The History of Sulu Part 23

The Governor Captain-General of the Philippines.

Ministry of the Navy, Commerce, and Colonial Administration

Most Excellent Sir: The predecessor of your Excellency, convinced of the important advantages to be derived by the Philippines, in making more intimate and more secure our few and doubtful relations with the island of Sulu, determined immediately upon a.s.suming command, to negotiate with the Sultan of the said place, a treaty of peace and commerce which he considered, in every respect, not only useful but indispensable to the prosperity of the country. After having announced this project in various of his communications, he reported in December of last year, having accomplished the same, and furnished in several communications, an exact and detailed account of the history of his labors in the affair, the reasons which he had for undertaking the same, the benefits which he expects as results, and the measures whose adoption he deems necessary in order that these results may be more certain, and at the same time profitable. There were received from him seven letters, all marked with the letter "A,"

numbered from 14 to 23, and dated from the 15th to the 29th of the said month; with so many points of a.n.a.logy and similarity between them, that they should be considered as one only. The first, number 14, is intended to furnish information and data relative to Sulu, and the other Mohammedan islands of the south (without which it would be impossible to know their importance) and to detail the relations which we should have with them, considering them both in relation to commerce and with respect to the war of enslavement. In the second, of a confidential nature, he outlines the policy, which, in his opinion, should be adopted in order to obtain all the advantages which our position affords. In the third, number 16, he states the measures which should be adopted for the benefit of the national commerce in those countries. In the fourth, number 20, he transmits a copy of the treaty of peace, protection and commerce concluded with the Sultan of Sulu, and of the stipulations made for the determination of the duties which our vessels should pay in Sulu, and the Sulus in Manila and Zamboanga. In the fifth, number 21, he relates the motives which have led him to direct these matters as he has done, transmitting to her Majesty all the plans referring to it, through this Ministry only. In the sixth, number 22, he gives account of some of the advantages which have been derived from our expedition to Sulu, and amongst others, a treaty of peace concluded between the pueblo of Malusu and the Governor of Zamboanga. And finally, in the seventh, number 23, he sets forth the necessity of retaining at that station, the frigate-captain, Don Jose Maria Halcon, who performed the duty of commissioner for the negotiation of the treaty.

I have informed her Majesty, the Queen Regent, of the contents of all these communications, and in this knowledge she has seen fit to approve, in a general manner, all the measures adopted by the aforementioned predecessor of your Excellency, giving suitable orders, that the proper Ministry provide the special approval which some of them deserve, on account of their weight and importance, concerning which your Excellency will soon be informed, and deigning to command me to submit in a separate and particular communication the following advice on the special subject of the letters referred to above.

Her Majesty, feeling a.s.sured that conquests in themselves, and later their maintenance, absorb the profits which accrue from the countries already acquired, prefers to any conquest advantageous trade and commerce. Convinced, therefore, that the most profitable and lucrative policy is to conquer or secure such places as on account of their fortunate location may prove to be at the same time strong military and mercantile posts and so both promote and protect commerce, she cannot but approve the ideas your Excellency's predecessor expresses in his communication numbered 14, and desires, that upon adopting the system in accordance with those ideas, you confine yourself solely, in all enterprises of conquest, to occupation of territory either abandoned or uninhabited, or to that which, notwithstanding its being settled, would cost little and would not give occasion for a costly war. In order to increase our commercial advantages in Sulu, and to raise up rivals to the Portuguese, it would be well to grant protection and reduction in duties to the Chinese junks [281] under the specific condition that they do not sail under the flag of any other nation (without mentioning the Portuguese by name in order not to occasion the resentment of this power) and to secure in Sulu for those who adopt the Spanish flag, a reduction of duties although not as much as that which should be granted to Spanish vessels. Thus it is the will of her Majesty that you be directed, commanding, with the same purpose in view, that your predecessor state to you explicitly, which are the measures that he would have adopted, had he been authorized to do so, in order to avoid the blow to our commerce threatened by the Portuguese, depriving us with the double expedition from Macao and Singapore to Sulu, of the advantage over all other nations which still remained to us in this traffic; and that your Excellency obstruct, by all the means in your power, the a.s.sociation of interests between the commercial houses of Manila with those of Macao and Singapore, if the same were intended to secure special privileges in the island of Sulu to the products of the Philippines to the injury of the national commerce.

