasure, as has been found by experience in all the countries where this misfortune has been suffered—such as Mesopotamia, both the Arabias, Egipto, and Africa, and that one which was the supporter of religion, Constantinopla, with all of Grecia. And for the same reason heresy has so prevailed and lorded it in Inglaterra, Irlanda, Dinamarca, Suecia, Sajonia,[i.e., Saxony], the Palatinate, and many other provinces and free cities—the most fatal poison that attacks the faith being the sovereignty of infidel princes, their grandeur and power being the sure ruin of religion. I consider that I have used more space than is required by my obligations, in treating of so pernicious a nation, which is allowed here in greater number than our needs demand—I know not whether through our fault or our misfortune—and maintained in the subjection which experience has shown [to be necessary] at times when too great confidence has relaxed the rein of caution.

[Here we resume the regular narrative of this period by Diaz, at p. 786:] This revolt caused great anxiety to the governor, Don Gabriel Curucelaegui, on account of the many champans which had come that year from China; but in the course of time the danger disappeared.

Among the great hardships which in this year were suffered in Manila, one was that the rains were heavier than any known to living men. Not only were they very heavy, but they lasted many months, and were the cause of many fields and crops being ruined, which caused a great scarcity of provisions; and, as it was impossible to work the salt-beds, the price of salt rose so high that it came to be worth twelve pesos for half a fanega, although its ordinary price was two or three reals—and some years even less, depending on the [height of the] water and on the heat of the sun, on which conditions this so necessary industry depends.

The most memorable event of this year, and one which may be counted among the most important which have occurred in these islands since their conquest, is the imprisonment of the auditors, Don Diego Antonio de Viga and Don Pedro Sebastián de Bolivar, by the governor. It is an event to cause astonishment—and more, as it came so soon after the imprisonment and exile of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo—at seeing in so short a time Doctor Don Cristóbal de Herrera Grimaldos dead, and two auditors deprived forever of their togas (since never again could they put these on), and their families ruined and almost destroyed. It is not my intention to interpret the inscrutable secrets of divine justice, but only to set down the times and occasions in which so notable events occurred. [Diaz’s account of the imprisonment and deaths of the auditors is here omitted, as it has already been sufficiently related in VOL. XXXIX.]