Continued Prosperity in Practice--Attempted Political
Revolution--Desperate Street Engagement--Subjugation of the
Insurgents--The Emperor of a Day--Dreadful Executions--Illness
and Insanity of my Wife--Her Recovery and Relapse--Removal to
the Country--Beneficial Results--Dangerous Neighbours--Repentant
Banditti--Fortunate Escape--The Anonymous Friend--A Confiding
Wife--Her Final Recovery, and our Domestic Happiness Restored.
Despite the misfortune I have alluded to, I kept up my house in
the same style as before. My connection, and the different posts I
occupied, permitted me to lead the life of a grandee belonging to
the Spanish colonies; and probably I should have made my fortune in a
few years, if I had continued in the medical profession, but the wish
for unlimited liberty caused me to abandon all these advantages for a
life of peril and anxiety. At the same time do not let us anticipate
too suddenly, and let the reader patiently peruse a few more pages
about Manilla, and various events wherein I figured, either as actor
or witness, before taking leave of a sybarite citizen's life.
I was, as I said before, surgeon-major of the 1st Light Regiment of
the line, and on intimate terms with the staff, and more particularly
with Captain Novalès, a Creole by birth, possessing a courageous and
venturesome disposition. He was suspected of endeavouring to excite
his regiment to rebel in behalf of the Independence. An inquiry was
consequently instituted, which ended without proof of the captain's
culpability; nevertheless, as the governor still maintained his
suspicions, he gave orders for him to be sent to one of the southern
provinces, under the inspection of an alcaide. Novalès came to see
me the morning of his departure, and complained bitterly of the
injustice of the governor towards him, and added that those who had
no confidence in his honour would repent, and that he would soon
be back. I endeavoured to pacify him: we shook hands, and in the
evening he went on board the vessel commissioned to take him to his
destination. The night after Novalès departure, I was startled out of
my sleep by the report of fire-arms. I immediately dressed myself in
my uniform, and hastened to the barracks of my regiment. The streets
were deserted; sentinels were stationed at about fifty paces apart. I
understood that an extraordinary event had occurred in some part of
the town. When I reached the barracks I was no little astonished to
find the gates wide open, the sentry's box vacant, and not a soldier
within. I went into the infirmary, set apart for the special service
of the cholera patients, and there a serjeant told me that the bad
weather had compelled the vessel that was taking Novalès into exile to
return into the port; that about one o'clock in the morning, Novalès,
accompanied by Lieutenant Ruiz, came to the barracks, and having
made himself certain of the votes of the Creole non-commissioned
officers, put the regiment under arms, took possession of the gates,
and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Philippines.
This extraordinary intelligence caused me some anxiety. My regiment
had openly revolted; if I joined it, and were defeated, I should
be considered a traitor, and, as such, shot; if, on the contrary,
I fought against it, and the rebels proved victorious, I knew
Novalès sufficiently well to be convinced that he would not spare
me. Nevertheless I could not hesitate: duty bound me to the Spanish
government, by which I had been so well treated. I left the barracks,
rambling where chance might lead me. I shortly found myself at the
head-quarters of the artillery; an officer behind the gate stood
observing me. I went up to him, and asked him whether he was for
Spain. Upon his answering me in the affirmative, I begged him to
open the gate, declaring that I wished to join his party, and would
willingly offer my services as surgeon to them. I went in, and took
the commander's orders, which soon showed me how matters stood. During
the night Ruiz went, in the name of Novalès, to General Folgueras,
the commander during the absence of Governor Martinès, who was
detained at his country house, a short distance from Manilla. He
took the guard unawares, and seized the keys of the town, after
