[Governmental lenience.] It is an undeniable fact that the government, lulled and deceived by the frequent embassies and submissive and crouching letters which those fawning sultans have been in the habit of transmitting to them, instead of adopting the energetic measures urged by the above-mentioned missionary, have constantly endeavored to renew and secure the friendship of those chiefs, by means of treaties and commercial relations; granting, with this view, ample licenses to every one who ventured to ship merchandise to Jolo, and winking at the traffic carried on by the governors of the fortress of Zamboanga with the people of Mindanao; whilst the latter, on their part, sporting with our foolish credulity, have never ceased waging a most destructive war against us, by attacking our towns situated on the coast, not even excepting those of the Island of Luzon.  They have sometimes carried their audacity so far as to show themselves in the neighborhood of the capital itself, and at others taken up their temporary residence in the district of Mindoro and in places of the jurisdictions of Samar and Leyte; and in short, even dared to form an establishment or general deposit for their plunder in the Island of Buras, where they quietly remained during the years 1797, 1798 and 1799 to the great injury of our commerce and settlements.

[Authority for war not lacking.] This want of exertion to remedy evils of so grievous a nature is the more to be deplored as the Philippine governors have at all times been fully authorized to carry on war, and promote the destruction of the Moros, under every sacrifice, and especially by the royal orders and decrees of October 26, and November 1, 1758, and July 31, 1766, in all of which his majesty recommends, in the most earnest manner, “the importance of punishing the audacity of the barbarous infidels, his majesty being desirous that, in order to maintain his subjects of the Philippines free from the piracies and captivity they so frequently experience, no expenses or pains should be spared; it being further declared, that as this is an object deeply affecting the conscience of his majesty, he especially enjoins the aforesaid government to observe his order; and finally, with a view to provide for the exigencies arising out of similar enterprises, the viceroy of New Spain is instructed to attend to the punctual remittance, not only of the usual “situado,” or annual allowance, but also of the additional sum of $70,000 in the first and succeeding years, etc.”  In a word, our monarchs, Ferdinand vi and Carlos iii, omitted nothing that could in any way promote so important an object; whether it is that the governors have disregarded such repeated orders from the sovereigns, or mistaken the means by which they were to be carried into effect, certain it is that the unhappy inhabitants of the Philippines have continued to be witnesses, and at the same time the victims of the culpable apathy of those who have successively held the command of these Islands within the last fifty or sixty years.