Chapter VII: Part 7

62. As the whole business or object of the English was the treasure of the "Philipino" they sent two more fragatas to look for it, and in them went persons authorized by this community. Inasmuch as four citizens had been made prisoners or detained in houses of this city, as well as Auditor Don Francisco Villacorta and the fiscal, Don Francisco Viana, one cannot imagine the efforts of the archbishop, personally and in writing with the generals and the British government for the release of the above-mentioned, especially the ministers. After some days and petitions, he was able to succeed on condition that four men should be chosen to make the abovesaid efforts. In fact they were chosen by the citizens and sailed in said fragatas, although they were unable to make the port of Palapa because of very violent storms which putting them in danger of shipwreck made it necessary for them to put back to Manila after ninety days.

63. Seeing that their attempt was frustrated and that the rumors that they heard were that the silver had been removed from the "Philipino," and placed in safety, Admiral Cornish, irritated and just about to sail, attempted a new sack. Although by demand of the British government, it appears that he went to quiet his officers, yet he was implacable, and it appears that having been advised by the said government that it would resist on its part the sack within the city, without desisting from his attempt, said admiral set his gaze on the suburbs, especially on Santa Cruz, [159] where the most of the Spaniards are. Already were the dread and consternation great, and the destruction and mortality which were threatened by the fury of this hostility were feared. The archbishop, having been notified thereof by some Spaniards, exerted all his strength and care to avoid this disaster, and moderate, and cause the admiral to set some bounds [to the matter]. Discussing the matter with the latter in several visits which he paid to him, he was able to persuade him and agree to give him an order for the two millions. In case that the "Philipino" (as was already inferred) came with its wealth or the fragata which was assigned for this purpose transported them, from that property would be completed the amount of the other two millions, having liquidated the account in regard to the sum already raised, and taking account of the amount of the sack that they had suffered and which was to be regulated.

64. In this manner everything remained quiet. It was no time or season for answer or reply, especially with the admiral who was so strong and hard in his resolution. No other expedient was found with which to meet the conflict than the above-mentioned order. Neither could he avoid in the nearness of his embarkation the new sack of the church and convent of St. Augustine (with the exception of the reliquaries which the archbishop, feigning ignorance, had caused to be kept in the cathedral); nor that the admiral should not sack the houses of the marquis of Monte Castro and of Don Andres Blanco--the first because he had failed in his word of honor, and the second because he had not taken part in the contribution--in which were included various persons who lost their property.

65. The account of the sack which Cornish furnished to the archbishop is quite ridiculous and improbable as to the amount of twenty-nine thousand pesos at which he puts it, since by means of the investigations which the archbishop was able to carry on the sack amounts to more than eight hundred thousand pesos; and almost one-third of the inhabitants were absent so that it has been impossible to adjust their loss through the absence of many persons. However, it is a fact that the total amount must be lowered by what the Indians and house servants took in these robberies and destruction. But this adjustment could not be made at the time when Cornish threatened the new sack; for these investigations are being made at present, and as yet the last has not been heard from because of the absence of not a few inhabitants who have still to make their declaration. Neither would the irritation of Cornish, had these investigations even been finished, have considered our account and adjustment, both because of his impetuous nature, and because of the so vast discrepancy of his account to that above-mentioned. Consequently, it was only the time to yield and to enter into some kind of agreement by means of the above-mentioned order. This recourse was necessary and inevitable under the circumstances leaving it for the consideration of our king and his ministers who might take the advisable measures in view of what had happened.

66. The admiral departed, as has been said, the first of March. He left orders to his castellan of Cavite to go in a fragata to Palapa. In fact the latter did so, and through a citizen, who was selected by the merchant body, the order was given from the beginning for the commander of the "Philipino" to bring the silver or deliver it; so that, having reduced the amount which was lacking to complete the millions, the remainder might be delivered to the Spaniards interested and sent to its destination. Already it was more than probable by this time that the silver of the said ship was placed in safety; and the above-mentioned castellan, who went to Palapa, found that it was so. He found the said ship without any crew or any cargo; and notwithstanding some investigations which he made to get the silver, he ordered the "Philipino" to be set afire and returned to Manila without having obtained anything else than having made his efforts in vain. [160] But he did not cease to make all efforts ashore and by sea in small boats to get the silver, but the same result followed of not obtaining any success.

