It is an abuse, and a very great one, for a city so reduced as Manila to have two universities for the small student body [estudiante y medio: literally, “student and a half”] therein, without other object or idea than the rivalry of the Thomist and Jesuit schools, to the so great harm of the state, and of religion, as has been seen in all parts, in so many clamorings and scandals.2

It has been said that there is a student and a half, not because there is no more, but because I mean by that that there are eighty or ninety (and there are no more) for the two universities.

In the beginning there was a secular university as in EspaÑa, but the two orders did not rest until they destroyed it;3 and they, having remained alone, scarcely furnish subjects for the eight canonries, two raciones, and two medias-raciones, of the cathedral.

It is to the interest of all the orders that a secular ecclesiastical estate shall not be fostered, or [even] exist; for in this manner, since there is no one [else] to be obtained, they continue in the possession of the curacies, and the king continues his former and most detrimental burden of sending missionaries at his own cost, who become there so many other enemies.

On account of the abovesaid, the two universities in great harmony and accord have introduced the settled plan of furnishing an instruction of mere ceremony, in order thus to disappoint even the small number of students.

In the university of Santo TomÁs there is one professorship of institute law, and another in the university of the Society. Who will believe that when I was in Manila there were not more than three advocates who had graduated from those universities? namely, Don Santiago de Orendain, Don Domingo de Aranas, and Don Luis de Luna—the first two professors, but with scarcely any pupils.

It is a fact that the bar in Manila is superabundantly supplied. Notwithstanding that, if advocates did not go from Mexico to gain their livelihood the business [of the courts] would cease for lack of defenders, notwithstanding the two universities—who through their shrewdness and influence prevent the students from pursuing that career, as very few are inclined to that of theology.4

Remedy for this evil

The university of the Society having been extinguished by their expulsion, the same ought to be done with that of Santo TomÁs; for, otherwise, the same difficulty remains. Suitable professors ought to be sent from here,5 who will maintain themselves with the same incomes,6 and suitable seculars, in order that they may be given the curacies near Manila. In view of this reward there will be no lack of students to attend it; and in a few years, the hard yoke of all the regular estate, hitherto possessing almost all the curacies and maintained by the king, notwithstanding the rich fees or dues [therein], will be shaken off.7

It is an abuse that, although the spiritual administration belongs by right to the secular clergy, and the regulars possess it precariously ad nutum [misprinted mitum] regis propter inopiam clericorum in principio,8 the greatest promotion which an unemployed secular obtains in Filipinas is to be the servant or deputy of the fathers.9 Thence it results that the latter abound in so great wealth, collectively and singly, and the former suffer from necessity; and all of them are the sons of Spaniards and Indian women, and all vassals of the king. In view of this disclosure, what father will spend and what son will work without even a remote hope of reward?

Remedy for this evil

Since the reign of Don Fernando VI (in the years 53 and 57), all the curacies in both Americas have been taken from the regulars as fast as the latter have died. Let the same be done in Filipinas, and that will be in accordance with all right. The true religious will surely give thanks, the curacies will return to their center, and the ecclesiastical estate will be aided by what is in justice due to it.

It is an abuse that since the regulars have possessed the curacies for so many years and with so many troubles [ensuing therefrom], they have not, although the country is so wealthy and their fees and parish dues are so heavy, thought of relieving the king of the hard and intolerable burden of paying them a stipend in money, with rice, wine for the mass, and oil; and, in those curacies which they call missions, even the escorts for the guard of the father—who runs no risk and for that reason is not accustomed to have any escort, although the king always pays for them.10

What vassal who has even the most lukewarm regard and respect for his king could keep still when the curacies of Binondo, Santa Cruz, and the Parian (which are under the cannon of Manila), and that of Tondo, which are, with but little difference, worth to the regulars, the first, six or seven thousand pesos in obventions, and the others but little less, nevertheless draw from the king the stipend in the things mentioned above?

Remedy for this evil

To create a university, as has been said, to send clergy for its beginning, and to make current the tithes—of which hitherto in Manila it is only known that they are inserted in corpore juris,11 nothing more. By this just provision the king will save three hundred thousand pesos; the army will find that they can be supported with that amount; and the difference between these two investments will be evident, since the soldiers defend the king, and the regulars are his enemies, of which the past war was a good example.

It is an abuse that amid the many and heavy fees which the regulars charge the Indians they exact fees for confession, and, in the [very] act of making the confession, one and one-half reals in order to comply with the precept, under the pretext of the three feasts, namely, Corpus Christi, the titular saint, and Holy Thursday; for even if that is not simony, at least est res pesimi exempli.12 It is certain that the Indian believes that he pays for confession, and it is also a fact that if he does not pay he is not confessed.

As soon as the English took possession of Manila, they learned of such a custom, and thereupon cast great contempt on our religion, and persuaded the Indians to follow them, for among them there was no such practice, nor could there be—which was an error and a manifest deceit.13

From this custom, abuse, or offering, two hundred pesos are obtained in some villages, and in others three hundred, four hundred, and even more, according to the population.