having stabbed Folgueras; from thence he went to the prisons, set
the prisoners at liberty, and put in their places the principal men
of the public offices belonging to the colony. The 1st Regiment was
on Government Place, ready to engage in battle; twice it attempted
to fall unexpectedly upon the artillery and citadel, but was driven
back. Many expected assistance from without, and orders from General
Martinès to attack the rebels. Very soon we heard a discharge of
artillery: it was General Martinès, who, at the head of the Queen's
Regiment, broke open Saint Lucy's Gate, and advanced into the besieged
town. The body of the artillery joined the governor-general, and we
marched towards Government Place. The insurgents placed two cannons
at the corner of each street. Scarcely had we approached the palace,
than we were exposed to a violent discharge of loaded muskets. The
head chaplain of the regiment was the first victim. We were then
engaged in a street, by the side of the fortifications, and from
which it was impossible to attack the enemy with advantage. General
Martinès changed the position of the attack, and in this condition we
came back by the street of Saint Isabelle. The troops in two lines
followed both sides of the street, and left the road free; in the
meantime the Panpangas regiment, crossing the bridge, reached us
by one of the opposite streets: the rebels were then exposed to the
opposite attacks. They nevertheless defended themselves furiously,
and their sharpshooters did us some harm. Novalès was everywhere,
encouraging his soldiers by words, exploits, and example, while
Lieutenant Ruiz was busy pointing one of the cannons, that swept the
middle of the street we were coming up. At length, after three hours'
contest, the rebels succumbed. The troops fell upon everything they
found, and Novalès was taken prisoner to the governor's. As to Ruiz,
although he had received a blow on his arm from a ball, he was
fortunate enough to jump over the fortifications, and succeeded,
for the time, in escaping; three days afterwards he was taken. The
conflict was scarcely over, than a court-martial was held. Novalès
was tried the first. At midnight he was outlawed; at two o'clock in
the morning proclaimed Emperor; and at five in the evening shot. Such
changes in fortune are not uncommon in Spanish colonies.
The court-martial, without adjourning, tried, until the middle of the
following day, all the prisoners arrested with arms. The tenth part
of the regiment was sent to the hulks, and all the non-commissioned
officers were condemned to death. I received orders to be at Government
Place by four o'clock, on which spot the executions were to take place;
two companies of each battalion of the garrison, and all the staff,
were to be present.
Towards five the doors of the town-hall opened, and between a double
file of soldiers advanced seventeen non-commissioned officers, each one
assisted by two monks of the order of Misericordia. Mournful silence
prevailed, interrupted every now and then by the doleful beating of
the drums, and the prayers of the agonising, chanted by the monks. The
procession moved slowly on, and after some time reached the palace;
the seventeen non-commissioned officers were ordered to kneel, their
faces turned towards the wall. After a lengthened beating of the drums
the monks left their victims, and at a second beating a discharge
of muskets resounded: the seventeen young men fell prostrate on the
ground. One, however, was not dead; he had fallen with the others,
and seemed apparently motionless. A few minutes after the monks
threw their black veils upon the victims: they now belonged to Divine
justice. I witnessed all that had just happened. I stood a few steps
from him who feigned death so well, and my heart beat with force
enough to burst through my chest. Would that it had been in my power
to lead one of the monks towards this unfortunate young man who must
have experienced such mortal anguish; but, alas! after having been so
miraculously spared, at the moment the black veil was about to cover
him, an officer informed the commander that a guilty man had escaped
being punished; the monks were arrested in their pious ministry, and
two soldiers received orders to approach and fire upon the poor fellow.