With respect to the matter of the war against piracy, referred to also in letter number 14, her Majesty approves all the purposes expressed therein by the predecessor of your Excellency, and commands me to direct your Excellency that, without ever recurring to war or the interruption of traffic with Sulu as means of destroying or diminis.h.i.+ng piracy and traffic in slaves, you exert yourself to suppress the same and remedy the evil which it inflicts on the Philippines, by the various means at hand, to-wit; 1st, through negotiations with the Sultan of Sulu; in which measures suitable for the accomplishment of the purpose may be concerted; 2d, securing the increase, by the Sultan, of import duties on slaves who are Spanish subjects, and the lowering of duties on slaves of other countries; 3d, requesting of him a.s.sistance in driving out the pirates from their haunts of Balangingi and other places; 4th, watching the rendezvous of these pirates in the Bisayas also, in order to destroy them. In this manner and with hard lessons, with the energetic and continuous warfare spoken of by the predecessor of your Excellency, the extermination of piracy will be accomplished without the evils which would follow upon an unwise and useless war against Sulu, and without the more serious result to which the same would expose us, and which her Majesty desires your Excellency to avoid at any cost, the result referred to being the removal of the Sultan to some other point, which removal England and Holland might turn to great advantage against our trade.

As to the measures proposed in letter number 16, for the benefit of the national commerce, her Majesty will determine which is fit, notifying your Excellency in due season. Meanwhile you should keep in mind, that as long as the Sulus man their s.h.i.+ps with slaves, your Excellency should prohibit them from trading in Zamboanga and all other places within the dominions of her Majesty, whenever the s.h.i.+ps which they use shall be manned in whole or in part with slaves who are subjects of Spain.

Concerning the treaty of peace, protection and commerce, a copy of which is inclosed in letter number 20, her Majesty has been pleased to resolve, after careful examination, that it be forwarded with favorable comment to the Ministry of State for the approval of the Cortes and the ratification of her Majesty, all of which will be communicated to your Excellency in due time, its policy being carried out and its intent carefully observed in the meanwhile, for the purpose of determining whether there is anything to amend or correct by means of further negotiation, which would be considered as an appendix to the treaty. In view of the explanations concerning the first article of the aforementioned treaty furnished by the commissioner of the negotiation, her Majesty commands me to repeat to your Excellency the necessity for carrying out the policy which is prescribed to your Excellency with regard to acquisition and conquest; in order to claim those lands referred to in the explanations, if perchance such claim should be advisable for the purpose of acquiring some point of military or mercantile value: or in order to set up the claim of the Kingdom of Spain to those countries, in order that by giving it up, we may secure other things which may be of real importance to us, such as reduction in duties, some exclusive privilege, or the possession of some isolated point of great importance.

The predecessor of your Excellency by addressing to this Ministry all communications bearing on this matter, has merited the approbation of her Majesty, because he has avoided many unnecessary steps and useless delay, and thus your Excellency will continue to do, in the manner herein indicated.

And finally, her Majesty having noted with satisfaction the favorable results produced already by the expedition to Sulu, and approving the idea of not using the fifteen hundred dollars sent by the Bishop of Nueva Segovia for the redemption of slaves, she commands me to direct your Excellency to cultivate the friends.h.i.+p of all the chiefs who, like the Orankaya of Malusu, abandon the pursuit of piracy, and that suitable orders be issued by the Division of the Marine of this Ministry, not only that the captain of frigate, Don Jose Maria Halcon, who has so well discharged the duty of negotiating the treaty, be a.s.signed to that station, but that he also be duly rewarded for his services as such commissioner; her Majesty not failing to express the grat.i.tude with which she declares her appreciation to the predecessor of your Excellency, the aforementioned Don Pedro Antonio Salazar. All of which is communicated to your Excellency, by Royal order, for your due information and guidance, instructing you with regard to the confidential letter, that you carry out the directions forwarded you separately under this date. G.o.d preserve your Excellency.