The abovesaid feasts result so cheaply to the father that with twenty pesos he pays the expenses of all three of them; for the adornment of the church and of the line of march is made by the Indians; wax is no expense to the father, or very cheap; he or his associate preaches the sermon; and, let him preach what he will, he never gets beyond a discourse spoken in a language which either the preacher does not understand, or, if he does understand it, he does so very poorly and with great errors.14

Remedy for this evil

To decree that this abuse cease entirely; for it is less inconvenient that there should not be such feasts than that, under the pretext of those feasts, occasion be given for so serious a scandal; a thousand expedients that are proper will be found without using this one, which touches a most sensitive point in religion.

Since the discovery of the two Americas, the king has been seignior of them in temporal matters, and in spiritual, royal patron and pope, and as such has made appointments to all the secular and ecclesiastical employments of the cathedrals, with the advice of the auditors; and the curacies are filled by the vice-patrons, with preceding examination and proposal by the ordinary. In this matter there is seen the monstrosity in Filipinas that, excepting the prebends of the cathedral, all the curacies are given by the provincials to their subjects without examination, proposal by, or notice to, the ordinaries or the vice-patrons, with absolute despotism and independence, despoiling the king and ordinaries of the so well-known right that belongs to them.

Remedy for this evil

Until seculars are provided, the provincials must cause their subjects, by right and the councils, to subject themselves to examination and proposal by the ordinary to the vice-patrons; and it is an intolerable abuse that the provincials make those appointments without giving notice to the latter.

It is an abuse, born of the preceding, that the archbishop of Manila and the three bishops of Nueva CÁceres, Nueva Segovia, and CebÚ, residing in their dioceses, may be bishops in partibus, since, under pretext of the exemption of the regulars, they may not ask the latter how they administer their obventions or how they live, which in truth is the height of scandal.

Remedy for this evil

The venerable Palafox, in La Puebla, conquered the regulars by a formal judgment that as parish priests they must remain subject to the ordinary; but after his removal to Osma those who were expelled succeeded in nullifying this and other just decisions. The same thing was obtained in Manila by Archbishop Camacho; but after he was transferred to the bishopric of Guadalajara in Nueva EspaÑa the same thing happened as in La Puebla, so that the regulars have continued and still remain in the same abuse—which will cease by ordering them to obey the judgment secured by Camacho (or by the council, which is the same thing).15

Just as the bishops who live within their dioceses are bishops in partibus, the king is that in the Filipinas Islands. His Majesty resides in them by the authority communicated to his president and Audiencia, and to the alcaldes, governors, and corregidors of the provinces, in which the president, Audiencia, and other ministers do not command, but only the religious father.

The king is named as such, and is called upon as king, only in order that he may pay the stipends; beyond that his royal name is abhorred and persecuted.

It causes horror to see a religious, paid and maintained by his Majesty, with the character of apostolic missionary, no sooner arrived at Manila from these kingdoms than he immediately publishes and defends the assertion that the king is not master of the islands, but only they who have conquered them; that the Indian ought not to pay tribute; and that no bull [i.e., of the Crusade] is needed. It is for this very reason that there are so many difficulties in collecting the tribute, and that the bull is not purchased excepting in Manila and its environs.

With these opinions, and their extolling, some the pontifical grants to their girdle, others those of the scapulary of Carmel,16 and others their exercises, they obtain vast contributions which they call alms; and the king is left with the bulls, for the religious assert and proclaim that they are not necessary.

In regard to jurisdiction, it is a well-known fact that no gobernadorcillo of Indians carries out any mandate of the president, Audiencia, or alcalde without the permission of the religious father—under penalty of one hundred lashes, which are given to him instantly if he obeys the royal magistrates and justices.

With these and other pernicious ideas in which the fathers abound, they surprise the poor Indian, strike him with terror, and make him believe that they are all-powerful, can do everything, and that the authority of the king is worth nothing. Thus the king becomes, like the bishops, a monarch in partibus, in name alone, and only in order to maintain certain persons who style themselves apostolic missionaries.

A few days after I had arrived at Manila, the archbishop-governor [i.e., Rojo] despatched an order to the province of Pampanga; it fell into the hands of a father, and he tore it to bits with great calmness, the archbishop overlooking that act of disrespect. Hence, even in case that one obey any mandate of the royal jurisdiction, so many are the obstacles and difficulties that the fathers find for its execution, that they absolutely do not have any other endeavor or desire than to cause the Indian not to recognize any other sovereign than themselves. The worst is, that this idea has existed since the conquest of the two Americas, whence it passed to Filipinas, with the utter detriment and ruin of king, state, and religion. Hence the king is called king, and the president, Audiencia, and alcaldes by their own names; but, in reality, the fathers exercise these functions.17

Remedy for this evil

To order with the utmost strictness that the regulars restrain themselves within their limits as parish priests, under penalty of expulsion if they meddle with or embarrass the royal jurisdiction.

From these so pernicious ideas fixed in the minds of the Indians, is born the monstrous result that a baptism, burial, or marriage costs them twelve, twenty, or more pesos, if the father asks it—and this is with all caprice, and no resistance or appeal can be made. But when it comes to demanding the tribute, although it is not more than one peso and two reals a year for the whole tribute, and five reals for the half-tribute, there are a thousand difficulties, and various stratagems are used, such as going to the mountains to hide, or feigning that they cannot pay; and, in such a case, they always have the father on their side against the king and the alcalde, on this point.

