THE DUTCH AND MORO WARS. 1600-1663.
Loss of the Naval Power of Spain and Portugal.--The seizure of
Portugal by Philip II. in 1580 was disastrous in its consequences to
both Portugal and Spain. For Portugal it was humiliation and loss
of colonial power. Spain was unequal to the task of defending the
Portuguese possessions, and her jealousy of their prosperity seems to
have caused her deliberately to neglect their interests and permit
their decline. In one day Portugal lost possession of that splendid
and daring navy which had first found a way to the Indies. Several
hundred Portuguese ships, thousands of guns, and large sums of money
were appropriated by Spain upon the annexation of Portugal. [63]
Most of these ill-fated ships went down in the English Channel with
the Great Armada.
When the terrible news of the destruction of this powerful armament,
on which rested Spanish hopes for the conquest and humiliation of
England, was brought to the Escorial, the magnificent palace where
the years of the king were passed, Philip II., that strange man,
whose countenance never changed at tidings of either defeat or
victory, is reported to have simply said, "I thank God that I have
the power to replace the loss." He was fatuously mistaken. The loss
could never be made good. The navies of Spain and Portugal were never
fully rebuilt. In that year (1588), preeminence on the sea passed to
the English and the Dutch.
The Netherlands Become an Independent Country.--Who were these Dutch,
or Hollanders? How came they to wrest from Spain and Portugal a
colonial empire, which they hold to-day without loss of prosperity or
evidence of decline? In the north of Europe, facing the North Sea,
is a low, rich land, intersected by rivers and washed far into its
interior by the tides, known as Holland, the Low Countries, or the
Netherlands. Its people have ever been famed for their industry and
hardihood. In manufacture and trade in the latter Middle Age, they
stood far in the lead in northern Europe, Their towns and cities were
the thriftiest, most prosperous, and most cleanly.
We have already explained the curious facts of succession by which
these countries became a possession of the Spanish king, Emperor
Charles the Fifth. The Low Countries were always greatly prized by
Charles, and in spite of the severities of his rule he held their
affection and loyalty until his death. It was in the city of Antwerp
that he formally abdicated in favor of his son, Philip II., and,
as described by contemporary historians, this solemn and imposing
ceremony was witnessed with every mark of loyalty by the assembly.
The Rebellion.--But the oppressions and persecutions of Philip's
reign drove the people to rebellion. The Netherlands had embraced the
Protestant religion, and when, in addition to plunder, intimidation,
the quartering of Spanish soldiery, and the violation of sovereign
promises, Philip imposed that terrible and merciless institution,
the Spanish Inquisition, the Low Countries faced the tyrant in a
passion of rebellion.
War, begun in 1556, dragged on for years. There was pitiless cruelty,
and the sacking of cities was accompanied by fearful butchery. In
1575 the seven Dutch counties declared their independence, and formed
the republic of the Netherlands. Although the efforts of Spain to
reconquer the territory continued until the end of the century,
practical independence was gained some years before.
Trade between Portugal and the Netherlands Forbidden.--A large portion
of the commerce of the Low Countries had been with Lisbon. The
Portuguese did not distribute to Europe the products which their
navies brought from the Indies. Foreign merchants purchased in Lisbon
and carried these wares to other lands, and to a very large degree
this service had been performed by the Dutch. But on the annexation
of Portugal, Philip forbade all commerce and trade between the two
countries. By this act the Dutch, deprived of their Lisbon trade,
had to face the alternative of commercial ruin or the gaining of those
Eastern products for themselves. They chose the latter course with all
its risks. It was soon made possible by the destruction of the Armada.
The Dutch Expeditions to the Indies.--In 1595 their first expedition,
led by one Cornelius Houtman, who had sailed in Portuguese galleons,
rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian domain. The
objective point was Java, where an alliance was formed with the
native princes and a cargo of pepper secured. Two things were shown
by the safe return of this fleet,--the great wealth and profit of
the Indian trade, and the inability of Spain and Portugal to maintain
their monopoly.
