By letter forwarded to your Majesty through coufidential chan-
nels under date of * * * I reported that I had despatched an em-
bassador to the King of Bruney, informing him of the arrest of the
King of Sulu for his inveterate faithlessness, and pressing him to con-
tinue our long standing friendship and to form a new alliance against
the said king as a usurper of part of his dominions, and against all his
enemies, and to cede to your Majesty the Island of Balabak and the
territory of Palawan, for the purpose of better waging war against the
Sulus, Tirons and Kamukons; and that, the desired end having been
obtained, I found it necessary to use the new rights acquired by the
cession referred to. Consequently, with the view of best promoting your
Majesty's interests, I resolved to put into execution the idea of an arma-
ment composed of our galleys, a tender, three feluccas, and two cham-
panes, supplied with two Spanish companies of one hundred men each,
together with another company of Pampanga Indians, which, with the
crews, the convicts and the military officers, number nearly a thousand
persons, for the glorious object of taking possession of La Pampanga in
the ceded part of Balabak and the other adjacent islands, forming this
new district into a province called Trinidad, with a separate government
from that of the Kalamians; for I have appointed a governor to take
charge of nourishing this new plantation with the political regulations
and Royal ordinances which the prudent zeal of your Majesty has pro-
vided for similar cases, and which, on my part, have been furnished him
in the fonn of brief and clear instructions directed towards civilizing
those barbarous natives, so as the better to facilitate tlie spread of the
holy Gospel.
With this in view I am sending two reverend Jesuit priests, jKMsons
distinguished in politics and mathematical learning, and the military
engineer of this place, for the purpose of making an inspection of the
capital of Palawan, as well as of the Island of Balabak, and its adjacent
islands, and of examining their bays, ports, inlets, rivers, anchorages and depths, in order to construct a fort — which will be named after Our Lady
of the Good End — in the most healthful location, secure by land as well
as by sea, for the garrisoning of which an adequate force of artillery has
been despatclied. It will be kept guarded for the present by a small
galley, two feluccas, a company of Spaniards, and another company of
Pampanga Indians, besides the galley slaves ^ and the suite of the gov-
ernor, and officials — ^11 rationed for one year — who will number three
hundred, the rest being returned to this capital when possession is once
established. And that the taking of possession may be unopposed, useful,
and lasting, I have planned for the strengthening of the said fort, with
the primary object of having our troops sally from its walls to pacify the
Sulu rebels who have been dwelling in certain districts of Palawan, or
to exterminate them completely by fire and sword, preventing by means
of the new fortress and the little flying squadron, the Kamukons, Tirons,
and others, from laying waste the province of the Kalamians, and the
adjacent islands; for, there being access to the entire cliain of places
and all the islands, facilitating attacks, and our vessels being on a
constant cruise through those regions, their expulsion will be secured.
But the greatest gain of all will lie in becoming acquainted with their
lands, rendezvous and places of refuge, in view of the fact that the
greatest defense which they have had up to the present time has been
our own ignorance and negligence in the premises, they scorning our
arms without fear, in the belief that they are unconquerable because the
places of their abode are unexplored; wherefore the King of Sulu, pre-
tending to serve us as a pilot among the Tiron Islands laughed at our
expedition under the command of your Majesty's Reverend Bishop of
Nueva Segovia, leading the Spaniards about with a halter wherever he
wished, and wherever he thought they would suffer most fatigue. In
view of all this, and of our present experience of the unbridled audacity
with which they ravage almost all the provinces, I felt compelled to
project this campaign of reconnaissance so as to test, by the favorable
results secured, the surest means of benefiting these Christian communi-
ties, for I am in hopes of establishing, through this new colony, an im-
pregnable bulwark against the whole Moro power and a source of recip-
rocal assistance to tlie fortress at Zamboanga. And I likewise propose
to introduce into those parts, by reasim of their proximity, commerce
with Borneo, Siani, Cambodia, and (V)cliin-('hina, so that, through inter-
course, the inhabitants of Palawan may become pacified and tractable
and their towns become opulent; so that with the families which in due
time will be drafted from the outskirts of this capital, a province of
substantial usefulness may be formed, having greater respect for both
Majesties; for, by erecting churches to God, a new gem will be added to
the Royal crown, namely the glory of giving many souls to the Lord,
while the savings of the Royal treasury will in time be appreciable.
Although I intended to make this journey personally, the noble city ^
and the majority of the committee on war opposed this course, and with
the sanction of the Audiencia convened in executive session I decided to
delegate my authority for this act, in view of the necessity of my remain-
ing in the capital for the despatch of the urgent and arduous affairs
which frequently present themselves.
