LETTER OF A JESUIT TO HIS BROTHER

LETTER OF A JESUIT TO HIS BROTHERAs the ships which in the years 47 and 48 sailed from here to Acapulco were driven back to these islands, the letters which in those years I wrote to my brother could not be despatched. This obliges me to avail myself of a safer opportunity, that afforded by the voyage of the father procurators, Pedro Murillo1and Bernardo Pazuengos, who for many and important reasons are going to Europe by way of the coast (that is, the Orient) in a French ship which is going from here to France. In the letters which I wrote in past years, I informed my brother of the enterprise of the missions in Joló and Mindanao, in which we were involved by the governor of these islands, Fray Juan de Arrechedera, by the hasty remittance of the letters despatched from Don Felipe (whom may God keep) to the sultans of Joló and Mindanao, and with his own energetic exhortations and promises to our provincial—so that he gave no opportunity to take any counsel, or to furnish means for avoiding the most serious difficulties. [The worst of these] was, as we soon perceived, that at the very time when he despatched with embassies theletters of our king to the said sultans, the said Governor Arrechedera sent an urgent invitation to the sultan of Joló to come to Manila, where he would be hospitably received and entertained. We all knew that the object of the governor was, that the sultan might bring here abundance of pearls and gold; and we also knew that with the departure of the sultan from his kingdom the mission would come to an end, as has actually happened.2At the time we were only mistaken in one thing, and that was, to feel sure that the fathers would not leave Joló or Mindanao; for we reckoned that if the sultan should leave Joló the natives would kill the fathers of that mission, and the sultan would easily justify himself because the act had been committed in his absence, and he could even pretend great sorrow for the deaths of the fathers; and in Mindanao, when it was known that in Joló they had killed the fathers, they would do the same there to those engaged in the Mindanao mission.In reality the fathers had arrived at Zamboanga. When the Moros found themselves obliged to receive the fathers in their kingdoms, according to the promise which they had given in their replies to our king and to the governor of Manila, the two sultans agreed between themselves that after they had admitted the fathers [to their countries] they would treacherously kill them, and so that their murder could not be attributed to the influence of the sultans. The means which the sultan of Joló took was,that after he left his kingdom they should kill the fathers—although God our Lord disposed affairs otherwise from the schemes which the sultan, with unheard-of craft and perfidy, had plotted.In order that my brother may be fully informed, and may correctly relate everything to all those whom my brother may think expedient to tell of it, I send that enclosure which Father Ygnacio Malaga wrote to me; this account is worthy of entire credence, since he was almost an eyewitness of everything which he relates, being one of the missionaries appointed for Mindanao.If what Governor Arrechedera is doing here in Manila with the sultan of Joló could be known in Madrid and Roma, and in every other country, people would have no difficulty in believing the enormous perfidy, treachery, and deceit of the said sultan and other Moros. It is nearly a year since the said sultan of Joló arrived at Manila, accompanied by three concubines and several slave-girls. At his arrival the artillery was discharged; and he was lodged very magnificently, in a house provided beforehand for this purpose, outside the walls of Manila, with a continual guard of soldiers, whose captain was always under the orders of the sultan. The entry of the sultan into Manila was arranged with so much pomp and ostentation that everyone said no more could have been done for the entry of the prince of España if he should come to Manila; but all that is told is less [than the reality]. The governor seeing a scarf woven with pearls and ornaments in gold, immediately his eyes and his heart went out toward the scarf and the many other pearls and jewels which he knew the sultan carried. At this thegovernor entirely closed his eyes to all the information that was given to him—not only that furnished by the fathers of the said missions who had come back to Manila, but the letters which the governor of Samboanga had written to him—openly saying that he placed more confidence in the king of Joló than in the fathers who sent the information. What causes most general sorrow here (and especially to the archbishop)3is, that on account of the governor not being willing to listen to anything against the sultan, that is coming true which the fathers said to his Lordship—that the said sultan from Manila would cause the ruin of these islands, causing the Jolóans by piratical raids to carry away many Christian Indians as captives, and to destroy churches and villages. This is what they are actually doing, as is written by the fathers in Visayas, whose letters I have seen within a few days, and the governor will not permit that a word be uttered in order that it may not be said (although it is well known) that the Moros are destroying the island with the gunpowder and balls which have been sent them from Manila, and the sultan is paying for them with the pearls and gold which he has given to the said governor. What continually renews the grief of all is, that not onlyis no remedy applied to so dire evils, but that the governor continues to entertain the sultan in Manila as if he were our friend or defender, while he is the greatest traitor and enemy that this Christian church has had; and we greatly fear that by this time the said sultan is making himself master of the post at Samboangan.4It is sufficient to have pointed this out in order that my brother may gain knowledge of the condition in which affairs are. What concerns the mission in Mindanao is made sufficiently clear in the letter from Father Ygnacio Malaga, and everything that he says is the simple truth; but, in order that this truth may not be smothered with the reports which this governor of Manila is sending to the court at Madrid, I have sent my brother that letter of Father Malaga, entreating him to please show it to the father procurator-general Pedro Ygnacio Altamirano, and to any other person whom my brother may think best, for the sake of the credit of this province and of the entire Society—for they do not lack many rivals, who are not