Chapter XXXII

Don Pedro Manuel de Arandia, [97] a native of Ceuta and of Vizcayan ancestry, took possession of his government in July, 1754. As soon as he arrived in Manila, he undertook to organize the troops, and to place the military force on a regular footing and in conformity with the ordinances which are observed in España. From the royal troops that were in the islands he formed the "king's regiment" of two battalions; he reorganized the body of artillerists, placing it in the condition in which we now see it; and he assigned to both the soldiers and the officers pay with which they could decently support themselves and meet their obligations, without being harassed to seek in some other way what was necessary for life. He was very diligent to put in order the arsenal at Cavite, and whatever depended upon the royal officials--in which he did not fail to suffer annoyances, and to incur the dislike of many persons who did not enjoy so much reform and so great zeal. [98] At the beginning of his government, in the month of December, occurred the terrible eruption of the volcano of Taal, which lies in the middle of Lake Bombon, in the province of Batangas. So heavy was the shower of ashes that it destroyed four villages which were on the shore of the lake, and it was necessary to remove them a legua inland. There were many and severe earthquake shocks, and a noise as of squadrons engaged in battle; and the atmosphere was darkened with the quantities of sand and ashes which issued from the volcano--so that in Manila, which is distant twenty leguas, but little could be seen at noonday; and in Cavite, which is somewhat nearer, that time of day seemed like a dark night. [99] I have ascended with Señor Alava [100] to the summit of this volcano, and only a lake was seen, about half a legua in diameter; it was very deep, and its waters were dark green.

The armada which Señor Obando had sent against the Moros met so poor success that the governor was obliged to take away its command from Don Miguel Valdés, who had been sent as its chief officer; and it was conferred on Father Ducos, a Jesuit, from whom he expected better results. In fact, that father was fitted for the post, and acted with such valor and discretion that he took from the enemies more than a hundred and fifty vessels, destroyed three of their villages, killed their inhabitants, and made captive innumerable people; and he checked the onset of those barbarians, who were devastating everything. [101] These happy tidings arrived at Manila in January, 1755; Señor Arandia gave orders that the Te Deum should be sung by way of thanksgiving, and confirmed Father Ducos in his command of the naval squadron; he had great esteem for the father because the latter was the son of a colonel who was the governor's intimate friend, and because he seemed to have inherited his father's valor.

Señor Arandia treated the king of Joló with much kindness, and allowed him his liberty, although the king voluntarily continued to live in the fort of Santiago; the governor gave him a monthly allowance of fifty pesos and six cavans of rice for his support, and prevailed upon the archbishop to grant him permission to hear mass and receive the sacraments, of which he had been deprived. The king desired to marry as his second wife a woman who had been his concubine but was now a Christian; [102] the archbishop would not permit this, and Señor Arandia not only smoothed away all the difficulties, but gave the king the use of his palace in order that in it he might celebrate the marriage with more pomp and solemnity. He did not gain these dispensations without some dispute with his most illustrious Lordship, to which was added another, which, although of less importance, was sufficient to alienate feeling and cause resentment in Philipinas. The governor complained of the archbishop because the bells were not rung for the former when he entered or left any church, as ought to be done on account of his being vice-patron, especially when he went [thither] as president of the [ecclesiastical] tribunals. His most illustrious Lordship declared that he had no order from the king for doing so; but these formalities, together with the attacks of illness which the most illustrious Señor Trinidad suffered, caused his death; this occurred on May 29, 1755. Señor Arandia continued to favor the king of Joló, for he thought that by this means he could end the war with the Moros. He sent to Joló all the princes and princesses, the datos, and all the women, who were detained in Manila, leaving the king alone--who acknowledged his vassalage [hizo pleito homenaje] and took the oath of fidelity, until a decision [of his case] should arrive from the court of España, which had been informed of his detention. The princes and princesses arrived at Joló on October 5 of this year; they were graciously received by Bantilan, who, grateful for the generosity of the governor, promised to observe faithfully the treaty of peace which his ambassador and his brother had signed at Manila. It was necessary, in order to extricate ourselves entirely from the war, to make an agreement with the men of Mindanao; the governor undertook this, and sent ambassadors to them; but the petty rulers who are in that island are so numerous and so treacherous that it is impossible to establish a permanent peace with them. Even assuming that all the petty kings of the Moros may desire to observe the peace with the Spaniards, they will never succeed in it, because they possess so little authority over their vassals that they have never been able to restrain them, [103] and they never will prevent them from going out to plunder and to seize captives throughout our islands, for they have given themselves up to this kind of life; and only the spiritual conquest of their provinces is adequate to deliver us from these troublesome enemies.

