A CENTURY OF OBSCURITY AND DECLINE. 1663-1762.
Political Decline of the Philippines.--For the hundred years succeeding
the abandonment of the Moluccas, the Philippines lost all political
significance as a colony. From almost every standpoint they were
profitless to Spain. There were continued deficits, which had to be
made good from the Mexican treasury. The part of Spain in the conquest
of the East was over, and the Philippines became little more than a
great missionary establishment, presided over by the religious orders.
Death of Governor Salcedo by the Inquisition.--In 1663, Lara was
succeeded by Don Diego de Salcedo. On his arrival, Manila had high
hopes of him, which were speedily disappointed. He loaded the Acapulco
galleon with his own private merchandise, and then dispatched it
earlier than was usual, before the cargoes of the merchants were
ready. He engaged in a wearisome strife with the archbishop, and
seems to have worried the ecclesiastic, who was aged and feeble,
into his grave. At the end of a few years he was hated by every one,
and a conspiracy against him was formed which embraced the religious,
the army, the civil officials, and the merchants. Beyond the reach of
the power of ordinary plotters, he fell a victim to the commissioner
of the Inquisition.
The Spanish Inquisition, which wrought such cruelty and misery in the
Peninsula, was carried also to the Spanish colonies. As we have seen,
it was primarily the function of the Dominican order to administer
the institution. The powers exercised by an inquisitor can scarcely
be understood at the present day. His methods were secret, the
charges were not made public, the whole proceedings were closeted,
and yet so great were the powers of this court that none could
resist its authority, or inquire into its actions. Spain forbade
any heretics, Jews, or Moors going to the colonies, and did the
utmost to prevent heresy abroad. She also established in America the
Inquisition itself. Fortunately, it never attained the importance in
the Philippines that it had in Spain. In the Philippines there was no
"Tribunal," the institution being represented solely by a commissioner.
Death of the Governor.--In 1667, when the unpopularity of Governor
Salcedo was at its height, this commissioner professed to discover in
him grounds of heresy from the fact that he had been born in Flanders,
and decided to avenge the Church by encompassing his ruin. By secret
arrangement, the master of the camp withdrew the guard from the palace,
and the commissioner, with several confederates, gained admission. The
door of the governor's room was opened by an old woman, who had been
terrified into complicity, and the governor was seized sleeping,
with his arms lying at the head of his bed.
The commissioner informed the governor that he was a prisoner of the
Holy Office. He was taken to the convent of the Augustinians. Here he
was kept in chains until he could be sent to Mexico, to appear before
the Tribunal there. The government in Mexico annulled the arrest of
the commissioner, but Salcedo died at sea on the return of the vessel
to the Philippines in 1669.
Colonization of the Ladrone Islands.--In 1668 a Jesuit mission under
Padre Diego Luis de Sanvitores was established on the Ladrones, the
first of the many mission stations, both Roman Catholic and Protestant,
in the South Pacific. The islands at that time were well populated
and fertile, and had drawn the enthusiasm of Padre Sanvitores in 1662
when he first sailed to the Philippines.
The hostility of the Manchus in China, the Japanese persecutions,
and the abandonment of Mindanao had closed many mission fields,
and explains the eagerness with which the Jesuits sought the royal
permission to Christianize these islands, which had been so constantly
visited by Spanish ships but never before colonized. With Padre
Sanvitores and his five Jesuit associates were a number of Christian
Filipino catechists.
Settlement of Guam.--The mission landed at Guam, and was favorably
received. Society among these islanders was divided into castes. The
chiefs were known as chamorri, which has led to the natives of the
Ladrones being called "Chamorros." A piece of ground was given the
Jesuits for a church at the principal town called Agadna (Agana), and
here also a seminary was built for the instruction of young men. The
queen regent of Spain, Maria of Austria, gave an annual sum to this
school, and in her honor the Jesuits changed the name of the islands
to the Marianas. The Jesuits preached on eleven inhabited islands
of the group, and in a year's time had baptized thirteen thousand
islanders and given instruction to twenty thousand.
Troubles with the Natives at Guam.--This first year was the most
successful in the history of the mission. Almost immediately after,
the Jesuits angered the islanders by compulsory conversions. There were
quarrels in several places, and priests, trying to baptize children
against the wishes of their parents, were killed. In 1670 the Spaniards
were attacked, and obliged to fortify themselves at Agana.
