History of the Philippine Islands, vols 1 and 2 | Page 8

receiver, there would be no one worthy of placing his works in your Excellency's hands; and oblivion would await the deeds achieved in these times by our Spaniards in the discovery, conquest, and conversion of the Filipinas Islands--as well as various fortunes which they have had from time to time in the great kingdoms and among the pagan peoples surrounding the islands: for, on account of the remoteness of those regions, no account has been given to the public which purports to treat of them from their beginnings down to the present condition. I entreat your Excellency to accept my good will, which is laid prostrate at your feet; and should this short treatise not afford that pleasure, which self-love--that infirmity of the human mind--leads me to expect, will your Excellency deal with me, as you are wont to deal with all, and read this book and conceal its imperfections with the exercise of your toleration and gentleness. For you are so richly endowed with these and other virtues--which, through the divine power, cause lofty things not to keep aloof from humble ones; and which, in addition to your own natural greatness, have placed your Excellency in your present office for the good of these realms, where you reward and favor the good, and correct and check the opposite. In such rule consists the welfare of the state; and this made the ancient philosopher, Democritus, say that reward and punishment were true gods. In order to enjoy this happiness, we need not crave any bygone time, but, contenting ourselves with the present, pray that God may preserve your Excellency to us for many years.
DON ANTONIO DE MORGA [2]
To the reader [3]
The greatness of the monarchy of the Spanish kings is due to the zeal and care with which they have defended, within their own hereditary kingdoms, the holy Catholic faith taught by the Roman church, against all enemies who oppose it, or seek by various errors to obscure its truth which the kings have disseminated throughout the world. Thus, by the mercy of God, they preserve their kingdoms and subjects in the purity of the Christian religion, meriting thereby their glorious title and renown of "Defenders of the Faith." Moreover, by the valor of their indomitable hearts, and at the expense of their revenues and possessions, they have ploughed the seas with Spanish fleets and men, and discovered and conquered vast kingdoms in the most remote and unknown parts of the world. They have led the inhabitants of these regions to a knowledge of the true God, and into the fold of the Christian church, in which those peoples now live, governed in civil and political matters with peace and justice, under the shelter and protection of the royal arm and power, which were wanting to them when weighed down by blind tyrannies and barbarous cruelties, on which the enemy of the human race had so long reared them for himself.
For this reason the crown and scepter of Espa?a have extended themselves wherever the sun sheds its light, from its rising to its setting, with the glory and splendor of their power and majesty, and the Spanish monarchs have excelled the other princes of the earth by having gained innumerable souls for heaven, which has been Espa?a's principal intention and its wealth. These, together with the great riches and treasures which Espa?a enjoys, and the famous deeds and victories which it has won, cause the whole world to magnify and extol its lofty name and the energy and valor of its subjects, who in accomplishing these deeds have lavished their blood.
Having won America, the fourth part of the earth, of which the ancients knew naught, they sailed in the course of the sun until they discovered an archipelago of many islands in the eastern ocean, adjacent to farther Asia, inhabited by various peoples, and abounding in rich metals, precious stones, and pearls, and all manner of fruit. There raising the standard of the Faith, they freed those peoples from the yoke and power of the demon, and placed them under the command and government of the Faith. Consequently they may justly raise in those islands the pillars and trophies of Non plus ultra which the famous Hercules left on the shore of the Cadiz Sea, which were afterward cast down by the strong arm of C��rlos V, [4] our sovereign, who surpassed Hercules in great deeds and enterprises.
After the islands had been conquered by the sovereign light of the holy gospel which entered therein, the heathen were baptized, the darkness of their paganism was banished, and they changed their own for Christian names. The islands also, losing their former name, took--with the change of religion and the baptism of their inhabitants--that of Filipinas Islands, in recognition of the great favors