During this government was undertaken the reëstablishment of the missions in the islands of Batanes, which lie to the north of Cagayan. From early times the Dominican fathers maintained in the islands of Babuyanes religious ministers, who gave instruction to their inhabitants; but in the year 1690 they removed these people to Cagayan. The king having decreed that they should go back to their own land, the religious who directed them established a mission in the islands of the Batanes, [104] distant some thirty leguas from Cagayan; and after his death his companion withdrew, leaving the mission abandoned until the year 1718. It was then reëstablished by another Dominican religious, who fixed his headquarters in the island of Calayan, in which place he attempted to make the Indians in the other islands settle, in order that, brought together there, they might be instructed in the Christian religion. Great as was the desire of the Batanes to enter the bosom of the church, only a hundred and fifty persons took the resolution to change their place of abode; and half of these died in a short time. That island offered few means of comfort, for which reason the father missionary became sick; and, although he had a successor, the mission was entirely abandoned. [105]

In the year 1754, two religious were sent, of whom one died and the other retired to Cagayan, seriously ill; but he returned in the following year with another companion. In order to ameliorate the destitution which they had suffered in the preceding year, they determined to take with them a carpenter, a lay brother of their order, in order that he might, as soon as they reached the place, put together a house, which was to go in the vessel, in pieces. Their zeal did not permit them to wait until the work was finished; and, fearing that the monsoon would pass away, they embarked without their little house. Hardly had they reached Calayan when the two fell sick; other fathers went to succor them, and all became sick; accordingly, they returned [to the mainland] one after another, and it was necessary to abandon the mission after the Dominican fathers had incurred large expenses for it. Afterward, this conquest was again undertaken, by Señor Basco in 1783; and this effort has been successful in maintaining there the Dominican fathers, converting those islanders to the faith. A commandant was stationed there with his garrison, which caused much expense, because it was necessary to send them all their supplies from Philipinas; for in all those islands the only produce is camotes and such other eatable things as grow in the country itself. There is no doubt that other articles would be produced, but so numerous are the rats, which consume everything, and so frequent the baguios or hurricanes, that one may rest assured that these plagues would devastate the fields before the crops could mature. Every year a bark was sent to carry succor to the islands, but, as the baguios are so frequent in those seas, many of these vessels were wrecked; it has therefore been recognized that the maintenance of that post is impossible, and the result is, that only the Dominican fathers remain there with a small guard, who must be succored from Cagayan. For this enterprise Señor Basco was granted the title of Conde de la Conquista; but I assert that if half of what he spent in Batanes had been expended in placing missionaries in Ylocos, Pangasinan, and Cagayan, he would have gained more vassals for the king of España, and with less risk.

I am astonished that we should have left the beaten track of the conquest or pacification of the Indians, and taken up another which is more dangerous and more costly, only because it makes more noise and a more showy appearance, that is, [the conquest] by arms, which always has produced bad effects--as occurred at this time, in the hill-country of the Igorrots. In the year of 1740, the Augustinian fathers handed over to the Dominicans the missions of Ytuy, or Ysinay, in order that, these being joined to the missions of Panique which they had established in the preceding year, the provinces of Pangasinan and Cagayan might be united on their southern borders. [106] The Indians, both Christians and unbelievers, resented this change of missionaries, from which resulted a species of civil wars among them; and it was necessary for the auditor Don Ygnacio Arzadun y Rebolledo, who was then making official visitation of the province of Pangasinan, to send troops [to Ytuy] to silence the malcontents. Our men fought a battle with them, in which the natives were defeated and pacified; but a few years later they again became restless, and finally, in the year 1756, many Christians apostatized; and these, united with the unbelievers, raised a furious tempest. They burned some churches, slew many of the people who remained faithful, and, losing reverence for the missionary fathers, searched for them to take their lives. On account of this, Señor Arandia despatched an expedition to this mission and to the hill-country of the Ygorrots, which had very little effect; for it accomplished nothing save to frighten the Indians and make them flee to the hills, to come down again as soon as the soldiers should go away.