The Jesuits had a guard of a Spanish captain and about thirty Spanish
and Filipino soldiers, who, after some slaughter of the natives,
compelled them to sue for peace. The conditions imposed by the Jesuits
were that the natives should attend mass and festivals, have their
children baptized, and send them to be catechised. The hatred of the
natives was unabated, however, and in 1672 Sanvitores was killed by
them. His biographer claims that at his death he had baptized nearly
fifty thousand of these islanders. [75]
Depopulation of the Ladrone Islands.--About 1680 a governor was
sent to the islands, and they were organized as a dependency of
Spain. The policy of the governors and the Jesuits was conversion by
the sword. The natives were persecuted from island to island, and in
the history of European settlements there is hardly one that had more
miserable consequences to the inhabitants. Disease was introduced and
swept off large numbers. Others fell resisting the Spaniards, and an
entire island was frequently depopulated by order of the governor, or
the desire of the Jesuits to have the natives brought to Guam. Many,
with little doubt, fled to other archipelagoes.
If we can trust the Jesuit accounts, there were in the whole group one
hundred thousand inhabitants when the Spaniards arrived. A generation
saw them almost extinct. Dampier, who touched at Guam in 1686, says
then that on the island, where the Spaniards had found thirty thousand
people, there were not above one hundred natives. In 1716 and 1721
other voyagers announced the number of inhabitants on Guam at two
thousand, but only one other island of the group was populated. When
Anson in 1742 visited Guam, the number had risen to four thousand,
and there were a few hundred inhabitants on Rota; but these seem
to have been the whole population. The original native population
certainly very nearly touched extinction. The islands were from time
to time colonized from the Philippines, and the present population
is very largely of Filipino blood.
Conflicts between Governor and Archbishop.--Meanwhile, in the
Philippines the conflict of the governor with the archbishop and
the friars continued. The conduct of both sides was selfish and
outrageous. In 1683 the actions of Archbishop Pardo became so violent
and seditious that the Audiencia decreed his banishment to Pangasinan
or Cagayan. He was taken by force to Lingayan, where he was well
accommodated but kept under surveillance. The Dominicans retaliated by
excommunication, and the Audiencia thereupon banished the provincial of
the order from the Islands, and sent several other friars to Mariveles.
But the year following, Governor Vargas was relieved by the arrival
of his successor, who was favorable to the ecclesiastical side of
the controversy. The archbishop returned and assumed a high hand. He
suspended and excommunicated on all sides. The oidores were banished
from the city, and all died in exile in remote portions of the
archipelago. The ex-governor-general, Vargas, being placed under
the spiritual ban, sued for pardon and begged that his repentance
be recognized.
The archbishop sentenced him to stand daily for the space of four
months at the entrances to the churches of the city and of the Parian,
and in the thronged quarter of Binondo, attired in the habit of a
penitent, with a rope about his neck and carrying a lighted candle
in his hand. He was, however, able to secure a mitigation of this
sentence, but was required to live absolutely alone in a hut on an
island in the Pasig River. He was sent a prisoner to Mexico in 1689,
but died upon the voyage.
The various deans and canons who had concurred in the archbishop's
banishment, as well as other religious with whom the prelate had had
dissensions, were imprisoned or exiled. The bodies of two oidores
were, on their death and after their burial, disinterred and their
bones profaned.
Degeneration of the Colony under Church Rule.--Archbishop Pardo
died in 1689, but the strife and confusion which had been engendered
continued. There were quarrels between the archbishop and the friars,
between the prelate and the governor. All classes seem to have shared
the bitterness and the hatred of these unhappy dissensions.
The moral tone of the whole colony during the latter part of the
seventeenth century was lowered. Corruption flourished everywhere,
and the vigor of the administration decayed. Violence went unrebuked,
and the way was open for the deplorable tragedy in which this strife of
parties culminated. Certainly no governor could have been more supine,
and shown greater incapacity and weakness of character, than the one
who ruled in the time of Archbishop Pardo and those that succeeded him.
Improvements Made by Governor Bustamante.--Enrichment of the
Treasury.--In the year 1717, however, came a governor of a different
type, Fernando Manuel de Bustamante. He was an old soldier, stern of
character and severe in his measures. He found the treasury robbed
and exhausted. Nearly the whole population of Manila were in debt
to the public funds. Bustamante ordered these amounts paid, and to
compel their collection he attached the cargo of silver arriving
by the galleon from Acapulco. This cargo was owned by the religious
companies, officials, and merchants, all of whom were indebted to the
government. In one year of his vigorous administration he raised the
sum of three hundred thousand pesos for the treasury.
