Illustrations

Autograph signature of Alonso Fajardo de Tenza; photographic facsimile from Ms. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla Title-page of Memorial y relacion, by Hernando de los Rios Coronel (Madrid, 1621); photographic facsimile from copy in Library of Congress

Preface

The documents in the present volume cover a wide range.  In greater or less detail are discussed affairs in the islands—­civil, military, and religious, in which all the various ramifications of each estate are touched upon.  Reforms, both civil and religious, are urged and ordered; and trade and commerce, and general economic and social conditions pervade all the documents.  The efforts of Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish in eastern waters are a portent of coming struggles for supremacy in later times.  Japan, meditating on the closed door to Europeans, though still permitting the Dutch to trade there, continues to persecute the Christians, while that persecution is, on the other hand, lessening in violence in China.  The piracies of the Moros endanger the islands, and allow the Dutch to hope for alliance with them against the Spaniards; and the importance of the islands to Spain is urged forcibly.

A letter addressed by Los Rios Coronel to the king (probably in 1620) urges that prompt aid be sent to Filipinas for its defense against the Dutch and English who threaten its coasts.  To it he adds an outline “treatise on the navigation of Filipinas,” which sustains his demand by forcible arguments.  The rich Oriental trade amounts to five millions of pesos a year, which mainly goes to sustain the Dutch and their allies, the enemies of Spain, whose commerce they will utterly destroy unless some check is placed on their audacity; and the effectual method of doing this is to deprive them of that trade.  An armed expedition for the relief of the islands is being prepared by the king; it should be despatched via the Cape of Good Hope, and all possible efforts should be made to drive out the Dutch and English from the Eastern seas.  Los Rios proposes that for this purpose loans be asked from wealthy persons in Nueva Espana and Peru; and that the vessels needed be built in India.  He makes recommendations for the routes and equipment of the vessels, both going and returning; and for the seasons best for sailing.

A letter from Francisco de Otaco, S.J. (January 14, 1620), mentions various arrangements for the despatch of more missionaries to the islands, and laments the recent loss of a fleet sent to the aid of the Philippine colony.  A royal decree of May 29 in the same year orders the governor and Audiencia to correct the religious who have levied on the Indians exactions of forced service.