Of the Defence of the Islands by the Oidor Don Simon de Anda.
On the day before the capture of Manila, Senor Anda quitted the city,
with the title of visitor and lieutenant governor, in order to maintain
the islands in obedience to the King of Spain. He arrived at Bulacan
with forty orders under the royal seal, which were the only supply
of arms and money with which he was furnished, as the treasure had
been sent to the Lake Bay. As soon as it was known in Bulacan that
the English were in possession of Manila, he summoned a meeting,
at which were present the Father Hernandez, who filled the office of
provincial of St. Augustine, the chief magistrates of the province,
and other Spaniards and Augustine friars, and laying before them the
resolutions of the Royal Audience, and the authority with which he was
furnished by the Governor to defend the islands, he at the same time
adverted to the insufficiency of their force to make resistance to the
English. They highly praised all the measures of the Royal Audience
and the Governor of Manila, and promised to spill the last drop of
their blood rather than forsake him. The monks offered to raise troops
in the towns for the service, and conduct them to the field. He gave
them thanks for their loyalty, and thinking that the title of visitor
appeared of too little importance for the undertaking he was upon,
he declared himself under the necessity of having recourse to certain
old established regulations, which ordain that the Royal Audience may
be preserved in the person of one Oidor, and in case of a vacancy in
the government seat, that the Royal Audience may take the government,
and the oldest Oidor command the military, unless any other arrangement
should be made by his Majesty. And on this occasion the other Oidors
and Governor being prisoners of war, and dead in the eye of the law,
all these offices fell of necessity on him. He accordingly got himself
acknowledged as Governor of the islands, in which capacity, joined
to the office of Royal Audience, he circulated his orders to the
different alcaldes and ecclesiastical superintendants of missions,
no one, in the smallest degree, questioning his authority.
Senor Anda fixed his residence, and the seat of government, at the
town of Bacolor, the capital of the province of Pampanga, where he
sent the Augustine friars, accompanied by some troops, some fugitives
from Manila, and some Indian militia: the friars were directed to
watch over the tranquillity and security of the provinces of Pampanga
and Bulacan. Had the English then despatched a small detachment for
the purpose, they would have got possession of those two provinces;
but General Draper was not disposed to think the acquisition of these
islands an object of such difficult attainment as to require such
prompt measures.
The British council left by General Draper in Manila followed his
plans, and convening a meeting of the principal inhabitants of the
city, Senor Anda was declared by this assembly a seditious person,
and deserving of capital punishment. The same censure extended to
the Marquis of Monte Castro, who having been allowed his parole of
honour, had not returned at the appointed time, and likewise to the
provincial of Saint Augustine, who had joined the party of Senor
Anda: all the Augustine friars too were declared traitors. At this
meeting much discussion took place on the subject of making up the
deficiency of the million in specie which had been stipulated for,
but the Spaniards replied, that with what had been taken in the
Trinidad, which, according to the articles of capitulation, was
not to be deemed a prize, the amount had been made good, and the
religious establishments pleaded that they had been stripped of all
their valuables.
The English council forcibly recommended, that the friars should
impress upon the Indians the necessity of peaceable conduct under the
novelty of their situation, as otherwise their interference with them
would be totally interdicted. But the prior of St. Augustine being
urged to use his influence with the friars of Bulacan and Pampanga,
answered, that they were not under his authority, but under the
provincial, who was his superior. For this guarded reply he was ordered
to be confined in his convent; and although he in person represented
to the council that he ought not to be considered as a prisoner of war,
having come to Manila under a protection granted by them, they refused
to listen to him, but ordered him to be escorted back to his convent
with bayonets fixed, leaving a guard to prevent his quitting it.
The English perceiving that decrees were of very little service, and
that it was necessary to have recourse to force, determined to take
possession of a position on the Pasig, in order to open a passage for
provisions from the Lake Bay; and Thomas Backhouse, whom the Spaniards
called Becus for that purpose, filed off with five hundred men to the
left of the river. He arrived in front of Maybonga, where the famous
Bustos was stationed with his Cagayans, ready to defend the passage
of the river. He fired upon the first English party that advanced,
but as soon as they returned it, he retired to Maraquina with his
people. The enemy passed the river without hesitation, and sent an
officer with a white flag, to summons the Indians to surrender. The
boasting little Governor answered, that the Pasig was not Manila, and
if the Spaniards had given that up to them in a treacherous manner,
he would defend his post to the last; adding, that should the officer
return with the white flag (a trick he might deceive children with),
he would hang him on the first tree. This reply being reported to
Backhouse, he immediately ordered the troops to march, and the two
field-pieces he had with him beginning to play, the Indians became
alarmed to such a degree, that they fled precipitately. Such, indeed,
was their hurry and confusion at the bridge near the convent, that
numbers of them were drowned.