With sums of money again at the disposal of the state, Bustamante
attempted to revive the decayed prestige and commerce of the Islands.
Refounding of Zamboanga.--In 1718 he refounded and rebuilt the
presidio of Zamboanga. Not a year had passed, since its abandonment
years before, that the pirates from Borneo and Mindanao had failed
to ravage the Bisayas. The Jesuits had petitioned regularly for its
reestablishment, and in 1712 the king had decreed its reoccupation. The
citadel was rebuilt on an elaborate plan under the direction of the
engineer, Don Juan Sicarra. Besides the usual barracks, storehouses,
and arsenals, there were, within the walls, a church, hospital, and
cuartel for the Pampangan soldiers. Sixty-one cannon were mounted upon
the defenses. Upon the petition of the Recollects, Bustamante also
established a presidio at Labo, at the southern point of the island of
Paragua, whose coasts were attacked by the Moros from Sulu and Borneo.
Treaty with Siam.--In the same year he sent an embassy to Siam,
with the idea of stimulating the commerce which had flourished a
century before. The reception of this embassy was most flattering;
a treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce was made, and on ground
ceded to the Spaniards was begun the erection of a factory.
Improvements in the City of Manila.--How far this brave and
determined man might have revived the colony it is impossible to
say. The population of Manila, both ecclesiastical and civil, was at
this time so sunk in corruption and so degenerate as to make almost
impossible any recuperation except under the rule of a man equally
determined as Bustamante, but ruling for a long period of time. He
had not hesitated to order investigations into the finances of the
Islands, which disclosed defalcations amounting to seven hundred
thousand pesos. He fearlessly arrested the defaulters, no matter what
their station. The whole city was concerned in these peculations,
consequently the utmost fear and apprehension existed on all sides;
and Bustamante, hated as well as dreaded, was compelled to enforce
his reforms single-handed.
His Murder.--He was opposed by the friars and defied by the archbishop,
but, notwithstanding ecclesiastical condemnation, he went to the point
of ordering the arrest of the prelate. The city rose in sedition,
and a mob, headed by friars, proceeded to the palace of the governor,
broke in upon him, and, as he faced them alone and without support,
killed him in cold blood (October 11, 1719).
The archbishop proclaimed himself governor and president of the
Audiencia. The oidores and officials who had been placed under
arrest by Bustamante were released, and his work overthrown. The new
government had neither the courage nor the inclination to continue
Bustamante's policy, and in 1720 the archbishop called a council of
war, which decreed the abandonment of the fort at Labo.
When the news of this murder reached Spain, the king ordered an
investigation and the punishment of the guilty, and in 1721 Governor
Torre Campo arrived to put these mandates into execution. The culprits,
however, were so high and so influential that the governor did not
dare proceed against them; and although the commands of the king were
reiterated in 1724, the assassins of Bustamante were never brought
to justice.
Treaty with the Sultan of Jolo.--In spite of the cowardly policy
of the successors of Bustamante, the presidio of Zamboanga was not
abandoned. So poorly was it administered, however, that it was not
effective to prevent Moro piracy, and the attacks upon the Bisaya and
Calamianes continued. In 1721 a treaty was formed with the sultan of
Jolo providing for trade between Manila and Jolo, the return or ransom
of captives, and the restitution to Spain of the island of Basilan.
The Moro Pirates of Tawi Tawi.--To some extent this treaty seems to
have prevented assaults from Jolo, but in 1730 the Moros of Tawi Tawi
fell upon Paragua and the Calamianes, and in 1731 another expedition
from the south spent nearly a whole year cruising and destroying
among the Bisayas.
Deplorable State of Spanish Defenses.--The defenses of the Spaniards
during these many decades were continually in a deplorable state, their
arms were wretched, and, except in moments of great apprehension,
no attention was given to fortifications, to the preservation of
artillery, nor to the supply of ammunition. Sudden attacks ever
found the Spaniards unprepared. Military unreadiness was the normal
condition of this archipelago from these early centuries down to the
destruction of the Spanish armament by the American fleet.
The Economic Policy of Spain.--Restrictions of Trade.--During the
closing years of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the
eighteenth, commerce seemed to have been actually paralyzed. That
brilliant trade which is described by Morga, and which was at its
height about 1605, was a few years later defeated by the miserable
economic policy of Spain, pandering to the demands of the merchants
of Cadiz and Seville.
