[5] So tenacious was the opposition of the Austin friars, both in Manila and the provinces, that the British appear to have regarded them as their special foes.
From the archives of Bauan Convent, Province of Batangas, I have taken the following notes, viz.:—The Austin friars lost ₱ 238,000 and 15 convents. Six of their estates were despoiled. The troops killed were 300 Spaniards, 500 Pampanga natives, and 300 Tagálog natives. Besides the Austin friars from the galleon Trinidad, who were made prisoners and shipped to Bombay, 10 of their Order were killed in battle and 19 were captured and exiled to India and Europe.
[6] The prominent men in this movement were the brothers Palmero, maternal uncles of the well-known Spanish soldier-politician, General Marcelo Azcárraga.
Born in 1832 in Manila, General Marcelo Azcárraga was the son of José Azcárraga, a Biscayan Spaniard, and his creole wife Dr. Maria Palmero. José Azcárraga was a bookseller, established in the Escolta (Binondo), in a building (burnt down in October, 1885) on the site where stood the General Post Office up to June, 1904. In the fire of 1885 the first MS. of the first edition of this work was consumed, and had to be re-written. José Azcárraga had several sons and daughters. His second son, Marcelo, first studied law at St. Thomasʼ University, and then entered the Nautical School, where he gained the first prize in mathematics. Sent to Spain to continue his studies, he entered the Military School, and in three yearsʼ time obtained the rank of Captain. For his services against the OʼDonnell revolutionary movement (1854) in Madrid, he was promoted to Major. At the age of twenty-three he obtained the Cross of San Fernando (with pension). Having served Spain with distinction in several important missions to Mexico, Cuba, and Sto. Domingo, he returned to Cuba and espoused the daughter of the great banker, Fesser, who gave him a fortune of £20,000 on the day of his marriage. In the year of Isabella II.ʼs deposition (1868) he returned to Spain, promoted the Bourbon restoration, and became Lieut.-General on the proclamation of Alfonso XII. (1875). He then became successively M.P., Senator by election, and life Senator. He was Minister of War under Cánovas del Castillo, on whose assassination (Aug. 8, 1897) he became Prime Minister of the Interim Government specially charged to keep order until after the unpopular marriage of the Princess of Asturias. After several Ministerial changes he again took the leadership of the Government, was lately President of the Senate, and on his retirement, at the age of seventy-two, he received the Toison de Oro (Golden Fleece)—the most elevated Order in Spain. On his motherʼs side he descends from the Philippine creole family of the Conde de Lizárraga, and is uncle to the Conde de Albay, better known in Philippine society as Señor Govantes.
[7] It was practically a secret branch of the Junta General de Reformas authorized to discuss reforms, and created by the Colonial Minister Becerra during the governor-generalship of General La Torre in the time of the Provisional Government in Spain which succeeded the deposed Queen Isabella II.
[8] He was the grandfather of one of the most conspicuous surviving generals of the Tagálog Rebellion (1896) and the War of Independence (1899).
[9] José Maria Basa was the son of Matias Basa, a builder and contractor by trade, who made a contract with the Spanish Government to fill up the stream which branched from the Pasig River and crossed the Escolta (Manila), where now stands the street called Calle de San Jacinto. In consideration of this work he was permitted to build houses on the reclaimed land, provided he made a thoroughfare where the former bed of the rivulet existed. This undertaking made his fortune. His son, José Maria, had several trading schemes, the most prosperous of which was his distillery at Trozo (Manila), which brought him large profits, and was a flourishing concern in 1872. On being amnestied, he established himself in Hong-Kong, where he is still living with his family in easy circumstances and highly respected. His unbounded hospitality to all who know him, and especially to his countrymen, has justly earned for him in Hong-Kong the title of the “Father of the Filipinos.”
Dr. Antonio Maria Regidor y Jurado, a young lawyer, was arrested and banished to the Ladrone Islands, whence he afterwards escaped to Hong-Kong in a foreign vessel, disguised as a priest. From that Colony he found his way to France, where he intended to settle, but eventually established himself in London, where he still holds a high position as a Spanish consulting lawyer. By his marriage with an Irish lady, he has a son and several charming daughters, his well-appointed home being the rendezvous of all the best class of Filipinos who visit the British metropolis.
The Chinese
Long before the foundation of Manila by Legaspi in 1571 the Chinese traded with these Islands. Their locus standi, however, was invariably a critical one, and their commercial transactions with the semi-barbarous Philippine Islanders were always conducted afloat. Often their junks were boarded and pillaged by the natives, but, in spite of the immense risk incurred, the Chinese lacked nothing in their active pursuit. Their chief home port was Canton.