Chapter VIII: Part 8

[Space will not permit us to present this summary in full, but we make an outline of it sufficient to preserve all the facts of main importance; it may be found at pp. 187-216 of Montero y Vidal's account. Charges were brought against Raón and three others; these were Francisco Henriquez de Villacorta and Domingo Blas de Basaraz, members of the Audiencia, and Juan Antonio Cosio, the governor's secretary. Raón was proved guilty on the charge of having given information to the Jesuits of the measures to be taken against them, on the next day (May 18) after receiving the royal commands; "and immediately they began, and continued without ceasing, the concealment of their wealth and the burning of papers. Circumstantial evidence shows that it was Raón who told them, and various persons declared that this 'was worth to him many pesos.'" He made an outward show of obeying the decree, by sending (at 10 a. m.) troops to surround and guard the Jesuit college; and also his secretary, to tell the fathers that the soldiers had gone there for purposes which would afterward be explained to them by Auditor Galvan. The latter, however, he kept busy otherwise, until the twenty-first. On May 18 he sent Galvan to the Jesuit college of San Ildefonso, outside the walls, to carry out the decree, and Raón waited until he finished these duties before he sent Galvan to the main colleges within the city; this gave the Jesuits from three to five days to hide their treasures and burn their papers, [145] in which they occupied themselves both day and night. Raón failed to require the superiors of the colleges to call in their absent priests, and to remove the Jesuits, as soon as they were notified of the decree, from their colleges to some other place of detention till they could be sent from the city. They also possessed eleven farms and ranches; Raón is charged with having left the Jesuits in these undisturbed, for several months or even more than a year, without any check on their doings, or inventory of the property, which they stated as they chose; and even that he sent cavalry to these farms, to be at the orders of the fathers there. In the provinces outside of Manila, Raón neglected to carry out his instructions for the expulsion; and in consequence "there was not a college or a town in which the Jesuits did not have notice beforehand of their expulsion." Accordingly, they also concealed their wealth and burned their papers, and they even found their way into their colleges at Manila; and Raón so neglected his duties that it was four months after the royal decree was published at Manila before the first orders for the expulsion from Visayas were sent thither. [146] In order to shield himself, he had his secretary Cosio draw up a false statement, duly attested, that the governor had duly executed the royal commands regarding the Jesuits, in accordance with his instructions; and this was sent to Aranda, with a letter in which he threw the blame upon Galvan for any defects which might be found in the conduct of the expulsion. Other secondary charges were brought against Raón: he had allowed the Jesuits to prepare their outfits for their voyage as they chose, and for this to leave the college in which they were detained, and to have intercourse with various people, all this contrary to his instructions; he had displayed negligence, lack of system, and extravagance in the shipment and supplies of food for the exiles; he neglected to look after the interests of the obras pías which the Jesuits had administered, thus causing serious damages to those foundations. He did not make provision, for two years after the expulsion, for the administration of the temporalities occupied by the Jesuits; thus the collection of debts due to them was "absolutely neglected, until measures for this were taken by the present government; so were the estates, houses, obras pías, and moneys at interest, and left without any person to call to account the individuals who were managing them; and from this ensued the arrears and losses that may be inferred." Raón was also charged with having conspired with Cosio, Basaraz, and Villacorta to persecute and harass Galvan, Viana, and Santa Justa--from which persecution Galvan suffered so much that, worn out and depressed by it, he finally died; but they, not content with that, tried to defame his reputation. In most of these charges, Raón tried to make excuses for his conduct, or to throw the blame on Galvan or Villacorta; but Anda declares that they were all partly or wholly proved, and that Raón neglected everything in his official position "which did not involve the handling of 'Mexican grease [vnto mexicano],'" that is, of bribes. His secretary Cosio was naturally included in all the charges made against Raón (in some of which he was declared more to blame than his master); but he is especially denounced for having drawn up and attested the false declaration that Raón had obeyed his instructions and performed his duty faithfully in the expulsion of the Jesuits, and as having done more than any one else to cause the death of Galvan; Anda concludes by saying, "he is more subtle and malevolent than can be expressed." [147] Villacorta was charged with having been more intimate with the expelled Jesuits than was becoming in an auditor; with having censured the archbishop for his insistence on episcopal visitation of the regulars; with having conspired against Galvan and the others; and with perjury. It was also proved that he had lived in open immorality, having two illegitimate daughters; that he engaged in trade, with dummy partners [testas de Ferro]; that he had, contrary to his obligation of secrecy, informed the friars of the government's decision in regard to the diocesan visitation of their curas, before it could be carried out, and had complained of the archbishop to the king. The charges against Basaraz were similar to those against Raón, in regard to the expulsion of the Jesuits and the conspiracy against Galvan, and are not repeated in detail, especially as he had died before the conclusion of the legal process against him. He was also an intimate friend of the Jesuits, being a "third brother" of theirs, that is, affiliated to them through a third or lay order, like those of other regular corporations; he prevented the execution of some measures against them, and allowed them to take whatever they desired from their archives which had been seized; he was in constant and secret communication with the expelled priests, and spent money for them as they directed him; he allowed them to carry money and papers on board the ship; he spoke disparagingly of the king and his ministers, and their proceedings against the Jesuits; he falsified records, and compelled the notaries to make false entries; and, besides all these, he was drunken, licentious, and extravagant. Raón and Basaraz died soon after the beginning of proceedings against them; "and Villacorta did not raise his head after he saw the charges, and that all of them were documentary; and finally he also showed the bad taste to go to accompany the others, at the very time when he finished making his defense;" accordingly, Cosio was the only one left to send to Spain. Anda recounts the aid and kindness which he showed to all the accused, allowing them abundance of money, attendance, and liberty, and sending Basaraz to a hospital, and afterward to one of the best houses in the city, for the sake of his health; Cosio is the only one who experienced any severity, being sent to Fort Santiago. Nevertheless, Anda expects that many will try to make trouble for him, by misrepresenting or calumniating him, and accusing him of having caused those deaths by undue severity; he desires, however, that "those malicious acts be not attributed to him which, as he has known, have been represented at the court by the friars, and the prisoners, and especially the blessed [bendito, ironically] Father Serena." Another auditor, Juan Antonio de Uruñuela, was also accused of voting at Raón's dictation, and being concerned in the conspiracy against Galvan; he also brought to the islands 3,000 pesos, which he placed in charge of the friars, who included it and other property of his with their own money, as all being "for their missions in China," so that he might not have to pay duties on it. Cosio and Raón's friends attempted to show that the archbishop had warned the Jesuits of their expulsion; but Raón's own testimony had disproved that accusation. Anda was unable to conclude the proceedings against the accused, for when he reached Manila he found that the Audiencia contained only Villacorta, Basaraz, and Uruñuela; "and although two auditors came in company with him, Don Francisco Ignacio Gonzalez Maldonado and Don Juan Francisco Anda (his own nephew), the former gave indications of perversity in the residencia of Villacorta, which he conducted, and it was necessary to reserve the second to succeed Basaraz in the post of commissioner of the Jesuit properties--for the governor knew, extra-judicially, that Uruñuela and Maldonado would decline to accept it, and, in order to avoid a dispute, he would not propose it to them." Anda mentions various ways in which the relatives of the accused had endeavored to hinder the legal proceedings, means which they afterward used too successfully at court to involve him in trouble with the home government, although he had faithfully followed the instructions given him by that very government to bring the guilty parties to justice.]