Remedy for this evil

To order that the fathers shall not meddle in worldly affairs, especially in the royal jurisdiction; that they shall not engage in trade;18 to establish collection of the tithes; and to compel them to observe very moderate tariffs [of parish fees]—under penalty of expulsion obliging them to undo the evil that they have wrought.

It is an abuse that the king pays the expenses of the voyage and support of the fathers in Filipinas, under title of apostolic missionaries, and they go there to become merchants and business men, to the harm of the poor Spaniards and of the Indian, besides their abandonment of the spiritual ministry which is in their charge.

In the environs of Manila—with the exception of the Franciscans, who have nothing, and of the Condesa de LizÁrraga, who has a small estate—the religious orders possess the following estates: the Dominicans, Lolomboy, Panay, Navotas, Great Malabon, and BiÑan; the calced Augustinians, Malinta and Pasay; the discalced Augustinians, San Pedro Tunasan, San NicolÁs, Imus, and Tunasancillo; the Jesuits, Mayjaligue, Masilog, Nagtajan, Nagsubig, Mariquina, Indan, Silan, Marigondon, Payatas, and San Pedro Macati (where they have their earthenware factory, from which they make annually thirty thousand pesos fuertes net profit). These are the ones which I now have in mind, although they have other estates in the provinces, of which I can give no exact account. But indeed I know, because I have seen it, that the Indians who cultivate those lands come to be virtually slaves, by which means the orders have aggrandized themselves, with their trade in sugar, cattle and horses, and rice. Although this last is the bread of all, that bread rises in price to such a degree that it can rise no further—to which is added the great export of these products to China and the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar.19

Remedy for this evil

To command, under penalty of expulsion, that they do not trade, as it is contrary to law; and, in respect to estates, they ought to sell them, even though they are the just owners, since such business is inconsistent with their ministry. It is certain that, by public report, if they had to show their titles to those lands it would be found that many, if not all of them, had been usurped from the Indians. On this account, without doubt, in regard to this point there was much talk in the time of Governor Arand[i]a. But nothing was gained in favor of the Indians, from whom, let the fathers allege what they please, the endowment of land which the law orders cannot be taken.

In the extreme parts of the mountains of the provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ilocos, and others, the regulars possess missions which they call active [vivas] missions. There has been a mission for forty, fifty, or sixty years, without paying tribute or acknowledging the king. If any alcalde has tried to visit them, they have had superabundance of witnesses and testimonies for their right to conduct it;20 this means that the king supports the missionary, and escorts who guard him. This is a monstrosity; for if he wishes to know the condition and results of the mission the matter is reduced to a lawsuit, until the alcalde is ruined. In reality such missions are advance-posts or custom-houses toward the mountains of the heathen, whence the latter bring down to them their gold, cacao, wax, and other products. This is what employs and occupies the religious father. There are well-founded opinions which assert that the inhabitants of the mountains are not reduced to subjection because of the bad treatment which they know is given them in the missions—where from their foundation there has not been nor is there any Spaniard save the father. It follows from this that, where the father is, there is no lack for vexations against the Indians. Consequently, for the same, and even a stronger reason, the rigor of the decree and laws, and the censure of Fray Gaspar de San Agustin, which are cited in the following abuse, ought to include the regulars.

Remedy for this evil

To prohibit them from engaging in this trading, under penalty of expulsion; and under the same penalty, that they shall not hinder the Indians from going to Manila to sell these and other products which they have, and much less hinder the Spaniards from going to the provinces to buy them, to reside there, and to marry in them, if they wish. To order that the missions be visited, without hindrance, by the bishops in regard to spiritual matters, and by the government; and that, at the proper time, they must pay the tribute in accordance with the laws.

It is an abuse that the fathers have in every way defended and protected, from the time of the conquest, the Chinese idolaters, apostates, traitors, and sodomites, without any benefit to the community,21 but with considerable harm in spiritual and temporal affairs; and that they have persecuted the poor Spaniard with so great rancor and eagerness. For it is seen that if any Spaniard goes, on account of misfortune, to the provinces to gain his livelihood, the father immediately orders him to leave, even if he does not lash him, etc.22

This is the reason why, after so long a time, there is no other settlement of Spaniards than that of Manila; for in the provinces rarely or never does one see a Spaniard. And, pursuing the same reasoning, after the lapse of so many years we are as strange to the Indians as in the beginning, and even more so, as one can see in the history of the conquest compared with what we all saw during the war.

I venerate, as I ought, the justness of the laws, (xxi and xxii, book vi, tÍtulo iii, and law i, book vii, tÍtulo iv, of the RecopilaciÓn) which prohibit, in the words of the laws, “Spaniards, negroes, mulattoes, or mestizos from living in the villages of the Indians, for it has been found that some of the first are restless fellows, of evil life, robbers, gamblers, and vicious and abandoned people.” However, conceding for the present whatever crimes and stigmas these laws impute to the Spaniards, I declare and affirm that, with that ban, the regulars have committed more havoc in America and Filipinas than all the locusts together. These (the laws) the regulars order posted in the tribunal houses of the villages, and obey them with such rigor that if the laws concerning the missionaries were observed in the same way there would be no Christianity equal to that of those countries.

