Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIIThe governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two associates to assistthe auditor in despatching the business of this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera, an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando Guerrero—and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year 1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687 was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens, in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their offenses, since always proves true the proverb,Delirant reges, semper plectuntur Achivi.73The first was the failure of the galleon from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great expenses to the royal treasury,the wreck of the galleon “Santo Niño,” and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years—which, as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and of all these Filipinas Islands.The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon “Santo Niño,” ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be; but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the construction of the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” which they had placed on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did, about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced through the failure to receive a galleon that year.At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the “holy burial,” (which is one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the point of land which is called Punta dela Estacada, and the crowd of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement [of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo—which, as contiguous villages, together constitute one body—for [if the fire had reached them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people who saw their poor houses and property disappear.The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.To this local calamity at La Estacada succeededanother affliction, which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets at the locusts to drive them away—as is usually done at other times in the invasions of this pest, with some effect—on this occasion found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the great scarcity and want of provisions—so great that a cabán of rice (which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions) cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number of beggars—some through necessity, and others through laziness and dislike for work—that it was impossible to relieve them; forwhen there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that all shall be sufficiently cared for.To these great troubles was added another; that in that year occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere(Psalm ciii, v. 32).Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy, which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show that Viga died impenitent; he wasburied in the cathedral of Lalo, and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent, and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter, to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her buried “in the plaza of the said village of Oriong.” Her husband meets “a better end;” he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having “devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings and other mortifications.” Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); “this auditor was a very upright and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community.” Master Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687) to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos, the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. He had “issued a decree of excommunication against the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise their offices. This excommunicationwas the cause of many lawsuits, for Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán, defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple.” Returning to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to which he is entitled as Pardo’s assistant; the archbishop therefore despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May 16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San Mateo—establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of the Society, bydecree of March 16, 1688—with the approbation, not only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron, Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with the title of vicariate.74We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order, we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan—called “Binangonan of the dogs,” to distinguish it from the other town of the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at first administered by thereligious of St. Francis, who had exchanged it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono—its patron saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr—of a few tribute-payers. To this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for any other profit, either spiritual or temporal—not only on account of its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year, while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching] death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which hadbeen throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas(Matthew viii, v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial chapter.Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688, with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the streets with jars of [cooked]rice, and went up into the houses and provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country, but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)—killing many travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages near Tarlac—Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards, but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco; and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León, and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto; the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan,although with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense; they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza, which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].Chapter XVIIIThe Conde de Mondova,75viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas, [influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the owner ofwhich was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet, Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcaldede casa y corte76of Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes, a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos; [the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina y Havalría, a native of Sevilla—who is still living as a religious and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus, who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which theywere to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon “Santo Christo de Burgos” for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of oppression and tyranny which arecommitted, not only in the cutting of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their predecessors—some being dead, and another in banishment—and the only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees from his Majesty—who thanked him for what he had done in the restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable, which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop, since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish; it simply expresses the approval of the pope forPardo’s course, and encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many writers—Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon, in his learnedObservaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado,De regia potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation, without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power (the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo—confining his person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right ofsede vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence—because this does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal, had heldchairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada; but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi, no. 3 of Wisdom.77The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis, and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges; and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor Martínez León. He went hither asexcommunicated, and unable to have any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa, where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España; and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous, and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline strictly maintained—and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find them at the present time.In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; forso many persons of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and the villages were full of beggars—and, what is worse, of thieves and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago, had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the execution of the other be suspended.The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos—a woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater, and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood, suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the city of Méjico—from which place no news has come of her death, but we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo, who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty, as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and cameto Manila, but he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey, in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty should decide whether or not he should go to España.He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found as viceroy the Conde de Galves,78who, as the son of the Duke de Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a feverattacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which [such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers, and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands, as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched, notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods, and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he enjoyed for several years.The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against the principal members of the[cathedral] chapter, of whom only one had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza, and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón, and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina, with many other persons who were going to embark—such as the dean and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop’s attorney—while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He died at ten o’clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila, at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he had been very devoted, and hadgone punctually every Friday to hear his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later, during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons, and these are not wont to be very long.The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had, because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority; he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested, and of placing little value on riches—which in these regions, where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer, is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world, since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long, it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after it is lost, the governor’s death caused much regret. He left as his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the expenses ofhis burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed] also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived), this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them; and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison, and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila, where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies, and died there suddenly....Chapter XIXDuring the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general,and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.The governorad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that thead interimgovernments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedenceof seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. Thegalleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,79he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should givethis man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said,Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis(Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare:Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states:Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.80They tried to persuade him, by verylearned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingeniousand apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said,Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi(Mark vi, v. 18),81alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, andespecially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title,The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the governmenthere should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being oneof the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commandedto take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.][Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he mightexercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since hehad passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.

Chapter XVIIThe governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two associates to assistthe auditor in despatching the business of this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera, an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando Guerrero—and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year 1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687 was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens, in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their offenses, since always proves true the proverb,Delirant reges, semper plectuntur Achivi.73The first was the failure of the galleon from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great expenses to the royal treasury,the wreck of the galleon “Santo Niño,” and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years—which, as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and of all these Filipinas Islands.The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon “Santo Niño,” ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be; but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the construction of the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” which they had placed on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did, about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced through the failure to receive a galleon that year.At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the “holy burial,” (which is one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the point of land which is called Punta dela Estacada, and the crowd of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement [of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo—which, as contiguous villages, together constitute one body—for [if the fire had reached them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people who saw their poor houses and property disappear.The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.To this local calamity at La Estacada succeededanother affliction, which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets at the locusts to drive them away—as is usually done at other times in the invasions of this pest, with some effect—on this occasion found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the great scarcity and want of provisions—so great that a cabán of rice (which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions) cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number of beggars—some through necessity, and others through laziness and dislike for work—that it was impossible to relieve them; forwhen there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that all shall be sufficiently cared for.To these great troubles was added another; that in that year occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere(Psalm ciii, v. 32).Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy, which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show that Viga died impenitent; he wasburied in the cathedral of Lalo, and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent, and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter, to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her buried “in the plaza of the said village of Oriong.” Her husband meets “a better end;” he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having “devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings and other mortifications.” Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); “this auditor was a very upright and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community.” Master Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687) to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos, the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. He had “issued a decree of excommunication against the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise their offices. This excommunicationwas the cause of many lawsuits, for Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán, defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple.” Returning to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to which he is entitled as Pardo’s assistant; the archbishop therefore despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May 16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San Mateo—establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of the Society, bydecree of March 16, 1688—with the approbation, not only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron, Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with the title of vicariate.74We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order, we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan—called “Binangonan of the dogs,” to distinguish it from the other town of the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at first administered by thereligious of St. Francis, who had exchanged it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono—its patron saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr—of a few tribute-payers. To this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for any other profit, either spiritual or temporal—not only on account of its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year, while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching] death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which hadbeen throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas(Matthew viii, v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial chapter.Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688, with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the streets with jars of [cooked]rice, and went up into the houses and provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country, but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)—killing many travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages near Tarlac—Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards, but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco; and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León, and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto; the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan,although with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense; they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza, which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].Chapter XVIIIThe Conde de Mondova,75viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas, [influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the owner ofwhich was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet, Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcaldede casa y corte76of Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes, a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos; [the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina y Havalría, a native of Sevilla—who is still living as a religious and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus, who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which theywere to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon “Santo Christo de Burgos” for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of oppression and tyranny which arecommitted, not only in the cutting of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their predecessors—some being dead, and another in banishment—and the only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees from his Majesty—who thanked him for what he had done in the restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable, which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop, since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish; it simply expresses the approval of the pope forPardo’s course, and encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many writers—Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon, in his learnedObservaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado,De regia potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation, without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power (the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo—confining his person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right ofsede vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence—because this does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal, had heldchairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada; but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi, no. 3 of Wisdom.77The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis, and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges; and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor Martínez León. He went hither asexcommunicated, and unable to have any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa, where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España; and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous, and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline strictly maintained—and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find them at the present time.In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; forso many persons of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and the villages were full of beggars—and, what is worse, of thieves and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago, had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the execution of the other be suspended.The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos—a woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater, and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood, suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the city of Méjico—from which place no news has come of her death, but we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo, who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty, as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and cameto Manila, but he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey, in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty should decide whether or not he should go to España.He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found as viceroy the Conde de Galves,78who, as the son of the Duke de Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a feverattacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which [such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers, and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands, as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched, notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods, and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he enjoyed for several years.The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against the principal members of the[cathedral] chapter, of whom only one had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza, and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón, and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina, with many other persons who were going to embark—such as the dean and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop’s attorney—while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He died at ten o’clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila, at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he had been very devoted, and hadgone punctually every Friday to hear his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later, during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons, and these are not wont to be very long.The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had, because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority; he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested, and of placing little value on riches—which in these regions, where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer, is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world, since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long, it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after it is lost, the governor’s death caused much regret. He left as his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the expenses ofhis burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed] also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived), this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them; and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison, and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila, where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies, and died there suddenly....Chapter XIXDuring the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general,and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.The governorad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that thead interimgovernments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedenceof seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. Thegalleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,79he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should givethis man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said,Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis(Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare:Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states:Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.80They tried to persuade him, by verylearned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingeniousand apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said,Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi(Mark vi, v. 18),81alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, andespecially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title,The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the governmenthere should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being oneof the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commandedto take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.][Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he mightexercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since hehad passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.