Spain's economic policy had only in view benefits to the
Peninsula. "The Laws of the Indies" abound with edicts for the purpose
of limiting and crippling colonial commerce and industry, wherever it
was imagined that it might be prejudicial to the protected industries
of Spain. The manufacturers of Seville wished to preserve the colonies,
both of America and of the Indies, as markets for their monopoly wares;
and in this policy, for two centuries, they had the support of the
crown. The growing trade between Mexico and the Philippines had early
been regarded with suspicion, and legislation was framed to reduce
it to the lowest point compatible with the existence of the colony.
None of the colonies of America could conduct commerce with the
Philippines except Mexico, and here all communication must pass
through the port of Acapulco. This trade was limited to the passage
of a single vessel a year. In 1605 two galleons were permitted, but
their size was reduced to three hundred tons. They were allowed to
carry out 500,000 pesos of silver, but no more than 250,000 pesos'
worth of Chinese products could be returned. Neither the Spaniards
of Mexico nor any part of America could traffic directly with China,
nor could Spanish vessels pass from Manila to the ports of Asia. Only
those goods could be bought which Chinese merchants themselves brought
to the Philippines.
Selfishness of Merchants in Spain.--Even these restrictions did
not satisfy the jealousy of the merchants of Spain. They complained
that the royal orders limiting the traffic were not regarded, and
they insisted upon so vexatious a supervision of this commerce,
and surrounded infractions of the law with such terrible penalties,
that the trade was not maintained even to the amount permitted by
law. Spanish merchants even went to the point of petitioning for the
abandonment of the Philippines, on the ground that the importations
from China were prejudicial to the industry of the Peninsula.
The colonists upon the Pacific coast of America suffered from the
lack of those commodities demanded by civilized life, which could
only reach them as they came from Spain through the port of Porto
Bello and the Isthmus of Panama. Without question, an enormous and
beneficial commerce could have been conducted by the Philippines with
the provinces of western America. [76]
Trade Between South America and the Philippines Forbidden.--But this
traffic was absolutely forbidden, and to prevent Chinese and Philippine
goods from entering South America, the trade between Mexico and Peru
was in 1636 wholly suppressed by a decree. This decree, as it stands
upon the pages of the great Recopilacion, is an epitome of the insane
economic policy of the Spaniard. It cites that whereas "it had been
permitted that from Peru to New Spain there should go each year two
vessels for commerce and traffic to the amount of two hundred thousand
ducats [which later had been reduced to one hundred thousand ducats],
and because there had increased in Peru to an excessive amount the
commerce in the fabrics of China, in spite of the many prohibitions
that had been imposed, and in order absolutely to remove the occasion
for the future, we order and command the officers of Peru and New
Spain that they invariably prohibit and suppress this commerce and
traffic between the two kingdoms by all the channels through which
it is conducted, maintaining this prohibition firmly and continually
for the future." [77]
In 1718 the merchants of Seville and Cadiz still complained that their
profits were being injured by even the limited importation of Chinese
silks into Mexico. Thereupon absolute prohibition of import of Chinese
silks, either woven or in thread, was decreed. Only linens, spices,
and supplies of such things as were not produced in Spain could be
brought into Mexico. This order was reaffirmed in 1720, with the
provision that six months would be allowed the people of Mexico to
consume the Chinese silks which they had in their possession, and
thereafter all such goods must be destroyed.
Ineffectiveness of These Restrictions.--These measures, while ruining
the commerce of the Philippines, were as a matter of fact ineffective
to accomplish the result desired. Contraband trade between China
and America sprang up in violation of the law. Silks to the value
of four million pesos were annually smuggled into America. [78] In
1734 the folly and uselessness of such laws was somewhat recognized
by the Council of the Indies, and a cedula was issued restoring the
permission to trade in Chinese silks and raising the value of cargoes
destined for Acapulco to five hundred thousand pesos, and the quantity
of silver for return to one million pesos. The celebrated traffic of
the galleon was resumed and continued until the year 1815.
An Attempt to Colonize the Carolines.--Southeastward of the
Philippines, in that part of the Pacific which is known as Micronesia,
there is an archipelago of small islands called the Carolines. The
westernmost portion of the group also bear the name of the Pelews,
or Palaos. Inasmuch as these islands were eventually acquired by
Spain and remained in her possession down to the year 1898, it may
be well to state something at this time of the attempt made by the
Jesuits in 1731 to colonize them.