In 1598 the merchants of Amsterdam defeated a combined Spanish and
Portuguese fleet in the East, and trading settlements were secured
in Java and Johore. In 1605 they carried their factories to Amboina
and Tidor.
Effect of the Success of the Dutch.--The exclusive monopoly over the
waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which Portugal and Spain
had maintained for a century, was broken. With the concurrence of
the Roman See, they had tried to divide the New World and the Orient
between them. That effort was now passed. They had claimed the right
to exclude from the vast oceans they had discovered the vessels of
every other nation but their own.
This doctrine in the History of International Law is known as that
of mare clausum, or "closed sea." The death-blow to this domination
was given by the entrance of the Dutch into the Indies, and it is
not a mere coincidence that we find the doctrine of closed sea itself
scientifically assailed, a few years later, by the great Dutch jurist,
Grotius, the founder of the system of international law in his work,
De Libero Mare.
The Trading Methods of the Dutch.--The Dutch made no attempts in the
Indies to found great colonies for political domination and religious
conversion. Commerce was their sole object. Their policy was to form
alliances with native rulers, promising to assist them against the
rule of the Portuguese or Spaniard in return for exclusive privileges
of trade. In this they were more than successful.
In 1602 they obtained permission to establish a factory at
Bantam, on the island of Java. This was even then a considerable
trading-point. "Chinese, Arabs, Persians, Moors, Turks, Malabars,
Peguans, and merchants from all nations were established there,"
the principal object of trade being pepper. [64]
The character of the treaty made by the Dutch with the king of Bantam
is stated by Raffles. "The Dutch stipulated to assist him against
foreign invaders, particularly Spaniards and Portuguese; and the king,
on his side, agreed to make over to the Dutch a good and strong fort,
a free trade, and security for "their persons and property without
payment of any duties or taxes, and to allow no other European nation
to trade or reside in his territories."
Spanish Expedition against the Dutch in the Moluccas.--The Spaniards,
however, did not relinquish the field to these new foes without
a struggle, and the conflict fills the history of the eighteenth
century. When the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from Amboina and Tidor
in February, 1605, many of the Portuguese came to the Philippines
and enlisted in the Spanish forces. The governor, Don Pedro Bravo de
Acuna, filled with wrath at the loss of these important possessions,
with great activity organized an expedition for their conquest.
In the previous year there had arrived from Spain eight hundred
troops, two hundred of them being native Mexicans. Thus Acuna was
able to organize a powerful fleet that mounted seventy-five pieces
of artillery and carried over fourteen hundred Spaniards and sixteen
hundred Indians. [65] The fleet sailed in January, 1606. Tidor was
taken without resistance and the Dutch factory seized, with a great
store of money, goods, and weapons. The Spaniards then assailed
Ternate; the fort and plaza were bombarded, and then the town was
carried by storm.
Thus, at last was accomplished the adventure which for nearly a
century had inspired the ambitions of the Spaniards, which had drawn
the fleet of Magellan, which had wrecked the expeditions of Loyasa and
Villalobos, for which the Spaniards in the Philippines had prepared
expedition after expedition, and for which Governor Dasmarinas had
sacrificed his life. At last the Moluccas had been taken by the forces
of Spain.
Capture of a Dutch Fleet at Mariveles.--So far from disposing of
their enemies, however, this action simply brought the Dutch into
the Philippines. In 1609, Juan de Silva became governor of the
Islands and in the same year arrived the Dutch admiral, Wittert,
with a squadron. After an unsuccessful attack on Iloilo, the Dutch
fleet anchored off Mariveles, to capture vessels arriving for the
Manila trade.
At this place, on the 25th of April, 1610, the Spanish fleet, which had
been hastily fitted at Cavite, attacked the Dutch, killing the admiral
and taking all the ships but one, two hundred and fifty prisoners, and
a large amount of silver and merchandise. These prisoners seem to have
been treated with more mercy than the captives of Van Noort's fleet,
who were hung at Cavite. The wounded are said to have been cared for,
and the friars from all the religious orders vied with one another
to convert these "Protestant pirates" from their heresy.
