The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 30 of 55. Aduarte Diego

Чтение книги онлайн.

6

The alcabala, an excise duty collected on all sales of commodities, was derived from the Moors, and was more or less imposed in Spain from the year 1342 on. It was introduced in the American colonies in 1574, and for more than two centuries was a rich source of income for the Spanish crown and a heavy tax on the colonists. The rate was at first two per cent, but afterward this was doubled and trebled; and it was levied on every transfer of goods, taxing property over and over again. See Bancroft’s Mexico, iii, pp. 658, 659; and Recopilación leyes de Indias, lib. viii, tit. xiii, and lib. ix, tit. xlv, ley lxvi.

7

Raynal thus describes Acapulco, in his History of Settlements and Trade in Indies (Justamond’s translation, London, 1783), iii, pp. 378, 379: “The port of Acapulco where the vessel arrives, hath two inlets, separated from each other by a small island: the entrance into them in the day is by means of a sea-breeze, and the sailing out in the night-time is effected by a land-breeze. It is defended only by a bad fort, fifty soldiers, forty-two pieces of cannon, and thirty-two of the corps of artillery. It is equally extensive, safe, and commodious. The bason which forms this beautiful harbor is surrounded by lofty mountains, which are so dry, that they are even destitute of water. Four hundred families of Chinese, Mulattoes, and Negroes, which compose three companies of militia, are the only persons accustomed to breathe the air of this place, which is burning, heavy, and unwholesome. The number of inhabitants in this feeble and miserable colony is considerably increased upon the arrival of the galleons, by the merchants from all the provinces of Mexico, who come to exchange their silver and their cochineal, for the spices, muslins, china, printed linens, silks, perfumes, and gold works of Asia. At this market, the fraud impudently begun in the Old World, is as impudently completed in the New. The statutes have limited the sale to 2,700,000 livres, and it exceeds 10,800,000 livres. All the money produced by these exchanges should give ten per cent. to the government: but they are deprived of three-fourths of the revenue which they ought to collect from their customs, by false entries.” This passage is appropriated bodily – with a few changes, and an important omission – in Malo de Luque’s Establecimientos ultramarinos (Madrid, 1790), v, p. 220; and no credit is given by him to Raynal.

On the map of Acapulco in Bellin’s Atlas maritime (Paris, 1764), t. ii, p. 86, appears the following naïve item in the legend at the side: “Two trees, to which the galleon from Manila attaches a cable;” these trees are located directly in front of the tiny “city,” and between two redoubts.

8

Talinga is defined by Noceda and Sanlucar (Vocab. lengua Tagala, third ed., Manila, 1860) as manta de Ilocos (“Ilocos blanket”). It is apparently the same as terlinga, used by Mallat and Malo de Luque; and tarlinga, later in this document.

9

Encarnación (Dicc. Bisaya-Español, Manila, 1885) says, after defining the word as here: “The word lompot eminently signifies ‘piece;’ and the pieces in which the native women weave all their fabrics are regularly eight varas long and one wide.”

10

“An indiscreet or ill-directed zeal distracted from labors and persistent effort those colonists, who themselves were inclined to inactivity. Their exceedingly lucrative commerce and intercourse with America accustomed them to regard as intolerable and even disgraceful the most honorable occupations. If through any misfortune the rich Acapulco galleon could not be despatched, or was wrecked, the greater part of the inhabitants lapsed into fearful misery. Many became beggars, thieves, or assassins; it was customary for them to enlist as soldiers; and the courts were unable to check or correct the many crimes committed.” (Malo de Luque, Establecimientos ultramarinos, v, pp. 211–212.) Cf. this with Raynal’s Settlements and Trade in Indies, iii, p. 78, from which Malo de Luque has again borrowed without giving Raynal credit (see note 7, ante).

11

Silkworms and the cultivation of the mulberry tree, for both of which the country is naturally adapted, were introduced into Mexico by Cortés, and for a time the production and manufacture of silk there promised to become a source of wealth to the country; but it was practically ruined by the restrictive and unfriendly policy of the Spanish government and the competition of the Chinese silks sent to Nueva España from Manila. Mexico has several native species of silkworms, and trees on which they feed – not only of mulberry, but of other genera; and their product was used by the natives before the conquest, especially in Mizteca in Oajaca. For accounts of this product and industry, see Acosta’s Hist. Indies (Hakluyt Society’s publications, London, 1880), i, p. 269; Humboldt’s New Spain (Black’s translation), iii, pp. 57–60, 465; and Bancroft’s Hist. Mexico, ii, p. 292; v, pp. 612, 613; vi, pp. 524, 576.

12

On fol. 24 verso of the Extracto, the surname Barahona is added to this man’s name as here given.

13

Under the rule of Felipe III and Felipe IV, the economic and financial affairs of Spain fell into a ruinous condition. The indolence and incompetency of those monarchs, the influence exercised over them by unscrupulous favorites, the rapid increase of absolutism and bureaucracy, the undue privileges accorded to the nobility and clergy, costly and useless wars, the extravagance and corruption which prevailed in the court and in the administration of the entire kingdom and the expulsion of the Moriscos – all these causes quickly brought on an enormous national debt, the impoverishment of the common people, depopulation of large districts, almost the ruin of manufacture and the like industries, the oppression of the poor, the trampling down of the national liberties, the decline of Spain’s naval and military power, and many other evils. The treasures of the Indias did not suffice to maintain the nation, and even caused some of its woes; and the reckless mismanagement of its revenues caused enormous deficits, which its rulers attempted to meet by imposing more and heavier taxes, duties, and contributions upon a people already staggering under their grievous burdens. The impositions named in the text are but a few of those levied at that time; and the colonies were compelled to bear their share of the burden carried by the mother-country. See the excellent survey of this period in Spanish history, and of conditions political, administrative, social, and economic, with bibliography of the subject, in Lavisse and Rambaud’s Histoire générale (Paris, 1893–1901), v, pp. 649–682.