Chapter XVIIThe governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two associates to assistthe auditor in despatching the business of this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera, an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando Guerrero—and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year 1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687 was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens, in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their offenses, since always proves true the proverb,Delirant reges, semper plectuntur Achivi.73The first was the failure of the galleon from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great expenses to the royal treasury,the wreck of the galleon “Santo Niño,” and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years—which, as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and of all these Filipinas Islands.The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon “Santo Niño,” ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be; but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the construction of the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” which they had placed on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did, about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced through the failure to receive a galleon that year.At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the “holy burial,” (which is one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the point of land which is called Punta dela Estacada, and the crowd of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement [of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo—which, as contiguous villages, together constitute one body—for [if the fire had reached them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people who saw their poor houses and property disappear.The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.To this local calamity at La Estacada succeededanother affliction, which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets at the locusts to drive them away—as is usually done at other times in the invasions of this pest, with some effect—on this occasion found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the great scarcity and want of provisions—so great that a cabán of rice (which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions) cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number of beggars—some through necessity, and others through laziness and dislike for work—that it was impossible to relieve them; forwhen there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that all shall be sufficiently cared for.To these great troubles was added another; that in that year occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere(Psalm ciii, v. 32).Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy, which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show that Viga died impenitent; he wasburied in the cathedral of Lalo, and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent, and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter, to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her buried “in the plaza of the said village of Oriong.” Her husband meets “a better end;” he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having “devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings and other mortifications.” Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); “this auditor was a very upright and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community.” Master Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687) to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos, the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. He had “issued a decree of excommunication against the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise their offices. This excommunicationwas the cause of many lawsuits, for Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán, defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple.” Returning to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to which he is entitled as Pardo’s assistant; the archbishop therefore despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May 16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San Mateo—establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of the Society, bydecree of March 16, 1688—with the approbation, not only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron, Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with the title of vicariate.74We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order, we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan—called “Binangonan of the dogs,” to distinguish it from the other town of the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at first administered by thereligious of St. Francis, who had exchanged it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono—its patron saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr—of a few tribute-payers. To this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for any other profit, either spiritual or temporal—not only on account of its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year, while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching] death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which hadbeen throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas(Matthew viii, v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial chapter.Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688, with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the streets with jars of [cooked]rice, and went up into the houses and provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country, but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)—killing many travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages near Tarlac—Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards, but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco; and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León, and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto; the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan,although with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense; they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza, which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].Chapter XVIIIThe Conde de Mondova,75viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas, [influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the owner ofwhich was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet, Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcaldede casa y corte76of Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes, a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos; [the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina y Havalría, a native of Sevilla—who is still living as a religious and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus, who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which theywere to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon “Santo Christo de Burgos” for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of oppression and tyranny which arecommitted, not only in the cutting of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their predecessors—some being dead, and another in banishment—and the only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees from his Majesty—who thanked him for what he had done in the restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable, which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop, since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish; it simply expresses the approval of the pope forPardo’s course, and encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many writers—Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon, in his learnedObservaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado,De regia potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation, without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power (the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo—confining his person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right ofsede vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence—because this does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal, had heldchairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada; but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi, no. 3 of Wisdom.77The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis, and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges; and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor Martínez León. He went hither asexcommunicated, and unable to have any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa, where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España; and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous, and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline strictly maintained—and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find them at the present time.In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; forso many persons of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and the villages were full of beggars—and, what is worse, of thieves and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago, had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the execution of the other be suspended.The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos—a woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater, and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood, suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the city of Méjico—from which place no news has come of her death, but we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo, who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty, as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and cameto Manila, but he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey, in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty should decide whether or not he should go to España.He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found as viceroy the Conde de Galves,78who, as the son of the Duke de Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a feverattacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which [such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers, and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands, as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched, notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods, and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he enjoyed for several years.The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against the principal members of the[cathedral] chapter, of whom only one had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza, and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón, and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina, with many other persons who were going to embark—such as the dean and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop’s attorney—while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He died at ten o’clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila, at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he had been very devoted, and hadgone punctually every Friday to hear his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later, during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons, and these are not wont to be very long.The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had, because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority; he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested, and of placing little value on riches—which in these regions, where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer, is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world, since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long, it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after it is lost, the governor’s death caused much regret. He left as his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the expenses ofhis burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed] also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived), this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them; and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison, and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila, where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies, and died there suddenly....Chapter XIXDuring the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general,and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.The governorad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that thead interimgovernments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedenceof seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. Thegalleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,79he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should givethis man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said,Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis(Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare:Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states:Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.80They tried to persuade him, by verylearned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingeniousand apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said,Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi(Mark vi, v. 18),81alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, andespecially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title,The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the governmenthere should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being oneof the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commandedto take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.][Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he mightexercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since hehad passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.

Chapter XVIIThe governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two associates to assistthe auditor in despatching the business of this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera, an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando Guerrero—and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year 1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687 was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens, in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their offenses, since always proves true the proverb,Delirant reges, semper plectuntur Achivi.73The first was the failure of the galleon from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great expenses to the royal treasury,the wreck of the galleon “Santo Niño,” and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years—which, as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and of all these Filipinas Islands.The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon “Santo Niño,” ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be; but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the construction of the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” which they had placed on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did, about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced through the failure to receive a galleon that year.At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the “holy burial,” (which is one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the point of land which is called Punta dela Estacada, and the crowd of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement [of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo—which, as contiguous villages, together constitute one body—for [if the fire had reached them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people who saw their poor houses and property disappear.The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.To this local calamity at La Estacada succeededanother affliction, which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets at the locusts to drive them away—as is usually done at other times in the invasions of this pest, with some effect—on this occasion found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the great scarcity and want of provisions—so great that a cabán of rice (which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions) cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number of beggars—some through necessity, and others through laziness and dislike for work—that it was impossible to relieve them; forwhen there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that all shall be sufficiently cared for.To these great troubles was added another; that in that year occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere(Psalm ciii, v. 32).Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy, which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show that Viga died impenitent; he wasburied in the cathedral of Lalo, and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent, and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter, to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her buried “in the plaza of the said village of Oriong.” Her husband meets “a better end;” he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having “devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings and other mortifications.” Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); “this auditor was a very upright and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community.” Master Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687) to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos, the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. He had “issued a decree of excommunication against the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise their offices. This excommunicationwas the cause of many lawsuits, for Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán, defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple.” Returning to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to which he is entitled as Pardo’s assistant; the archbishop therefore despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May 16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San Mateo—establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of the Society, bydecree of March 16, 1688—with the approbation, not only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron, Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with the title of vicariate.74We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order, we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan—called “Binangonan of the dogs,” to distinguish it from the other town of the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at first administered by thereligious of St. Francis, who had exchanged it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono—its patron saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr—of a few tribute-payers. To this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for any other profit, either spiritual or temporal—not only on account of its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year, while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching] death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which hadbeen throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas(Matthew viii, v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial chapter.Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688, with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the streets with jars of [cooked]rice, and went up into the houses and provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country, but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)—killing many travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages near Tarlac—Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards, but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco; and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León, and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto; the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan,although with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense; they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza, which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].

