 CHAPTER 7 PART 2 BEGINNING OF A NEW PERIOD OF CONQUEST In the spring of 1576, Salcedo died at Began, at the age of 27, with his death may be said to close the first period of the history in the Philippines, out of the conquest, extending from 1565 to 1576. For the next 25 years, the ambitions of the Spaniards were not content with the exploration of this archipelago, but there were greater and more striking conquests, to which the minds of both soldier and priest aspired. Despite settlement with Portugal, the rich spiced islands to the south still attracted them, and there were soon revealed the fertile coasts of Siam and Cambodia, the great empire of China, the beautiful island of Formosa, and the Japanese archipelago. These with their great populations and wealth were more alluring fields than the poor and sparsely populated coasts of the Philippines. So, for the next quarter of a century, the policy of the Spaniards in the Philippines was not so much to develop these islands themselves as to make them the center for the commercial and spiritual conquest of the Orient. A treaty with the Chinese. The new governor arrived in the islands in August 1575. He was Dr. Francisco de Sande. In October, there returned the ambassadors who had been sent to China by La Becerrez. The Viceroy of Hukien had received them with much ceremony. He had not permitted the friars to remain, but had forwarded the governor's letter to the Chinese emperor. In February following came a Chinese embassy, granting a port of the empire with which the Spaniards could trade. This port probably was Amoy, which continued to be the chief port of communication with China to the present day. It was undoubtedly commerce and not the missionaries that the Chinese desired. Two Augustinians attempted to return with this embassy to China, but the Chinese on leaving the harbor of Manila landed on the coast of Zambales, where they whipped the missionaries, killed their servants and interpreter, and left the friars bound to trees, once they were rescued by a small party of Spaniards who happened to pass that way. Sir Francis Drake's Noted Voyage The year 1577 is notable for the appearance in the east of the great English sea captain freebooter and naval hero Francis Drake. Spain and Spain at this moment, while not actually at war, were rapidly approaching the conflict which made them for centuries traditional enemies. Spain was the champion of Roman ecclesiasticism. Her king, Philip II, was not only a cruel bigot, but a politician of sweeping ambition. His schemes included the conquest of France and England, the extermination of Protestantism, and the subjection of Europe to his own and the Roman authority. The English people scented the danger from afar. And while the two courts nominally maintained peace, the daring seamen of British Devon were quietly putting to sea in their swift and terrible vessels for the crippling of the Spanish power. The history of naval warfare records no more reckless adventures than those of the English mariners during this period. Audacity could not rise higher. Drake's is the most famous and romantic figure of them all. In the year 1577 he sailed from England with the avowed purpose of sweeping the Spanish main. He passed the Straits of Magellan and came up the western coast of South America, dispoiling the Spanish shipping from Valparaiso to Panama. Thence he came on, across the Pacific, touched the coast of Mindanao, and turned south to the Malucas. The Portuguese had nominally annexed the Malucas in 1522, but at the time of Drake's visit they had been driven from Ternate, though still holding Tidor. Drake entered into friendly relations with the Sultan of Ternate, and secured a cargo of clothes. From here he sailed boldly homeward, daring the Portuguese fleets as he had defied the Spanish, and by way of good hope returned to England, his ship the first after Magellan's to circumnavigate the globe. A Spanish expedition to Borneo. The appearance of Drake and the Malucas roused Sonde to ambitious action. The attraction of the southern archipelagos was overpowering, and at this moment the opportunity seemed to open to the governor to force southward his power. One of the Malay kings of Borneo, Zirela, arrived in Manila, petitioning aid against his brother, and promising to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king of Spain over the kingdom of Borneo. Sonde went in person to restore this chieftain to power. He had a fleet of galleys and frigates, and according to Padre Gaspar de San Agustín, more than 1,500 Filipino bowmen from Pangasinán, Cagallán, and the Visayas accompanied the expedition. He landed on the coast of Borneo, destroyed the fleet of Praz and the city of the usurper, and endeavored to secure Circla in his principality. Cygnus among his fleet and the lack of provisions forced him to return to Manila. The first attack upon the Moros of Holo. On his return he sent an officer against the island of Holo. This officer forced the Holoanos to recognize his power, and from there he passed to the island of Mindanao, where he further enforced obedience upon the natives. This was the beginning of the Spanish expeditions against the Moros, and it had the effect of arousing in these Mohammedan pirates terrible retaliatory vengeance. Under Sonde the conquest of the Camarines was completed by Captain Juan Chavos, and the city of Nueva Caseres was founded. The appointment of Governor Ronquillo. It was the uniform policy of the Spanish government to limit the term of office of the governor to a short period of years. This was one of the futile provisions by which Spain attempted to control both the ambition and the avarice of her colonial captains. But Don Gonzalo Ronquillo had granted to him the governorship of the Philippines for life, on the condition of his raising and equipping the force of six hundred Spaniards largely at his own expense for the better protection and pacification of the archipelago. This Ronquillo did, bringing his expedition by way of Panama. He arrived in April 1580, and although he died at the end of three years, his rule came at an important time. The Spanish and the Portuguese colonies combined. In 1580 Philip II conquered an annex to Spain, the Kingdom of Portugal, and with Portugal came necessarily to the Spanish crown those rich eastern colonies which the Valar of Degama and Albuquerque had won. Portugal re-won her independence in 1640, but for years Manila was the center of a colonial empire extending from Goa in India to Formosa. Ronquillo's rule under orders from the crown entered into correspondence with the captain of the Portuguese fortress on the island of Tidor, and the captain of Tidor petitioned Ronquillo for assistance in re-conquering the tempting island of Ternate. Ronquillo sent south a considerable expedition, but after arriving in the Malucas the disease of Berry Berry and the Spanish camp defeated the undertaking. Ronquillo also sent a small armada to the coasts of Borneo and Malesia where a limited amount of pepper was obtained. The few years of Ronquillo's reign were in other ways important. A colony of Spaniards was established at Oton on the island of Panay near the site of the present city of Iloilo. And under Ronquillo was pacified for the first time the great valley of the Cagayan. At the mouth of the river a Japanese adventurer Tefusa or Tezufu had established himself and was attempting the subjugation of this important part of northern Luzon. Ronquillo sent against him Captain Carrion who expelled the intruder and established on the present site of La Loca the city of Nueva Segovia. Two friars accompanied this expedition and the occupation of this valley by the Spaniards was made permanent. The first conflicts between the church and the state. In March 1581 they arrived the first bishop of Manila, Domingo de Celasar. Almost immediately began those conflicts between the spiritual and civil authorities and between bishop and the regular orders which have filled to no small degree the history of the islands. The bishop was one of those authoritative, ambitious and arrogant characters so typical in the history of the church. It was largely due to his protests against the autocratic power of the governor that the king was induced to appoint the first Aureancia. The character and power of these courts have already been explained. The president and judges arrived the year following the death of Ronquillo and the president, Dr. Santiago de Vera, became acting governor during the succeeding five years. In 1587 the first Dominicans, 15 in number, arrived and founded their celebrated mission La Provincia del Santísimo Rosario. Increasing strength of the malaise. De Vera continued the policy of his predecessors and another fruitless attack was made on Ternate in 1585. The power of the Malay people was increasing while that of the Europeans was decreasing. The sultans had expelled their foreign masters and neither Spaniard nor Portuguese were able to affect the conquest of the Maluccas. There were uprising of the natives in Manoa and in Cagallan and Ilocos. The Decree of 1589. Affairs in the islands did not yet, however, suit Bishop Salazar and as the representative of both governor and bishop, the Jesuit Alonso Sanchez was dispatched in 1586 to lay the needs of the colony before the king. Philip was apparently impressed with the necessity of putting the government of the islands upon a better administrative basis. To this end he published the important Decree of 1589. The governor now became a paid officer of the crown at a salary of 10,000 duquets. For the proper protection of the colony in the conquest of the Maluccas, a regular force of 400 soldiers accompanied the governor. His powers were extended to those of an actual vice-region of the king and the Aurelliancia was abolished. The man selected to occupy this important post was Don Gomez Perez de Marinas, who arrived with the new constitution in May 1590. So great was the chagrin of the bishop at the abolition of the Aureliancia and the increase of the governor's power that he himself set out for Spain to lay his wishes before the court. The missionary efforts of the friars. 