Major Christoval de Acuña was charged with the expedition. He cut off their supply of provisions, and reduced them to such distress, that their only alternative was, to abandon their position or starve.
They availed themselves of the cover of night, and made the best of their way to Batangas, where the Spaniards pursued them, and completed their destruction, having killed in different engagements, twenty-three thousand men, one hundred alone, who were rowers in the galleons, remaining of their whole number; and as a warning to their countrymen, to abstain from insurrection in future, Engcan was ordered to be hanged, and his head to be placed on the gaol. The Governor sent two Augustine friars to Spain, to inform his Majesty of the rebellion, and to enable them to arrive in a shorter time, he sent them by India; but they encountered so many difficulties in their passage through Goa, Persia, Turkey, and Italy, that it was three years before they arrived at the court of Madrid. This has always been a dangerous journey, and was particularly so to Friar Nicholas Milo, an Augustine, who, a few years before, had been sent the same route with a lay brother, born in Japan, and who, after having been exposed to great misery in many countries, fell a martyr in Muscovy with his companion. The Emperor of China sent ambassadors to Manila respecting the rebellion, requesting to know the meaning of the slaughter, which had been made among his subjects. The Governor justified himself amply, and the commerce remained on the same footing as before.
In March 1604, eight hundred troops arrived from New Spain, with which relief Don Pedro de Acuña was enabled to fit out a fleet of thirty sail, in the port of Yloylo, for the conquest of the Moluccas. He sailed at the head of this armament on the 15th of January, 1606; and upon his arrival at Ternate, he sat down before the place, to which the King of the island had retired, and took it on the 1st of April, with the loss of fifteen Spaniards. The King of Ternate, who had fled with some of his subjects, intimated a desire to enter into amicable terms with the Spaniards, proposing to deliver up all his fortresses, the towns in Batoquina, which were anciently peopled by Christians (either Dutch captives, or Spanish deserters), all his Christian prisoners, the islands of Marotay and Herrao, with all his artillery and ammunition; and which terms were acceded to. He was not, however, left in possession of his kingdom, but accompanied the Governor to Manila, with some of his chiefs, who were not allowed to remain, from an apprehension of their fomenting disturbances.
The Colonel, Don Martin Esquival, was appointed Governor of Ternate, with six hundred men; and in Tidore, the King of the island requested, that Captain Alarcon might remain with one hundred troops, which was acceded to. During these transactions, and while this armament was at Ternate, and few troops remained at Manila, the Japanese who lived behind the city, availed themselves of these circumstances, and took up arms against the Spaniards. This rebellion was soon put a stop to, through the mediation of the friars, who persuaded the insurgents to lay down their arms, and submit quietly. By this species of management, time was gained for the arrival of the Governor, to whom information had been sent. He arrived at Manila, banished the ringleaders to their own island, and obliged the rest to live in the town of Dilao, where they would be always under our guns; and by this means, kept in obedience. The Governor reaped little benefit from these successes, as he was immediately afterwards, seized with a complaint in the intestines, which carried him off on St. John the Baptist's day. On the death of the Governor, Don Christoval Telles de Almanza, as chief Oidor, became Military Governor ad interim. The rebellion, which lay smothered in the breasts of the Japanese, on this occasion, broke out afresh. They engaged the Spaniards, and many fell on both sides, as the Japanese were very brave, and were called the Spaniards of Asia. In the end, however, they were conquered, and were not permitted to live together in any considerable number till the year 1621, when Pelayo Hernandez built shops on their old quarter, which were hired out for the benefit of the Franciscan friars.
Some of the Spaniards of the Moluccas took prisoner Pablo Blancardo, the Dutch commander at Malacca, and brought him in his galley to Ternate. The Governor there, in consideration of fifty thousand dollars, set him and all his people at liberty, which, when it was known in Manila, was stigmatized as an act of great baseness; and this public censure affected the Governor's mind to that degree, that he died of grief soon afterwards. The second in command succeeded; and to give satisfaction to the Royal Audience, despatched two ships in search of General Blancardo, who, it was supposed, had gone towards Maquien, in a patache; they took him prisoner a second time, and sent him with all his people, to Manila, where he was some time afterwards repaid from the Royal coffers, the amount of his ransom. Pablo Blancardo died of grief in prison at Manila, where he had been confined until the arrival of twenty-two Spaniards, who had been taken at Amboyna by the Dutch, and for whom it was intended he should be exchanged.
The Royal Audience conducted themselves with great approbation in the civil administration, until the year 1608, when Don Rodrigo Vivero of Laredo, who was named by the Viceroy as Governor ad interim, arrived at Manila, and having had great experience in the management of the Indians in New Spain, he availed himself of it on this occasion, giving instructions to that effect to the chief judges, and other ministers of justice. He governed with much satisfaction for one year, when he delivered up the insignia of his office, and returned to Mexico.
CHAPTER XIV.
ANNO DOM. 1609.
Of the Administration of Don Juan de Silva.