67. Before these incidents, by others which intervened through the withdrawal of some Spaniards and officers, notwithstanding their oath and word of honor, the English caused to enter into the city those who were suspected, among them being the two ministers who were the only ones outside the walls, Don Francisco Viana and Don Francisco Billacorta. The latter effected his entrance into the city on receipt of the message; and the former his retirement to Pampanga at the end of January. Auditor Villacorta entered and left the city freely, but had the heedlessness [to write] certain letters to Auditor Anda, and the misfortune to have them intercepted. It resulted therefrom that he was seized and in a very short time he was considered by a council of war, which sentenced him to the list punishment. [161]

68. Almost at the same time the rumor spread abroad of the offensive and defensive alliance of the British government with the king of Jolo. In consideration of the treaty which that sultan had a few months previously celebrated in favor of his Majesty and the Spanish nation, and of the irreparable injuries that would result to these islands from the newly-contracted alliance, the archbishop had recourse by a very strong and expressive letter to said government, laying upon it all the responsibility in regard to said alliance. However, he resisted strongly for the reason which he expresses in his reply. But this alliance has reached such a point that the government has sent Prince Ysrael, son of the said sultan, to Jolo; and then tried to get the archbishop to give him a letter for the surrender of Zebù and other islands, [162] but its petitions and exigencies to obtain said letter were unsuccessful. The archbishop refused to give it for the reasons which are expressed in his letters to the British government on this matter. So far has the archbishop been from giving letters for the surrender of the islands, that he refused and resisted what was petitioned from him in instances and even by threats a long time after the cession had passed.

69. The archbishop excused no effort in the so serious matter of the cause of Auditor Villacorta, by message, visits, and letter, but all he could obtain was the suspension of his execution. The British conceded that on condition that the defendant himself, the father provincial of the Society, and the archbishop write to Auditor Anda, ordering him to suspend hostilities, and not to prevent the entrance of food. I have no doubt that the two letters were couched in good terms. That of the archbishop was dated March 21, [and was written] with the care and attention that it expresses. These letters were given to the British who sent them by the most reverend Father Sierra, a Dominican, who brought back the answers and placed them in the hands of said British government. The latter, after a few days, sent his to the archbishop opened, after having made a copy of it, which was translated into the English language. Consequently, it was necessary for the archbishop to demand that the said copy be destroyed, as it touched and blackened his honor. [163] But the British government did not comply with this request, and only promised not to let it out of its possession, except to its superiors. Already the contents of said letter had been divulged among the Spaniards and English, a fact that deeply penetrated the heart of the archbishop, for its style and its contents, alone ought to be buried in profound silence.

70. This letter, of which a rare copy will be found in the histories, is handed in to the royal hand and most just comprehension of his Majesty under other covers. The same diligence is practiced in another letter of the fiscal with his diary and manifesto, all written in the same ink and formed almost with the same pen as the above-mentioned letter of the other minister. Both of them have not been ashamed of staining their pens with blood against the laws of decency, truth, justice, and charity, to the offense of God, of their oath of obedience to the laws of the Indias, and in contempt of the archiepiscopal dignity, and of the archbishop's representation in these islands of the royal person of his Majesty. By their example they fermented the people, who have become scattered and corrupted with scandals, murmurings, disgust, and spite against their own prelate, pastor and father.

71. This impudence in the village, and almost universal among all classes of persons and estates, with the exception of some few of reason and judgment, is the fire that has deeply penetrated the feeling and pierced the heart of the archbishop. He maintained himself and still maintains himself firmly in the face of his enemies, in order that he might attend to the conflicts and needs of the said village and of our peoples, and not deprive the city and the many persons of both sexes who have found it impossible to leave it, of shelter; to attend, at the same time, to the protection of the churches as well as possible; and to see that the holy religion and divine worship are encouraged without commencing to grow weak in the capital. He has succeeded in doing this in the greater part through the divine Mercy; and to so great a degree have Church functions and all the ecclesiastical ministers succeeded for the welfare of the faithful, that edification and not a little wonder is caused by the fact that the faith and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ are seen to shine forth in the midst of so many hardships, conflicts, and necessities.

