The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXIII, 1629-30 | Page 8

officers to whom pay is assigned. The above, with all the other
purchase expenses which I have given above for this ship, will not
amount for the first time to twenty thousand pesos, together with the
four thousand for the value of the cloves, the total amounting to
twenty-four thousand, more or less. By this method, the so great profits
for this treasury will be made, as above stated--adding the sum received
from the freight charges for goods belonging to private persons, which
can be brought and carried by this ship, and the register and the duties
on them, which will here amount to considerable, and will prove of
great relief for the said expenses.

The danger of this voyage is that of meeting the Dutch at the passage
through the strait of Sincapura, near Malaca, which every year the
Dutch inhabitants of Jacatra belonging to the Company [3] close up,
and with a ship or two of little strength, or a couple of pataches, await
the Portuguese galliots that sail from Macan to Yndia, and from Yndia
to this city. The enemy knows very well that the Portuguese do not
carry force enough to fight, and that on seeing the Dutch they run
ashore and place their persons in safety with their gold, which is the
form in which they chiefly invest their wealth. The ship which would
sail from here would enter by a different channel than do the
Portuguese, as the strait has three entrances. Our ship will be a swifter
one, and will sail better against the wind; and a Dutch ship will not be
able to catch it in two rosaries, and their pataches will not dare to
grapple it because of the defense which they will encounter. Thus by
fighting, without losing their route, the ship, will reach Malaca, and
will make its voyage. On its return, it will stop first at Malaca, where it
will hear news of the enemy. In case they find that the enemy are in the
pass, they can wait in those forts until the former have retired to their
own fort at Jacatra.
Thus far, I have mentioned all the advantages, expenses, and dangers.
What still remains is to petition your Majesty to be pleased to have this
matter considered; and if it appear advisable, to order that this voyage
be made every year or every two years, as the governor shall deem best,
and according to the quantity of cloves on hand and the opportunity
offered by the weather. I petition that there shall be, in this regard, no
opposition from the treasury council, in which, I have understood, your
Majesty has ordered that the governor concur in the opinion of the
majority. That may prove, in this country, to be a source of
considerable trouble; for it might some day happen that an expedition
would be determined to be necessary, in a council of war, and that the
majority of the votes of the treasury council in which the expenses are
voted may not concur, either through want of capacity in the officials,
or through an excess of passion and private interest--and, in a land so
remote, experience teaches that there are many such. In the report of
the meeting that I enclose herewith, in regard to the above matter of the
cloves, I guessed what were the majority of the opinions beforehand.

Doctor Don Albaro de Mesa y Lugo, neutral or indecisive as he is on
all questions of any importance or difficulty, and especially on those
regarding revenue, for fear lest the auditors be obliged to pay.
Licentiate Geronimo de Legaspi, senior auditor at the time of the
council, not satisfied because I have employed his elder son in a
company, tried to have a place given to the second son also, in another
one. Because what he asked was not done, although I desired to please
him, he was displeased. The accountant, Marten Ruiz de Salazar, has
for a long time been offended, because he was not allowed to take fees
from the clerks of the accountancy, and to exercise absolute authority
over accepting and dismissing them, as in the present case. Hence my
proposition was disliked by them both. Thus may your Majesty see
carried out in this case the same motive that I stated for all the
others--namely, that they do not vote without self-interest or passion.
He to whom your Majesty can and ought to trust most is the person to
whom all the government shall have been charged; and he should be
given authority so that he may, after having heard the opinions of the
treasury council, concur with the party which may seem to him more
judicious, even though it be not the one with the more votes. [_In the