The governor, seeing the Audiencia broken up (since it consisted of only one individual, the auditor Don Diego Calderón), named two associates to assistthe auditor in despatching the business of this supreme tribunal; these were Licentiate Don José de Herrera, an advocate of the royal Audiencia, and the doctor and captain whom I have already mentioned, Don José de Cervantes Altamirano; and they issued royal decrees, Doctor Don Esteban de la Fuente filling his office of fiscal. They alleged that there had been a precedent for this in the time of Governor Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera, when there was no other auditor than Don Marcos Zapata, by whose aid was carried out the banishment and imprisonment of Don Fray Fernando Guerrero—and this proceeding had been an example to be repeated in these times. Afterward, on account of the sickness and death of Don Diego Calderón, the governor continued to form an Audiencia with the two associates, which the royal Council of the Indias condemned.

Under this kind of government two years passed by, until, in the year 1688, a new Audiencia arrived, as we shall soon see. The year 1687 was no less grievous than the preceding one, for various misfortunes followed each other, which were generally felt by all the citizens, in order that they might share in the punishment merited by their offenses, since always proves true the proverb,Delirant reges, semper plectuntur Achivi.73The first was the failure of the galleon from Nueva España, for it could not come that year because none had been despatched [from Manila] the year before; this was because of the armada sent against the pirates, which only served to cause great expenses to the royal treasury,the wreck of the galleon “Santo Niño,” and the failure of the galleon in this and the following years—which, as we have often said, is the life of the poor colony of Manila and of all these Filipinas Islands.

The governor, having determined to send to Nueva España the galleon “Santo Niño,” ordered that it be repaired as well as it could be; but even then it was not very strong, because most of its strength had been taken from it by the windows which had been opened in it for the artillery. But there was no other ship to depend upon, for the construction of the “Santo Cristo de Burgos,” which they had placed on the stocks, was only begun. The governor appointed as its commander Lucas Mateo Urquina, who sailed for Nueva España with but slight hope on the part of those who understood the situation for the success of the voyage. The worst was, that their fears were realized; for the galleon not being able to endure the fierce storms that attacked it in high latitudes, it was compelled to put back to port. This it did, about the month of November, causing great affliction to all; for it came only to aggravate the sufferings that were already experienced through the failure to receive a galleon that year.

At night of Holy Thursday, March 28, at the time when in the village of Binondo arrangements were being made for the procession which the mestizo Sangleys make on the occasion of the “holy burial,” (which is one of the most brilliant and magnificent of the processions that are made in Holy Week), one of the greatest disasters that have ever been seen in these islands occurred. Fire caught in the first house on the point of land which is called Punta dela Estacada, and the crowd of people who had made ready for this devout function were unable to extinguish the fire; and the devouring flames made such havoc that they destroyed the great number of houses that stood in all the territory of the said Estacada, Baybay, and Tondo, finally consuming the entire barrio of Bancusay, in which this so widespread settlement [of Sangleys] finds its limit. It was no small good-fortune that the fire passed by the other side of the river, where lies the great town of Binondoc, Tondo, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo—which, as contiguous villages, together constitute one body—for [if the fire had reached them] the loss would have been irreparable; for many splendid houses of wealthy Spaniards and mestizos would have been consumed, and those of many Portuguese and Armenian traders who live in those places as being more convenient [for their business]. There were no deaths of persons from the flames; but great was the loss of the many people who saw their poor houses and property disappear.

The gates of Manila were opened, and the governor, in person hastened to give aid, with a great number of people, who could check the fire so that it should not cross over to the other part of Binondoc and Tondo. What was more, he prevented the robberies which in such emergencies are committed by some soldiers and wicked people, who on such occasions are worse than the fire, as has been found by experience at various times; for in times of drouth fires are very frequent in the suburbs of Manila, most of them being occasioned by fire set by these soulless incendiaries, who find their profit in such destruction.

To this local calamity at La Estacada succeededanother affliction, which was general through the greater part of these islands; this was a plague of locusts, one of the worst which has been seen in them, for the locusts were so many that in dense and opaque clouds they darkened the sun, and covered the ground on which they settled. These insects ravaged the grain-fields, and left the meadows scorched; and even the trees and canebrakes they stripped of the green leaves. These locusts were so voracious that they not only laid waste every kind of herbage and verdure, but they entered the houses, and gnawed and pierced with holes every kind of cloth; and those who flapped sheets and coverlets at the locusts to drive them away—as is usually done at other times in the invasions of this pest, with some effect—on this occasion found that the only result was to ruin those articles, for the locusts ate them, and destroyed them with their poisonous jaws. Thereupon the people began to feel the loss which ensued from this calamity, in the great scarcity and want of provisions—so great that a cabán of rice (which is half a fanega) came to be worth two pesos and a half, and in some places three pesos. (Nor has the poverty been less which is being experienced while I am writing this, on account of the great plague of locusts which occurred in the past year of 1717 and the present one.) And it can be said that the poor died in great numbers, not so much because the rice (which is the general food of the regions) cost so much, as through their lack of forethought, and of money with which to buy rice; and because there was so excessive a number of beggars—some through necessity, and others through laziness and dislike for work—that it was impossible to relieve them; forwhen there is but little to give it is not possible to divide it so that all shall be sufficiently cared for.

To these great troubles was added another; that in that year occurred many earthquakes, which although they did not cause the total destruction of buildings, left many houses and churches damaged. In the province of Cagayán, in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, heavier shocks were experienced, for in the mountainous districts of that province chasms and vent-holes were opened, a phenomenon which usually results from such tremblings of the earth. From this it may be proved that a cause of these tremblings and earthquakes is the air which is shut in within the caverns of the globe, drawn into them through the crevices and openings which the heat causes in the soil, which afterward are closed by the rains; a great volume of air being thus gathered, it becomes rarefied, and, increasing in quantity or volume, it seeks an outlet, directing its force toward its center and causing so terrible a commotion. But the safe and useful way of maintaining ourselves faithful in the fulfilment of our obligations is to regard these earthquakes as tokens of the wrath of God against our transgressions,Qui respicit terram et facit eam tremere(Psalm ciii, v. 32).

Not long before these events, the death occurred in Cagayán of the auditor Licentiate Don Diego Antonio de Viga, a prisoner and exile in that province. [Here Diaz relates the circumstances of the deaths of Viga and other persons who had been concerned in the Pardo controversy, which have already been mentioned in previous documents. He cites a letter from Pardo to Curucelaegui, dated December 2, 1687, to show that Viga died impenitent; he wasburied in the cathedral of Lalo, and Pardo connects with this circumstance the calamities which soon afterward afflicted the islands. He orders the remains of Viga to be disinterred and removed from the cathedral; Diaz thinks that this was done, but is not quite certain. He positively asserts, however, that Viga was a very upright official, and wholly disinterested; and thinks that he perhaps went too far in upholding the royal privileges, through misunderstanding their scope. Doña Josefa Bolivar also dies impenitent, and Pardo sends Bachelor Don Juan de Cazorla to investigate the matter, to know whether she may be buried in consecrated ground; he has her buried “in the plaza of the said village of Oriong.” Her husband meets “a better end;” he is reconciled to the Church, and dies after having “devoted himself to exercises of austere penance, fasts and scourgings and other mortifications.” Auditor Calderón dies at Manila in like exemplary manner (July 18, 1687); “this auditor was a very upright and disinterested official, a good Christian, pious, and much given to good works, and therefore was beloved by the entire community.” Master Jerónimo de Herrera is sentenced by the archbishop (March 16, 1687) to be deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and offices, and is sent to Spain, but dies during the voyage. At this time, Barrientos, the bishop of Troya, is absent on official duties in the bishopric of Nueva Segovia. He had “issued a decree of excommunication against the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán, Ilocos, and Pangasinán, prohibiting to them trade and traffic in those provinces, in virtue of the oath which those officials take in the royal Audiencia when they go to exercise their offices. This excommunicationwas the cause of many lawsuits, for Captain Don Francisco de Alzaga Voitia, alcalde-mayor of Pangasinán, defended them all, and appeared before the royal Audiencia with a plea of fuerza, complaining that the bishop of Troya was usurping the royal jurisdiction by taking cognizance of the oath taken in that court.... On this question royal decrees were issued, and the controversy lasted a long time, but the excommunication then laid has remained until this day; and the alcaldes-mayor continue with their trade and traffic as before, without the least scruple.” Returning to Manila, Barrientos declines the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, to which he is entitled as Pardo’s assistant; the archbishop therefore despatches to take charge of that diocese Doctor Nicolás de la Vega Caballero, then cura of Cavite.]