Certain of these little islands were seen several times by expeditions
crossing the Pacific as early as the latter part of the sixteenth
century, but after the trade between Mexico and the Philippines had
been definitely settled upon, a fixed course was followed westward
from Acapulco to Guam, from which there was little variation, and
during the seventeenth century these islands passed quite out of mind;
but in the year 1696 a party of natives, twenty men and ten women,
were driven by storms far from their home in the Carolines upon the
eastern coast of Samar. It seems that similar parties of castaways
from the Pelew and Caroline Islands had been known to reach Mindanao
and other parts of the Philippines at an even earlier date. These
last came under the observation of the Jesuit priests on Samar, who
baptized them, and, learning from them of the archipelago from which
they had been carried, were filled with missionary ambition to visit
and Christianize these Pacific islanders.
This idea was agitated by the Jesuits, until about 1730 royal
permission was granted to the enterprise. A company of Jesuits in
the following year sailed for the Ladrones and thence south until
the Carolines were discovered. They landed on a small island not
far from Yap. Here they succeeded in baptizing numerous natives and
in establishing a mission. Fourteen of their number, headed by the
priest, Padre Cantava, remained on the island while the expedition
returned to secure reenforcements and supplies. Unfortunately, this
succor was delayed for more than a year, and when Spanish vessels
with missionary reenforcements on board again reached the Carolines
in 1733, the mission had been entirely destroyed and the Spaniards,
with Padre Cantava, had been killed. These islands have been frequently
called the "New Philippines."
Conditions of the Filipinos during the Eighteenth Century.--During the
most of the eighteenth century, data are few upon the condition of the
Filipino people. There seems to have been little progress. Conditions
certainly were against the social or intellectual advance of the
native race. Perhaps, however, their material well-being was quite
as great during these years, when little was attempted, as during
the governorships of the more ambitious and enterprising Spaniards
who had characterized the earlier period of Philippine history.
Provincial Governments.--Provincial administration seems to have
fallen almost wholly into the hands of the missionaries. The priests
made themselves the local rulers throughout the Christianized portion
of the archipelago.
Insurrection in Bohol.--Insurrection seems especially to have
troubled the island of Bohol during most of the eighteenth century,
and in 1750 an insurrection broke out which practically established
the independence of a large portion of the island, and which was not
suppressed for thirty-five years. The trouble arose in the town of
Inabanga, where the Jesuit priest Morales had greatly antagonized and
imbittered the natives by his severity. Some apostasized, and went to
the hills. One of these men was killed by the orders of the priest and
his body refused Christian burial, and left uncared for and exposed.
A brother of this man, named Dagohoy, infuriated by this indignity,
headed a sedition which shortly included three thousand natives. The
priest was killed, and his own body left by the road unburied. In
spite of the efforts of the alcalde of Cebu, Dagohoy was able to
maintain himself, and practically established a small native state,
which remained until the occupation of the island by the Recollects,
after the Jesuits had been expelled from the Spanish dominions.
Activity of the Jesuits.--During the eighteenth century the Jesuits
alone of the religious orders seemed to have been active in prosecuting
their efforts and seeking new fields for conversion. The sloth and
inactivity which overcame the other orders place in greater contrast
the ambition and the activities, both secular and spiritual, of
the Jesuits.
Conversion of the Sultan Alim ud Din.--In 1747 they established
a mission even on Jolo. They were unable to overcome the intense
antagonism of the Moro panditas and datos, but they apparently won the
young sultan, Alim ud Din, whose strange story and shifting fortunes
have been variously told. One of the Jesuits, Padre Villelmi, was
skilled in the Arabic language, and this familiarity with the language
and literature of Mohammedanism doubtless explains his ascendency
over the mind of the sultan. Alim ud Din was not a strong man. His
power over the subordinate datos was small, and in 1748 his brother,
Bantilan, usurped his place and was proclaimed sultan of Jolo.
