There result also the various measures which he enacted in order to assure the patache “Filipino” and its wealth, which came from Acapulco and had arrived at the province of Leite, and which was thought to be exposed to surprise and capture by the enemy. Those attempts succeeded so happily that they were landed and taken overland to the province of Pampanga.
The treasure carried by said patache belonging to his Majesty, the ecclesiastical estate, and the trade of those islands, reached the sum of two million two hundred and fifty-three thousand one hundred and eleven pesos. To that sum was added fifty-six thousand pesos which were collected from various private persons, in obedience to the order despatched for that purpose. And with previous proof that they, the interested persons, were faithful vassals, and by virtue of the reports of two arbitrators of the commerce, he delivered them some sums so that they could support themselves. He also caused the wine casks, chests, and other articles of volume, which the said patache carried to be kept until he placed all in safety with the exception of the cargo of a champan which was lost in the province of Batangas. Among those effects was the stamped [i.e., official] paper. As soon as Manila was surrendered and the English dislodged, Don Simon placed in the hands of his successor, Don Francisco de la Torre, the testimony of the acts which he had drawn up in this particular for its convoy, and asserts that from the saving of the wealth of said patache has resulted the conservation of the islands, and that the English did not leave them completely desolate, since without this aid, the subsistence of the state would have been impossible.
He also gives information that the English declared him a rebel and offered a reward for his head, having made two embassies to him through Father Bernardo Pazuengos, provincial of the Society of Jesus, and Fray Pedro Luis de Sierra, of the Order of Preachers. The first one having gone without any credentials or authorization, but only as referring to the British governor, and having refused to make a deposition before a notary who might attest it, saying that he was to treat alone and in secret with Don Simon in regard to the matter for which he went, therefore audience was refused him, and he was despatched with a warning.
At the second embassy, inasmuch as letters were taken from the archbishop and from the auditor Don Francisco Enrriquez de Villacorta and from the above-mentioned father provincial in which they intimated to him that they would admit means of peace, in order to free the said auditor from the sentence of death, passed upon him by the council of war of the British nation, because some letters which he had written had been intercepted, he would not consent to it, and despatched the religious and ordered edicts to be published in opposition to theirs, offering ten thousand pesos to whomever would deliver alive or dead each one who had signed the edict [against him]. Finally, there was a suspension of hostilities until the evacuation of the fort. During this interim, the province of Ylocos revolted and rendered homage to the king of Gran Bretaña. At its head was Diego Silan, a Pangasinan Indian, a plebeian, who, according to public report, had been a coachman in Manila. He succeeded in getting the English to appoint him alcalde-mayor for life of that jurisdiction, and he accomplished many atrocities and acts of sacrilege. They seized the alcalde-mayor and his family; took possession of the arms and effects belonging to his Majesty; and the recognition of paying him tribute and of assisting with the polos and personal services; obliged the reverend bishop, Don Fray Bernardo Ustariz, to retire and take to flight, because he tried to reduce them to reason; committed many thefts and extortions in the estates; and burned many houses, proceeding with inhuman cruelty. An expedition was made against them, in which they were almost defeated, but since the loyal people of Ylocos were cowardly, and as they were not accustomed to fight, the tyrant was allowed to reform his forces and to continue with greater violence to further his prowess and to increase his troops.
Having been informed of such fatal occurrences, and treating for the common relief, he gave commission to said bishop and to the vicar-provincial of that province to pacify it. He communicated to them all his own powers, and wrote various letters to the villages which remained loyal, exhorting them to continue so. But not having been able to obtain any results by this method, he drew up a cause, and gave it in review to the fiscal. The latter petitioned that the most severe punishments be meted out to Diego Silang and the insurgents. As a result he ordered that a peremptory order of imprisonment and an edict of citation be issued, entrusting the measure of its publication to Fray Francisco Antonio Maldonado, an Augustinian religious, and promising a reward to whomever would communicate it to Diego Silang, and a greater one if he should obtain his reply. Don Diego Aldais, a Spanish mestizo, moved by his good zeal, determined to do this. He passing through the village of Santa Lucia, was seized by the partisans of the traitor and his letters intercepted. They deprived the religious ministers of the right to communicate [with one another] and imprisoned their diocesan prelate. By various letters which he received, he discovered the alliance which the Ilocans had made with the Pangasinans,[2] Sangleys, and the English enemy, to whom the province had been delivered, the go-between in so execrable an outrage being Don Santiago Orendain, as was proved also by a rough draft of another letter which he made and sent to Diego Silang, which was intercepted in his state by Don Manuel Alvarez and presented to him [i.e., to Anda].
