in fidelity, zeal, and disinterestedness to your Majesty's service,
I do not yield to the highest. Consequently, so far as it concerns
me, I would have kept quiet about the ugly stigma of traitor, simply
in order not to reveal the omissions of a prelate, recognizing its
nullity because of the defects of jurisdiction in this one and in the
English; and that I cannot be a rebel to your Majesty when defending
your states, nor to the English since I am not nor have any desire of
being an English vassal. Hence said sentence well understood becomes
a new proof of my nobility and loyalty. It is a shame to the truth
of the nation that it has had a vassal of so extraordinary thought,
and that he could take example from the very enemy. For although it
is true that these followed the rules, because of their utility and
convenience in this matter, of the reverend archbishop, notwithstanding
that they gave me the title of general and commander-in-chief of the
troops of your Majesty in the provinces, and finally recognized me as
your Audiencia, governor, and captain-general. However, the reverend
archbishop, although your vassal, and so honored, passed to the other
life, without doing it. It is a fact that the English declared me a
rebel and traitor; confiscated and sold my property as such; declared
your troops in public edicts to be canaille and robbers; and your
artillery captured in the foundry of Bulacan for more contempt, was
placed under the gallows of this city. Barbarous and unheard of are
these acts of disrespect against the supreme honor of your Majesty,
to whom it alone belongs to ask for the fitting satisfaction, and
to me to report it. But surely the English would not have incurred
them, had the reverend archbishop borne himself as he ought to have
done as a prisoner and had he not treated me as an insurgent. But
since the reverend archbishop and his partisans and many traitors of
both estates whom your Majesty has had, forced the title of rebel
and insurgent against me; and although I was unworthy, I was the
only one in whom your royal name was conserved which since it was
becoming utterly despised in these islands, it appeared absolutely
necessary to me, because of the vassalage which I owe to your Majesty,
to defend your name, although opposed by so many dangers to my life,
surrounded by traitors and assassins, who came from Manila to attack
my person, which without a soldier or the slightest war equipment,
during the first six months it was conserved, I believe, by divine
Providence alone for defending a cause so just as the side of your
Majesty. [180] On the day when they captured the fort, the enemy had
more friends in it than your Majesty, but much of it was in imitation
of a prelate who had just been governor, whose persuasions and threats
were alone directed to surrendering everything to the English.
Even if I had understood the law badly, and I had no right by it to be
the governing Audiencia, it was sufficient to have hoisted your royal
standard, so that every loyal vassal might follow it, and with greater
reason, those of character, distinguished and honored by your Majesty.
I received a letter from the governor of Zamboanga, Don Ygnacio
Andrade, which an English captain left him for the reverend archbishop,
written in the port of San Jorge, June 7, 1762, and signed by Jorge
Pigot, Governor of Madrast. By its expressions one can see the close
and previous correspondence which the reverend archbishop had with
the English. It must be noted that the said captain, Darrimple [i.e.,
Dalrymple] whom it cites later as having sounded all these islands,
of which repeated advices were given to the reverend archbishop,
came to cast anchor in this bay, in the year 61, without allowing
aboard his vessel the guard which the fort sent to him. And instead
of securing him, he showed him many courtesies. That captain dined
at the palace, examined all the walls, its strength, the beach, even
the powder factory, sounded the entire bay, and information having
been given to the fort of this innovation, by a sentinel, yet he was
allowed to go out freely when he pleased. For those special favors,
the said governor of Madrás gives him [i.e., the archbishop] many
thanks, and although it is not expressed in the letters, the head of
the staff which he sends him. The said governor of Zamboanga sent it
as a gift from the English to the reverend archbishop, who did not
care to have his name mixed up in a matter so delicate.
Lastly, I add for the more complete conviction of your reverend
archbishop, the fact that he refused to send the seal to this your
royal Audiencia, which existed as long as it cared in the barrio of
Santa Cruz; and that rice growers lived outside the walls of this
city, where trade and commerce with the provinces was both free and
continuous, and whence I got the one hundred thousand pesos of said
effects, and most of the war supplies which were the greatest danger,
but not the royal seal.