In execution of the orders of the court, the properties which the Jesuits possessed in the islands were confiscated, their administrations being afterward entrusted to a special commission appointed by the governor-general. In order to give some idea of the amount of the said property, we will insert here a curious document written by a person of undeniable veracity, not at all unfriendly to the Jesuits, who on account of the offices which he held in Manila had at his disposal the respective expedientes [of the above suit]; he writes thus:

"The possessions of the Jesuits in Filipinas.--I have personally examined the voluminous expedientes drawn up for their expulsion from these islands; I have gone through the itemized inventories of all the colleges, houses, residences, and ministries; I have examined the appraisement, leases, and sale of the estates, buildings, cattle, furniture, and valuables, besides [a statement] of what was rendered useless and of the large remittances made in kind to the Peninsula; and all this has furnished me official data so accurate that I can make a statement without fear of being charged with falsehood in the matter. To enter into details would be exceedingly tedious; but to the end that all may not remain buried under the dusty cases of the Government archives, I am going to set down here a résumé which shows, with only a glance, all that was taken possession of from the Jesuits at their expulsion from Filipinas.

[Effects] Pesos

In ready money, interest that was collected,
and obras pías 463,882
Produce from the sale of various
estates and houses 721,553
Idem, from furniture and chattels
sold in the various colleges, residences,
and ministries 128,735
A printing-office, adjudged to the
[archiepiscopal] seminary, and valued at 4,035
A drug-store, turned over to the royal
hospital, and valued at 2,660
---------
All these amount to the sum of 1,320,865

"But it should be kept in mind that the articles of merchandise, provisions, furniture, and other articles amounted to a large sum which were placed in the royal storehouses without appraisal or valuation, as appears from their respective appraisements. [148] Also in Marianas there was adjudged to the royal treasury a drug-store and the estate of Tachona, eleven leguas in circumference, with cattle, house, and outbuildings; and the college of San Juan de Letrán, with all that pertained to it, was handed over to the Recollect fathers with the same informality. The same thing occurred with two ranches which the college of Cebú possessed in the island of Bojol, and two others belonging to the college of Iloilo. Then the estate of Zamboanga alone, on which there were 2,139 head of cattle, horses, etc., and which also was applied to the treasury without appraisal, yielded in nine [sic] years from August, 1768 (when the government took possession of it) to 1779 the amount of 17,561 pesos, from which the value of the estate may be calculated. The royal college of nobles of San José, with its building and everything pertaining to it--including the three estates of Tunasan, Liang, and Calatagan--was given up without appraisal to the new rector who was appointed, Don Ignacio de Salamanca, a magistral canon; it was only known that the said estates, after deducting all the expenses of administration, repairs, etc., yielded a net profit of 27,336 pesos, in the first eight years. Not only was handed over to the new curas all that belonged to divine worship in the various ministries which the Society had in its charge, and in the archbishopric alone were the cathedral and twenty-two poor churches enriched with the ornaments and sacred utensils which came from the great college of San Ignacio [149] and other houses; but a great quantity of valuables, jewels, [150] etc. were sent to España which had no immediate connection with the holy sacrifice, and which, according to the instructions sent around by his Majesty, were placed in the second class--as candelabras, frontals [for the altars], lamps, etc., of gold and silver, which were used on solemn occasions for greater magnificence--also of those articles which were classified as profane. Finally, we must consider the enormous deterioration [of the valuables placed] in the royal storehouses, and the infinitely greater amount lost by selling the goods at forced sale, in many different and remote places, and when there was a scarcity of buyers. Considering all this, I think that I can affirm that the product of the secular properties that were seized from the Society of Jesus reached the amount of 2,000,000 pesos. How much this immense capital has produced to the royal treasury it is not possible to ascertain. I will say, however, that the 252,442 pesos alone to which the capital of the obras pías amounted at the time of the expulsion increased in December, 1796, to the sum of 513,168 pesos--that is to say, they increased in eighteen years by 260,726 pesos, or more than half of that capital; and, in this century, from 1820 to 1837 this fund yielded an increase of 420,849 pesos. It is important to note that as soon as the Jesuit estates were seized his Majesty reduced those foundations from 45 to 26, abolishing the rest, and leaving a capital of [only] 151,626 pesos; it is this which has furnished so wonderful results."...