willing that the ill-success of the missions of Joló and Mindanao should be attributed to the perfidy and malice of the Moros; but they try to charge it to the very fathers of the Society.My brother will also please tell the father procurator Altamirano how the father provincial Pedro de Estrada had written to inform his Reverence that all the letters of contract on our side in favor of his illustrious Lordship Fray Arrechedera could not be worded otherwise, since we found ourselves obliged to this by the urgent request of the governor himself, and he had to see all of them. But in reality the course of the said governor cannot in consciencebe approved [abonar] except with the reflection that Father Altamirano knows very well that our letters on this matter were being misconstrued, and that his Reverence would not be influenced to bind himself in virtue of them to favor the said Señor Arrechedera. In order to make this more certain, the said father provincial Estrada wrote a letter in order that the said Father Altamirano should not pay any attention to this undertaking of ours; and I, as his secretary at the time of the said father provincial, wrote the third letter, as I did all the rest.Now it is evident to me that the archbishop of Manila is informing his Majesty very thoroughly of the proceedings of the said governor; and certainly it would go ill with us with the king and his Council, if our reports should be presented in favor of the said governor, while those which the archbishop is now sending are entirely contrary to this. Here we are, as if in Limbo, for we have not had mails from Europe for more than three years, except the news which came from China and Batavia.The father provincial Pedro de Estrada died at the end of the year 48; his office was temporarily filled by Father José Samaniego, and in seven months he also died. God our Lord has freed these islands from the scourge of the English, for the squadron of forty-three ships which was destined for this coast undertook first to seize Pondicheri and Madrás (which they thought would be an affair of a few days), and then go on to Philipinas; but they did not capture either Pondicheri or Madrás, and much or even the greater part of the squadron was destroyed in a fierce storm. If they had come here,it is certain that now this country would be in the power of the English; for all the precautions that were taken here for our defense were festivities with the sultan of Joló and his concubines, to the profound sorrow of the community; etc. Cavite, December 2, 1749.[Addressed: “To my brother Pedro, the abbot.”]1Evidently referring to Pedro Murillo Velarde, extracts from whoseHistoria de Philipinashave already appeared in this series. The phrase “the Orient” alludes to the route via India to Europe.↑2Full accounts of this mission may be found in Ventura del Arco MSS., iv, pp. 447–591, in letters from the Jesuits Pedro Estrada and Juan Angles, dated June 25, 1748, and June 18, 1749, respectively—with letter from Felipe V to the sultan of Joló, and the latter’s reply.↑3This was Fray Pedro de la Santisima Trinidad Martinez de Arizala; he was a native of Madrid, and had been an auditor in the royal Audiencia of Quito for seventeen years, and was an honorary member of the Council of the Indias. But, “disillusioned with the world, and weary of honors, his sensitive conscience found room in the estate of a Franciscan religious, taking their habit, and professing their austere life.” He took possession of the archbishopric of Manila on August 27, 1747, at the age of fifty-two years. Difficulties arose between him and Arrechedera; but he contented himself with laying these troubles before the court at Madrid. He died on May 28, 1755. (Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, xii, pp. 38–40, and xiii, pp. 338, 339.)↑4See the detailed account of this episode, and of events connected with it, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, xii, chaps, ii–v, which may thus briefly be summarized:In 1735 Maulana, sultan of Joló, abdicated in favor of his son Mahamad Alimudin. This youth was “brought up in the school of his father,” in matters of craft and policy; he had spent some time at Batavia, where he became proficient in the Arabic and Malayan languages, and in the Koran—“which he explained with so much erudition that the Joloans gave him the title of chief pandita of that kingdom,” and he attained among the Moros “an authority almost supreme.” He negotiated for peace with the Spaniards, which was effected in 1737; he promised to restore the Christian captives, but his datos resented this, and refused to obey. In May, 1740, a Recollect priest, Fray Hypolito de San Agustin, was captured by Moro pirates; but certain Joloans—especially their pandita, one Yaloc—rescued him and took him to Joló, where he was kindly received and cared for. The sultan demanded a ransom of 12,000 pesos for him; after many difficulties and negotiations, and some aid from the Jesuits, the captive priest secured his liberty by binding the Recollect province to pay the amount demanded for ransom. Soon afterward, the sultan was persuaded by Commandant Zacharias and the Jesuit Isasi at Zamboanga to commute his claim to 1,000 pesos, which was gladly paid by the Recollects. The peace made with Alimudin stopped the invasions by the Joloans, but the Tirones from the Bornean coast continued their destructive raids. Remonstrances being made at Madrid by the representatives of Philippine interests, the king wrote the letters to the rulers of Joló and Tamontaca (the latter being Ameril Mahomenin Campsa), which have been previously mentioned in this series; they were received at Manila in July, 1746, and were sent to their destination by the hands of the Jesuits Isasi and Arcada. These envoys conducted various negotiations with the sultan, who demanded (and received) from the Manila government aid of money, guns, and iron—for Joló, to repay him for the expenses which he had incurred in aiding the Spaniards against the Tirones; for Tamontaca (or Mindanao), to aid in the war with Gula,the son of the rebel Malinog. Arrangements were made for the opening of Jesuit missions in Joló and Tamontaca; but they soon came to naught. In September, 1748, a rebellion in Joló unseated Alimudin, and sent him a fugitive to Zamboanga; and, Ameril and Gula having become reconciled, threatened treachery sent the Jesuit Moreno back from Tamontaca to the same refuge. Alimudin went to Manila, here he was received with much éclat by Governor Arrechedera; he was there apparently converted to the Christian faith by the governor’s persuasions.↑