Madrid, June 23, 1837.

Mendizabal.--Rubricated.

The Governor Captain-General of the Philippines.

APPENDIX XIV

CAMBA'S REPORT ON THE CIRc.u.mSTANCES ATTENDING THE TREATY OF 1836 AND ITS BASES, NOVEMBER 16, 1837 [282]

Superior Government of the Philippines

Excellent Sir: In compliance with the provision of the Royal order of the 24th of April last, requesting, for the information of her Majesty the record of the correspondence exchanged in regard to the treaty of commerce made by my predecessor with the Sultan of Sulu, and the bases of said treaty, I forward the same to your Excellency, with a few personal observations suggested by a reading of the said papers.

On the 31st of January, 1835, the Tribunal of Commerce forwarded to the Captain-General, approved by it, a report presented by several business men who traded with Sulu, setting forth the deceitful methods of the Datus, or princ.i.p.al people of the island, in their agreements and contracts, and requesting, in order to restrain and intimidate them, that the naval division of Zamboanga, or part of it, be stationed in the port of Jolo during the time the national merchant vessels remain there for the purpose of making their sales and purchases. A decree was issued on the 9th of March of the same year, concurring in the opinion of the a.s.sessor, and declaring that the request could not be granted at that time, but that it would be taken into consideration as soon as the circ.u.mstances allowed. This is a brief of the doc.u.ment marked Number 1.

On the 9th of February, 1836, Jose Dugiols, who had sold goods on credit to the amount of 8000 pesos to the Jolo people, and despaired of getting paid, presented a new pet.i.tion, similar to that which had been sent 11 months before. The Chamber of Commerce approved it, and requested that a fleet of launches be stationed at Jolo during the business season, there to gather information which would allow the Government to take proper action in the matter; it also insisted that the commander of the fleet be a capable person, who, without compromising the flag, would know how to conciliate the purpose of the naval demonstration with the spirit of peace and concord which he ought to maintain between the crews of our s.h.i.+ps and the people of Jolo. This suggestion, which had already been made in the pet.i.tion presented the year before, was favorably endorsed one after the other by all who intervened in the papers in the case and resulted in the final resolution of May 31st, which contains 14 articles. The first provides that it shall be one of the duties of the commander of the naval division of Zamboanga to protect the Spanish s.h.i.+ps while they are at Jolo, and instructions are given him to that effect. The second appoints captain of frigate Jose Maria Halcon to take charge, temporarily, of the command of the Division of Zamboanga, and establish relations of friends.h.i.+p and commerce with the Sulu people. The third directs him to inform the Sulu Sultan of his visit in the way he may deem most likely to convince him of the peaceful intentions of this Government. The fourth directs him to make himself recognized by the officers and men of our s.h.i.+ps, as the commanding authority who shall maintain them in peace and good order. The fifth charges him not to allow his men to land, so as to avoid disorder. The sixth directs him to take action in regard to any excess, as provided by the Code. The seventh, to hold in check the crews of our s.h.i.+ps, so as to give the Sulus neither reason nor pretence for showing their bad faith. The ninth forbids the commander of the division and all those under his orders to enter into any business speculation whatsoever. The tenth directs the commander to be ever careful to keep all his men within the bounds of duty. By the eleventh he is directed to see that all contracts are religiously fulfilled, and, if necessary, to complain energetically to the Sultan, and by the twelfth to see that our people fulfil their own. Articles thirteen and fourteen direct the commander to obtain information about the political and civil conditions of Sulu and its topographic situation.

