CHAPTER XVII.Of the Restoration of Manila by the English at the Peace, anno 1763.On the 23d of July, 1763, an English frigate arrived with the armistice which had been agreed on by the powers of Spain, France, and England. In any other part of the world hostilities would have ceased, and the chiefs of the contending parties would have been anxious to exchange reciprocal civility and kindness the moment such intelligence was received; but in the Philippines, such were the misunderstandings which had arisen, that the armistice which in Europe had been carried into effect, was here of no avail. The English commander acknowledged no other governor than the Archbishop, and to him he communicated, in the usual form, thecontents of his despatches from his court. The Archbishop transmitted them to Señor Anda, who replied, “That in a matter of such importance and delicacy, the English commander ought immediately to have made him acquainted with it, without the intervention of his Excellency.” On the 27th of August, an English vessel arrived with the preliminaries of peace, and the British council directly handed over the despatches to Señor Anda, sealed and directed to the Commander in Chief of his Catholic Majesty’s arms; but because the addition of Captain-general of the Philippines was omitted, he would not receive it, observing, that being without the corresponding titles, it might be doubted whether the despatches were intended for him.The British commander, to establish the authority of it, published a manifesto on the 19th of September, pointing out the lineof conduct he had observed to Señor Anda, in order to procure a cessation of hostilities as soon as he received the preliminaries of peace, and which, he stated, had been forwarded to him by the prime minister, signed by the British and Spanish ambassadors, and he declared Señor Anda responsible for the blood which might be spilled in consequence of the measures he adopted, so contrary to those laws of humanity which had induced the European powers to sheath the sword. Señor Anda replied to this manifesto by another, published in Bacolor the 28th of September, in which he set forth that he had not been made acquainted with the preliminaries of peace in due form; that as Governor he had not been treated as such, but in that character he should answer the English manifesto, by protesting that the continuation of hostilities could not be imputed to him, but to those who, pursuing a line ofconduct little conformable to the orders of their sovereign, had indirectly impeded their execution.From this moment, however, the English allowed greater latitude to the prisoners in Manila; and Señor Villa Corta, who was considered in that light, availed himself of the indulgence to conceal himself in the house of Don Tomas Dorado, from whence he escaped in a coach under a female dress, and embarked for Pampanga. Señor Anda received him with great affability; and as a mark of his friendship and affection, he left him in Bacolor to transact some matters of business for him, and departed for the camp, in order to transfer it to the town of Polo from Maycavayan, where he had taken up his quarters since the battle of Malinta. In his absence the Archbishop being taken ill, the question was agitated who should be Governor in the event of his death, and Señor Villa Corta observed, that he thoughtit fell to him, as being senior Oidor. This conversation was not so secret but Señor Anda became acquainted with it, and without waiting to remove his camp to Polo, he left proper instructions, and returning to Bacolor he retorted on Villa Corta, who endeavoured to exculpate himself, by pleading that it was merely conversation, and undeserving serious notice: his enquiries and solicitude terminated in discovering that Señor Galban and the royal fiscal were of opinion that Senor Ustariz, Bishop of New Segovia or Ylocos, ought to succeed to the government, in case of the death of the Archbishop, conformable to the recent orders of his Majesty. Señor Anda was anxious to obtain the opinions of the various parties in the islands, and consulted Señor Matos, Bishop of Camarines, and the provincial clergy on the subject. Señor Matos returned him for answer, that the subject was quite foreign to his profession, and that it was the province of the RoyalAudience to decide the point, and that he, as a good subject, should acquiesce in that decision. The provincial friars of St. Augustine and St. Domingo answered him in nearly the same terms; but the provincial of the Jesuits and the Franciscans told him, that in the then situation of the islands he alone could preserve the public tranquillity, and on that account he ought to retain the supreme authority. This diversity of opinion was not very gratifying to Señor Anda, and although the troops were in his favour, he was by no means desirous of having recourse to violence. This induced him to submit so far as to take the opinion of the British commander, and he accordingly wrote to him from Bacolor the 2d of November, 1763.Major Fell, who commanded the English troops, had at this time quitted his command, with the view of proceeding to London, to complain of certain proceedings respecting Monsieur Faller, who wasordered for execution by Admiral Cornish, on account of letters written by him to the commandant at Batavia, in which he termed the admiral a pirate and robber. Governor Drake protected him, and kept him in the hall of the Royal Audience. Fell demanded him, and the Governor refusing to deliver him up, Fell took with him a file of grenadiers, and repaired to the palace. Ascending the staircase, he met the Governor coming down, when an altercation took place, and Fell snatching a fusee from a grenadier, was in the act of bayoneting the Governor, when one of his own soldiers prevented him, and took the musket from him. During this disturbance on the staircase, the grenadiers went to the hall of the Royal Audience, took Faller, and carried him on board ship. Major Fell, in consequence of this, embarked for London, in order to complain of the Governor, and Don Thomas Backhouse took the command. To him it was that SeñorAnda wrote, complaining bitterly of the vexations which the English soldiers had given to his soldiers, and finished by observing, that if he meant to write, he must address him by the titles and in the style due to his rank. Backhouse replied by disclaiming the ground of his complaints, as they referred to a period when he had not the command; and in regard to the government of the islands, he pleaded ignorance of our statutes and laws, but he said he saw, with great grief, strong symptoms of civil war, which threatened the desolation of Manila as soon as evacuated by his Britannic Majesty’s troops. Señor Anda well knew that the English would not acknowledge any other Governor than the Archbishop, and began to spread suspicions that the preliminaries of peace were forged by the English Governor, who found himself driven to extremity by the incursions our people made from the camp ofPolo, and which occasioned a scarcity of provisions in Manila.The English adhering to the resolution of committing no act of hostility, and keeping on the defensive, only endeavoured to procure their provisions in the provinces. With this view they sent to the province of Batan a sloop, with a very few people, to the town of Orion, and taking refuge in the convent, they purchased what provisions they wanted. Señor Anda hearing of this, sent troops against them: the Indians assaulted them through the kitchen, and surprised them, but they saved themselves in the sloop by the negligence of the officer who commanded, and who arrived too late with the rest of the people. In the river Pasig also our people made them abandon two vessels which were going to the Lake for provisions, and they took a galley from the very door of the store-houses. In this manner did the two nations continue their hostilities until the30th of January, 1764. On this day the Archbishop died, oppressed in mind by the miseries he saw the people suffer, and the many inquietudes his employment occasioned him at a moment of such calamity. His Excellency was guilty of only one material error during this war, and that was his engagement to pay four millions to the English, and deliver up the islands to them. It would have been better to have surrendered at discretion than with conditions so hard, and out of his power to comply with: it must be remembered, however, in his justification, that he granted them with the bayonet at his breast, and that the Spaniards who were with him signed the same terms.Immediately after the funeral of the Bishop, Señor Anda received despatches, by way of China, from his Catholic Majesty, communicating the conclusion of peace with the English, to his Governor at Manila; he informed the English commandantof it, offering a suspension of hostilities, and requesting them to take measures for delivering up the place. The English assented to this, and sent to the town of Tambobon the chief engineer, Stevenson, accompanied by Don Edward Vogan as an interpreter, who had been at St. Joseph’s College, and returned to the islands with this expedition as a pilot or guide. On our side was appointed Don Francisco Salgado, with his interpreter, Don Geronimo Ramirez. Their respective powers