24 Franciscans came with de Marinas and the presence now of three orders necessitated the partition of the islands among them. The keenest rivalry and jealousy existed among them over the prosecution of missions and still more foreign lands. To the missionaries of this age it seemed a possible thing to convert the great and conservative nations of China and Japan to the western religion. In the month of de Marinas' arrival, a company of Dominicans attempted to found a mission in China and an embassy coming from Japan to demand vassalage from the Philippines. Four of the newly arrived Franciscans accompanied the Japanese on their return. A year later in 1592 another embassy from the king of Cambodia arrived, bringing gifts that included two elephants and petitioning for sucker against the king of Siam. This was the beginning of an alliance between Cambodia and the Philippines which lasted for many years and which occasioned frequent military aid and many efforts to convert that country. Months of de Marinas, but the center of de Marinas' ambitions was the effective conquest of the East Indies and the extension of Spanish power and his own rule through the Maluccas. With this end in view for three years he made preparations. For months the shores were lined with the yards of the shipbuilders and the great forests of Bulacan fell before the axes of the Indians. More than two hundred vessels, galeras, calcotas, and virayas, were built and assembled at Cavite. In the fall of 1593 the expedition consisting of over nine hundred Spaniards, Filipino bowmen and rowers, was ready. Many of the Filipinos procured to row these boats or said to have been slaves purchased through the Indian chiefs by the Spanish encomanderos. The governor sent forward this great fleet under the command of his son Don Luis and in the month of October he himself set sail in a galley with Chinese rowers. But on the night of the second day, while off the island of Maricaban, the Chinese oarsmen rose against the Spaniards of whom there were about forty on the ship and killed almost the entire number including the governor. They then escaped in the boat to the Ilocos coast and then to China. The murder of this active and illustrious general was a decisive blow to the ambitious projects for the conquest of the East Indies. Among other papers which Das Mourinhas brought from Spain was a royal sedula giving him power to nominate his successor, who proved to be his son Don Luis, who after some difficulties succeeded temporarily to his father's position. Arrival of Morga In June 1595 there arrived Don Antonio de Morga, who had been appointed lieutenant governor with judicial powers in cases of appeal. With Morga came several Jesuit missionaries. He was also the bearer of an order granting to the Jesuits the exclusive privilege of conducting missions in China and Japan. The other orders were forbidden to pass outside the islands. An attempt to colonize Mindanao. In the year 1596 the captain Rodriguez de Figueroa received the title of governor of Mindanao, with exclusive right to colonize the island for the space of two lives. He left Iloelo in April, with 214 Spaniards, two Jesuit priests and many natives. They landed in the Rio Grande of Mindanao, where the defiant dato, Silonga, fortified himself and resisted them. Almost immediately, Figueroa rashly ventured on shore and was killed by Moros. Reinforcements were sent under Don Juan Ronquillo, who, after nearly bringing the datos to submission, abandoned all he had gained, the Spaniards burned their forts on the Rio Grande and retired to Caldera, near Zamboanga, where they built a presidio. DEATH OF FRANCISKANS IN JAPAN The new governor, Don Francisco Teo de Guzmán, arrived on June 1st, 1596. He had previously been treasurer of the Casa de Contra Casión in Seville. Then after his arrival, an important and serious tragedy occurred in Japan. The ship for Alcapulco went to shore on the Japanese coast, and its rich cargo was seized by the feudal prince where the vessel sought assistance. The Franciscans already had missions in these islands, and a quarrel existed between them, and the Portuguese Jesuits over this missionary field. The latter succeeded in prejudicing the Japanese court against their rivals, and when the Franciscans injudiciously pressed for the return of the property of the wrecked galleon, the feudal ruler, greedy for the rich plunder and exasperated by their preaching, met their petitions with the sentence of death. They were horribly crucified at the port of Nagasaki, February 5th, 1597. This feudal lord was the proud and mighty Hideyoshi. He was planning the conquest of the Philippines themselves, when death ended his plans. The first archbishop in the Philippines. Meanwhile, the efforts of Salazar at the Spanish court had affected further important changes for the islands. The re-establishment of the Royal Audeancia was ordered, and his own position was elevated to that of archbishop, with the three Episcopal sects of Ilocos Cebu and the Camarines. He did not live to assume this office, and the first archbishop of the Philippines was Ignacio Santibáñez, who also died three months after his arrival, on May 28th, 1598. Re-establishment of the Audeancia. The Audeancia was re-established with great pomp and ceremony. The royal seal was borne on a magnificently Caparra-sund horse to the cathedral, where a tedium was chanted, and then to the Casas Reales, where it was inaugurated the famous court that continued without interruption down to the end of Spanish rule. Dr. Morga was one of the first oidores, and the earliest judicial record which can now be found in the archives of this court is the sentence bearing his signature. The Rise of Morro Piracy. The last years of De Guzmán's governorship were filled with troubles ominous for the future of the islands. The Presidio of Caldera was destroyed by the Moros. During this victory, in the year 1599, the Moros of Jolo and Magindanao equipped a piratical fleet of fifty Caracoas and swept the coasts of the Bessayas. Cebu, Negros, and Panay were ravaged, their towns burned, and their inhabitants carried off as slaves. The following year saw the return of a larger and still more dreadful expedition. The people of Panay abandoned their towns and fled into the mountains, under the belief that these terrible attacks had been inspired by the Spaniards. To check these pirates, Juan Gallinato, with a force of two hundred Spaniards, was sent against Jolo, but like so many expeditions that followed his, he accomplished nothing. The inability of the Spaniards was now revealed, and the era of Moro Piracy had begun. From this time until the present day, about the year 1800, wrote Zuniga, these Moros have not ceased to infest our colonies. Enumerable are the Indians they have captured, the towns they have looted, the Rancherriyes they have destroyed, the vessels they have taken. It seems as if God has preserved them, for vengeance on the Spaniards that they have not been able to subject them in two hundred years. In spite of the expeditions sent against them, the armaments sent almost every year to pursue them. In a very little while, we conquered all the islands of the Philippines, but the little island of Jolo, a part of Mindanao, and other islands nearby, we have not been able to subject it to this day. Battle at Mariveles with the Dutch In October 1600, two Dutch vessels appeared in the islands. It was the famous exposition of the Dutch Admiral Van Nort. They had come through the Straits of Magellan on a voyage around the world. The Dutch were in great need of provisions. As they were in their great enemy's colony, they captured and sunk several boats, Spanish, and Chinese, bound for Manila with rice, poultry, palm wine, and other stores of food. At Mariveles, a Japanese vessel from Japan was overhauled. Meanwhile, in Manila, great excitement and activity prevailed. The Spaniards fitted up two galleons in the Oidor Morga, himself to command with a large crew of fighting men. On December 14, they attacked the Dutch, whose crews had been reduced to no more than eighty men on both ships. The vessel commanded by Moria ran down the flagship of Van Nort, and for hours the ships lay side by side with a hand-to-hand fight raged on the deck and in the hold. The ships taking fire, Morga disengaged his ship, which was so badly shattered that it sank, with great loss of life, but Morga and some others reached the little island of Fortuna. Van Nort was able to extinguish the fire on his vessel and escape from the islands. He eventually reached Holland. The smaller vessel was captured with this crew of thirteen men and six boys. The men were hanged at Cavite. Other troubles of the Spanish. In the year 1600, two ships sailed for Acapulco. But one went down off the Cantanduanes, and the other was wrecked on the Landrones. On top of all other misfortunes, Manila suffered in the last months of this government a terrible earthquake which destroyed many houses and the Church of the Jesuits. The moros, the Dutch, anxieties, and losses by sea, the visitations of God, how much of the history of the seventeenth century in the Philippines is filled with these four things. End of Chapter 7, Part 2 By David Barrow Chapter 8, Part 1 This is the Librivox recording. All Librivox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librivox.org Chapter 8 The Philippines 300 years ago Condition of the Archipelago at the beginning of the seventeenth century The Spanish rule completely established. At the close of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had been in possession of the Philippines for a generation. In these thirty-five years, the most striking of all the results of the long period of Spanish occupation were accomplished. The work of these first soldiers and missionaries established the limits and character of Spanish rule as it was to remain for 250 years. Into this first third of a century, the Spaniard crowded all his early feats of arms in exploration. Thereafter, down to 1850, few new fields were explored, but all through the seventeenth century, the missionaries were Christianizing the conquered peoples. The survey of the Archipelago given by Marga, soon after 1600, reads like a narrative of approximately modern conditions. It reveals to us how great had been the activities of the early Spaniards and how small the achievements of these countrymen after the seventeenth century began. All of the large islands, except Palawan and the Moro country, were, in that day, under encomiendas, their inhabitants paying tributes and, for the most part, ready to embrace the Catholic faith. The smaller groups and islets were almost austerely exploited. Even of the little Catanduanis, lying off the Pacific coast of Luzon, Marga could say, quote, they are well populated with natives, a good race, all encomiendas of Spaniards, with doctrine and churches, and an Alcalde mayor, who does justice among them, end quote. The babuyanes at the north of the Archipelago were an exception, quote, they are not encomended, nor is tribute collected among them, nor are there Spaniards among them, because they are of little reason and politeness, and there have neither been Christians made among them, nor have they justices, end quote. In 1591, however, the babuyanes had been given an encomienda to Esteban de la Serna and Francisco Castillo. They are put as having 2,000 inhabitants and 500 tributantes, but all answered dude, todos alcaldos. On some islands, the hold of the Spaniards was more extensive in Morgue's days and at a later time. Then, the island of Mindoro was regarded as important, and in the early years and decades of Spanish power, appears to have been populous along the coasts. Later, it was deflated by the Morropirates and long remained wild and almost uninhabited, except by a shifting population from the mainland of Luzon and a pirate from Salud. The encomiendas. As you have already seen, one of the vessels that followed the expedition of Legazpi brought orders from the king, but the island should be divided in encomiendas among those who had conquered and won them. Note one, Relación de la Conquista de Luzon, 1572, page 15. On this instruction, Legazpi had given the Filipinas an encomienda to his captains and soldiers as fast as the conquest proceeded. We are fortunate to have a review of these encomiendas, made in 1591, about 20 years