After acquainting himself with the foregoing, Captain Jose Maria Halcon inquired what would be the minimum importation duty in Manila for articles proceeding from Sulu, and asked for instructions in regard to the importation of arms and ammunition into Sulu by our s.h.i.+ps. In answer to the first question, the Board of Tariffs fixed at 2 per cent the duty on all articles imported from Sulu to Manila in its own vessels, [283] except wax and cacao, which would have to pay 14 per cent under a foreign flag and half that amount under the national flag; in regard to the second the importation of arms and ammunition into Sulu by our s.h.i.+ps was prohibited.

A letter to the Sultan of Sulu was furthermore given the commander, accrediting him and explaining his mission, the pet.i.tion presented by Dugiols and endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, requesting that our business relations with Sulu be granted a protection which experience made each day more necessary, being thus complied with.

On April 15, 1836, Halcon forwarded the capitulations of peace and the commercial agreements made by him in the name of this Government with the Sultan of Sulu. The first consists of 6 articles, by which the Spanish Government grants the Sultan its protection, which is accepted by the latter, with a mutual a.s.surance of cooperation between them against any nation not European. Spanish boats are to be admitted freely in Sulu, and Sulu boats in Zamboanga and Manila. It is agreed that a Spanish factory shall be established in Jolo, so as to avoid damages and delays to our commerce, the same right being given the Sulus in Manila. Certain rules are established in order to distinguish friendly from hostile boats. The Sultan is pledged to prevent piracy on the part of those who recognize his authority; and it is furthermore agreed that in case of any doubt as to the meaning of any article, the literal Spanish text shall be followed. In accordance with the opinion of the Government a.s.sessor, these capitulations were approved by decree of January 20 of this year. The commercial agreements contain 9 articles. The first establishes a duty of 2 1/2 per cent on all products brought by the Sulus. The second excepts wax and cacao, as recommended by the Board of Tariffs. The third provides a duty of 1 per cent for the importation in Zamboanga of products brought by the Sulus. The fourth provides that the payment of the duties shall be made in cash in silver. The fifth establishes the dues to be paid by our boats at Sulu. The sixth fixes the value, in products, of those dues. The seventh, in its first part, declares, that all Sulu boats trading without a license shall be treated as smugglers, under the law of the Kingdom; in its second part it also requires our boats to show a bill of lading in accordance with the cargo, on pain of a fine of P500, two thirds to go to the Sultan and one third to our exchequer. The eighth provides that if the duties are reduced in Manila and Zamboanga on the articles coming from Sulu, the same shall be done in Sulu, and that if the Sultan reduces the dues on foreign s.h.i.+ps, he shall do the same for ours. The ninth provides that in case of doubt the literal Spanish text shall be followed. After hearing the opinions of the Boards of Commerce and Tariffs, and in accordance with that of the a.s.sessor, the foregoing was approved by decree of the 20th of January of this year, with a small reduction of 1/2 per cent on the duties to be paid by the Sulus in Manila, and an explanation of the proceeding to be followed for the apprais.e.m.e.nt of their cargoes in Zamboanga and in Manila.

Shortly before this ratification by the Government, it was decreed on the 13th of January, at the request of Commissioner Halcon, that in order to avoid trouble between this Government and that of Sulu, the captains and supercargoes of the Spanish s.h.i.+ps should give no credit to the Sulus, except with the authorization of the Sultan, under the penalty of being barred from claiming his protection or that of the Spanish Government for the collection of such credits; and that all settlements of the pay of the crews of our s.h.i.+ps should be so made as to avoid the abuse of paying them in kind, instead of currency.

Such is the information which I have found, and am forwarding to your Excellency in regard to the treaties mentioned. The leading idea in said treaties is one of distrust towards the people of Sulu, on account of their treacherous, cruel and perfidious nature. As this is the only idea which prevails in all our relations with the island, as well as in the Royal order of August 28, 1751, and the doc.u.ments attached thereto, without referring to older time, I can not be persuaded that the policy of peace and alliance adopted with the Sultan of Sulu can give our s.h.i.+pping and commerce any substantial and permanent advantage.

