Forty days after the death of the Governor, Friar Montilla and Secretary Cuellar arrived at Manila, after having suffered many severe hardships, and being brought out for death repeatedly, whilst they were with the Chinese. The deceased Governor had given in charge to these gentlemen a trunk, to be delivered to his son Luis Perez Dasmarinas; and on opening it, papers of great importance were found: among the rest, a royal order, by which he had the power to nominate his successor, in virtue of which he named his own son Luis. At first Luis found some difficulty in being acknowledged as such, the Licentiate Roxas being firmly seated; and unwilling to deliver up his authority, for which he had begun to entertain a great attachment; he, however, on the 3d of December, in the same year, left Luis in quiet possession.
The new Governor was desirous of sending another expedition to Molucca, but desisted from it at that time from prudential motives. It was fortunate that he formed this resolution, as in this case, Manila would have been left with only a few troops, and exposed to another attack from the Chinese, on whom little reliance could be placed. Indeed, there was reason to suspect they had something of that nature in contemplation, as many junks about this time arrived with Mandarins in them, and the cause of their appearance was never ascertained. They landed very frequently, and visited the Governor, but did not attempt any thing, nor could he comprehend their object; most fortunately, however, at this moment, arrived the two ships which sailed this year from Acapulco, bringing a sufficient force with them, to resist enemies more powerful than the Chinese.
Our historians have, with great minuteness, stated the losses and arrivals of the ships which are sent to New Spain, on account of their being so interesting to these islands, which depend upon them for their subsistence, and, of course, their loss or arrival occasions a very general sensation. There is no reason to think, that these misfortunes are to be attributed to the difficulty of the pa.s.sage, nor to stormy weather, so much as to the ignorance of the pilots, who are chosen without examination as to their nautical skill, the bad construction of the ships, their sailing out of season, and too heavily laden. These are, unquestionably, the princ.i.p.al causes of their failure; and it is a pity it is not remedied, for it is with justice affirmed, that the avarice and knavery of some rich people, have buried in the ocean many millions of dollars.
In the year following, the same two vessels again made this voyage, and Senor Morga came in one, as successor to the late Governor, but this n.o.bleman was afterwards promoted to be Oidor of Mexico, where he wrote the history of the Philippines. There came likewise in these ships, a sufficient number of troops, sent by the Viceroy of Mexico. Don Luis Dasmarinas was now, therefore, enabled to give the King of Camboxa that relief which his father had promised. He likewise despatched an expedition to the island of Mindanao; and he quelled an insurrection in some of the provincial towns which had revolted, and refused to pay the tribute, particularly those in Cagayan and Zambales. He did many praiseworthy actions, and governed with more approbation than his father, possessing greater abilities, at the same time that he was more affable to all.
In the month of February 1596, the flag ship of the squadron of Alvaro Mendana de Neyra arrived at Cavite. He had sailed from Callao, the port of Lima, with four ships, to colonize the islands of Salmon; and having begun his new settlement in the island of Negros, near New Guinea, he died there, and his wife, Dona Isabela Barreto, at the instigation of the people, left the colony, and came in his ship to Manila. The Governor received her with great attention, and gave her every a.s.sistance, to enable her to return to New Spain.
An important establishment was now founded here, called the Pious Work of Mercy, which originated with a clergyman of the name of Losa, and who, together with Captain Esquerra, an inhabitant of Manila, employed themselves in collecting donations for this purpose; and their exertions were so successful, that they were soon enabled to build the college of Santa Isabel, where many female orphans are maintained, and on whom marriage portions are bestowed. In emulation of this pious work, many others were endowed in the convents, and in the cathedral. The projectors traded with their funds to China, Batavia, the coast of Coromandel, and Acapulco, the produce of which was destined to be employed in like manner as above, in hospitals, dowers to orphan females, in ransoming children in China [20], and for ma.s.ses for souls in purgatory, reserving part of it for the annual increase of the funds of these pious establishments, and to alleviate the distresses occasioned by the losses of the annual ships, of which they thus became the a.s.surers to a certain extent. Such establishments may be useful to new settlers, since the parties desirous of commercial pursuits, may, if they possess any credit, be certain of meeting in these resources a capital with which they may trade. I am not of opinion, however, that they are very useful to these islands, generally speaking, because the rich merchants, who have sufficient capital, employ it in objects attended with no risk, and in their store-houses, and trade with that which they draw from this charity, by which they escape the chance of loss. If there had not, unfortunately we may say, been this resource, no doubt some mode would have been resorted to, of insuring the Acapulco adventures, at less than the pious foundations have been in the habit of contributing, and which often exceeds fifty per cent., and never falls below twenty per cent. Like all other adventures managed by a public body, there is never such strict oeconomy as when under the control of individuals, whose interests are involved in the result.
CHAPTER XII.
ANNO DOM. 1596.
The Administration of Don Francisco Tello de Gusman, the fourth Governor of Manila.
