The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898/Volume 9/Letter to Felipe II (Pedro Gonçalez de Carbajal)
Sire:
It is well known that the emperor of Japon is powerful in men and arms, and that his people are of great courage. He was making ready two hundred ships, and casting quantities of artillery. Japon is distant from the realm of the Philipinas four hundred leagues, which is a voyage of fifteen or twenty days by sea. On his friendship depends the preservation of the Philipinas, and of two hundred thousand Christians in that same kingdom of Japon, as well as of the rest of its people, who are being christianized from day to day. We have great hopes that all of them will become Christians, because it is known surely that many of the principal people of Japon would become Christians, if they were not hindered by their fear of the said emperor's indignation. He ordered me[1] to say to your Majesty, on his part, that, if your Majesty would make friends with him, he would always provide the governor of the Philipinas with what assistance was necessary, even to ten thousand men. When the governor of Meaco (who is the person who governs all that kingdom) delivered me the letter which he brought for your Majesty, he told me to tell your Majesty that the emperor was your friend, and that on his part the friendship would not fail; and that your Majesty should not, because he was so far away, consider it as of little account. Gomez Perez de Las Marinas, governor of the Philipinas, sent me with father Fray Pedro Baptista and three other fathers of St. Francis, to take a letter to that emperor in response to the one which he had written. We went with this arrangement, that the fathers would remain in Japon (as they did) and that I should return with the answer that the governor desired. Having delivered the letter to the emperor, when he learned from the letter that the governor of the Philipinas wished to notify your Majesty of this emperor’s intentions, he said, without giving me an answer, that since the governor wished to advise you, he could not do it better than through me. That I might be the better able to do so, he ordered that I should examine his fortresses, cities, and rich palaces, and the indications of his great power, so that I could give your Majesty a good account of it all, as well as of the kind treatment that was always given to me, and to the Franciscan fathers who remained there. These fathers asking him for a small piece of ground on which to build a house and church, he told them that he would give them a large piece in the place where they were, and also furnish them food. Then he ordered that the site and house that they might select should be given to them. And because the land was so cold, he ordered the fathers (who are barefooted) to be shod and clothed; and said that he would give them these things and would treat them as his children if they would obey him as their father. He sent me word to say that he would await your Majesty's answer. While we were in Japon at that time, the fathers and myself knew for certain that some of the Japanese chiefs asked the emperor's permission to go to subjugate the Philipinas, and make him lord of them, without any cost to him. The latter replied that he would have nothing to do with it, until he saw your Majesty's response. It is quite necessary that your Majesty should send an order to the bishop of Great China at Macan, and the fathers of the Society of Jesus, to the effect that all the ships should leave there and go to Japon. These should investigate, and look to it that they carry no people who have not a good understanding of Christianity and fidelity; because that emperor is desirous of meeting people who will teach him to construct ships and artillery in our manner. All this will be of considerable harm and inconvenience; for, although he has artillery and ships, they are less effective than ours.
They tell me that on this coast is father Fray Miguel de Venavides,[2] of the order of St. Dominic, by whom your Majesty can be very well informed of all these matters, because he has dealt with some Japanese, and has gone through Great China.
Pedro Gonzalez de Carbajal
- ↑ Carbajal was the captain in whose ship sailed Pedro Bautista, envoy of Dasmariñas to Japan (VOL. VIII, note 33). A full account of this embassy is given by La Concepción in Hist. de Philipinas, ii, pp. 341-376.
- ↑ Miguel de Benavides (born about 1550) came to the Philippines as a member of the first Dominican mission band (1587). Three years later he went to China as a missionary; returning to Manila, he accompanied Salazar to Spain (1592). He was created the first bishop of the new diocese of Nueva Segovia, and afterward archbishop of Manila; he died in that city on July 26, 1605. To him was due the foundation of the college of Santo Tomás.