Chapter 8

Number of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos451,44560Amgui and Tachaucho, and other SangleysJuly 30, 1633February 9For services on royal works. Collected by decree of the governor to pay general licenses for 1635.ExtraordinaryNumber of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos21,12934The natives of Estero de Lobo, in Cagayan1618Procurator-general of the Order of St. DominicMarch 3The amount (one-third) to be paid by his Majesty in the building of their church. Collects 207 pesos, with authority, and by decree of the governor, to pay 24 Sangley licenses.33–435,11773Eleven sailorsAt various datesAdmiral Luis Alonso de RoaJune 16With authority and transfer from the sailors, to pay the charges resulting against him in the visit, and which he owed his Majesty.4434119Jose Hernandez, a sailorJuly, 1633Licentiate Pedro CegaviaJune 22By authority and decree of the governor.45–471,92159Three sailorsAt various datesHernando Cerrido, constable of the royal AudienciaWith authority and transfer from the soldiers, and by decree of the governor, to pay charges resulting against him in the visit.Department of Ordinary SalariesNumber of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos1120,00000The property of deceased persons for loans made to royal treasury1624Alférez Juan de Mirabal CedeñoJune 22Borrowed from the property of Licentiate Andres de Alcaraz, former auditor of the royal Audiencia. Repaid on account, 14,476 pesos, by decree of the governor, and with authority and transfer from the heirs of the said auditor.Salaries of Alcaldes-mayorNumber of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos1811138Alférez Francisco de los Rios Coronel, ex-corregidor of CatanduanesDecember 6, 1629Juan de ColmenarJune 5With authority, and by decree of the governor.Accordingly, all the aforesaid is obvious, and appears from the said pay-checks, whose originals remain in my possession, to which I refer. In order that it might be on record, I certify it at the order of the said governor and captain-general, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera y Mendoza. Manila, April 15, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six. Amount 102,596 pesos, 1 tomin, 8 granos.Juan Bautista de ÇubiagaWe, the undersigned notaries, certify that Juan Bautista de Çubiaga, whose mark and name appear at the end of this certification of eleven pages, is auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of the Filipinas Islands, as he styles himself. To the certifications and papers of these and other records that he has despatched, touching the said his office, entire faith and credit has been, and is, given, in and out of court. In order that such may be obvious, we signed this in Manila, April thirty, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.Alfonso Baeza del Rio, royal notary.Francisco de la Torre, notary of the royal crown.Andres Martin del Arroyo, notary of the royal crown.Reduction of expensesSire:In my endeavor to be a good steward of your Majesty’s estate, having noticed and considered the many expenses and the lack of profit that you encounter in these islands, solely in order to maintain in them the Catholic religion, I have thought it advisable to reduce some of the expenses—as your Majesty will please to have examined by means ofthe orders for the said reduction, and which your Majesty will please approve or censure, according as you judge it most for the good of your service. My only desire is that God will not ask account from me for doing it badly, and for unjustly causing expense to your Majesty. Although I desire to render your Majesty so just an account, I could not fear it so much as the first, if I gave it as many others of us who serve you do.I thought it advisable to save the pay of six hundred pesos per year, which a captain receives for serving [as such] in the company that he raised in Mexico; and although my officers are careful to station and retire the guards, and serve as those of the master-of-camp, I see to it that they do it well, and that they are not derelict in their duty. I have given the same orders to the governor and sargento-mayor of the forts of Terrenate, who also have command of two companies; the governor and sargento-mayor of the island of Hermosa, of two other companies; the warden of Camboaga [i.e., Zamboanga], of another; and the alcaldes-mayor of Oton, Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Caraga, who have a company together, and command their men in the forts in the above-named islands. Also in this army, from now on, a captain will have command of another company, and will receive the pay of the chief guard of the Parián, which will be paid from the communal fund of the Chinese, and his pay will be saved to the treasury of your Majesty. The captains who will serve without pay from your Majesty’s royal treasury will thus amount to eleven; and hence a great sum of money will be saved by the end of the year, as well as the [expense for] the post of sargento-mayorof this army, which is held by my nephew, Don Pedro Hurtado de Corcuera—who serves without pay, together with a company of thirty horsemen, whom I thought to be very expedient for your Majesty’s service, for the following reasons. First, just as I caused and ordered the raising of four companies among the citizens of this city, in the infantry, in order that they might exercise themselves in the squadrons, and be ready for any emergencies that may arise, I also had two companies of fifty horse apiece raised—one made up of the nobility of the city, who can keep horses, and the other of the overseers of the royal stockyards—all armed with spears. In order that the above horsemen might have someone to instruct and exercise them, this company of thirty horsemen was enlisted. The actual officers in it are captain, alférez, and lieutenant. It would be very advisable to raise the number to fifty, if that would be agreeable to your Majesty; for besides being necessary for the guard of the coast, and to keep these nations—the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians—in check, they patrol the city nightly, and shut and open the city gates, on horseback. For that reason the poor infantrymen are excused from patrol duty, and from locking the gates, and thus from going about almost every night knee-deep in water, from which many diseases and deaths ensued; that has been avoided by this means. Experience has demonstrated, also, how useful and profitable these cavalrymen may be when stationed as a troop among the artillery on a campaign, for skirmishing—for which they are greatly esteemed in the Flandes army; and, at the very least, the sight of them strikes terror in those present, andthe noise made by them in those absent. Will your Majesty be pleased to approve and confirm this company of cavalrymen, and grant permission that it consist of fifty soldiers. Notwithstanding the savings and the reductions, of which I inform your Majesty, not only is there no expense incurred in this company but there is even a saving of money for the following reasons. In recent times there have been eight companies of infantry for the guard of the city; but immediately upon my arrival, I reduced them to six. When I sent the reënforcements to Terrenate—for two hundred Spaniards went there in three companies, and one hundred Pampangos (who are as good and as faithful here as are the Burgundians in Flandes)—and the guard of the city remained in four companies, seeing that it was impossible to cover the posts and to stand guard with so few men, I ordered two hundred Pampangos to be enrolled into two companies, so that now there are the six hundred necessary guardsmen. The Pampangos are in place of the two hundred Spaniards who went [to Terrenate]. Seeing that the said Spaniards are lacking, there is nothing but to appeal to the Pampangos; they are being instructed, and are managing their arms in a manner that makes me very well satisfied with them. Both the captains and other officers, and the soldiers, receive half the pay of the Spaniards. Thus the two companies of Pampangos cause your Majesty an expense of ten thousand pesos, and that of the cavalry seven thousand, making a total of seventeen thousand pesos. The two infantry companies which were here before caused an expense of twenty-two thousand pesos or thereabouts; so, if the former expense was this amount, and that of thePampangos and the cavalry now is seventeen thousand, there is an annual saving of five thousand pesos to your Majesty. There are thirty more soldiers than before. Will your Majesty please have this approved and look favorably upon it; and believe that I am spending your Majesty’s revenue with great care, and that I can have no scruple of conscience in what I am doing. Your Majesty will learn the truth of this by experience, in a short time. May our Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Sire, your vassal kisses your Majesty’s feet.Sebastian Hurtado de CorcueraRevision of pay and rations made September 4, 1635Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of Alcantara, member of his Majesty’s Council, member of the Council of War in the States of Flandes, governor and captain-general of these Filipinas Islands, and president of the royal Audiencia, resident in the city of Manila:From the discovery of these islands until now there has been no instruction or fixed order given by his Majesty in regard to the pay and rations which have been and ought to be given to many of the persons who have served and who shall serve in his service in various posts of the sea and in other employments, both in this city of Manila and along the coast and in the port of Cavite, in