after the system was introduced into the islands. Note two, Relación de las Encomiendas, Existentes en Filipinas, Retana, Al Chivo de Bibliofilo Filipino, Volume 4. There were then 267 encomiendas in the Philippines, of which 31 were of the king and the remainder of private persons. Population under the encomiendas. From the enumeration of these encomiendas, we learned that the most populous parts of the archipelago were la laguna, the 24,000 tributantes and 97,000 inhabitants, and the camarines, which included all the Bicol territory and the Catanduanes, where there were 21,670 tributantes and a population of over 86,000, vicinity of Manila and Tondo, which included Gavita and Marigondon, the south shore of the bay and Pasig and Tagig, where were collected 9,410 tributes from a population estimated at about 30,000. In Ilocos were reported 17,130 tributes and 78,520 souls. The entire valley of the Kagayan had been divided among the soldiers of the command, which had affected the conquest. In the list of encomiendas, a few can be recognized, such as Igig and Tugargarau, but most of the names are not to be found on the maps of today. Most of the inhabitants were reported to be rebellious, alcaldos, and some were apparently the same wild tribes, which still occupy all of this watershed, except the very banks of the river. But nonetheless, had the Spaniards divided them off into repartimentos. One soldier had even taken as an encomienda the inhabitants of the upper waters of the river, a region which is called in the relation Pugau, with little doubt the habitat of the same Igorot tribe as the Ipugau, who still dwell in these mountains. The upper valley of the Margat, or Nuevo Vizcaya, had not at this date been occupied and probably was not until the missions of the 18th century. The population among the Visayan islands was quite surprisingly small, considering its present proportions. Masbate, for example, had about 1,600 souls. Goryas, a like number, the whole central group, leaving out Panay, only 15,832 tributes, are about 35,000 souls. There was a single encomienda in Butuan, Mindanao, and another on the Caraga coast. There were 1,000 tributes collected in the encomienda of Cuyo and 1,500 in Calamianes, which, since the Renaissance, included los negrillos, probably the mixed negrito population of northern Palawan. The entire population under encomiendas is set down as 166,903 tributes or 667,612 souls. This relacion is one of the earliest enumerations of the population of the Philippines, barring the Igorot of northern Muzon and the Morris and other tribes of Mindanao. It is a fair estimate of the number of the Filipino people 300 years ago. It will be noticed that the numbers assigned to single encomienderas in the Philippines were large. In America, the number was limited. As early as 1512, King Ferdinand had forbidden any single person of whatever rank or grade to hold more than 300 Indians on one island, not one, or the Nanzas, la repartición de los indios de la isla española in documentos ineditos, volume one, page 236. But in the Philippines, 1,000 or 1,200 tributantes were frequently held by a single Spaniard. Condition of the Filipinos under the encomiendas, frequent revolts, that the Filipinos in many of these islands bitterly resented their condition as evidenced by the frequent uprisings and rebellions. The encomienderas were often extortionate and cruel and absolutely heedless of their restrictions and obligations imposed upon them by the loss of the Indies. Occasionally, a new governor under the first impulse of instructions from Mexico or Spain did something to correct abuses. Revolts were almost continuous during the year 1583 and the condition of the natives very bad, many encomienderas are guarding them and treating them almost as slaves and keeping them at labor to the destruction of their own crops and the misery of their families. Governor Santiago de Vera reached the islands the following year and made a characteristic attempt to improve the system which is thus related by the Niga. Quote, as soon as he had taken possession of the government, he studied to put into effect the orders which he brought from the king to punish certain encomienderos who had abused the favor they had received in being given encomiendas whereby he deposed Bartolomé de Ledesma and encomiendero of Abuyo Leyte and others of those most culpable and punished the others in proportion to the offenses which they had committed and which had been proven. In the following year of 1585 he sent Juan de Morones and Pablo de Lima with a well-equipped squadron to the Molucas which adventure was as unfortunate as those that had preceded it and they returned to Manila without having been able to take the fortress of Ternate. The governor felt it very deeply that the expedition had failed and wished to send another armada in accordance with the orders which the king had given him. But he could not execute this because the troops from New Spain did not arrive and because the Indians who lost no occasion which presented itself to shake of the yoke of the Spaniards. The Pampangas and many inhabitants of Manila confederated within the modus of Borneo who had come for trade and plotted to enter the city by night, set it on fire and in the confusion of the consagration slay all the Spaniards. This conspiracy was discovered through an Indian woman who was married to a Spanish soldier and measures to meet the conspiracy were taken before the mine exploded, many being seized and suffering exemplary punishment. The islands of Samar, Ibobau and Leyte were also in disturbance and in the incommendera of Bagami, Pueblo of Leyte was in parallel of losing his life because the Indians were incensed by his steavings in the collection of tribute which was paid in wax and which he compelled them to have weighed with a steel yard who she had made double the legal amount and wanted to kill him. They would have done so if he had not escaped into the mountains and afterwards passed by Abangca to the island of Cebu. The governors and Captain Lorenzo de la Mota to pacify these disturbances he made some punishments and with these everything quieted down end quote. Note one, Historia de Filipinas page 157 3 years later, however, the natives of Leyte were again in revolt. In 1589, Cagayan rose and killed many Spaniards. The revolt seems to have spread from here to the town of Dingres Ilocos where the natives rose against the collectors of tribute and slew six Spaniards of the Pueblo of Fernandina. Note two, among other documents which throw most unfavorable light upon the condition of the Filipinos under the Encomiendas is a letter to the king from Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of the Philippines which describes the conditions about 1583. Zuniga, Historia de Filipinas page 165 effects of the Spanish government. The Spanish occupation had brought ruin and misery to some parts of the country. Salazar describes with bitterness the evil condition of the Filipinos. In the rich fields of Bulacan in Pampanga, great gangs of laborers had been impressed felling the forests for the construction of the Spanish fleets and manning these fleets at the oars on voyages which took them for four and six months from their homes. The governor, Don Gonzalo Ronquillo had forced many Indians of Pampanga into the mines of Ilocos taking them from the sowing of their rice. Many had died in the mines and the rest returned so in siebel that they could not plant. Hunger and famine had descended upon Pampanga and on the Encomienda of Guido de la Bezarez over a thousand had died from starvation. Note one, Domingo de Salazar, Relación de las Cosas de las Filipinas, 1583, page five, Inretana, Archive, volume three, The Tribute. The Tribute was a source of abuse. Theoretically, the tax upon Indians was limited to the tributo, the sum of eight realists, about $1 yearly from the heads of all families, payable either in gold or in produce of the district. But in fixing the prices of these commodities, there was much extortion. The Encomienda delaying the collection of the Tribute until the season of scarcity, when prices were high, but insisting then on the same amount as at harvest time. The principal, who occupied the place of the former dato or mahalika, like the gobernador Silvio of recent times, was responsible for the collecting of the Tribute and his lot seems to have been a hard one. Quote, if they do not give as much as they ask or do not pay for as many Indians as they say there are, they abuse the poor principal or throw them into the pillory, cepo de cabeza, because all the encomenderos, when they go to make collections, take their pillories to them and there they keep him and torment him until forced to give all they ask. They're even said to take the wife and daughter of the principal when he cannot be found. Many of the principales have died under these torments, according to reports. End quote. Salazar further states that he has known natives to be sold in the slavery and the fault of Tribute. Neither did they impose upon adults alone, but quote, they collect Tribute from infants, the aged and the slaves and many do not marry because of the Tribute and other slather children. End quote. Note one, Relación, pages 13 and 14, scarcity of food. Salazar further charges that the alcaldes mayors, the alcaldes of provinces, 16 in number, were all corrupt and though their salaries were small, they accumulated fortunes. For further enumeration of economic ills, Salazar detailed how prices had evenly increased in the first years of Spanish occupation, food was abundant. There was no lack of rice, beans, chickens, pigs, venison, buffalo, fish, coconuts, bananas and other fruits, wine and honey and a little money bought much. A hundred gantas, about 300 liters of rice could then be bought for atostan. A Portuguese coin worth about a half-pestle, eight to 16 pounds for a like amount, a fat pig for from four to six realists. In the year of his writing, about 1583, products were scarce and prices exorbitant. Rice had doubled, chickens were worth a real, a good pig six to eight pesos. Population had decreased and whole towns were deserted. Their inhabitants hadn't fled into the hills. General improvement under Spanish rule. This is one side of the picture. It probably is overdone by the bishop who was jealous of the civil authority and who began the first of those continuous clashes between the church and political power in the Philippines. Badly, if we could see the whole character of Spanish rule in these decades, we should see that the actual condition of the Filipino had improved and its grade of culture had risen. No one can estimate the actual good that comes to a people in being brought under the powerful government, able to maintain peace and dispense justice. Taxation is sometimes grievous, corruption without excuse, but almost anything is better than anarchy. Before the coming of the Spaniards, it seems unquestionable that the Filipinos suffered greatly under two terrible grievances that ends like barbarous society. In the first place, warfare, with its murder, pillage, and destruction, not merely between tribe and tribe, not merely between tribe and tribe, but between town and town, such as even now prevails in the wild