This province assumed charge of the ministry in the territory of Mariquina and Jesús de la Peña, which in times past was a dependency of the mission station of Pasig. It had been administered by the religious of the Society, by commission of Don Fray Pedro Arce, bishop of Cebú and ruler of the archbishopric of Manila, and by approval of Governor Don Juan Niño de Tabora, since the year 1630; and now it was restored to the ministry of Pasig by sentence of the archbishop, May 16, 1687, and this province added to that territory the convent of San Mateo—establishing the headquarters and residence of the minister at Mariquina, whose titular saint is our Lady of Protection; its first minister was father Fray Simón Martínez. The aforesaid archbishop also added to the said village of Pasig the mission village of San Andrés Apóstol de Cainta, also administered by the said religious of the Society, bydecree of March 16, 1688—with the approbation, not only of this, but of the separation of Mariquina, by the vice-patron, Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui. Its first minister was father Fray José del Valle, and it was preserved as a separate convent with the title of vicariate.74

We held these ministries, with great labor and inconvenience, until the year 1696, when there arrived a royal decree that they should again be administered by the fathers of the Society of Jesus, and we therefore surrendered them to those fathers. In order to show further our good-will and friendly relations with so holy a religious order, we exchanged the ministry of San Mateo for that of Binangonan—called “Binangonan of the dogs,” to distinguish it from the other town of the same name, which is on the opposite coast [of the island]; it has for its titular St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins her companions, in a church in Laguna de Bay. This was accomplished by the aid of the consent and approbation of the governor, Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora. This village of Binangonan is very small, and had been at first administered by thereligious of St. Francis, who had exchanged it for the ministry of Baras, which also belonged to the religious of the Society; and because it was so poor a living a visita was added to it from the ministry of Pasig, which is called Angono—its patron saint being St. Clement, pope and martyr—of a few tribute-payers. To this ministry were added fifty pesos more for its support, but it is so forlorn a one that even with all these aids the minister suffers a great lack of means for his support; and therefore on many occasions there has been talk of abandoning this charge, for it is not good for any other profit, either spiritual or temporal—not only on account of its poverty, but because of the intractable disposition of its people.

On February 19 of this year of 1688, our then father provincial, Fray Juan de Jeréz, died in the convent of Manila; his illness was caused by the great hardships of his visitation of the entire province, and the eagerness with which he undertook to perform this task in one year, while it was a task for two years, especially since he was sixty-two years old, and had many attacks of illness. At last he ended the visitation, but it put an end to him. He was one of the most exact in fulfilling obligations of all the religious who have been in this province, and great was his zeal for the religious observance. His solicitude and care for adornment in the things belonging to the divine worship was continual, using his utmost endeavors that the altars and ornaments should be the best that were possible, and spending on them all that he could obtain. The first indication of his [approaching] death was that he was freed from the scruples of conscience which hadbeen throughout his life a continual torment; but at that time the Lord, who had given him these scruples in order to exercise his soul,imperavit ventis et mari, et facta est tranquillitas(Matthew viii, v. 26). His death was deeply regretted by all; for this province loved him as a father, and the people venerated him as a saint. In consequence of his death, the government was assumed by our father Fray José Duque, as being next to the provincial, with the title of rector-provincial; for in this province could not be observed the same rule as in those of España, where our very reverend father general makes appointments for the vacancies caused by the deaths of provincials, until the time appointed for convening the provincial chapter.

Among the troubles and calamities of this year a very great one was that occasioned by a pestilential epidemic of influenza, which had begun in the preceding year and continued in this year of 1688, with great ravages. Many died of this disease, especially children and old persons; and by this year the epidemic had so increased that many grain-fields could not be cultivated, for lack of people to do the work. This caused a great lack of provisions in this and the following years, just as the locusts had occasioned like loss in the preceding year. So prevalent was the disease that in the province of Pampanga, where I was serving in the village of Guagua, as secretary and assistant of the rector-provincial, the Indians were not seen in the streets, on account of most of them being prostrated by the cruel influenza, and the rest of them caring for the sick ones. Accordingly the deputies and officials of the confraternities went through the streets with jars of [cooked]rice, and went up into the houses and provided those who were in need with food; for most of the people were without it, and others could not cook it and had no one who was able to do so. These influenzas are very frequent in this country, but that in this year was the worst that the old men have seen; and since then, up to the present time, no other like it has been known.

The governor, Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui, desired to put a stop to the outrages which were being committed by the rebellious blacks of the mountains and the Zambals of the Playa Honda and the uninhabited places of the Puntalón (a route in the province of Pangasinán)—killing many travelers and cutting off their heads (which is the greatest trophy and desire of those people), and daring to approach the villages near Tarlac—Magalan, Telban, and Malunguey. The governor therefore prepared to make a vigorous invasion, not only with Spaniards, but with Pampangos, friendly Zambals, and Merdicas from Maluco; and he appointed as their leader Sargento-mayor Martín de León, and gave him [for officers], as being men experienced in that sort of war, Captain Alonso Martín Franco and Captain Bartolomé Prieto; the master-of-camp of the Merdicas, Cachil-Duco, the prince of Tidori; and Sargento-mayor Pedro Machado. He sent orders to the alcaldes-mayor of Cagayán and Pangasinán that they, with the best troops that they had, should scout through the mountains from north to south, so that they might go on until they should meet Martín de León and his companions, up to a locality and settlement of blacks that is called Culianán. Both parties carried out this plan,although with great difficulty, on account of those forests being very dense; they killed many insurgent blacks and Zambals; but before joining their troops they found themselves obliged to retreat, because the epidemic of pestilential influenza made great havoc among them, and many died from that disease. But the injury which our people could not inflict upon the enemy was wrought on them by the pest of the influenza, which caused as great ravages among them as the smallpox had made in previous years. Martín de León, Alonso Martín Franco, and Bartolomé Prieto came to Guagua in very bad condition; from there they sent word to the governor, who commanded them to withdraw [from the enterprise].

Chapter XVIIIThe Conde de Mondova,75viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas, [influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the owner ofwhich was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet, Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcaldede casa y corte76of Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes, a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos; [the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina y Havalría, a native of Sevilla—who is still living as a religious and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus, who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which theywere to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon “Santo Christo de Burgos” for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of oppression and tyranny which arecommitted, not only in the cutting of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their predecessors—some being dead, and another in banishment—and the only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees from his Majesty—who thanked him for what he had done in the restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable, which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop, since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish; it simply expresses the approval of the pope forPardo’s course, and encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many writers—Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon, in his learnedObservaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado,De regia potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation, without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power (the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo—confining his person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right ofsede vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence—because this does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal, had heldchairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada; but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi, no. 3 of Wisdom.77The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis, and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges; and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor Martínez León. He went hither asexcommunicated, and unable to have any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa, where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España; and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous, and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline strictly maintained—and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find them at the present time.In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; forso many persons of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and the villages were full of beggars—and, what is worse, of thieves and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago, had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the execution of the other be suspended.The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos—a woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater, and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood, suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the city of Méjico—from which place no news has come of her death, but we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo, who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty, as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and cameto Manila, but he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey, in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty should decide whether or not he should go to España.He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found as viceroy the Conde de Galves,78who, as the son of the Duke de Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a feverattacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which [such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers, and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands, as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched, notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods, and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he enjoyed for several years.The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against the principal members of the[cathedral] chapter, of whom only one had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza, and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón, and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina, with many other persons who were going to embark—such as the dean and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop’s attorney—while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He died at ten o’clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila, at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he had been very devoted, and hadgone punctually every Friday to hear his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later, during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons, and these are not wont to be very long.The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had, because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority; he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested, and of placing little value on riches—which in these regions, where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer, is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world, since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long, it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after it is lost, the governor’s death caused much regret. He left as his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the expenses ofhis burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed] also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived), this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them; and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison, and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila, where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies, and died there suddenly....