It is fully understood that the Jesuits of Filipinas felt profound grief at having to abandon a country in which they had gathered so rich a harvest, considering their excessive regard for worldly possessions--as is affirmed by the venerable Palafox, the bishops whose opinions we have cited, and Pope Clement XIV, who suppressed the Society, and all persons who have been occupied with this special idiosyncrasy of the Jesuits.

The incidents connected with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Filipinas were among the most productive of scandal which, in matters of that sort, the history of that country records. At that time the Jesuits enjoyed so great a predominance, and realized such enormous gains throughout the archipelago (with their well-equipped industrial enterprises, their lucrative trade, and the produce of their vast estates), and they kept the [Spanish] natives of the country so thoroughly exploited and so subjected to their domineering influence--cajoling the vanity of some with the hypocritical deference with which the fathers treated them, and favoring the notions of independence in others, giving them to understand that they [the Jesuits] were not Spaniards, but citizens of the world (which is the aspect under which they make themselves more congenial to the islanders than the friars do, for the latter never fail to make it known that they are Spaniards)--that their wrath was unutterable when the decree for their expulsion from the islands was made known to them. They attempted to evade the royal mandate, and to disparage and criticise the monarch's authority and his acts, unloosing against these the passions of their fanatical partisans; and with their infamous conduct they presented a most melancholy spectacle, in which the royal authority was questioned, religion made light of, and vices and faults which it would have been expedient for them to keep secret were displayed to the public.

In 1769 there came to Manila on the frigate "Venus" various printed books which sharply attacked the Jesuits, and censured their conduct and teachings, while they extolled the expulsion decreed against that order by Carlos III. These books began to circulate, and pass from hand to hand, to the great satisfaction of the Jesuits' enemies and the furious anger of their partisans; and a magistrate [i.e., Basaraz] who was a friend to the Jesuits proceeded, without authorization, charge, or commission from any one, to seize and prohibit the said books, and arrested the person who was distributing them. [The archbishop then wrote, besides the edict which follows this résumé, an indignant letter to Raón, both of which are cited at some length by our writer.] The fury of the Jesuits' partisans against the archbishop was extraordinary; and they disseminated reports that he was a heretic, and that his edict ought to be suppressed, with a thousand other insults against his person and dignity. A friar theologian wrote a confidential letter in defense of the Jesuits, and contradicting the [aforesaid] printed books; the Jesuits had a multitude of copies of this letter circulated. The archbishop immediately printed a long answer (or refutation) to the said letter, and likewise circulated it in profusion through the country. [The next feature of this controversy was the circulation of a voluminous MS. document, defending the theologian's letter and the teachings of the Jesuits. [151]

Decree by the archbishop of Manila

+

We, Don Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See archbishop of Manila and metropolitan of these Philipinas Islands; councilor and preacher to his Majesty, and apostolic subdelegate; deputy vicar-general for the royal forces on sea and land in this archdiocese and its suffragan dioceses for his Eminence the lord Cardinal de la Cerda y San Carlos, the patriarch of the Indias; chief almoner of the king our sovereign; chief chaplain and vicar-general of the said royal forces in all his domains and lordships; etc.:

To all the persons of both sexes who exist and dwell in our archbishopric, of whatever state, rank, and condition you may be, greeting in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true salvation. [152] We cannot deny the great pleasure and satisfaction with which our heart is filled at beholding, in our own experience, the loyalty, obedience, and fidelity with which our beloved subjects, in proof of their most profound and humble vassalage to the royal person of our august sovereign and lord, Don Carlos III (whom may God preserve), have accepted the most just decisions of his Majesty in regard to the expulsion of the regulars of the association named the Society of Jesus from all his dominions of España, the Americas, the Philipinas Islands, and others adjacent. And this first royal decree having been followed, among others, by that one in which his Majesty, as a prince who professes the soundest doctrine with the purest religion, issues effectual orders that in all his kingdoms may be suppressed that most pernicious and consequently abominable doctrine which the said regulars taught even from the beginning of that order--in regard to which we were thoroughly instructed years ago, and now, in order to secure the general conviction of this truth, there has just been published by order of his Majesty a pastoral by our brother dignitary his most illustrious Lordship the present archbishop of Burgos--we have learned that by the coming of the ships from Europa directly to these islands there have been made public in this city various printed documents [153] relative to the pernicious maxims and teachings of the aforesaid regulars. These documents, according to the uniform answers of persons who have come in the said ships, are publicly distributed in Madrid and other cities of our España; and we have even noticed in the Mercuries of public news which have reached our hands (and the said Mercuries are not printed without previous notice to and permission from the court) the aforesaid documents conspicuously announced. We know that in this city they have produced in the minds of many persons who have read them the same good effect as there in España--that is, to confirm them more and more in that just judgment which they have formed of the uprightness, and of the justness of the reasons, which could induce our Catholic sovereign to decide upon the expulsion of the aforesaid regulars. And we have been informed that the circulation of those documents has ceased [154]--(we know not why, and only know that such is the fact), without the intervention of the public, superior, and legitimate authority--a singular thing, which of itself is sufficient to occasion a most pernicious result, that those who have read them will doubt the truth of what is said therein, at the same time depriving those who have not read them of the important information which they furnish in regard to the lax and mischievous nature of the moral maxims which are encountered at every turn in the books written by the said regulars; and in some of the said documents these statements are mentioned, the works where they are found being cited, and their original authors. [Moreover], we, as our beloved people have seen, have not lost (in fulfilment of our official pastoral letter) any opportunity since our safe arrival in these islands--both in private conversations and in sermons, and even in public theses--to inveigh against laxity in matters of morality; and, since our obligation is so pressing, not only to teach good and sound doctrine, in order that it may be embraced, but also to point out emphatically what is pernicious and evil, in order that men may flee from it as from poisoned food, which slays the soul. The aforesaid documents have greatly aided us in this, forasmuch as they open the eyes of their readers, in order that they may learn the source from which have issued the wrong and dangerous doctrines which have occasioned so many injuries and losses to the holy Church--which, as opposed to the spirit of the Church, have always aroused against them the antagonism of the supreme head who rules it, of the holy fathers, and of all the true teachers of the gospel religion which our heavenly Master, Jesus Christ, imparted to us. Accordingly, in view of all this, we would be guilty of a very culpable omission if we should keep silence, in neglect of so excellent reasons, and should not explain our opinion to our beloved people on this occasion when the aforesaid documents have ceased to be current--from which it may result that many of our beloved subjects continue in their former false ideas and dangerous prepossessions, for lack of means so opportune for leading them out of these. Therefore, for all the aforesaid reasons (and after having examined the said printed documents), and to dissipate whatever uncertainties upon this point may have arisen in some minds, we have resolved to declare, as using our episcopal authority for the edification of souls, and by the present we do declare, that our subjects are authorized to read the aforesaid printed documents with security of conscience, and without prejudice to sound doctrine, in which assertion we have in mind the pious objects above stated. Indeed, far from being opposed thereto, it is very expedient to read them, in order to disabuse the mind of many prejudicial errors by which the conscience is endangered, and to arrive at a knowledge of the holy truth, to which end the matters which are treated in these books evidently conduce. For there is no reason to doubt, with appearance of prudence, that everything which is contained in them it strictly true, when it immediately occurs to everyone that, in giving this assurance, the men agree in all parts of the Catholic world who are most worthy of confidence on account of their piety, high standing, and wisdom--and among these are many Spaniards who are distinguished in both worlds for their virtue, and in both are no less noted for their learning. In the number of these are also found the supreme pontiffs, innumerable bishops and clergymen, an endless number of religious in other orders, and the universities; and even various individuals of high character, and who are prominent in the Society, have with one voice been calling, at all times, for the reparation of the spiritual decline which has, by dint of force and through sheer obstinacy, been introduced in the Church universal by those who are now expelled. [This they have done] by their arbitrary opinions, destructive to the gospel of Jesus Christ, for they were the first to carry these into practice; and through a practice so detestable they have given amply sufficient reasons to the Christian princes who with their kingdoms form the greater part of the Roman Catholic Church--and, above all, to her eldest son, our most pious, ever august, and Catholic monarch Don Carlos III (whom may God preserve)--for banishing them forever from all their vast domains. And as this is an indubitable fact, and notorious to all the world, such likewise are the arguments set forth [in the aforesaid documents]; and any person who for lack of profound study and of discernment between sound and wrong doctrines, or for want of opportunity, or through undue affection for those expelled persons, has been either unable or unwilling to observe seriously their iniquitous proceedings--whether as perpetually displaying, under the pretext of obedience, their reluctance to obey and submit to the sovereign decrees of the vicar of Christ; or persecuting everywhere the bishops; or making war on the other venerable and most holy religious orders; or poisoning good morals and even the faith itself, especially in the missions of China and Malabar (having been also the cause of the ruin of the Japan mission, notwithstanding the zeal of the missionaries of other orders and of the noble martyrs of the seraphic order, [155] whose memory will endure in the Church): or intriguing against the governments and the lives of princes; and attempting to turn, this way and that, the entire world at their pleasure--he who, we again say, in ignorance of all that has occurred in this matter, may remain in doubt as to the reasons which have, by divine ordering, caused the downfall of these regulars, is under obligation of conscience to lay aside this doubt, and to admit that such causes were urgent in order that so many Christian and Catholic princes should unite in the same and so momentous a judgment. For, their hearts being in the hand of God (as the Scriptures expressly declare to us), they have herein assured the success of the measures that they take, and uprightness and justice in their proceedings--and much more in things of greater importance; for as vicars of God, each one in his own domain, they issue commands, impose laws, and govern in pursuance of justice, with special assistance from God himself. And therefore it would be impiety, and a sort of blasphemy, to try to excuse and justify those who have been expelled; since this would be the same as wounding in the most conspicuous point of their honor the sovereignty of the kings, and especially of the [preëminently] Catholic among them all, who is our king--for whose defense every vassal ought to stand ready to lose his life; how much more so, to sacrifice personal desires and affections, or to keep silence and read in order that he may be undeceived from error and instructed in the truth of things, or not to utter insults regarding the Head [of the Church] in order to defend some members whose corruption had increased to such an extent that it was necessary to sever them entirely in order to save the body.