I was indignant at this. I advanced towards the informer and reproached
him for his cruelty; he wished to reply; I treated him as a coward,
and turned my back to him. Express orders from my colonel compelled
me to leave my house, to assist at this frightful execution; still,
deep anxiety ought to have prevented me from so doing, as I will
explain. On the eve when the battle was over, and the insurgents
routed, the distress of my dear Anna came across my mind. It was now
one o'clock in the afternoon, and she had received no tidings from
me since three in the morning; might she not think me dead, or in the
midst of the rebellion? Ah! if duty could make me forget for a moment
she whom I loved more than life, now all danger was over her charming
image returned to my mind. Dearest Anna! I beheld her pale, agitated;
asking herself at each report of the cannon whether it rendered her
a widow; when my mind became so agitated that I ran home to calm her
fears. Having reached my house I went quickly up stairs, my heart
beating violently; I paused for a moment at her door, then summoning
a little courage I entered. Anna was kneeling down praying; hearing my
footsteps she raised her head, and threw herself into my arms without
uttering a word. At first I attributed this silence to emotion, but,
alas! upon examining her lovely face, I saw her eyes looked wild,
her features contracted: I started back. I discovered in her all the
symptoms of congestion of the brain. I dreaded lest my wife had lost
her senses, and this fear alarmed me greatly. How fortunate it was
that it lay in my power to relieve her. I had her placed in bed, and
ministered myself to her wants. She was tolerably composed; the few
words she uttered were inconsistent; she seemed to think that somebody
was going to poison or kill her. All her confidence was placed in
me. During three days the remedies I prescribed and administered
were useless; the poor creature derived no benefit from them. I
therefore determined to consult the doctors in Manilla, although I
had no great opinion of their skill. They advised some insignificant
drugs, and declared to me that there were no hopes, adding, as a
philosophical mode of consolation, that death was preferable to the
loss of reason. I did not agree on this point with these gentlemen:
I would have preferred insanity to death, for I hoped that her madness
would die away by degrees, and eventually disappear altogether. How
many mad people are cured, what numbers daily recover, yet death is
the last word of humanity; and, as a young poet has truly said, is
"the stone of the tomb."
Between the world and God a curtain falls! I determined to wage a
war against death, and to save my Anna by having recourse to the most
indisputable resources of science. I looked now upon my brotherhood
with more contempt than ever, and, confident in my love and zealous
will, I began my struggle with a destiny, tinged indeed with gloomy
clouds. I shut myself up in the sick-chamber, and never left my wife. I
had great difficulty in getting her to take the medicaments I trusted
she would derive so much benefit from; I was obliged to call to my
assistance all the influence I had over her, in order to persuade
her that the draughts I presented to her were not poisoned. She did
not sleep, but appeared very drowsy; these symptoms denoted very
clearly great disorder of the brain. For nine days she remained in
this dreadful state; during which time I scarcely knew whether she
was dead or alive; at every moment I besought the Almighty to work a
miracle in her behalf. One morning the poor creature closed her eyes. I
cannot describe my feelings of anguish. Would she ever awake again? I
leant over her; I heard her breathing gently, without apparent effort;
I felt her pulse, it beat calmer and more regular; she was evidently
better. I stood by her in deep anxiety. She still remained in a calm
sleep, and at the end of half-an-hour I felt convinced that this
satisfactory crisis would restore my invalid to life and reason. I
sat down by her bed-side, and stayed there eighteen hours, watching
her slightest movements. At length, after such cruel suspense, my
patient awoke, as if out of a dream.
"Have you been long watching?" she said, giving me her hand: "Have I,
then, been very ill? What care you have taken of me! Luckily you may
rest now, for I feel I am recovered."
I think I have during my life been a sharer of the strongest emotions
of joy or of sadness man can feel; but never had I experienced
such real, heartfelt joy as when I heard Anna's words. It is easy
to imagine the state of my mind in recollecting the bitter grief
I was in for ten days; then can be understood the mental anguish I
felt. Having witnessed such strange scenes for a considerable time,
it would not have been surprising had I lost my senses. I was an
actor in a furious battle; I had seen the wounded falling around me,
and heard the death-rattle. After the frightful execution, I went home,
and there still deeper grief awaited me. I had watched by the bed-side
of a beloved wife, knowing not whether I should lose her for ever,
or see her spared to me deprived of reason; when all at once, as if by
a miracle, this dear companion of my life, restored to health, threw
herself into my arms. I wept with her; my burning eyes, aching for
want of rest, found at last some tears, but they were tears of joy and
gladness. Soon we became more composed; we related to each other all
that we had suffered. Oh! the sympathy of loving hearts! Our sorrows
bad been the same, we had shared the same fears, she for me and I for
her. Anna's rapid recovery, after her renovating slumber, enabled her
to get up; she dressed herself as usual, and the people who saw her
could not believe she had passed ten days struggling between death
and insanity--two gulphs, from which love and faith had preserved us.