mountains of Northern Luzon among the primitive Malayan tribes. And in the second place, the weak and poor man was at the mercy of the strong and rich. The establishment of Spanish sovereignty had certainly mitigated if it did not wholly remedy these conditions. Quote, all of these provinces, and quote, warga could write, quote, are pacified and are governed from Manila, having Alcaldes Mayors, Corajidors, and Lieutenants, each one of whom governs in his district or province and dispenses justice. The chief names, Principales, formerly held the other natives in subjection, no longer power over them in the manner which they tyrannically employed, which is not the least benefit these natives have received in escaping from such slavery. End quote, note one, sucesos de las Filipinas, page 334. Old social order of the Filipinos, but little disturbed. Some governors seem to have done their utmost to improve the condition of the people and to govern them well. But the Agua de Vera, as we have seen, even went so far as to commission the worthy priest, Padre Juan de Placencia, to investigate the customs and social organization of the Filipinos and to prepare an account of their loss that they might be more suitably governed. This brief code, for so it is, was distributed to Alcaldes, judges, and encomanderos with orders to patent their decisions in accordance with the Filipinos' custom. Note one, las costumbres de los Tagalos en Filipinas según el Padre Placencia, Madrid, 1892. In ordering local affairs, the Spaniards, to some extent, left the old social order of the Filipinos undisturbed. The several social classes were gradually suppressed and at the head of each barrio, or small supplement, was appointed the head, or cabeza de barangay. As these barangays were grouped into pueblos or towns, the former dados were appointed captains and gobernadores celios, the payment of tribute. The tribute was introduced in 1570. Note two, bloom and trip, organización comunal de los indígenas de los Filipinos, traduida la ley mande para a hugot, 1881. It was supposed to be eight rails or a pesto of silver for each family. Children under 16 and adults over 60 were exempt. In 1590, the amount was raised to 10 rails. To this was added a rail for the church, known as Santorum, and on the organization of the towns, a rail for the Cajar de Comunidad or municipal treasury. Under the encomiendas, the tribute was paid to the encomenderos, except on the royal encomiendas, but after several generations, as the encomiendas decreased in number, these collections went directly to the insular treasury. There was later, besides a tribute, a compulsory service of labor on roads, bridges and public works, known as the Corvi, a feudal term, or perhaps more generally, as the polis y servicios. So discharging disenforced labor were called polistas. Conversion of the Filipinos, the Christianity. The population was being very rapidly Christianized. All accounts agree that almost no difficulty was encountered in baptizing the more advanced tribes. Quote, there is not in these islands of province, end quote, says Morga, quote, which assists conversion and does not desire it, end quote. Note one, successes de las Filipinas, page 332. Indeed, the islands seems to have been ripe for the preaching of a higher faith, either Christian or Mohammedan. For a time, these two great religions struggled together in the vicinity of Manila. Note two, cease and lasarse relation on this point, but at the end of three decades, Spanish power and religion were alike established. Conversion was delayed ordinarily only by the lack of sufficient numbers of priests. We have seen that this conversion of the people was the work of the missionary friars. In 1591, there were 140 in the islands, but the Relación de las Encomiendas called for 160 more to properly supply the people which had been laid under tribute, coming of the missionaries. The Augustinians had been the pioneer order, a few accompanying a legaspi. The first company of the Franciscans arrived in 1577. The first Jesuits, Padres Antonio Sebeño and Alonso Sanchez had come with the Bishop of the Islands, Domingo de Salazar in 1581. They came apparently without resources. Even their garments brought from Mexico had dropped on the voyage. They found a little poor narrow house in a suburb of Manila called Lagio, probably Concepción. Quote, so poorly furnished was it, un quote, festirino, quote, but the same chest which held their books was a table on which they ate. Their food for many days was rice, cooked in water without salt or oil or fish or meat or even an egg or anything else except that sometimes as a regalo, they enjoyed some salt sardines, end quote. Note one, chirino, relajón, pages 19 and 20. The Dominicans came in 1587 and finally in 1606, the Recolex or unshaw the Augustinians before the end of the century there were over 400. Division of the archipelago among the religious orders. The archipelago was restricted among these missionary bands. The Augustinians had many parishes in the Bessayas on the Ilocano coast, some in Pangasinan and all of those in Pampanga. The Dominicans had parts of Pangasinan and all of the valley of Cargayan. The Franciscans controlled the Camarines and nearly all of Southern Luzon and the region of Laguna de Bay. All of these orders had convents and monasteries both in the city of Manila and the country around about. The imposing churches of brick and stone, which now characterized nearly every pueblo, had not in those early decades been erected. But Marga tells us that, quote, the churches and monasteries were of wood and well built with furniture and beautiful ornaments, complete service, crosses, candlesticks and chalices of silver and gold, end quote. Note two, Marga, page 329. The first schools. Even in these early years, there seemed to have been some attempts at the education of the natives. The friars had schools in reading and writing for boys who were also taught to serve in the church, to sing, to play the organ, to harp, guitar and other instruments. We must remember, however, that the Filipino before the arrival of the Spaniard had a written language, and even in pre-Spanish times, there must have been instruction given to the child. The type of humble school that is found today in remote barrios, conducted by an old man or woman on the floor or in the yard of a home where the ordinary family occupations are proceeding, probably does not owe its origin to the Spaniards, but dates from a period before their arrival. The higher education established by the Spaniards appears to have been exclusively for the children of the Spaniards. In 1601, the Jesuits, pioneers of the Roman Catholic orders in education, established the College of San Jose. End of chapter eight, part one, recording by Hilary Hoven, chapter eight, part two, of the history of the Philippines. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Establishment of hospitals. The city early had notable foundations of charity. The high mortality which fits to the Spaniards in these islands and the frequency of diseases early called for the establishment of institutions for the orphan and the invalid. In Marga's time, there were the orphanages San Andres and Santa Potensiana. There was a royal hospital in charge of three Franciscans which burned in the conflagration of 1603, but was reconstructed. There was also a hospital of mercy in charge of sisters of charity from Lisbon and the Portuguese possessions of India. Close by, the Banasari of St. Francis Thidvan, where it stands to date, the hospital for natives San Juan de Dios. It was a royal patronage but founded by a friar of the Franciscan order, Juan Clemente. Quote, here, and quote, says Marga, quote, are cured a great number of natives of all kinds of sicknesses with much charity and care. It has a good house and offices of stone and is administered by the barefooted religious of St. Francis. Three priests are there and for a lay brethren of exemplary life, who, with the doctors, surgeons, and apothecaries are so dexterous and skilled that they work with their hands marvelous cures both in medicine and surgery. End quote, note one. Successes de las Filipinas, page 323. Mortality among the Spaniards. Mortality in the Philippines in these years of conquest was frightfully high. The waste of life in her colonial adventures, indeed, drained Spain of her best and most vigorous manhood. In the famous Old English Collection of Voyages, published by Hacluit in 1598, there is printed a captured Spanish letter of the same sea captain, Sebastian Biscayno, on the Philippine trade. Biscayno grieves over the loss of life, which had accompanied the conquest of the Philippines and the treacherous climate of the tropics. Quote, the country is very unwholesome for Spaniards, for within these 20 years of 14,000 wish have gone to the Philippines, there are 13,000 of them dead and not past 1,000 of them left alive. End quote, note one. The principal navigations, voyages, and traffics and discoveries of the English nation by Richard Hacluit, master of arts and sometimes student of Christ's Church in Oxford, imprinted at London, 1598, volume one, page 560. The Spanish population. The Spanish population of the islands was always small. At the beginning of the 17th century, certainly not more than 2,000 and probably less later in the century. Morga divides them into five classes, the prelates and the ecclesiastics, the encomenderos, colonizers and conquerors, soldiers and officers of war and marines, merchants and men of business, and the officers of this majesty's government. Quote, very few are living now. End quote, he says. Quote, of those first conquistadores who won the land and affected the conquest with the adelantado Miguel López de Legazpi. End quote, note two. Successes de las Filipinas, page 347. The largest cities. Most of the Spanish population dwelt in Manila are in the five other cities, which the Spaniards had founded in the first three decades of their occupation. These were as follows. The city of Nueva Segovia, at the mouth of the Cagayan, was founded in the governorship of Frantilio, when the valley of the Cagayan was first occupied in the Japanese colonists who had settled there, were expelled. It had at the beginning of the 17th century, 200 Spaniards living in houses of wood. There was a fort of stone where some artillery was mounted. Besides the 200 Spanish inhabitants, there were 100 regular Spanish soldiers with their officers in the Alcalde Mayor of the province. Nueva Segovia was also the seat of a bishopric, which included all Marlon Luzon. The importance of the then promising city has long ago disappeared, and the Pueblo of Laloque, which marks its site, is an insignificant native town. The city of Nueva Cucheres in the Camarines was founded by Governor Sande. It, too, was the seat of a bishopric and had 100 Spanish inhabitants. The cities of Cebu and Iloilo and the besides were the cities of the holy name of God, Cebu, and on the island of Panay, Arevalo, or Iloilo. The first maintained something of the importance attaching to the first Spanish settlement. It had its stone fort and was off the seat of a bishopric. It was visited by trading vessels from the Molucas and by permit of the king, and drives for a time, the