Several Royal decrees find fault with such treaties and even order them to be revoked in case they have been made; and to justify departure from these sovereign instructions, given with a true knowledge of the facts, and in accordance with the opinion of the ill.u.s.trious members of the Cabinet, there must now be some powerful political reason which I can not discover. If we take into consideration the very weak authority of the Sultan over his subjects, and the scarcity of his means in the midst of datus or chieftains who, with their families and slaves, const.i.tute distinct communities which are haughty, ambitious and dangerous to him, we find that there is in Sulu no moral force on which to rely for the execution of a treaty, even should there be the best faith and good will on the part of the Sultan.

Furthermore, Sulu and the small adjacent islands produce nothing; even the rice and fish which the people use for their food come from our neighboring possessions: what business reasons are there therefore, capable of calling our attention, or whose profits would pay the expenses of a fleet placed in observation there? All the produce of the islands consists of beche-de-mer and sh.e.l.l which are gathered by the slaves; [284] the clothing and foodstuffs are furnished them, on credit, by our own s.h.i.+ps; gold, wax and edible nests come from Mindanao. Hence commerce is confined to a season outside of which our s.h.i.+ps never go near Sulu.

There is therefore little advantage to be derived by our commerce from these treaties, and this is confirmed by the communication just received by me from the commander of the Zamboanga division, which I enclose as number 6. It betrays complete disappointment, and shows the wisdom of the instructions given in the above mentioned Royal decrees.

The policy which we ought to follow with the Sulus is one of continual and perspicacious caution, with well conditioned, well situated and well commanded naval forces, ready to obtain at once satisfaction for any offense to our flag; and I believe that this could be done without much trouble, by using steams.h.i.+ps, as the Dutch have done in their settlements in the Moluccas, where they suffered from the piracy of the Moros much as we do in the Philippines.

The foregoing information covers, I believe, all the points mentioned in the Royal order of April 24th, last, and which are the object of the present communication and of the doc.u.ments which I enclose therewith. May G.o.d keep your Excellency many years.

Manila, November 16, 1837.

Andres G. Camba.

His Excellency the Secretary of State and of the Department of the Navy, Commerce, and Colonies.

APPENDIX XV

CAMBA'S REPORT TO THE COLONIAL OFFICE DISCUSSING THE DIFFICULTIES OF COMMERCE WITH SULU AND THE ADVISABILITY OF MAKING ZAMBOANGA A FREE PORT, FEBRUARY 23, 1838 [285]

Superior Government of the Philippines.

Excellent Sir: I acknowledge to your Excellency the receipt of two Royal orders dated the 23d of June of last year, which, with reference to the treaties made with the Sultan of Sulu, have been transmitted by your ministry; one replying to the seven communications marked "A"

which my predecessor made in connection with the same subject; the other confidential, and indicating the policy and measures that should be carried out with the said Sultan of Sulu and the Sultan of Mindanao.

In communication numbered 5, and dated November 16th last, in compliance with one of the provisions of Royal order of last April, I made a minute report accompanied by doc.u.mentary evidence, of the antecedents which I encountered relative to Sulu affairs, and at the same time, could not but intimate in this connection how little I expected as a result of our treaties, because experience had already caused me to be suspicious, and also because the various Royal orders toward the close of the past century confirmed me in this idea; [286] and indeed the losses which all our commercial expeditions experienced during the first year of these treaties, the vexations they suffered and the risks to which the crews as well as the vessels and their cargoes were exposed during their stay in Jolo, have fully borne out this view.

Many are the measures and doc.u.ments which we have here, in which this same fact is laid down; many are the Royal decrees in which, in recognition of this fact, the Governors of the Philippines have even been authorized, by every means in their power and without counting cost or difficulty, to punish severely the intrepidity of those infidel barbarians.

In order to arouse and interest the Royal conscience on that point, it was requisite that there should be repeatedly presented through various channels and at distinct times substantiated accounts, non-conflicting and extremely painful, of the various piracies, cruelties, and vexations, with which those barbarians have kept the Philippine Islands in the south in a state of fear and depression; and needful also was it that there should have been employed, in vain, on account of the religion and the policy of our ancestors, those gentle measures of peace and union which no civilized people could resist; but which are ineffectual with barbarous nations who know no other right than that of force.