being produced, they entered on the negociation; but all was reduced to mere squabbling, Salgado exaggerating our strength, which, he said, was equal to the capture of Manila, to which the English officer very archly replied, by asking why they did not take the fort on the Pasig, which was scarcely in a state of defence? Nine days were thus wasted, and nothing concluded on. While under these circumstances, an English vessel arrived,with orders to evacuate the place, and the negociation ceased. This occurrence served to revive the old disputes relative to the succession to the government, and receiving the place from the English. Señor Villa Corta had his supporters, and Señor Ustariz, who had the greatest right, did not want for partizans. Señor Anda had in his favour the circumstance of having defended the islands, and having prevented the English from advancing to the northern provinces; and, above all, he commanded the troops, who were attached to him, and this served to check the pretensions of the others. Most fortunately, at this time, arrived at Marinduque, in the Santa Rosa frigate, Don Francisco de la Torre, despatched by the Viceroy of Mexico as the King’s Lieutenant. Señor Anda sent him a galley, on board of which he embarked and came to Bacolor, where Señor Anda, with much honour and disinterestedness, resigned the government into his hands,conformable to his Sovereign’s orders, on the 17th of March, 1764.Señor Torre sent to Backhouse and Brereton, his Britannic Majesty’s commanding officers at Manila, the despatches, by which he ordered the evacuation of Manila, and they replied, that they were ready to deliver up the place to him in form. He took possession of a house in Santa Cruz, placed a Spanish guard, with advanced centinels, as far as the great bridge, where the advanced guard of the English was, and a friendly communication took place. Governor Drake felt hurt that he had not been consulted on these proceedings, and ordered the Spanish Governor to retire, or abide the consequences. Brereton and Backhouse ordered the troops under arms to arrest the Governor for sending such a hostile message, as the sincerity of both parties was unquestionable. Drake heard of it, and escaping from the city with hissuite, embarked on board the frigate and put to sea.The terms were concluded in an amicable manner, and the day was fixed for giving possession of the place, for which purpose Señor Anda came with the troops which he had in Polo; and Señor Torre being indisposed, he received the town from the English, placed the Spanish guards at the gates, and hoisted the Spanish flag on the fort of Sant Jago, in the midst of salutes of artillery.The English commander, before he quitted Manila, published a manifesto, in which he desired any person who had cause of complaint against the late government to apply to him, and he would do him justice. Señor Villa Corta presented himself, and demanded the repayment of the three thousand dollars he had paid, to redeem the sentence of death passed on him. Brereton ordered them to be returned, observing, that if the sentence was just, itought to have been put in execution, and not be commuted for money; and if unjust, the restitution of the sum was highly proper. The provincial of the Jesuits claimed a sloop which Governor Drake had requested of him, and which he had given gratuitously for the service of the King of Great Britain; but the Governor having appropriated it to his own use, he now requested it might be returned, or four thousand dollars paid for it, which was the sum it was valued at. This was immediately paid him: various other demands were made of less magnitude, which Brereton satisfied with justice and equity.At the instance of the English chiefs, our government published a manifesto, in which a pardon was granted to the Chinese who had joined their party, although some of the ringleaders, not confiding in the manifesto, went away with the English, as did also Faller and Orandain, who were under apprehensions, if they remained in Manila,that they would be beheaded as traitors. Orandain, in his retreat, passed over to Tonquin, and having landed, the natives rose on him, in consequence of some excesses which had been committed by the sailors: they attacked him, and being unable to gain the boats in consequence of waiting for his daughter, whom he had married to an Englishman, and who was on shore with him, both he and his daughter were murdered, thus atoning for the crimes with which he was charged.Manila, Cavite, and Pasig, being delivered up, Brereton embarked and went to Mariveles, where the transport ships were waiting for him; and having despatched a packet-boat with the King of Jolo to restore him to his throne, he set sail for India.The religious orders had co-operated very considerably with Señor Anda, in enabling him to maintain the Indians of the respective districts in obedience to his orders,by inspiring a horror of the English as enemies of the King and their religion, exciting them even to die in fighting cheerfully against them; likewise offering their houses, estates, and riches, and finally exposing their own persons to very imminent risks. All of them exerted themselves uniformly to this end, for which they jointly and individually were honoured with the thanks of his Majesty for their distinguished loyalty; but the Augustines suffered most, for as Señor Anda retired into the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, which these friars governed, they supplied him with recruits and with provisions. They exhorted the Indians, and even forced them, to serve against the English, and to be ready, at all times, to obey orders. The enemy knew that without this resource Señor Anda could not have acquired the means of resistance; and finding that the Augustines gave him every aid, they were declared traitors, eleven were arrested, andcarried away to London and India. All were made prisoners whom they could lay their hands on, and confined in the dungeons of the fort; and they would have been taken away to sea if the preliminaries of peace had not arrived. They plundered a second time their convent; they sold the bells and the library; and a person was even found to purchase the building; in short, every thing they had was confiscated. When Manila was delivered up, in order to repossess themselves of their convent, it was necessary for the provincial to make a contract to pay ten thousand dollars for it, in case the courts of Madrid and London should confirm the confiscation of their property. The British court approved of the conduct of the English council, and, in virtue of its sentence, an Englishman went to Madrid to receive the ten thousand dollars; but our court not consenting to pay this sum, considering it a mere imposition, the English threatened that another opportunitythey would make up the loss; but this dispute, as also that respecting the four millions which the Archbishop promised to pay, is buried in oblivion long ago, and was fully covered by the millions sacrificed in the treaties respecting Nootka Sound, and the whale fisheries on the northern coast of America.All these services of the Augustines to Señor Anda were, however, thrown away, for some of the individuals of their body in the disputes which arose on the succession after the death of the Archbishop, attached themselves to the party of Villa Corta; and consulting their provincial, they replied to Señor Anda, that it was their opinion the dispute ought to be decided by the Royal Audience, and that their decision should be final. So disgusted was he by this determination of the Augustines, that he not only forgot all the services they had rendered him, but on his return as Governor, under some frivolous pretence, he sent soldiers toPampanga, confiscated their property, and put the whole of the order in confinement at Manila, substituting Indian clergy in their room.His Majesty considered attentively all the services the Augustines had rendered in Manila, and ordered that all their property should be restored to them, together with the province of Pampanga; but when this order arrived, the furniture of the poor monks was already rotten in the store-houses, and the friars themselves having been driven into other provinces or dead, were unable to avail themselves of his Majesty’s kindness, and take possession of the province of Pampanga thus allotted to them by his decision. To all which, if the desolation caused by the war is added, the friars will be found to have suffered the most severe losses, and which they have yet scarcely been able to retrieve.Señor Torre being recovered of his indisposition, which was probably only assumed,in order to affordSeñorAnda the opportunity of entering triumphantly into Manila to receive it from the English, as many suspected was the case, he went to reside at the palace, and began, by degrees, to restore order, and to repair the various ravages occasioned by the war. He made arrangements for tranquillizing the province of Pangasinan, and conducted the government with sufficient ability until the arrival of his successor, Field-Marshal Don Joseph Raon; but the occurrences during his and the succeeding government are of too recent a nature to be committed to the press with that candour which the fidelity of historical record requires.