As the ships which in the years 47 and 48 sailed from here to Acapulco were driven back to these islands, the letters which in those years I wrote to my brother could not be despatched. This obliges me to avail myself of a safer opportunity, that afforded by the voyage of the father procurators, Pedro Murillo1and Bernardo Pazuengos, who for many and important reasons are going to Europe by way of the coast (that is, the Orient) in a French ship which is going from here to France. In the letters which I wrote in past years, I informed my brother of the enterprise of the missions in Joló and Mindanao, in which we were involved by the governor of these islands, Fray Juan de Arrechedera, by the hasty remittance of the letters despatched from Don Felipe (whom may God keep) to the sultans of Joló and Mindanao, and with his own energetic exhortations and promises to our provincial—so that he gave no opportunity to take any counsel, or to furnish means for avoiding the most serious difficulties. [The worst of these] was, as we soon perceived, that at the very time when he despatched with embassies theletters of our king to the said sultans, the said Governor Arrechedera sent an urgent invitation to the sultan of Joló to come to Manila, where he would be hospitably received and entertained. We all knew that the object of the governor was, that the sultan might bring here abundance of pearls and gold; and we also knew that with the departure of the sultan from his kingdom the mission would come to an end, as has actually happened.2At the time we were only mistaken in one thing, and that was, to feel sure that the fathers would not leave Joló or Mindanao; for we reckoned that if the sultan should leave Joló the natives would kill the fathers of that mission, and the sultan would easily justify himself because the act had been committed in his absence, and he could even pretend great sorrow for the deaths of the fathers; and in Mindanao, when it was known that in Joló they had killed the fathers, they would do the same there to those engaged in the Mindanao mission.In reality the fathers had arrived at Zamboanga. When the Moros found themselves obliged to receive the fathers in their kingdoms, according to the promise which they had given in their replies to our king and to the governor of Manila, the two sultans agreed between themselves that after they had admitted the fathers [to their countries] they would treacherously kill them, and so that their murder could not be attributed to the influence of the sultans. The means which the sultan of Joló took was,that after he left his kingdom they should kill the fathers—although God our Lord disposed affairs otherwise from the schemes which the sultan, with unheard-of craft and perfidy, had plotted.In order that my brother may be fully informed, and may correctly relate everything to all those whom my brother may think expedient to tell of it, I send that enclosure which Father Ygnacio Malaga wrote to me; this account is worthy of entire credence, since he was almost an eyewitness of everything which he relates, being one of the missionaries appointed for Mindanao.If what Governor Arrechedera is doing here in Manila with the sultan of Joló could be known in Madrid and Roma, and in every other country, people would have no difficulty in believing the enormous perfidy, treachery, and deceit of the said sultan and other Moros. It is nearly a year since the said sultan of Joló arrived at Manila, accompanied by three concubines and several slave-girls. At his arrival the artillery was discharged; and he was lodged very magnificently, in a house provided beforehand for this purpose, outside the walls of Manila, with a continual guard of soldiers, whose captain was always under the orders of the sultan. The entry of the sultan into Manila was arranged with so much pomp and ostentation that everyone said no more could have been done for the entry of the prince of España if he should come to Manila; but all that is told is less [than the reality]. The governor seeing a scarf woven with pearls and ornaments in gold, immediately his eyes and his heart went out toward the scarf and the many other pearls and jewels which he knew the sultan carried. At this thegovernor entirely closed his eyes to all the information that was given to him—not only that furnished by the fathers of the said missions who had come back to Manila, but the letters which the governor of Samboanga had written to him—openly saying that he placed more confidence in the king of Joló than in the fathers who sent the information. What