the shipyards for the construction of ships which are built for the royal service in the provinces of these islands, in the presidios of the islands, and in the voyages to and from Nueva España, Terrenate, the island of Hermosa,Macan, India, and other places; but the governors my predecessors, and the councils of the treasury, made some regulations, by virtue of decrees from his Majesty (as the matter was referred to them, so that they could decide on what was best). Some of the wages paid were thus very greatly increased, thereby causing, from that time until the present, a heavy burden and debt on the royal estate. So heavy has been this burden that the royal estate has come to so low an ebb by reason of some salaries that are especially excessive, that it is obliged to demand loans quite ordinarily from the inhabitants of this said city; and, because of the heavy loans that have been made for many years, it has been impossible to free itself from its many debts. Now therefore, on account of all these considerations, and because the matter has been examined and considered attentively, as well as the little profit of the royal patrimony in these islands (or rather its many expenses) because of the constant reënforcements of men, money, ammunition, food, and other things that must be sent to the presidios of the islands (which, being many and so distant and separated from one another), meet a much greater cost and expense than his Majesty is told—in especial the great cost of the preparation and equipment of the two ships sent annually to Nueva España for the usual reënforcement of men and the other things that maintain this land; and almost the chief reason for which those ships sail and are sent seems not to be for reënforcements, but only to carry and to bring back the goods of the inhabitants and merchants of Manila, in which they traffic to the extent that is well known, and to so much greater a sum than his Majesty has permitted, at sogreat an expense to the royal estate, and little or no profit from the duties and freights that they owe), it is advisable to revise and adjust some of the posts and wages and rations, to abolish some and add others, and to create some new ones which are obligatory and necessary for the service of his Majesty. Therefore, and because it is advisable, according to the present condition of matters, and in order to relieve the said royal treasury and to help it as far as may be possible (as his Majesty commands by various decrees), and in order to attend better to what is obligatory and necessary, and to see that the royal treasury be not pledged so deeply as it has been hitherto and is now, he ordered by a decision communicated and conferred over with persons zealous for his Majesty’s service—and he did so order—the official judges of the royal estate of these islands, and all the other persons who administer the royal revenues, both in the royal treasuries of the garrisons at Terrenate and the island of Hermosa, under the titles of accountants, factors, and royal officials, and in the other provinces (whence they come to this royal treasury of Manila to report what has entered into their possession)—each one in so far as it concerns him, or can concern him—to give the necessary orders in his Majesty’s name, so that from the first of the month of October next of this present year, and thenceforth, all shall understand what is to be paid and given to the persons who shall serve his Majesty in the posts mentioned in this order, and which will be mentioned in every case. That sum is that which they are to receive as their proper pay; and it must be observed and kept in the following form.The assayer and weigher of the royal treasury of this city shall serve for two hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.The executor of the royal estate shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.The keeper of the provisions in the royal magazines of this city shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The keeper of the provisions in the royal magazines of the port of Cavite shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The keeper of the royal magazines, provisions, arms, and ammunition for the forts of Terrenate shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The keeper of the provisions, arms, and ammunition for the presidio of the island of Hermosa shall receive three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The keeper of the provisions, arms, and ammunition for the port of Yloylo shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The clerk of the royal magazines of this city shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.The shore-master of the port of Cavite and of all the naval dock-yards there shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The overseer at the royal works of all the day-laborers and assistants at the said port of Cavite shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The artillery founder of this city shall receive asalary of five hundred pesos per annum, without any ration or anything else.The shipbuilder and the master-workman of the works at the port of Cavite shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The manager of the powder that is made for his Majesty on the other side of the river shall receive a salary of four hundred pesos per annum, without anything else.The manager of the rigging which is made in the province of Balayan for his Majesty shall receive a salary of two hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.The castellan of the fort of Santiago in this city of Manila shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, and shall hold the place by virtue of regular appointment. He who exercises that officead interimshall receive one-half that sum as his Majesty has ordered.The lieutenant of the said fort of Santiago in this city, who has hitherto been appointed at a salary of four hundred and twenty pesos, is now removed and discharged; for there is no need of him in the said fort, since there is an alférez and a sergeant.There shall be two infantry adjutants in the forts of Terrenate. One shall receive a salary of three hundred and sixty pesos per annum, while the other shall receive ninety-six pesos per annum—the pay of a simple soldier. They shall receive nothing else.All the Pampango soldiers who serve in the forts of Terrenate shall receive annual pay at the rate of forty-eight pesos of eight reals apiece. They shall be in two companies, which shall be under the commandof the master-of-camp and his sargento-mayor, each of whom shall receive a salary of two hundred and fifty pesos per annum.The two alférezes of the said Pampango nation shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos apiece.Each of the sergeants of the said [Pampango] nation shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and twenty pesos.There shall not be an artillery captain in the forts of Terrenate, for that place is abolished.The surgeon of the royal hospital for the said forts of Terrenate shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.The field captain of the said forts shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else.The military notary of the said forts, who has hitherto received a salary of two hundred pesos per annum, shall not receive that sum from the said day and thenceforth; and the accountant of the said forts shall under no consideration pay it to him.The four substitutes [entretenimientos], who were reduced to their [opportunities for] advantage in the said forts of Terrenate, shall be given nothing by way of additional pay or allowances; and they shall not be paid in advance from the said day and thenceforth by the accountant of those forts.The infantry adjutants of the presidios in the provinces of Çibu, Oton, Cagayan, Caraga, and Cambuanga, shall serve as simple soldiers for the annual pay of ninety-six pesos—the same as the simple soldier—without anything else.The fieldborrechel(which means the field captain and borrechel in one) shall serve for an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else.The military notary, who has been hitherto stationed in this city, with an annual salary of two hundred pesos, shall not receive that sum, and the royal officials shall not pay it to him.The head drummer shall be paid at the rate of one hundred and twenty pesos per annum—the pay of a musketeer.The chief gunners—in this city of Manila, he of the fort of Santiago in this city, and those of the port of Cavite, the island of Hermosa, and Terrenate—shall receive annual salaries at the rate of two hundred and fifty pesos.The apothecary of the royal hospital in this said city of Manila shall receive an annual salary of two hundred pesos, without any ration.The galley captains of this city of Manila, the port of Cavite, the island of Hermosa, and Terrenate, shall be abolished; for the duties of galley captain shall be performed by the master of the galley. The latter shall receive the royal revenue, and shall give account of it. He shall give bonds to the satisfaction of the royal official judges. He shall receive an annual pay of two hundred and fifty pesos, and, when afloat, the ration which shall pertain to him in addition to the pay; but, when not afloat, he shall not receive anything in addition to the pay.The boatswains of the said galleys shall receive an annual pay of two hundred pesos without ration, when in port, and when they are afloat their ordinary ration, as aforesaid.The boatswains’ mates of the said galleys shallreceive when ashore an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, and thirty gantas of rice [per month], which must be given them on account of their pay; and, when