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DON FRANCISCO DE LEANDRO DE VIANA (fl.1764-1775)
Manuscript (fair copy) of his 'Demonstracion del misero deplorable estado do las Islas Filipinas, de la necesidad de abandonarlas o mantenerlas con fuerzas respetables: de los inconvenientes de lo primero, y ventajas de lo segundo; de lo que pueden prodocuir a la R[ea]l Hacienda, de la navegacion, extension, y utilidad de su Comercio' [Demonstration of the deplorably wretched state of the Philppine islands; the necessity of [either] abandoning them or maintaining them with respectable forces, with the disadvantages of the first and the advantages of the second; what the islands can produce for the royal exchequer [and] of the navigation, extension and profitablity of their commerce], Manila, 10 February 1765, with an introductory letter ('Representacion') addressed to Don Francisco Xavier de la Torre, 'Governador, Captan General y Presidente de la R[ea]l Audiencia de estas Islas Filipinas', 20 March 1765; title page including biographical details of Viana; manuscript in Spanish, written in brown ink in a neat late 18th-century cursive hand, title and chapter headings in an upright hand, Part I including five, and Part II seven chapters, in numbered paragraphs, together approximately 249 pages, 4to, on leaves numbered 1-125 (impressions of pencilled notes in a modern hand (erased) on front free endpaper); modern limp vellum.
AN IMPORTANT ACCOUNT OF THE CONDITION AND NEEDS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS IN 1765, also reflecting the condition of Spain, her relations with Europe and her colonies. Viana's proposals for implementing reforms in order to establish a major Spanish trading centre in the Philippines were made after the two-year British occupation of Manila ('la fatal perdida de essta Plaza, nada sotraba, pero ahora todo falta'). In 1763, on the conclusion of the Seven Years War, the islands were returned to Spain. He argues that the Spanish must either now withdraw or strengthen their position to take advantage of the commercial and other possibilities offered by the islands, and advocates military and fiscal reform, increased trade and the expansion of the plantations and immigration from Spain, taking advantage of the geographical position of the Philippines, and the shipping routes around the Cape of Good Hope or alternatively by way of Panama.
The British capture of Manila was a bitter blow to Spain. It included a great bastion, a trading post and mission centre, but by the mid-18th century was stagnating. The anticipated trading of Mexican silver for Chinese silk had failed. Half of the Spanish population of the Philippines belonged to religious orders and Spanish laws forbade non-Spanish Europeans to trade there. Viana draws comparisons with the successes of the commercially minded Dutch in the Moluccas.
Don Francisco de la Torre reached the island of Luzon in March 1764, bearing orders from London for the English, under their incompetent and corrupt acting governor, Dawsonne Drake, to surrender Manila to him. Viana, a former student and college rector of the University of Salamanca, able and highly educated, and a member of the royal council, addresses the letter prefacing the 'Demonstracion' to him as a means of officially presenting it to the representative of Charles III (1759-1788). Later in 1765 De la Torre was in turn replaced by Don Jose Raon. The latter's unscrupulous and venal rule made Viana's position untenable and he appears to have returned to Spain in 1767 when he wrote to Charles III that his zeal for the royal service and his reforms had antagonised those who were used to plundering the treasury. The 'Demonstracion', with its outspoken criticisms of both the church and officials, was regarded as inflammatory and its publication forbidden.
Some of Viana's reports from Manila (including an official duplicate signed by him of the original of the present memorandum) are in the Edward E. Ayer collection in the Newberry Library in Michigan (E.H. Blair and J. A. Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 , vols. 48 and 50 (1903-1909).
Manuscript (fair copy) of his 'Demonstracion del misero deplorable estado do las Islas Filipinas, de la necesidad de abandonarlas o mantenerlas con fuerzas respetables: de los inconvenientes de lo primero, y ventajas de lo segundo; de lo que pueden prodocuir a la R[ea]l Hacienda, de la navegacion, extension, y utilidad de su Comercio' [Demonstration of the deplorably wretched state of the Philppine islands; the necessity of [either] abandoning them or maintaining them with respectable forces, with the disadvantages of the first and the advantages of the second; what the islands can produce for the royal exchequer [and] of the navigation, extension and profitablity of their commerce], Manila, 10 February 1765, with an introductory letter ('Representacion') addressed to Don Francisco Xavier de la Torre, 'Governador, Captan General y Presidente de la R[ea]l Audiencia de estas Islas Filipinas', 20 March 1765; title page including biographical details of Viana; manuscript in Spanish, written in brown ink in a neat late 18th-century cursive hand, title and chapter headings in an upright hand, Part I including five, and Part II seven chapters, in numbered paragraphs, together approximately 249 pages, 4to, on leaves numbered 1-125 (impressions of pencilled notes in a modern hand (erased) on front free endpaper); modern limp vellum.
AN IMPORTANT ACCOUNT OF THE CONDITION AND NEEDS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS IN 1765, also reflecting the condition of Spain, her relations with Europe and her colonies. Viana's proposals for implementing reforms in order to establish a major Spanish trading centre in the Philippines were made after the two-year British occupation of Manila ('la fatal perdida de essta Plaza, nada sotraba, pero ahora todo falta'). In 1763, on the conclusion of the Seven Years War, the islands were returned to Spain. He argues that the Spanish must either now withdraw or strengthen their position to take advantage of the commercial and other possibilities offered by the islands, and advocates military and fiscal reform, increased trade and the expansion of the plantations and immigration from Spain, taking advantage of the geographical position of the Philippines, and the shipping routes around the Cape of Good Hope or alternatively by way of Panama.
The British capture of Manila was a bitter blow to Spain. It included a great bastion, a trading post and mission centre, but by the mid-18th century was stagnating. The anticipated trading of Mexican silver for Chinese silk had failed. Half of the Spanish population of the Philippines belonged to religious orders and Spanish laws forbade non-Spanish Europeans to trade there. Viana draws comparisons with the successes of the commercially minded Dutch in the Moluccas.
Don Francisco de la Torre reached the island of Luzon in March 1764, bearing orders from London for the English, under their incompetent and corrupt acting governor, Dawsonne Drake, to surrender Manila to him. Viana, a former student and college rector of the University of Salamanca, able and highly educated, and a member of the royal council, addresses the letter prefacing the 'Demonstracion' to him as a means of officially presenting it to the representative of Charles III (1759-1788). Later in 1765 De la Torre was in turn replaced by Don Jose Raon. The latter's unscrupulous and venal rule made Viana's position untenable and he appears to have returned to Spain in 1767 when he wrote to Charles III that his zeal for the royal service and his reforms had antagonised those who were used to plundering the treasury. The 'Demonstracion', with its outspoken criticisms of both the church and officials, was regarded as inflammatory and its publication forbidden.
Some of Viana's reports from Manila (including an official duplicate signed by him of the original of the present memorandum) are in the Edward E. Ayer collection in the Newberry Library in Michigan (E.H. Blair and J. A. Robertson, The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 , vols. 48 and 50 (1903-1909).
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