unusual privilege of standing annually a ship loaded with merchandise in Spain. Arevalo had about 80 Spanish inhabitants and a monastery of the Augustinians. The city of Fernandina, or Bigan, which Saado had founded, was nearly without Spanish inhabitants. Still, it was a political center of the Great Ilocano Coast, and it has held its position to the present day. Manila, but all of these cities were far surpassed in importance by the capital on the banks of the Pasi. The wisdom of Legaspis' choice had been more than justified. Manila, at the beginning of the 17th century, was unquestionably the most important European city of the East. As we have already seen, in 1580, Portugal had been annexed by Spain, and with her had come all the Portuguese possessions in India, China, and Malaysia. After 1610, the Dutch were almost annually worrying for this colonial empire, and Portugal regained her independence in 1640. But for the first few years of the 17th century, Manila was the political mistress of an empire that stretched from Goa to Formosa and embraced all those coveted lands, which for a century and a half had been the desire of European states. The governor of the Philippines was almost an independent king. Nominally, he was subordinate to the visceral of Mexico, but practically he waged wars, concluded pieces, and received instant embassies at his own discretion. The kingdom of Cambodia was his ally and the states of China and Japan were his friends. The commercial importance of Manila. Manila was also the commercial center of the Far East and the Entrepot, through which the kingdoms of Eastern Asia exchanged their wares. Here came great fleets of junk from China laden with stores. Marga felt nearly two pages with an enumeration of their merchandise, which included all matter of silks, brocades, furniture, pearls and gems, fruits, nuts, tame buffalo, geese, horses and mules, all kinds of animals, quote, even to birds and cages, some of which talk and others sing, and which they make perform a thousand tricks. There are enumerable other dugots and knacknacks, which among spaniards are in much esteem, end quote, note one. Successes de las Filipinas, page 352. Each year, a fleet of 30 to 40 vessels sailed with a new moon in March. The voyage across the China Sea, rough with the monsoon, occupies 16 to 20 days, and the fleet returned at the end of May or the beginning of June. Between October and March, there came, each year, Japanese ships from Nagasaki, which brought wheat, silks, objects of art and weapons, and took away from Manila the raw silk of China, gold, beer horns, woods, honey, wax, palm wine and wine of Castile. From Malacca and India came fleets of the Portuguese subjects of Spain, with spices, slaves, negros and kafirs, and the rich production of Bengal, India, Persia and Turkey. From Borneo too, came the smaller craft of the Malais, who from their boats sold the fine palm mats. The best of which still come from Cagayan de Silu and Borneo, slaves, sago, water pots, and glazed earthenware, black and fine. From Siam and Cambodia also, but less often, there came trading ships. Manila was thus a great emporium for other countries of the East, the trade of which seems to have been conducted largely by and through the merchants of Manila. Trade between Mexico and Spain restricted. The commerce between the Philippines and Mexico and Spain, though which was of vast importance, was limited by action of the Crown. It was a commerce which apparently admitted an infinite expansion, but the short-sighted merchants and manufacturers of the peninsula clamored against its development, and it was subjected to the severest limitations. Far galleons were at first maintained for this trade, which were dispatched to at a time in successive years from Manila to the part of Acapulco, Mexico. The letter in the Philippine trade, already quoted, states that these galleons were great ships of 680 tons apiece. Note one, loss of the Indies, Ace, 45, 46. They went, quote, very strong with soldiers, and, quote, and they carried the annual mail, reinforcements, and supplies of Mexican silver for trade with China, which has remained the commercial currency of the East to the present day. Later, the number of galleons was reduced to one. The rich cargoes of the galleons, the track of the Philippine galleon lay from the north eastward to about the 42nd degree of latitude, where the westerly winds prevailed, dense nearly straight across the ocean to Cape Mendocino in northern California, which was discovered and mapped by Biscayno in 1602. Then, the course lay down the western coast of North America, nearly 3,000 miles to the port of Acapulco. We can't imagine how carefully selected and rich in quality were the merchandises with which these solitary galleons were freighted, the pick of all the rich stores which came to Manila. The profits were enormous, six and 800%. Biscayno wrote that with 200 ducats invested in Spanish wares and some Flemish commodities, he made 1,400 ducats. But, he added, in 1588, he lost the ship, robbed and burned by Englishmen. On the safe arrival of these ships depended how much the fortunes of the colony. Capture of the Galleons. For generations, these galleons were probably the most tempting and romantic prize that ever arrived the cupidity of privateer. The first to profit by this rich booty was Thomas Cavendish, who, in 1587, came through the Straits of Magellan with a fleet of three vessels. Like Drake before him, he ravaged the coast of South America and then steered straight away across the sea to the Moluccas. Here, he acquired information about the rich commerce of the Philippines and of the yearly voyage of the galleons. Back across the Pacific went the fleet of Cavendish for the coast of California. In his own narrative, he tells how he beat up and down between Cate San Lucas and Mendocino until the galleon, heavy with her riches, appeared. She fell into his hands almost without a fray. She carried 122,000 pecs of gold and a great enriched star of satins, the mask and musk. Cavendish landed as Spanish on the California coast, burned the Santa Ana, and then returned to the Philippines and made an attack upon the shipyard of Iloilo, which was repulsed. He sent a letter to the governor at Manila, posting of his capture, and then sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and home. There is an old story that tells how a sea-worn ship came of the Thames, their masks hung with silk and the mask sails. From this time on, the venture was less safe. In 1588, there came to Spain the overwhelming disaster for history, the destruction of the great Armada. From this date, her power was gone and her name was no longer a terror on the seas. English freebooters controlled the ocean and in 1610, the Dutch appeared in the east, never to withdraw. The city of Manila 300 years ago. We can hardly close this chapter without some further reference to the city of Manila as it appeared 300 years ago. Morga has fortunately left us a detailed description from which the following points in the main are drawn. As we have already seen, the Gaspi had laid out the city on the blackened sides of the town and fortress of the Mohammedan prince, which had been destroyed in the struggle for occupation. He gave it the same extent and dimensions that it possesses today. Like other colonial capitals in the Far East, it is primarily a citadel and refugees from attack. On the point between the sea and the river, the Gaspi had begun the famous and permanent fortress of Santiago. In the time of the great Adelantado, it's probably only a wooden stockade, but under the governor Santiago de Vera, it was built up of stone. Cavendish 1587 describes Manila as, quote, an unwalled town and of no great strength, end quote. But under the improvements and completions made by Das Marinas about 1590, it assumed much of its present appearance. Its guns thoroughly commanded the entrance to the river Pasig and made the approach of hostile boats from the harbor side impossible. It is not crazy then that all the assaults that have been made upon the city, from that of Limahong to those of the British in 1762 and of the Americans in 1898 have been directed against a southern wall by an advance from Malate. Das Marinas also enclosed the city with a stone wall, the base from which the present noble rampart has arisen. It had originally a width of from seven and a half to nine feet. Of its height, no figure is given. Morga says simply that with its buttresses and turrets, it was sufficiently high for the purposes of defense. The old fort. There was a stone force on the south side facing Ermita, known as the Fortress of Our Lady of Guidance, and there were two or more bastions, each with six pieces of artillery. St. Andrews, now a power magazine in the southeast corner, and St. Gabrielle, overlooking the Parian district where the Chinese were settled. The three principal gates to the city, with the smaller wickets and postings, which opened on the river and sea, were regularly closed at night by the guard which made the rounds. At each gate and wicket was a permanent post of soldiers and artillery. The Plaza de Hermas, adjacent to the fort, had its arsenal, stores, powder works, and a foundry for the casting of guns and artillery. The foundry, when established by Ronquilio, was in charge of a Pampangan Indian called Pandapira, the Spanish buildings of the city. The buildings of the city, especially the Casa Seriales and the churches and monasteries had been jurably erected of stone. Teorino claims that the hooling of stone, the burning of lime, and the training of native and Chinese artisans for this building was the work of the Jesuit father Sedenio. He himself fashioned the first clay tiles and built the first stone house, and so urged and encouraged others, himself directing the building of public works that the city, which a little before had been solely of timber and cane, had become one of the best constructed and most beautiful in the Indies. Note one, Relación de las Islas Filipinas, chapter five, page 23, and chapter 13, page 47. He, it was also sought out Chinese painters and decorators and ornamented the churches with images and paintings. Within the walls, there were some 600 houses of a private nature, most of them built of stone and tile, and an equal number outside in the suburbs, or Arabales, all occupied by Spaniards. Todos son viviendas y poblaciones de los españoles. Note two, Morga, Sucesas de las Islas Filipinas, page 223. This gives some 1200 Spanish families their establishments, exclusive of the religious, who in Manila numbered at least 150. Note three, Ibid, page 321. The garrisons, at certain times, about 400 trained Spanish soldiers who had seen service in Holland in the low countries and the official classes, the Malacon and the lunata. It is interesting at this early date to find mention of the famous recreation drive, the Paseo de Bagumbayan, now commonly known as the Malacon and Lunata. Quote, Manila, and quote, Cesar historian, quote, has two places of recreation and land. The one, which is clean and wide, extends from the point called Our Lady of Guidance for about a league along the sea and through the street and village of natives called Bagumbayan, to a very devout