The first was in December, when the engineer, Don Miguel Gomez, was sent, who was equipped as well as possible. The second was in March of the present year, by equipping two officers, Don Christoval Ròs, and Don Andres de la Torre; and at the same time in another English fragata with sufficient safety and prudent security. He duplicated the despatches in two English fragatas, addressed to his agent at Cadiz.
81. These are the most important occurrences during the time of the siege, and the period following it. Both the other occurrences previous to the siege, possess the truth that is noted; and these [succeeding it] are proved by the papers and their instruments which have been drawn up. Other verification and authentication was not ready at hand, as it was sent by the letters in the posts above-mentioned which have not gone so bare of certain necessary documents and are not of very small bulk.
[1] Montero y Vidal (ii, pp. 66, 67) says of the archbishop: “The unfortunate archbishop Rojo died January 30, 1764. The English gave him a solemn funeral, their troops granting him all the military honors. This prelate was more imbecile than traitor …. His obstinacy in submitting the islands to the dominion of the English; his struggles against Anda, … the absolute ignorance as to his powers, and his mission and obligations; his pardonable ignorance of whatever concerned the military defense of the archipelago; … his calm submission to whatever the English advised, even in matters which were clearly opposed to the integrity and interests of Spain; and other inexplicable acts: … give an exact idea of the capacity and character of the unfortunate one who had the misfortune to exercise a command in such anxious times, for which he lacked the intelligence, valor, and the conditions necessary for its proper performance.” See also ante, pp. 129–131, note 73. [↑]
[2] See document by this man in VOL. XLVII, pp. 251–284. [↑]
[3] At the death of Governor Arandía, June 1759, the government ad interim was assumed by Miguel Lino de Espeleta, bishop of Cebú. When Rojo took possession of the archiepiscopal see, July 22, 1759, he claimed that the government belonged to him. The auditors Villacorta and Galbán voted for Espeleta, and Calderon and Dávila for Rojo. Espeleta, however, was backed by the troops, and the matter was accordingly decided in his favor. His first measure was the repeal of the celebrated ordinances of good government compiled by Arandía. His next step was the prosecution of Santiago Orendaín, the favorite of Arandía, as he believed him to be the originator of the regulations contrary to the religious, charge of the prosecution being given to Auditor Villacorta. Orendaín took refuge in the Augustinian convent at Tondo, but was given up and lodged in the fort of Santiago. Escaping thence, he was received into the Recollect convent, whence he was taken by soldiers. The matter stirred up the opposing forces, and excommunications followed in rapid succession on both sides, the two auditors, Calderon and Dávila being among those excommunicated. The matter was quashed by the archbishop upon the arrival of a royal decree appointing him governor ad interim (July, 1761). Orendaín was liberated and the records of the case sent to Madrid. See Montero y Vidal, ii. pp. 7–9. [↑]
[4] See account of this revolt in VOL. XLVIII. [↑]
[5] See Anda’s letter to the archbishop, ante, pp. 156–158. [↑]
[6] See VOLS. XLIII and XLIII; appendices in vol. ii of Montero y Vidal’s Piratería; Barrantes’s Guerras piraticas, appendix: for the negotiations between the king of Joló, and his brother Bantilan, and the Spaniards and English respectively. The king Ali-Mudin and his son were taken to Joló by Brereton when the British forces evacuated Manila in 1764. The king abdicated in favor of his son Israel. Thereupon, the Joloans divided into two factions, one in favor of the English and the other, headed by Israel, against them (Montero y Vidal’s Piratería, i, p. 338). [↑]
[7] “The most singular of these imposts, however, is the Crusade. It was born in the ages of folly and fanaticism during which millions of Europeans set forth to wear themselves out in the East for the recovery of Palestine. The court of Rome revived it in favor of Ferdinand, who in 1509 undertook to wage war against the Moors of Africa. It still exists in Spain, where it is never less than 12 sols 6 deniers, or more than 4 livres. One pays more dearly for it in the New World, where it is collected only once in two years, and where it rises from 35 sols to 13 livres, according to the rank and fortune of the citizens. For this sum, people obtained the liberty of being absolved by their confessors from crimes reserved to [the cognizance of the] pope and the bishops; the right to use on days of abstinence certain forbidden articles of food; and a multitude of indulgences for sins already committed or which might be committed. The government did not strictly oblige its subjects to take this bull, but the priests refused the consolations of religion to those who neglected or disdained it; and perhaps there is not in all Spanish America a man sufficiently courageous or enlightened to brave this ecclesiastical censure.” (Raynal, Etablissemens et commerce des Européens, ii, pp. 310, 311.) [↑]