afloat, the said one hundred and fifty pesos and the ordinary ration, as aforesaid.The guards of the said galleys of this city, Terrenate, and the island of Hermosa shall be abolished, as they are unnecessary.The corporals of the said galleys are removed and abolished, for they are unnecessary.The captain of the said galleys shall receive an annual pay of two hundred pesos, without any ration; when afloat, he shall be given his ordinary ration as an officer of said galley, in addition to his pay.The pilots who sail on any voyage from these islands shall receive an annual pay of five hundred pesos, besides their ordinary ration, which shall be given them from port to port, wherever they may be anchored; but while not afloat they shall receive only two hundred pesos as an allowance, and nothing else.The mates of his Majesty’s ships shall receive an annual pay of two hundred and fifty pesos, besides the ordinary ration, when afloat, and during any voyage; but when not afloat, even though they be employed on the ships which are to sail on any voyage whatever, they shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and their ration of thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, as do the other sailors, and it shall be charged to the account of their pay.The second mates of the said ships shall receive an annual pay of two hundred pesos when afloat, and their ordinary ration; but in the interval when they are not afloat, even though employed in the ships that are to sail, they shall receive one hundred and fiftypesos per year, and the ordinary ration of the sailor, of thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, at the account of their pay, as aforesaid.All the sailors who are employed and shall be employed on the Cavite coast, and anywhere else, shall receive pay at the rate of one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and thirty gantas of cleaned rice apiece per month. The rice shall be charged to the account of their pay, as aforesaid. When afloat they shall receive the said one hundred and fifty pesos, and in addition the ration that has been given them hitherto.The Spanish common seamen who are employed anywhere shall receive pay of one hundred pesos per year, and the thirty gantas of rice per month on account of their pay, as aforesaid. When afloat they shall receive their ordinary ration, as do the rest of the sailors, in addition to their pay.The Indian common seamen who are employed anywhere shall receive forty-eight pesos per year, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month on the account of their pay, as aforesaid; and when afloat, the said pay, and in addition the ordinary ration which has hitherto been given them.The Spanish carpenters, both those who work in the port of Cavite, and those who work at shipbuilding in other places, shall receive an annual pay of two hundred and fifty pesos, and no more, without any ration while on shore; but when afloat, the said pay, and in addition the ordinary ration, as hitherto.The chief calker who shall be employed in any place shall receive an annual pay of three hundred pesos, without any ration; but when afloat, the said pay, and in addition his ordinary ration, as hitherto.The Spanish calkers shall receive two hundred andfifty pesos per year, without ration while in port; but when afloat, the said pay and in addition their ordinary ration, as hitherto.The Spanish coopers shall receive each two hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without anything else; but if afloat, their ordinary ration, as hitherto.The Indian coopers shall receive an annual pay of sixty pesos per year, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month; and afloat, their ration in addition to the said pay.The diver in the port of Cabite shall receive two hundred pesos per year, and a ration of thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, which shall be charged to the account of his pay; and afloat, the ordinary ration, as hitherto.The Spanish boss of the rope-factory at the port of Cabite shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, and thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, which shall be paid on the account of his wages.The two Indian artisans in the rope-factory shall receive fifty-four pesos per year apiece, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, on the account of their pay.The Spanish boss of the smithy at the port of Cabite shall receive an annual pay of four hundred pesos, without any ration.The Indian smiths at the said port of Cabite and in the foundry and arsenal of this camp shall receive—the boss, one hundred pesos per year, and fifty gantas of cleaned rice per month; and the others, the pay that they are receiving. The latter shall all receive fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, which shall be charged to the account of their pay.The Sangley champan men, and sailors in thechampans that belong to his Majesty in any place, shall receive the pay in money that has hitherto been given them, and in addition fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, instead of the twenty gantas that have been given them, besides their pay.The Sangley carpenters and sawyers who are actually working in the port of Cabite and other places shall receive the pay in money that has hitherto been given them; and in addition, fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month instead of the twenty.The sawyers ofbrazas16shall receive four reals for eachbrazaone braza long and one vara wide, but nothing else. However, if they prefer rice on their account, it shall be given them at its market price to his Majesty.The Sangley smiths who work on the Cabite shore and in other places shall receive the pay in money that has been given them hitherto; and, in addition, fifteen gantas of cleaned rice instead of twenty.The Sangley calkers who ordinarily work at the royal works in Cabite and other places shall receive five pesos per month, and, in addition, fifteen gantas of cleaned rice.The Indians who are employed to row in the sentinel boat at Mariveles, shall receive one peso in money and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month.The Lascars who are employed in any capacity in Cabite, either on sea or on land, shall receive—the two bosses one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and in addition fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month; while the others shall receive the pay that they receive at present, and they shall be given in addition fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, apiece.The other two sub-bosses of the Lascars shall receiveone hundred and twenty pesos per year, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month. All the others shall receive the pay that they received before, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, besides their pay.There shall be twenty musketeers in each one of the companies of this city and in the companies of the other presidios outside the city, but no more. They shall be paid at the rate of two pesos per month, one for additional pay for the musket; but no more, inasmuch as each one has been reduced four reals.The acting sergeants of the company of this said city of Manila, and the others in the presidios outside it, shall receive an increase of two pesos per month, in addition to the ten pesos that they received before, because of the severe labor that they have to perform.Likewise, the corporals of all the companies in this said city, and outside it, shall receive an increase of one peso per month, as additional pay, besides what they were receiving before.There shall be no shield-bearers to any company of this said city, or in the other presidios; and consequently, they shall not be paid at his Majesty’s account. But the captains shall have them at their own cost, and the captains shall not go without them, nor station the guards without the said page.The commander of the ships which are despatched annually to Nueva España shall receive a salary of three thousand pesos per annum, besides the usual ration while sailing from port to port—even though he anchor at any other port in the islands, if he reach it in distress, even though it be not the legitimate port whence he sailed.The admiral of the said ships shall receive anannual salary of two thousand pesos, and the usual ration while sailing from port to port, in the same manner as the commander.The notaries of the said ships which sail to Nueva España, or on any other voyage, shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, with the usual ration, as hitherto, while sailing from port to port.The stewards of the said ships, and those making any other voyages from these islands, shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, besides the usual ration, while sailing in the same manner as above; but when they reach land their pay or ration shall not run on.The guards of the water on the said ships, and those making other voyages, shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and their ration while sailing in the above manner.The office of the controllership of the royal exchequer must be held by such a person as that office requires. For in that office, not only is he under obligation to examine and review the transactions in all the other offices—the paymaster’s, the factor’s and the chief office [of the exchequer]—but it is instituted from their beginning, and must keep an equal number of books, which must agree with them and be made as they. He exercises the duties of the paymaster, of the factor, and of the chief official of the said exchequer, in order that the despatches made in the said offices may be collated and compared with