Let the evil Spaniard be punished; that is but justice: but the good man cannot and ought not to be punished. The fact is that by means of the said laws the father puts all [the Spaniards] on the same footing, and persecutes and punishes all without distinction until he drives them out of the country. In this way, he is left alone in the village, and without witnesses for what only God knows, and the intelligent Catholics weep; and the Indian grows more alien every day, and becomes hostile to the Spaniard through the instruction which he receives from the father.

If the Spaniard is very bad, let him be punished by all means. But, if this is proper, why do they not only not ask the same in regard to the Chinese (who without comparison is worse), but defend, protect, and aid him, on account of trade and whatever else offers?

The Spaniard may be a robber, gambler, and vicious; but he is not an idolater, an apostate, or a traitor, a sodomite, and the father of all deceit, as is the Chinese. Nevertheless, the father keeps still about all this and shelters it, and reserves his hootings only for the poor Spaniard, who many times shames the father missionary himself by the regularity of his conduct.

What consolation can there be for the Spaniard, prohibited so rigorously from entering the domains of his king, when he sees that the Chinese are not only not hindered from such entrance, but also that they are encouraged; and that they rove about, and come and go, with more freedom than in their own country?23

Is it possible that we must see laws so harsh against the people of our own nation, and yet, that although the Chinese are foreigners and so perverse in all ways, they have merited a special tÍtulo in the RecopilaciÓn and in article 18, book vi, for their defense, trade, and increase in Manila and the provinces?

Fray Gaspar de San Agustin speaks as follows in his history of the conquest of Filipinas, book ii, folio 373 and verso, when speaking of the Chinese: “They are a race blinded by greed, and self-interest, and when these intervene friendship or relationship counts for nothing; for the son delights more in deceiving his father than the foreigner.” He continues, and after noting that they are atheists, and that only by a miracle will it be seen that any of them is a good Christian, he concludes as follows: “finally, they are a nation who hope for no other blessings than those of this world, nor other glory than temporal goods; and they worship no other God than the metals of silver and gold, and keep faith with Money alone.”

This is the character of the Chinese, according to the above-cited author.24 And, granted that it was a very inadequate statement, it is necessary to remark that both he and the rest of his order, and the others, with no difference, have favored and protected such atheists and persecuted the Spaniards. The proof is ad oculum [i.e., ocular], until the destruction during the war; for Manila and the provinces were inundated by Chinese, married and protected by the fathers, but there was not, nor is there a Spaniard [in the provinces]. This was because they did not find themselves persecuted by those same fathers; therefore the Chinese, according to the same historian, reached in time past the number of four hundred thousand. The most remarkable thing is, that the fathers administered to them in spiritual matters with as great serenity as if they were fathers of the deserts,25 and yet Fray Gaspar confesses that they are atheists.

We cannot pass in silence the fact that after the war the Chinese religious26 refused to confess the Chinese, for they said that they knew that their fellow-countrymen were idolaters. However, the Spanish religious found a moral rule by which to proceed without any innovation, as they proceed in their own administration; and in this way they have administered the Christian churches in those regions. Consequently, he who says the contrary deceives, and falsifies the truth in regard to certain facts which are public, and which all those of us who have been in those regions have seen.

In confirmation of the above, see the same historian, book iii, folio 426, in which, treating of the arrival of Governor Santiago de Vera, he says: “He brought very strict orders from his Majesty27 to correct the great excesses which had come to his royal notice, and which had been committed by the encomenderos of the Indians—who, losing shame before God and the world, had descended to such dishonorable acts (perhaps for lack of punishment in the first encomenderos), which transgressed their obligation.” Leaving aside the truth of so great excesses and of the medium by which they came to his royal notice (which if investigated thoroughly must have been, without doubt, through the fathers themselves) it is a fact that a decree was despatched at Lisboa, March 27, 1583, in favor of the Indians, and against the excesses of the encomenderos.

The above-mentioned historian continues, and says that the governor deprived BartolomÉ de Ledesma, encomendero of Abuyo, of his encomienda, as also others whom he found more guilty in similar crimes—whose names he omits, as it is not his intention to reveal or point out other persons who at present behave as they should; but he will not neglect to give the royal decree.

In fact he gives the decree literally, and in truth the crimes of the encomenderos are so atrocious that they become incredible. But granting their certainty, because the decree so says, one must wonder that the father inserts it so exactly after he has just said that he omits those excesses because it is not his intention to describe them. That being a manifest contradiction, proves that the mind of the fathers has always been, and will always be, to defame and make odious the Spaniard to the Indian, the council, and the king, in order that the fathers may be masters of everything, without opposition or witnesses.

The same historian concludes the matter on folio 427, with the following words: “But Doctor Santiago Vera made such judicious arrangements in regard to the evil doing of the encomenderos, that, from the time of his government, that matter began to take better shape, and through the Infinite Pity is at present in better condition.”28

This condition of affairs is what the fathers wish, for it has been many years since there has been any encomendero or Spaniard in the provinces. That has been their sole desire, and, having obtained it, he openly avows that the matter is at present in a better condition through the Divine Pity, because they are alone, absolute, and without rival.