The Conde de Mondova,75viceroy of Nueva España, seeing that for two successive years there had been no galleons from Filipinas, [influenced] not only by the order which the royal Council has given for such emergencies, but by finding that he was responsible for the despatch of the investigating judge and the new royal Audiencia who were on their way to these islands to replace and depose the auditors (whom either death or exile had already deposed), ordered that a Peruvian patache be made ready which was then at Acapulco, the owner ofwhich was Felipe Vertis, a citizen of Callao. The viceroy appointed as its commander the then admiral of the Windward fleet, Antonio de Astina, a native of San Sebastián; and for seamen the best who were found in the said armada. In this patache embarked the following persons: The investigating judge, who was Licentiate Don Francisco Campos Valdivia, then alcaldede casa y corte76of Madrid, and royal deputy provincial notary at the said court. The new auditors, of whom the senior was Licentiate Don Alonso Abellafuertes, a knight of the Order of Alcántara, a native of Oviedo, who had recently finished his term as corregidor of the city of Burgos; [the others were] Licentiate Don Juan de Sierra y Osorio, a knight of the Order of Calatrava, an Asturian, and Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina y Havalría, a native of Sevilla—who is still living as a religious and priest, a professed of the fourth vow in the Society of Jesus, who is an example of virtue and truly exemplary. The auditor second in seniority, Licentiate Don Juan de Ozaeta y Oro, a native of Lima, failed to embark on this occasion, on account of being married and having a large family, but did so in the following year. As fiscal for his Majesty came Licentiate Don Jerónimo de Barredo Valdés, also an Asturian. All these four auditors carried appointments as criminal auditors for Méjico at the expiration of six years which theywere to spend in Filipinas, exercising the functions of auditor; and this went into force afterward with Auditors Alonso de Abellafuertes and Don Juan de Ozaeta, who, after the six years, went to Mexico. Don Juan de Sierra also returned, having completed his term as auditor, and died at Acapulco, where he found letters promoting him to be auditor at Granada; for it must have been of some service to him to be a nephew of Don Lope de Sierra, a member of the supreme Council of the Indias.

With the new auditors also embarked very distinguished persons of their kindred and households, such as Don Manuel de Argüelles, an Asturian, who is still alive, and a general; Don Juan Infanzón, and Don Francisco Giménez de Valerio; the owner of the patache, Felipe de Vertis; and others. On this occasion also came father Fray Juan de Alarcón, a native of Valladolid and a son of the [Augustinian] house there; he had been left in Nueva España, and was now very old. He retired to this province (for which he had enlisted in 1679), and served only a few years on account of poor health; and, while he was procurator-general, died in the convent of Manila, in the year 1695.

This patache made its voyage very prosperously, and passed the Embocadero without any difficulty, reaching the port of Cavite, where it remained until Mateo de Urquiza sailed with the galleon “Santo Christo de Burgos” for Nueva España. This privilege of entering the port of Cavite is, it seems, enjoyed as their own by all the pataches which come from Acapulco, which are not built in these islands; as it were, they are free from the sin which they contract in the acts of oppression and tyranny which arecommitted, not only in the cutting of the timber for them, but in their construction; and, either for this or for other and hidden causes, hardly a galleon built in these islands succeeds in making the entrance of the port of Cavite.

The auditors on reaching Manila took possession of their offices in the hall of the Audiencia, which they found empty of their predecessors—some being dead, and another in banishment—and the only one they found living was the fiscal, Don Esteban de la Fuente Alanis. The investigating judge likewise found the greater part of his commission accomplished, which was the deposition of the auditors. He sent for Don Pedro Bolivar, who was a prisoner in Cagayán, in the fort of Tuao; but he died while on the way, at one of the first villages of the province of Ilocos; God gave him a very good end, in return for the many excellent traits that he displayed in his life, such as being very courteous and very charitable to the poor.

To Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui came very favorable decrees from his Majesty—who thanked him for what he had done in the restitution of the archbishop, in which his Majesty considered himself well served. To the archbishop came others, also very favorable, which I do not insert here, in order to avoid being tedious, and because that is not in my obligation; and I only repeat here a letter or bull which his Holiness Pope Innocent XI sent to the archbishop, since that is a very unusual favor, and because he was a pontiff so greatly to be venerated by posterity, on account of his great sanctity of life. [The letter is given in both Latin and Spanish; it simply expresses the approval of the pope forPardo’s course, and encouragement to persevere if he shall encounter other like trials.]

The news of what had been done in the banishment and confinement of the archbishop produced great disturbance in the royal mind of his Majesty and in his ministers of the supreme Council of the Indias, as may be imagined from the punishment which by their orders was inflicted on Don Juan de Vargas and on the auditors and the other persons inculpated therein. It is not denied by this atonement and punishment that many cases can occur in which it may be lawful to banish bishops and ecclesiastical superiors; and this matter is treated at length [lato modo] and very judiciously by many writers—Don Cristóbal Crespi de Valduura, vice-chancellor of Aragon, in his learnedObservaciones, obs. iii, illat. iii, no. 19; Solórzano,De jure Indico, tom. ii, lib. iii, chap. 29, no. 71; Salgado,De regia potestate, part i, chap. 2, no. 276; and others. But this is executed by legitimate procedure, and with much circumspection and moderation, without touching or impeding the exercise of the episcopal power (the opposite seems to be an Anglican dogma, and one of Marsilius de Padua), as was done with Don Fray Felipe Pardo—confining his person in the village of Lingayén, and suspending his spiritual jurisdiction; commanding the cabildo to exercise the right ofsede vacante; and not accepting the appointment which the archbishop had made of the bishop of Troya to govern in his absence—because this does not concern the temporal revenues, which the prelates who incur the penalty of banishment lose. What causes no little wonder is, that all the auditors were very learned, and they four, with the fiscal, had heldchairs in [the universities of] Méjico, Sevilla, and Granada; but when one lacks the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, one cannot gain real success in matters in which his will prevails over his judgment. How useful it would be to the governors and auditors of Filipinas to have these words written as a reminder in the hall where they transact business, the words of the Holy Ghost in chapter vi, no. 3 of Wisdom.77

The first step made by the investigating judge was to imprison in his own house the fiscal, Doctor Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis, and to bring charges against him, in accordance with the orders that he carried from the royal Council of the Indias; he did the same with the other auditors, [although they were] dead, through their executors. He proceeded with the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which had been delayed by the challenging of the associate judges; and he sent Governor Don Juan de Vargas Hurtado into exile in the village of Lingayén, Where the archbishop had been, and he was taken away by an escort of soldiers, under the command of Sargento-mayor Martínez León. He went hither asexcommunicated, and unable to have any intercourse with any person save those allowed by law. Upon his arrival at the said village, he built in it a house of bamboo and nipa, where he lived a long time in company with his spirited wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila, enduring much loneliness and lack of respect, until they recalled him, after two years, in order to send him to España; and he died during this first voyage [i.e., on the Pacific Ocean].

This gentleman was truly unfortunate, for although he had not been a bad governor, his lack of courtesy and his harsh disposition gained for him many enemies. The time of his rule was very prosperous, and the ample commerce with the neighboring kingdoms engaged many persons and brought great gains. He was very diligent in keeping the Manila garrison strengthened with capable soldiers, and took much pains to have the men well fed and clothed, and military discipline strictly maintained—and in this he was surpassed only by Don Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera. His covetousness was not so great as appearances indicated, and with it he did not injure the commonwealth, for those times furnished [profit] for all. He was very punctual in fulfilling the duties of a Christian governor, and also in attending, almost without missing a day, all the sessions of the Audiencia and royal court; and therefore the lawsuits were not so interminable as we find them at the present time.