the duplicates which he shall have made at that same time in his office of the controllership. Finding that they conform, those pay-checks and payments will be despatched more properly. He shall be giventwo clerks to help him, at a salary of ninety-six pesos per year, without anything else. He who shall exercise the said duties of the controllership shall receive two hundred and fifty pesos per year, without anything else.In the pay-office of the infantry, in the accountancy of the treasury, there shall be a chief official, who shall receive three hundred pesos per year, but nothing else. This is the same sum that he has received and is receiving in the said office.In the said pay-office and accountancy, there shall be a subordinate official with an annual salary of two hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else, which is the sum that he has been receiving.There shall be two clerks in the said office, so that they may become experienced in the management and handling of papers; they shall succeed to the others who shall be employed in the other higher places; and they shall work there and aid them, because of the press of matters there, as I have been informed. Each of those clerks shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, without ration.In addition to the chief clerk and the sub-clerk at present employed in the office of the factor of the exchequer, at the pay that they receive, there shall be another clerk; so that he may help them, and so that he may become experienced in the office for the future. He shall receive a salary of one hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else.In the chief office of the exchequer, there shall be, in addition to the chief clerk and the other sub-clerk, who shall receive the salaries that they have been receiving, another clerk to help them, and to renderhimself useful in the office. He shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos, but nothing else. The said clerks in any of the said offices shall be Spaniards.No powder shall be wasted in salutes for the commandants of the presidios when they enter or when they go out of them, with a fleet or without it, or any other things, in any of the redoubts and forts of this city or in the others outside it—except on the day of the Resurrection and on Corpus Christi. It shall be done with moderation on those days. If they wish to fire salutes on the days of the patron saints of the city of Manila and other places in these islands, it shall be at their own cost; and they shall pay his Majesty for the powder and other things that are used.Furthermore, after the said day the standard-bearers of the alférezes of all the companies of this city, and of those outside the city, shall receive only the half of what they now receive. They were receiving ninety-six pesos of eight reals, the half of which is forty-eight pesos; and they shall receive that sum, and nothing else.Furthermore, the standard-bearers of the companies of the Pampango nation shall only receive, from the said day and thenceforth, the half of the sum paid to a soldier of that nation, and no more, and the pages of the said nation shall be dismissed.All the above shall be observed and obeyed and executed, without any violation of it by any other meaning and interpretation that might be given to it in any circumstance, under penalty of being punished as disobedient to the royal commands, so long as there is no change made in them by his Majesty, by myself, or by any other person in his royal name. Thesaid royal officials, in order that they may so understand it, shall enter this order in the royal books, and shall despatch the necessary orders to the places where that is advisable. The royal officials are to note that the salaries and other payments made in this city, in any manner, must be authorized and paid by decree of the government, as is ordered to them; and not in any other manner, by issuing pay-checks and payments in form. The auditor of accounts shall also take note of this order, so that, in accordance with it, the payments that shall have been made shall be placed in the accounts of the royal estate that he shall audit which shall have been administered not only by the said royal official judges, but by those of Terrenate and the island of Hermosa, and by the alcaldes-mayor, overseers, ship-masters, and all others who in any manner have to do with his Majesty’s revenues, and in no other manner. Given in Manila, September four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five.Don Sebastian Hurtado de CorcueraBy order of the governor:Francisco de OrtegaAlso, from the said day and thenceforth, the common seamen who shall come in the ships from Castilla, who shall not be necessary and indispensable in the port of Cavite, shall be dismissed. The same shall be done in the ships that sail to Terrenate and the island of Hermosa, when they shall have returned to Manila. The pay of the said common seamen shall not run any longer than the day on which they pass muster after they shall have anchored. If the said galleons shall be needed for the voyage, theyshall determine what common seamen shall be necessary, a fortnight before the ships sail.Furthermore, the clerk of the magazines at the said port of Cavite shall not receive, from the said day and thenceforth, a greater sum than one hundred and fifty pesos of eight reals per year, and nothing else.Don Sebastian Hurtado de CorcueraFrom the said day, the first of October, and thenceforth, all the artillerymen of this city, the port of Cavite, and all the others in all places outside this said city, shall receive one hundred and seventy pesos of eight reals per annum, and no more; and the sum of two hundred pesos that they received before shall cease.All the corporals of all the companies outside of this city shall receive and enjoy the same pay and additional pay as those of this presidio of Manila, and no more.The corporals from the nobility,17who have been in the forts of Terrenate hitherto, and who have received more pay than the other corporals of the companies, shall be dropped and removed, as they are unnecessary.Furthermore, all the companies which shall be serving in the said forts shall each receive thirty ordinary escudos of ten reals, the same as is received by the companies of this presidio; and they shall cease to receive the thirty ducados of eleven reals which they had before.The corporals of the companies of the Pampangos throughout these islands shall receive and enjoy no additional pay for their office.The pay of captain, alférez, and sergeant of the Pampango nation shall be understood to be, for all those who serve in these islands, the amount that is assigned in the articles of this revision, and no more.Don Sebastian Hurtado de CorcueraCollated with the original act and revision of pay and rations made by the governor and captain-general, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera y Mendoça, who sent it to the official judges of the royal estate of these islands so that it might be put in force. I obtained it from them, in order to set it down in his Majesty’s books in this auditing department of the royal exchequer, and to make these copies. Then I returned it to them and they have it now. Given in Manila, June four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.Juan Bautista de ÇubiagaJuan Bautista de Çubiaga, auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of these Philipinas Islands, shall certify at the end of this decree the salaries and wages, and the rations, that have been paid from the royal treasury and magazines to the persons who have served in any naval or military post, or in any other capacity, both in this city of Manila and outside of it, and in its presidios, in former times and until June twenty-five, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five, when I assumed the government of the islands. He shall also make a copy, signed with his name, from the revision which I made general, inthe month of September of the said year, of the paid positions in which certain wages and rations that they enjoyed were lessened and reduced, because they were so large. He shall do it all distinctly and clearly, so that the saving that has been made for his Majesty’s royal estate may be seen, in order that it might be evident in his royal Council. Given in Manila, May twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.Sebastian Hurtado de CorcueraIn fulfilment of the order given by the above decree of Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, governor and captain-general of these Philipinas Islands, and president of the royal Audiencia herein, I, Juan Baptista de Çubiaga, auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of these islands, certify that it appears from various books, warrants, and other papers in this royal exchequer that are in my charge, that the various posts necessary to his Majesty’s service, both in this city of Manila, and outside of it, and in the presidios, received the salaries which will be stated below, and which were assigned by councils of the treasury, called by the president and auditors and the fiscal and royal officials, in former years and up to June, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five. In accordance with the general revision which the said governor made on September four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five, there has been saved for his Majesty, from the pay and rations enumerated therein—which are the amounts now paid, and those which they formerly received and which were given to those who were employed in the said posts—what appears in each item of the following.Saved for his Majesty annually