But how could this fail to happen thus, if laws xxiii and xxiv of the same tÍtulo and book only permit the Spaniard, even though he goes as a merchant, to remain in the villages of the Indians for three days; and if he exceeds that time, it must be with the penalty of fifty pesos of gold-dust for each day? It is to be noted here that the father is so exact in the observance of these laws that it can be said that he keeps others; and although he does not exact the fifty pesos because most of the Spaniards require the money for their food, what does it matter if he orders them to be lashed and imprisoned?

Let this point be taken in the sense which is desired [by the fathers], and let the Spaniard be considered most perverse; yet he is better than the best Chinese. Is it possible that so many privileges are conceded to the Chinese, that he is to live, marry, and trade freely in Manila and the provinces, and so great harshness must be exercised against the poor Spaniard? Is it possible that the latter can deserve so little that he is not indeed equal to the Chinese?29

The condition of this matter reduces itself to a few points. First, that if, by scandals and evil example to the Indians, the Spaniards have to leave the villages, one ought to begin with the father. This is so notorious a fact that all who have been in AmÉrica and Filipinas will testify to that effect in the official letters of the Council.

Second, in respect to the arguments which are alleged against the Spaniard, they are not what they seem, and one must subtract three-fourths of them; while it must be assumed as a well-known fact that, as they are his declared enemy, and all the regulars are pledged against the Spaniard, they have not hesitated to find witnesses and raise up false testimonies, in order to attain their plans. This idea is so generally practiced and current, that would to God there were no memory of it.

All these complaints and outcries are reduced to the fact that if the Spaniard is solicitous for women, to oblige him to marry an Indian woman is of infinite advantage to him; and, if he is vicious by another extreme, to punish him. If this remedy does not please the religious (and immediately it does not suit them) why, just as they are irritated against the poor Spaniard, do they not cry out in the same manner against the Chinese, who is so perverse, but defend him in whatever arises? Why do they not cry out against the negro, mulatto, and mestizo who are such consummate rogues, but discharge all their spite upon the Castila?

The explanation of this mystery consists in the fact that the Spaniard treats the father with the urbanity that is used toward ecclesiastics in EspaÑa; but he is not imposed upon by the kind of servitude which the former desires, and at the same time he is a witness of what occurs in the provinces that is not right, and which the fathers do not wish him to know. On the contrary, the Chinese, under pretense that they allow to him his liberty, keeps still, dissimulates, makes presents, and blindly submits to whatever is ordered of him.

Third, although we grant, as is right, the justice of the above-expressed laws in the time and the sense in which they were made, yet, as they are generally put in force against every Spaniard good or bad, it follows: first, that they punish the innocent; second, they prevent the settlement by Spaniards in the provinces, although it is so necessary; and, third, they hinder our union and friendship with the Indians, and consequently, marriages. And, supposing that the Indian women do not desire anything else, and that a Spaniard thus married has all the kindred of his wife favorable to him, I desire to know, according to good policy, whether there is any other remedy more rational and suitable than this, for the conservation of those domains? This is what law viii, tÍtulo i, book vi, provides.

There are two alternatives: it is either advantageous for the nation to preserve them, or not. If the latter, let the Spaniards come, and let them be abandoned at once. If the former, there is no other means better than that of union between the two nations. And, besides the fact that this is the universal practice throughout the world, it is unnecessary to say anything more about the matter; for, let the regulars say what they will, they will not deny that if the Castilian language had not been precluded from the beginning, and had the Spaniards married the Indian women—which was the method of giving them good treatment, according to the laws—there would be little or nothing to conquer in the two AmÉricas and Filipinas. Consequently, it seems indispensable to abrogate the above-cited laws, or to moderate them somewhat in favor of the nation, restraining the license of the fathers. That is quite in accordance with law xxiv, tÍtulo i, book vi, which permits the Spaniard to trade freely with the Indians. That cannot be done if he is to be driven from the villages in three days’ time.

Remedy for this evil

To abrogate the laws above cited, as being suggested without doubt, by the regulars, and if not, as being dangerous to the state; and to order that the Spaniards can come and go, and freely trade, in the provinces; to proclaim rewards for those who marry Indian women, and to expel the father if he meddles with the Spaniard in what concerns his external conduct, since, if he is evil and commits crimes, there are justices to punish him.

It is an abuse that, contrary to the command of the laws and so many decrees, the fathers do not permit the Indians to talk Spanish, to which they are greatly inclined, and punish them if they do. This is the surest rule (although very pernicious to the state) of which the fathers have availed themselves, since the time of the conquest, to domineer over the Indians despotically with the king and the Spaniards, to the common prejudice of all.30

From this policy it results that every convent of Manila is a Babel, for, when the fathers assemble in the capital, it frequently occurs that each one brings servants from his province to serve him. And since they follow a system, from which no religious order departs, to speak to each Indian in his own language, it happens that in one convent are found the TagÁlog, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ilocan, Cagayan, Zamboangan, Camarines, Igorot, Ilongot, and Visayan tongues, all in sight of the government, Audiencia, and Spaniards, with total contempt of what is ordered in this regard by his Majesty; and by this very proceeding they boast that we do not understand them, and that they alone command the wretched Indians.

