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The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55: 1620-1621; 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 19 of 55: 1620-1621; 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

I, Hernando de los Rios Coronel; an ordained priest, and
procurator-general of the Filipinas Islands, Maluco, and all that
archipelago, declared that, about thirty-two years ago or more,
I went to the Filipinas Islands, where I lived a considerable time
in the military habit and exercise, and as a citizen of the city of
Manila, but with greater desires than strength to serve your Majesty,
and endeavoring to give indications of this to all the inhabitants
of that kingdom. On that account, they charged me with, and loaded
upon my shoulders, in the year 1605, the weight of their cares and
troubles. I came to this court, where I prostrated myself many times
before the royal feet of his Majesty who is in heaven, and gave him
an account of those things. I returned to that kingdom in the year
1610, to give account there of myself, and of my mission, undergoing
many hardships and perils. Although such might have been avoided,
and I could have made stipulations for my comfort and rest, as I had
opportunity to do in your royal Council of the Indias, I confess that
I know not what interior force and natural inclination has always
induced me to prefer the service of your Majesty, and the welfare and
increase of that kingdom, to my own rest or comfort--which, in order
to follow your service, I have never regarded as important, or given
it any care. Inasmuch as times change affairs, and considering the many
casualties caused by the enemy from Olanda, things have come to a very
different pass from that in which I then left them. For that reason,
that entire kingdom and its estates resolved that I should return again
to confer with your Majesty and your royal councils concerning what was
most advisable for your royal service and the welfare and relief of
that land. And although I found that I needed some rest in a corner,
and it was a severe trial for me to consent again to undergo more
arduous labors, and difficulties so much greater as are the gravity of
affairs in those islands and the multitude of the enemies with whom the
seas are infested, yet that desire and inclination [for your Majesty's
service] had so much power over me that I postponed all my rest.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 19 of 55: 1620-1621; 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

I, Hernando de los Rios Coronel; an ordained priest, and
procurator-general of the Filipinas Islands, Maluco, and all that
archipelago, declared that, about thirty-two years ago or more,
I went to the Filipinas Islands, where I lived a considerable time
in the military habit and exercise, and as a citizen of the city of
Manila, but with greater desires than strength to serve your Majesty,
and endeavoring to give indications of this to all the inhabitants
of that kingdom. On that account, they charged me with, and loaded
upon my shoulders, in the year 1605, the weight of their cares and
troubles. I came to this court, where I prostrated myself many times
before the royal feet of his Majesty who is in heaven, and gave him
an account of those things. I returned to that kingdom in the year
1610, to give account there of myself, and of my mission, undergoing
many hardships and perils. Although such might have been avoided,
and I could have made stipulations for my comfort and rest, as I had
opportunity to do in your royal Council of the Indias, I confess that
I know not what interior force and natural inclination has always
induced me to prefer the service of your Majesty, and the welfare and
increase of that kingdom, to my own rest or comfort--which, in order
to follow your service, I have never regarded as important, or given
it any care. Inasmuch as times change affairs, and considering the many
casualties caused by the enemy from Olanda, things have come to a very
different pass from that in which I then left them. For that reason,
that entire kingdom and its estates resolved that I should return again
to confer with your Majesty and your royal councils concerning what was
most advisable for your royal service and the welfare and relief of
that land. And although I found that I needed some rest in a corner,
and it was a severe trial for me to consent again to undergo more
arduous labors, and difficulties so much greater as are the gravity of
affairs in those islands and the multitude of the enemies with whom the
seas are infested, yet that desire and inclination [for your Majesty's
service] had so much power over me that I postponed all my rest.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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