Next morning a strong force of Spanish marched out against them. This force was led by Luis Perez Desmarinas, and in it were the pick of all the young Castilian gentlemen in the country. The best of the Spanish soldiery were there also, as well as a body of native troops. These troops were Pampangans, who were then the best trained of the Filipino soldiers.
On the other hand were thousands of frightened Chinese, ready to fight to the death, and there was awful work in the streets of Binondo that day. Neither side gave or got any quarter, and by night, of all those brave young Spanish gentlemen scarce one was left alive.
But at last the Chinese gave way. They had neither weapons to carry on war, nor food to help them withstand a siege. They began, therefore, to fall back toward the interior; but they were hotly chased, and as they fled nearly 25,000 of them were killed. It was sad business, and all the more sad because it is likely that neither side really knew what the fighting was about.
Besides trouble with the Moros in the south and with the Chinese in the north, the colony had much to bear from Spain’s old-time foe, the Dutch. At this time there were really very few Spanish in the islands. There had been less than a thousand when the battle with the Chinese was fought. Many were killed on that fatal day, so that in the new trouble the Spaniards would have fared ill, had it not been that the army of the colony now numbered many Filipino soldiers in its ranks.
From the end of the sixteenth century down to the year 1763, there was war between Spain and the Dutch, and this war caused much hardship in the islands. It was Spain’s short-sighted method in dealing with her colonies to restrict their trade whenever it was likely to interfere with that of her home merchants. So harsh were the measures by which she held in check the trade of her colonies that she kept all her dependencies poor, so that in the end the mother country lost more than she gained.
At this time the Philippine merchants were allowed to trade only with Mexico. Once a year, usually in July, a state galleon left Manila carrying goods to that country. The goods were sold in Mexico, and the money and other goods were sent back by galleon to Manila.
DUTCH SHIPS ATTACKING A CHINESE TRADING JUNK.
The galleons also carried the mail, and great sums of money which Mexico sent over to meet the expenses of the island government. They were always rich prizes, and Spain’s enemies knew this all too well. They would lie in wait for them, to capture and despoil them. The Dutch ships, in particular, often did this. From first to last they captured a good many of the royal galleons.
Every capture meant calamity to the islands. It meant for Manila merchants the loss of a whole year’s business. To the State and to the Church it meant loss of income, of salaries, and of money to carry on all public work. To the natives it meant harder and longer tasks, deeper poverty, heavier burdens which they must endure in raising the extra tribute, and heavier taxes by which the loss was made good.