The History of Sulu Part 25

H. M. S. "Nemesis," June 5, 1849.--Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication; and as the matter in question will probably have to be discussed between our respective Governments, I think it better not to take up the objections raised by you in connection with Article 7 of the treaty recently negotiated with his Highness the Sultan of Sulu. I have the honor to be, with great consideration, Sir, Your obedient servant.

Brooke, Commissioner and Consul-General.

To His Excellency, Col. C. de Figueroa, Governor of Zamboanga.

Military and Civil Government, Town of Zamboanga, No. 100, Government Department.--Most Excellent Sir:--On reembarking at Malusu, March 31st last, returning from the operations which I had conducted against the same on that same day, following instructions received from your office in a communication of the 17th of the said month of May, the result of which I reported to the most Excellent the Captain-General in an official letter of the 2nd instant, No. 209, the war vessel of the English East India Company, the "Nemesis" was sighted and soon afterwards cast anchor in our vicinity. Aboard the vessel was Sir James Brooke, Consul-General for his country in Borneo and Governor of Labuan; and as a result of a long conference I had with the latter gentleman in regard to recent events in Sulu--which conference it was agreed to continue in this place immediately upon my arrival here--I gave him, successively, the two communications of which I attach copies; with them I send to your Excellency letters dated the 3rd and 5th instant replying to mine in terms that your Excellency will see embodied in the two original letters of corresponding dates, which I likewise enclose herewith, retaining copies of them, as also an authorized copy of the treaty or agreement of the 29th of last May, also enclosed; feeling confident that the indulgence of your Excellency will approve my action in this delicate matter. May G.o.d preserve your Excellency many years.

Zamboanga, June 6th, 1849.

Cayetano Figueroa.

The most Excellent, The Governor and Captain-General of the Philippines.

Copies.--Jose Maria Penaranda: (his flourish).

APPENDIX XVII

COMMUNICATION FROM THE SUPREME GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE, RELATIVE TO THE TREATY OF SIR JAMES BROOKE WITH THE SULTAN OF SULU; AUGUST 16, 1849 [291]

Office of the Captain-General and Governor of the Philippines.

To his Excellency, The Secretary of State and of the Office of Gobernacion of the Kingdom, I have the honor to state the following, on this date, and under No. 499.

By the communications which I had the honor to send your Excellency from Zamboanga on the 23rd of June and 4th of July last, and that of the General second in command, No. 482, your Excellency must have been informed of the treaty which has been made in Jolo by the Englishman Sir James Brooke, of the answer of the Governor of Zamboanga to the latter and his negotiation with the Sultan and Datus to have the treaty left without effect, without obtaining the least satisfaction.

It will therefore be necessary that the question be settled between the two Cabinets, and I believe that Holland will take our part, as she has an illfeeling against England on account of the latter's usurpations in Borneo, contrary to the spirit of the treaty of March 17, 1824, between the two countries, and must fear to see her rich possessions surrounded by those of so powerful a rival. The communications of her Majesty's Consul in Singapore and his confidential correspondence with the Governor-General of Java, which he has forwarded to the Secretary of State, show that the Dutch Government wishes to maintain the most friendly relations with Spain. Although the English press in Singapore and Hong-Kong are still speaking of a Dutch expedition against Jolo, nothing has been done hitherto, and the favorable season for such an expedition has pa.s.sed.