Extraordinary

Number of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos21,12934The natives of Estero de Lobo, in Cagayan1618Procurator-general of the Order of St. DominicMarch 3The amount (one-third) to be paid by his Majesty in the building of their church. Collects 207 pesos, with authority, and by decree of the governor, to pay 24 Sangley licenses.33–435,11773Eleven sailorsAt various datesAdmiral Luis Alonso de RoaJune 16With authority and transfer from the sailors, to pay the charges resulting against him in the visit, and which he owed his Majesty.4434119Jose Hernandez, a sailorJuly, 1633Licentiate Pedro CegaviaJune 22By authority and decree of the governor.45–471,92159Three sailorsAt various datesHernando Cerrido, constable of the royal AudienciaWith authority and transfer from the soldiers, and by decree of the governor, to pay charges resulting against him in the visit.

Department of Ordinary Salaries

Number of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos1120,00000The property of deceased persons for loans made to royal treasury1624Alférez Juan de Mirabal CedeñoJune 22Borrowed from the property of Licentiate Andres de Alcaraz, former auditor of the royal Audiencia. Repaid on account, 14,476 pesos, by decree of the governor, and with authority and transfer from the heirs of the said auditor.

Salaries of Alcaldes-mayor

Number of pay-checkAmount of pay-checkDue toExpiration of servicePaid toDate of paymentRemarkspesostominsgranos1811138Alférez Francisco de los Rios Coronel, ex-corregidor of CatanduanesDecember 6, 1629Juan de ColmenarJune 5With authority, and by decree of the governor.

Accordingly, all the aforesaid is obvious, and appears from the said pay-checks, whose originals remain in my possession, to which I refer. In order that it might be on record, I certify it at the order of the said governor and captain-general, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera y Mendoza. Manila, April 15, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six. Amount 102,596 pesos, 1 tomin, 8 granos.

Juan Bautista de Çubiaga

We, the undersigned notaries, certify that Juan Bautista de Çubiaga, whose mark and name appear at the end of this certification of eleven pages, is auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of the Filipinas Islands, as he styles himself. To the certifications and papers of these and other records that he has despatched, touching the said his office, entire faith and credit has been, and is, given, in and out of court. In order that such may be obvious, we signed this in Manila, April thirty, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.

Alfonso Baeza del Rio, royal notary.

Francisco de la Torre, notary of the royal crown.

Andres Martin del Arroyo, notary of the royal crown.

Reduction of expenses

Sire:

In my endeavor to be a good steward of your Majesty’s estate, having noticed and considered the many expenses and the lack of profit that you encounter in these islands, solely in order to maintain in them the Catholic religion, I have thought it advisable to reduce some of the expenses—as your Majesty will please to have examined by means ofthe orders for the said reduction, and which your Majesty will please approve or censure, according as you judge it most for the good of your service. My only desire is that God will not ask account from me for doing it badly, and for unjustly causing expense to your Majesty. Although I desire to render your Majesty so just an account, I could not fear it so much as the first, if I gave it as many others of us who serve you do.

I thought it advisable to save the pay of six hundred pesos per year, which a captain receives for serving [as such] in the company that he raised in Mexico; and although my officers are careful to station and retire the guards, and serve as those of the master-of-camp, I see to it that they do it well, and that they are not derelict in their duty. I have given the same orders to the governor and sargento-mayor of the forts of Terrenate, who also have command of two companies; the governor and sargento-mayor of the island of Hermosa, of two other companies; the warden of Camboaga [i.e., Zamboanga], of another; and the alcaldes-mayor of Oton, Cibu, Nueva Segovia, and Caraga, who have a company together, and command their men in the forts in the above-named islands. Also in this army, from now on, a captain will have command of another company, and will receive the pay of the chief guard of the Parián, which will be paid from the communal fund of the Chinese, and his pay will be saved to the treasury of your Majesty. The captains who will serve without pay from your Majesty’s royal treasury will thus amount to eleven; and hence a great sum of money will be saved by the end of the year, as well as the [expense for] the post of sargento-mayorof this army, which is held by my nephew, Don Pedro Hurtado de Corcuera—who serves without pay, together with a company of thirty horsemen, whom I thought to be very expedient for your Majesty’s service, for the following reasons. First, just as I caused and ordered the raising of four companies among the citizens of this city, in the infantry, in order that they might exercise themselves in the squadrons, and be ready for any emergencies that may arise, I also had two companies of fifty horse apiece raised—one made up of the nobility of the city, who can keep horses, and the other of the overseers of the royal stockyards—all armed with spears. In order that the above horsemen might have someone to instruct and exercise them, this company of thirty horsemen was enlisted. The actual officers in it are captain, alférez, and lieutenant. It would be very advisable to raise the number to fifty, if that would be agreeable to your Majesty; for besides being necessary for the guard of the coast, and to keep these nations—the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians—in check, they patrol the city nightly, and shut and open the city gates, on horseback. For that reason the poor infantrymen are excused from patrol duty, and from locking the gates, and thus from going about almost every night knee-deep in water, from which many diseases and deaths ensued; that has been avoided by this means. Experience has demonstrated, also, how useful and profitable these cavalrymen may be when stationed as a troop among the artillery on a campaign, for skirmishing—for which they are greatly esteemed in the Flandes army; and, at the very least, the sight of them strikes terror in those present, andthe noise made by them in those absent. Will your Majesty be pleased to approve and confirm this company of cavalrymen, and grant permission that it consist of fifty soldiers. Notwithstanding the savings and the reductions, of which I inform your Majesty, not only is there no expense incurred in this company but there is even a saving of money for the following reasons. In recent times there have been eight companies of infantry for the guard of the city; but immediately upon my arrival, I reduced them to six. When I sent the reënforcements to Terrenate—for two hundred Spaniards went there in three companies, and one hundred Pampangos (who are as good and as faithful here as are the Burgundians in Flandes)—and the guard of the city remained in four companies, seeing that it was impossible to cover the posts and to stand guard with so few men, I ordered two hundred Pampangos to be enrolled into two companies, so that now there are the six hundred necessary guardsmen. The Pampangos are in place of the two hundred Spaniards who went [to Terrenate]. Seeing that the said Spaniards are lacking, there is nothing but to appeal to the Pampangos; they are being instructed, and are managing their arms in a manner that makes me very well satisfied with them. Both the captains and other officers, and the soldiers, receive half the pay of the Spaniards. Thus the two companies of Pampangos cause your Majesty an expense of ten thousand pesos, and that of the cavalry seven thousand, making a total of seventeen thousand pesos. The two infantry companies which were here before caused an expense of twenty-two thousand pesos or thereabouts; so, if the former expense was this amount, and that of thePampangos and the cavalry now is seventeen thousand, there is an annual saving of five thousand pesos to your Majesty. There are thirty more soldiers than before. Will your Majesty please have this approved and look favorably upon it; and believe that I am spending your Majesty’s revenue with great care, and that I can have no scruple of conscience in what I am doing. Your Majesty will learn the truth of this by experience, in a short time. May our Lord preserve the Catholic person of your Majesty, as is necessary to Christendom. Manila, the last of June, 1636. Sire, your vassal kisses your Majesty’s feet.

Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

Revision of pay and rations made September 4, 1635

Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, knight of the Order of Alcantara, member of his Majesty’s Council, member of the Council of War in the States of Flandes, governor and captain-general of these Filipinas Islands, and president of the royal Audiencia, resident in the city of Manila:

From the discovery of these islands until now there has been no instruction or fixed order given by his Majesty in regard to the pay and rations which have been and ought to be given to many of the persons who have served and who shall serve in his service in various posts of the sea and in other employments, both in this city of Manila and along the coast and in the port of Cavite, in the shipyards for the construction of ships which are built for the royal service in the provinces of these islands, in the presidios of the islands, and in the voyages to and from Nueva España, Terrenate, the island of Hermosa,Macan, India, and other places; but the governors my predecessors, and the councils of the treasury, made some regulations, by virtue of decrees from his Majesty (as the matter was referred to them, so that they could decide on what was best). Some of the wages paid were thus very greatly increased, thereby causing, from that time until the present, a heavy burden and debt on the royal estate. So heavy has been this burden that the royal estate has come to so low an ebb by reason of some salaries that are especially excessive, that it is obliged to demand loans quite ordinarily from the inhabitants of this said city; and, because of the heavy loans that have been made for many years, it has been impossible to free itself from its many debts. Now therefore, on account of all these considerations, and because the matter has been examined and considered attentively, as well as the little profit of the royal patrimony in these islands (or rather its many expenses) because of the constant reënforcements of men, money, ammunition, food, and other things that must be sent to the presidios of the islands (which, being many and so distant and separated from one another), meet a much greater cost and expense than his Majesty is told—in especial the great cost of the preparation and equipment of the two ships sent annually to Nueva España for the usual reënforcement of men and the other things that maintain this land; and almost the chief reason for which those ships sail and are sent seems not to be for reënforcements, but only to carry and to bring back the goods of the inhabitants and merchants of Manila, in which they traffic to the extent that is well known, and to so much greater a sum than his Majesty has permitted, at sogreat an expense to the royal estate, and little or no profit from the duties and freights that they owe), it is advisable to revise and adjust some of the posts and wages and rations, to abolish some and add others, and to create some new ones which are obligatory and necessary for the service of his Majesty. Therefore, and because it is advisable, according to the present condition of matters, and in order to relieve the said royal treasury and to help it as far as may be possible (as his Majesty commands by various decrees), and in order to attend better to what is obligatory and necessary, and to see that the royal treasury be not pledged so deeply as it has been hitherto and is now, he ordered by a decision communicated and conferred over with persons zealous for his Majesty’s service—and he did so order—the official judges of the royal estate of these islands, and all the other persons who administer the royal revenues, both in the royal treasuries of the garrisons at Terrenate and the island of Hermosa, under the titles of accountants, factors, and royal officials, and in the other provinces (whence they come to this royal treasury of Manila to report what has entered into their possession)—each one in so far as it concerns him, or can concern him—to give the necessary orders in his Majesty’s name, so that from the first of the month of October next of this present year, and thenceforth, all shall understand what is to be paid and given to the persons who shall serve his Majesty in the posts mentioned in this order, and which will be mentioned in every case. That sum is that which they are to receive as their proper pay; and it must be observed and kept in the following form.

The assayer and weigher of the royal treasury of this city shall serve for two hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.

The executor of the royal estate shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.

The keeper of the provisions in the royal magazines of this city shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The keeper of the provisions in the royal magazines of the port of Cavite shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The keeper of the royal magazines, provisions, arms, and ammunition for the forts of Terrenate shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The keeper of the provisions, arms, and ammunition for the presidio of the island of Hermosa shall receive three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The keeper of the provisions, arms, and ammunition for the port of Yloylo shall receive a salary of three hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The clerk of the royal magazines of this city shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.

The shore-master of the port of Cavite and of all the naval dock-yards there shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The overseer at the royal works of all the day-laborers and assistants at the said port of Cavite shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The artillery founder of this city shall receive asalary of five hundred pesos per annum, without any ration or anything else.

The shipbuilder and the master-workman of the works at the port of Cavite shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The manager of the powder that is made for his Majesty on the other side of the river shall receive a salary of four hundred pesos per annum, without anything else.

The manager of the rigging which is made in the province of Balayan for his Majesty shall receive a salary of two hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without any ration.

The castellan of the fort of Santiago in this city of Manila shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, and shall hold the place by virtue of regular appointment. He who exercises that officead interimshall receive one-half that sum as his Majesty has ordered.

The lieutenant of the said fort of Santiago in this city, who has hitherto been appointed at a salary of four hundred and twenty pesos, is now removed and discharged; for there is no need of him in the said fort, since there is an alférez and a sergeant.

There shall be two infantry adjutants in the forts of Terrenate. One shall receive a salary of three hundred and sixty pesos per annum, while the other shall receive ninety-six pesos per annum—the pay of a simple soldier. They shall receive nothing else.

All the Pampango soldiers who serve in the forts of Terrenate shall receive annual pay at the rate of forty-eight pesos of eight reals apiece. They shall be in two companies, which shall be under the commandof the master-of-camp and his sargento-mayor, each of whom shall receive a salary of two hundred and fifty pesos per annum.

The two alférezes of the said Pampango nation shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos apiece.

Each of the sergeants of the said [Pampango] nation shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and twenty pesos.

There shall not be an artillery captain in the forts of Terrenate, for that place is abolished.

The surgeon of the royal hospital for the said forts of Terrenate shall receive a salary of six hundred pesos per annum, without any ration.

The field captain of the said forts shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else.

The military notary of the said forts, who has hitherto received a salary of two hundred pesos per annum, shall not receive that sum from the said day and thenceforth; and the accountant of the said forts shall under no consideration pay it to him.

The four substitutes [entretenimientos], who were reduced to their [opportunities for] advantage in the said forts of Terrenate, shall be given nothing by way of additional pay or allowances; and they shall not be paid in advance from the said day and thenceforth by the accountant of those forts.

The infantry adjutants of the presidios in the provinces of Çibu, Oton, Cagayan, Caraga, and Cambuanga, shall serve as simple soldiers for the annual pay of ninety-six pesos—the same as the simple soldier—without anything else.

The fieldborrechel(which means the field captain and borrechel in one) shall serve for an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else.

The military notary, who has been hitherto stationed in this city, with an annual salary of two hundred pesos, shall not receive that sum, and the royal officials shall not pay it to him.

The head drummer shall be paid at the rate of one hundred and twenty pesos per annum—the pay of a musketeer.

The chief gunners—in this city of Manila, he of the fort of Santiago in this city, and those of the port of Cavite, the island of Hermosa, and Terrenate—shall receive annual salaries at the rate of two hundred and fifty pesos.

The apothecary of the royal hospital in this said city of Manila shall receive an annual salary of two hundred pesos, without any ration.

The galley captains of this city of Manila, the port of Cavite, the island of Hermosa, and Terrenate, shall be abolished; for the duties of galley captain shall be performed by the master of the galley. The latter shall receive the royal revenue, and shall give account of it. He shall give bonds to the satisfaction of the royal official judges. He shall receive an annual pay of two hundred and fifty pesos, and, when afloat, the ration which shall pertain to him in addition to the pay; but, when not afloat, he shall not receive anything in addition to the pay.

