The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898/Volume 7/Letter from Portugal
LETTER FROM PORTUGAL TO FELIPE II
After the king, our lord, succeeded to the crown of Portugal, there began to open a new commerce between the Philipinas Islands and the western Yndias belonging to the domain of Castilla and China, Maluco, Amboino, Banda, and other parts of the Portuguese conquest. As soon as this was known in the eastern Yndias, the viceroys and governors thereof were continually writing to his Majesty, that from this new commerce many heavy injuries were sustained by his Majesty's service, in regard to the preservation and support of that state of eastern Yndia, and the quiet of its inhabitants.
His Majesty after reading their letters and going over truthful reports of the great injury that the continuation of this new trade might cause, both to the crown of Castilla and to that of Portugal, resolved to prohibit anyone from going from the western Yndias to China, Maluco, Amboino, and Banda, and other places belonging to the crown of Portugal; or from the Eastern to the Western Yndias. Decrees for this prohibition, signed by his Majesty and by the Portuguese ministers, were passed and sent to Yndia, where they were published and ordered to be observed under heavy penalties. The same was to be done by the ministers of the crown of Castilla and certain memoranda of it were to be given. We do not know whether this has been done yet.
Because they have again written and continue to write from Yndia that the said decrees prohibiting the said commerce are not being observed by the Castilians, and because they everywhere encourage it and increase to a great extent the evils that result therefrom, which might be very serious indeed, and difficult to remedy, and involve the total destruction and loss of those states: his Majesty ordered, for the more thorough understanding of these details, that they should make this report of the existing causes for not continuing this commerce, and even for prohibiting it. These reasons are as follows:
The state of Eastern Yndia is very large, and its cities and garrisons very distant and remote from one another, and situated in the territories of kings and princes of great power. On this account they are maintained by regular soldiery and very powerful fleets, of large and small galleys and galleons. All the Portuguese resident in those places, and other Christian vassals of his Majesty, easily bear the excessive expense. The latter is made up by the income from those cities and strongholds. This income, although it exceeds a million, is not sufficient to obviate its being always pledged. Some aid in money is sent from Portugal. This income from Yndia consists principally in imposts from the said cities, which are paid for entries and clearances. The entire amount of these imposts is raised on merchandise from China, Maluco, Amboino, Banda, and other regions of the south; for the taxes that are raised on merchandise coming from the northern districts are of so much less importance, and the merchandise likewise, that they cannot be compared with those of the south. The principal commerce that the Portuguese have to live upon, is that from China and other southern districts, because the other traffic is contracted for by his Majesty's treasury and belongs to it. The better and more valuable trade through the southern districts belongs to the crown.
From all this it may be inferred that if we continue this commerce with China and other southern regions by way of the western Yndias, the income from the customs duties, on which Yndia is supported, will necessarily be lost. Nor will there be money or forces with which many large fleets may be organized by his Majesty for its preservation and defense, or with which to pay the soldiery stationed there, or to bear all the other state expenses incurred by the public government, or those incurred by his Majesty for the ecclesiastical estate in those places the conquest of which was granted to him by the apostolic bulls. The rest of these reasons which concern his Majesty's service, the profit and loss of his treasury, and what is expedient for common good of the inhabitants of that state, should be considered in this case with the greatest care. For the inhabitants of Yndia have no other resources to live upon except trade and commerce; and of these the principal is the trade with China and other places to which reference has been made. On this account, they feel very strongly the seizure of this commerce by the Castilians, saying that they and their fathers and forefathers conquered it for the royal crown with their blood and lives. There are and were on this subject practices and complaints of base character, principally in the city of Goa, the capital of that state.
And even if all the above (in respect to what concerns Portugal and the preservation and quiet of Yndia) were not of so great moment and consideration for his Majesty's service, so great are the injuries to the crown of Castilla which result from this new commerce that only for that (both for reasons of state and finance) it should be strictly prohibited. For if navigation is permitted from the western Indias to China, all the money and coin in the kingdom will flow thither and none will go to Hespaña, because China is so large and has so much to exchange and sell that, however much coin is sent, that country will absorb it all. The Indias will come to have no need of Hespaña, because all the products obtained from this country can be obtained from China in much greater abundance and more cheaply, except wines and olives, which can be very easily introduced in the Yndias. They might also do without them, because they are not very necessary or requisite. So they would care for trade with Hespaña only on that account, especially since they may get them from China itself through the Portuguese traders. Of how much consequence and importance this is in state matters, it is unnecessary to point out, because it may be well understood. It is, moreover, understood that the Indians have wine of their own.
And above all, when Chinese merchandise is in the western Indias and money is flowing toward China, trade and commerce with Hespaña will necessarily fall off, together with the income of the custom house at Sevilla, while money will be scarce there and throughout España.
Let it be further noted that among the sworn promises which his Majesty made to the kingdom of Portugal, there is one clause (the copy of which accompanies this) in which it is said that traffic with Yndia, Guinea, and other regions belonging to the kingdom of Portugal, both discovered and to be discovered, will not be wrested from them or any innovation made in present conditions; and the officials who are to go out for the said commerce and on the ships for that purpose shall be Portuguese. According to this clause, no alteration can be made in the commerce with China, Maluco, Amboino, Banda, and other parts of the Eastern Yndias. The Castilians shall not go there, nor shall the Portuguese go from here to the Castilian Yndias.[1]
The Lord Cardinal Archduke,[2] to whom his Majesty has entrusted the government of Portugal, seeing and considering all these dangers, wrote many times to his Majesty that it would be greatly to his interest to prohibit this commerce; and besides what he says in many of his letters, in one letter of December 23, of last year, 89, he wrote as follows:
"In this despatch is sent a report of all that has been written to your Majesty by the viceroy Don Duarte, and by the governor Miguel de Sosa, and other persons, affirming that it is of no use to your Majesty, and unsafe for the state of Yndia, to continue the commerce which has begun to be opened from the Indias of the Castilian crown to China; and what your Majesty has had written in regard to it—in order that your Majesty may have it examined. According to the information which I possess in this matter, I advise your Majesty to order, under heavy penalties, that no one shall further this commerce from the said districts to China, nor from China the other way, because it is known that if there is no remedy applied, we will lose the customs receipts of the state of Yndia, and the trade of the merchants. It seems to me that the lack of confidence and the suspicion which the ships and embarkations of the Castilians cause in the Chinese are of even greater consequence. The latter is referred to in the letter which the city of Nombre de Dios wrote to your Majesty, on this matter."
Hereunto is added the copy of one clause from a letter by the governor of Yndia (which was received a few days ago, having come by land) that what he says in regard to this matter, and the way in which this commerce is looked upon there, may be known. He concludes by explaining how well it suits his Majesty's service, and how advantageous it is to both Castilla and Portugal, to prohibit this commerce in such a way that all the ports shall be closed to it.
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[Instructions: "On the new commerce of the Western Yndias, with China. His Majesty orders that this shall be examined in the Council of the Indias. The Council shall then advise him of their opinion, so that his Majesty can determine what measures must be taken, before the sailing of the ships. Pardo, March 3, 1590."][3]
- ↑ This paragraph is a quite literal translation of the clause therein mentioned; the latter (in Portuguese) is at the end of the original MS. of this document.
- ↑ This was the Cardinal Archduke Albert of Austria, nephew of Felipe II, who in 1583 appointed Albert viceroy of Portugal. In that post he remained until 1594, when he was removed to the archiepiscopal see of Toledo.
- ↑ The above instructions were intended doubtless for this document. They occupy a separate sheet in the collection of documents, but their position warrants this inference.