Mendoza's Letter

Letter from General Andrea Furtado de Mendoça to Don Pedro de Acuña from Terrenate on March 25, 1603.

Some good may be gained from all misfortunes in the world, however great they may be.

Of all those through which I have passed in this undertaking, and they have been infinite, the result has been that I have learned the zeal and courage which your Lordship shows in the service of his Majesty, on account of which I envy your Lordship and hold you as master, affirming that the thing which I would like most in this life would be for your Lordship to hold the same opinion of me, and, as one that is very particularly your own, that your Lordship should command me in what is for your service.

The help sent me by your Lordship came in time, by the favor of God, and was what gave this fleet to his Majesty and our lives to all of us alive today.

By what happened in this expedition, his Majesty will understand how much he owes to your Lordship and how little to the captain of Malaca, for the latter was partly the cause that the service of his Majesty was not accomplished.

When the ship you sent me arrived, our fleet had no supplies because it had been 2 years since it had left Goa.

They had all been consumed and spent.

We could not have succeeded without the service of his Majesty.

went on shore, which I gained, inflicting great losses on the enemy, and I placed my last trenches a hundred paces from the enemy’s fortification. I landed five heavy pieces for battering, and in ten days of bombarding, knocked to pieces a large part of a bastion where all the enemy’s force was concentrated. In these days all the powder in the fleet was spent, without a grain being left with which its artillery could be loaded even once, and if I should happen to run across a Dutch squadron, of which I have little doubt, I should be forced to fight with them.

This was the principal cause for which I raised the siege, when I had the enemy in great distress through hunger and also through having killed many of his captains and other men in the course of the fighting.

From this your Lordship may judge of the state of suffering and grief in which I must be. God be praised for everything, since it is His will, and may He permit that His greatest enemies in these regions may become the vassals of his Majesty.

I am leaving for Amboino to see if I can get help there, and if I find sufficient, and if there is not elsewhere in the south anything in such urgent need that I must attend to it, I am going to return to this undertaking, and I will inform your Lordship of it at length.

If I do not find there the help which I expect, I shall go to Malaca to refit, and from whatever place I am in, I shall always inform your Lordship. I am writing to his Majesty, giving him a long account of the affairs of this enterprise, and stating that it cannot be accomplished or preserved in the future, unless it is done by the order of your Lordship, and helped and increased by that government, since India is so far that it could not receive help from there within two years. In conformity with this, your Lordship should inform his Majesty, that he may be undeceived in this regard about Maluco, and I trust to God that I may be one of your Highness’s soldiers.

I do not know with what words I can praise or thank your Lordship for the kind things which you have done for me. These were made plain to me by Antonio de Brito Fogaça, as well as by Tomas de Araux, my servant. These are things which can not be rewarded or paid except by risking life, honor, and property on every occasion which offers itself in your service.

If such an occasion should be presented to me, it will be seen that I am not ungrateful for the favors which I have received; the greatest of which, and the one which I esteem most highly, was that, with this help, your Lordship sent me Joan Xuarez Gallinato, Don Tomas de Acuña, and the other captains and soldiers. If I were to mention to your Lordship the deserts of each and every one of these, I should never end.

You should esteem Joan Xuarez Gallinato because he deserves it all.

In this expedition and enterprise he conducted himself with so great satisfaction, courage, and prudence, that it is very clear that he was sent by your Lordship and had fought under the banners of so distinguished captains.

Consequently, I shall be glad to know that your Lordship has shown him many kindnesses, on account of his services to his Majesty in these regions, and on my own account.

The thing which pleased me most in this undertaking, and which is worthy of being remembered, is that, contrary to the proverb of the old Portuguese women, in the course of this war there was not one harsh word between the Spaniards and Portuguese, though they ate together at one mess.

But your Lordship may attribute this to your good fortune, and to the intelligence and experience of Joan Xuarez Gallinato.

Don Tomas conducted himself in this war, not like a gentleman of his age, but like an old soldier, full of experience.

Your Lordship should greatly esteem this relative, for I trust that your Lordship may be a second father to him.

The sargento-mayor conducted himself in this war like an excellent soldier, and he is a man whom your Lordship should regard favorably, for I give my word that the Manilas do not contain a better soldier than he, and I shall be greatly pleased if your Lordship honor him and show him very particular favors on my account. Captain Villagra fulfilled his duty well and Don Luys did the same.

In short all the soldiers, to a man, great and small, did likewise in this enterprise, so that for this reason I am under so great obligations to them that, if I were now before his Majesty, I would not leave his feet till I had heaped them all with honors and favors since they also deserve them.

So for this reason I shall always be particularly glad if your Lordship confers honors and favors on them all in general. May our Lord preserve your Lordship for many years, as I, your servant, desire. From the port of Talangame, in the island of Terrenate, on the twenty-fifth of March, of the year one thousand six hundred and three.

ANDREA FURTADO DE MENDOÇA (To be concluded)