Note 7 — LETTER FROM VIANA TO CARLOS III

The provincial-elect supports those of his faction, on account of the importance to him of their votes for the next chapter; and he overlooks or permits more than what is right. He makes—with ostentation, and with greater authority than that of a bishop—the visitation of the ministries under him; and even if the Indians complain of any extortion, it is not corrected except when the religious [in that village] belongs to the opposite faction. Some complaints reach the tribunals of this city, and, however justified they may be, the provincial does not punish them, except when that suits the interests of his faction; but there are very few who complain, because it is an article of faith, so to speak, among the Indians that the father ministers possess an absolute power and dominion, which compels them to endure or perform whatever the fathers command them.7 And since in each province, even though it may be of wide extent and contain many villages, there is no Spaniard save the alcalde, and he also fears the said fathers, they are despots; and the Indians are unable to do anything save what their father minister tells them to do. For these reasons, the entire secular government of these provinces remains at the disposal and pleasure of the curas of doctrinas, whose maxim is that which the religious orders most observe, as well as their provincial superiors. In order to fill that office, they give up administering the Indians, but at the end of the provincialate they return to the said administration, in which the same despotism belongs to them. This is absolutely without remedy, and will be so while the curas of doctrinas, besides what I have already said, cannot be subjected to the visitation of the ordinaries. If that were the case, they would prevent any ecclesiastic from taking part in secular affairs, and from oppressing the Indians—not allowing them to compel the natives, contrary to the ordinances of the provinces, to supply fish for the support of the cura; or to pound the rice (in which they employ the young Indian women); or to furnish the other polos or tanorías which they have established, contrary to the laws and the said Ordinances. The ordinaries would also prevent the frequent abuse of their causing the sick to be carried to the church in order to give them the viaticum—as is done notwithstanding the Ordinances and many royal decrees which prohibit this; they would take pains to see that the indulgences of the bull [of the Crusade] were preached; they would visit the brotherhoods and the confraternities. They would take inventory of the incomes of the respective churches, according to the laws of the royal patronage, in order to know how they are spent, in regard to which also I have advanced what your Majesty will find in the expediente for the wine monopoly. They would keep close watch over the schools, to see that instruction be given in the Spanish language. They would restrain the occupation of some religious in the business of trading; and trade would become free to the Spaniards, who thus would have the opportunity which hitherto they have lacked for trafficking in the provinces. With this traffic the Indians would become accustomed to dealings and intercourse with the Spaniards, whose name is now most odious to them; for by this means their curas keep them in greater subjection—if it is not, indeed, a sort of vassalage; it goes so far as to dominate the wills of the Indians, and to make them as hostile to the Spaniards as, in general, the religious are. Finally, with the said visitation of the ordinaries, and the subjection to it of the curas of doctrinas, a remedy would be provided for almost all the abuses and the usages that are practiced in the ministries—which are today the same that were related to your Majesty by the venerable Bishop Palafox, which appear in his arguments in favor of the secular clergy—the reverend bishops proceeding with the pastoral zeal which without doubt would actuate them if they were not members of the orders, and with harmony and agreement with the government as vice-patron. For, with the two branches [of the government] united, having the same object, and punctually observing not only the visitation but the law of the royal patronage in the presentation or removal of curas, it is very certain that the Indians would be relieved of heavy burdens; the religious would not be so despotic; and they would devote themselves to the care of their parishioners in spiritual affairs, without meddling in secular matters. The good government of the provinces would be established; trade with the Indians would be introduced and promoted; and by means of this trade, and of instruction in the Spanish language, mutual kind feeling would be engendered between the two peoples, and there would be an end to the detestation with which one regards the other. Above all, Sire, it would be known that your Majesty is the sovereign of these islands, in which, it can be asserted, the religious do not recognize your Majesty; for they observe or heed hardly any of the laws, the royal decrees, and the Ordinances which regulate, the above-mentioned matters. At the same time, they are exceedingly jealous and exacting that all the laws which treat of advantages, stipends, and contributions to them shall be executed.