The boatswains of the said galleys shall receive an annual pay of two hundred pesos without ration, when in port, and when they are afloat their ordinary ration, as aforesaid.

The boatswains’ mates of the said galleys shallreceive when ashore an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, and thirty gantas of rice [per month], which must be given them on account of their pay; and, when afloat, the said one hundred and fifty pesos and the ordinary ration, as aforesaid.

The guards of the said galleys of this city, Terrenate, and the island of Hermosa shall be abolished, as they are unnecessary.

The corporals of the said galleys are removed and abolished, for they are unnecessary.

The captain of the said galleys shall receive an annual pay of two hundred pesos, without any ration; when afloat, he shall be given his ordinary ration as an officer of said galley, in addition to his pay.

The pilots who sail on any voyage from these islands shall receive an annual pay of five hundred pesos, besides their ordinary ration, which shall be given them from port to port, wherever they may be anchored; but while not afloat they shall receive only two hundred pesos as an allowance, and nothing else.

The mates of his Majesty’s ships shall receive an annual pay of two hundred and fifty pesos, besides the ordinary ration, when afloat, and during any voyage; but when not afloat, even though they be employed on the ships which are to sail on any voyage whatever, they shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and their ration of thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, as do the other sailors, and it shall be charged to the account of their pay.

The second mates of the said ships shall receive an annual pay of two hundred pesos when afloat, and their ordinary ration; but in the interval when they are not afloat, even though employed in the ships that are to sail, they shall receive one hundred and fiftypesos per year, and the ordinary ration of the sailor, of thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, at the account of their pay, as aforesaid.

All the sailors who are employed and shall be employed on the Cavite coast, and anywhere else, shall receive pay at the rate of one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and thirty gantas of cleaned rice apiece per month. The rice shall be charged to the account of their pay, as aforesaid. When afloat they shall receive the said one hundred and fifty pesos, and in addition the ration that has been given them hitherto.

The Spanish common seamen who are employed anywhere shall receive pay of one hundred pesos per year, and the thirty gantas of rice per month on account of their pay, as aforesaid. When afloat they shall receive their ordinary ration, as do the rest of the sailors, in addition to their pay.

The Indian common seamen who are employed anywhere shall receive forty-eight pesos per year, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month on the account of their pay, as aforesaid; and when afloat, the said pay, and in addition the ordinary ration which has hitherto been given them.

The Spanish carpenters, both those who work in the port of Cavite, and those who work at shipbuilding in other places, shall receive an annual pay of two hundred and fifty pesos, and no more, without any ration while on shore; but when afloat, the said pay, and in addition the ordinary ration, as hitherto.

The chief calker who shall be employed in any place shall receive an annual pay of three hundred pesos, without any ration; but when afloat, the said pay, and in addition his ordinary ration, as hitherto.

The Spanish calkers shall receive two hundred andfifty pesos per year, without ration while in port; but when afloat, the said pay and in addition their ordinary ration, as hitherto.

The Spanish coopers shall receive each two hundred and fifty pesos per annum, without anything else; but if afloat, their ordinary ration, as hitherto.

The Indian coopers shall receive an annual pay of sixty pesos per year, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month; and afloat, their ration in addition to the said pay.

The diver in the port of Cabite shall receive two hundred pesos per year, and a ration of thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, which shall be charged to the account of his pay; and afloat, the ordinary ration, as hitherto.

The Spanish boss of the rope-factory at the port of Cabite shall receive an annual pay of one hundred and fifty pesos, and thirty gantas of cleaned rice per month, which shall be paid on the account of his wages.

The two Indian artisans in the rope-factory shall receive fifty-four pesos per year apiece, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, on the account of their pay.

The Spanish boss of the smithy at the port of Cabite shall receive an annual pay of four hundred pesos, without any ration.

The Indian smiths at the said port of Cabite and in the foundry and arsenal of this camp shall receive—the boss, one hundred pesos per year, and fifty gantas of cleaned rice per month; and the others, the pay that they are receiving. The latter shall all receive fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, which shall be charged to the account of their pay.

The Sangley champan men, and sailors in thechampans that belong to his Majesty in any place, shall receive the pay in money that has hitherto been given them, and in addition fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, instead of the twenty gantas that have been given them, besides their pay.

The Sangley carpenters and sawyers who are actually working in the port of Cabite and other places shall receive the pay in money that has hitherto been given them; and in addition, fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month instead of the twenty.

The sawyers ofbrazas16shall receive four reals for eachbrazaone braza long and one vara wide, but nothing else. However, if they prefer rice on their account, it shall be given them at its market price to his Majesty.

The Sangley smiths who work on the Cabite shore and in other places shall receive the pay in money that has been given them hitherto; and, in addition, fifteen gantas of cleaned rice instead of twenty.

The Sangley calkers who ordinarily work at the royal works in Cabite and other places shall receive five pesos per month, and, in addition, fifteen gantas of cleaned rice.

The Indians who are employed to row in the sentinel boat at Mariveles, shall receive one peso in money and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month.

The Lascars who are employed in any capacity in Cabite, either on sea or on land, shall receive—the two bosses one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and in addition fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month; while the others shall receive the pay that they receive at present, and they shall be given in addition fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, apiece.

The other two sub-bosses of the Lascars shall receiveone hundred and twenty pesos per year, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month. All the others shall receive the pay that they received before, and fifteen gantas of cleaned rice per month, besides their pay.

There shall be twenty musketeers in each one of the companies of this city and in the companies of the other presidios outside the city, but no more. They shall be paid at the rate of two pesos per month, one for additional pay for the musket; but no more, inasmuch as each one has been reduced four reals.

The acting sergeants of the company of this said city of Manila, and the others in the presidios outside it, shall receive an increase of two pesos per month, in addition to the ten pesos that they received before, because of the severe labor that they have to perform.

Likewise, the corporals of all the companies in this said city, and outside it, shall receive an increase of one peso per month, as additional pay, besides what they were receiving before.

There shall be no shield-bearers to any company of this said city, or in the other presidios; and consequently, they shall not be paid at his Majesty’s account. But the captains shall have them at their own cost, and the captains shall not go without them, nor station the guards without the said page.

The commander of the ships which are despatched annually to Nueva España shall receive a salary of three thousand pesos per annum, besides the usual ration while sailing from port to port—even though he anchor at any other port in the islands, if he reach it in distress, even though it be not the legitimate port whence he sailed.

The admiral of the said ships shall receive anannual salary of two thousand pesos, and the usual ration while sailing from port to port, in the same manner as the commander.

The notaries of the said ships which sail to Nueva España, or on any other voyage, shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, with the usual ration, as hitherto, while sailing from port to port.

The stewards of the said ships, and those making any other voyages from these islands, shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, besides the usual ration, while sailing in the same manner as above; but when they reach land their pay or ration shall not run on.

The guards of the water on the said ships, and those making other voyages, shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, and their ration while sailing in the above manner.