CHAPTER XVII.Of the Restoration of Manila by the English at the Peace, anno 1763.On the 23d of July, 1763, an English frigate arrived with the armistice which had been agreed on by the powers of Spain, France, and England. In any other part of the world hostilities would have ceased, and the chiefs of the contending parties would have been anxious to exchange reciprocal civility and kindness the moment such intelligence was received; but in the Philippines, such were the misunderstandings which had arisen, that the armistice which in Europe had been carried into effect, was here of no avail. The English commander acknowledged no other governor than the Archbishop, and to him he communicated, in the usual form, thecontents of his despatches from his court. The Archbishop transmitted them to Señor Anda, who replied, “That in a matter of such importance and delicacy, the English commander ought immediately to have made him acquainted with it, without the intervention of his Excellency.” On the 27th of August, an English vessel arrived with the preliminaries of peace, and the British council directly handed over the despatches to Señor Anda, sealed and directed to the Commander in Chief of his Catholic Majesty’s arms; but because the addition of Captain-general of the Philippines was omitted, he would not receive it, observing, that being without the corresponding titles, it might be doubted whether the despatches were intended for him.The British commander, to establish the authority of it, published a manifesto on the 19th of September, pointing out the lineof conduct he had observed to Señor Anda, in order to procure a cessation of hostilities as soon as he received the preliminaries of peace, and which, he stated, had been forwarded to him by the prime minister, signed by the British and Spanish ambassadors, and he declared Señor Anda responsible for the blood which might be spilled in consequence of the measures he adopted, so contrary to those laws of humanity which had induced the European powers to sheath the sword. Señor Anda replied to this manifesto by another, published in Bacolor the 28th of September, in which he set forth that he had not been made acquainted with the preliminaries of peace in due form; that as Governor he had not been treated as such, but in that character he should answer the English manifesto, by protesting that the continuation of hostilities could not be imputed to him, but to those who, pursuing a line ofconduct little conformable to the orders of their sovereign, had indirectly impeded their execution.From this moment, however, the English allowed greater latitude to the prisoners in Manila; and Señor Villa Corta, who was considered in that light, availed himself of the indulgence to conceal himself in the house of Don Tomas Dorado, from whence he escaped in a coach under a female dress, and embarked for Pampanga. Señor Anda received him with great affability; and as a mark of his friendship and affection, he left him in Bacolor to transact some matters of business for him, and departed for the camp, in order to transfer it to the town of Polo from Maycavayan, where he had taken up his quarters since the battle of Malinta. In his absence the Archbishop being taken ill, the question was agitated who should be Governor in the event of his death, and Señor Villa Corta observed, that he thoughtit fell to him, as being senior Oidor. This conversation was not so secret but Señor Anda became acquainted with it, and without waiting to remove his camp to Polo, he left proper instructions, and returning to Bacolor he retorted on Villa Corta, who endeavoured to exculpate himself, by pleading that it was merely conversation, and undeserving serious notice: his enquiries and solicitude terminated in discovering that Señor Galban and the royal fiscal were of opinion that Senor Ustariz, Bishop of New Segovia or Ylocos, ought to succeed to the government, in case of the death of the Archbishop, conformable to the recent orders of his Majesty. Señor Anda was anxious to obtain the opinions of the various parties in the islands, and consulted Señor Matos, Bishop of Camarines, and the provincial clergy on the subject. Señor Matos returned him for answer, that the subject was quite foreign to his profession, and that it was the province of the RoyalAudience to decide the point, and that he, as a good subject, should acquiesce in that decision. The provincial friars of St. Augustine and St. Domingo answered him in nearly the same terms; but the provincial of the Jesuits and the Franciscans told him, that in the then situation of the islands he alone could preserve the public tranquillity, and on that account he ought to retain the supreme authority. This diversity of opinion was not very gratifying to Señor Anda, and although the troops were in his favour, he was by no means desirous of having recourse to violence. This induced him to submit so far as to take the opinion of the British commander, and he accordingly wrote to him from Bacolor the 2d of November, 1763.Major Fell, who commanded the English troops, had at this time quitted his command, with the view of proceeding to London, to complain of certain proceedings respecting Monsieur Faller, who wasordered for execution by Admiral Cornish, on account of letters written by him to the commandant at Batavia, in which he termed the admiral a pirate and robber. Governor Drake protected him, and kept him in the hall of the Royal Audience. Fell demanded him, and the Governor refusing to deliver him up, Fell took with him a file of grenadiers, and repaired to the palace. Ascending the staircase, he met the Governor coming down, when an altercation took place, and Fell snatching a fusee from a grenadier, was in the act of bayoneting the Governor, when one of his own soldiers prevented him, and took the musket from him. During this disturbance on the staircase, the grenadiers went to the hall of the Royal Audience, took Faller, and carried him on board ship. Major Fell, in consequence of this, embarked for London, in order to complain of the Governor, and Don Thomas Backhouse took the command. To him it was that SeñorAnda wrote, complaining bitterly of the vexations which the English soldiers had given to his soldiers, and finished by observing, that if he meant to write, he must address him by the titles and in the style due to his rank. Backhouse replied by disclaiming the ground of his complaints, as they referred to a period when he had not the command; and in regard to the government of the islands, he pleaded ignorance of our statutes and laws, but he said he saw, with great grief, strong symptoms of civil war, which threatened the desolation of Manila as soon as evacuated by his Britannic Majesty’s troops. Señor Anda well knew that the English would not acknowledge any other Governor than the Archbishop, and began to spread suspicions that the preliminaries of peace were forged by the English Governor, who found himself driven to extremity by the incursions our people made from the camp ofPolo, and which occasioned a scarcity of provisions in Manila.The English adhering to the resolution of committing no act of hostility, and keeping on the defensive, only endeavoured to procure their provisions in the provinces. With this view they sent to the province of Batan a sloop, with a very few people, to the town of Orion, and taking refuge in the convent, they purchased what provisions they wanted. Señor Anda hearing of this, sent troops against them: the Indians assaulted them through the kitchen, and surprised them, but they saved themselves in the sloop by the negligence of the officer who commanded, and who arrived too late with the rest of the people. In the river Pasig also our people made them abandon two vessels which were going to the Lake for provisions, and they took a galley from the very door of the store-houses. In this manner did the two nations continue their hostilities until the30th of January, 1764. On this day the Archbishop died, oppressed in mind by the miseries he saw the people suffer, and the many inquietudes his employment occasioned him at a moment of such calamity. His Excellency was guilty of only one material error during this war, and that was his engagement to pay four millions to the English, and deliver up the islands to them. It would have been better to have surrendered at discretion than with conditions so hard, and out of his power to comply with: it must be remembered, however, in his justification, that he granted them with the bayonet at his breast, and that the Spaniards who were with him signed the same terms.Immediately after the funeral of the Bishop, Señor Anda received despatches, by way of China, from his Catholic Majesty, communicating the conclusion of peace with the English, to his Governor at Manila; he informed the English commandantof it, offering a suspension of hostilities, and requesting them to take measures for delivering up the place. The English assented to this, and sent to the town of Tambobon the chief engineer, Stevenson, accompanied by Don Edward Vogan as an interpreter, who had been at St. Joseph’s College, and returned to the islands with this expedition as a pilot or guide. On our side was appointed Don Francisco Salgado, with his interpreter, Don Geronimo Ramirez. Their respective powers