We may be sure that the memory of this false dealing rankled in the hearts of the people. In 1660 rebellion broke out with fresh force. This time the Pampangans were in the uprising. This people had from the first been loyal to Spain. They were among the best of her native soldiers, and had always helped to keep her enemies out of the country. For reward the government set them, with many others, to cutting timber for the arsenal. This work all were compelled to do without pay.
From Pampanga the revolt swept through other provinces of Luzon. It took more definite shape than any other uprising had done, and gained strength. A Filipino named Malong was at the head of the movement. He was a real leader, and he at once began to raise an army. The Ilocans and Cacaygans joined him, and in a little while 40,000 men had been enrolled. They were not well armed, nor were they well supplied with food; but they marched through the country, making war on the Spanish.
Again, however, effort failed because it was not united. The tribes could not grasp the idea of real union. The people had no clear thought of a national life together. So they fought among themselves as well as against the common enemy, and their warfare came to naught. They could not long resist the trained Spanish troops, and in time the rebellion was put down. The army was scattered, and its leaders became outlaws in the mountains.
While Governor-General Lara was in office another Chinese invasion threatened. A Mongol chief named Koxinga (kox in´gä), who had been driven from his own country by the Tartars, was the leader of it. When the Tartars overran China, about the middle of the seventeenth century, Koxinga and many of his followers refused to submit. They went to Formosa, drove out the Dutch people, and settled there. Later Koxinga laid a plan to take the Philippine Islands and set up his kingdom there.
Koxinga’s chief adviser was an Italian friar named Riccio (rē´ chē ō). This friar he had made a high mandarin, or nobleman. He now sent him to Manila, dressed in the garb of his office, to demand tribute from the Philippine Government.
Naturally this demand caused amaze and alarm in Manila. The Spaniards were aghast at the idea of a Catholic priest demanding tribute from a Catholic country, in the name of a heathen ruler. Later the authorities at Rome called the friar to account for his conduct. At this time, however, the Spanish were at a loss how to act. They did not dare send the priest-mandarin away, nor could they give him any answer. They therefore kept him waiting in Manila while they made up their minds what to do.
THE MANILA CATHEDRAL.
As was usual, when trouble arose, the government thought that the Chinese in Manila were plotting to take the city. They felt sure that these men would be ready to help Koxinga when he came, so everything was made ready for another attack upon the Chinese in Luzon.
All government troops, both Spanish and native, were collected at Manila. The forts at Yligan (ē´lēgän), at Calamianes (cäl ä mē än´ēs), and at Zamboanga, were torn down and the soldiers brought to Luzon. Only the fort at Caraga, Mindanao, was left standing. This one they did not dare to give up; the soldiers there were all that kept the Moros from destroying the settlements on that coast.