May God preserve the Catholic royal person of your Majesty for the
protection of these fields of Christendom. Manila, July 23, 764. [181]
Don Simon de Anda y Salazar
LETTER FROM VELA TO GONZALEZ
My brother, Antonio Gonzalez:
The letter which you wrote from Madrid arrived together with that
of this place, but no other has arrived. By the same boat also came
[news of] the peace, whereupon the English again delivered the place
to our governor. [182] It was almost bare of cannon, as the English
had taken them. For eighteen months were we under the rule of the
heretic, with sufferings greater than can be imagined there. They
acted toward us worse than do the victorious Turks toward those whom
they conquer. However, Manila well deserved it, not indeed, because of
its total lack of all Christian procedure, but singularly because of
its cursed neglect of politics, as if the whole world had to respect
and fear us because of our boasting that we are Spaniards.
Manila is a place, which, by its fortification, by its swampy site,
by its location surrounded by a river larger than the Tajo at Toledo,
and by a low sea, and because the only time at which it can be attacked
is at the time of the fierce winds and heavy and almost continuous
rains--it is, I say--for all these reasons, almost invincible, with
less than a medium defense of true militia. For no power can place
here fifteen or twenty thousand well drilled men. All that would be
necessary, in order to oppose a moderate defense by one thousand or
one thousand five hundred well-drilled men, established in Manila,
and aided by the inhabitants and volunteer Indians. But on the
present occasion, when the sole sinews of the English were about one
thousand five hundred Europeans, and the rest [of their men] about five
thousand, whom they said were ragamuffins from Asia, with the carriages
and horses of Manila driven along its beach, the English could not
have effected a landing. But our archiepiscopal government, counseled
by worthless hearts and by traitors, allowed the English to disembark
without opposition. The fifteen ships cannonaded to no purpose; and
because a cannon caused the greatest ship to retire, order was given
not to fire from the fort without orders, and that it was to be used
for the attack by land. Some commanded, others countermanded, because
they asserted that they would anger the English more. A reënforcement
of drilled Indians came, but they were not allowed to make a sally,
for the archbishop-governor said that it was better to seize the enemy
without grievously vexing him. In a sally, the Indians reached quite
to the artillery abandoned by the English. The enemy rallied, and the
Indians not having any disciplined reënforcement, fell back. Four days
of heavy rains, and boisterous winds, which God sent, and by which
one ship was driven ashore, and the others endeavored only to look
out for themselves, gained nothing for the obstruction of the English,
neither toward the sea, nor toward [land]. Their powder was used up,
and they dead with hunger and with cold, could not resist. It was
thus that the traitors arranged it with the worthy archbishop, who
would listen to no one but to those who had the boldness to introduce
English officers who had been invited to dine, into Manila. There
it was agreed that the assault was to be made October 5, and that
all would be defenseless and open. So it happened. At seven or eight
o'clock, it was ordered that the garrison of the attacked bastion and
of its lateral, should retire to breakfast. Some loyal men refused,
as they were fearful of the outcome. Thereupon, the English attacked
the bastion, which did not even have any breach, but some holes
which [occur] in the soft stone of this region. And climbing from
hole to hole, and those from below aiding those who were climbing,
they mounted the bastion. The lateral, although it did not have more
than three men, fired a cannon contrary to orders, and others also
captured the highest officer of the attack. It was enough to make all
the rest of the English retire; but encouraged by seeing their men
in the attacked bastion, and that the lateral was now firing no more,
for the three alone could not manage their cannons, the crowd mounted
the bastion, and then a traitor guided them. There was no reserve in
the fort for such a blow. They reached the square of the palace, where
only the Indians resisted them. But they yielded to the instances of
some Spaniards who saw that resistance was already dangerous. The
archbishop-governor left the citadel where he could have defended
himself very easily: and he could even have easily recovered the
fort and chapter house; but neither one nor the others did that. The
citadel was to be surrendered, as well as Cavite, but our ship which
was coming was to be left alone, if they had not already captured it
before the fifth of October. A few days after, all the islands were
likewise to be delivered up, and four millions [of pesos].