being produced, they entered on the negociation; but all was reduced to mere squabbling, Salgado exaggerating our strength, which, he said, was equal to the capture of Manila, to which the English officer very archly replied, by asking why they did not take the fort on the Pasig, which was scarcely in a state of defence? Nine days were thus wasted, and nothing concluded on. While under these circumstances, an English vessel arrived,with orders to evacuate the place, and the negociation ceased. This occurrence served to revive the old disputes relative to the succession to the government, and receiving the place from the English. Señor Villa Corta had his supporters, and Señor Ustariz, who had the greatest right, did not want for partizans. Señor Anda had in his favour the circumstance of having defended the islands, and having prevented the English from advancing to the northern provinces; and, above all, he commanded the troops, who were attached to him, and this served to check the pretensions of the others. Most fortunately, at this time, arrived at Marinduque, in the Santa Rosa frigate, Don Francisco de la Torre, despatched by the Viceroy of Mexico as the King’s Lieutenant. Señor Anda sent him a galley, on board of which he embarked and came to Bacolor, where Señor Anda, with much honour and disinterestedness, resigned the government into his hands,conformable to his Sovereign’s orders, on the 17th of March, 1764.Señor Torre sent to Backhouse and Brereton, his Britannic Majesty’s commanding officers at Manila, the despatches, by which he ordered the evacuation of Manila, and they replied, that they were ready to deliver up the place to him in form. He took possession of a house in Santa Cruz, placed a Spanish guard, with advanced centinels, as far as the great bridge, where the advanced guard of the English was, and a friendly communication took place. Governor Drake felt hurt that he had not been consulted on these proceedings, and ordered the Spanish Governor to retire, or abide the consequences. Brereton and Backhouse ordered the troops under arms to arrest the Governor for sending such a hostile message, as the sincerity of both parties was unquestionable. Drake heard of it, and escaping from the city with hissuite, embarked on board the frigate and put to sea.The terms were concluded in an amicable manner, and the day was fixed for giving possession of the place, for which purpose Señor Anda came with the troops which he had in Polo; and Señor Torre being indisposed, he received the town from the English, placed the Spanish guards at the gates, and hoisted the Spanish flag on the fort of Sant Jago, in the midst of salutes of artillery.The English commander, before he quitted Manila, published a manifesto, in which he desired any person who had cause of complaint against the late government to apply to him, and he would do him justice. Señor Villa Corta presented himself, and demanded the repayment of the three thousand dollars he had paid, to redeem the sentence of death passed on him. Brereton ordered them to be returned, observing, that if the sentence was just, itought to have been put in execution, and not be commuted for money; and if unjust, the restitution of the sum was highly proper. The provincial of the Jesuits claimed a sloop which Governor Drake had requested of him, and which he had given gratuitously for the service of the King of Great Britain; but the Governor having appropriated it to his own use, he now requested it might be returned, or four thousand dollars paid for it, which was the sum it was valued at. This was immediately paid him: various other demands were made of less magnitude, which Brereton satisfied with justice and equity.At the instance of the English chiefs, our government published a manifesto, in which a pardon was granted to the Chinese who had joined their party, although some of the ringleaders, not confiding in the manifesto, went away with the English, as did also Faller and Orandain, who were under apprehensions, if they remained in Manila,that they would be beheaded as traitors. Orandain, in his retreat, passed over to Tonquin, and having landed, the natives rose on him, in consequence of some excesses which had been committed by the sailors: they attacked him, and being unable to gain the boats in consequence of waiting for his daughter, whom he had married to an Englishman, and who was on shore with him, both he and his daughter were murdered, thus atoning for the crimes with which he was charged.Manila, Cavite, and Pasig, being delivered up, Brereton embarked and went to Mariveles, where the transport ships were waiting for him; and having despatched a packet-boat with the King of Jolo to restore him to his throne, he set sail for India.The religious orders had co-operated very considerably with Señor Anda, in enabling him to maintain the Indians of the respective districts in obedience to his orders,by inspiring a horror of the English as enemies of the King and their religion, exciting them even to die in fighting cheerfully against them; likewise offering their houses, estates, and riches, and finally exposing their own persons to very imminent risks. All of them exerted themselves uniformly to this end, for which they jointly and individually were honoured with the thanks of his Majesty for their distinguished loyalty; but the Augustines suffered most, for as Señor Anda retired into the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, which these friars governed, they supplied him with recruits and with provisions. They exhorted the Indians, and even forced them, to serve against the English, and to be ready, at all times, to obey orders. The enemy knew that without this resource Señor Anda could not have acquired the means of resistance; and finding that the Augustines gave him every aid, they were declared traitors, eleven were arrested, andcarried away to London and India. All were made prisoners whom they could lay their hands on, and confined in the dungeons of the fort; and they would have been taken away to sea if the preliminaries of peace had not arrived. They plundered a second time their convent; they sold the bells and the library; and a person was even found to purchase the building; in short, every thing they had was confiscated. When Manila was delivered up, in order to repossess themselves of their convent, it was necessary for the provincial to make a contract to pay ten thousand dollars for it, in case the courts of Madrid and London should confirm the confiscation of their property. The British court approved of the conduct of the English council, and, in virtue of its sentence, an Englishman went to Madrid to receive the ten thousand dollars; but our court not consenting to pay this sum, considering it a mere imposition, the English threatened that another opportunitythey would make up the loss; but this dispute, as also that respecting the four millions which the Archbishop promised to pay, is buried in oblivion long ago, and was fully covered by the millions sacrificed in the treaties respecting Nootka Sound, and the whale fisheries on the northern coast of America.All these services of the Augustines to Señor Anda were, however, thrown away, for some of the individuals of their body in the disputes which arose on the succession after the death of the Archbishop, attached themselves to the party of Villa Corta; and consulting their provincial, they replied to Señor Anda, that it was their opinion the dispute ought to be decided by the Royal Audience, and that their decision should be final. So disgusted was he by this determination of the Augustines, that he not only forgot all the services they had rendered him, but on his return as Governor, under some frivolous pretence, he sent soldiers toPampanga, confiscated their property, and put the whole of the order in confinement at Manila, substituting Indian clergy in their room.His Majesty considered attentively all the services the Augustines had rendered in Manila, and ordered that all their property should be restored to them, together with the province of Pampanga; but when this order arrived, the furniture of the poor monks was already rotten in the store-houses, and the friars themselves having been driven into other provinces or dead, were unable to avail themselves of his Majesty’s kindness, and take possession of the province of Pampanga thus allotted to them by his decision. To all which, if the desolation caused by the war is added, the friars will be found to have suffered the most severe losses, and which they have yet scarcely been able to retrieve.Señor Torre being recovered of his indisposition, which was probably only assumed,in order to affordSeñorAnda the opportunity of entering triumphantly into Manila to receive it from the English, as many suspected was the case, he went to reside at the palace, and began, by degrees, to restore order, and to repair the various ravages occasioned by the war. He made arrangements for tranquillizing the province of Pangasinan, and conducted the government with sufficient ability until the arrival of his successor, Field-Marshal Don Joseph Raon; but the occurrences during his and the succeeding government are of too recent a nature to be committed to the press with that candour which the fidelity of historical record requires.