As the correspondence between Brooke and the Governor of Zamboanga will probably play an important part in the future correspondence with the British Government, I believe it is my duty to submit a few remarks in regard to the action taken by the said Governor. Notwithstanding that the objections, which he submitted to Brooke in regard to Article 7 of the treaty, were well founded, he ought not to have entered upon such a discussion, and much less to have particularized it in such a way: he ought to have protested against the treaty as a whole, and to have declared it null, as made without the consent of Spain, which holds not only a protectorate, but sovereignty or dominion over the territory. The second defect that I find in the same letter to Brooke, is his basing our right to the sovereignty over Sulu on the "free submission of the true natives of the Gimbahan race, who live in the interior of the island and are oppressed by the Sultan and the Datus." Although there is some truth in that statement, and we might take advantage of this element in case of a war with the Sultan, I believe that it ought not to have been made under the present circ.u.mstances, as, on the same principle, we would invalidate the rights founded by us on the different treaties made by Spain with the Sultan and Datus of Sulu. The acknowledgment made by the latter of the sovereignty of Spain during over two centuries and more especially in the treaties of 1646, 1737 and 1836, by the first of which they pledge themselves to pay, as va.s.sals, a tribute of three boatloads of rice, as recorded in the Archives, is a powerful argument in favor of our rights, which the Sultan has often confirmed in his communications to this Government and in the pa.s.sports which he gives his subjects, on printed forms supplied by my predecessor;--I enclose herewith a copy of one of said pa.s.sports.

The British, who doubtless do not feel very certain about their rights, try to excuse their conduct through the press, as they did when they occupied Labuan by force. The Singapore Free Press of the 6th of July published an article in which it alleges, for the purpose of proving that Sulu has always been considered as a sovereign independent power, that we said nothing to England when she accepted the cession of the island of Balambangan, between Borneo and Palawan. Even supposing the fact to be true, there would be nothing astonis.h.i.+ng about it, considering the distress and the lack of means of the Government at that time, after the war which, but a few years before, it had miraculously carried on against the English who held Manila and many other places in the islands, and the work it had to do in order to put down interior rebellions, to reorganize the administration and to reestablish normal conditions in the provinces which had been left uncontrolled during four years and had suffered the consequences of circ.u.mstances so unfortunate. Furthermore, the cession of Balambangan cannot be considered as an act of free will on the part of the Sulus, since they took advantage of the first opportunity to drive the British off the island, when they had hardly started to firmly establish their trading posts. The newspaper also mentions the doctrine of Walter, which says that an agreement similar to that existing between the Spanish and Sulu Governments does not entirely derogate the sovereignty of the protected state, which can make treaties and contract alliances, except when it has expressly renounced its right to do so; and that if the first state fails to protect the other, the treaty is invalidated; the author of the article adds that this is our case, since we allowed the Dutch to attack Sulu without interfering, or, as far as known, requiring a reparation or the a.s.surance that such an attack would not be renewed.

With regard to the first point, the reference to Walter is correct, but Walter adds in the same paragraph that "the protected nation is bound forever by the treaty of protection, so that it can undertake no engagements which would be contrary to said treaty, that is to say, that would violate any of the express conditions of the protectorate, or be inconsistent with any treaty of the said cla.s.s:" how then could Article 7 of the treaty made by Brooke be valid, when by said article the Sultan pledges himself to recognize the sovereignty of no power without the previous consent of her Britannic Majesty, and not to cede the smallest part of the territory of his dominions to any state, person or corporation, said Sultan having already recognized the sovereignty of Spain and the rights of the latter over the greater part of his territory, in which the island of Palawan, which was ceded to us in the last century by the kings of Bruney is included by mistake.

In regard to the second point, the author of the article is also in the wrong: for this Government was neither aware of the intentions of the Dutch, nor was its a.s.sistance requested by the Sultan; and your Excellency knows in what terms I wrote to the Governor-General of Java about that matter.--If I have given so many details, despite their not being new to your Excellency it is because the article of the Singapore Free Press may have been inspired by the British Government, and deserves therefore not to be left unnoticed.

In the event of which I am writing, your Excellency will see the fulfilment of my predictions, and it may perhaps be only the prelude of events of still greater importance.

Thus I cannot but earnestly recommend to your Excellency's notice the necessity that the Governor of the Philippines have very detailed instructions or very ample powers to proceed as regards the Southern regions in accordance with what he believes best suited to her Majesty's interests and to the security of these rich possessions. In this connection I take the liberty of recommending to your Excellency such action as our Sovereign the Queen may deem most wise on my communication (consulta) number 359 and others relative to the same subject.