The English got possession of the convent without resistance, and
pursued the Indians as if they had been a flock of goats as far as
the river Bamban, which they swam over, at least all those who had
the good fortune to escape the enemy's bullets. The King of Jolo,
attempting to defend a post occupied by his family, was obliged to
surrender. The English fortified this post, and maintained themselves
in it till the peace.
By this time Senor Anda had collected some troops, which he was enabled
to maintain with the money which had been saved in Pampanga. Bustos,
in the capacity of his lieutenant-general, paraded the province
of Bulacan, making an ostentatious display of the power of Senor
Anda; and the Pampangan Indians, commanded by a Franciscan and an
Augustine friar, advanced to Maysilo, about two leagues distance
from Manila, idly expecting that Bustos would support them under
all circumstances. The English sallied out to dislodge them; and
our Indians formed an ambuscade, in which they hoped to succeed
by counterfeiting death, when it was said that many of the enemy
fell; but a friar asserted, that by means of a glass he had observed
from the Tambobon tower that the Indians only let fly their arrows,
and immediately made the best of their way. Certain it is that the
English burnt Maysilo, and re-entered Manila with their field-pieces,
without any diminution of their numbers.
The Augustine friars still remained prisoners in their convents,
although sometimes permitted to leave them, but restricted within the
walls of the city. A counter order, however, was very unexpectedly
issued, depriving them of that indulgence. It was thought that the
English had recourse to this method, to compel them to deliver up the
money, which, it was said, they had secreted. Persevering, however,
in their firmness, they were accused of a participation in the plans
of the Augustine friars of Pampanga, who favoured the views of Anda,
and twelve of them were embarked for Europe, of whom, however, one
was liberated at the request of the Archbishop.
The remaining friars being embarked, the English entered the convent,
and stripped it of every valuable. They found six thousand dollars
in coin in the garden, together with the wrought silver they had hid
during the treaty for the million. The reliques of the Saints even
were not spared, and were torn down, in order to carry off the cases
which contained them. Before the vessels sailed in which the friars
were embarked, the British commander determined upon an expedition
against Bulacan, in the expectation that this would finally close the
undertaking, and enable him to sail for Bombay and England. The convent
of Bulacan was in some respect fortified with three small guns and six
falconetes, and there were in it some artillerymen, and many Indians
with bows and arrows. It was the object of the English, of course,
to dislodge these troops, for which purpose a squadron sailed on the
18th of January, 1763, under the command of Captain Eslay, of the
grenadiers, who arrived with about six hundred men, ready for action,
many of them Chinese, who followed the English. Their intention was
to enter the bar of Binoangan, but being prevented by contrary winds,
they proceeded to that of Pumarava, close to Malolos. The following
day they arrived there, and coasting for two leagues by the marshes
they arrived at Malolos, where they effected the landing without
any impediment whatever, for the troops which we had there retired
precipitately, the Indians to their houses, and the Spaniards to the
convent of Calumpit. Whilst the English were marching to Bulacan,
Bustos sallied out to reconnoitre them, and seeing they were superior
to him in numbers, he returned to the convent, persuading the alcalde
mayor and the Franciscan friar who commanded there, to burn the convent
and retire; but unable to succeed in his object, he retreated with
his people. The English force arriving in sight of the convent, our
people did much mischief by means of a cannon loaded with case-shot,
which commanded the street, and as the Chinese composed the vanguard,
they alone suffered, and that severely. The English commander ordered
his field-pieces to be pointed at this gun; and so correct was the
aim, that the head of Ybarra, who commanded there, was carried off,
which so appalled the Indians, that they fled in a most tumultuous
manner; the consequence of which was, that the gates being forced,
the enemy entered sword in hand, and an indiscriminate slaughter took
place. The alcalde mayor and the Franciscan friar (who was the head
of the clergy there) fell in this action, and of two Augustines one
escaped, and the other being taken, was, with all the Indians found in
the place, delivered up by the English to the Chinese, who murdered
them in cold blood, in revenge for the death of their countrymen
during the attack. Having got possession of Bulacan, the English
commandant despatched the principal part of his force to Manila,
remaining with three hundred seapoys only. Bustos and Eslava advanced
against him, and though they brought with them eight thousand men,
all Indians, six hundred of whom were cavalry, they were not hardy
enough to attempt to dislodge him; and they contented themselves with
cutting off his communications, and giving him occasional alarms. The
English commandant having sent some small parties against them with
little effect, he sallied out in person, with the major part of his
people, and made our troops run in a most dastardly manner, under the
apprehension that he would pursue them to the province of Pampanga;
but he did no more than cut down the underwood, which served as an
ambush for the Indians, and then returned to the convent.