Quite the contrary was the rule which the Portuguese followed in India from the beginning of their conquests. Hence one finds that there is no other language in Macao, Canton, Goa, the Malabar Coast, Coromandel, Ceilan, and Batavia, than their own. Surely, if that plan had been followed (as it ought to have been) in the two AmÉricas and in Filipinas, so many hardships would not have been encountered [by the Spaniards] as were seen during the invasion of the English,31 and as will always be seen for this reason; and the king would be master of those domains with as much security as he is of these [in Spain], but, if the contrary be true, they will always be dependent on the will of the ecclesiastics.

In proof of this truth, one must not forget what we all witnessed during the war; for with the exception of the provincial of St. Francis, who was most loyal and of great service, and that of the Augustinian Recollects, all the rest were declared enemies—so much so that in the most critical time of the undertaking, they asserted that the governor was an insurgent. They held meetings to depose him, contrary to the express laws, and openly encouraged the opposing side.32

All the above is confirmed by what was seen in the same system, namely, that notwithstanding the noble example of the loyalty of the two above-mentioned provincials, some of their subjects gave them much to suffer, and as much more to do, for the party of the king. This proves that neither to his Majesty nor to their superiors do they render submission, because of the absolute lawlessness with which they grow up.

Remedy for this evil

To command that the laws and decrees which order the Indians to be taught the Spanish language, be observed; and that the father who violates this, as they have done hitherto, be sent to EspaÑa, which it the greatest punishment; and without doubt they will have care in the matter.

It is an abuse that all the curas oblige the dalagas (so are the girls called) to go to the house of the fathers (the latter, although contrary to law, call it “convent”) to pound the rice. That operation consists in removing the husks with certain mallets, by dint of their labor. If this service and labor—which would have to be done by their servants, or be paid for to the poor, in which case the work would be proper, and of value to them—is neglected, it is under penalty of lashes to the girl who does not render it. It is a shameful thing that these women, all marriageable, have to do so unsuitable and dangerous things, as daily experience affirms.33

They are also obliged to sweep the churches and clear the grass away from the entrances, while in some places the fathers compel the baguntaos (who are the unmarried men) each to carry them a stick of wood every time they go to mass. In others they practice different burdens and vexations, so that the result of these continual acts is, that since these fathers do not content themselves with the generous stipend which they receive from the king, nor with their so abundant extra fees, they still burden the poor Indian in whatever way they please, always conspiring so that he shall have nothing of his own, not recognize or respect any other authority than their own.34

Remedy for this evil

To order, under penalty of expulsion, the fathers not to meddle with the Indians except in their spiritual ministry; and that their household duties be performed by servants, for which they have much more than enough income.

Consequent upon this notion of theirs is this abuse, that when the gobernadorcillos of the villages (these are the deputies of the alcaldes) who exercise the royal jurisdiction, go to see the father, they have to leave their staffs or rods of justice at the entrance; for the fathers do not permit even tokens of the royal authority in their presence. The fathers compel those officials to accompany them quite to the sacristy, and, when they return to their house, make them serve them at table, and never allow them to sit down or to keep their hats on; and they address those officials by tu [i.e., “thou”] as they do servants. Let one estimate what they will do with the other Indians.

Remedy for this evil

To order that, when the gobernadorcillos go to see the father, they be compelled to go into his house with their badges of justice, under penalty of [the father’s] expulsion if they are forbidden to do so; for, representing as they do the king, the father must treat them with suitable decorum, and must give them a seat, and under no pretext be served by them at table.

It is an abuse that, when the provincials go to visit, they make their so magnificent entrances into the villages at the cost of the Indians. That is, just as if they were bishops, the bells are rung for them, and they are accompanied by vast crowds from village to village; and the people go to receive them, and go to expense and make feasts, which only cooperate toward their absolute domination over those natives.

Remedy for this evil

That the regulars be subjected, as is decreed, to visitation by the ordinaries. By so doing, the latter will make use of their right without there being any necessity for visits by the provincials; and when the provincials wish to visit them purely as religious, and not as parish priests, to prohibit the Indians from great public feasts and expenses, under penalty of expulsion, since there is no other remedy.

It is an abuse that after the stipend or sÍnodo,35 and large fees exacted by the father from a poor Indian in regular form, the Indians generally have to carry the [sick] Indian in a hammock or parilusclas36 to the church in order that the father may administer the sacraments to him. On account of that abuse, and the motion, and the [effect of the] wind, most of them die; and the man’s death is followed by a looting of his house for the burial fees. This is a fine way for the fathers to fulfil their duty and exercise charity.

Remedy for this evil

To order, under penalty of expulsion, that they fulfil their duty, as every good parish priest should, by administering the sacraments to the poor sick in their own houses; and such grave wrongs against the Indians and his Majesty will cease, by moderating the tariffs, with the establishment of the tithes.