72. In this the royal favor and protection of the king, our sovereign, has the greatest and best share. The ecclesiastical cabildo and its ministers, the girls' school of Santa Potenciana, the troops which were left, the invalid and sick officers in the hospital of San Juan de Dios, the archbishop and his household, and many others who are aided by the king's pay, have been able to be maintained through his generous pity. With all this was concerned the provision which the archbishop enacted with the British governor in regard to the supply of the pay which he has administered without fail. In the regulation of them, the distribution has been made according to the circumstances of the persons and of the time, with the economy which has appeared advisable. Of the amount of these salaries, he has given and will give the orders against his Majesty's treasury, on whom depends the subsistence of the above-mentioned vassals who have only lived and been able to support themselves with these aids of his Majesty, without having any other help so far as the human is concerned.

73. But in order that no thorn might be wanting to the archbishop to pierce him in regard to this same so favorable and equitable provision, since he assigned therein only half pay to the wearers of the toga (in consideration of the fact that if they moderated themselves under the present circumstances, it appeared sufficient, as they no longer respected his Majesty, reserving for the latter's justification, the payment of the other half for an opportune time), they were very angry, and made an outcry against the archbishop in a most impudent letter, in which they retorted but without foundation and with a vicious comprehension, that the archbishop was applying to himself more than half pay, although he took only the half which belongs to him as governor, and nothing more, not even any stipend as archbishop. But said ministers requested, and it was given them in its entirety or as a reward until October five, without them having been willing in the future to accept the half pay which was assigned to them under the above-mentioned reasons; and although their right remained safe to them at all times, it would have demonstrated that they would have been insufficient had the archbishop changed his provision. But it was shown that one-half the pay was quite sufficient for a minister to maintain himself with moderation and economy, as was proved in the case of Don Pedro Calderon, who arrived at this capital with the captured ship "Trinidad," and who requested that he be furnished with half pay under bond. It was conceded to him in this manner, and he supported himself, daughter, and household with it.

74. Notwithstanding so many contradictions, conflicts, accidents, and enemies, on all sides which have undermined the robust health of the archbishop, placing him in the extremity of dying, he has been experiencing the most special providence of the Most High. Not without astonishment do they see him with life and that he has been able to attend to the conflicts of all and to the continuous attacks which pressed on him constantly from all sides. There has not been any Spaniard or native, or people of these, or any religious, who have been in prison, or experienced hardship, or necessity, whom he has not helped or protected with the offices of charity, mediation, and petition with the English, from whom he has many times obtained either the protection or justice which has been fitting. Consequently, he has encountered the enemy for all this class of people, even with danger to the respect of his dignity and of his person. Individual mention of the cases and persons would be infinite; and much appears in his letters to the English on various matters. But the gratitude that has been his due is that of a people made peevish by the wicked leaven of the examples and inducements of persons, who by their rank and post, special honor, and greater obligation, and because of being singularly benefited by the archbishop, ought to be quite other, and, at least, without the abandon of the fear of God and Christian charity.

75. The inevitable situation in which the archbishop finds himself, because of being in front of the enemy and in their presence, in order to attend to the various grievous casualties which frequently occur would become more tolerable to him, if he did not experience from his own people and from the one who commands them, and from those whom they incite for the latter, that they have vomited forth their fury against his person. It seems incredible, but it is a fact, that the wrath and imprudent acts of the abovesaid who have soullessly trampled on his dignity have cost him more pangs than the presence of the enemy, who have respected him, although they have caused him great mortification.

76. From this fatal experience it comes, that the situado and wealth of the "Philipino" having been assured as abovesaid; and adding that in the same security, in which it is considered, it runs great danger from the very ones who are guarding it, and from other evildoers: the archbishop does not dare to ask for it for the help and pay of those who are supported in the city at the expense of his Majesty, but continues to ask and receive that help and pay from the British government, by which the royal treasury is doubly burdened. This treasure has as yet escaped the hand of the English, but it has fallen into so many that it is difficult for it to come into the hands of those interested; for besides its great danger, it is asserted that the expenses of its conduction, which is not finished as yet as far as Pampanga, exceed one hundred and twenty [pesos] to the thousand, while the pay which is distributed with free hand and other expenses are in excess of thirty thousand pesos per month, as the archbishop has been assured.