causes most general sorrow here (and especially to the archbishop)3is, that on account of the governor not being willing to listen to anything against the sultan, that is coming true which the fathers said to his Lordship—that the said sultan from Manila would cause the ruin of these islands, causing the Jolóans by piratical raids to carry away many Christian Indians as captives, and to destroy churches and villages. This is what they are actually doing, as is written by the fathers in Visayas, whose letters I have seen within a few days, and the governor will not permit that a word be uttered in order that it may not be said (although it is well known) that the Moros are destroying the island with the gunpowder and balls which have been sent them from Manila, and the sultan is paying for them with the pearls and gold which he has given to the said governor. What continually renews the grief of all is, that not onlyis no remedy applied to so dire evils, but that the governor continues to entertain the sultan in Manila as if he were our friend or defender, while he is the greatest traitor and enemy that this Christian church has had; and we greatly fear that by this time the said sultan is making himself master of the post at Samboangan.4It is sufficient to have pointed this out in order that my brother may gain knowledge of the condition in which affairs are. What concerns the mission in Mindanao is made sufficiently clear in the letter from Father Ygnacio Malaga, and everything that he says is the simple truth; but, in order that this truth may not be smothered with the reports which this governor of Manila is sending to the court at Madrid, I have sent my brother that letter of Father Malaga, entreating him to please show it to the father procurator-general Pedro Ygnacio Altamirano, and to any other person whom my brother may think best, for the sake of the credit of this province and of the entire Society—for they do not lack many rivals, who are not willing that the ill-success of the missions of Joló and Mindanao should be attributed to the perfidy and malice of the Moros; but they try to charge it to the very fathers of the Society.My brother will also please tell the father procurator Altamirano how the father provincial Pedro de Estrada had written to inform his Reverence that all the letters of contract on our side in favor of his illustrious Lordship Fray Arrechedera could not be worded otherwise, since we found ourselves obliged to this by the urgent request of the governor himself, and he had to see all of them. But in reality the course of the said governor cannot in consciencebe approved [abonar] except with the reflection that Father Altamirano knows very well that our letters on this matter were being misconstrued, and that his Reverence would not be influenced to bind himself in virtue of them to favor the said Señor Arrechedera. In order to make this more certain, the said father provincial Estrada wrote a letter in order that the said Father Altamirano should not pay any attention to this undertaking of ours; and I, as his secretary at the time of the said father provincial, wrote the third letter, as I did all the rest.Now it is evident to me that the archbishop of Manila is informing his Majesty very thoroughly of the proceedings of the said governor; and certainly it would go ill with us with the king and his Council, if our reports should be presented in favor of the said governor, while those which the archbishop is now sending are entirely contrary to this. Here we are, as if in Limbo, for we have not had mails from Europe for more than three years, except the news which came from China and Batavia.The father provincial Pedro de Estrada died at the end of the year 48; his office was temporarily filled by Father José Samaniego, and in seven months he also died. God our Lord has freed these islands from the scourge of the English, for the squadron of forty-three ships which was destined for this coast undertook first to seize Pondicheri and Madrás (which they thought would be an affair of a few days), and then go on to Philipinas; but they did not capture either Pondicheri or Madrás, and much or even the greater part of the squadron was destroyed in a fierce storm. If they had come here,it is certain that now this country would be in the power of the English; for all the precautions that were taken here for our defense were festivities with the sultan of Joló and his concubines, to the profound sorrow of the community; etc. Cavite, December 2, 1749.[Addressed: “To my brother Pedro, the abbot.”]