The news of the death of Dasmarinas, reached Madrid through the medium of India, and immediately the King sent as his successor Don Francisco Tello de Gusman, Knight of the order of Santiago, born at Seville, who had been treasurer of the Indies. He arrived at Manila the 1st of June 1596, and the following month despatched the ship San Philip to Acapulco; but she encountered in her voyage heavy gales, was dismasted, and lost her rudder, and having no other resource, bore away for j.a.pan, where the relief she sought was denied, except on the condition of her entering the port of Urando; in effecting which she touched on a sand bank, and made so much water, that she was under the necessity of being unloaded. The Governor, allured by the prospect of such rich booty, immediately conceived the design of making himself master of the vessel and cargo, and accordingly secured it in the royal store-houses, sending information to the Emperor Taycosama, that the Captain having given a false representation of the matter, he had proceeded against him according to law, and had secured the whole of the property. By this means he so warped the whole affair, that the cargo was condemned, and a prosecution was commenced, in the progress of which those Franciscan friars fell martyrs, who had come to this kingdom in quality of amba.s.sadors.
Taycosama named one of the four princ.i.p.al Governors of his kingdom, called Uximonoxo, to take charge of the ship, in order that the cargo might be delivered up; for our Captain, Don Mathias Landecho, had pet.i.tioned the Emperor, sending two Spaniards and two friars, of those he had in the ship, with a present worth twenty thousand dollars, to soften him, and, if possible, to obtain justice. Upon their arrival at Meaco, the court of the Emperor, they applied to the Franciscan friars, who, by their experience in this city, they conceived, could procure a favourable reception to their application. The Franciscans judged it better to apply to Ximonoxo, another of the four Governors; but this crafty j.a.panese, possessing more abilities than the friars, deceived the whole of them, found means to make them deliver up the present of the Emperor to him, offering to give them a letter to Uximonoxo, which they agreed to, and acceded to his wish. The Spaniards returned quite content with this letter; but it was the letter of Uriah, the Hitt.i.te, for immediately they delivered it, Uximonoxo imprisoned them. When they found out the deceit, they sent the Friar Guivara to Meaco, to procure their liberty from the other Governors, and, with the a.s.sistance of the Franciscan friars, attempted to get an audience of the Emperor, to explain to him the conduct of his Governors; but Uximonoxo was too crafty for them, prejudicing the Emperor against the friars, through the medium of the Bonzos, who are priests of their idols, to whom he suggested the propriety of complaining against them, because they propagated a new doctrine against the G.o.ds, which must be prejudicial to the state.
Taycosama, who began to be desirous of keeping possession of the merchandize of the wrecked vessel, imprisoned the Franciscan friars, on pretence of their having preached the gospel of Christ against his command; and likewise pretended that they were employed as spies by the Spaniards, and that, with these views, they had quitted their own country. He now openly seized the property saved, and condemned the friars to death. With them the following were comprehended in this sentence; the Friars Pedro Bautista, Francis...o...b..anco, Gonsalo Garcia, Francisco de San Miguel, Martin de la Asumpcion, together with Phelipe de Jesus, who was going in that ship to New Spain to be ordained, and had resided with his brethren since his arrival in j.a.pan. These six Franciscan friars, with three j.a.panese Jesuits, and seventeen j.a.panese laymen, who professed Christianity, all shared the same fate. They were paraded through the streets of Meaco, with their left ears cut off, and then marched above two hundred leagues into Nangasaqui, where they suffered martyrdom, by being placed on crosses, and put to death with lances. This transaction took place on the 5th of February 1597, in the presence of Senor Martinez, a Jesuit Bishop, many other Jesuits and Franciscan friars, and the Spaniards lately arrived in that ship, and who returned to Manila, after suffering many hardships, and certified what they had witnessed on this occasion.
Immediately on the death of these martyrs being made known in Manila, the Governor sent two Spaniards and an Augustine friar, to solicit their bodies, and complain to the Emperor of the ill treatment which the Spaniards had experienced in regard to their ship, contrary to the treaty which had been made with the government of Manila. They likewise had instructions, to procure the establishment of commercial regulations for the future; and to pave the way for these views, they took with them a present of an elephant, an animal seldom seen in j.a.pan. Taycosama was delighted with this present, and he esteemed it the more, as it knelt three times in his presence, on a certain signal being made to it. He received the amba.s.sadors with great cordiality, and pleaded the laws of the empire, in justification of the conduct which had been observed, with regard to the ship and cargo; but made a promise, for the second time, of protection to the commerce of the Spaniards, a.s.suring them that these vexations should never be repeated, and despatched them with a present to the Governor, together with the relicts of the martyred saints. The Spaniards had little confidence in the duration of this good understanding, for Faranda incessantly instigated the Emperor to commence hostilities on Manila, promising to reduce the whole of the islands to his obedience. The four Governors of the kingdom seconded the representations of Faranda, and measures were adopted with the view of carrying them into effect by collecting an armament; but the chief men of the country, who considered Faranda as a despicable character, much r.e.t.a.r.ded this scheme. It was at first understood in Manila, that this armament was directed against the island of Formosa, as the first step towards the conquest of the Philippines. Our Governor took every precaution, and among others, sent an emba.s.sy to Canton, as the Chinese were the ancient enemies of the j.a.panese; and it was their interest to prevent the latter from making this conquest: nothing of this, however, was eventually necessary, as Taycosama died, and peace immediately followed.