77. It is true that there would be no little difficulty in conducting these sums, which the archbishop asks, to the city, and that they would run many dangers; but the difficulty from which Auditor Anda would remove and free himself in its sending is greater and insuperable. This person, quite filled with wrath against the archbishop, by his apprehensions as mistaken as exorbitant, and by his scandalous productions, and who appears to be only trying to make his conduct and zeal for the royal service shine out by blackening that of the archbishop, refused to send the despatches of his Majesty, and those belonging to the archbishop himself, and which had been brought by the "Philipino," although he was ordered to deliver those that belonged to all the tribunals, [religious] communities, and private persons. This refusal shows what would happen to any request for the silver. For if since this retention is opposed to the sovereign respect of his Majesty, by detaining the orders that he may direct to the archbishop in his royal decrees, Anda is trampling also upon the public faith, in what corresponds to the letters, business, commissions, pious funds, and matters of conscience which may be concerned in them, it being quite to the prejudice of the government of the archbishopric and to the public scorn and disrespect of its pastor.

78. Anda's despatch also in regard to the royal seal made it necessary for the archbishop to take extreme precaution so that this royal jewel might not be endangered. This being in the power of the archbishop, had been conserved in his possession with so great secrecy without the least fear. But the said instance and procedure of said open despatch to the vice-chancellor, who was in the house of the archbishop, in his service, divulged the secret in Pampanga, and to not few persons of this city. Consequently, not without manifest danger could it be sent, or could it be preserved in the possession in which it had been, and besides to deliver these royal arms to Anda was to place them in a cruel hand for the abuse and atrocities which are experienced, and without it being possible in present affairs to have their authoritative use, for which they were destined by their sovereign owner.

79. The many persons who are fed with the silver have gone to Pampanga, among whom is a considerable number of military officers--some in order to get what belongs to them, and others for the consideration of larger pay, and all of them and all the other Spaniards incited and threatened by said auditor have been made to incur the inobservance of their oath and their word of honor. And from this irregularity and from others of which the cowardice of the fiscal and his inducements for the same purpose, furnished an example, have come other disorders and disasters of the enemy who have been irritated by these proceedings. Never did the archbishop dissuade or induce any to remain in the city or to leave it, although he well knew that it was impossible to divert some families and the religious communities, and much more those of the feminine sex; but all the fatal consequences that have been mentioned have aided to compress the spirit of the archbishop, who by the singular blessing of God has been able to live and remedy some of the fatalities.

80. He considered nothing more necessary than to petition for mail posts and opportunity to give account of everything to his Majesty, from whose Catholic zeal alone can one hope for the remedy, unless the divine Providence miraculously clears the way just as is asked from Him, without believing that it is to tempt God, through the most extreme necessities in most important matters, and of His divine service, which intervene and are contained in the present conflicts. And the efforts dictated by the archbishop's prudence and obligation, such as giving a report to his king by two posts, doubling the despatches in the last, by which there comes to be a fourth post, must not be omitted.

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.

SYNOPSIS OF LETTER FROM ANDA TO CARLOS III

June 22, 1764, Don Simon Anda y Salazar sent a letter to the king, in which he showed the measures adopted by him during or in the time of the war with the English, in regard to economic matters of police and public order. They were as follows.

In regard to the fact that prices for provisions, which had become dear because of the English invasion, should be fixed at the prices regulated by custom and tariff, as well as the freight duties of the craft, day wages of stevedores, rent of beasts of burden, and wages of rowers, it was ordered that a tariff be formed in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, as they had none. [164]

[The tariff was ordered] so that the coins of two and one-half tomins, one and one-half tomins, diminished by waste, from the value of their stamp, might be received at their intrinsic value; in order that in a determined time, the Sangleys might present themselves under penalty of two hundred lashes, and confiscation of their property, as it was learned that many of the dwellers in the Parián of Manila had entered Pampanga, and had united with those who resided in the villages of the province, and were preparing arms. The object was to disarm them and send them to the Parián. But many of them presented themselves armed and offered to give bonds that they were peaceful and that their arms were employed in the service of his Majesty.

