said, to shut his eyes to the application of the Treaty of Zaragoza
to the Philippines. As they did not produce spices the Portuguese
had not occupied them and they now made no effectual resistance
to the Spanish conquest of the islands. [24] The union of Portugal
to the crown of Spain in 1580 subsequently removed every obstacle,
and when the Portuguese crown resumed its independence in 1640 the
Portuguese had been driven from the Spice Islands by the Dutch.

This is not the place to narrate in detail the history of the
great expedition of Legaspi. It established the power of Spain
in the Philippines and laid the foundations of their permanent
organization. In a sense it was an American enterprise. The ships
were built in America and for the most part equipped here. It was
commanded and guided by men who lived in the New World. The work of
Legaspi during the next seven years entitles him to a place among the
greatest of colonial pioneers. In fact he has no rival. Starting with
four ships and four hundred men, accompanied by five Augustinian monks,
reinforced in 1567 by two hundred soldiers, and from time to time by
similar small contingents of troops and monks, by a combination of
tact, resourcefulness, and courage he won over the natives, repelled
the Portuguese and laid such foundations that the changes of the
next thirty years constitute one of the most surprising revolutions
in the annals of colonization. A most brilliant exploit was that of
Legaspi's grandson, Juan de Salcedo, a youth of twenty-two who with
forty-five men explored northern Luzon, covering the present provinces
of Zambales, Pangasinán, La Union, Ilocos, and the coast of Cagayán,
and secured submission of the people to Spanish rule. [25] Well might
his associates hold him "unlucky because fortune had placed him where
oblivion must needs bury the most valiant deeds that a knight ever
wrought." [26] Nor less deserving of distinction than Legaspi and his