The city and commercial suburb of Binondo wore their usual aspect, although trade was almost at a standstill. The undisguised sympathies of Great Britain for America revived the long dormant feeling of distrust and ill-will towards the British residents, which now became so marked that the Captain-General issued a proclamation commanding due respect to be paid to neutral foreigners. Even this did not prevent a Spanish officer spitting in the face of an Englishman. Indeed, at any time, there was far more danger to all civilian classes from the Spanish soldiery than from the rebels, who were strictly enjoined by Admiral Dewey not to attempt to enter the city. Had they done so, certainly their choicest prize would have been the Archbishop Nozaleda, who, well aware of this, escaped, long before the capitulation of the city, to Shanghai on board the German warship Darmstadt.
The volunteers, too, were constantly giving trouble to the Spanish authorities, from whom they demanded their pay, and once when this was refused they threatened to seize the stores.
Although trade in and with Manila had been more or less suspended, and at intervals absolutely so, since the great naval engagement, just a few profited by the circumstances of war. One British firm there, figuratively speaking, “coined” money. They were able frequently to run a steamer, well known in Chinese waters (in which I have travelled myself), between Manila and Hong-Kong carrying refugees, who were willing to pay abnormally high rates of passage. In ordinary times fares ranged from ₱50 saloon accommodation to ₱8 a deck passage. On one trip, for instance, this steamer, with the cabins filled at ₱125 each, carried 1,200 deck passengers (no food) at ₱20, and 30 deck passengers (with food) at ₱30. Their unsold cargoes on the way in steamers when Manila was blockaded came in for enormously advanced prices. Shiploads of produce which planters and native middlemen were glad to convert into pesos at panic rates were picked up “dirt cheap,” leaving rich profits to the buyers. When steamers could not leave Manila, a Britisher, Mr. B——, walked for several days under the tropical sun to embark for Yloilo with trade news, and steamers were run at high war rates in and out of Borneo, Hong-Kong, and the Philippine southern ports. One British firm obtained a special licence to run a steamer between Hong-Kong and the port of Dagúpan, hitherto closed to foreign traffic. These were, naturally, the exceptions, for, upon the whole, the dislocation and stoppage of trade entailed very serious losses to the general body of merchants. A few days after the bombardment of Cavite the natives refused to accept the notes of the Banco Español Filipino (the Spanish bank), and a run was made on the bank to convert them into silver. However, the managers of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China, came to the rescue of the Banco Español-Filipino and agreed to honour the paper issue in order to check the scare. The three banks thereupon opened their doors and satisfied the note-holders, ordinary business being, meanwhile, suspended.
Aguinaldo had not only been busy organizing his forces, but had, in several engagements with the Spaniards, driven them back with loss, made prisoners, and replenished his own armouries. He then assumed the Dictatorship and issued the following proclamation:—
Filipinos:—
The Great North American nation, example of true liberty, and, as such, the friend of freedom for our country oppressed and subjugated by the tyranny and despotism of its rulers, has come to offer its inhabitants protection as decisive as it is disinterested, regarding our unfortunate country as gifted with sufficient civilization and aptitude for self-government. In order to justify this high conception formed of us by the great American nation, we ought to abstain from all acts which would destroy that opinion, such as pillage, robbery and every kind of outrage against persons or property. So as to avoid international conflicts during the period of our campaign I order as follows:—
Article 1.—The lives and properties of all foreigners shall be respected, including in this denomination the Chinese and all Spaniards who have not directly or indirectly contributed to the bearing of arms against us.
Article 2.—Those of the enemy who shall surrender their arms shall be, in like manner, respected.
Article 3.—Medical establishments and ambulances shall also be respected as well as the persons and effects connected therewith, provided they show no hostility.
Article 4.—Persons disobeying the above three articles shall be summarily tried and executed if their disobedience should lead to assassination, incendiarism, robbery or rape.