CHAPTER XVII.Of the Restoration of Manila by the English at the Peace, anno 1763.
Of the Restoration of Manila by the English at the Peace, anno 1763.
Of the Restoration of Manila by the English at the Peace, anno 1763.
On the 23d of July, 1763, an English frigate arrived with the armistice which had been agreed on by the powers of Spain, France, and England. In any other part of the world hostilities would have ceased, and the chiefs of the contending parties would have been anxious to exchange reciprocal civility and kindness the moment such intelligence was received; but in the Philippines, such were the misunderstandings which had arisen, that the armistice which in Europe had been carried into effect, was here of no avail. The English commander acknowledged no other governor than the Archbishop, and to him he communicated, in the usual form, thecontents of his despatches from his court. The Archbishop transmitted them to Señor Anda, who replied, “That in a matter of such importance and delicacy, the English commander ought immediately to have made him acquainted with it, without the intervention of his Excellency.” On the 27th of August, an English vessel arrived with the preliminaries of peace, and the British council directly handed over the despatches to Señor Anda, sealed and directed to the Commander in Chief of his Catholic Majesty’s arms; but because the addition of Captain-general of the Philippines was omitted, he would not receive it, observing, that being without the corresponding titles, it might be doubted whether the despatches were intended for him.The British commander, to establish the authority of it, published a manifesto on the 19th of September, pointing out the lineof conduct he had observed to Señor Anda, in order to procure a cessation of hostilities as soon as he received the preliminaries of peace, and which, he stated, had been forwarded to him by the prime minister, signed by the British and Spanish ambassadors, and he declared Señor Anda responsible for the blood which might be spilled in consequence of the measures he adopted, so contrary to those laws of humanity which had induced the European powers to sheath the sword. Señor Anda replied to this manifesto by another, published in Bacolor the 28th of September, in which he set forth that he had not been made acquainted with the preliminaries of peace in due form; that as Governor he had not been treated as such, but in that character he should answer the English manifesto, by protesting that the continuation of hostilities could not be imputed to him, but to those who, pursuing a line ofconduct little conformable to the orders of their sovereign, had indirectly impeded their execution.From this moment, however, the English allowed greater latitude to the prisoners in Manila; and Señor Villa Corta, who was considered in that light, availed himself of the indulgence to conceal himself in the house of Don Tomas Dorado, from whence he escaped in a coach under a female dress, and embarked for Pampanga. Señor Anda received him with great affability; and as a mark of his friendship and affection, he left him in Bacolor to transact some matters of business for him, and departed for the camp, in order to transfer it to the town of Polo from Maycavayan, where he had taken up his quarters since the battle of Malinta. In his absence the Archbishop being taken ill, the question was agitated who should be Governor in the event of his death, and Señor Villa Corta observed, that he thoughtit fell to him, as being senior Oidor. This conversation was not so secret but Señor Anda became acquainted with it, and without waiting to remove his camp to Polo, he left proper instructions, and returning to Bacolor he retorted on Villa Corta, who endeavoured to exculpate himself, by pleading that it was merely conversation, and undeserving serious notice: his enquiries and solicitude terminated in discovering that Señor Galban and the royal fiscal were of opinion that Senor Ustariz, Bishop of New Segovia or Ylocos, ought to succeed to the government, in case of the death of the Archbishop, conformable to the recent orders of his Majesty. Señor Anda was anxious to obtain the opinions of the various parties in the islands, and consulted Señor Matos, Bishop of Camarines, and the provincial clergy on the subject. Señor Matos returned him for answer, that the subject was quite foreign to his profession, and that it was the province of the RoyalAudience to decide the point, and that he, as a good subject, should acquiesce in that decision. The provincial friars of St. Augustine and St. Domingo answered him in nearly the same terms; but the provincial of the Jesuits and the Franciscans told him, that in the then situation of the islands he alone could preserve the public tranquillity, and on that account he ought to retain the supreme authority. This diversity of opinion was not very gratifying to Señor Anda, and although the troops were in his favour, he was by no means desirous of having recourse to violence. This induced him to submit so far as to take the opinion of the British commander, and he accordingly wrote to him from Bacolor the 2d of November, 1763.Major Fell, who commanded the English troops, had at this time quitted his command, with the view of proceeding to London, to complain of certain proceedings respecting Monsieur Faller, who wasordered for execution by Admiral Cornish, on account of letters written by him to the commandant at Batavia, in which he termed the admiral a pirate and robber. Governor Drake protected him, and kept him in the hall of the Royal Audience. Fell demanded him, and the Governor refusing to deliver him up, Fell took with him a file of grenadiers, and repaired to the palace. Ascending the staircase, he met the Governor coming down, when an altercation took place, and Fell snatching a fusee from a grenadier, was in the act of bayoneting the Governor, when one of his own soldiers prevented him, and took the musket from him. During this disturbance on the staircase, the grenadiers went to the hall of the Royal Audience, took Faller, and carried him on board ship. Major Fell, in consequence of this, embarked for London, in order to complain of the Governor, and Don Thomas Backhouse took the command. To him it was that SeñorAnda wrote, complaining bitterly of the vexations which the English soldiers had given to his soldiers, and finished by observing, that if he meant to write, he must address him by the titles and in the style due to his rank. Backhouse replied by disclaiming the ground of his complaints, as they referred to a period when he had not the command; and in regard to the government of the islands, he pleaded ignorance of our statutes and laws, but he said he saw, with great grief, strong symptoms of civil war, which threatened the desolation of Manila as soon as evacuated by his Britannic Majesty’s troops. Señor Anda well knew that the English would not acknowledge any other Governor than the Archbishop, and began to spread suspicions that the preliminaries of peace were forged by the English Governor, who found himself driven to extremity by the incursions our people made from the camp ofPolo, and which occasioned a scarcity of provisions in Manila.The English adhering to the resolution of committing no act of hostility, and keeping on the defensive, only endeavoured to procure their provisions in the provinces. With this view they sent to the province of Batan a sloop, with a very few people, to the town of Orion, and taking refuge in the convent, they purchased what provisions they wanted. Señor Anda hearing of this, sent troops against them: the Indians assaulted them through the kitchen, and surprised them, but they saved themselves in the sloop by the negligence of the officer who commanded, and who arrived too late with the rest of the people. In the river Pasig also our people made them abandon two vessels which were going to the Lake for provisions, and they took a galley from the very door of the store-houses. In this manner did the two nations continue their hostilities until the30th of January, 1764. On this day the Archbishop died, oppressed in mind by the miseries he saw the people suffer, and the many inquietudes his employment occasioned him at a moment of such calamity. His Excellency was guilty of only one material error during this war, and that was his engagement to pay four millions to the English, and deliver up the islands to them. It would have been better to have surrendered at discretion than with conditions so hard, and out of his power to comply with: it must be remembered, however, in his justification, that he granted them with the bayonet at his breast, and that the Spaniards who were with him signed the same terms.Immediately after the funeral of the Bishop, Señor Anda received despatches, by way of China, from his Catholic Majesty, communicating the conclusion of peace with the English, to his Governor at Manila; he informed the English commandantof it, offering a suspension of hostilities, and requesting them to take measures for delivering up the place. The English assented to this, and sent to the town of Tambobon the chief engineer, Stevenson, accompanied by Don Edward Vogan as an interpreter, who had been at St. Joseph’s College, and returned to the islands with this expedition as a pilot or guide. On our side was appointed Don Francisco