He ascertained that the agreement that they had made with the English was that one thousand Chinese should enter from the Parián of Manila, and distribute themselves through the villages, so that they might fire them at that hour of Christmas eve when the natives should be in the temples, in order that by reason of the confusion, free entrance into the province might be secured for the English. He proceeded to imprison and punish many of them, and gave orders to maintain a suitable guard at the entrances of the bars and villages from the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth of December, 1762; and the religious ministers of the doctrine were not to open their churches or celebrate the divine offices, and to act with all manner of precaution.

Seeing that the Chinese aided the English in their expeditions, and that the chief Sangleys were censuring such conduct as well as that of others of those who plotted the insurrection in Pampanga, he suddenly pardoned them on condition that they would not reside in the provinces without license from the governing Audiencia, not to reside [there] longer than the time he would set, pay a tribute, and not carry food or aid the enemy.

Some submitted, but acted deceitfully, introducing false barrillas into the villages, withdrawing the pesos, giving information to the enemy, and going freely from the Parián of Manila to the provinces. [165] Others aided the English and supplied them with food. Consequently, it was ordered that the alcaldes-mayor should form a list of the Sangleys, of their provinces, prohibiting their admission unless they had permission from the Audiencia. No one of them was to go from the provinces to Manila and Cavite, under penalty of the confiscation of his property. That checked their insolence in large part, it is said.

He ordered the arms collected for the use of the soldiers.

He forbade more wine than was necessary to be taken from the province of Laguna, because of the disorders produced by drunkenness. In Bacolor the sale of nipa wine was by retail.

He ordered the soldiers who had dispersed when the capture of Manila and Cavite by the English took place to present themselves. They did so, as did also the officers, showing the arms that they possessed. [166]

In the province of Pampanga, he permitted the free circulation of the barrillas (money made of pinchbeck and tin which the ayuntamiento of Manila coined for purchase at retail, and whose value was that of one grano of a tomin), but since the Sangleys introduced many counterfeit ones, he had to prohibit their circulation.

He ordered Don Francisco Javier Salgado to investigate the extortions and losses caused in the villages of Tondo and Cavite by the militia of Laguna and Tayabas who were assigned to oppose the English, because the leaders of such militia could not make them observe the due subordination. But no injured one presented himself, and accordingly he says that there is no one against whom to proceed, in spite of the fact that the order was published by edict.

He published an edict in regard to weights and measures, in order that they might not be made less or clipped.

He forbade the seculars who had fled to the provinces to obey the summons of the archbishop that they return to Manila.

He ordered the Indians not to go out of their villages without a passport from the gobernadorcillo to villages within the province; and from the governing Audiencia to Manila and its environs, so that they might not carry provisions to Manila.

That order not being sufficient, he issued other edicts making the prohibition more strict especially against the Spaniards.

Having seen that the four churches that were under the cannon of the fort of Manila had been used by the English as fortifications, who committed all manner of profanations, he ordered the necessary arrangements to be made in the villages to burn them, if the enemy attacked. [167] That order poorly understood, exposed the church of Viñan [168] to being unnecessarily burned, but it was saved by order of Anda. He also censured the first provision which he had to revoke.

He prosecuted and punished several spies sent by the English to ascertain what Anda and the loyal troops were doing.

He permitted free trade among the provinces, so that they might have food in abundance. He ordered that all the lands of Pampanga be planted, so far as possible, with rice, sugarcane, etc., and that land in the village of San Ysidro be given to the Tagálogs who had fled from Manila.

He arranged that the food for the provision of the warehouses be bought by the parish priests, and that they be paid in cash instead of demanding them through apportionment.

He went out to defend the loyal troops who were maltreated and insulted by the English generals who treated them like dogs. He offered ten thousand pesos for the heads of Drak, Esmith, and Broche. [169]

He granted general exemption from tribute, polos, and personal services, in view of the fact that the English said that they had gone to the islands to free the people from them, which measure proved very useful.

He ordered that in Bacolor and surrounding villages, the bell be rung at nine o'clock at night for all people to retire, and not to be seen on the streets, in order to avoid disorders.

He forbade the sending of skins to Manila in order that the English and Chinese might not use them.

[He forbade] illuminations at night, on the eve and day of the anniversary of birth and the saint's day of the king and prince of Asturias.

He prohibited by edict the Pangasinans from living with their herds on the lands of San Ysidro in order to avoid disorders with the inhabitants of the village over the pastures.