In order to know how to pacify the Indians, it is necessary to understand their character. Whether because of their naturally superstitious disposition, or because God has thus ordained it, they are very affectionate to the missionary fathers, and have much reverence for them; but there are not lacking some who dare to plan some perfidy against the fathers, and for this reason they need escorts to protect them from audacious attempts of that sort. At times the natives become heated and rise against authority, and the multitude come out against the fathers, unless there is some check to restrain them; such a check, is in the military posts, which ought to be near the missions, so that the Indians may have respect for these, and fear lest they will be immediately punished if they commit any insolent act. With these measures of precaution the islands were conquered, and the same are observed at the present time; but the missionaries are very few, from which it results that they are so widely separated that they have to make a day's journey to visit one another, when they need to be confessed or on other occasions, and they are very poorly paid. For what is a hundred pesos and two hundred cavans of rice for a Spaniard to maintain himself with decency in the missions? [Even] this small stipend they sometimes cannot collect without a thousand annoyances and vexations which are occasioned to them by the alcaldes-mayor, who seek various pretexts for not paying them, and compel them to go from the mission to the [provincial] capital to collect it, as I have seen. So wretchedly do these poor religious live that there are occasions in which they find themselves obliged to use for their own support what was given to them for their guards; and they live without these, preferring to remain exposed to the affronts of the heathens rather than perish with hunger. The military posts are also few in number, and the Indians in them are unable to impose respect on their countrymen. If the money that has been spent in useless expeditions could have been employed in these sure means of pacification, that undertaking would have made much greater progress. It is true, we shall never see the rapid advances made by our ancestors in the conquest [of the islands], because the Indians have their eyes more open; the Christians themselves persuade the others not to be baptized, in order that the tribute and other taxes may not be imposed on them. Moreover, they themselves have a custom which greatly hinders their civilization, and consequently their conversion. If any one commits a murder in another village, its people do not rest until they have avenged the crime; the consequence is, that the weaker villages are obliged to remove from the district, or to league themselves with other villages. In either case, the Christian church suffers much, because those who are baptized must follow the infidels of their own village and separate themselves from the [missionary] fathers, or else must enter into the general hostilities. Nevertheless, gradually they would all be converted; for if in the neighboring villages many unbelievers are continually being baptized, who leave their own lands and are held in less regard than are the oldtime Christians, how many more would not be baptized if they could remain in their own homes, honored and courted by their old acquaintances? Christian morality is very holy, and attracts all hearts in which vice has not become deeply rooted.

On May 15, 1757, the holy Congregation [i.e., of Propaganda] at Rome issued the decree which put an end to the controversies which the discalced Augustinians (or Recollects) sent out by the Propaganda had in the kingdom of Tungquin with the Dominican missionary fathers from Philipinas over the administration of certain districts, and in regard to the [association called the] "Lovers of the Cross" [Amatrices de la Cruz]. [107] The Dominicans had received into their missions various priests sent out by the Propaganda, who--for lack of ministers, or on account of the persecutions--had ministered to some villages in the Dominican territory. On this account his Lordship Fray Hilario de Jesus, bishop of Coriza, asked from the Dominicans a residence for a Recollect (as the latter belonged to his own order); and soon after that he asked for the entire district, which was granted to him during the lifetime of that religious. When the bishop saw the Dominicans so compliant, he did not delay in demanding another district for his discalced fathers. The Dominicans did not accede to this demand, and his illustrious Lordship, availing himself of various pretexts, introduced into that district a Recollect religious; from this resulted a sort of schism, in which papers were written on both sides, insulting remarks were made, and neither party would yield. Like altercations occurred in other districts, because the Recollects tried to thrust themselves into the missions of the Dominicans. The "Lovers of the Cross" were a sort of beatas, who lived in a community, and, although they did not take the vow of chastity, observed the [rules of the] religious life; some of them belonged to the Tertiary Order of St. Dominic, and others to the discalced religious women of St. Augustine. It was made evident that these beaterios ought to be subject to the parish priests; but, bringing forward various pretexts, the Dominicans and Recollects disputed over the direction of these beatas.

In order to stop the scandals which resulted from these disputes, the bishop of Coriza assembled a [diocesan] synod in the village of Luctuy; it was the second synod held in Tungquin, and held its first session on June 24, 1753. Among the other points that were settled, action was taken on the "Lovers of the Cross," and on the distribution of districts. As the bishop was a Recollect, and the rest of those who attended the council were his confederates, everything was decided against the Dominicans; Father Hernandez, therefore, who was the only member of his order who attended the synod, protested against all its decrees, appealed to the Apostolic See, and went out of the meeting before it was ended. After the synod closed, the Dominicans, seeing that a Recollect was going to Rome to secure approbation for the acts of the council, sent another envoy, a Dominican, to prevent this. When the whole matter was examined in the holy Congregation, two districts were set aside for the Recollect fathers, and the rest were continued in charge of the Dominicans, the beaterios of the "Lovers of the Cross" were left subject to their respective parish priests. In regard to the [acts of the] second council of Tungquin, it was ordained that they should not be carried into effect until the holy Congregation should, after a thorough examination, agree to confirm them.