This and no other is the sound doctrine which upon this point we desire our beloved faithful to bear well in mind; and in order that it may come to the knowledge of all, and that no one can allege ignorance at any time, we command that the present edict be published in the customary churches, and posted in public places, where it can be read by all. Given in our archiepiscopal palace at Manila, signed by us, stamped with the seal of our coat-of-arms, and countersigned by our undersigned secretary; on the first day of November in the year one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-nine.

Basilio, archbishop of Manila.

By command of his illustrious Lordship the archbishop of Manila, my master:

Father Don Ildephonso Garcia, secretary.

THE COUNCIL OF 1771

Letter of a missionary father of the Order of St. Francis to a Spanish father of the Society of Jesus, written from the city of Manila in the Philippine Islands, December 13, 1771, and communicated not long ago to Father Aloysius Knapp. [156]

The provincial Council which was held this year by the archbishop of this place with his three suffragans has given rise to the greatest discord. [157] For therein the archbishop and the governor of the islands sought to have abolished the solemn votive Mass (of the Blessed [Virgin]) and the Salve Regina--which from the first christianizing of these islands it has been the custom to chant every Saturday in honor of the Blessed Virgin as well as other devotions to the Blessed Virgin, for the preservation and spread of the Catholic religion--under the pretext that the Indians might not [thereby] be led into idolatry and the worship of Mary as a goddess. [158] This purpose and decision of the two they gave in writing to the three suffragans. Two of the suffragans--one of whom was a secular, the other belonging to the Order of St. Dominic--yielded assent, or at least showed no displeasure thereat. But the third, by name De Luna, of the Order of St. Francis, bishop of Camarines, a man worthy of honor for his advanced age and uprightness, rose in indignation at the dastardliness of the motion, and with apostolic zeal declaimed against the written decision. On recognizing, however, that his endeavor was wholly fruitless, with the declaration that the council was a scandal he left the assembly, subsequently sending [a copy of] this scandalous mandate to the royal Audiencia--a body consisting of three magistrates, to whom an appeal may lie against the governor--from whom he requested an official statement in writing to that effect, in order that he might send this scandalous decree to Madrid. On being apprised of his action, the governor and archbishop in a rage sent soldiers to force from Bishop de Luna the statement of the royal Audiencia and the written decree, even under threat of death, should he refuse to surrender them. But as the whole city was deeply indignant at this insolent proceeding, the soldiers, dreading greater evils, desisted from their violent purpose, whereupon Bishop de Luna received orders to leave the city. Soon after his return to his episcopal see he issued a pastoral letter to his clergy, religious and secular, wherein he declared the council [159] null and scandalous. This declaration of the bishop was accepted by all except the Dominican fathers, who sided with the archbishop and the governor, who, quite unmoved by tumults, scandals, and bloodshed, continued this council of theirs. In the meantime Bishop de Luna put himself in hiding, and, it is said, took passage for Spain on a ship sailing for China, in order to present the case to his Majesty. In this council it furthermore was decreed, that Bishop de Luna should be wrested from his see, and all the Augustinian fathers driven from their parishes. Accordingly, on October 22 and 28 of the year 1771, a large body of soldiery, sent therefor from the city of Manila by the governor, gave to thirty-one Indian clerics [160] the parishes of the Augustinian fathers, whom they led away as prisoners after having pillaged their homes in the name of the king, and substituted the said Indian clerics in their place. The same fate that befell the Augustinian fathers was destined for us Franciscans; but, rather than be taken away as prisoners, we all abandoned our homes and our parishioners, and went up to our convent on a mountain, where we purposed to struggle with hunger and hardships until God should otherwise dispose of us. The father provincials of both orders sent word in writing to their religious who were not yet in captivity, to return to Spain, in any way and, in fine, by whatever road they could. It is said that before long soldiers are to be sent to pillage all our convents, both inside and outside the walls of Manila. The governor is intercepting all letters addressed to Spain; he forbids any to be sent thither. Accordingly, since he recently got hold of four letters which were intended for Spain, which had been written by the commander-in-chief of the troops, he had him thrown into jail and deprived of his command; another Spaniard, who sided with the Spanish religious and clerics, he fined three thousand dollars [talerorum]. For the governor and the archbishop declare that Spanish religious or clerics will no longer be tolerated, since with their masses, sodalities [institutis], and prayers in common [comprecationibus], [161] they are tricking the people, and with their devotions bleeding them of their money. During this persecution the Moros, the enemies of the Christians, are fishing in muddy waters; from the neighboring islands of Xolo and Mindanao they are making raids in every quarter, pillaging and setting afire churches and houses; they have slain many; many more they have carried away into slavery, as happened three days ago when they captured five hundred Christians a short distance from the city of Manila. All these miseries and the immense slaughter of Christians the governor and the archbishop view with unconcern, pleased with this conceit alone that thereby they are harassing the religious and are strong enough to persecute them--whose sorrowful fate, moreover, they rejoice at, when, in the midst of banquets and revelry [jocando], they intone the [invitatory] of the [divine] office: Regem, cui omnia vivunt, venite adoremus, venite exultemus, [162] etc.