An Expedition against the Dutch in Java.--Spain made a truce of her
European wars with Holland in 1609, but this cessation of hostilities
was never recognized in the East. The Dutch and Spanish colonists
continued to war upon and pillage each other until late in the
century. Encouraged by his victory over Wittert, Silva negotiated with
the Portuguese allies in Goa, India, to drive the Dutch from Java. A
powerful squadron sailed from Cavite in 1616 for this purpose. It
was the largest fleet which up to that date had ever been assembled
in the Philippines. The expedition, however, failed to unite with
their Portuguese allies, and in April, Silva died at Malacca of
malignant fever.
The Dutch Fleets.--Battles near Corregidor.--The fleet returned
to Cavite to find that the city, while stripped of soldiers and
artillery, had been in a fever of anxiety and apprehension over the
proximity of Dutch vessels. They were those of Admiral Spilbergen,
who had arrived by way of the Straits of Magellan and the Pacific. He
has left us a chart of the San Bernadino Straits, which is reproduced
here. Spilbergen bombarded Ilolio and then sailed for the Moluccas.
A year later he returned, met a Spanish fleet of seven galleons and
two galleras near Manila and suffered a severe defeat. [66] The battle
began with cannonading on Friday, April 13, and continued throughout
the day. On the following day the vessels came to close quarters,
the Spaniards boarded the Dutch vessels, and the battle was fought
out with the sword.
The Dutch were overwhelmed. Probably their numbers were few. The
Relacion states they had fourteen galleons, but other accounts put
the number at ten, three vessels of which were destroyed or taken by
the Spaniards. One of them, the beautiful ship, "The Sun of Holland,"
was burned. This combat is known as the battle of Playa Honda. Another
engagement took place in the same waters of Corregidor, late in 1624,
when a Dutch fleet was driven away without serious loss to either side.
The Dutch Capture Chinese Junks, and Galleons.--But through
the intervening years, fleets of the Hollanders were continually
arriving, both by the way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits
of Magellan. Those that came across the Pacific almost invariably
cruised up the Strait of San Bernadino, securing the fresh provisions
so desirable to them after their long voyage.
The prizes which they made of Chinese vessels, passing Corregidor
for Manila, give us an idea of how considerably the Spaniards in the
Philippines relied upon China for their food. Junks, or "champans,"
were continually passing Corregidor, laden with chickens, hogs, rice,
sugar, and other comestibles. [67]
The Mexican galleons were frequently destroyed or captured by these
lurking fleets of the Dutch, and for a time the route through the
Straits of San Bernadino had to be abandoned, the galleons reaching
Manila by way of Cape Engano, or sometimes landing in Cagayan,
and more than once going ashore on the Pacific side of the island,
at Binangonan de Lampon.
The Dutch in Formosa.--The Dutch also made repeated efforts to wrest
from Portugal her settlement and trade in China. As early as 1557
the Portuguese had established a settlement on the island of Macao,
one of these numerous islets that fill the estuary of the river of
Canton. This is the oldest European settlement in China and has been
held continuously by the Portuguese until the present day, when it
remains almost the last vestige of the once mighty Portuguese empire
of the East. It was much coveted by the Dutch because of its importance
in the trade with Canton and Fukien.
In 1622 a fleet from Java brought siege to Macao, and, being
repulsed, sailed to the Pescadores Islands, where they built a
fort and established a post, which threatened both the Portuguese
trade with Japan and the Manila trade with Amoy. Two years later, on
the solicitation of the Chinese government, the Dutch removed their
settlement to Formosa, where they broke up the Spanish mission stations
and held the island for the succeeding thirty-five years. Thus,
throughout the century, these European powers harassed and raided
one another, but no one of them was sufficiently strong to expel the
others from the East.