Salgado, with his interpreter, Don Geronimo Ramirez. Their respective powers being produced, they entered on the negociation; but all was reduced to mere squabbling, Salgado exaggerating our strength, which, he said, was equal to the capture of Manila, to which the English officer very archly replied, by asking why they did not take the fort on the Pasig, which was scarcely in a state of defence? Nine days were thus wasted, and nothing concluded on. While under these circumstances, an English vessel arrived,with orders to evacuate the place, and the negociation ceased. This occurrence served to revive the old disputes relative to the succession to the government, and receiving the place from the English. Señor Villa Corta had his supporters, and Señor Ustariz, who had the greatest right, did not want for partizans. Señor Anda had in his favour the circumstance of having defended the islands, and having prevented the English from advancing to the northern provinces; and, above all, he commanded the troops, who were attached to him, and this served to check the pretensions of the others. Most fortunately, at this time, arrived at Marinduque, in the Santa Rosa frigate, Don Francisco de la Torre, despatched by the Viceroy of Mexico as the King’s Lieutenant. Señor Anda sent him a galley, on board of which he embarked and came to Bacolor, where Señor Anda, with much honour and disinterestedness, resigned the government into his hands,conformable to his Sovereign’s orders, on the 17th of March, 1764.Señor Torre sent to Backhouse and Brereton, his Britannic Majesty’s commanding officers at Manila, the despatches, by which he ordered the evacuation of Manila, and they replied, that they were ready to deliver up the place to him in form. He took possession of a house in Santa Cruz, placed a Spanish guard, with advanced centinels, as far as the great bridge, where the advanced guard of the English was, and a friendly communication took place. Governor Drake felt hurt that he had not been consulted on these proceedings, and ordered the Spanish Governor to retire, or abide the consequences. Brereton and Backhouse ordered the troops under arms to arrest the Governor for sending such a hostile message, as the sincerity of both parties was unquestionable. Drake heard of it, and escaping from the city with hissuite, embarked on board the frigate and put to sea.The terms were concluded in an amicable manner, and the day was fixed for giving possession of the place, for which purpose Señor Anda came with the troops which he had in Polo; and Señor Torre being indisposed, he received the town from the English, placed the Spanish guards at the gates, and hoisted the Spanish flag on the fort of Sant Jago, in the midst of salutes of artillery.The English commander, before he quitted Manila, published a manifesto, in which he desired any person who had cause of complaint against the late government to apply to him, and he would do him justice. Señor Villa Corta presented himself, and demanded the repayment of the three thousand dollars he had paid, to redeem the sentence of death passed on him. Brereton ordered them to be returned, observing, that if the sentence was just, itought to have been put in execution, and not be commuted for money; and if unjust, the restitution of the sum was highly proper. The provincial of the Jesuits claimed a sloop which Governor Drake had requested of him, and which he had given gratuitously for the service of the King of Great Britain; but the Governor having appropriated it to his own use, he now requested it might be returned, or four thousand dollars paid for it, which was the sum it was valued at. This was immediately paid him: various other demands were made of less magnitude, which Brereton satisfied with justice and equity.At the instance of the English chiefs, our government published a manifesto, in which a pardon was granted to the Chinese who had joined their party, although some of the ringleaders, not confiding in the manifesto, went away with the English, as did also Faller and Orandain, who were under apprehensions, if they remained in Manila,that they would be beheaded as traitors. Orandain, in his retreat, passed over to Tonquin, and having landed, the natives rose on him, in consequence of some excesses which had been committed by the sailors: they attacked him, and being unable to gain the boats in consequence of waiting for his daughter, whom he had married to an Englishman, and who was on shore with him, both he and his daughter were murdered, thus atoning for the crimes with which he was charged.Manila, Cavite, and Pasig, being delivered up, Brereton embarked and went to Mariveles, where the transport ships were waiting for him; and having despatched a packet-boat with the King of Jolo to restore him to his throne, he set sail for India.The religious orders had co-operated very considerably with Señor Anda, in enabling him to maintain the Indians of the respective districts in obedience to his orders,by inspiring a horror of the English as enemies of the King and their religion, exciting them even to die in fighting cheerfully against them; likewise offering their houses, estates, and riches, and finally exposing their own persons to very imminent risks. All of them exerted themselves uniformly to this end, for which they jointly and individually were honoured with the thanks of his Majesty for their distinguished loyalty; but the Augustines suffered most, for as Señor Anda retired into the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, which these friars governed, they supplied him with recruits and with provisions. They exhorted the Indians, and even forced them, to serve against the English, and to be ready, at all times, to obey orders. The enemy knew that without this resource Señor Anda could not have acquired the means of resistance; and finding that the Augustines gave him every aid, they were declared traitors, eleven were arrested, andcarried away to London and India. All were made prisoners whom they could lay their hands on, and confined in the dungeons of the fort; and they would have been taken away to sea if the preliminaries of peace had not arrived. They plundered a second time their convent; they sold the bells and the library; and a person was even found to purchase the building; in short, every thing they had was confiscated. When Manila was delivered up, in order to repossess themselves of their convent, it was necessary for the provincial to make a contract to pay ten thousand dollars for it, in case the courts of Madrid and London should confirm the confiscation of their property. The British court approved of the conduct of the English council, and, in virtue of its sentence, an Englishman went to Madrid to receive the ten thousand dollars; but our court not consenting to pay this sum, considering it a mere imposition, the English threatened that another opportunitythey would make up the loss; but this dispute, as also that respecting the four millions which the Archbishop promised to pay, is buried in oblivion long ago, and was fully covered by the millions sacrificed in the treaties respecting Nootka Sound, and the whale fisheries on the northern coast of America.All these services of the Augustines to Señor Anda were, however, thrown away, for some of the individuals of their body in the disputes which arose on the succession after the death of the Archbishop, attached themselves to the party of Villa Corta; and consulting their provincial, they replied to Señor Anda, that it was their opinion the dispute ought to be decided by the Royal Audience, and that their decision should be final. So disgusted was he by this determination of the Augustines, that he not only forgot all the services they had rendered him, but on his return as Governor, under some frivolous pretence, he sent soldiers toPampanga, confiscated their property, and put the whole of the order in confinement at Manila, substituting Indian clergy in their room.His Majesty considered attentively all the services the Augustines had rendered in Manila, and ordered that all their property should be restored to them, together with the province of Pampanga; but when this order arrived, the furniture of the poor monks was already rotten in the store-houses, and the friars themselves having been driven into other provinces or dead, were unable to avail themselves of his Majesty’s kindness, and take possession of the province of Pampanga thus allotted to them by his decision. To all which, if the desolation caused by the war is added, the friars will be found to have suffered the most severe losses, and which they have yet scarcely been able to retrieve.Señor Torre being recovered of his indisposition, which was probably only assumed,in order to affordSeñorAnda the opportunity of entering triumphantly into Manila to receive it from the English, as many suspected was the case, he went to reside at the palace, and began, by degrees, to restore order, and to repair the various ravages occasioned by the war. He made arrangements for tranquillizing the province of Pangasinan, and conducted the government with sufficient ability until the arrival of his successor, Field-Marshal Don Joseph Raon; but the occurrences during his and the succeeding government are of too recent a nature to be committed to the press with that candour which the fidelity of historical record requires.