He prohibited games of dice, cockfighting, and cards, in order to avoid the excessive thefts and robberies that were committed. He ordered whoever committed a theft of the sum of one peso to be punished with the capital penalty.

He published a judicial defense in reply to the considerations of father Fray Antonio de las Huertas, of the Order of the Preachers, to a memorial which was presented in the royal Council of the Yndias by Father Luis de Morales, of the Society of Jesus, provincial of his order for the province of Filipinas.

Father Pedro de Espinar of the Society of Jesus, provincial general of his order for the provinces of Yndias in Madrid, is the author of the memorial. [170]

It is the defense of the Society of Jesus against the writings of the archbishop of Manila, Pardo, and his partisans, published in Madrid, and the Roman court, which attributed to the Jesuits complicity in the questions aroused by the governor of Filipinas and the Audiencia. [171]

LETTER FROM ANDA TO CARLOS III

Sire:

This capital having been taken by assault, October 5, 62; your archbishop-governor, auditors, troops, and citizens having been made prisoners; the fort of Santiago and port of Cavite having been surrendered; all the islands having been ceded afterwards, and four millions of pesos; and the city having been sacked with the greatest severity for the space of forty-eight hours: I having declared myself that same day, in the province of Bulacan, where I was, as royal Audiencia, governor, and captain-general of said islands, in accordance with the law, very great was the effort of your archbishop to efface this image of your Majesty which had remained in these islands, represented, although unworthily, in my person. In order to show that more conclusively, I enclose his own manifest letters with the testimony. Those letters gave motive to this your royal governing Audiencia to form an informatory process from them of pure and naked fact, in order to instruct your royal mind. I shall not refer to them in extenso in this my representation which is directed to your Majesty. Upon examining them, will you please state which of the two proceeded more in accordance with right, law, and religion, to the love and fidelity which each one owes his sovereign as a good vassal: the reverend archbishop, who tried by so many methods, to cast to the earth this legitimate image which represented and defended your royal rights, even to the point of declaring him a traitor, rebel, and disobedient to his own sovereign, and to that of Gran Bretaña; or I, who suffering and enduring all these things, made use of your royal power, insulted and abased by so many enemies and traitors, by making you truly recognized again in these vacillating fields of Christianity, until you became the terror of all the many enemies who had declared against you, reducing the greatest and most principal from a victorious conqueror to a truly starving prisoner. For the latter did not even have more than nor even as much as the balance of the cannon of the fort which he occupied, a limit set for his soldiers under pain of losing life if they went beyond it. [172] Thus did I redeem not only the relief and liberty of this most afflicted community and its environs, but what is more yet, its wealth and the most principal thing, the religion and the honor due your Majesty, which being so exposed seemed about to be entirely lost.

I protest, Sire, that whatever I say in this my representation and advance in my treatise, is not for the purpose of injuring that venerable prelate whom I have ever regarded with the respect due the prince of the Church; and if I transgress in any way, and do not express myself with that moderation suitable, I protest that my words may not serve as an offense to his dignity, and that I have been actuated in this by only a real affection, with the desire that your Majesty may be informed of the acts of turbulence which have occurred in these domains, in order that you may better provide for the best government and relief of them.

So far as I am concerned, I claim or desire no other satisfaction than what I have in this as I have desired to serve your Majesty, since the greatest satisfaction is for your royal piety to consider itself as well served by me if you find it consistent. [173] But if it should appear to your supreme comprehension that the so public excesses of your reverend archbishop, as appear from the said testimony, of which I shall enclose some here, merit satisfaction, this alone concerns your Majesty.

I am unaware as to the motives of said prelate, that made him, although it had no bearing on the end, for which he despatched me from the fort, and so to the injury of your Majesty's interests, when finding himself a prisoner of war with my associates, order me in a letter of October 10, 62, among other things: "to observe faithfully the treaties which were being arranged with the British chiefs in Manila." Although I answered him from the province of Bulacan in the most courteous and fitting terms, this was not sufficient to restrain his pen, and on the twenty-sixth of the same month he wrote me pouring out instead of ink, blood and rage against my loyal procedure.