From the 14th of April, 1646, when we abandoned possession of Sulu, which our arms had so gloriously conquered, making a treaty of peace whereby the Sulus bound themselves to pay us annually, as tribute, three boatloads of unhulled rice, until the day the Government again entered into a treaty with them, neither have the Filipinos succeeded in freeing themselves from their hara.s.sments, nor has the Government reaped any fruit other than continual menace. The English have had the same experience with the perfidy and bad faith of those islanders. After having formed, in the island of Balambangan by a concession made by the Sulus, a settlement destined to be the emporium for the products of the East in connection with their China trade, for which this island offers two good ports, they were two years afterwards surprised by the Sulus themselves, who, knowing the English had despatched their vessels, took advantage of their absence by taking possession of the island and the fort constructed therein, also a great deal of booty, which cost the English East India Company a loss of more than three hundred thousand dollars. In narrating this event, Mr. J. H. Moor, who published last year a brief review of interesting events concerning the islands and lands bordering on the China Sea, agrees with the views I have expressed, namely, that these acts of treachery and cruelty on the part of the Sulus are the offspring of their innate love of robbery and their natural perfidy.

All these facts then will convince your Excellency that the expectations based by my acting predecessor upon the latest treaties referred to are too sanguine. They would produce no illusions on my part, in view of the experience of the past, neither does it seem to me that their results, looked at with calmness and in the light of the most exact data, could be of any great advantage to our commerce. Allowing that the treaties should be religiously complied with, never would they be of any value, in themselves, to improve the brutal condition of those islanders. This condition will always const.i.tute, not only for the Spaniards but also for all civilized nations, a great drawback to mercantile relations, which, although founded on principles of utility and mutual advantage, cannot continue nor be developed except under the most favorable guaranties. How would our merchants, or the foreign merchants of Sulu obtain them, where there is neither good faith nor justice, and where cunning fraud makes even the Chinese dangerous traders? Commerce is the movement and circulation of wealth. The latter results from production, and production from the full and unrestricted utilization of property. Moreover, when property is insecure, when the laws do not protect it, when the agents of the Government are the first to disregard it, the mercantile spirit is the first to become alarmed and, when defrauded, to flee as far as possible from the place where it does not find that safe haven it requires to expand and to pursue with skill and perseverance the objects of its calling. Thus it is that during the period elapsed since the year cited, 1646, up to the present time, no Spanish merchant has himself had direct dealings with the inhabitants of Sulu, the Chinese alone being engaged in this trade, they being the only charterers of our vessels, so that we do not obtain from said commerce more than interest on the capital invested, subject to great exposure and risk, which has made and always will make, this commerce uncertain and of little value. While lack of security still sets a limit to the extent of our speculation in commerce with Sulu, lack of advantageous reciprocity adds another factor no less appreciable. At the time the Spaniards came to the Philippines, Sulu seems to have been rich in her own natural and industrial products, and richer still through the large commerce which their exchange enabled her to carry on with the Chinese vessels which in large numbers frequented her coasts. Situated almost midway between the Philippines and the Moluccas, close to two rich islands so fertile and densely populated as Mindanao and Borneo, it seemed destined by nature to be the emporium of the commerce of the south. Converted to Islamism by the Arab Sayed Ali, [287] who landed there from Mecca, how much ought this principle of civilization in the midst of barbarous nations have tended to their advancement! But times have changed greatly since then, and brought their always accompanying vicissitudes. As Spanish dominion was extended in the Philippines and the Portuguese penetrated into the Moluccas, they began attracting to their capitals the wealth and traffic that was acc.u.mulating in Sulu, and here begins a new era. War and desolation, which for a period of eighty years we inflicted on them, followed, and put in our power this island and its dependencies, and though independence was later restored, it could not divert this rich commerce from the trend it had taken. Meanwhile, their wars and internal dissensions resulted in corrupting their customs, and there only remained for them the habit of piracy, which ever since our appearance, they had embraced for the purpose of hara.s.sing us.