Returning to Manila, one of the good things which Señor Arandia did in his term of office was the expulsion of the Chinese. He sent away all the heathen to their own country, and, in order that hereafter they might not remain in Philipinas, he founded the market [alcayseria] of San Fernando, [108] in which all the Sangleys who come here to trade must dwell until the time for the departure of their champans arrives; and then all must embark in their vessels except the Christians, who have permission to live in the islands, provided they devote themselves to the cultivation of the soil. The Spaniards who were interested in the residence of the Sangleys in Manila persuaded him that, if he expelled them, there would not be people enough to carry on the internal trade; and, in order to counteract this frivolous pretext, he established a [commercial] company of Spaniards and mestizos. This lasted only one year, [109] because there was little need of it in some islands where there are more than enough to carry on this sort of traffic. The Asiatics are naturally slothful, and consequently enjoy greatly the kind of life--since it gives them food without labor--which they secure by buying and selling the commodities which are consumed in the country; and, even if some are unsuccessful, every one has a very moderate [amount of] trade; but there is hardly any one among them who does not carry it on very steadily. This abundance of petty traders makes their wares much dearer, since they pass through many hands before they reach the last buyer; and each trader, since he operates with little capital, must make large gains in order to support himself. From this it must be inferred that the Sangleys, far from being necessary to this commerce, greatly injure it; and it should have been considered desirable to lessen, in place of increasing, the number of these traders or dealers.

Notwithstanding the wisdom of this measure, Señor Arandia lost much in popular esteem by it; and this, added to others of his actions, brought upon him the hatred of the community. In virtue of the ample powers which he brought from the court, he drew up instructions for the alcaldes-mayor and the government of the provinces, in which he openly declared himself against the regulars. At the beginning, he had treated these religious bodies with respect; but, resenting some acts of disrespect manifested toward him by certain individuals, in these instructions he deprived the orders of the kitchen-boys who had been furnished to them by the king since the conquest, and the servants granted them by the crown for sacristans. Not content with causing them these losses, [110] he made various remonstrances against them to his Majesty, in which he spoke of them with little civility; and in the instructions he spared no means of injuring them, seeking opportunity to speak ill of them even in those sections of that document which have no connection with the religious. The blame for all this was laid on his favorite, Don Santiago Orendain, [111] who was the declared enemy of the ecclesiastics; but this could not excuse Señor Arandia for issuing directions which the king had the goodness to censure as soon as he saw them, for depriving the ecclesiastics of the groves of nipa palms which they held in La Hermita and Bagunbayan, for stirring up several groundless controversies with them, for imposing taxes on the goods which the religious in the provinces were sending to their convents, [112] and for expressing his [unfavorable] opinion of them in public. He had a dispute with the royal Audiencia because he was not willing to render military honors to them when they went in a formal body, on occasions when he did not preside over their sessions. He imprisoned the treasurer and auditor of accounts of the royal exchequer, and caused them great suffering, because they had sent information to the court of some things that was contrary to the explanations given by him in his reports. Unwearied in the government, he conceived many projects which he considered necessary for the proper government of the islands. He talked of removing the arsenal from Cavite to the port of Lampon; and he ordered a ship to be built in the kingdom of Siam, which had such ill-fortune that in bringing it over to Manila it was driven to port in China three times, and once to Batavia, causing enormous expenses to the royal treasury. [113] The governor made reports to the king, and proposed to him various plans for the promotion of [operations in] the mines of iron and gold. He abolished the corregidorship of Mariveles, annexing Marigondon and the other little villages of that shore to the district of Cavite, and forming from the villages on the opposite shore and from others which belonged to Pampanga the alcaldía which we call Batan. [114] He made regulations for the soldiery, the royal exchequer, and the Acapulco ship [115]--on all occasions giving many proofs of his zeal for the royal service, by which he was aroused to enthusiasm; but this disposition, ill directed by Orendain, was the cause for his being abhorred by every one. It was so wearing upon him that he reached the point of feeling a distaste for every kind of business, and experienced so great a failure of his vital powers that in the night of May 31, 1759, it was known that he was dying; and, after receiving all the sacraments, he expired at two o'clock in the morning of the following day. [116] He left by his will two hundred and fifty thousand pesoty and one cannot guess how he gained them in the less than five years during which his term of office lasted; but at the hour of death he distributed them in a pious and Christian manner.