In reality the fathers had arrived at Zamboanga. When the Moros found themselves obliged to receive the fathers in their kingdoms, according to the promise which they had given in their replies to our king and to the governor of Manila, the two sultans agreed between themselves that after they had admitted the fathers [to their countries] they would treacherously kill them, and so that their murder could not be attributed to the influence of the sultans. The means which the sultan of Joló took was,that after he left his kingdom they should kill the fathers—although God our Lord disposed affairs otherwise from the schemes which the sultan, with unheard-of craft and perfidy, had plotted.

In order that my brother may be fully informed, and may correctly relate everything to all those whom my brother may think expedient to tell of it, I send that enclosure which Father Ygnacio Malaga wrote to me; this account is worthy of entire credence, since he was almost an eyewitness of everything which he relates, being one of the missionaries appointed for Mindanao.

If what Governor Arrechedera is doing here in Manila with the sultan of Joló could be known in Madrid and Roma, and in every other country, people would have no difficulty in believing the enormous perfidy, treachery, and deceit of the said sultan and other Moros. It is nearly a year since the said sultan of Joló arrived at Manila, accompanied by three concubines and several slave-girls. At his arrival the artillery was discharged; and he was lodged very magnificently, in a house provided beforehand for this purpose, outside the walls of Manila, with a continual guard of soldiers, whose captain was always under the orders of the sultan. The entry of the sultan into Manila was arranged with so much pomp and ostentation that everyone said no more could have been done for the entry of the prince of España if he should come to Manila; but all that is told is less [than the reality]. The governor seeing a scarf woven with pearls and ornaments in gold, immediately his eyes and his heart went out toward the scarf and the many other pearls and jewels which he knew the sultan carried. At this thegovernor entirely closed his eyes to all the information that was given to him—not only that furnished by the fathers of the said missions who had come back to Manila, but the letters which the governor of Samboanga had written to him—openly saying that he placed more confidence in the king of Joló than in the fathers who sent the information. What causes most general sorrow here (and especially to the archbishop)3is, that on account of the governor not being willing to listen to anything against the sultan, that is coming true which the fathers said to his Lordship—that the said sultan from Manila would cause the ruin of these islands, causing the Jolóans by piratical raids to carry away many Christian Indians as captives, and to destroy churches and villages. This is what they are actually doing, as is written by the fathers in Visayas, whose letters I have seen within a few days, and the governor will not permit that a word be uttered in order that it may not be said (although it is well known) that the Moros are destroying the island with the gunpowder and balls which have been sent them from Manila, and the sultan is paying for them with the pearls and gold which he has given to the said governor. What continually renews the grief of all is, that not onlyis no remedy applied to so dire evils, but that the governor continues to entertain the sultan in Manila as if he were our friend or defender, while he is the greatest traitor and enemy that this Christian church has had; and we greatly fear that by this time the said sultan is making himself master of the post at Samboangan.4

It is sufficient to have pointed this out in order that my brother may gain knowledge of the condition in which affairs are. What concerns the mission in Mindanao is made sufficiently clear in the letter from Father Ygnacio Malaga, and everything that he says is the simple truth; but, in order that this truth may not be smothered with the reports which this governor of Manila is sending to the court at Madrid, I have sent my brother that letter of Father Malaga, entreating him to please show it to the father procurator-general Pedro Ygnacio Altamirano, and to any other person whom my brother may think best, for the sake of the credit of this province and of the entire Society—for they do not lack many rivals, who are not willing that the ill-success of the missions of Joló and Mindanao should be attributed to the perfidy and malice of the Moros; but they try to charge it to the very fathers of the Society.