They rejoice since they have driven very many religious away from their ministries; but it is greatly to be feared that their joy will soon be turned into mourning. For all the Pampangos, the people who occupy the most fertile and extensive region about the city of Manila--who are the bravest of all the Indians, and excel all the rest in religious fervor--are stirring up a revolt against the governor, the archbishop, the Indian clerics, and all their partisans, all of whom they threaten with death. They seem already to have leagued themselves with the Moros, to whom they have already given as captives five of the Indian clerics thrust upon them, in exchange for five Spanish soldiers, besides asking for the Augustinian fathers who were taken away from them by force.

Before opening the said council [conciliabulum], the archbishop made the charge that all religious were unfit and unworthy to attend the council--a statement that he insisted each one of them should subscribe to in his own handwriting. Such as refused were [punished], some by being thrown into prison, others by being very grievously distressed. Two fathers of the Pious Schools, however, as being members of his own order, [163] he chose as secretaries of the council.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DATA

The documents in the present volume are obtained from the following sources:

1. Events in Filipinas.--From Montero y Vidal's Historia de Filipinas, ii, pp. 66-70, 115-140, 229-382; from a copy in possession of the Editors.

2. Financial affairs.--From a MS. copy (probably an official duplicate of the original document), in the possession of Edward E. Ayer.

3. Letter by Viana.--From Viana's MS. book, Cartas y consultas, fol. 39v-46; apparently Viana's original letter-book for the year 1767; it is in the possession of Edward E. Ayer.

4. Anda's Memorial.--From Pardo de Tavera's publication (with many annotations), Memorial de Anda y Salazar (Manila, 1899); from a copy belonging to James A. Robertson.

5. Ordinances of good government.--From José Felipe Del-Pan's Ordenanzas de buen gobierno de Corcuera, Cruzat y Raon (Manila, 1891); from a copy belonging to the Library of Congress.

6. Instructions to the secular clergy.--From Ferrando's Historia de PP. dominicos (Madrid, 1871) v, pp. 59, 60; from a copy belonging to E. E. Ayer.

7. Expulsion of the Jesuits.--From Danvila y Collado's Reinado de Carlos III (Madrid, 1894), tomos ii, iii, from a copy belonging to the Library of Congress; Crétineau-Joly's Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus, v, pp. 236-254, from a copy in the State Historical Library of Wisconsin; Montero y Vidal's Historia de Filipinas, ii, pp. 181-228. The decree by the archbishop is obtained from a printed copy (dated January 1, 1770) in the Archivo Historico Nacional, Madrid.

8. The council of 1771.--From a copy of the original Latin MS. (which is conserved in private archives), sent to the Editors by a friend in Germany.

NOTES

[1] This résumé of events during the latter part of the eighteenth century is compiled from Montero y Vidal's Historia de Filipinas, ii, pp. 66-70, 115-140, 229-382; that work is mainly annalistic. Of those which we have used in former volumes, Murillo Velarde's stops at 1716, and Concepción and Zúñiga at the siege of Manila (evidently for the prudential reasons, connected with persons still living, which Zúñiga frankly assigns in his own case); Montero y Vidal is therefore the only writer now available who follows the thread of secular events connectedly throughout the later history of the islands. Wherever possible, we have used his own language--which, in long citations, or special phrases, is distinguished by quotation marks.

[2] On March 27, 1765, Viana declared (Respuestas, fol. 113) that the natives of Pangasinan ought to be compelled to pay all arrears of tribute due since the last collection made before the English invasion; that the village notables should not be exempted; and that each tribute ought to pay two reals extra to reimburse the government for the costs of putting down the rebellion in that province. Later (fol. 134), he estimates that the tributes in that province are the same as before the war; "for, although it is certain that a great many of the insurgents died, it is also evident that the reduction [of the province] prevents the concealment of the tributes which was formerly practiced by the heads of barangay."

[3] Puch specified the alcaldes-mayor (VOL. XLIX, p. 337, note 208)--cf. what Viana says of those officials in his "Memorial" (VOL. XLVIII), chapter v, sections 34-38--but his remarks were considered as reflections on higher officials.