Informed that the Ilocan Indians were committing disorders in this state, some following steadfastly the party of his Majesty, and others that of Diego Silang,[3] he determined with the advice of experienced persons, to appoint a chief justice and a master-of-camp as generalisimo, a sargento-mayor of the Catholic villages, and another master-of-camp and a sargento-mayor in the name of the Monteses infidels. He despatched them their titles in the name of his Majesty, granting them the fitting powers for the pacification. That provision resulted in happy successes, the most happy being that Don Miguel Vicos killed Diego Silang, at the very time that said tyrant had resolved to kill the reverend bishop and other religious ministers whom he had seized. Therefore, that province began to settle down until it became quiet and restored to the obedience of his Majesty, said prelate having promised (and Don Simon confirmed it in his Majesty’s name) a general pardon to the natives of that province and exemption from tribute during the whole time of the war on the necessary condition that they furnish their ministers of the doctrine with the necessary stipends for their support. He declared as faithful and noble the villages of Santa Catalina, Vigan, Bantay, and San Vicente, as they were the ones which chiefly took part in the enterprise, and opposed the mutiny; and he gave them the arms which were taken from the leader of the sedition.
He also gives information of another insurrection which was stirred up in the province of Pangasinan, and which originated in the village of Binalatongan, which was under the spiritual charge of the religious of St. Dominic. Those natives, also instigated by the English, taking as their leader Juan de la Cruz Palaris, an unworthy man, who had also been a coachman in Manila in the employ of Auditor Don Francisco Enrriquez de Villacorta, revolted, under the pretext of various unjust, extravagant, and malicious demands: such as that the sum of money which they had paid on the account of their tributes was to be restored, since they could not have any trade with Manila, as the English were in power there, and if the latter were to make them pay tribute, they would be paying a double tribute; that four men, whom they gave as a guard of the prisoners of the prison were to be relieved from the polos; that the dignity of cacique was to be taken from two heads of barangay; that the boys schoolmaster was to be changed as he was a flatterer; that the badge of general master-of-camp of that province was not to be given outside the village of Binalatongan; that the alcalde, the father ministers, and their convents were to be removed if they did not aid them in the attainment of their attempt, and they would build new churches and would establish new fathers. Finally they petitioned that no one who did not originate from his village should hold the staff of office in the tribunal.
This insurrection, after various incidents in which it was necessary to give the fitting authorizations to various religious, and appoint Don Juan Antonio Panelo, a person of great merit and conduct as his lieutenant, in order that they might pacify and reduce that province, and that some Spaniards might accompany the latter, giving them the necessary instructions; yet they could do nothing, since, fearful of the death which the insurgents wished to inflict on them, they fled the province. Consequently, he gave commission to other religious; prepared soldiers so that they might go to reduce the province, under command of Don Fernando Arayat. The latter’s troop departed on the expedition, and the Pampangos advancing on their march, took position in front of the enemy. Having sent an embassy to them, so that they might submit, they answered that they did not wish it, since, if his Majesty had muskets, they had cannons and muskets. Notwithstanding that they had them, the commandant, having summoned them in writing, and inviting them to make peace, and seeing the contempt that they showed of his proposition, was compelled to make war upon them, attacking them in the trenches which they had made with thirty-four muskets and five hundred natives, counting Pampangos and Cagayans, after summoning them to peace five times. They replied to his summons from the trench that they had flung their banner to the breeze, with a shot from a cannon of the caliber of four, and two shots from falconets. Thereupon, Don Pedro Hernani, lieutenant of Spanish infantry, with one sergeant, one corporal, and twenty soldiers, began to cross the river in pursuit of the Cagayans, leaving Alférez Don Jose Solorzano as a reserve. Don Pedro Hernani invested the trenches with so great courage, that he succeeded in taking the banner from them, although he suffered the misfortune of being run through the breast with a lance and fell dead. But Don Pedro Fagle substituted him, and picked up the flag, which he delivered to his commandant. The latter afterward presented it to Don Simon de Anda. It was two varas long and a trifle more narrow. At each corner it had a two-headed eagle, and in the center an escutcheon with its border, and within it the arms of the Order of St. Dominic. They also wounded a Spanish soldier with a poisoned arrow from which he died raving. Since the number of the enemy was vast, their position advantageous, and the river which they had in front, not being able [to be crossed] as it had swollen, obliged them to retire. But desiring to avoid all confusion of blood, and manifesting to them the love of his Majesty for his vassals, he [i.e., the Spanish commander] forbore to attack them again, reiterating that he would act mildly, entrusting the matter to another Dominican religious and the practical business to the master-of-camp Manalartay.
Finally, the bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Bernardo Ustariz, having taken upon himself the obligation of pacifying them, set about various measures and succeeded in reducing them. A few days afterward they sent a deputation to Don Simon, asking mercy, bearing recommendations from the abovesaid bishop, and manifesting their repentance. They recognized his Majesty as their only sovereign and asked for an alcalde-mayor to govern them. He condescended to this, pardoning them with warning that he would proceed against them in case they repeated their error. Juan Palaris and Domingo Magalog, his brother, were included in the pardon. He ordered Don Joaquin Gamboa to be restored to his office as alcalde-mayor, but the latter resigned. Consequently, the office of alcalde-mayor was given to Don Jose Acevedo. Various measures were taken so that the families who had retired to Pampanga and fled the insurrection, might be restored to Pangasinan.
He also recommends the religious orders for the good services which they have rendered, especially that of the calced Augustinians, who have suffered total ruin, as have those who have most shown their love and fidelity during the invasion of the English.