My brother will also please tell the father procurator Altamirano how the father provincial Pedro de Estrada had written to inform his Reverence that all the letters of contract on our side in favor of his illustrious Lordship Fray Arrechedera could not be worded otherwise, since we found ourselves obliged to this by the urgent request of the governor himself, and he had to see all of them. But in reality the course of the said governor cannot in consciencebe approved [abonar] except with the reflection that Father Altamirano knows very well that our letters on this matter were being misconstrued, and that his Reverence would not be influenced to bind himself in virtue of them to favor the said Señor Arrechedera. In order to make this more certain, the said father provincial Estrada wrote a letter in order that the said Father Altamirano should not pay any attention to this undertaking of ours; and I, as his secretary at the time of the said father provincial, wrote the third letter, as I did all the rest.

Now it is evident to me that the archbishop of Manila is informing his Majesty very thoroughly of the proceedings of the said governor; and certainly it would go ill with us with the king and his Council, if our reports should be presented in favor of the said governor, while those which the archbishop is now sending are entirely contrary to this. Here we are, as if in Limbo, for we have not had mails from Europe for more than three years, except the news which came from China and Batavia.

The father provincial Pedro de Estrada died at the end of the year 48; his office was temporarily filled by Father José Samaniego, and in seven months he also died. God our Lord has freed these islands from the scourge of the English, for the squadron of forty-three ships which was destined for this coast undertook first to seize Pondicheri and Madrás (which they thought would be an affair of a few days), and then go on to Philipinas; but they did not capture either Pondicheri or Madrás, and much or even the greater part of the squadron was destroyed in a fierce storm. If they had come here,it is certain that now this country would be in the power of the English; for all the precautions that were taken here for our defense were festivities with the sultan of Joló and his concubines, to the profound sorrow of the community; etc. Cavite, December 2, 1749.

[Addressed: “To my brother Pedro, the abbot.”]

1Evidently referring to Pedro Murillo Velarde, extracts from whoseHistoria de Philipinashave already appeared in this series. The phrase “the Orient” alludes to the route via India to Europe.↑2Full accounts of this mission may be found in Ventura del Arco MSS., iv, pp. 447–591, in letters from the Jesuits Pedro Estrada and Juan Angles, dated June 25, 1748, and June 18, 1749, respectively—with letter from Felipe V to the sultan of Joló, and the latter’s reply.↑3This was Fray Pedro de la Santisima Trinidad Martinez de Arizala; he was a native of Madrid, and had been an auditor in the royal Audiencia of Quito for seventeen years, and was an honorary member of the Council of the Indias. But, “disillusioned with the world, and weary of honors, his sensitive conscience found room in the estate of a Franciscan religious, taking their habit, and professing their austere life.” He took possession of the archbishopric of Manila on August 27, 1747, at the age of fifty-two years. Difficulties arose between him and Arrechedera; but he contented himself with laying these troubles before the court at Madrid. He died on May 28, 1755. (Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, xii, pp. 38–40, and xiii, pp. 338, 339.)↑4See the detailed account of this episode, and of events connected with it, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, xii, chaps, ii–v, which may thus briefly be summarized:In 1735 Maulana, sultan of Joló, abdicated in favor of his son Mahamad Alimudin. This youth was “brought up in the school of his father,” in matters of craft and policy; he had spent some time at Batavia, where he became proficient in the Arabic and Malayan languages, and in the Koran—“which he explained with so much erudition that the Joloans gave him the title of chief pandita of that kingdom,” and he attained among the Moros “an authority almost supreme.” He negotiated for peace with the Spaniards, which was effected in 1737; he promised to restore the Christian captives, but his datos resented this, and refused to obey. In May, 1740, a Recollect priest, Fray Hypolito de San Agustin, was captured by Moro pirates; but certain Joloans—especially their pandita, one Yaloc—rescued him and took him to Joló, where he was kindly received and cared for. The sultan demanded a ransom of 12,000 pesos for him; after many difficulties and negotiations, and some aid from the Jesuits, the captive priest secured his liberty by binding the Recollect province to pay the amount demanded for ransom. Soon afterward, the sultan was persuaded by Commandant Zacharias and the Jesuit Isasi at Zamboanga to commute his claim to 1,000 pesos, which was gladly paid by the Recollects. The peace made with Alimudin stopped the invasions by the Joloans, but the Tirones from the Bornean coast continued their destructive raids. Remonstrances being made at Madrid by the representatives of Philippine interests, the king wrote the letters to the rulers of Joló and Tamontaca (the latter being Ameril Mahomenin Campsa), which have been previously mentioned in this series; they were received at Manila in July, 1746, and were sent to their destination by the hands of the Jesuits Isasi and Arcada. These envoys conducted various negotiations with the sultan, who demanded (and received) from the Manila government aid of money, guns, and iron—for Joló, to repay him for the expenses which he had incurred in aiding the Spaniards against the Tirones; for Tamontaca (or Mindanao), to aid in the war with Gula,the son of the rebel Malinog. Arrangements were made for the opening of Jesuit missions in Joló and Tamontaca; but they soon came to naught. In September, 1748, a rebellion in Joló unseated Alimudin, and sent him a fugitive to Zamboanga; and, Ameril and Gula having become reconciled, threatened treachery sent the Jesuit Moreno back from Tamontaca to the same refuge. Alimudin went to Manila, here he was received with much éclat by Governor Arrechedera; he was there apparently converted to the Christian faith by the governor’s persuasions.↑