The Portuguese Colonies.--In 1640 the kingdom of Portugal freed
itself from the domination of Spain. With the same blow Spain lost
the great colonial possessions that came to her with the attachment of
the Portuguese. "All the places," says Zuniga, "which the Portuguese
had in the Indies, separated themselves from the crown of Castile and
recognized as king, Don Juan of Portugal." "This same year," he adds,
"the Dutch took Malacca." [68]
The Moros.--Increase of Moro Piracy.--During all these years the raids
of the Moros of Maguindanao and Jolo had never ceased. Their piracies
were almost continuous. There was no security; churches were looted,
priests killed, people borne away for ransom or for slavery. Obviously,
this piracy could only be met by destroying it at its source. Defensive
fortifications and protective fleets were of no consequence, when
compared with the necessity of subduing the Moro in his own lairs. In
1628 and 1630 punitive expeditions were sent against Jolo, Basilan, and
Mindanao, which drove the Moros from their forts, burned their towns,
and cut down their groves of cocoanut trees. But such expeditions
served only to inflame the more the wrathful vengeance of the Moro,
and in 1635 the government resolved upon a change of policy and the
establishment of a presidio at Zamboanga.
Founding of a Spanish Post at Zamboanga.--This brings us to a new
phase in the Moro wars. The governor, Juan Cerezo de Salamanca,
was determined upon the conquest and the occupation of Mindanao and
Jolo. In taking this step, Salamanca, like Corcuera, who succeeded him,
acted under the influence of the Jesuits. Their missions in Bohol and
northern Mindanao made them ambitious to reserve for the ministrations
of their society all lands that were conquered and occupied, south
of the Bisayas.
The Jesuits were the missionaries on Ternate and Siao and wherever in
the Moluccas and Celebes the Spanish and Portuguese had established
their power. The Jesuits had accompanied the expedition of Rodriguez
de Figueroa in 1595, and from that date they never ceased petitioning
the government for a military occupation of these islands and for
their own return, as the missionaries of these regions. The Jesuits
were brilliant and able administrators. For men of their ambition,
Mindanao, with its rich soil, attractive productions, and comparatively
numerous populations, was a most enticing field for the establishment
of such a theocratic commonwealth as the Jesuits had created and
administered in America. [69]
On the other hand, the occupation of Zamboanga was strenuously
opposed by the other religious orders; but the Jesuits, ever
remarkable for their ascendancy in affairs of state, were able to
effect the establishment of Zamboanga, though they could not prevent
its abandonment a quarter of a century later.
Erection of the Forts.--The presidio was founded in 1635, by a force
under Don Juan de Chaves. His army consisted of three hundred Spaniards
and one thousand Bisaya, The end of the peninsula was swept of Moro
inhabitants and their towns destroyed by fire. In June the foundations
of the stone fort were laid under the direction of the Jesuit, Father
Vera, who is described as being experienced in military engineering
and architecture.
To supply the new site with water, a ditch was built from the river
Tumaga, a distance of six or seven miles, which brought a copious
stream to the very walls of the fort. The advantage or failure of
this expensive fortress is very hard to determine. Its planting was
a partisan measure, and it was always subject to partisan praise
and partisan blame. Sometimes it seemed to have checked the Moros
and sometimes seemed only to be stirring them to fresh anger and
aggression.
The same year that saw the establishment of Zamboanga, Hortado de
Corcuera became governor of the Philippines. He was much under the
influence of the Jesuits and confirmed their policy of conquest.
Defeat of the Moro Pirate Tagal.--A few months later a notable fleet
of pirates, recruited from Mindanao, Jolo, and Borneo, and headed by
a chieftain named Tagal, a brother of the notorious Correlat, sultan
of Maguindanao, went defiantly past the new presidio and northward
through the Mindoro Sea. For more than seven months they cruised the
Bisayas. The islands of the Camarines especially felt their ravages. In
Cuyo they captured the corregidor and three friars. Finally, with
650 captives and rich booty, including the ornaments and services of
churches, Tagal turned southward on his return.
The presidio of Zamboanga had prepared to intercept him and a fierce
battle took place off the Punta de Flechas, thirty leagues to the
northeast of Zamboanga. According to the Spanish writers, this point
was one held sacred by Moro superstitions. A deity inhabited these
waters, whom the Moros were accustomed to propitiate on the departure
and arrival of their expeditions, by throwing into the sea lances and
arrows. The victory was a notable one for the Spanish arms. Tagal
and more than 300 Moros were killed, and 120 Christian captives
were released.