I was happy; my deep sadness was speedily changed to gladness,
even visible on my features. Alas! this joy was transitory, like
all happiness; man here below is a continual prey to misfortune! My
wife, at the end of a month, relapsed into her former sickly state;
the same symptoms showed themselves again, with similar prospects,
during the same space of time. I remained again nine days at her
bed-side, and on the tenth a refreshing sleep brought her to her
senses. But this time, guided by experience, that pitiless mistress,
who gives us lessons we should ever remember, I did not rejoice
as I had done the month before. I feared lest this sudden cure
might only be a temporary recovery, and that every month my poor
invalid would relapse, until her brain becoming weaker and weaker,
she would be deranged for life. This sad idea wounded my heart, and
caused me such grief that I could not even dissimulate it before her
who inspired it. I exhausted all the resources of medicine; all these
expedients proved unavailable. I thought that perhaps, if I removed my
poor invalid from the spot where the events had occurred that caused
her disorder, her cure might be more easily effected; that perhaps
bathing and country walks in the fine weather would contribute to
hasten her recovery; therefore I invited one of her relations to
accompany us, and we set out for Tierra-Alta, a delightful spot,
a real oasis, where all things were assembled that could endear
one to life. The first days of our settling there were full of joy,
hope, and happiness. Anna got better and better every day, and her
health very much improved. We walked in beautiful gardens, under the
shade of orange-trees; they were so thick that even during the most
intense heat we were cool under their shade. A lovely river of blue
and limpid water ran through our orchard; I had some Indian baths
erected there. We went out in a pretty, light, open carriage, drawn
by four good horses, through beautiful avenues, lined on each side
with the pliant bamboo, and sown with all the various flowers of the
tropics. I leave you to judge, by this short account, that nothing
that can be wished for in the country was wanting in Tierra-Alta. For
an invalid it was a Paradise; but those are right who say there is
no perfect happiness here below. I had a wife I adored, and who loved
me with all the sincerity of a pure young heart. We lived in an Eden,
away from the world, from the noise and bustle of a city, and far, too,
from the jealous and envious. We breathed a fragrant air; the pure and
limpid waters that bathed our feet reflecting, by turns a sunny sky,
and one spangled with twinkling stars. Anna's health was improving:
it pleased me to see her so happy. What, then, was there to trouble
us in our lovely retreat? A troop of banditti! These robbers were
distributed around the suburbs of Tierra-Alta, and spread desolation
over the country and neighbourhood by the robberies and murders
they committed. There was a regiment in search of them; this they
little cared about. They were numerous, clever, and audacious; and,
notwithstanding the vigilance of the government, the band continued
their highway robberies and assassinations. In the house where I then
resided, and which I afterwards left, Aguilar, the commander of the
cavalry, who had replaced me as occupant, was fallen upon unexpectedly,
and stabbed. Several years after this period, the government was
obliged to come to some terms with these bandits, and one day twenty
men, all armed with carbines and swords, entered Manilla. Their
chieftain led them; they walked with their heads upright, their
carriage was proud and manly; in this order they went to the governor,
who made them a speech, ordered them to lay down their arms, and sent
them to the archbishop that he might exhort them. The archbishop in a
religious discourse implored of them to repent of their crimes, and
become honest citizens, and to return to their villages. These men,
who had bathed their hands in the blood of their fellow-creatures,
and who had sought in crime--or rather, in every crime--the gold they
coveted, listened attentively to God's minister, changed completely
their conduct, and became, in the end, good and quiet husbandmen.
Now let us return to my residence at Tierra-Alta, at the period when
the bandits were not converted, and might have disturbed my peaceful
abode and security. Nevertheless, whether it was carelessness, or the
confidence I had in my Indian, with whom I spent some time after the
ravages occasioned with the cholera, and with whose influence I was
acquainted, I did not fear the bandits at all. This Indian lived a
few leagues off from Tierra-Alta; he came often to see me, and said
to me on different occasions: "Fear nothing from the robbers, Senor
Doctor Pablo; they know we are friends, and that alone would suffice
to prevent them attacking you, for they would dread to displease me,
and to make me their enemy." These words put an end to my fears,
and I soon had an opportunity of seeing that the Indian had taken me
under his protection.