Auditor Anda departed one day before with authority from the governor
and Audiencia, to maintain royal jurisdiction in the islands. He did
so as by a miracle, having retired to Pampanga. The English wished
to first conquer Pasig, which was guarded by Indians. They attained
their end after a short bombardment, and opened a passage to the
provisions of Laguna. They thought it best also to go to Pampanga
to destroy Señor Anda, but having been attacked about one legua or
so from Manila by Señor Anda's men, they were completely routed,
and left many slain. The survivors fled to Manila as best they could,
notwithstanding that a third part of our men, deceived by the traitors
of Manila, did not attack, contrary to the order of Señor Anda. The
English and their allies, our traitors, seeing that it was difficult
by force, devoted their energies to trickery. First, they tried to
induce the Chinese to kill Señor Anda, as he was now cried by heralds
as a traitor to the king and a reward of two or four thousand pesos
promised to whomever should kill and deliver him up. The Chinese had
agreed upon the fitting night to kill him and all the Spaniards of his
faction. A few days before, having some suspicion, he seized a letter
from a Chinese written in Chinese characters to another Chinese of
Manila. He summoned a Chinese mestizo to interpret it. But either for
malice or through ignorance, the latter said whatever came into his
head. Thereupon, he made use of a Dominican Chinese, who declared the
treason of the letter. Days before the arrival of this declaration,
everything was already known, because a Chinese fired a blunderbuss at
Señor Anda which only damaged his coat. Thereupon, he seized as many
Chinese as he could with his small troop of Spaniards and Indians, and
after taking their depositions had them hanged. There were more than
two hundred [of them]. Many others who escaped informed the English
and Chinese of Manila, and the latter petitioned the English to kill
all the Spaniards of Manila, while they would do the same with those
outside, without excepting the ecclesiastics. The English would not
consent, but determined to attack Pampanga, encouraged more by the
treason of the Indians of Laguna who treacherously killed their alcalde
and other Spaniards, and set another ambush for those who escaped on
the following day, though the latter also escaped that. The cause for
this attempt was that the alcalde punished the captain of a village
because he had invited all the province to welcome the English with
a hundred maidens so that they might have their aid in killing all
the Spaniards. The hardships that the Spaniards, who fled from the
English, suffered in all the villages of Laguna, are unspeakable.
With these results the English were emboldened to besiege Bulacan, in
order to open a road to Pampanga. Aided by the Sangleys, and much more
by the Spanish traitors of Manila, who gave them the method of being
able to attain it, and secretly perverted many chiefs of the village,
the English set out on the roads shown them by the traitors. Although
it cost them many people, they seized the church, for the Spaniards
ran short of powder, as the Indians, induced by the Spaniards of
Manila, had hidden it. But the loyal Spaniards of Bulacan, by means
of stratagem and trickery, held the English besieged in the same
church. Three times did the latter receive reënforcements of supplies
and men from Manila, but they were never able to pass. Finally, those
who were left returned to Manila with great loss. And not even one
would have returned had it not been that continually, because of the
treachery of the Indians, they found the few Spaniards without powder.
The English tried, finally, to drive out the rest, so that they could
seize the silver of our ship, and attacked our advance troop with
great secrecy. They reached the troop at dawn. The fire was heavy, and
caused the English to retire completely routed; and had we not lacked
carriages to our cannons, not a single Englishman would have returned
to Manila, where they arrived scattered, and with many of the chief
officers wounded. Our killed did not reach the number of ten, while
theirs, counting the Chinese, exceeded one thousand. Next night they
endeavored to prevent our troops from taking the bells of Quiapo for
cannons, and without succeeding against only fifteen Spaniards, they
lost more than fifty English and more than two hundred Chinese. They
attempted to enter Pampanga by sea with one ship and small boats,
but they left many dead on the beach and some of their boats, while
the ship and those who could get back to it fled to Cavite. In fine,
we have found them cowardly; and had they not been aided by traitors
and Chinese they would not have captured Manila, nor after capturing
it could they have retained it two months. The losses which have been
incurred because of them exceed four millions. Father Joaquin Mezquida
and Father Patricio del Barrio are going [to Spain] as procurators,
and they can tell much, although not all.
Father Mezquida is taking one hundred pesos so that my brother,
your uncle, Manuel, may divide them equally among your mother, my
sister Ana, my brother Lucas, and my sister Juana; the children also
of my brother Joseph sharing equally--not each one a part, but one
part among them all. I do not know whether this will reach the ship,
and I am making the greatest efforts in writing, for I am secretary
to the provincial Pazuengos whom you knew there.