In his time came a royal decree that investigation should be made of the lawfulness of the slavery in which any were held, and that those persons whose condition of servitude was not well grounded should be set free. This action seems somewhat harsh; forso many persons of different nationality were liberated that both the Spaniards and the natives were left destitute of servants, and the city and the villages were full of beggars—and, what is worse, of thieves and incendiaries. This dispossession would have caused the utmost distress if General Cristóbal Romero, the castellan of Santiago, had not resolved to write to the king our sovereign about it, with arguments so forcible that a royal decree came directing that the execution of the other be suspended.

The new fiscal of his Majesty, Don Jerónimo Barredo y Valdés, a young man of suitable age [for this lady?] married the widow of Auditor Don Cristóbal Grimaldos, Doña María Manuela Carrillo y Barrientos—a woman in whom, although great was her beauty, virtue was still greater, and she furnished an excellent example in the time of her widowhood, suffering continually the siege and attacks made against her chastity by influential persons. But God recompensed her by giving her a numerous offspring and long life, both in these islands and in the city of Méjico—from which place no news has come of her death, but we have heard that she has remained the widow of Don Jerónimo Barredo, who was many years the senior auditor of this royal Audiencia.

The investigating judge, Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, brought [an order for] the liberation of the Marqués de Villasierra, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, because the term of ten years since his removal from the monastery of the Escorial was now completed. The judge went in person to Cavite, to notify him of the order and set him at liberty, as he did. The marqués left the port of Cavite and cameto Manila, but he took up his residence in a country-house which our Manila convent possesses, on a sugar-plantation called Pasay. This house is on the sea-shore, in a very convenient location for trips back and forth from Manila; and one can easily enjoy visits there, as it is only one legua distant from the city. Here the marqués lived during all the time while he had to wait and make preparations for his journey, in order to sail in the first galleon which should return to Nueva España; for such was the command given to him, until his Majesty should decide whether or not he should go to España.

He embarked in this year of 1689 and arrived at Méjico, where he found as viceroy the Conde de Galves,78who, as the son of the Duke de Infantado, in whose service Don Fernando de Valuenzuela had begun his career of fortune, received him very hospitably, as lords are wont to receive persons who have a claim upon such considerations. It seems as if the patient endurance of this gentleman had conquered the influences of fortune, so various and inconstant in his rise and fall; for it was said with good ground that he would be viceroy of Nueva España; but his death closed the term of his life, which was an astonishing one, and an example for the study of admonitions. His death was occasioned by the kick of a horse, and on the ninth day a feverattacked him from which he died in a few days. He had previously fulfilled all the obligations of a Christian, and ordered that his body be deposited in the hospice of this province, outside the walls of Méjico, where it remained until the marquesa his wife sent orders to convey it for burial to the city of Talavera. [Diaz here inserts a Latin epitaph on this cavalier, written by some person in Filipinas.]

The investigating judge with his notary managed so well that in ten months he had completed all the commissions which he brought with him; for he was a man of great activity and energy, and very skilful in judicial practice. He brought to an end the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which was much entangled, and had overstepped the peremptory limits of such judgments. He also tried those who were accomplices in the imprisonment of Master-of-camp Don Diego de Salcedo, of whom now few remained alive, and those were the least guilty; but these paid for all the rest, which usually is the purse from which [such acts] are paid. He was not as scrupulous as other ministers, and as he ought to be, although he affected to be very upright and just; and neither he nor his notary went back with empty hands, as was proved at Acapulco by some chests of his which were searched, notwithstanding the protests that he made that these were the documents belonging to his commission. In them were found very valuable goods, and very few documents; these would certainly aid him to pass his old age in the honorable post which was given to him as soon as he arrived at court, that of member of the Treasury Council, which he enjoyed for several years.

The archbishop brought to an end the suits which he had begun against the principal members of the[cathedral] chapter, of whom only one had remained alive, the dean, Don Miguel Ortiz de Covarrubias; for the archdeacon, Don Francisco Deza, had died in an epidemic of influenza, and soon afterward Don Francisco Gutiérrez Briceño died suddenly in the village of Betis. Accordingly the dean, as head of the chapter and vicar-general, and the one who had been leader in the arrests of Master Juan González, the father provincial Fray Antonio Calderón, and the father professors Fray Juan Ibáñez and Fray Francisco de Vargas, on account of these and other occurrences made amends for all the chapter-members, and ended by going to Madrid. There he secured permission to return to Méjico, his native country, with half the income of a dean (which is very small), and with this spent the few years of life that remained to him, dying as a good priest.

While Governor Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui was most occupied in making ready the galleon in which were to return the investigating judge, Don Fernando de Valuenzuela, Fiscal Don Estebán de la Fuente Alanis and the admiral of the Windward fleet, Don Antonio de Astina, with many other persons who were going to embark—such as the dean and father Fray Raimundo Verart, who was going as the archbishop’s attorney—while busily engaged in these preparations he was assailed by death, by means of a painful suppression of urine, which in a few days ended his life, after he had received all the holy sacraments. He died at ten o’clock at night, on April 27, of this year 1689, at the age of more than sixty years. They buried him in our church at Manila, at the foot of the altar of the holy Christ of Burgos, to whom he had been very devoted, and hadgone punctually every Friday to hear his mass sung. With him were buried also the devotion and concourse to this sacred image, until they were revived twenty years later, during the term of government of the Conde de Lizárraga, Don Martín de Ursua y Arismendi; this is the usual condition of devotions in these islands, for they do not last long, and have their seasons, and these are not wont to be very long.

The death of this governor was much regretted by every one; he was worthy of being counted among the best whom these islands have had, because in him were united the highest qualities which are required to constitute an accomplished governor. He was very pacific, and so plain in his manners that he was censured for not maintaining his authority; he was very charitable, and magnanimous of heart, although small in body. He had the noble quality of being exceedingly disinterested, and of placing little value on riches—which in these regions, where covetousness has so many opportunities to tempt and conquer, is the greatest virtue; and it is such even throughout the world, since it is almost a miracle.... These islands did not keep him long, it may be because they did not deserve him.... For in these regions there is little regret for governors who are not good, and little esteem for those who are not bad; but he who rules can never find himself free from malcontents, because it is not his function to please every one. But, since goodness is better recognized after it is lost, the governor’s death caused much regret. He left as his executor Master-of-camp Don Tomás de Endaya, and so small was his estate which they found that there was not even enough for the expenses ofhis burial or for the mourning garb of his servants.

On account of his death, the military government was assumed by the senior auditor, Licentiate Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, knight of the Order of Alcántara; and together with the royal Audiencia [he governed] also in civil affairs, as is decreed by royal commands. During the time while Don Alonso de Abella governed, which was sixteen months (for it was that length of time before Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora arrived), this commonwealth enjoyed great peace and tranquillity. If there were any dissensions in the ecclesiastical state, he took no part in them; and if it had not been for his great forethought those differences would have been greater, as will be related in the proper place.

With the death of the governor, and the excellent intentions of the temporary ruler, the affairs of Don Juan de Zalaeta assumed another shape. He had suffered great hardships and privations in his imprisonment and banishment, and all his property, even to his clothing, had been sold at auction; for before his departure from these islands the authorities had taken his residencia for the time when he was alcalde-mayor of Calamianes, and some charges against him resulted. The acting governor ordered that he be released from prison, and that both he and Don Miguel de Lezama should come to Manila, where their causes were settled with less harshness. Don Juan de Zalaeta returned to España, thoroughly warned by the bad outcome of the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas, which he had so eagerly desired, imagining that it would be of great honor and profit to him. He reached Madrid very poor, and ill provided with supplies, and died there suddenly....

Chapter XIXDuring the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general,and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.The governorad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that thead interimgovernments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedenceof seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. Thegalleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,79he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should givethis man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said,Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis(Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare:Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states:Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.80They tried to persuade him, by verylearned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingeniousand apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said,Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi(Mark vi, v. 18),81alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, andespecially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title,The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the governmenthere should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being oneof the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commandedto take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.][Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he mightexercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since hehad passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.