If any of my readers for whom I write these souvenirs feel the same
desire as I experienced to visit the cascades of Tierra-Alta, let
them go to a place called Yang-Yang; it was near this spot where
my Indian protector resided. At this part the river, obstructed in
its course by the narrowness of its channel, falls from only one
waterspout, about thirty or forty feet high, into an immense basin,
out of which the water calmly flows onwards, to form, lower down, three
other waterfalls, not so lofty, but extending over the breadth of the
river, thereby making three sheets of water, clear and transparent as
crystal. What beautiful sights are offered to the eyes of man by the
all-powerful hands of the Creator! And how often have I remarked that
the works of nature are far superior to those that men tire themselves
to erect and invent!
As we went one morning to the cascades we were about to alight
at Yang-Yang, when all at once our carriage was surrounded with
brigands, flying from the soldiers of the line. The chief--for we
supposed him to be so at first--said to his companions, not paying the
slightest attention to us, nor even addressing us: "We must kill the
horses!" By this I saw he feared lest their enemies should make use of
our horses to pursue them. With a presence of mind which fortunately
never abandons me in difficult or perilous circumstances, I said to
him: "Do not fear; my horses shall not be used by your enemies to
pursue you: rely upon my word." The chief put his hand to his cap,
and thus addressed his comrades: "If such be the case, the Spanish
soldiers will do us no harm to-day, neither let us do any. Follow
me!" They marched off, and I instantly drove rapidly away in quite
an opposite direction from the soldiers. The bandits looked after
me; my good faith in keeping my word was successful. I not only
lived a few months in safety at Tierra-Alta, but many years after,
when, I resided in Jala-Jala, and, in my quality of commander of the
territorial horse-guards of the province of Lagune, was naturally a
declared enemy of the bandits, I received the following note:
"Sir,--Beware of Pedro Tumbaga; we are invited by him to go to
your house and to take you by surprise; we remember the morning we
spoke to you at the cascades, and the sincerity of your word. You
are an honourable man. If we find ourselves face to face with
you, and it be necessary, we will fight, but faithfully, and
never after having laid a snare. Keep, therefore, on your guard;
beware of Pedro Tumbaga; he is cowardly enough to hide himself
in order to shoot you."
Everybody must acknowledge I had to do with most polite robbers.
I answered them thus:
"You are brave fellows. I thank you for your advice, but I do
not fear Pedro Tumbaga. I cannot conceive how it is you keep
among you a man capable of hiding himself to kill his enemy;
if I had a soldier like him, I would soon let him have justice,
and without consulting the law."
A fortnight after my answer, Tumbaga was no more; a bandit's bullet
disembarrassed me of him.
I will now return to the recital I have just interrupted. When I had
left the bandits at Yang-Yang, I pulled up my horses and bethought
me of Anna. I was anxious to know what impression had been produced
on her mind from this unpleasant encounter. Fortunately my fears were
unfounded; my wife had not been at all alarmed, and when I asked her
if she was frightened, she replied: "Frightened, indeed! am I not with
you?" Subsequently I had good proofs that she told me the truth, for
in many perilous circumstances she always presented the same presence
of mind. When I thought there was no longer any danger we retraced our
steps and went home, satisfied with the conduct of the bandits towards
us, for their manner of acting clearly showed us that they intended us
no harm. I mentally thanked my Indian friend, for to him I attributed
the peace our turbulent neighbours allowed us to enjoy. The fatal time
was drawing near when my wife would again be suffering from another
attack of that frightful malady brought on by Novalès revolt. I had
hoped that the country air, the baths, and amusements of every kind
would cure my poor invalid; my hopes were deceived, and, as in the
preceding month, I had the grief once more to assist at a period of
physical and mental suffering. I despaired: I knew not what course
to pursue. I decided, however, upon remaining at Tierra-Alta. My
dear companion was happy there on the days her health was better,
and on the other days I never left her, endeavouring by every means
that art and imagination could invent to fight against this fatal
malady. At length my care, attempts, and efforts were successful, and
at the periods the symptoms usually returned I had the happiness not
to observe them, and believed in the certainty of a final cure. I then
felt the joy one experiences after having for a long time been on the
point of losing a very dear friend, who suddenly recovers. I now gave
myself up without fear to the various pleasures Tierra-Alta offers.