In the so great consternation in which the loss of Manila placed your vassals, and for this reason many of the criminal class having fled from prison, and continuing their depraved morals, they threw into disorder the environs of this city and its immediate villages. Your reverend archbishop did not allow the perverse Orendain and Don Cesar Fallet [174] the declared enemies of your Majesty, to stir from his side. They, availing themselves of the disturbances caused by these malevolent persons, painted those disturbances to his Excellency, saying that there was sedition and unrest among all the Indians, who, having conspired against the Spaniards, were persecuting them as wild beasts; that already in one province one of them had elevated himself as emperor and refused obedience to your Majesty; that the province of Bulacan was in the same condition; that all the others would follow their example; that one of these days they would have Señor Anda tied up, if they did not first deprive him of life; that consequently, as it was advisable to the services of both Majesties and for the public quiet, and so that so much Christian blood might not be shed, his Excellency ought to yield all the islands, and cause Señor Anda to descend; that if he did not condescend to do so, nothing else would result than the ruin of all these domains, the loss of Christianity, and the execution by the English of the sentence that had been pronounced of putting to the sword all the Spaniards; that your Majesty would never be able to consider yourself as well served; and that consequently he should have a regard to his conscience.

I understand well, Sire, how if he considered all those motives, and that from them would follow the total ruin of these islands, he should then on that account have condescended to redeem them [from ruin] by ceding them, in regard to the fact that this could not be of any service to the English, since it only concerns your Majesty. But to give credit to these two traitors, who knowingly exaggerated these disturbances to him, and not to proceed, with more knowledge, to write me in place of the letters ordering the Spaniards to descend, to inform him regarding the condition of the provinces, and advise me, for my course, of what was happening in Manila, by directing prudently so glorious an end after the twenty odd days that the fort had been taken; and continuing the obligation to surrender these domains with the tenacity which his above-cited letters show, (although the most of the suggestions of the two traitors were now seen to be false, as the provinces were quiet), he proceeded to sign the cession, and even after seeing the Catholic arms so flourishing and powerful, whose victories, patent to all the world, were incredible to his Excellency, yet he prosecuted this undertaking even to the grave. [175] In truth, Sire, I do not know what apology that venerable prelate can give your Majesty for such actions.

In view of an anonymous letter which your royal Audiencia received in Bulacan, in regard to the English having offered a reward to whomever would take them my head, and other methods, in which apparently the reverend archbishop was prudently walking, I despatched to this latter a request and petition asking him to abstain from such procedures and not to summon the alcaldes, natives, or Spaniards who had retired, both because his powers had expired, and because although he did possess such powers, they ought to be used to the benefit of your Majesty, and not in opposition to you. But this did not even restrain him in the idea that had taken possession of him, since already from the twenty-third day, he had ordered me to descend to Manila, and although he saw my resistance in my accommodating myself to his ideas, which were so opposed to your royal rights, he wrote me lastly on the fourth of November in the terms that his said letter shows, [176] and which I myself am ashamed to mention, referring myself to the enclosed testimony.

He ordered the alcalde-mayor of Bulacan, Don José Pasarin, who recognized me from the first as your royal Audiencia, to cause all the Spaniards and their families to descend to Manila, even threatening him with censures if he did not obey. This order included among the Spaniards my assembly secretary, my advocate, my fiscal, and Doctor Don Domingo Arañaz, [177] one of the advocates of this city. But neither they nor said alcalde-mayor, recognizing the very great service which was being done for his Majesty and for religion in [not] consenting to the ideas of the reverend archbishop to deprive me of those whom I considered capable of some aid in sustaining the weak remnants of your Majesty's adherents, would pay any attention [to the order]. On the contrary, they were the ones, who with my attendants accompanied me in all my labors, and formed my only consolation in the total abandonment and persecution which I suffered during the first six months. For all the other Spaniards who were in that province, carried away either by these persuasions, or through their terror and the threats of the enemy, or from seeing the many atrocities committed by the Indians against them through some trouble that they had had with them, at the most, I am sure, by their natural inclination to live according to their own wishes, or for the reason of the party of your Majesty being so few in numbers, went down, and some with their possessions, to render obedience to the English.

He ordered the marquis of Monte Castro to return to Manila; and Don Andres Blanco, who could not do so through his indisposition, to send his son, availing himself, in order to oblige them the more, of the expressions which may be seen in the letters of testimony which are worth your Majesty's attention.

