In the beginning of the year 1764 nobody opposed our authority in the towns, the rebels had retired to the mountains, taking with them the friars who were not able to join the Spaniards: each troop of rebels had its particular chief, and the rebellion could not be quelled merely by one battle. It was therefore determined upon to distribute detachments over the country, and subdue it in detail. They proceeded by hanging the leaders of the mutiny as they took them, pardoning the great mass of their followers; but they were so very obstinate, that although sensible they could offer no resistance, and that it was easy for them to obtain a general amnesty, they still continued in rebellion, nor was it effectually quelled till March, 1765. On our side we lost in this expedition seventy Spaniards, and one hundred and forty Indians, and of the rebels more than ten thousand perished. Many of the rebels too died of hunger, or passed over to other provinces, and the first enumeration that was made of the province after the rebellion, it was found that twenty-six thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven persons were deficient of the proper number, composing nearly half the population. All the other provinces of the islands were restored to tranquillity, and maintained in their allegiance to the King of Spain, under the orders of Señor Anda.
CHAPTER XVII.
Of the Restoration of Manila by the English at the Peace, anno 1763.
On the 23d of July, 1763, an English frigate arrived with the armistice which had been agreed on by the powers of Spain, France, and England. In any other part of the world hostilities would have ceased, and the chiefs of the contending parties would have been anxious to exchange reciprocal civility and kindness the moment such intelligence was received; but in the Philippines, such were the misunderstandings which had arisen, that the armistice which in Europe had been carried into effect, was here of no avail. The English commander acknowledged no other governor than the Archbishop, and to him he communicated, in the usual form, the contents of his despatches from his court. The Archbishop transmitted them to Señor Anda, who replied, “That in a matter of such importance and delicacy, the English commander ought immediately to have made him acquainted with it, without the intervention of his Excellency.” On the 27th of August, an English vessel arrived with the preliminaries of peace, and the British council directly handed over the despatches to Señor Anda, sealed and directed to the Commander in Chief of his Catholic Majesty’s arms; but because the addition of Captain-general of the Philippines was omitted, he would not receive it, observing, that being without the corresponding titles, it might be doubted whether the despatches were intended for him.
The British commander, to establish the authority of it, published a manifesto on the 19th of September, pointing out the line of conduct he had observed to Señor Anda, in order to procure a cessation of hostilities as soon as he received the preliminaries of peace, and which, he stated, had been forwarded to him by the prime minister, signed by the British and Spanish ambassadors, and he declared Señor Anda responsible for the blood which might be spilled in consequence of the measures he adopted, so contrary to those laws of humanity which had induced the European powers to sheath the sword. Señor Anda replied to this manifesto by another, published in Bacolor the 28th of September, in which he set forth that he had not been made acquainted with the preliminaries of peace in due form; that as Governor he had not been treated as such, but in that character he should answer the English manifesto, by protesting that the continuation of hostilities could not be imputed to him, but to those who, pursuing a line of conduct little conformable to the orders of their sovereign, had indirectly impeded their execution.
From this moment, however, the English allowed greater latitude to the prisoners in Manila; and Señor Villa Corta, who was considered in that light, availed himself of the indulgence to conceal himself in the house of Don Tomas Dorado, from whence he escaped in a coach under a female dress, and embarked for Pampanga. Señor Anda received him with great affability; and as a mark of his friendship and affection, he left him in Bacolor to transact some matters of business for him, and departed for the camp, in order to transfer it to the town of Polo from Maycavayan, where he had taken up his quarters since the battle of Malinta. In his absence the Archbishop being taken ill, the question was agitated who should be Governor in the event of his death, and Señor Villa Corta observed, that he thought it fell to him, as being senior Oidor. This conversation was not so secret but Señor Anda became acquainted with it, and without waiting to remove his camp to Polo, he left proper instructions, and returning to Bacolor he retorted on Villa Corta, who endeavoured to exculpate himself, by pleading that it was merely conversation, and undeserving serious notice: his enquiries and solicitude terminated in discovering that Señor Galban and the royal fiscal were of opinion that Senor Ustariz, Bishop of New Segovia or Ylocos, ought to succeed to the government, in case of the death of the Archbishop, conformable to the recent orders of his Majesty. Señor Anda was anxious to obtain the opinions of the various parties in the islands, and consulted Señor Matos, Bishop of Camarines, and the provincial clergy on the subject. Señor Matos returned him for answer, that the subject was quite foreign to his profession, and that it was the province of the Royal Audience to decide the point, and that he, as a good subject, should acquiesce in that decision. The provincial friars of St. Augustine and St. Domingo answered him in nearly the same terms; but the provincial of the Jesuits and the Franciscans told him, that in the then situation of the islands he alone could preserve the public tranquillity, and on that account he ought to retain the supreme authority. This diversity of opinion was not very gratifying to Señor Anda, and although the troops were in his favour, he was by no means desirous of having recourse to violence. This induced him to submit so far as to take the opinion of the British commander, and he accordingly wrote to him from Bacolor the 2d of November, 1763.