It is an abuse that, although the provincials are ordered to watch over the reduction of these peoples, so that the Indians, living within sound of the church-bell, may be directed and instructed in a Christian and civilized manner, the latter are today found (except those administered by the Franciscans, who are those most settled in villages) as scattered as they were in the time of their paganism. They have many of the vicious habits of their paganism, and are so stupid in their Christian belief and social life that it causes pity. So grave a wrong is followed by another against the royal treasury, namely that, as they live far away and in the recesses of the mountains, it is impossible for the alcalde to enumerate them for the payment of their tribute, and he is compelled to guide himself by the list or register which the father gives him. In that particular, considerable discrepancies have always been noted against his Majesty; for in Filipinas and AmÉrica, it has been considered as an act of cleverness to defraud the king and persecute the Spaniard, and they never tire of it.

Remedy for this evil

To decree that the reduction into villages be carried out as is ordered, which can be secured at once if the father so wishes; and if he opposes the order, to expel him. By so doing, the wrongs stated above will be avoided.

It is an abuse that the alcaldes in the provinces find it necessary to yield to the father in whatever the latter desires (this is always against royal authority) against the Indian and the Spaniard; and, if the alcalde does not thus act, that moment the fathers rise against him and prove, in part or in all, the following charges: “he lives in concubinage, is a drunkard, a thief, and does not observe his duties toward the church,” even though he be an anchorite. For the father causes the Indian to make depositions as he wishes, and if the Indian does otherwise, there are lashes. By this may be understood the doctrine which is taught to those ignorant people, and the condition in which the administration of his Majesty’s justice and authority is.

Remedy for this evil

To order that the father do not meddle with temporal affairs, under penalty of expulsion. This is certain, for otherwise there will never be peace. [By so doing] the alcalde can administer justice; and, if he should be unjust, the governor and the Audiencia will set the matter right.

It is an abuse for some men of the religious estate, who are supported and maintained by his Majesty with the character of apostolic missionaries, to teach the Indians, instead of love for their neighbor, to hate and persecute the Castilas (thus they call us Spaniards). This is a practice as old as the conquest, and was seen with horror in the most cruel period of the war; and afterward this proposition was inculcated in a certain pulpit of Manila, to a great gathering of Spaniards and Indians, [saying], “To issue to a man a warrant as alcalde is the same thing as que deleatur de libro vitÆ;”37 and in other pulpits were said other things not less scandalous against all the [Spanish] nation.

Remedy for this evil

To ordain that there be no preaching contrary to the decalogue, under penalty of expulsion, which is justified by so cruel and scandalous an act.

Another of the most grievous abuses is, that religious who have served as missionaries in the islands are generally chosen as bishops in those islands. They having been brought up under the conditions already stated, are influenced, even though they might desire to exercise their jurisdiction as ordinary in certain districts conquered centuries ago, most by the abuses and the domination of their respective orders. Consequently, they overlook wrongs, and keep silent, from which results the despotism of the orders over the two powers [i.e., secular and ecclesiastical]. It is true that, even if they should wish to exercise their jurisdiction, the orders will not allow it; for they are so blind and obstinate in their sway and privileges that they are capable of killing any bishop who makes such an attempt. Doctor Fray Domingo de Salazar, first bishop of Manila, began that dispute with the Augustinians, as Fray Gaspar relates in the above-mentioned history. Others have defended the same idea, but, nevertheless, we see that the said fathers and other regulars still maintain their domination in opposition to the bishops—with detriment to both jurisdictions, and perhaps to Christianity, that cannot be exaggerated.

There are other abuses against the royal treasury worthy of the most prompt relief, such as that of the storehouses of Manila and CavitÉ, which cost the king huge sums on account of the lack of system therein.

Another abuse is that the post of commander of the Acapulco ship costs his Majesty four thousand pesos. Besides the enormity that such an office should be conferred for only one ship, the further abuse follows that neither the captain nor other officers are of any use, as the commander orders everything at his own caprice; in consequence, either he is superfluous, or they are.

Another abuse is that, after so many years in which so much gold has been produced in the islands, this precious metal makes no acknowledgment to its king in Filipinas by paying him the tenth, nor is it weighed in a mint, nor is it by any other expedient made useful to his Majesty; for the religious orders, the Indians, the Spaniards, and the mestizos make free use of this trade.

Another abuse is, that there has been no thought of conquests in the mountains of Pangasinan, Ilocos, and Cagayan, where, according to accurate information by the fathers themselves, there have been more than three hundred thousand tributes. It would be an easy undertaking, according to the reports of the fathers themselves and the mildness of those Indians.

On account of the advantage which may result for his Majesty and his vassals there, the following points should be considered:

It is known (and I have information in my possession) that there are mines of a special copper, with a mixture of gold, in Ilocos and Catanduanes; and it would be an advantage to open and work them for the casting of artillery and other manufactures.

The iron mine of greatest yield was in operation until the time of the war, when the works were burned.38 If they were placed in operation again, there is nothing more to do than to begin the work, and they will make whoever operates them wealthy.

The post of commissary of the Inquisition ought to be placed in charge of a secular priest, and withdrawn from the regulars, who have always held it and have practiced very many abuses.

Trade ought to be placed on another footing than that of the regulation of 1734, as it is impossible to subsist on that basis, for thus the islands will be ruined. After they had suffered a year and a half of war, which was one continual pillage, there remained no other wealth than that which was made safe in the “Filipino;” and that wealth has suffered greatly through the continual losses of the trade since that time, and the excessive rise in prices.