Perhaps, as I mentioned in my communication of the 4th of July last, the only advantageous issue for us would be to send a strong expedition and to occupy Jolo, our action being warranted by the piratical acts committed by several small boats of Bwal, Sulu; the Dutch may avail themselves of the same excuse and send an expedition before us, if, as is possible, other pancos [292] [Moro boats] have gone south for the same purpose; but anyhow the behavior of the Sultan and Datus of Sulu would give us excellent reasons for taking action against them at any time.

G.o.d keep your Excellency many years.

Manila, August 16, 1849.

The Count of Manila.

His Excellency, the Secretary of State and "Gobernacion."

APPENDIX XVIII

REGULATIONS RELATIVE TO TAXES AND IMPOSTS ON NATIVES AND IMMIGRANTS IN SULU [293]

General Government of the Philippines, Treasury Department, Manila, February 24th, 1877.

In view of the communications of the politico-military governor of Sulu of October 6th of last year, in which he suggests to this general government the concession of various exemptions in favor of the natives of these islands and of any Chinamen who shall establish themselves in the said place, to the end that by this means there may be promoted the immigration which the interests of that island demand:

In view of the reports issued in the premises by the central administration of imposts, the office of the insular auditor, [294] and the insular departments of civil administration and the treasury: and

Deeming it expedient, for the realization of the high purposes that required the military occupation of Jolo and for the progressive and efficacious development of the moral and material interests of this young colony, that there should be granted certain exemptions for the encouragement of the immigration thereto of the greatest possible number of inhabitants: this office of the general government in conformity with the suggestions made by the treasury department, and in accordance with the statements made by the department of civil administration, disposes the following:

1. All immigrants to the island of Sulu, of whatever cla.s.s, race, or nationality, who shall establish themselves definitively in the same, engaging in agricultural, industrial, or commercial pursuits, or in any art, trade, or occupation, shall be exempt during ten years from all the contributions or taxes imposed, or which in the future may be imposed, upon the inhabitants of the Philippine Archipelago.

2. The children of immigrants to Sulu, born in said island or who establish themselves there before becoming taxpayers in the pueblos of their birth, shall commence to pay taxes at the age of twenty-five years, but shall be exempt from military service so long as they reside in the said island.

This decree shall be published in the Official Gazette and communicated to the council of administration, the office of the captain-general, and the insular department of civil administration; and shall be returned to the treasury department for such further action as may be proper.

Malcampo.

General Government of the Philippines, Treasury Department, Manila, August 10, 1887.

In view of the investigation conducted by the intendant-general of the treasury with the object of determining whether it would be expedient to prolong the term of exemption from all kinds of taxes and imposts in favor of natives and of immigrants of whatever race or nationality who are established, or who shall establish themselves, in Sulu for the purpose of engaging in any kind of industry, commerce, profession, art, or trade, or in agriculture:

In view of the reports issued by the said directive bureau of the treasury and the politico-military governor of Sulu:

And considering that exemption from all burdens const.i.tutes one of the most efficacious means of encouraging the immigration demanded by the interest of the archipelago in question; this general government, in conformity with the suggestions made by the office of the intendant of the treasury and the politico-military governor of Sulu, disposes that the term of exemption granted by superior decree of this general government of February 24th, 1877, shall be understood as extended for another term of ten years, the said extension to be reckoned from the day following that on which the first term expires, that is, from the 25th day of February of the current year.

This decree shall be published in the Official Gazette; the Government of his Majesty shall be informed thereof and a copy of the records transmitted; it shall be communicated to the council of administration, the tribunal of accounts, the office of the Captain-General, and the insular department of civil administration; and shall be returned to the office of the intendant of the treasury for any further action that may be proper.