Bustos, as soon as the English retired, returned to occupy his old
position; but from this he was a second time dislodged as shamefully
as at first. This kind of warfare, however, was very useful; for the
English commander, not daring to advance far, obtained permission from
the British council to retire from the position, which he executed
in an orderly manner, without any interruption from our people,
having first burnt the church and convent of Bulacan.
Admiral Cornish now determined to return to the peninsula, but before
his departure, he ordered the remaining two millions to be raised and
paid in, threatening to give the city, and its suburbs, up to plunder
a second time, if his requisition was not complied with. This gave
the Archbishop excessive uneasiness, and he did not rest until he
persuaded him to take an order on the treasury of Madrid. Senor Anda,
in consequence of the death of the alcalde of Bulacan, appointed Bustos
governor of that province, continuing him as his lieutenant-general,
and ordering him to raise troops, and teach them the manual exercise,
while the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of Manila, with the monks,
contributed arms, lead, and other articles of war, exciting, at the
same time, desertion from the city, and expecting by all these means
to enable Anda to form a respectable body of troops, with which he
might confine the English to Manila, and possibly drive them out of
it. A French serjeant, named Bretana, favoured much the desertion
of the Frenchmen, which the English had brought with them of those
they captured in Pondicherry; and he himself having also deserted,
Senor Anda made him a captain.
The Spanish regulars, too, who had been made prisoners in Manila,
deserted very generally, and at a public entertainment which the
English gave, many of them escaped through a small breach in the fort,
whilst the attention of the enemy was otherwise engaged.
In order to check this spirit of desertion, Admiral Cornish confined
all the Frenchmen, and the Spanish regulars, to the side of the town
next the sea, using every precaution in his power to prevent Senor
Anda from receiving any succours from the town and its suburbs. In
consequence of these precautions, many were caught in the act of
absconding, and friars and secular clergy formed a large portion of
the number. In that number were Senor Viana, the fiscal, and Senor
Villa Corta. This latter, whilst a prisoner, very incautiously wrote
to Senor Anda, and gave a man fifty dollars to convey the letter. The
guard intercepted the money and letter; and a council of war was held
on him, which sentenced him to be hanged, and his four quarters to
be exhibited in the public places. Having accordingly confessed,
and prepared himself for his fate, the Archbishop obtained his
pardon, on condition that Senor Anda would retire from Pampanga to
another province. The Archbishop and Villa Corta wrote to Senor Anda,
supplicating him to accede to the proposal of the English, in order
that that magistrate might be saved from the ignominious death which
awaited him. He replied to Villa Corta, lamenting his situation,
but refusing to accede to his application. To the Archbishop his
letter was of so shameful a nature, that the English having perused
it, ordered it to be burnt by the common hangman, not permitting the
Archbishop to read it.
This mode of saving Villa Corta's life having failed, he availed
himself of other means, and for three thousand dollars paid down,
the sentence pronounced against him was remitted.