1Evidently referring to Pedro Murillo Velarde, extracts from whoseHistoria de Philipinashave already appeared in this series. The phrase “the Orient” alludes to the route via India to Europe.↑

2Full accounts of this mission may be found in Ventura del Arco MSS., iv, pp. 447–591, in letters from the Jesuits Pedro Estrada and Juan Angles, dated June 25, 1748, and June 18, 1749, respectively—with letter from Felipe V to the sultan of Joló, and the latter’s reply.↑

3This was Fray Pedro de la Santisima Trinidad Martinez de Arizala; he was a native of Madrid, and had been an auditor in the royal Audiencia of Quito for seventeen years, and was an honorary member of the Council of the Indias. But, “disillusioned with the world, and weary of honors, his sensitive conscience found room in the estate of a Franciscan religious, taking their habit, and professing their austere life.” He took possession of the archbishopric of Manila on August 27, 1747, at the age of fifty-two years. Difficulties arose between him and Arrechedera; but he contented himself with laying these troubles before the court at Madrid. He died on May 28, 1755. (Concepción,Hist. de Philipinas, xii, pp. 38–40, and xiii, pp. 338, 339.)↑

4See the detailed account of this episode, and of events connected with it, in Concepción’sHist. de Philipinas, xii, chaps, ii–v, which may thus briefly be summarized:

In 1735 Maulana, sultan of Joló, abdicated in favor of his son Mahamad Alimudin. This youth was “brought up in the school of his father,” in matters of craft and policy; he had spent some time at Batavia, where he became proficient in the Arabic and Malayan languages, and in the Koran—“which he explained with so much erudition that the Joloans gave him the title of chief pandita of that kingdom,” and he attained among the Moros “an authority almost supreme.” He negotiated for peace with the Spaniards, which was effected in 1737; he promised to restore the Christian captives, but his datos resented this, and refused to obey. In May, 1740, a Recollect priest, Fray Hypolito de San Agustin, was captured by Moro pirates; but certain Joloans—especially their pandita, one Yaloc—rescued him and took him to Joló, where he was kindly received and cared for. The sultan demanded a ransom of 12,000 pesos for him; after many difficulties and negotiations, and some aid from the Jesuits, the captive priest secured his liberty by binding the Recollect province to pay the amount demanded for ransom. Soon afterward, the sultan was persuaded by Commandant Zacharias and the Jesuit Isasi at Zamboanga to commute his claim to 1,000 pesos, which was gladly paid by the Recollects. The peace made with Alimudin stopped the invasions by the Joloans, but the Tirones from the Bornean coast continued their destructive raids. Remonstrances being made at Madrid by the representatives of Philippine interests, the king wrote the letters to the rulers of Joló and Tamontaca (the latter being Ameril Mahomenin Campsa), which have been previously mentioned in this series; they were received at Manila in July, 1746, and were sent to their destination by the hands of the Jesuits Isasi and Arcada. These envoys conducted various negotiations with the sultan, who demanded (and received) from the Manila government aid of money, guns, and iron—for Joló, to repay him for the expenses which he had incurred in aiding the Spaniards against the Tirones; for Tamontaca (or Mindanao), to aid in the war with Gula,the son of the rebel Malinog. Arrangements were made for the opening of Jesuit missions in Joló and Tamontaca; but they soon came to naught. In September, 1748, a rebellion in Joló unseated Alimudin, and sent him a fugitive to Zamboanga; and, Ameril and Gula having become reconciled, threatened treachery sent the Jesuit Moreno back from Tamontaca to the same refuge. Alimudin went to Manila, here he was received with much éclat by Governor Arrechedera; he was there apparently converted to the Christian faith by the governor’s persuasions.↑

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