Corcuera's Expedition against the Moros at Lamitan.--Corcuera had
meanwhile been preparing an expedition, which had taken on the
character of a holy war. Jesuit and soldier mingled in its company
and united in its direction. The Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier, was
proclaimed patron of the expedition, and mass was celebrated daily
on the ships. Corcuera himself accompanied the expedition, and at
Zamboanga, where they arrived February 22, 1637, he united a force
of 760 Spaniards and many Bisayans and Pampangas.
From Zamboanga the force started for Lamitan, the stronghold of
Correlat, and the center of the power of the Maguindanao. It seems
to have been situated on the coast, south of the region of Lake
Lanao. The fleet encountered rough weather and contrary winds off Punta
de Flechas, which they attributed to the influence of the Moro demon.
To rid the locality of this unholy influence, Padre Marcello, the
Jesuit superior, occupied himself for two days. Padre Combes has left
us an account of the ceremony. [70] The demon was dispossessed by
exorcism. Mass was celebrated. Various articles, representing Moro
infidelity, including arrows, were destroyed and burnt. Holy relics
were thrown into the waters, and the place was finally sanctified by
baptism in the name of Saint Sebastian.
On the 14th of March the expedition reached Lamitan, fortified and
defended by two thousand Moro warriors. The Spanish force, however,
was overwhelming, and the city was taken by storm. Here were captured
eight bronze cannon, twenty-seven "versos" (a kind of small howitzer),
and over a hundred muskets and arquebuses and a great store of Moro
weapons. Over one hundred vessels were destroyed, including a fleet
of Malay merchant praos from Java. Sixteen villages were burned, and
seventy-two Moros were hung. Correlat, though pursued and wounded,
was not captured. [71]
The Conquest of Jolo.--Corcuera returned to Zamboanga and organized an
expedition for the conquest of Jolo. Although defended by four thousand
Moro warriors and by allies from Basilan and the Celebes, Corcuera took
Jolo after some months of siege. The sultan saved himself by flight,
but the sultana was taken prisoner. Corcuera reconstructed the fort,
established a garrison of two hundred Spaniards and an equal number
of Pampangas, left some Jesuit fathers, and, having nominated Major
Almonte chief of all the forces in the south, returned in May, 1638,
to Manila, with all the triumph of a conqueror.
Almonte continued the work of subjugation. In 1639 he conquered the
Moro dato of Buhayen, in the valley of the Rio Grande, where a small
presidio was founded. And in the same year the Jesuits prevailed upon
him to invade the territory of the Malanao, now known as the Laguna
de Lanao. This expedition was made from the north through Iligan,
and for a time brought even this warlike and difficult territory
under the authority of the governor and the spiritual administration
of the Jesuits.
Loss of the Spanish Settlement on Formosa.--The full military success
of Corcuera's governorship was marred by the loss of Macao and the
capture of the Spanish settlement on the island of Formosa by the
Dutch. In the attempt to hold Macao, Corcuera sent over the encomendero
of Pasig, Don Juan Claudio. The populace of Macao, however, rose in
tumult, assassinated the governor, Sebastian Lobo, and pronounced in
favor of Portugal. Later, by decree of the Portuguese governor of Goa,
all the Spanish residents and missionaries were expelled. The Dutch
seizure of Formosa, a year later, has already been described.
The Archipelago and the Religious Orders.--During these decades,
conflict was almost incessant between the archbishop of Manila and
the regular orders. In the Philippines the regulars were the parish
curates, and the archbishop desired that all matters of their curacy,
touching the administration of the sacraments and other parish duties,
should be subject to the direction of the bishops. This question of
the "diocesan visit" was fought over for nearly two hundred years.
