The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 38, 1674-1683: 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 38, 1674-1683: 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
down from the mountains gained their liberty, the rest remaining as
slaves. It was a wicked act of those who executed [the governor's
orders] that they shamefully broke the promise made in the name of the
king, and in so august a name committed perfidy. Manila and its suburbs
were full of slaves. The royal Audiencia made formal inquiry into
these illegal acts, and took the residencia of the principal persons
concerned in them. One was put to the torture, and confessed; he was
sentenced to decapitation. The property of another was confiscated,
after two years of imprisonment; and another found himself reduced
to extreme poverty. He who was commissioned by the supreme government
for the trial of these suits, Licentiate Don Manuel Suarez de Olivera,
the military auditor-general, declared in favor of the Indian slaves,
setting all of them free. In order that this decree might be effective,
those included under its provisions were registered by father Fray
Augustin--then secretary of his province, and known by the name of
"Padre Capitan" [i.e., "Father Captain"]--who included in the list many
Indians whose names were not contained in the official documents. He
presented it to the governor, and asked for a mandatory decree for
their liberty, which was promptly issued; and then he went with the
notary through all the houses in which the Indians were distributed,
enforcing the execution of the decree. This proceeding cost him
many fatigues and annoyances; for since those who had paid out their
money for the Indians were left without slaves, there was hardly a
house where he came where he would not hear opprobrious language. It
also caused him great expenses; but his efficient management of
the business came out successfully. He collected all the slaves,
and furnished them with transportation to carry them back to their
homes and their native land. This benefaction rendered it easy for the
Indian chiefs of Linao, who had left their village and were fugitives,
to return to their due obedience and vassalage....
[pp. 273-281: After the rebellion was put down in Leyte], the Indians
of Bisayas remained more quiet; by those so costly experiences they
had been undeceived, and had learned that it is impossible to shake
off the Spanish yoke, by force or by fraud; their wildness subdued
by trade and intercourse [with us], they recognize that they ought
not to thrust aside what produces so many advantages for them in
being treated by our sovereign as his children. These tribunals treat
them with charity, mildness, and justice, besides bearing with their
troublesome traits and their weaknesses, without adding injury to
their wretched condition.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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