The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 08 of 55: 1591-1593; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 08 of 55: 1591-1593; Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
that Aristo means people harmful to others; for, even when they live
like wild beasts, but are not harmful, war is not on that account
lawful. And inasmuch as these arguments extend to the Negrillos and
Zambales, it is our opinion that the war must be judged as just or
unjust rather by the condition of the land and people, the injuries
that will be inflicted, and the little relief obtained by employing
other methods, than by the severity of the injuries received. It is
no remedy to guard the roads, as is quite evident, because they do
more harm in one night than the soldiers in a week. Likewise it is
no remedy to guard the villages, for the people are obliged to go to
the fields, etc. Consequently we say:
That, it is justifiable--by methods which will not cause greater
annoyance to the regions adjoining the Negrillos and Zambales--to make
war upon the Negrillos and Zambales, even with fire and sword, whenever
the above reasons are evident. We prove this by the above statements,
for ferocity is a quality among them now almost a natural instinct;
and they place all their honor in killing, without caring for any
other object. Again, these ills cannot be obviated and prevented,
except by destroying them, if it be possible. _Item_: because there
is no hope that they will make peace and settle down; for their
happiness consists in living a nomadic life, without any restraint,
and they are a race who never keep any promise.
_Item_: We say that, because the method of warfare as employed by
the Castilians is not by means of rough ground, forests, and dense
thickets--as witness the war of Granada, in which Hespaña lost so many
men because the rising was in places unknown to the Spaniards but known
to the Moors. It has been seen here many times that the Spaniard needs
ten or twenty servants to take care of his person, furniture, food,
and clothing, alone--from which results more loss than that which the
Negrillos and Zambales can inflict in a lifetime. We think, in the
absence of better judgment, that, for a specified time, those captured
alive should be handed over to the neighboring districts as captives,
or remanded to the galleys. Whoever is put to death, let it be by
order of the captains, and at the time and place appointed. We render
this opinion, as long as this measure does not appear more harmful
[_i.e._, than the harm caused by the Negrillos and Zambales]. If any
measure whatever is more harmful, then we shall consider it unlawful,
although we are assured that a most justifiable right exists for
making war, and for destroying with all the harm possible to them,
and less harm to the surrounding people, than is done or can be
done by the Negrillos and Zambales. _Item_: We declare that, as the
losses of war are accidental, and depend on artifice, seasons, and
innumerable other circumstances, it might well happen that what is
advanced one time as justifiable may, given a change of conditions
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