The Governor and the Archbishop.--Even more serious to the colony
were the conflicts that raged between the governor-general and the
archbishop. All the points of dissension between Church and State,
which vexed the Middle Ages, broke out afresh in the Philippines. The
appointment of religious officers; the distribution of revenue; the
treatment of the natives; the claim of the church to offer asylum to
those fleeing the arm of the law; its claims of jurisdiction, in its
ecclesiastical courts, over a large class of civil offenses--these
disputes and many others, occasioned almost incessant discord between
the heads of civil and ecclesiastical authority.
The "Residencia."--We have seen that the power of the governor was
in fact very large. Theoretically, the Audiencia was a limit upon
his authority; but in fact the governor was usually the president of
this body, and the oidores were frequently his abettors and rarely
his opponents. At the end of each governor's rule there took place a
characteristic Spanish institution, called the "Residencia." This was
a court held by the newly elected governor, for an examination into
the conduct of his predecessor. Complaints of every description were
received, and often, in the history of the Philippines, one who had
ruled the archipelago almost as an independent monarch found himself,
at the end of his office, ruined, and in chains.
It was upon the occasion of the Residencia that the ecclesiastical
powers, after a governorship stormy with disputes, exercised their
power for revenge. Unquestionably many a governor, despite his actual
power, facing, as he did, the Residencia at the termination of his
rule, made peace with his enemies and yielded to their demands.
Corcuera had continuous troubles with the archbishop and with the
religious orders other than the Jesuits. In 1644, when his successor,
Fajardo, relieved him, the Franciscans, Augustinians, and Recollects
procured his imprisonment and the confiscation of his property. For
five years, the conqueror of the Moros lay a prisoner in the fortresses
of Santiago and Cavite, when he was pardoned by the Council of the
Indies, and appointed governor of the Canaries by the king.
Weakening of the Governor's Power.--This power of private and
religious classes to intimidate and overawe the responsible head of the
Philippine government was an abuse which continued to the very close
of the Spanish rule. This, together with the relatively short term of
the governor's office, his natural desire to avoid trouble, his all
too frequent purpose of amassing a fortune rather than maintaining the
dignity of his position and advancing the interests of the Islands,
combined decade after decade to make the spiritual authority more
powerful. In the end the religious orders, with their great body of
members, their hold upon the Filipinos, their high influence at the
court, and finally their great landed wealth, governed the Islands.
The Educational Work of the Religious Orders.--In any criticism of
the evils connected with their administration of the Philippines,
one must not fail to recognize the many achievements of the missionary
friars that were worthy. To the Dominicans and the Jesuits is due the
establishment of institutions of learning. The Jesuits in 1601 had
planted their College of San Jose. The Dominicans, here as in Europe,
the champions of orthodox learning, had their own institution, the
College of Santo Tomas, inaugurated in 1619, and were the rivals of
the Jesuits for the privilege of giving higher instruction.
In 1645 the pope granted to the Dominicans the right to bestow higher
degrees, and their college became the "Royal and Pontifical University
of Saint Thomas Aquinas." This splendid name breathes that very spirit
of the Middle Ages which the Dominican order strove to perpetuate in
the Philippines down to modern days. [72] Dominicans also founded
the College of San Juan de Letran, as a preparatory school to the
University.
We should not pass over the educational work of the religious
orders without mention of the early printing-plants and their
publications. The missionary friars were famous printers, and in the
Philippines, as well as in America, some noble volumes were produced
by their handicraft.
Founding of Hospitals by the Franciscans.--Nor had the Franciscans
in the Philippines neglected the fundamental purpose of their
foundation,--that of ministration to the sick and unprotected. A
narrative of their order, written in 1649, gives a long list of their
beneficent foundations. [73] Besides the hospital of Manila, they
had an infirmary at Cavite for the native mariners and shipbuilders,
a hospital at Los Banos, another in the city of Nueva Caceras. Lay
brethren were attached to many of the convents as nurses.
In 1633 a curious occurrence led to the founding of the leper hospital
of San Lazaro. The emperor of Japan, in a probably ironical mood,
sent to Manila a shipload of Japanese afflicted with this unfortunate
disease. These people were mercifully received by the Franciscans, and
cared for in a home, which became the San Lazaro hospital for lepers.