[4] Ferrando (v, pp. 9-16) says that Puch was engaged, by order of his provincial, Father Bernardo Pazaengos (more correctly written Pazuengos), and at the urgent requests of other pious persons, in conducting a sort of mission in the city, "with the object of correcting the many vices which had been introduced into Manila during the invasion by the English;" and in one of those sermons he made the utterances which brought him into trouble. The Audiencia resolved to notify the provincials of all the orders and the dean of the cathedral that they must order their subordinates to conform to the laws in regard to their preaching; and the Jesuit provincial in particular, that he also take care that Puch should give satisfaction to the Audiencia and the public for his reflections on government officials. Pazuengos laid the case before the heads of Santo Tomás university, and, as their decision was in his support, he answered the Audiencia that he had ordered the priest hereafter to obey the law cited by the Audiencia; but that he declared Puch to be "immune and exempt from blame" in regard to the remarks made in the sermon before mentioned, and protested that he did not intend to censure in the least the acts of the Audiencia. He added that, if this were not enough, he would send Puch to the Mindanao missions. This aroused Viana's anger, first "against the Jesuits, and afterward against all the other orders; and he finally issued an official opinion filled with calumnies and invectives, which might rather be called a defamatory libel." At this all the orders took up the matter, especially resenting Viana's attitude because they had supported the government so loyally during the English invasion: the superiors held a special conference in the convent at Tondo, and agreed to draw up a remonstrance to the king against the fiscal's unjust attack on them, demanding that he investigate the whole affair and decide it according to justice. Ferrando condemns Puch's imprudent remarks, but regrets that the matter had not been settled by his superior, instead of dragging the other orders into the quarrel and thus eventually causing trouble at court for all of them, especially for the Jesuits. Ferrando adds (p. 24): "We have also another key to explain the hostility which certain persons at that time manifested toward the religious orders in these provinces over seas, in the sinister Pleiad of ministers who then surrounded the Catholic king. Aranda, Roda, Campománes, Azpuru, and Floridablanca all had connections, more or less evident and close, with the French encyclopedists and philosophers of that time, and all emulated Tanucci in regard to regalist doctrines"--that is, maintaining the rights and prerogatives of the state as against the church (Gray's Velázquez Dictionary).

In regard to this last statement, cf. Manuel Danvila y Collado, in his Reinado de Carlos III, ii, pp. 561-564: "Religious intolerance, still great in the reign of Felipe V, tended to extinction in succeeding reigns. In the almost half a century during which he occupied the throne, there were in España twelve inquisitors-general; and such was the hold which the Holy Office possessed in public opinion that, in order to entertain the new king, a solemn auto de fe was held in 1701, which he declined to attend. Nevertheless, he protected the Inquisition, because Louis XIV had advised him to support it as a means of maintaining tranquillity in the country; he availed himself of it to inspire respect for the oath of fidelity which was given to the new monarch; he repressed the Jewish worship which, again and secretly, had been propagated in España after the annexation of Portugal; but it was the general opinion that rigor against the heretics diminished after the advent of the house of Bourbon. The sect of Molinos was persecuted and punished with severity; even Macanaz, the enthusiastic defender of the royal prerogatives, was banished from España, for political rather than religious motives; and the third volume of the Historia civil de España, by Fray Nicolás de Jesús Belando, who dared to defend the regalist idea, was prohibited. These rigorous proceedings diminished during the reign of Fernando VI, who permitted Macanaz to return to España, and who established as a principle that the coming of the Bourbons to the throne of the Españas was to produce a complete modification of the system of the Holy Office ... Even the Concordats of 1737 and 1753, by recognizing the royal prerogatives of the crown of España, authorizing the taxes on the estates of the clergy, and reforming various points of discipline, allowed the admission of some ideas which ignorance or superstition had until then deemed irreligious or favorable to impiety. The Diario de los literatos also enlightened many people in regard to knowledge of the books which were being published, and the judgment which ought to be formed of them; and the weekly sheets gave acquaintance with foreign works which no one knew of, and which were a preparation for the interesting literary transformation of the epoch of Fernando VI; while at the same time the rigors of the Inquisition were relaxed, in harmony with the change which had been produced in public opinion. Indeed, from that time the Holy Office occupied itself only with persecuting the Jesuits and the Free Masons (who had been excommunicated by the bull of Clement XII of April 28, 1738, renewed on May 18, 1751).... There certainly is no room for doubt that, partly through the progress of public opinion and partly through the knowledge which was obtained here of the works of Diderot and D'Alambert--and especially of the Encyclopedia, begun in 1751, and concluded in 1772--it became the fashion and people were proud to have acquaintance with the tendency of the philosophy proclaimed by the French freethinkers--but they did not comprehend that this philosophy necessarily led to revolution, and with it to the loss of all property rights (which was the foundation of its influence in society), and the annihilation of all political influence within the state.... The Spanish nobility were seduced by the philosophic or Encyclopedistic propaganda of France."

The official opinion by Viana regarding the Puch episode may be found in a MS. volume entitled, Respuestas dadas por el fiscal de S. M., fol. 22v-26; it is apparently Viana's own original record of his official opinions delivered to the Audiencia during the year 1765, and is in the possession of Edward E. Ayer, Chicago. This book furnishes valuable information regarding conditions in the islands after the departure of the British forces.

[5] Le Gentil (who sojourned in Manila from 1766 to 1768) relates in his Voyage (t. ii, pp. 199, etc.) various incidents to show this; and Raón even displayed to Le Gentil the magnificent presents which he had received from the officers of a French ship which came to Manila in evasion of the prohibition of foreign trade there. Raón was also condemned, in his residencia, for having revealed to the Jesuits, beforehand, for a large sum of money, the news that their expulsion had been decreed, and for other acts of disobedience to the royal commands regarding that expulsion.

[6] This date is incorrect, for the fiscal gave his assent to the manufacture of barrillas on February 16, 1765. This is shown by the entry for that date in Viana's Respuestas (MS.), fol. 89; he makes the express stipulation that these barrillas be used only for petty payments, and not for important transactions. From fol. 108v it appears that these coins were immediately made, but in too great haste, and were called in by the authorities, late in March.