My brother will tell my brother Manuel that I wrote him quite at length
by the ship captured by the English, thanking him for the aid which
he extended to Ana's two children; and that in regard to the other
matter between him and his wife, it is better for him to do it alone,
and it will be better for his nephews, and that he should forget
the wrongs that come to his mind. Tell him also to send me by Father
Patricio two pairs of gray worsted stockings because my legs get cold,
some pairs of scissors of good temper, and some boxwood combs. I tell
you this in case I can not write it to him. And since my [brother]
lives in Madrid, let him get from the fathers the Mercurios [183]
and interesting papers that are published and send them to me. Little
by little, my brother can get many of them, for after some months,
people do not care for them, and do not object to giving them.
Tell your mother, when you see her, to pray God for me often, and that
I hope that my desires of seeing her in heaven soon will be answered,
for now my health is not what it was before. Manila, July 24, 1764. My
brother's humble servant,
Baltasar Vela (rubric)
[Addressed: "To Brother Antonio Gonzalez, of the Society of Jesus,
and if he be dead, to his superior. Madrid."]
SYNOPSIS OF COMMUNICATIONS BY ANDA TO CARLOS III
Substantial extract of the result and purpose of forty-six
representations made to his Majesty by Don Simon de Anda Salazar,
informing him of what he has done as Audiencia, governor, and
captain-general of Filipinas during all the time that the English
occupied the city of Manila and its port of Cavite, under terms of
the capitulation which was made between the English general and the
reverend archbishop who was governing those islands at that time.
All the representations are dated June and July, of last year
1764. Among them some relate that the archbishop-governor and the
other auditors of that Audiencia having been made prisoners of war
in Manila, Don Simon not having been included among them because of
being in the village of Bulacan at that time, attending to the general
inspection of all the provinces of the district of that Audiencia,
in accordance with the order and prescription of law clxxx of título
xv, book ii of the laws of the Yndias, by which it is ordered that if
the auditors of the Audiencia are absent and only one of them remain,
the Audiencia is to be conserved and continued in him as said governor
and captain-general, in accordance with other determining laws.
Under this character, he proceeded immediately to enact measures
according as his spirit dictated to him, both for the military,
and in order to restrict the English to the vicinity of Manila,
causing himself to be obeyed, assembling troops, furnishing arms,
getting ammunition, and doing in this line whatever he could, the most
experienced and practical general making sallies, holding functions,
remaining glorious in his expeditions, and the enemy conquered and
intimidated.
In regard to what concerns the representation of the Audiencia, he
exercised all the jurisdiction which belonged to it, administering
justice to the parties at law, punishing criminals, and fulminating
causes against those under suspicion of disloyalty.
As governor he attended to all economic matters. In order that
provisions might not fail, or be sold at a dearer price than they
had before the siege of Manila in those provinces, for that purpose
he made regulations, published edicts, imposing severe penalties
on those who transgressed them. By this method he obtained the end
which he desired. He also succeeded in getting the royal official
treasurer who had removed the treasury from Manila as soon as the
squadron of the enemy entered that bay, to transfer it from the
province of Laguna to that of Bulacan, where the above-mentioned
Don Simon was stationed in order that he might have some means to
meet the needs that might arise. He forbade anyone to dare to go
to the city of Manila, or under any pretext, to carry food, or arms
[thither]. Neither was permission given to give entrance, lodging,
aid, or help to the English. Those vassals obeyed that as well as the
calced religious of St. Augustine, who had the province of Bulacan
in charge. The Augustinians attended the several meetings which he
called, all of them showing love and zeal for the service of their
king and sovereign, and a blind obedience to Don Simon de Anda, whom
they recognized as Audiencia, governor, and captain-general. They
succeeded in preventing the blotting out of the name of his Majesty
from those provinces, and observed a steadfast obedience to him. [184]
There result also the various measures which he enacted in order to
assure the patache "Filipino" and its wealth, which came from Acapulco
and had arrived at the province of Leite, and which was thought to be
exposed to surprise and capture by the enemy. Those attempts succeeded
so happily that they were landed and taken overland to the province
of Pampanga.