A ship ought to sail regularly every year for Manila, to carry secular priests for the object which I have explained, and laymen who are accustomed to the commerce here; for, to speak plainly, those in Manila are not Spaniards, but Chinese, in their customs, usuries, etc. It does not seem out of place to put the shipyard there into good condition for ship-building, and even to create a navy department, like those at Ferrol, Cartagena, and CÁdiz.39

The recoinage of the mutilated money of the islands ought to be considered, for the Sangleys have pared and clipped it so much that it is almost half-size. On that account no one wants it, and all desire to get rid of it, with the loss of ten to twelve per cent, which is the usual discount. There is always fraud in that, although the greatest fraud is in the purchases which are made with that money, in which the goods are sold forty per cent dearer, so that the Chinese profits and cheats in everything; for, as he does not carry to his own country other money than that with the milling around the edge, he cheats by forty per cent more in the goods, and the discount does not cost him more than ten or twelve.40

In the management of the royal treasury, and especially in that of the storehouses at Manila, Cavite, and other places; in the contracts and charters for the transportation of provisions from the provinces to the capital; in the care and conservation of arms and ammunition; in the collection of tributes; in the collection of all the royal duties; in the appraisals for the sales of offices; in the auction of the revenues leased and held by monopoly; and finally, in everything of advantage to his Majesty: there are most enormous frauds, which need instant correction by planting deeply the order, system, and method which justice and the laws demand, in order to suppress the thefts which have hitherto enriched the governors, royal officials, and other employees who have made a private patrimony out of what belongs to the king, destroying the royal revenues and ruining the islands generally by their insatiable greed. Consequently, although the country has resources for maintaining superabundantly all the obligations and business of the royal service, his Majesty has expended immense sums in the annual situados sent from Nueva EspaÑa, without other benefit than that of feeding the avarice of faithless ministers, both secular and ecclesiastical—who, although charged with the conservation and prosperity of those islands, abandon them without defense, and in the miserable condition which was made plainly evident in the last war, to our utmost grief, where even the hearts of those most honored and put under obligation by the king were alienated, and they forgot the loyalty and love due to both Majesties.41

For the radical correction of the above ills it is indispensably necessary to frame and send from here clear and full instructions for establishing the just method of procedure that is fitting, conferring on the governor all the authority necessary for its execution, by the means which prudence and the actual condition [presencia, misprinted paciencia] of affairs dictate to him.

Finally I direct attention to the undeniable assumption that the Filipinas Islands, on account of the natural wealth of their soil, their advantageous situation for carrying on the commerce of Asia with this Peninsula [i.e., Spain], and still more as being the outpost which defends and insures the peaceful possession of the rich and extensive empire of the two Americas, Northern and Southern, on their Pacific coasts, in which is situated the greater part of their wealth—for all these reasons, they demand in justice, in reason, and in all good policy, that the greatest attention be given to them, without sparing any means or effort that may contribute to the conservation and success of so important a matter.

The choice of a zealous governor will contribute especially to erecting the foundations of that great work, but it is necessary to honor him and give him authority, so that he may work to advantage and without the obstacles that have many times frustrated the best and most carefully conceived ideas, by secret information, by tricky and criminal artifices, and in other evil ways.

The ideas expressed thus far are quite adequate, if they are carried into execution, and they become more important, on account of the persons by whom they must be carried out, many of whom have reached the end of their usefulness, and belong to different estates, and very opposing interests—the most influential of whom are accustomed to and have grown old in despotism and lack of restraint. In order to remove that despotism from the provinces, to make the city secure, and succeed in obtaining that one “render to God what is of God, and to CÆsar what is of CÆsar,” that governor needs a body of troops suitable to cause respect for the name of the king. This object can be attained only by being carefully followed up by a ruler who is disinterested and zealous for the royal service, it being well understood that such military force ought to be placed on the same footing of pay as that of Nueva EspaÑa, since otherwise there will be no one who will serve in it.

The king has capable and zealous ministers who can examine the points which are here briefly indicated. They may be certain that what I have set forth is accurate and reliable in all its parts, and that I have had no other motive and impulse in exposing it than my love and zeal for the service of God and of the king. The latter will deign to determine what may be most to his royal pleasure. Madrid, April 12, 1768.

Doctor Don Simon de Anda y Salazar

Your Excellency, Dear sir and master:

I remit the enclosed extract of the points which, I have considered, require a positive and speedy remedy in the Filipinas Islands, so that your Excellency can more easily understand their condition in the toilsome labor of examining the representations which I made at the time upon the other points, from Manila.

Your Excellency may be assured that I have no private interest in the matter, for everything is for the king, my master. It is to be noted that, although this appears to be hostile to the religious estate, it is not so, nor have I any such spirit [of hostility]. I assure you that, if these recommendations are carried out (if your Excellency shall deem that best) the religious communities will thank you heartily, although at the beginning, and at first sight, they may show some anger.

May God preserve your Excellency many years, as I desire. Madrid, April 13, 1768. Your Excellency, your humble servant kisses the hands of your Excellency.

Doctor Don Simon de Anda Y Salazar

[Addressed: “His Excellency Bailio Frey Don Julian de Arriaga.”42