The office of the controllership of the royal exchequer must be held by such a person as that office requires. For in that office, not only is he under obligation to examine and review the transactions in all the other offices—the paymaster’s, the factor’s and the chief office [of the exchequer]—but it is instituted from their beginning, and must keep an equal number of books, which must agree with them and be made as they. He exercises the duties of the paymaster, of the factor, and of the chief official of the said exchequer, in order that the despatches made in the said offices may be collated and compared with the duplicates which he shall have made at that same time in his office of the controllership. Finding that they conform, those pay-checks and payments will be despatched more properly. He shall be giventwo clerks to help him, at a salary of ninety-six pesos per year, without anything else. He who shall exercise the said duties of the controllership shall receive two hundred and fifty pesos per year, without anything else.

In the pay-office of the infantry, in the accountancy of the treasury, there shall be a chief official, who shall receive three hundred pesos per year, but nothing else. This is the same sum that he has received and is receiving in the said office.

In the said pay-office and accountancy, there shall be a subordinate official with an annual salary of two hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else, which is the sum that he has been receiving.

There shall be two clerks in the said office, so that they may become experienced in the management and handling of papers; they shall succeed to the others who shall be employed in the other higher places; and they shall work there and aid them, because of the press of matters there, as I have been informed. Each of those clerks shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos per year, without ration.

In addition to the chief clerk and the sub-clerk at present employed in the office of the factor of the exchequer, at the pay that they receive, there shall be another clerk; so that he may help them, and so that he may become experienced in the office for the future. He shall receive a salary of one hundred and fifty pesos, without anything else.

In the chief office of the exchequer, there shall be, in addition to the chief clerk and the other sub-clerk, who shall receive the salaries that they have been receiving, another clerk to help them, and to renderhimself useful in the office. He shall receive one hundred and fifty pesos, but nothing else. The said clerks in any of the said offices shall be Spaniards.

No powder shall be wasted in salutes for the commandants of the presidios when they enter or when they go out of them, with a fleet or without it, or any other things, in any of the redoubts and forts of this city or in the others outside it—except on the day of the Resurrection and on Corpus Christi. It shall be done with moderation on those days. If they wish to fire salutes on the days of the patron saints of the city of Manila and other places in these islands, it shall be at their own cost; and they shall pay his Majesty for the powder and other things that are used.

Furthermore, after the said day the standard-bearers of the alférezes of all the companies of this city, and of those outside the city, shall receive only the half of what they now receive. They were receiving ninety-six pesos of eight reals, the half of which is forty-eight pesos; and they shall receive that sum, and nothing else.

Furthermore, the standard-bearers of the companies of the Pampango nation shall only receive, from the said day and thenceforth, the half of the sum paid to a soldier of that nation, and no more, and the pages of the said nation shall be dismissed.

All the above shall be observed and obeyed and executed, without any violation of it by any other meaning and interpretation that might be given to it in any circumstance, under penalty of being punished as disobedient to the royal commands, so long as there is no change made in them by his Majesty, by myself, or by any other person in his royal name. Thesaid royal officials, in order that they may so understand it, shall enter this order in the royal books, and shall despatch the necessary orders to the places where that is advisable. The royal officials are to note that the salaries and other payments made in this city, in any manner, must be authorized and paid by decree of the government, as is ordered to them; and not in any other manner, by issuing pay-checks and payments in form. The auditor of accounts shall also take note of this order, so that, in accordance with it, the payments that shall have been made shall be placed in the accounts of the royal estate that he shall audit which shall have been administered not only by the said royal official judges, but by those of Terrenate and the island of Hermosa, and by the alcaldes-mayor, overseers, ship-masters, and all others who in any manner have to do with his Majesty’s revenues, and in no other manner. Given in Manila, September four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five.

Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

By order of the governor:Francisco de Ortega

Also, from the said day and thenceforth, the common seamen who shall come in the ships from Castilla, who shall not be necessary and indispensable in the port of Cavite, shall be dismissed. The same shall be done in the ships that sail to Terrenate and the island of Hermosa, when they shall have returned to Manila. The pay of the said common seamen shall not run any longer than the day on which they pass muster after they shall have anchored. If the said galleons shall be needed for the voyage, theyshall determine what common seamen shall be necessary, a fortnight before the ships sail.

Furthermore, the clerk of the magazines at the said port of Cavite shall not receive, from the said day and thenceforth, a greater sum than one hundred and fifty pesos of eight reals per year, and nothing else.

Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

From the said day, the first of October, and thenceforth, all the artillerymen of this city, the port of Cavite, and all the others in all places outside this said city, shall receive one hundred and seventy pesos of eight reals per annum, and no more; and the sum of two hundred pesos that they received before shall cease.

All the corporals of all the companies outside of this city shall receive and enjoy the same pay and additional pay as those of this presidio of Manila, and no more.

The corporals from the nobility,17who have been in the forts of Terrenate hitherto, and who have received more pay than the other corporals of the companies, shall be dropped and removed, as they are unnecessary.

Furthermore, all the companies which shall be serving in the said forts shall each receive thirty ordinary escudos of ten reals, the same as is received by the companies of this presidio; and they shall cease to receive the thirty ducados of eleven reals which they had before.

The corporals of the companies of the Pampangos throughout these islands shall receive and enjoy no additional pay for their office.

The pay of captain, alférez, and sergeant of the Pampango nation shall be understood to be, for all those who serve in these islands, the amount that is assigned in the articles of this revision, and no more.

Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

Collated with the original act and revision of pay and rations made by the governor and captain-general, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera y Mendoça, who sent it to the official judges of the royal estate of these islands so that it might be put in force. I obtained it from them, in order to set it down in his Majesty’s books in this auditing department of the royal exchequer, and to make these copies. Then I returned it to them and they have it now. Given in Manila, June four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.

Juan Bautista de Çubiaga

Juan Bautista de Çubiaga, auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of these Philipinas Islands, shall certify at the end of this decree the salaries and wages, and the rations, that have been paid from the royal treasury and magazines to the persons who have served in any naval or military post, or in any other capacity, both in this city of Manila and outside of it, and in its presidios, in former times and until June twenty-five, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five, when I assumed the government of the islands. He shall also make a copy, signed with his name, from the revision which I made general, inthe month of September of the said year, of the paid positions in which certain wages and rations that they enjoyed were lessened and reduced, because they were so large. He shall do it all distinctly and clearly, so that the saving that has been made for his Majesty’s royal estate may be seen, in order that it might be evident in his royal Council. Given in Manila, May twenty-four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-six.

Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

In fulfilment of the order given by the above decree of Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, governor and captain-general of these Philipinas Islands, and president of the royal Audiencia herein, I, Juan Baptista de Çubiaga, auditor of accounts and results of the royal estate of these islands, certify that it appears from various books, warrants, and other papers in this royal exchequer that are in my charge, that the various posts necessary to his Majesty’s service, both in this city of Manila, and outside of it, and in the presidios, received the salaries which will be stated below, and which were assigned by councils of the treasury, called by the president and auditors and the fiscal and royal officials, in former years and up to June, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five. In accordance with the general revision which the said governor made on September four, one thousand six hundred and thirty-five, there has been saved for his Majesty, from the pay and rations enumerated therein—which are the amounts now paid, and those which they formerly received and which were given to those who were employed in the said posts—what appears in each item of the following.

Saved for his Majesty annually

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