On August 14 and October 22 of the past year I wrote to your Majesty concerning a matter of importance, namely, that a governor be sent to Terrenate, for Pedro de Heredia is old and rich. I say the same now, and by what has since occurred it will be recognized that only your Majesty's royal service moved me [to advise thus], having understood the dangerous state in which those forts are found to be, on account of their [present] condition.
On August thirteen of the same year, the said Pedro de Heredia advised me that many soldiers of that presidio were about to mutiny, but that he was making the best of it, as well as he could, until the reënforcements should arrive. This, he said, had happened because Father Manuel Rinto, [105] commissary of the Holy Office, had published an edict regarding the sin against nature, in which many had been included. The father had given them two months in which to seek absolution. To this was joined their understanding that the governor would make an examination of those who should be absolved, from which arose their desperation. He also said that, both on this account and because the Dutch had a galleon of great strength in Malayo and were awaiting other galleons from Chacatra, it was advisable that the usual reënforcements come, and be well guarded; for if it came in the usual manner it would infallibly be lost.
That despatch found me already preparing two galleons and one patache for that purpose, for the conjectures that occupied my mind gave me greater anxiety than did the enemy themselves. In a council that I summoned, some thought that I should not risk or weaken our forces; and that I should send that aid in light vessels, and in the usual way. But, considering the condition and danger of those forts, I resolved to reënforce them in a creditable manner by sending the said two galleons, manned with good infantry and with first-class troops; taking for that purpose one company of volunteer soldiers from the camp. That was a move of importance, and one that it is advisable to make every year, so that no soldiers should be forced to go; and, knowing that they will be exchanged, many will go willingly. I appointed as commander Admiral Don Jeronimo de Tremonte. He filled this post extremely well, and observed his orders not to turn aside for other enterprises, but to place the reënforcements in Terrenate, and to defend himself from whomever tried to hinder him, but nothing more. The two [Dutch] ships that the enemy were expecting were boarded and burned by the Botunes [106] Indians of the kingdom of Macassar, who found them anchored and their crews ashore; they killed those who were on land. But the ship of Malayo, confident in its strength and great swiftness, attempted to drive away the reënforcements alone--risking itself because of the great importance of this matter to the Dutch, for they knew that the soldiers of our presidio were watching the outcome [of this battle] in order to decide upon the murder of the governor and the chief officers, in accordance with the plot that they had made. It fought with our ships for eight hours, and then took flight, disabled and with great loss. Seven persons were killed in our ships, including the chief pilot. Accordingly, the reënforcements arrived in safety, when the said Pedro de Heredia had arrested one hundred and fifty persons; [of these] he had burned and garroted eleven men, while many had died in prison, and [only] forty were left alive. These he sent to me by the same ships that brought, the reënforcements. At present their trial is proceeding, in the first instance, under Don Juan Lorenzo Olaso, master-of-camp of the army of Philipinas. Inasmuch as the charges against them are insufficiently substantiated, there are opinions expressed that we should overlook their acts. But, considering that if those forty soldiers are guilty, they may infect the presidios where they may be stationed; and since the matter is so public, and open to the gaze of so many barbarians--especially of the Sangleys, who are more liable [to this sin] than any other nation, this wretched affair ought to be punished with great severity and vigor. [_In the margin_: "His Majesty has ordered, by a decree of the past year 635, that convict soldiers be not sent to Terrenate; and that those who are there be removed every three years, so that they may serve with greater comfort and good will."]