Through the death of Señor Arandia, the bishop of Zebu, Señor Espeleta, assumed the government. Soon afterward, the new archbishop of Manila arrived here, Don Manuel Roxo, [117] a native of Tala [sc. Tula] in the kingdom of Nueva España; his Majesty had taken him from the post of canon and provisor at Mexico, for this see, giving him permission to be consecrated in Nueva España. He took possession of his church on July 22, 1759, and immediately claimed that he should be put in possession of the military government, which it seems belonged to him by the royal orders. The four auditors were divided in opinion, Señors Calderón and Davila deciding that the archbishop should assume the governorship, and Señors Villacorta and Galban that no change ought to be made. While they were in session in their hall, discussing this question, his illustrious Lordship Espeleta entered; he spoke with decision, and, in order to intimidate them more, made ready the artillery and placed the troops under arms; at these preparations the auditors and the archbishop gave way, and the bishop of Zebu remained in peaceable possession [of the government]. The first thing that he did was to revoke the ordinances of Señor Arandia, and to make some preparations against the Moros, who since the year fifty-four had been ravaging our provinces; but the event which made most noise in his time was the lawsuit against Doctor Orendain. Every one placed on him the blame for the actions of Señor Arandia; and the fiscal of the king, Señor Viana, believed that he had been placed under arrest in his own house by the favorite's suggestion. Orendain, either because his conscience stung him, or because reports had been spread that some design was formed against his person, took refuge in the Augustinian convent at Tondo. The fiscal made it a pretext for claiming Orendain from this asylum, that he should be arrested because he was treasurer for the Crusade, and, by his voluntary withdrawal [to asylum], indicated that he might prove to be a debtor to the royal treasury. He then left his refuge, and was imprisoned in the fort of Santiago, the authorities commissioning Señor Villacorta to bring legal proceedings against Orendain. It was found that he had hidden various jewels in the convents, and, while these investigations were being pursued, he made his escape from the fortress in the dress of a woman, going away in a coach, without the guard recognizing him, and took refuge in the convent of the Recollects. The auditor thus commissioned had recourse to the provisor, in order that the latter might give orders for Orendain's removal thence; but, as the provisor did not accede to this after three demands, the auditor sent a notary with soldiers, and removed Orendain by force from the sanctuary. The provisor declared Señor Villacorta publicly excommunicated, and his name was placed on the list. That gentleman had recourse to the royal Audiencia, which ordered the provisor to absolve the auditor; this was done through the cura of the cathedral, but ad reincidentiam, and for the period of thirty days--that is, if the accused did not return to the church within the thirty days, he would incur excommunication the second time. Señor Villacorta challenged the provisor, and this lawsuit became so tangled that various judges were challenged by one side and the other, and even Señors Calderon and Davila were challenged by the king's fiscal, who had taken part in the dispute; and there was no one who could give judgment in the suit, because some refused to take the responsibility, and others were challenged by one or the other party.

In such condition was the Orendain affair, when a decree arrived from his Majesty in which he appointed the archbishop as governor ad interim on account of the death of Señor Arandia. He assumed the authority in the year 1761, and put an end to this clamorous lawsuit by commanding that Orendain should leave the fort, and all his property be returned to him, with [his giving] security for all that he owed to the Holy Crusade; he also imposed on all persons perpetual silence during the time until his Majesty (whom he informed of his proceedings) should make some other decision. His most illustrious Lordship continued to rule the islands in much peace, fulfilling rather the office of father than that of governor, conciliating those who were turbulent, and extending his charity to the king of Joló, who was living in the fort with much lack of comfort. The governor quartered him in a house in Manila, decently furnished, with a coach and with menials enough for his service. He wished, besides this, to restore him to his kingdom, and after listening to the opinions of the leading persons in Manila, it was decided that the king Don Fernando and his son Israel should be sent back to Joló, and that they should take with them a guard of Spaniards, in order that the chiefs in that island should not compel him to abjure the Catholic religion which he had embraced. When they were ready to carry out this undertaking the English arrived [at Manila], the war with whom it is necessary to relate in separate chapters. [118]

MEMORIAL OF 1765

By Francisco Leandro de Viana. MS. dated February 10, 1765.

Source: This document is translated from a MS.--apparently
a duplicate copy of the first original, and bearing Viana's
autograph signature--in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago.

Translation: This is made by Emma Helen Blair.

VIANA'S MEMORIAL OF 1765