hermitage, ermita, called the hermitage of Our Lady of Guidance, and from there, a good distance to a monastery and mission, the Doctrina of the Augustinians, called Mahalat, Malate, and quote, Note one, Morga, Successos, page 324. The other drive lay out through the present suburb of Concepcion, then called Lagio, Tupaco, where was the monastery of the Franciscans, the Chinese in Manila, early Chinese commerce. We have seen that even as long as 300 years, Manila was a metropolis of the Eastern world. Brussels from many lands dropped anchor at the mouth of the Pasig and their merchants set up their booths within her market. Slaves from far distant India and Africa were sold under her wall, surely to the cosmopolitan population that the shifting monsoons carried to and from her gates. But of all these Eastern races, only one has been a constant and important factor in the life of the island. This is the Chinese. It does not appear that they settled in the country or materially affected the life of the Filipinos until the establishment of Manila by the Spaniards. The Spaniards were early desirous of constipating friendly relations with the empire of China. So said the honest first punitive expedition to Mindoro had found the Chinese Zheng, which had gone ashore on the Western coast. He was careful to rescue these voyagers and returned them to their own land with a friendly message inviting trading relations. Commerce and immigration followed immediately the founding of the city. The Chinese are without question the most remarkable colonizers in the world. They seem able to thrive in any climate. They readily marry with every race. The children that follow such unions are not only numerous, but healthy and intelligent. The coasts of China team with overcrowding populations. Immigration to almost any land means improvement of the Chinese of poor birth. These qualities and conditions, with their keen sense for trade and their indifference to physical hardship and danger, make the Chinese almost a dominant factor wherever political barriers have not been raised against their entrance. The Chinese had early gained an important place in the commercial and industrial life of Manila. A letter to the king from Bishop Salazar shows that he befriended them and was warm in their praise. Note one. Carta de lechon de las cosas de la China y de los chinos del parien de Manila, 1590 in Retana, archivo volume three. This was in 1590 and there were then in Manila and Pando about 7,000 residents Chinese and they were indispensable to the prosperity of the city. Importance of Chinese labor and trade. In the early decades of Spanish rule, the Philippines were poor in resources and the population was sparse, quite insufficient for the purposes of the Spanish colonizers. Thus, the early development of the colony was based upon Chinese labor and Chinese trade. As the early writers are thought of emphasizing, from China came not only the finished silks and costly wares, which in large part were destined for the trade in New Spain and Europe, but also cattle, horses and mares, foodstuffs, metals, fruits and even ink and paper. Quote and what is more, end quote, Cess Cirino. Quote, from China come those who supply every sort of service, all dexterous, prompt and cheap, from physicians and barbers to burden bearers and porters. They are the tailors and shoemakers, metal workers, silversmiths, sculptors, locksmiths, painters, masons, weavers and finally every kind of servitors in the Commonwealth. End quote, note one. Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, page 18. See also Felazar, Carta Relacion. Distrust of the Chinese. In those days, not only were the Chinese artisans and traders, but they were also farmers and fishermen, occupations in which they are now not often seen. But in spite of their economic necessity, the Chinese were always looked upon with this favor and their presence with dread. Plots of murder and insurrection were supposedly rife among them. Writers subject that their numbers were so great that there was no security in the land. Their life was bad and vicious. Through intercourse with them, the natives advanced but little in Christianity and customs. They were such terrible eaters that they made food scarce and prices high. If permitted, they went everywhere through the islands and committed a thousand abuses and offenses. They explored every spot, river, estero and harbor and knew the country better even in the Spaniard himself. So that if any enemy should come, they would be able to accost infinite mischief. Note two, successes de las islas Filipinas, page 364. When we find so just and high-minded a man as the president of the Audiencia, Marga, giving voice to such charges, we may be sure this feeling was deep and terrible and practically universal among all Spanish inhabitants. The first massacre of the Chinese. Each race feared and suspected the other and from this mutual cowardice came in 1603 a cruel outbreak in massacre. Three Chinese mandarins arrived in that year, stating that they had been sent by the emperor to investigate a report that there was a mountain in Cavite of solid precious metal. This myth was no more absurd than many pursued by the Spaniards themselves in the early conquest and it doubtless arose from the fact that Chinese wares were largely purchased by Mexican bullions. But the Spaniards were at once filled with suspicion of an invasion and their distress turned against the Chinese in the islands. How far these latter were actually plotting tradition and how far they were driven into attack by their fears at the conduct of the Spaniards can hardly be decided. But the fact is that on the evening of St. Francis Day, the Chinese of the Parian Roast, the dragon banners were raised, who are gongs were beaten and that night the pueblos of Quiapo and Tondo were burned and many Filipinos murdered. In the morning, a force of 130 Spaniards under Don Luis Das Mareñas and Don Tomas Bravo were sent across the river and as a fight nearly every Spaniard was slain. The Chinese then assaulted the city but according to the tradition of the priests, they were driven back in terror by the apparition of St. Francis on the walls. They threw up forts on the side of the Parian and in Bilau, but the power of their wild fury was gone and the Spaniards were able to dislodge and drive them into the country about San Pablo del Monte. From here, they were dispersed with great slaughter. 23,000 Chinese are reported by Zuniga to have perished in this tradition. If his report is true, the number of Chinese in the islands must have increased very rapidly between 1590 and 1603. Restriction of Chinese immigration and travel. Commerce and immigration began again almost immediately. The number of Chinese, however, allowed to remain was reduced. The Chinese ships that came annually to trade were obliged to take back with them the crews and passengers which they brought. Only a limited number of merchants and artisans were permitted to live in the islands. They were confined to three districts in the city of Manila and to the great market, the Alcaiceria or Parian. The word Parian was first used for the Chinese quarter adjoining the walled city on the present side of the botanical garden, but about 1640, the new Parian was built in Binondo about the present Calia San Fernando. It consisted of a block of stores in the form of a square with small habitations above them. Here was the great market of Manila. They could not travel about the islands, nor go two leagues from the city without a written license, nor remain overnight within the city after the gates were closed on penalty of their lives. They had their own Alcaldean judge, a tribunal and jail, and on the north side of the river Dominican friars who had learned the Chinese language had erected a mission and hospital. It was a separate barrier for the baptized Chinese and their families to the number of about 500. The Chinese and the Philippines from the earliest time to the present have been known by the name of Sangleyes. The derivation of this curious word is uncertain, but Navaret, who must have understood Chinese well, says that the word arose from a misapprehension of the word spoken by the Chinese who first presented themselves at Manila. Quote, being asked what they came for, they answered, Shanglei, that is, we come to trade. The Spaniards, who understood not their language, conceiving it to be the name of a country and putting the two words together, made one of them, by which they still distinguish the Chinese calling them Sangleyes. End quote, the Japanese colony. There was also in these early years quite a colony of Japanese. Their community lay between the Parian and the Barrio of Laguio. There were about 500, and among them the Franciscans claimed the goodly number of converts. The Filipino district of Tando. We have described at some length the city south of the river and the surrounding suburbs, most of them known by the names they hold today. North of the Pasig was the great district of Tando, the center of the strong, independent Filipino feeling which is an early date was collared with Mohammedanism and to this day is strong in local feeling. This region is driven and built up until it has long been by far the most important and populous part of the metropolis but not until very recent times such regarded as a part of the city of Manila which name is reserved for the walled city alone. A bridge across the Pasig on the side of the present Puente de España connected the two districts at a date later than Morga's time. It was one of the first things noticed by Navarit who, without describing it well, says it was very fine. It was built during the governorship of Niña de Tabora who died in 1632. Note one, Zuniga, Historia de las Filipinas, page 252. Montero states that it was a stone and that this same bridge stood for more than two centuries resisting the incessant traffic and the strength of floods. Note two, Historia General de Filipinas, volume one, page 187, the decline of Manila during the next century. Such was Manila 35 and 40 years after its foundation. It was the zenith of its importance, the capital of the eastern colonies, the mark of Asia, more splendid than Goa, more powerful than Malacca or Macau, more populous and former securely held than Terny and Pidor. Quote, truly, and quote, explain Cirino, quote. It is another tire so magnified by Ezequiel, and quote. It owed its great place to the genius and daring of the men who founded it, to the freedom of action which it had up to this point enjoyed and to its superlative situation. In the years that followed, we have to recon for the most part only the process of decline. Spain herself was fast on the wane. A few years later, and the English had almost driven her navies from the seas. The Portuguese had regained their independence and lost empire. The Dutch were in the east, harrying Portuguese and Spaniard alike and fast monopolizing the rich trade. The commerce and friendly relations with the Chinese on which so much depended were broken by massacre and reprisal and most terrible and piteous of all, the awful wrath and lust of the Malai pirate for decade after decade was to be visited upon the archipelago. The colonial policy of the motherland, selfish, short-sighted, and criminal was soon to make its paralyzing influence felt upon trade and administration alike. These things were growing and taking place in the next period, which we have to consider. The years from 1600 to 1663, they left the Philippines dispoiled and insignificant for a whole succeeding century, a decadent colony and an exploited treasure. End of Chapter 8, Part 2, recording by Hillary Hovind. Chapter 9, Part 1 of A History of the Philippines. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A History of the Philippines by David Barrowes. Chapter 9, Part 1, The Dutch and Moro Wars, 1600 to 1663. Loss of the naval power of Spain and Portugal. The seizure of Portugal by Philip II in 1580 was disastrous in its consequences to both Portugal and Spain. For Portugal, it was emulation and loss of colonial power. Spain was unequal to the task of defending the Portuguese possessions and her jealousy of their prosperity seems to have cost her deliberately to neglect their interests and permit their decline. In one day, Portugal lost possession of that splendid and daring navy which had first found a way to the Indies. Several hundred Portuguese ships, thousands of guns, and large sums of money were appropriated by Spain upon the annexation of Portugal. Many of these ill-fated ships went down in the English Channel with the great Armada. On the terrible news of the destruction of this powerful armament, on which rested Spanish hopes for the conquest and humiliation of England was brought to the escorial. The magnificent palace where the years of the king were passed, Philip II, that strange man whose countenance seldom changed the tidings of either defeat or victory is reported to have simply said, I thank God that I have the power to replace the loss. He was fatuously mistaken. The loss could never be made good. The Navy's of Spain and Portugal were never fully rebuilt. In that year, 1588, preeminence on the sea passed to the English and the Dutch. The Netherlands become an independent country. Who are these Dutch or Hollanders? How came they to rest on Spain and Portugal, a colonial empire, which they hold today without loss of prosperity or evidence of decline? In the north of Europe, facing the North Sea, is a low-rich land intersected by rivers and washed far into its interior by the tides known as Holland, the Low Countries or the Netherlands. Its people have ever been famed for their industry and hardyhood. In manufacturing trade in the latter middle age, they stood far in the lead in northern Europe. Their towns and cities were the thriftiest, most prosperous and most cleanly. We have already explained the curious facts of succession by which these countries became a possession of the Spanish King, Emperor Charles V. The Low Countries were always greatly prized by Charles, and in spite of the severities of his rule, he held their affection and loyalty until his death. It was in the city of Antwerp that he formally abdicated in favor of his son, Philip II, and, as described by contemporary historians, the solemn and imposing ceremony was witnessed with every mark of loyalty by the assembly. The Rebellion. But the oppressions and persecution of Philip's reign drove the people to rebellion. The Netherlands had embraced the Protestant religion and went in addition to plunder intimidation, the quartering of Spanish soldierry, and the violation of sovereign promises, Philip imposed the terrible and merciless institution, the Spanish Inquisition, to Low Countries face the tyrant in a passion of rebellion. War began in 1567, dragged on for years. There was pitiless cruelty, and the sacking of cities was accompanied by fearful butchery. In 1579, the seven Dutch counties affected a union and laid the basis of the Republic of the Netherlands. Although the efforts of Spain to reconquer the territory continued until after the end of the century, independence was maintained for years before. Trade between Portugal and the Netherlands forbidden. A large portion of the commerce of the Low Countries had been with Lisbon. The Portuguese did not distribute to Europe the products which their navies brought from the Indies. Foreign merchants purchased in Lisbon and carried these wares to other lands, and to a very large degree, this service had been performed by the Dutch. But after the annexation of Portugal, Philip forbade all commerce and trade between the two countries. By this act, the Dutch deprived of their Lisbon trade had to face the alternative of commercial ruin or the gaining of those eastern products for themselves. They chose the latter course with all its risks. It was soon made possible by the destruction of the Armada. The Dutch expeditions to the Indies. In 1595, their first expedition, led by one Cornelius Hootman, who had sailed in Portuguese galleons, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian domain. The objective point was Java, where an alliance was formed with the native princes and a cargo of pepper secured. Two things were shown by the safe return of this fleet. The great wealth and profit of the Indian trade and the inability of Spain and Portugal to maintain their monopoly. In 1598, the merchants of Amsterdam defeated the combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet in the east, and trading settlements were secured in Java and Johor. In 1605, they carried their factories to Amboyna and Tidor. Effect of the success of the Dutch. The exclusive monopoly over the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which Portugal and Spain had maintained for a century, was broken. With the concurrence of the Roman sea, they had tried to divide the New World and the Orient between them. That effort was now passed. They had claimed the right to exclude from the vast oceans they had discovered the vessels of every other nation but their own. This doctrine in the history of international law is known as that of Mare Klausum, or closed sea. The death blow to this domination was given by the entrance of the Dutch into the Indies, and it is not a mere coincidence that we find the doctrine of closed sea itself scientifically assailed. A few years later, by the great Dutch jurist, Grouchus, the founder of the system of international law in his work, the Libero Mare. The trading methods of the Dutch. The Dutch made no attempts in the Indies to found great colonies for political domination and religious conversion. Commerce was their sole object. Their policy was to form alliances with native rulers, promising to assist them against the rule of the Portuguese for Spaniard in return for exclusive privileges of trade. In this, they were more than successful. In 1602, they obtained permission to establish a factory at Bantam on the island of Java. This was even then a considerable trading point. Chinese, Arabs, Persians, Moors, Turks, Malabar, Begons, and merchants from all nations were established there, the principal object of trade being pepper. The character of the treaty made by the Dutch with the king of Bantam is stated by Rappels. The Dutch stipulated to assist him against foreign invaders, particularly Spaniards and Portuguese, and the king, on his side, agreed to make over to the Dutch a good and strong fort, a free trade, and security for their persons and property, without payment of any duties or taxes, and to allow no other European nation to trade or reside in his territories. Spanish expedition against the Dutch in the Malaccas. The Spaniards, however, did not relinquish the field to this new foes without a struggle, and the conflict fills the history of the 18th century. When the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from a Boina entidor in February 1605, many of the Portuguese came to the Philippines and enlisted in the Spanish forces. The governor, Don Pedro Bravo de Acuña, filled with wrath at the loss of these important possessions with great activity organized an expedition for their conquest. In the previous year, there had arrived from Spain 800 troops, 200 of them being native Mexicans. Thus, Acuña was able to organize a powerful fleet that mounted 75 pieces of artillery and carried over 1,400 Spaniards and 1,600 Indians. The fleet sailed in January 1606. The door was taken without resistance, and the Dutch factory seized, with a great store of money, goods, and weapons. The Spaniards then sailed Ternate, the fort and plaza were bombarded, and then the town was carried by storm. Thus, at last was accomplished the adventure which, for nearly a century, had inspired the ambitions of the Spaniards, which had drawn the fleet of Magellan, which had wrecked the expeditions of Luisa and Villalobos, for which the Spaniards in the Philippines had prepared expedition after expedition, and for which Governor Das Mariñas had sacrificed his life. At last, the Malacas had been taken by the forces of Spain. Capture of a Dutch fleet at Maribeles So far from disposing of their enemies, however, this action simply brought the Dutch into the Philippines. In 1609, Juan de Silva became governor of the islands, and in the same year arrived the Dutch admiral, withert with the squadron. After an unsuccessful attack on Ilo Ilo, the Dutch fleet anchored off Maribeles to capture vessels arriving for the Manila trade. At this place, on the 25th of April 1610, the Spanish fleet, which had been hastily fitted at Cavite, attacked the Dutch, killing the admiral, and taking all the ships but one, 250 prisoners, and a large amount of silver and merchandise. These prisoners seemed to have been treated with more mercy than the captives of Van North's fleet who were hanged at Cavite. The wounded are said to have been cared for, and the priors from all the religious orders pied with one another to convert these protestant pirates from their heresy. An expedition against the Dutch in Java Spain made the truce of her European wars with Holland in 1609, but this succession of hostilities was never recognized in the East. The Dutch and Spanish colonists continued to war upon and pillage each other until late in the century. Encouraged by his victory over Withered, Silva negotiated with the Portuguese allies in Goa, India, to drive the Dutch from Java. A powerful squadron sailed from Cavite in 1616 for this purpose. It was the largest fleet which, after that date, had ever been assembled in the Philippines. The expedition, however, failed to unite with their Portuguese allies, and in April Silva died at Malacca of Malignant Fever. The Dutch fleets, battles near Corajidor. The fleet returned to Cavite to find that the city, while stripped of soldiers and artillery, had been in a fever of anxiety and apprehension over the proximity of Dutch vessels. They were those of Admiral Spielbergen, who had arrived by way of the Straits of Magellan and the Pacific. He has left as a chart of the San Bernardino Straits, which is reproduced on page 133. Spielbergen bombarded Ilo Ilo and then sailed for the Malacas. A year later, he returned, meant the Spanish fleet of seven galleons and two galleras near Manila and suffered a severe defeat. The battle began with cannonading on Friday, April 13, and continued throughout the day. On the following day, the vessels came to close quarters the Spaniards boarded the Dutch vessels, and the battle was