On the 23d of July, 1763, an English frigate arrived with the armistice which had been agreed on by the powers of Spain, France, and England. In any other part of the world hostilities would have ceased, and the chiefs of the contending parties would have been anxious to exchange reciprocal civility and kindness the moment such intelligence was received; but in the Philippines, such were the misunderstandings which had arisen, that the armistice which in Europe had been carried into effect, was here of no avail. The English commander acknowledged no other governor than the Archbishop, and to him he communicated, in the usual form, thecontents of his despatches from his court. The Archbishop transmitted them to Señor Anda, who replied, “That in a matter of such importance and delicacy, the English commander ought immediately to have made him acquainted with it, without the intervention of his Excellency.” On the 27th of August, an English vessel arrived with the preliminaries of peace, and the British council directly handed over the despatches to Señor Anda, sealed and directed to the Commander in Chief of his Catholic Majesty’s arms; but because the addition of Captain-general of the Philippines was omitted, he would not receive it, observing, that being without the corresponding titles, it might be doubted whether the despatches were intended for him.
The British commander, to establish the authority of it, published a manifesto on the 19th of September, pointing out the lineof conduct he had observed to Señor Anda, in order to procure a cessation of hostilities as soon as he received the preliminaries of peace, and which, he stated, had been forwarded to him by the prime minister, signed by the British and Spanish ambassadors, and he declared Señor Anda responsible for the blood which might be spilled in consequence of the measures he adopted, so contrary to those laws of humanity which had induced the European powers to sheath the sword. Señor Anda replied to this manifesto by another, published in Bacolor the 28th of September, in which he set forth that he had not been made acquainted with the preliminaries of peace in due form; that as Governor he had not been treated as such, but in that character he should answer the English manifesto, by protesting that the continuation of hostilities could not be imputed to him, but to those who, pursuing a line ofconduct little conformable to the orders of their sovereign, had indirectly impeded their execution.
From this moment, however, the English allowed greater latitude to the prisoners in Manila; and Señor Villa Corta, who was considered in that light, availed himself of the indulgence to conceal himself in the house of Don Tomas Dorado, from whence he escaped in a coach under a female dress, and embarked for Pampanga. Señor Anda received him with great affability; and as a mark of his friendship and affection, he left him in Bacolor to transact some matters of business for him, and departed for the camp, in order to transfer it to the town of Polo from Maycavayan, where he had taken up his quarters since the battle of Malinta. In his absence the Archbishop being taken ill, the question was agitated who should be Governor in the event of his death, and Señor Villa Corta observed, that he thoughtit fell to him, as being senior Oidor. This conversation was not so secret but Señor Anda became acquainted with it, and without waiting to remove his camp to Polo, he left proper instructions, and returning to Bacolor he retorted on Villa Corta, who endeavoured to exculpate himself, by pleading that it was merely conversation, and undeserving serious notice: his enquiries and solicitude terminated in discovering that Señor Galban and the royal fiscal were of opinion that Senor Ustariz, Bishop of New Segovia or Ylocos, ought to succeed to the government, in case of the death of the Archbishop, conformable to the recent orders of his Majesty. Señor Anda was anxious to obtain the opinions of the various parties in the islands, and consulted Señor Matos, Bishop of Camarines, and the provincial clergy on the subject. Señor Matos returned him for answer, that the subject was quite foreign to his profession, and that it was the province of the RoyalAudience to decide the point, and that he, as a good subject, should acquiesce in that decision. The provincial friars of St. Augustine and St. Domingo answered him in nearly the same terms; but the provincial of the Jesuits and the Franciscans told him, that in the then situation of the islands he alone could preserve the public tranquillity, and on that account he ought to retain the supreme authority. This diversity of opinion was not very gratifying to Señor Anda, and although the troops were in his favour, he was by no means desirous of having recourse to violence. This induced him to submit so far as to take the opinion of the British commander, and he accordingly wrote to him from Bacolor the 2d of November, 1763.
Major Fell, who commanded the English troops, had at this time quitted his command, with the view of proceeding to London, to complain of certain proceedings respecting Monsieur Faller, who wasordered for execution by Admiral Cornish, on account of letters written by him to the commandant at Batavia, in which he termed the admiral a pirate and robber. Governor Drake protected him, and kept him in the hall of the Royal Audience. Fell demanded him, and the Governor refusing to deliver him up, Fell took with him a file of grenadiers, and repaired to the palace. Ascending the staircase, he met the Governor coming down, when an altercation took place, and Fell snatching a fusee from a grenadier, was in the act of bayoneting the Governor, when one of his own soldiers prevented him, and took the musket from him. During this disturbance on the staircase, the grenadiers went to the hall of the Royal Audience, took Faller, and carried him on board ship. Major Fell, in consequence of this, embarked for London, in order to complain of the Governor, and Don Thomas Backhouse took the command. To him it was that SeñorAnda wrote, complaining bitterly of the vexations which the English soldiers had given to his soldiers, and finished by observing, that if he meant to write, he must address him by the titles and in the style due to his rank. Backhouse replied by disclaiming the ground of his complaints, as they referred to a period when he had not the command; and in regard to the government of the islands, he pleaded ignorance of our statutes and laws, but he said he saw, with great grief, strong symptoms of civil war, which threatened the desolation of Manila as soon as evacuated by his Britannic Majesty’s troops. Señor Anda well knew that the English would not acknowledge any other Governor than the Archbishop, and began to spread suspicions that the preliminaries of peace were forged by the English Governor, who found himself driven to extremity by the incursions our people made from the camp ofPolo, and which occasioned a scarcity of provisions in Manila.
The English adhering to the resolution of committing no act of hostility, and keeping on the defensive, only endeavoured to procure their provisions in the provinces. With this view they sent to the province of Batan a sloop, with a very few people, to the town of Orion, and taking refuge in the convent, they purchased what provisions they wanted. Señor Anda hearing of this, sent troops against them: the Indians assaulted them through the kitchen, and surprised them, but they saved themselves in the sloop by the negligence of the officer who commanded, and who arrived too late with the rest of the people. In the river Pasig also our people made them abandon two vessels which were going to the Lake for provisions, and they took a galley from the very door of the store-houses. In this manner did the two nations continue their hostilities until the30th of January, 1764. On this day the Archbishop died, oppressed in mind by the miseries he saw the people suffer, and the many inquietudes his employment occasioned him at a moment of such calamity. His Excellency was guilty of only one material error during this war, and that was his engagement to pay four millions to the English, and deliver up the islands to them. It would have been better to have surrendered at discretion than with conditions so hard, and out of his power to comply with: it must be remembered, however, in his justification, that he granted them with the bayonet at his breast, and that the Spaniards who were with him signed the same terms.