[7] See Jagor's description of the great volcano of Mayon and his ascent of it (September, 1859), with a list of its known eruptions, in his Reisen, pp. 75-84. Cf. Le Gentil's description of it and of this eruption (Voyage, ii, pp. 13-19); he cites at length a letter from the then alcalde of Albay. Its summit was considered inaccessible until two young Scotchmen made the ascent in April, 1858.

[8] Santa Justa belonged to the Order of Escuelas Pías (see VOL. XLVIII, pp. 52-54, note 10). See list of writings by this prelate, in Montero y Vidal's Hist. de Filipinas, ii, pp. 228, 229, 318; also in Vindel's Catálogo biblioteca filipina, pp. 380-389; they are mainly pastoral letters, and memorials to the Spanish government.

[9] When Raón insisted on enforcing the royal rights of patronage, the orders all resisted him, repeating the arguments which they had alleged to Arandía in the like case. The Dominicans declared that they could not obey the governor's commands until they could receive orders from their superiors in Europe; Raón refused to wait, and the provincial declared that his curas would rather surrender their ministries, but would continue to serve therein until the governor, as vice-patron, should command that these be surrendered to other curas. "This was sufficient to make the archbishop hasten to deliver to the secular clergy, first the ministries of the Parián and Binondo, and afterwards those of the province of Bataan, notwithstanding that he could have no cause for complaint against our religious, who without resistance or opposition had accepted his diocesan visit, as he himself confessed in letters to the king and the supreme pontiff. He found a pretext for proceeding to the secularization of the curacies in Bataan, in the banishment of the Jesuits, whose expulsion from the islands occurred at the same time as the events which we are relating." "As the ministries in the island of Negros were left vacant in consequence of the expulsion of the Jesuits, the governor addressed himself to our provincial, asking for ministers to occupy those vacant posts. The latter excused himself from this, on account of the lack of religious; and the archbishop made this a pretext for informing and counseling the governor that, since the Dominicans had offered their resignation of the doctrinas in the province of Bataan, on account of the controversy over the right of patronage, the religious who were ministering in that district could be sent to the island of Negros. He offered to provide secular priests in their place, and availed himself of this opportunity to despoil our religious of the curacies or ministries of Bataan. In effect, this was done; and our religious were compelled to abandon to the seculars this province of the archbishopric, in order to go to learn a new dialect and minister to strange peoples in the inland of Negros." "The bishop of Cebú had no secular priests capable of replacing the Jesuits (as deserving as persecuted), who were administering the island of Negros and the province of Iloilo,... consequently, our religious began to minister in the villages of Iloilo, Himaras, Mandurriao and Molog, in the island of Panay; and those of Ilog, Cabancalan, Jimamaylan, and Guilgonan, in that of Negros. With great repugnance the province took charge of an administration of which the Jesuit fathers had been despoiled in so unworthy a manner; and not only on this account but on that of the great difficulties which arose from this separation of provinces and villages, in the regular visiting of them and in intercourse and the supply of provisions, our fathers abandoned those ministries at the end of some years; and in the meantime the bishop of Cebú undertook to transfer their administration to the secular priests. Thus it was that by the year 1776 our religious had departed from all those villages." (Ferrando, Hist. PP. dominicos, v, pp. 39, 42, 43.)

[10] "All the curacies of the banished Jesuits, those of the Dominicans and Recollects, and those of the Augustinians in Pampanga, were handed over to the secular clergy. In order to fill so many curacies with ministers for instruction, the archbishop was obliged to ordain so many Indians that it became one of the most reprehensible abuses that can be committed by a prelate. On account of this it was a common saying in Manila that rowers for the pancos could not be found, because the archbishop had ordained them all." (Buzeta and Bravo, Diccionario, ii, p. 279.)

The result was a great disappointment to the archbishop himself, as may be seen by his exhortations and pastoral letters addressed to them; some of these may be found in Ferrando, Hist. PP. dominicos, v, pp. 51-61. He recounts their ignorance, neglect of duty, sloth, vicious practices, cruel treatment of the natives, and even thefts from the churches entrusted to their care; he reproaches, exhorts, commands, and threatens, and calls them to account before God for their transgressions. From Ferrando (pp. 59-60) we translate Santa Justa's "Instructions to the secular clergy" in 1771; it will appear later in this volume.

[11] Forrest makes the following statements about the laws and government of the Mindanao Moros (Voyage to New Guinea, pp. 277, 278):

"Though laws are similar in most countries, each has some peculiar: the principal of Magindano are these. For theft, the offender loses the right hand, or pays threefold, just as among the Mahometans of Atcheen. For maiming, death: adultery, death to both parties: fornication, a fine. (The industrious Chinese seem to be excluded from the benefit of law: those in power often forcing kangans upon them, and making them yearly pay heavy interest. The ordinary punishment of incontinence in female slaves to their masters, is cutting off their hair; which was a custom in Germany, in former days.) Inheritance goes in equal shares to sons, and half to daughters; the same to grandchildren. Where are no children, whole brothers and sisters inherit. If there are no brothers or sisters, or nephews, or nieces, or first cousins, the Sultan claims it for the poor. It is the same, ascending even to the grand-uncle. If a man put away his wife, she gets one third of the furniture; also money, in proportion to his circumstances. A child's name is not given by priests, as in the Molucca islands, and in other Mahometan countries. The father assembles his friends, feasts them; shaves off a little lock of hair from the infant head, puts it into a bason, and then buries it, or commits it to the water.