During the fourteen months which remained in the term of office of our father provincial Fray Juan de Jérez after his death, the province was governed by the experienced prelate our father Fray José Duque—so successfully and peaceably, and with so much tranquillity in the order, that he was able to moderate the great sorrow which all felt at the loss of the deceased provincial. In this peaceful condition the time came for holding the chapter-session which took place in the convent at Manila, on April 30 of this year of 1689; father Fray Luis Díaz presided therein, as the eldest definitor of the preceding chapter. There was not much discussion among the fathers in their effort to find a person whom they might elect as provincial, because for a long time all had fixed their attention on father Fray Francisco de Zamora, who was then prior of the convent at Manila. He was a native of Medina del Campo, and a son of the convent at Valladolid, who had come to this province in the year 1669; a religious of great prudence, and unusual ability for governing; and for many years they had only delayed electing him until he should reach the age of forty years, since that is the time fixed in our Constitutions. They found that he lacked six months of that age, which, as he alleged, exempted him from election for so heavy a burden; but having investigated the matter, and basing their action on many previous precedents which had occurred not only in this province but in others, in which there had been dispensations [from the rule], the father who presided granted one in this case, as he was vicar-general,and father Fray Francisco was elected provincial on the said date, April 30.

The definitors who were elected were fathers Fray Julián Zapata, Fray Juan de San Nicolás, Fray Gaspar de San Agustín, and Fray Simón Martínez. The visitors for the preceding triennium were present, fathers Fray Ignacio de Mercado and the reader Fray Francisco de Ugarte; and as new visitors were appointed father Fray Eusebio de Porras and the father reader Fray José López. Ordinances were enacted that were very useful for the better government of the province, and for the administration of the missions in our charge; this is the greatest responsibility of the chapters, because the system in this province is so different from that in the European provinces, which needs very different corporate laws for the preservation of each, and for enabling the individuals therein to fulfil the obligations of the religious without failing in those of parish priest—which in this province is the function of all its members, while in Perú and Nueva España it is the occupation of but few.

The governorad interim, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, began to govern with so much prudence and ability that it seemed as if he had the benefit of long experience, although he had hardly known a few months of such responsibility. The principal cause of this was the concord in which he lived with all, as well as the aid which he received from his associates, Doctor Don Lorenzo de Acina and Don Juan de Sierra, who vied with each other in cooperating with their colleague in discharging the duties of his office. It is in this direction that thead interimgovernments of auditors in these islands are weak and fail of success; for, peevish because the precedenceof seniority is not theirs, they try to obscure the credit of him who wields the rod of authority, and often show themselves as his worst enemies, and thus aristocratic rule is converted into democratic confusion.

His first care was the despatch of the galleon “Santo Niño” to Nueva España, in charge of General Don Antonio de Astina; for as this commander had left the office of admiral of the Windward fleet (for which he had a proprietary appointment from his Majesty the king), it was not just that a personage of so great merits should return as passenger—for the patache “San Fernando,” in which he had come, was not fit for the return trip of so severe a navigation; and it had been laid aside, not only on this account, but because its owner, Felipe Vertis, had died suddenly. The investigating judge, the alcalde of court Don Francisco Campos de Valdivia, embarked with his notary; all the commissions which he carried from the supreme Council having been concluded, he carried [the documents concerning] them with him, as also the copious evidence in the residencia of Don Juan de Vargas—who remained for an indefinite time in banishment in the village of Lingayén, suffering the hardships and miseries of being an excommunicate, denounced as such on the church-doors, and with no consolation save his own courage and that of his wife, Doña Isabel de Ardila. Don Juan de Zalaeta embarked, under the obligation of presenting himself at Madrid with the proceedings in his case. The dean, Don Miguel Ortiz, was bound on the same errand; and father Fray Raimundo Verart went aboard with powers of attorney from the archbishop, in whose favor he printed a long and learned manifesto. Thegalleon had a very prosperous voyage, duly arriving at Acapulco; and on the return trip it brought us the new proprietary governor.

In this year of 1689, came the end of the long and troubled life of the archbishop, Don Fray Felipe Pardo, who was sixty-eight years old, an age attained by few persons in these regions; and these years were rendered more painful by the many troubles and annoyances that had resisted his courage—which was very great, [although] in a small body. For many months he had been well prepared for this inevitable and impending event, as the devout religious that he was; and from his archiepiscopal palace he watched over and promoted the rigorous observance of the province of the Holy Rosary of the Order of Preachers. A Benjamin of the great patriarch St. Dominic,79he came to this province in the year 1647, after having taught arts and theology in the famous college of San Gregorio at Valladolid; and he was therefore regarded as the greatest theological professor who had been in these islands. He was provincial during two quadrenniums, and prior of Manila for two more; and he was commissary of the Holy Office when the appointment as archbishop reached him. We have already seen his constancy in defending the episcopal authority. His charity was great, for he spent whatever was left from his income (which did not exceed five thousand pesos), in aiding the poor; and with it he assisted the missionaries of Tungkin. A nephew of his came to visit him, but he would not consent that the governor should givethis man any office or position, and made him go back with very little outfit. His death would have been considered, in another man, sudden and unexpected; for he was found dead at midnight on the day of St. Sylvester, ending [his life] with the year, so that it could be said,Et dies pleni inveniuntur in eis(Ps. xii, v. 10). But this great prelate awaited the end of his days with full preparation, and had just given orders for the making of a red pontifical vestment in which he was to be buried; his body, embalmed, was deposited in the church of Santo Domingo at Manila.

The see being declared vacant, the cabildo assumed its government; and they could have ruled with great peace if they themselves had not hunted up discord where they had thought to find greater peace. The vacant see was ruled by Master Juan González de Guzmán, who was now dean on account of the absence of Don Miguel Ortiz, and at the same time was provisor and vicar-general of the cabildo; and as it seemed to them that it would be expedient, for the greater authority of the diocese, to cede the government to the bishop of Troya, Don Fray Ginés Barrientos, they named him as its head. From this ensued great dissensions, for the bishop-governor thought that he was superior to the cabildo, and that they had transferred their authority to him, leaving themselves entirely stripped of it; this is contrary to all the teachings of the sacred canons, which in one precept of law declare:Privilegio, quod habes propter me, non potes uti contra me; and the established principle which states:Propter quod unumquodque tale, illud magis.80They tried to persuade him, by verylearned manifestoes, that the cabildo alone could have constituted him its vicar-general, with authority removable at the pleasure of the same cabildo; and that they could therefore revoke the appointment which they had conferred upon him, whenever they pleased. But the bishop of Troya resolved not to yield, but to act as superior to and independent of the cabildo. There were bitter disputes, proceeding from both sides, so much so that, in order to avoid greater scandals, two members of the cabildo—the dean, Master Juan González de Guzmán, and the cantor, Don Estebán de Olmedo Gabaldón, a native of Campo de Crítana in La Mancha—took refuge in our convent of San Pablo at Manila, from which the bishop of Troya would have taken them, if the prudent governor, Don Alonso de Abella Fuertes, had not refused to give him the aid which he asked for that exploit.

The bishop of Troya was very learned, a great theologian and preacher, but in this matter he erred as a man, for it seemed to him that the rank and consecration of a bishop rendered him superior on that occasion to the authority which the cabildo possessed by law in the vacant see. Among many other manifestoes which were published in defense of the cabildo, one came out which was very well grounded, the motto or inscription of which, as being ingeniousand apropos, is worthy of being noted here; it said,Non licet tibi habere uxorem fratris tui Philippi(Mark vi, v. 18),81alluding to the name of the deceased archbishop, and to their both belonging to the same order. But the bishop of Troya, notwithstanding he was so learned and so holy, was very hard to dissuade from his opinion, although on the present occasion he had every one against him; and although he withdrew his claims, on account of the urgent representations made by the acting governor and the other auditors and all the religious orders, he yielded through constraint and not from conviction. The cabildo continued its government, with much peace, during the vacancy of the see.

During this interval the year 1690 came in, and the acting governor despatched the galleon “Nuestra Señora del Rosario” to Nueva España, in command of General Don José Madrazo; and in it embarked Master-of-camp Don Juan de Vargas. In order to do this he had left his place of banishment at Lingayén, after having suffered great hardships; and the end of these was to die on this voyage, in the higher latitude. [This occurred] at a place which people call Doña María de la Jara, of considerable note on account of the many deaths which have occurred in that place; for among those who have died there are four proprietary governors, and some acting governors, and some auditors, and the above-mentioned bishop of Troya. Accordingly this place is the dread of those who sail in that navigation, andespecially for persons of so high degree; for the poor seamen go and come past it with greater security.