Immediately after the funeral of the Bishop, Señor Anda received despatches, by way of China, from his Catholic Majesty, communicating the conclusion of peace with the English, to his Governor at Manila; he informed the English commandantof it, offering a suspension of hostilities, and requesting them to take measures for delivering up the place. The English assented to this, and sent to the town of Tambobon the chief engineer, Stevenson, accompanied by Don Edward Vogan as an interpreter, who had been at St. Joseph’s College, and returned to the islands with this expedition as a pilot or guide. On our side was appointed Don Francisco Salgado, with his interpreter, Don Geronimo Ramirez. Their respective powers being produced, they entered on the negociation; but all was reduced to mere squabbling, Salgado exaggerating our strength, which, he said, was equal to the capture of Manila, to which the English officer very archly replied, by asking why they did not take the fort on the Pasig, which was scarcely in a state of defence? Nine days were thus wasted, and nothing concluded on. While under these circumstances, an English vessel arrived,with orders to evacuate the place, and the negociation ceased. This occurrence served to revive the old disputes relative to the succession to the government, and receiving the place from the English. Señor Villa Corta had his supporters, and Señor Ustariz, who had the greatest right, did not want for partizans. Señor Anda had in his favour the circumstance of having defended the islands, and having prevented the English from advancing to the northern provinces; and, above all, he commanded the troops, who were attached to him, and this served to check the pretensions of the others. Most fortunately, at this time, arrived at Marinduque, in the Santa Rosa frigate, Don Francisco de la Torre, despatched by the Viceroy of Mexico as the King’s Lieutenant. Señor Anda sent him a galley, on board of which he embarked and came to Bacolor, where Señor Anda, with much honour and disinterestedness, resigned the government into his hands,conformable to his Sovereign’s orders, on the 17th of March, 1764.
Señor Torre sent to Backhouse and Brereton, his Britannic Majesty’s commanding officers at Manila, the despatches, by which he ordered the evacuation of Manila, and they replied, that they were ready to deliver up the place to him in form. He took possession of a house in Santa Cruz, placed a Spanish guard, with advanced centinels, as far as the great bridge, where the advanced guard of the English was, and a friendly communication took place. Governor Drake felt hurt that he had not been consulted on these proceedings, and ordered the Spanish Governor to retire, or abide the consequences. Brereton and Backhouse ordered the troops under arms to arrest the Governor for sending such a hostile message, as the sincerity of both parties was unquestionable. Drake heard of it, and escaping from the city with hissuite, embarked on board the frigate and put to sea.
The terms were concluded in an amicable manner, and the day was fixed for giving possession of the place, for which purpose Señor Anda came with the troops which he had in Polo; and Señor Torre being indisposed, he received the town from the English, placed the Spanish guards at the gates, and hoisted the Spanish flag on the fort of Sant Jago, in the midst of salutes of artillery.
The English commander, before he quitted Manila, published a manifesto, in which he desired any person who had cause of complaint against the late government to apply to him, and he would do him justice. Señor Villa Corta presented himself, and demanded the repayment of the three thousand dollars he had paid, to redeem the sentence of death passed on him. Brereton ordered them to be returned, observing, that if the sentence was just, itought to have been put in execution, and not be commuted for money; and if unjust, the restitution of the sum was highly proper. The provincial of the Jesuits claimed a sloop which Governor Drake had requested of him, and which he had given gratuitously for the service of the King of Great Britain; but the Governor having appropriated it to his own use, he now requested it might be returned, or four thousand dollars paid for it, which was the sum it was valued at. This was immediately paid him: various other demands were made of less magnitude, which Brereton satisfied with justice and equity.
At the instance of the English chiefs, our government published a manifesto, in which a pardon was granted to the Chinese who had joined their party, although some of the ringleaders, not confiding in the manifesto, went away with the English, as did also Faller and Orandain, who were under apprehensions, if they remained in Manila,that they would be beheaded as traitors. Orandain, in his retreat, passed over to Tonquin, and having landed, the natives rose on him, in consequence of some excesses which had been committed by the sailors: they attacked him, and being unable to gain the boats in consequence of waiting for his daughter, whom he had married to an Englishman, and who was on shore with him, both he and his daughter were murdered, thus atoning for the crimes with which he was charged.
Manila, Cavite, and Pasig, being delivered up, Brereton embarked and went to Mariveles, where the transport ships were waiting for him; and having despatched a packet-boat with the King of Jolo to restore him to his throne, he set sail for India.
The religious orders had co-operated very considerably with Señor Anda, in enabling him to maintain the Indians of the respective districts in obedience to his orders,by inspiring a horror of the English as enemies of the King and their religion, exciting them even to die in fighting cheerfully against them; likewise offering their houses, estates, and riches, and finally exposing their own persons to very imminent risks. All of them exerted themselves uniformly to this end, for which they jointly and individually were honoured with the thanks of his Majesty for their distinguished loyalty; but the Augustines suffered most, for as Señor Anda retired into the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, which these friars governed, they supplied him with recruits and with provisions. They exhorted the Indians, and even forced them, to serve against the English, and to be ready, at all times, to obey orders. The enemy knew that without this resource Señor Anda could not have acquired the means of resistance; and finding that the Augustines gave him every aid, they were declared traitors, eleven were arrested, andcarried away to London and India. All were made prisoners whom they could lay their hands on, and confined in the dungeons of the fort; and they would have been taken away to sea if the preliminaries of peace had not arrived. They plundered a second time their convent; they sold the bells and the library; and a person was even found to purchase the building; in short, every thing they had was confiscated. When Manila was delivered up, in order to repossess themselves of their convent, it was necessary for the provincial to make a contract to pay ten thousand dollars for it, in case the courts of Madrid and London should confirm the confiscation of their property. The British court approved of the conduct of the English council, and, in virtue of its sentence, an Englishman went to Madrid to receive the ten thousand dollars; but our court not consenting to pay this sum, considering it a mere imposition, the English threatened that another opportunitythey would make up the loss; but this dispute, as also that respecting the four millions which the Archbishop promised to pay, is buried in oblivion long ago, and was fully covered by the millions sacrificed in the treaties respecting Nootka Sound, and the whale fisheries on the northern coast of America.
All these services of the Augustines to Señor Anda were, however, thrown away, for some of the individuals of their body in the disputes which arose on the succession after the death of the Archbishop, attached themselves to the party of Villa Corta; and consulting their provincial, they replied to Señor Anda, that it was their opinion the dispute ought to be decided by the Royal Audience, and that their decision should be final. So disgusted was he by this determination of the Augustines, that he not only forgot all the services they had rendered him, but on his return as Governor, under some frivolous pretence, he sent soldiers toPampanga, confiscated their property, and put the whole of the order in confinement at Manila, substituting Indian clergy in their room.
His Majesty considered attentively all the services the Augustines had rendered in Manila, and ordered that all their property should be restored to them, together with the province of Pampanga; but when this order arrived, the furniture of the poor monks was already rotten in the store-houses, and the friars themselves having been driven into other provinces or dead, were unable to avail themselves of his Majesty’s kindness, and take possession of the province of Pampanga thus allotted to them by his decision. To all which, if the desolation caused by the war is added, the friars will be found to have suffered the most severe losses, and which they have yet scarcely been able to retrieve.
Señor Torre being recovered of his indisposition, which was probably only assumed,in order to affordSeñorAnda the opportunity of entering triumphantly into Manila to receive it from the English, as many suspected was the case, he went to reside at the palace, and began, by degrees, to restore order, and to repair the various ravages occasioned by the war. He made arrangements for tranquillizing the province of Pangasinan, and conducted the government with sufficient ability until the arrival of his successor, Field-Marshal Don Joseph Raon; but the occurrences during his and the succeeding government are of too recent a nature to be committed to the press with that candour which the fidelity of historical record requires.