Life and Progress of the Filipinos.--Few sources exist that can
show us the life and progress of the Filipino people during these
decades. Christianity, as introduced by the missionary friars,
was wonderfully successful, and yet there were relapses into
heathenism. Old religious leaders and priestesses roused up from
time to time, and incited the natives to rebellion against their new
spiritual masters. The payment of tribute and the labor required for
the building of churches often drove the people into the mountains.
Religious Revolt at Bohol and Leyte.--In 1621 a somewhat serious
revolt took place on Bohol. The Jesuits who administered the island
were absent in Cebu, attending the fiestas on the canonization
of Saint Francis Xavier. The whisper was raised that the old
heathen deity, Diwata, was at hand to assist in the expulsion of
the Spaniards. The island rose in revolt, except the two towns of
Loboc and Baclayan. Four towns were burned, the churches sacked, and
the sacred images speared. The revolt spread to Leyte, where it was
headed by the old dato, Bancao of Limasaua, who had sworn friendship
with Legaspi. This insurrection was put down by the alcalde mayor of
Cebu and the Filipino leaders were hung. On Leyte, Bancao was speared
in battle, and one of the heathen priests suffered the penalty,
prescribed by the Inquisition for heresy--death by burning.
Revolt of the Pampangas.--The heavy drafting of natives to fell trees
and build the ships for the Spanish naval expeditions and the Acapulco
trade was also a cause for insurrection. In 1660 a thousand Pampangas
were kept cutting in the forests of that province alone. Sullen at
their heavy labor and at the harshness of their overseers, these
natives rose in revolt. The sedition spread to Pangasinan, Zambales,
and Ilocos, and it required the utmost efforts of the Spanish forces
on land and water to suppress the rebellion.
Uprising of the Chinese.--In spite of the terrible massacre, that had
been visited upon the Chinese at the beginning of the century, they
had almost immediately commenced returning not only as merchants, but
as colonists. The early restrictions upon their life must have been
relaxed, for in 1639 there were more than thirty thousand living in
the Islands, many of them cultivating lands at Calamba and at other
points on the Laguna de Bay.
In that year a rebellion broke out, in which the Chinese in Manila
participated. They seized the church of San Pedro Mecati, on the Pasig,
and fortified themselves. From there they were routed by a combined
Filipino and Spanish force. The Chinese then broke up into small
bands, which scattered through the country, looting and murdering,
but being pursued and cut to pieces by the Filipinos. For five months
this pillage and massacre went on, until seven thousand Chinese were
destroyed. By the loss of these agriculturists and laborers Manila
was reduced to great distress.
Activity of the Moro Pirates.--The task of the Spaniards in controlling
the Moro datos continued to be immensely difficult. During the years
following the successes of Corcuera and Almonte, the Moros were
continually plotting. Aid was furnished from Borneo and the Celebes,
and they were further incited by the Dutch. In spite of the vigilance
of Zamboanga, small piratical excursions continually harassed the
Bisayas and the Camarines.
Continued Conflicts with the Dutch.--The Dutch, too, from time to time
showed themselves in Manila. In 1646 a squadron attacked Zamboanga,
and then came north to Luzon. The Spanish naval strength was quite
unprepared; but two galleons, lately arrived from Acapulco, were
fitted with heavy guns, Dominican friars took their places among
the gunners, and, under the protection of the Virgin of the Rosary,
successfully encountered the enemy.
A year later a fleet of twelve vessels entered Manila Bay, and nearly
succeeded in taking Cavite. Failing in this, they landed in Bataan
province, and for some time held the coast of Manila Bay in the
vicinity of Abucay. The narrative of Franciscan missions in 1649,
above cited, gives town after town in southern Luzon, where church
and convent had been burned by the Moros or the Dutch.
The Abandonment of Zamboanga and the Moluccas.--The threat of the Dutch
made the maintenance of the presidio of Zamboanga very burdensome. In
1656 the administration of the Moluccas was united with that of
Mindanao, and the governor of the former, Don Francisco de Esteybar,
was transferred from Ternate to Zamboanga and made lieutenant-governor
and captain-general of all the provinces of the south.