Major Fell, who commanded the English troops, had at this time quitted his command, with the view of proceeding to London, to complain of certain proceedings respecting Monsieur Faller, who was ordered for execution by Admiral Cornish, on account of letters written by him to the commandant at Batavia, in which he termed the admiral a pirate and robber. Governor Drake protected him, and kept him in the hall of the Royal Audience. Fell demanded him, and the Governor refusing to deliver him up, Fell took with him a file of grenadiers, and repaired to the palace. Ascending the staircase, he met the Governor coming down, when an altercation took place, and Fell snatching a fusee from a grenadier, was in the act of bayoneting the Governor, when one of his own soldiers prevented him, and took the musket from him. During this disturbance on the staircase, the grenadiers went to the hall of the Royal Audience, took Faller, and carried him on board ship. Major Fell, in consequence of this, embarked for London, in order to complain of the Governor, and Don Thomas Backhouse took the command. To him it was that Señor Anda wrote, complaining bitterly of the vexations which the English soldiers had given to his soldiers, and finished by observing, that if he meant to write, he must address him by the titles and in the style due to his rank. Backhouse replied by disclaiming the ground of his complaints, as they referred to a period when he had not the command; and in regard to the government of the islands, he pleaded ignorance of our statutes and laws, but he said he saw, with great grief, strong symptoms of civil war, which threatened the desolation of Manila as soon as evacuated by his Britannic Majesty’s troops. Señor Anda well knew that the English would not acknowledge any other Governor than the Archbishop, and began to spread suspicions that the preliminaries of peace were forged by the English Governor, who found himself driven to extremity by the incursions our people made from the camp of Polo, and which occasioned a scarcity of provisions in Manila.
The English adhering to the resolution of committing no act of hostility, and keeping on the defensive, only endeavoured to procure their provisions in the provinces. With this view they sent to the province of Batan a sloop, with a very few people, to the town of Orion, and taking refuge in the convent, they purchased what provisions they wanted. Señor Anda hearing of this, sent troops against them: the Indians assaulted them through the kitchen, and surprised them, but they saved themselves in the sloop by the negligence of the officer who commanded, and who arrived too late with the rest of the people. In the river Pasig also our people made them abandon two vessels which were going to the Lake for provisions, and they took a galley from the very door of the store-houses. In this manner did the two nations continue their hostilities until the 30th of January, 1764. On this day the Archbishop died, oppressed in mind by the miseries he saw the people suffer, and the many inquietudes his employment occasioned him at a moment of such calamity. His Excellency was guilty of only one material error during this war, and that was his engagement to pay four millions to the English, and deliver up the islands to them. It would have been better to have surrendered at discretion than with conditions so hard, and out of his power to comply with: it must be remembered, however, in his justification, that he granted them with the bayonet at his breast, and that the Spaniards who were with him signed the same terms.
Immediately after the funeral of the Bishop, Señor Anda received despatches, by way of China, from his Catholic Majesty, communicating the conclusion of peace with the English, to his Governor at Manila; he informed the English commandant of it, offering a suspension of hostilities, and requesting them to take measures for delivering up the place. The English assented to this, and sent to the town of Tambobon the chief engineer, Stevenson, accompanied by Don Edward Vogan as an interpreter, who had been at St. Joseph’s College, and returned to the islands with this expedition as a pilot or guide. On our side was appointed Don Francisco Salgado, with his interpreter, Don Geronimo Ramirez. Their respective powers being produced, they entered on the negociation; but all was reduced to mere squabbling, Salgado exaggerating our strength, which, he said, was equal to the capture of Manila, to which the English officer very archly replied, by asking why they did not take the fort on the Pasig, which was scarcely in a state of defence? Nine days were thus wasted, and nothing concluded on. While under these circumstances, an English vessel arrived, with orders to evacuate the place, and the negociation ceased. This occurrence served to revive the old disputes relative to the succession to the government, and receiving the place from the English. Señor Villa Corta had his supporters, and Señor Ustariz, who had the greatest right, did not want for partizans. Señor Anda had in his favour the circumstance of having defended the islands, and having prevented the English from advancing to the northern provinces; and, above all, he commanded the troops, who were attached to him, and this served to check the pretensions of the others. Most fortunately, at this time, arrived at Marinduque, in the Santa Rosa frigate, Don Francisco de la Torre, despatched by the Viceroy of Mexico as the King’s Lieutenant. Señor Anda sent him a galley, on board of which he embarked and came to Bacolor, where Señor Anda, with much honour and disinterestedness, resigned the government into his hands, conformable to his Sovereign’s orders, on the 17th of March, 1764.