The situation in the archipelago was now very grave indeed, and the authorities in Manila began to see that something must be done to meet the ever-growing discontent of the people. A little more liberty given at this time might have changed that discontent to gratitude. If the people could have believed that the Spaniards desired their good, they might have worked with the Europeans for the benefit of the whole country.
But there was lack of trust and understanding on both sides, and because of this still harsher laws were made by the Spanish in their efforts to put down rebellion. One of these laws provided for a rigid examination of all books printed in the native tongues. Such books as did not please the authorities were condemned and burned. With regard to all books printed in the Tagal language, this censorship was kept up until the end of Spanish rule.
Efforts were also made to keep the islands from closer communication with the outside world. In 1849 a royal order again forbade foreigners to go into the provinces. In this year the governor-general, Narciso de Claveria (när sē´sō dā clä vā´rē ä), organized a police force for Manila and the provinces. This force was called “The Order of Safety for Manila.” During Claveria’s term of office a very good reform was made in trading privileges. The alcalde of a province had before that had the sole right to trade with the people of his province. Under the new law, however, any Spaniard or Filipino who wished to do so might trade freely in the provinces.
The people in the islands still had serious trouble with the pirates from Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago. These pirates had regular fleets, and a military force as strong as that of the Spaniards themselves, and they had become a source of constant danger to commerce and to the liberty of the people. So great damage did they do, that for four years the government was obliged to remit all tribute in the island of Negros, one of the richest of the agricultural islands. The ravages of these pirates had made the people so poor that they were scarcely able to procure the necessaries of life.
The danger from this source at last became so great that trade between the islands was at a standstill. The merchants of Manila therefore took action in self-defense, and brought steamboats over from Europe. These were safe, as the pirates, in their slower-going ships, could not overtake them; but the towns lying along the coast were still subject to raids. In 1848 Governor-General Claveria sent out an expedition to the islands of Balanguengui, a group in the Sulu archipelago, where most of the pirates had their homes. This expedition destroyed the towns of the pirates, burned their ships, and took many captives.
PIRATE FLEET ATTACKING A COAST TOWN.
Two or three years later Governor-General Urbiztondo (ur bēth ton´dō) went with an expedition against the pirates, and made a strong attack on the city of Joló. This expedition consisted of four regiments of artillery and a native battalion drawn from among the people of Cebu. This island had suffered greatly from piratic raids, and it is said that the wives of these Cebuans declared that they would not receive their husbands back again if they ran away from the foe. This threat may have had some effect, for the men fought with great bravery and gave the pirates such a severe punishment that there were no further attacks for several years.
Some years later, in 1860, when Don Fernando de Norzagaray (nor thä gä´iī) was governor-general, eighteen steam gunboats were sent out from Spain. With these the Spanish forces in the archipelago were able completely to defeat the pirates and to put an end to the outrages that had cost the islands so much in property and in lives.