He wrote in terms apparently so Christian to the provincials of the Franciscan and Recollect orders, and recognizing himself as the greatest sinner, confesses that he alone is the cause of all these misfortunes and that God is punishing his flock for his sins.

Anyone would believe, in view of this so simple understanding of himself, and a so clear confession of his defects, that it was a true repentance and grief at seeing the miseries and havoc from which this city and its environs were suffering, in spiritual and temporal matters. But it is not so, Sire, for at the same time, he sends pastoral letters to said provincials, for the Indians of their provinces, in which, with the greatest simulated virtue, and pretending the greatest advantages to your royal rights, he persuades them to become subject to the English. For that purpose he sings a thousand praises of this nation but for the purpose of surprising the incautious simplicity of these silly Indians, for whom he had said letters translated into their languages in order that the poison which they held might work effects more favorable to his ideas.

Neither the threats of the enemy, nor the ostentation which this one made of his power, nor the alliance of the apostate Sangleys, declared in his favor and against your Majesty, nor the abandonment in which I remained because of the absence of the few Spaniards, who were in the provinces, nor the endurance of which I made use to dissimulate many things which I heard and saw among these poor miserable Indians for want of instruction, education, and communication with civilized people, nor the schisms and rebellion of some provinces: none of these things, Sire, was so keenly felt by me as the acts of the reverend archbishop, which were so irregular and far from the truth; of a prelate, who instead of furnishing an example, served as a stimulus to the traitors who leaning on the authority which is represented among such lofty subjects, were confident of the virtue and zeal of this prelate, only to become inflamed against me and avail themselves of his destructive ideas of this your state and religion.

It is left for the supreme intelligence of your Majesty to consider the great grief caused this royal Audiencia which was governing, to see an ecclesiastical prelate who had just been military and political head, who spared no means in order to sacrifice these your domains, which he ought to have conserved for so many reasons, or at least have maintained an indifferent attitude in the condition of prisoner.

What Catholic and loyal vassal of your Majesty could see without great grief a pastor persuading his sheep in said letters that they should submit to Gran Bretaña? Further on, he says: "If you do as I exhort and advise you, you will receive the reward from God, and for the contrary, the punishment; and if you observe, this, you will be good vassals of my king and my faithful children."

In truth, Sire, such propositions in writing from an ecclesiastical prelate are of the greatest scandal for the community and very suspicious for the faith due to both Majesties.

What doctrine, what religion is this, in which one sees that a pastor, so repentant and full of grief for the troubles of his flock in the power of the heretical enemy, at the same time, with so efficacious and mild words induces those who are free to surrender to the same enemy! That is the same as to deliver them to the wolf so that that animal may tear them to pieces, and destroy them with the same hardships which he bewails in the others. To recognize a sin, to confess it with show of repentance and to commit a greater of the same kind: what doctrine, I repeat, is this?

A rare thing, the eagerness with which this reverend prelate undertook and prosecuted a matter so extraordinary and harmful! A good proof of this truth is what results from the above-cited letters written to the subjects abovesaid, and which are expressed in the said testimony which I enclose. The archbishop signs some as governor of Manila, although a prisoner; in others as governor and captain-general; and in others, he adds, "of these islands." But if these islands had been already ceded to the enemy, and that surrender had been made, who could commit a greater incongruity than to call himself governor of what he had already lost, since he surrendered and ceded it to the English?

The letter which he writes to the Marquis of Monte Castro begins thus: "Yesterday afternoon, the present governor of Manila and his council imprisoned, etc., Manuel Antonio, archbishop-governor." Consequently, at one and the same time we have three governors--the Englishman, recognized by the archbishop; the latter, for thus he signed; and myself, because your Majesty gave me that post by your laws.

Whether the honors of such post ought or ought not to be kept for him does not serve as an excuse to the reverend archbishop; or that he had hopes of again holding such office by the right of postliminy: for this at most does not go beyond honors, and hopes are kept without in any way becoming real, for this office was confirmed in me already by virtue of laws lvii and lviii, book ii, título xv of the Recopilación; [178] and even according to the first, by the right of postliminy, the reverend archbishop had no right to administer that office, again, since it orders expressly that when your royal Audiencia assumes the office, it hold it until your Majesty appoints to it. [179]

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.