The fact is that in the despatches sent by the English to the traitor Diego Silang to Ylocos, and in the edicts which they published, when they name the reverend archbishop, they say “ex-governor.” How could it be otherwise, as he was in the domains of the king of Ynglaterra, and was not the one appointed by the latter, and their governor would be opposed to your Majesty. That was the manner of procedure in regard to the title, until his burial. He performed judicial acts by means of the false secretary Monrroy and others in whatever he thought best, with the most special circumstance that he was always in favor of the English and opposed to the rights of your Majesty and your vassals.
And hence it is seen that although the English treated him with the greatest contempt, and confessed that I was acting as a loyal vassal of your Majesty, he would never relinquish the title of governor, or recognize in me your royal Audiencia, in accordance with the laws; and he died in the same conviction, as one may see by his last will, when he left to the governor, who should come from España, a carriage and its horses, so that he might make use of it, and ordered this cabildo to deliver to the same a sealed box, containing the papers, which were to be sent to your Majesty. Thus was it done without any mention of me, except to persecute me, as if I were not governor in your Majesty’s name.
Of this fact and others, my successor, Don Francisco Javier de la Torre, will give account. The latter brought to the royal assembly the measure in regard to your royal seal which was melted by order of the archbishop, who always refused to send it to your royal Audiencia. And although I petitioned it from him in my first letter of October 20, 62, and there followed in regard to it a measure on which I report separately in so far as it concerns me, the pretext that is inferred because of such a demonstration with this so estimable jewel of your Majesty is surprising; and it is surprising to say that he executed it because of its difficulty in the gates of the city and the risk which it ran of falling into the hands of the enemy. However, it is a fact that there was no danger at all. For when I petitioned it of him, I told him that he could deliver it to the person who carried my letter, a man in whom I had complete confidence. Besides he could have sent it safely by the religious whom the English used as their ambassadors to me, or by the adjutant whom the reverend archbishop himself sent to me to inform me of the suspension of hostilities. But since his intention was no other than to deprive this your image of whatever rights could represent it, legitimately and truly, on that account it was more difficult for him to send the royal seal of so little bulk than to me the withdrawal from the fort of the sum of more than one hundred thousand pesos of property which your Majesty needed for your troops, and which I placed in the royal storehouses of those provinces.
It appears that the disrespect committed toward so sacred a jewel in which your Majesty is immediately represented, cannot be greater, and it would surely have been treated with more honor if it had fallen into the hands of the enemy. This fact is sufficient to confirm the persecution that was declared, by which he aimed to erase your royal name from these domains. For in truth, what other impulse could he have had, when it is public and well known that the English meddled with nothing that concerned his palace after the sack? Above all he was immune and free from this for a long time after, and no one would deny that if he delivered it safely to the cabildo when melted, in the same way he could have delivered it entire.
By the letter written by the above-mentioned prelate, under date of October 30, 62, to Don Andres Blanco, your Majesty may see that he treats me as a rebel. The English condemned me as a rebel and disobedient to both Majesties on the fourth of November. It resulting from said sentence that I was condemned by both parties, it is proved conclusively that I was condemned by the reverend archbishop before I was condemned by the English, and that the archbishop concurred with them when they sentenced me. And it is a fact, and all Manila knew it and saw him present at the council of the English on the day on which they pronounced so unheard-of a sentence.
With these facts cited, and signed by the hand of the reverend archbishop, one can recognize clearly the faith that is merited by a letter which it appears that he wrote in regard to his actions and the protests of which I am told he made before dying. If all those who died were St. Pauls and the reverend archbishop had shown the actions of such an one and of a royal vassal of your Majesty, it is certain that his sayings and expressions ought to be of great appreciation. But since he was so opposed to the rights of your Majesty, to those of religion, and that which is least to my honor, it has been absolutely necessary to draw up this informatory process purely and nakedly made, so that after examining it, your Majesty may take the most advisable measures.
I confess to being the least and most useless of your vassals, but in fidelity, zeal, and disinterestedness to your Majesty’s service, I do not yield to the highest. Consequently, so far as it concerns me, I would have kept quiet about the ugly stigma of traitor, simply in order not to reveal the omissions of a prelate, recognizing its nullity because of the defects of jurisdiction in this one and in the English; and that I cannot be a rebel to your Majesty when defending your states, nor to the English since I am not nor have any desire of being an English vassal. Hence said sentence well understood becomes a new proof of my nobility and loyalty. It is a shame to the truth of the nation that it has had a vassal of so extraordinary thought, and that he could take example from the very enemy. For although it is true that these followed the rules, because of their utility and convenience in this matter, of the reverend archbishop, notwithstanding that they gave me the title of general and commander-in-chief of the troops of your Majesty in the provinces, and finally recognized me as your Audiencia, governor, and captain-general. However, the reverend archbishop, although your vassal, and so honored, passed to the other life, without doing it. It is a fact that the English declared me a rebel and traitor; confiscated and sold my property as such; declared your troops in public edicts to be canaille and robbers; and your artillery captured in the foundry of Bulacan for more contempt, was placed under the gallows of this city. Barbarous and unheard of are these acts of disrespect against the supreme honor of your Majesty, to whom it alone belongs to ask for the fitting satisfaction, and to me to report it. But surely the English would not have incurred them, had the reverend archbishop borne himself as he ought to have done as a prisoner and had he not treated me as an insurgent. But since the reverend archbishop and his partisans and many traitors of both estates whom your Majesty has had, forced the title of rebel and insurgent against me; and although I was unworthy, I was the only one in whom your royal name was conserved which since it was becoming utterly despised in these islands, it appeared absolutely necessary to me, because of the vassalage which I owe to your Majesty, to defend your name, although opposed by so many dangers to my life, surrounded by traitors and assassins, who came from Manila to attack my person, which without a soldier or the slightest war equipment, during the first six months it was conserved, I believe, by divine Providence alone for defending a cause so just as the side of your Majesty.[9] On the day when they captured the fort, the enemy had more friends in it than your Majesty, but much of it was in imitation of a prelate who had just been governor, whose persuasions and threats were alone directed to surrendering everything to the English.
Signature of Simon de Anda y Salazar
[Photographic facsimile from original MS. in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]