Six years later, the Moluccas, so long coveted by the Spaniards, and so
slowly won by them, together with Zamboanga, were wholly abandoned, and
to the Spice Islands the Spaniards were never to return. This sudden
retirement from their southern possessions was not, however, occasioned
by the incessant restlessness of the Moros nor by the plottings of
the Dutch. It was due to a threat of danger from the north.
Koxinga the Chinese Adventurer.--In 1644, China was conquered by the
Manchus. Pekin capitulated at once and the Ming dynasty was overthrown,
but it was only by many years of fighting that the Manchus overcame
the Chinese of the central and southern provinces. These were years
of turbulence, revolt, and piracy.
More than one Chinese adventurer rose to a romantic position during
this disturbed time. One of these adventurers, named It Coan, had been
a poor fisherman of Chio. He had lived in Macao, where he had been
converted to Christianity, and had been a cargador, or cargo-bearer,
in Manila. He afterwards went to Japan, and engaged in trade. From
these humble and laborious beginnings, like many another of his
persistent countrymen, he gained great wealth, which on the conquest
of the Manchus he devoted to piracy.
His son was the notorious Kue-Sing, or Koxinga, who for years resisted
the armies of the Manchus, and maintained an independent power over
the coasts of Fukien and Chekiang. About 1660 the forces of the Manchus
became too formidable for him to longer resist them upon the mainland,
and Koxinga determined upon the capture of Formosa and the transference
of his kingdom to that island.
For thirty-eight years this island had been dominated by the Dutch,
whose fortresses commanded the channel of the Pescadores. The colony
was regarded as an important one by the Dutch colonial government at
Batavia. The city of Tai-wan, on the west coast, was a considerable
center of trade. It was strongly protected by the fortress of Zealand,
and had a garrison of twenty-two hundred Dutch soldiers. After months
of fighting, Koxinga, with an overpowering force of Chinese, compelled
the surrender of the Hollanders and the beautiful island passed into
his power.
A Threatened Invasion of the Philippines.--Exalted by his success
against European arms, Koxinga resolved upon the conquest of
the Philippines. He summoned to his service the Italian Dominican
missionary, Ricci, who had been living in the province of Fukien, and
in the spring of 1662 dispatched him as an ambassador to the governor
of the Philippines to demand the submission of the archipelago.
Manila was thrown into a terrible panic by this demand, and indeed
no such danger had threatened the Spanish in the Philippines since
the invasion of Limahong. The Chinese conqueror had an innumerable
army, and his armament, stores, and navy had been greatly augmented
by the surrender of the Dutch. The Spaniards, however, were united
on resistance. The governor, Don Sabiano Manrique de Lara, returned a
defiant answer to Koxinga, and the most radical measures were adopted
to place the colony in a state of defense.
All Chinese were ordered immediately to leave the Islands. Fearful
of massacre, these wretched people again broke out in rebellion,
and assaulted the city. Many were slain, and other bands wandered
off into the mountains, where they perished at the hands of the
natives. Others, escaping by frail boats, joined the Chinese colonists
on Formosa. Churches and convents in the suburbs of Manila, which might
afford shelter to the assailant, were razed to the ground. More than
all this, the Moluccas were forsaken, never again to be recovered by
Spaniards; and the presidios of Zamboanga and Cuyo, which served as a
kind of bridle on the Moros of Jolo and Mindanao, were abandoned. All
Spanish troops were concentrated in Manila, fortifications were
rebuilt, and the population waited anxiously for the attack. But the
blow never fell. Before Ricci arrived at Tai-wan, Koxinga was dead,
and the peril of Chinese invasion had passed.
Effects of These Events.--But the Philippines had suffered
irretrievable loss. Spanish prestige was gone. Manila was no longer,
as she had been at the commencement of the century, the capital of
the East. Spanish sovereignty was again confined to Luzon and the
Bisayas. The Chinese trade, on which rested the economic prosperity
of Manila, had once again been ruined. For a hundred years the history
of the Philippines is a dull monotony, quite unrelieved by any heroic
activity or the presence of noble character. [74]