fought out with the sword. The Dutch were overwhelmed. Probably their numbers were few. The Relacion states that they had 14 galleons, but other accounts put the number at ten, three vessels of which were destroyed or taken by the Spaniards. One of them, the beautiful ship, the Son of Holland, was burned. This combat is known as the Battle of Playa Honda. Another engagement took place in the same waters of Corajidor, late in 1624, when a Dutch fleet was driven away without serious loss to either side. The Dutch captured Chinese junks and galleons. But through the intervening years, fleets of the Hollanders were continually arriving, both by the way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan. Those that came across the Pacific almost inviably cruised up the strait of San Bernardino, securing the fresh provisions so desirable to them after their long voyage. The prizes which they made of Chinese vessels, passing Corajidor for Manila, gave us an idea of how considerably the Spaniards in the Philippines relied upon China for their food. Junks or champans were continually passing Corajidor, laden with chickens, hogs, rice, sugar, and other commestibles. The Mexican galleons were frequently destroyed or captured by these lurking fleets of the Dutch, and for a time, the route through the Straits of San Bernardino had to be abandoned, the galleons reaching Manila by way of Cape Engaño, or sometimes landing in Cagayan, and more than once going ashore on the Pacific side of the island at Binangonan de Lampon. The Dutch in Formosa The Dutch also made repeated efforts to rest from Portugal, her settlement, and trade in China. As early as 1557, the Portuguese had established a settlement on the island of Macau, one of these numerous islets that filled the estuary of the river of Canton. This is the oldest European settlement in China, and has been held continuously by the Portuguese until the present day, when it remains almost the last vestige of the once mighty Portuguese Empire of the East. It was much coveted by the Dutch because of its importance in the trade with Canton and Pukien. In 1622, a fleet from Java brought siege to Macau, and being repulsed sailed to the Pescadores Islands, where they built a fort and established a post, which threatened both the Portuguese trade with Japan and the Manila trade with Amoy. Two years later, on the solicitation of the Chinese government, the Dutch removed their settlement to Formosa, where after some years they broke up the Spanish mission stations and gained exclusive possession of the island. Thus throughout the century, these European powers harassed and raided one another, but no one of them was sufficiently strong to expel the others from the East. The Portuguese Colonies In 1640, the Kingdom of Portugal freed itself from the domination of Spain. With the same blow, Spain lost the great colonial possessions that came to her with the attachment of the Portuguese. All the places, says Zuniga, which the Portuguese had in the Indies, separated themselves from the Crown of Castile, and recognized as King Don Juan of Portugal. This same year, he adds, the Dutch took Malacca. The Moros Increase of Moro Piracy During all these years, the raids of the Moros of Maginda now and Joló had never ceased. Their piracies were almost continuous. There was no security. Churches were looted, priests killed, people borne away for ransom or for slavery. Obviously, this piracy could only be met by destroying it at its source. Defensive fortifications and protecting fleets were of no consequence when compared with the necessity of subduing the Moro in his own lairs. In 1628 and 1630, punitive expeditions were sent against Joló, Basilan, and Mindanao, which drove the Moros from their forts, burned their towns, and cut down their groves of coconut trees. But such expeditions served only to inflame the mor, the wrathful vengeance of the Moro, and in 1635, the government resolved upon a change of policy and the establishment of a Presidio at Zambuanga. Founding of a Spanish post at Zambuanga This brings us to a new phase in the Moro wars. The governor, Juan Cereso de Salamanca, was determined upon the conquest and the occupation of Mindanao and Joló. In taking this step, Salamanca, like Corcuerra, who succeeded him, acted under the influence of the Jesuits. Their missions in Bohol and northern Mindanao made them ambitious to reserve for the administrations of their society all lands that were conquered and occupied south of the Visayas. The Jesuits were the missionaries on Ternate and Xiao, and wherever in the Malacas and Celebes the Spanish and Portuguese had established their power. The Jesuits had accompanied the expedition of Rodriguez de Figueroa in 1595, and from that date they never ceased petitioning the government for a military occupation of these islands and for their own return as the missionaries of these regions. The Jesuits were brilliant and able administrators. For men of their ambition Mindanao with its rich soil, attractive productions, and comparatively numerous populations was the most enticing field for the establishment of such a theocratic Commonwealth as the Jesuits had created and administered in America. On the other hand, the occupation of Zamuanga was strenuously opposed by the other religious orders, but the Jesuits, ever remarkable for their ascendancy in affairs of state, were able to affect the establishment of Zamuanga, though they could not prevent its abandonment a quarter of a century later. Erection of the Fortes The procedure was founded in 1635 by a force under Don Juan de Chavez. His army consisted of 300 Spaniards and 1000 Visayas. The end of the peninsula was swept of moral inhabitants and their towns destroyed by fire. In June, the foundations of the stone fort were laid under the direction of the Jesuit, Father Vera, who is described as being experienced in military engineering and architecture. To supply the new site with water, a ditch was built from the river Tomaga, a distance of six or seven miles, which brought a copious stream to the very walls of the fort. The advantage or failure of this expensive fortress is very hard to determine. Its planting was a partisan measure and it was always subject to partisan praise and partisan blame. Sometimes it seemed to have checked the morose and sometimes seemed only to be steering them to fresh anger and aggression. The same year that saw the establishment of Zamuanga, Cortado de Corcuera became governor of the Philippines. He was much under the influence of the Jesuits and confirmed their policy of conquest. DEFEAT OF THE MORO PIRATE TAGAL A few months later, a notable fleet of pirates recruited from Indanao, Holo, and Borneo, and headed by a chieftain named Tagal, a brother of the notorious Coralat, Sultan of Magindanao, went defiantly past the new Presidio and Northward through the Mindoro Sea. For more than seven months, they crossed the Visayas. The islands of the Camarines especially felt their ravages. In Cuyo, they captured the Corridor and three friars. Finally, with 650 captives and rich booty, including the ornaments and services of churches, Tagal turned southward on his return. The Presidio of Zamuanga had prepared to intercept him, and a fierce battle took place off the Punta de Fletchas, 30 leagues to the northeast of Zamuanga. According to the Spanish writers, this point was one held sacred by Moro superstitions. A deity inhabited these waters, whom the Moros were accustomed to propitiate, on the departure and arrival of their expeditions by throwing into the sea lances and arrows. The victory was a notable one for the Spanish arms. Tagal and more than 300 Moros were killed, and 120 Christian captives were released. Corcuera's expedition against the Moros at La Mita. Corcuera had meanwhile been preparing an expedition, which had taken on the character of a holy war. Jesuit and soldier mingled in its company and united in its direction. The Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier, was proclaimed patron of the expedition, and Mass was celebrated daily on the ships. Corcuera himself accompanied the expedition, and at Zamuanga, where they arrived February 22, 1637, he united the force of 760 Spaniards and many Visayas and Pampangos. From Zamuanga, the force started for La Mita, the stronghold of Coralat, and the center of the power of the Magindanau. It seems to have been situated on the coast, south of the region of Lake Lanau. The fleet encountered rough weather and contraria winds of Punta de Plechas, which they attributed to the influence of the Moro demon. To read the locality of this unholy influence, Padre Marcelo, the Jesuit superior, occupied himself for two days. Padre Combes has left us an account of the ceremony. The demon was dispossessed by exorcism. Mass was celebrated, various articles representing Moro infidelity, including arrows, were destroyed and burnt. Holy relics were thrown into the waters, and the place was finally sanctified by baptism in the name of Saint Sebastian. On the 14th of March, the expedition reached La Mita, fortified and defended by 2,000 Moro warriors. The Spanish force, however, was overwhelming, and the city was taken by storm. Here were captured 8 Brown scanners, 27 Versos, Lantacas or Swivel guns, and over 100 muskets and arqueabasses, and a great store of Moro weapons. Over 100 vessels were destroyed, including a fleet of Malai merchant prowess from Java. 16 villages were burned, and 72 Moros were hanged. Coralat, Topersud, and Munded was not captured. The Conquest of Holó Corcuerra returned to Zambuanga and organized an expedition for the Conquest of Holó. Although defended by 4,000 Moro warriors and by allies from Basilan and Tawi Tawi, Corcuerra took holó after some months of siege. The sultan sent himself by flight, but the sultana was taken prisoner. Corcuerra reconstructed the fort, established the garrison of 200 Spaniards and an equal number of Pampangos, left some Jesuit fathers, and, having nominated Major Almonte Chief of all the forces in the south, returned in May 1638 to Manila with all the triumph of a conqueror. Almonte continued the work of subjugation. In 1639, he conquered the Moro Datto of Buhayan in the valley of the Rio Grande, where a small presidio was founded. And in the same year, the Jesuits prevailed upon him to invade the territory of the Malanau, now known as the Laguna de la Nau. This expedition was made from the north through Ilegan, and for a time brought even this far-like and difficult territory under the authority of the governor and the spiritual administration of the Jesuits. Loss of the Spanish settlement on Formosa The full military success of Corcuerra's governorship was marred by the loss of Macau and the capture of the Spanish settlement on the island of Formosa by the Dutch. In the attempt to hold Macau, Corcuerra sent over the encomendero of Pasig, Don Juan Claudio. The populace of Macau, however, rose in tumult, assassinated the governor, Sebastián Lobo, and pronounced in favor of Portugal. And later, by decree of the Portuguese governor of Goa, all the Spanish residents and missionaries were expelled. The Dutch seizure of Formosa a year later has already been described. End of Chapter 9, Part 1. Recording by Shana Serre, Fresno, California.