Alim ud Din, with his family and numerous escort, came to Zamboanga,
seeking the aid of the Spanish against his brother. From Zamboanga he
was sent to Manila. On his arrival, January 3, 1749, he was received
with all the pomp and honor due to a prince of high rank. A house for
his entertainment and his retinue of seventy persons was prepared in
Binondo. A public entrance was arranged, which took place some fifteen
days after his reaching the city. Triumphal arches were erected
across the streets, which were lined with more than two thousand
native militia under arms. The sultan was publicly received in the
hall of the Audiencia, where the governor promised to lay his case
before the king of Spain. The sultan was showered with presents, which
included chains of gold, fine garments, precious gems, and gold canes,
while the government sustained the expense of his household. [79]
Following this reception, steps were taken for his conversion. His
spiritual advisers cited to him the example of the Emperor Constantine
whose conversion enabled him to effect triumphant conquests over
his enemies. Under these representations Alim ud Din expressed his
desire for baptism. The governor-general, who at this time was a
priest, the bishop of Nueva Segovia, was very anxious that the rite
should take place; but this was opposed by his spiritual superior,
the archbishop of Manila, who, with some others, entertained doubts
as to the sincerity of the sultan's profession.
In order to accomplish his baptism, the governor sent him to his own
diocese, where at Paniqui, on the 29th of April, 1750, the ceremony
took place with great solemnity. On the return of the party to Manila,
the sultan was received with great pomp, and in his honor were held
games, theatrical representations, fire-works, and bull-fights. This
was the high-water mark of the sultan's popularity.
Failure to Reinstate Alim ud Din.--Meanwhile the usurper, Bantilan,
was giving abundant evidence of his hostility. The Spaniards were
driven from Jolo, and the fleets of the Moros again ravaged the
Bisayas. In July arrived the new governor, the Marquis of Obando,
who determined to restore Alim ud Din and suppress the Moro piracy.
An expedition set sail, with the sultan on board, and went as far as
Zamboanga, but accomplished nothing. Here the conduct of the sultan
served to confirm the doubts of the Spaniards as to the sincerity of
his friendship. He was arrested, and returned to Manila, and imprisoned
in the fortress of Santiago. With varying treatment he remained in
the hands of the Spaniards until 1763, when he was returned to Jolo
by the English.
Great Increase in Moro Piracy.--The year 1754 is stated to have been
the bloodiest in the history of Moro piracy. No part of the Bisayas
escaped ravaging in this year, while the Camarines, Batangas, and Albay
suffered equally with the rest. The conduct of the pirates was more
than ordinarily cruel. Priests were slain, towns wholly destroyed,
and thousands of captives were carried south into Moro slavery. The
condition of the Islands at the end of this year was probably the
most deplorable in their history.
Reforms under General Arandia.--The demoralization and misery with
which Obando's rule closed were relieved somewhat by the capable
government of Arandia, who succeeded him. Arandia was one of the few
men of talent, energy, and integrity who stood at the head of affairs
in these islands during two centuries.
He reformed the greatly disorganized military force, establishing
what was known as the "Regiment of the King," made up very largely
of Mexican soldiers. He also formed a corps of artillerists composed
of Filipinos. These were regular troops, who received from Arandia
sufficient pay to enable them to live decently and like an army.
He reformed the arsenal at Cavite, and, in spite of opposition on
all sides, did something to infuse efficiency and honesty into the
government. At the head of the armament which had been sent against
the Moros he placed a Jesuit priest, Father Ducos. A capable officer
was also sent to command the presidio at Zamboanga, and while Moro
piracy was not stopped, heavy retaliation was visited upon the pirates.
Arandia's most popular act of government was the expulsion of the
Chinese from the provinces, and in large part from the city. They
seem to have had in their hands then, perhaps even more than now, the
commerce or small trade between Manila and provincial towns. To take
over this trade, Arandia founded a commercial company of Spaniards
and mestizos, which lasted only for a year. The Christianized Chinese
were allowed to remain under license, and for those having shops in
Manila Arandia founded the Alcayceria of San Fernando. It consisted
of a great square of shops built about an open interior. It stood
in Binondo, on the present Calle de San Fernando, in what is still
a populous Chinese quarter.
Death of Arandia and Decline of the Colony.--Arandia died in May, 1759,
and the government was assumed by the bishop of Cebu, who in turn was
forced from his position by the arrival of the archbishop of Manila,
Don Manuel Rojo. The archbishop revoked the celebrated orders of good
government which Arandia had put into force, and the colony promised
to relapse once more into its customary dormant condition. This was,
however, prevented by an event which brought to an end the long period
of obscurity and inertia under which the colony had been gradually
decaying, and introduced, in a way, a new period of its history. This
was the capture of the Philippine Islands by the British in 1762.