After this galleon had been despatched, news came about June of the landing of the galleon “Santo Niño,” which in the preceding year had sailed for Acapulco, in charge of Don Antonio de Astina; in it came, as its commander, Don Juan de Garaycoechea—a Navarrese, from the valley of Baztán—who was married in Manila, and had spent several years in Nueva España. In the galleon came the new governor, Don Fausto Cruzat [y] Góngora, a knight of the Order of Santiago; he was a Navarrese, a native of Pamplona, of the illustrious lineage of Cruzat—well known in that kingdom, since from it have proceeded men so distinguished as Don Martín de Redín y Cruzat, grand master of Malta; and his brother Don Tiburcio de Redín, well known for his courage and still more for his virtue, for, having entered the Capuchin order, he merited that his biography should be printed with the title,The Spanish Capuchin, as an example for his successors. An illustrious shoot from this house of Cruzat is also the glorious St. Francis Javier, the apostle of India.

This gentleman brought his wife, Doña Beatriz de Aróstegui y Aguirre, a native of Cádiz, a matron of great beauty and still greater virtue; three sons, Don Martín, Don Fausto, and Don Juan; and two daughters, Doña Ignacia and Doña Teresa. He also brought a sister, named Doña Teresa de Aróstegui, who afterward married the aforesaid Don Juan de Garaycoechea, then a knight of the Order of Santiago, who later died in Méjico. Don Fausto had been waiting in that city three years, until the term allowed to Don Gabriel de Curucelaegui in the governmenthere should be completed; and he would have waited much longer if Don Gabriel’s death had not dispensed him from a longer detention, for with him was begun the practice of sending successors who may be on the watch for the governor’s [term of] life—I know not whether it be to wish him well. Much could be said of this, and of the great difficulties which can result from such a precaution—such as the sale of offices, as has been done for many years; but it is not my obligation to give an opinion on matters of state, but to relate facts without contesting the laws.

Governor Don Fausto brought here many persons of good family: Don Juan Lingurín, a man of great virtue, who died in Manila with the reputation of being a great servant of God; for he was greatly addicted to meditation, prayer, and mortification. Sargento-mayor Don Fernando Iglesias Montañés, his secretary, who afterward married Doña María Morante, who came in the suite of the governor’s wife. Don Juan de Rivas, a native of Galicia, and a general in the army; he married another lady of Doña Beatriz’s household, named Doña Juana de Aragón. Captain Don Miguel de Salazar, of Toledo, who was grievously slain in the year 1709. Don Angel Liaño, Captain Don Frutos Delgado, Don Pedro de Subirá, Don Francisco Valdés, Don José de Veroluca, and many others. [Among these were] General Don Pedro de Lucena and Captain Don Lucas de Lucena, brothers, who are still living; Captain Don José de Luzarrondo, a Navarrese; Captain de Iriarte, who afterward returned to España; and Master Don Juan Aguilar, the governor’s chaplain, who had spent some time in these islands, being oneof the household of the bishop of Sinopolis, Don Fray Juan Durán, assistant of the bishop of Cebú. In this galleon came Captain Don Patricio de Aguila—an Irishman, brother of the pilot Guillermo de Aguila—and Captain Pedro Quijada, both married; and other officers who are still living, with an excellent reenforcement of men for the Manila garrison.

What is most important for our history is, that a numerous and choice mission of religious for this province came, in charge of father Fray Álvaro de Benavente, who in 1686 had been sent [to Europa] for this purpose, and made his voyage by way of Batavia and Holanda, as we have briefly related. That navigation was very difficult, because when the Dutch ships with which he was going approached the English Channel they learned that at its entrance was a French fleet. For this reason they changed their route, doubling Cape Clare, a promontory of Ireland; and they went as far as 63° of [north] latitude, so that they could sail around the northern extremity of Scotland, and therefore they suffered great cold and hardship. As soon as father Fray Álvaro de Benavente arrived at Bilbao with his companion Fray Juan Verganzo, he set out on his journey to the court, where he presented his despatches, and explained the reasons why he had made his voyage by way of Batavia; for this route was strictly prohibited by his Majesty, and might cause much hindrance to the procurators. Having secured the approval of the Duke de Medinaceli and the lords of the royal Council of the Indias, he departed for the Roman court, to ask for the relaxation of the oaths which the missionaries in China were commandedto take, of obedience to the apostolic vicars sent out by the holy Congregation of the Propaganda. [Diaz relates with some detail the progress and success of this embassy by Benavente, because the question at issue therein has an important place in the controversy over the line of demarcation between the domains of Spain and Portugal in the East; but we omit this part, as it is unimportant for our narrative.]

[Father Fray Álvaro] also had to obtain from our very reverend general Fray Fulgencio Travalloni various statutes and corporate laws for the government of this province; and these were [in the form of] fifty-eight decrees, given in the convent of San Martín at Sena [i.e., Sienna], on May 28, 1688, [while the father general was engaged] in the general visitation of Italia; father Fray Álvaro brought them in printed form, with a Roman imprint. But with the course of time it was found by experience that these laws were unduly rigorous, and not very satisfactory for the government of this province; and it was continually asking for dispensations from them, until our father general Fray Adeodato Nuzzi, of Altimira, sent orders that this province should change and correct them as it should find expedient; and this was done in the intermediate chapter of the year 1710. Father Fray Álvaro brought many favors and jubilees from his Holiness for many convents of this province, and a bull to the effect that the religious who, knowing any language of the provinces under our charge, should explain [the Christian doctrine] in the convent of Manila for a period of eight years should bear the title of “Master,” with the exemptions belonging to that dignity, and that he mightexercise a perpetual vote in the provincial chapters; but up to the present time there has been no religious who has devoted himself to that occupation, or attracted much importance to this so unusual concession.

For the missionaries in China he gained the subsidy and stipend which his Majesty gives to the missionaries of the other religious orders, that is, a hundred pesos to each one for a year’s support. He obtained a royal decree that the trade and commerce with the Portuguese of Macán, which until that time had been forbidden and full of risk, should be free; and this dispensation was obtained only by the information given by father Fray Álvaro de Benavente that this was the safest door by which the missionaries could gain entrance into China. But the Portuguese, although they enjoy greatly to their profit the commerce of Manila, which is the chief means of their preservation, carry out very poorly the arrangement, as regards giving passage to the missionaries; for not only do they not give them entrance, but they inflict many annoyances on the religious, as they did with this very father Fray Álvaro, in both his first and his second visit to China. What keeps them in this attitude is the incorrectly understood patronage of their king of Portugal; for they can claim the same things in Mogol, Persia, Turquia and Constantinopla, and in the empire of Trapisonda, as included in the hemisphere of their demarcation. Father Fray Álvaro returned to España with a commission of vicar-general (which had been granted to him very fully by our own reverend father general); and he busied himself in calling together the religious who were to come in the mission [to Filipinas]. Since hehad passed through the province of Aragón on his return from Roma, some religious offered themselves to him there, not only from Aragón but from Valencia; and there some others who afterward were enlisted by father Fray Pedro Cerro—to whom father Fray Álvaro had delegated his own powers, since father Fray Pedro was a religious who was very friendly to this province, and zealous for the good of souls.

Before father Fray Álvaro reached Manila with his religious, Governor Don Fausto Cruzat y Góngora made his entry into the city; this was done on St. James’s day, in the afternoon. Two magnificent and very beautiful triumphal arches were erected for him, with large emblematic representations and ingenious allegories. One was made at the cost and by the care of the Society of Jesus; and the other by the care of our Augustinian fathers, at the place where the governor would pass our convent of San Pablo, with the idea of the history of Janus—with ingenious Latin inscriptions and epigrams, explained in Castilian eight-line stanzas; and to these were added, in all these places, praises [of the governor]. This was the last reception of this sort that was given to the governors, its disuse being begun with the next governor, Don Domingo de Zabalburu—who, as he came wearing mourning for the death of our king Don Carlos II, would not allow this festal mode of reception.

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