Sioco, with his division, at length entered the fort, and a hand-to-hand fight ensued. For a while the issue was doubtful. Salcedo fought like a lion. Even the aged governor was well at the front to encourage the deadly struggle for existence. The Spaniards finally gained the victory; the Chinese were repulsed with great slaughter; and their leader having been killed, they fled in complete disorder. Salcedo, profiting by the confusion, now took the offensive and followed up the enemy, pursuing them along the sea-shore, where they were joined by the third division, which had remained inactive. The panic of the Chinese spread rapidly, and Li-ma-hong, in despair, landed another contingent of about five hundred men, while he still continued afloat; but even with this re-enforcement the morale of his army could not be regained.
The Chinese troops therefore, harassed on all sides, made a precipitate retreat on board the fleet, and Li-ma-hong set sail again for the west coast of the island. Foiled in the attempt to possess himself of Manila, Li-ma-hong determined to set up his capital in other parts. In a few days he arrived at the mouth of the Agno River, in the province of Pangasinan, where he proclaimed to the natives that he had gained a signal victory over the Spaniards. The inhabitants there, having no particular choice between two masters, received Li-ma-hong with welcome, and he thereupon set about the foundation of his new capital some four miles from the mouth of the river.
Months passed before the Spaniards came in force to dislodge the invader. Feeling themselves secure in their new abode, the Chinese had built many dwellings, a small fortress, a pagoda, etc. At length an expedition was dispatched under the command of Juan Salcedo. This was composed of about two hundred and fifty Spaniards and one thousand six hundred natives well equipped with small arms, ammunition and artillery. The flower of the Spanish colony, accompanied by two priests and the Rajah of Tondo, set out to expel the formidable foe. Li-ma-hong made a bold resistance and refused to come to terms with Salcedo. In the meantime, the Viceroy of Fokien, having heard of Li-ma-hong’s daring exploits, had commissioned a ship of war to discover the whereabout of his imperial master’s old enemy. The envoy was received with delight by the Spaniards, who invited him to accompany them to Manila to interview the governor.
Li-ma-hong still held out, but perceiving that an irresistible onslaught was being projected against him by Salcedo’s party, he very cunningly and quite unexpectedly gave them the slip, and sailed out of the river with his ships by one of the mouths unknown to his enemies.[10] In order to divert the attention of the Spaniards, Li-ma-hong ingeniously feigned an assault in an opposite quarter. Of course, on his escape, he had to abandon the troops employed in this maneuver. These, losing all hope, and having, indeed, nothing but their lives to fight for, fled to the mountains. Hence, it is popularly supposed that from these fugitives descends the race of people in that province still distinguishable by their oblique eyes and known by the name of Igorrote-Chinese.
“Aide toi et Dieu t’aidera” is an old French maxim, but the Spaniards chose to attribute their deliverance from their Chinese rival to the friendly intervention of Saint Andrew. This saint was declared thenceforth to be the patron saint of Manila, and in his honor High Mass is celebrated in the Cathedral at 8 A.M. on the 30th of each November. It is a public holiday and gala-day, when all the highest civil, military and religious authorities attend the “Funcion votiva de San Andrés.” This opportunity to assert the supremacy of ecclesiastical power was not lost to the Church, and for many years it was the custom, after hearing Mass, to spread the Spanish national flag on the floor of the Cathedral for the metropolitan archbishop to walk over it. It has been asserted, however, that a few years ago the governor-general refused to witness this antiquated formula, which, in public at least, no longer obtains. Now it is the practice to carry the royal standard before the altar. Both before and after the Mass, the bearer (Alférez Real), wearing his hat and accompanied by the mayor of the city, stands on the altar-floor, raises his hat three times, and three times dips the flag before the Image of Christ, then, facing the public, he repeats this ceremony. On Saint Andrew’s eve, the royal standard is borne in procession from the Cathedral through the principal streets of the city, escorted by civil functionaries and followed by a band of music. This ceremony is known as the “Paseo del Real Pendon.”
According to Juan de la Concepcion, the Rajahs[11] Soliman and Lacandola took advantage of these troubles to raise a rebellion against the Spaniards. The natives too of Mindoro Island revolted and maltreated the priests, but all these disturbances were speedily quelled by a detachment of soldiers.
The governor willingly accepted the offer of the commander of the Chinese man-of-war to convey embassadors to his country to visit the viceroy and make a commercial treaty. Therefore two priests, Martin Rada and Geronimo Martin, were commissioned to carry a letter of greeting and presents to this personage, who received them with great distinction, but objected to their residing in the country.
After the defeat of Li-ma-hong, Juan Salcedo again repaired to the northern provinces of Luzon Island, to continue his task of reducing the natives to submission. On the 11th of March, 1576, he died of fever near Vigan (then called Villa Fernandina), capital of the province of Ilocos Sur. A year afterward, what could be found of his bones were placed in the ossuary of his illustrious grandfather, Legaspi, in the Augustine Chapel of Saint Fausto, Manila. His skull, however, which had been carried off by the natives of Ilocos, could not be recovered in spite of all threats and promises. In Vigan there is a small monument raised to commemorate the deeds of this famous warrior, and there is also a street bearing his name.
For several years following these events, the question of prestige in the civil affairs of the colony was acrimoniously contested by the governor-general, the supreme court and the ecclesiastics.
The governor was censured by his opponents for alleged undue exercise of arbitrary authority. The supreme court, established on the Mexican model, was reproached with seeking to overstep the limits of its functions. Every legal quibble was adjusted by a dilatory process, impracticable in a colony yet in its infancy, where summary justice was indispensable for the maintenance of order imperfectly understood by the masses. But the fault lay less with the justices than with the constitution of the court itself. Nor was this state of affairs improved by the growing discontent and immoderate ambition of the clergy, who unremittingly urged their pretensions to immunity from State control, affirming the supramundane condition of their office.