In this letter Father Valerio made complaint to the king that the condition of the country was most unhappy and unfortunate, and resembled a sick man in the throes of death.  He declared that the trade of the ships from China and Nueva Espana, which was sustaining and enriching the islands, had fallen off in great measure, and much more in its profits; for in the year 1616 no more than seven ships had gone there, although formerly as many as fifty or sixty were wont to go; and as for Acapulco, no ships had been sent in either direction.  Even if they should be despatched, they were in danger not only from corsairs but from stormy weather.

Great armaments had been organized in a short time, to drive out the Dutch; but for that very reason, the inhabitants had been compelled to make vast sacrifices at the cost of their fortunes.  Hence they were in so ruined a condition that the three or four wealthiest citizens had been unable to equip a ship to be sent to Acapulco.  The Indians were so exhausted and harassed with tributes, new impositions, and personal services, [70] that it became necessary for many, after they had nothing more to give (since they had given all their possessions), to give their persons to others, as slaves, so that the latter might give for them what they themselves did not possess.

The enemies with whom the Spaniards had to contend were numerous and gave them no respite—­namely, the Mindanaos, Caragas, Sanguils, Joloans, Dutch, and English and of these last, all those eastern districts were full of their boats, so that no voyage could be made without meeting them; and there was no security from them.

To these calamities was due the death of Governor Juan de Silva, who, all had hoped, was to free these islands and those of Maluco from the invasions and piracies of the Dutch.

He closed by petitioning the king to send forces to sustain the declining colony, as it was so important, and so precious a portion of the Spanish monarchy.

[Dated Manila, August 20, 1616, and signed Valerio de Ledesma, [71] provincial of the Society of Jesus.]

PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH EXPEDITION AGAINST THE DUTCH, 1615

After the Dutch pirates began to sail the seas of Eastern India and the archipelago of Filipinas, and to carry cloves from Maluco, silks from China, and drugs from the adjacent islands, they began also to cripple the cities that were sustained by the trade, which are the principal cities; because the seas were infested, and there was little security on them from those pirates.  They, from the first year of their entrance into the Orient, coasted the shores, sounded the ports, and established trading-posts in the chief places, which they filled with people whom they brought from Holanda.  Consequently, by the year 1614, the Dutch had eighteen armed galleons in the South Sea, and they burned the city of Arevalo, where the