During these transactions in Manila, the commanding officer of Pasig
(Backhouse) had gone to the provinces of the Lake and Batangas, in
order to intercept the money of the Philipino, which, it was said, was
on its way thither. He left his position on the Pasig with eighty mixed
troops, arrived at the bar of Tagui, and removing the sampans (which
our people had grounded on the bar to prevent his passage), he entered
the Great Lake, and proceeded to Tunasan; from whence dislodging the
troops which had fortified themselves in the government-house, he
plundered it of every thing. He did the same in Binan and Santa Rosa,
where he embarked for Pagsanhan, the capital of the province of the
Lake. As soon as our people perceived him, they set fire to the church
and convent, and took precipitately to flight. Backhouse returned
to Calamba, and entering the province of Batangas, he traversed it
completely, making prisoners of some Augustine friars, who had the
direction of that province; and in the town of Lipa he got possession
of three thousand dollars, which some Spaniards had secreted there. In
this town he took up his quarters, in expectation of the money being
landed from the Philipino; but he shortly after understood that
it had been secretly ordered away by sea to the opposite coast of
Santor, a town of Pampanga, by which precaution the money was saved;
and Backhouse, being woefully disappointed of his booty, returned
to Pasig. Senor Anda, by the possession of the Philipino's money,
was enabled to collect a respectable force; all the Spaniards who had
retired from Manila, and lived in misery, enlisting under his banners,
to procure pay and subsistence. This force being appointed and rendered
effective, he ordered his Lieutenant-General, Bustos, to form a camp
at Malinta, a house belonging to the Augustine friars, a league and
a half from Manila. The officers took up their quarters in the house,
and the soldiers pitched their tents around. This disposition of the
encampment being made, to strengthen it some redoubts and palisadoes
were constructed by the Serjeant Bretana, who had been promoted to
a company, and was apparently the most intelligent of the whole of
them. From this place our people made excursions to the outskirts
of Manila, and on one occasion they took the horses from the coach
belonging to a dignified clergyman. On another occasion, the English
commander himself had nearly been taken by them. One night Bustos sent
a piquet guard to get possession of the bells of the town of Quiapo,
close to the walls of Manila, in order to be cast into cannon, which
were much wanted; and so alarmed were the English, that they sent
out one hundred fusileers, and fifty horse, with an immense number
of Chinese; but notwithstanding this, after an action of an hour and
a half, the piquet succeeded in bringing off the bells. The English
finding themselves very weak, and rather alarmed at these incursions of
the troops of Malinta, called in all the piquets which were without the
city, and dug ditches, in order to cut off the communication, and have
a less extended line to cover; and in a manifesto which they published,
ordering the Spaniards to retire within the walls of the city, out of
the range of the artillery, which they were obliged to keep playing
against these Malinta troops, to prevent their surrounding them,
they bestowed on these troops the appellations of canaille and robbers.
On the 19th of May, 1763, Senor Anda published in Bacolor
a counter-manifesto, in which he complains that the English put
the guns they took in Bulacan under the gallows, in contempt of the
magistrate from whom they had taken them; that they called the King's
troops robbers and canaille; that they had promised five thousand
dollars for his head, dead or alive; and in consequence of all this,
he declared Drake and his colleagues, Smith and Brock, tyrants, common
enemies, and unworthy of human society, offering for either of them,
alive or dead, ten thousand dollars. The English council replied to all
these charges in a manifesto, in which they complain of the conduct of
the Spaniards; but as a paper war was of little avail in furnishing
them with the provisions they were deprived of by the interruption
occasioned by the Malinta troops, they resolved to dislodge Bustos,
and with the greatest secrecy despatched three hundred and fifty
fusileers, fifty horse, together with a great number of Chinese,
to convey the necessary guns and ammunition. The English made this
sortie on the 27th of June, and arrived at the river, in front of
our post, before day-break. As soon as our people discovered them
they began to form, but before we were prepared the fire with their
field-pieces commenced, the Spaniards answering with five small guns,
followed up by the musketry; but neither daring to pass the river,
they were expending their powder to no purpose until eleven o'clock,
when the English retired in good order to the King's house at Maysilo,
where they remained until it was understood that Bustos had burnt
Malinta house, and removed his camp to Meycavayan. They then retired
into Manila in the evening. On our side we had two killed and seven
wounded, of which five afterwards died; and of the enemy there
were thirteen wounded, of which five or six died afterwards in the
hospital. The Indians of Caloocan intercepted some people conveying
provisions to the English camp; and another party of Indians made
prisoners a party of Chinese, who had strayed for the purpose of
plunder. These were the last actions of this war, for on the 23d
of July an English frigate arrived with the preliminaries of peace,
and a cessation of hostilities of course took place.