The treasure carried by said patache belonging to his Majesty, the
ecclesiastical estate, and the trade of those islands, reached the sum
of two million two hundred and fifty-three thousand one hundred and
eleven pesos. To that sum was added fifty-six thousand pesos which
were collected from various private persons, in obedience to the
order despatched for that purpose. And with previous proof that they,
the interested persons, were faithful vassals, and by virtue of the
reports of two arbitrators of the commerce, he delivered them some sums
so that they could support themselves. He also caused the wine casks,
chests, and other articles of volume, which the said patache carried to
be kept until he placed all in safety with the exception of the cargo
of a champan which was lost in the province of Batangas. Among those
effects was the stamped [i.e., official] paper. As soon as Manila
was surrendered and the English dislodged, Don Simon placed in the
hands of his successor, Don Francisco de la Torre, the testimony of
the acts which he had drawn up in this particular for its convoy,
and asserts that from the saving of the wealth of said patache has
resulted the conservation of the islands, and that the English did
not leave them completely desolate, since without this aid, the
subsistence of the state would have been impossible.
He also gives information that the English declared him a rebel
and offered a reward for his head, having made two embassies to him
through Father Bernardo Pazuengos, provincial of the Society of Jesus,
and Fray Pedro Luis de Sierra, of the Order of Preachers. The first
one having gone without any credentials or authorization, but only
as referring to the British governor, and having refused to make a
deposition before a notary who might attest it, saying that he was
to treat alone and in secret with Don Simon in regard to the matter
for which he went, therefore audience was refused him, and he was
despatched with a warning.
At the second embassy, inasmuch as letters were taken from the
archbishop and from the auditor Don Francisco Enrriquez de Villacorta
and from the above-mentioned father provincial in which they intimated
to him that they would admit means of peace, in order to free the said
auditor from the sentence of death, passed upon him by the council of
war of the British nation, because some letters which he had written
had been intercepted, he would not consent to it, and despatched
the religious and ordered edicts to be published in opposition to
theirs, offering ten thousand pesos to whomever would deliver alive
or dead each one who had signed the edict [against him]. Finally,
there was a suspension of hostilities until the evacuation of the
fort. During this interim, the province of Ylocos revolted and
rendered homage to the king of Gran Bretaña. At its head was Diego
Silan, a Pangasinan Indian, a plebeian, who, according to public
report, had been a coachman in Manila. He succeeded in getting the
English to appoint him alcalde-mayor for life of that jurisdiction,
and he accomplished many atrocities and acts of sacrilege. They
seized the alcalde-mayor and his family; took possession of the arms
and effects belonging to his Majesty; and the recognition of paying
him tribute and of assisting with the polos and personal services;
obliged the reverend bishop, Don Fray Bernardo Ustariz, to retire and
take to flight, because he tried to reduce them to reason; committed
many thefts and extortions in the estates; and burned many houses,
proceeding with inhuman cruelty. An expedition was made against them,
in which they were almost defeated, but since the loyal people of
Ylocos were cowardly, and as they were not accustomed to fight, the
tyrant was allowed to reform his forces and to continue with greater
violence to further his prowess and to increase his troops.
Having been informed of such fatal occurrences, and treating for
the common relief, he gave commission to said bishop and to the
vicar-provincial of that province to pacify it. He communicated to them
all his own powers, and wrote various letters to the villages which
remained loyal, exhorting them to continue so. But not having been
able to obtain any results by this method, he drew up a cause, and
gave it in review to the fiscal. The latter petitioned that the most
severe punishments be meted out to Diego Silang and the insurgents. As
a result he ordered that a peremptory order of imprisonment and an
edict of citation be issued, entrusting the measure of its publication
to Fray Francisco Antonio Maldonado, an Augustinian religious,
and promising a reward to whomever would communicate it to Diego
Silang, and a greater one if he should obtain his reply. Don Diego
Aldais, a Spanish mestizo, moved by his good zeal, determined to do
this. He passing through the village of Santa Lucia, was seized by the
partisans of the traitor and his letters intercepted. They deprived
the religious ministers of the right to communicate [with one another]
and imprisoned their diocesan prelate. By various letters which he
received, he discovered the alliance which the Ilocans had made with
the Pangasinans, [185] Sangleys, and the English enemy, to whom the
province had been delivered, the go-between in so execrable an outrage
being Don Santiago Orendain, as was proved also by a rough draft
of another letter which he made and sent to Diego Silang, which was
intercepted in his state by Don Manuel Alvarez and presented to him
[i.e., to Anda].