While this was pa.s.sing in j.a.pan, the two expeditions which Luis Dasmarinas had sent to Camboxa and Mindanao were proceeding in their operations; that which went to Camboxa began successfully, but it was afterwards completely ruined by Major Juan Gallinato, and returned to Manila without effecting any thing. Don Luis Dasmarinas having pledged himself for the success of this expedition, armed, at his own cost, two ships and a galiot, and with the approbation of the Governor, left Manila for Camboxa, and in a little time after arrived at China, at the port of Pinae, twelve leagues distant from Canton, where he encountered the Governor of Malacca, took him prisoner, and returned to Manila. His galiot arrived at Cagayan, and proceeded on his voyage to Camboxa, where he found the King re-established on his throne by the Portuguese, Cabos Diego Belloso and Blas Ruiz. The other two Spanish ships also arrived there, and an attempt was made to establish themselves in that kingdom; but although the King seemed to desire it, they were compelled to abandon the project, as it was opposed by his step-mother, and the Malays had already freed themselves from the control of the Portuguese by the murder of Belloso and Ruiz; indeed a few only had escaped, with Captain Juan de Mendoza in his ship.
In Mindanao, Captain Figueroa, who had the charge of this expedition, and who bore, by the King"s order, the t.i.tle of Marquis of what he might conquer, arrived at Buhayen, where the Moors had some fortifications, from whence he retired to the kingdom of Tamoncaca, whose King was in amity with the Spaniards. The Senor Salazar having come out about this time to see the Royal Audience re-established, the ecclesiastical establishment was likewise arranged, the first Archbishop being the Senor himself. He, however, scarcely enjoyed his dignity three months, as, in August in the same year, he died of a dysentery. There had come with him Friar Pedro de Agurto, of the order of St. Augustine, first Bishop of Zebu, and Senor Benevides, of the order of the Dominicans, first Bishop of New Segovia. In the same year the Oidores arrived, who were to form the Royal Audience, the President of it being the Governor. The chief Oidor was Morga, nominated as successor ad interim to the Governor. The others were Don Christoval Telles Almanza, Alvaro Zambrano, and Geronimo de Salazar. In eight days after their arrival, the Royal seal being carried with much pomp to the cathedral, and from thence to the palace, the Royal Audience was, by this ceremony, considered as fully established.
In the garrison of Caldera, Juan Pacho had remained as Governor, and being of an active disposition, he attempted to reduce the natives of Jolo, on which island he landed immediately after a storm of rain, and attacking them, was killed, with the greater part of his people. The residue retreated to Caldera; but in consequence of this defeat, the natives of Jolo and of Mindanao, with fifty Caracoas, invaded the islands of Zebu, Negros, and Panay, pillaging and burning the towns, and making many prisoners. In the following year, 1590, they repeated the attack, and the natives retiring to the mountains, refused to quit them again, as the Spaniards were unable to protect them. Those in particular of the island of Panay were most pertinacious, and would not come near the town, as one of their priestesses had a.s.serted, that the Spaniards were in league with the Moors, and had been the cause of these hostilities for years back. It cost the friars a great deal of trouble, to eradicate the effects of the impression, made by this means on the minds of the Indians, but at length they succeeded, and the towns were re-occupied.
To chastise these insults of the Moors, the Governor sent Juan Gallinato, with two hundred Spaniards, to Jolo; but after making an attempt to possess himself of a fort, which the King of Jolo had on a lofty hill, he returned to Manila, without having effected any thing of consequence.
From that time to the present, the Moors have not ceased to infest our colonies. It is incredible what a number of Indians they have made prisoners, what towns they have plundered, what villages they have annihilated, and what ships they have taken. I am inclined to think, that Providence permits this as a punishment on the Spaniards, for delaying the conquest for no less a period than two hundred years [21], notwithstanding the expeditions and fleets, that have almost annually been sent to attempt it. On the first arrival of the Spaniards in those seas, they conquered, in a short time, all the Philippines, excepting the small island of Jolo, part of Mindanao, and a few other very insignificant islands near them, which, to this period, have not submitted. These Moorish Indians are certainly very valiant, and their enmity has been drawn upon us by our own conduct; for instead of following the laudable example of the first settlers in these islands, who brought the natives under subjection, princ.i.p.ally by the mild interference of the friars, it seems, of late years, to have been the object of the Spaniards, since the great increase of the lucrative commerce of Manila, to acquire, by oppression and force, lands and establishments on these islands, without any view to conciliate the natives. Those, therefore, who have been sent on different occasions to reduce the country, have, instead of attending to the object of their mission, been solicitous only to serve their own purposes, considering that as a primary, which ought to have been a secondary object; and the natives profiting by constant experience in warfare, during which they discovered that the Spaniards were mortal like themselves, have at last become very formidable. There can be no doubt these Indians may be reduced by the same means employed with the others, that is, by sending missionaries amongst them, and a sufficient number of Spanish stations might be established, to command respect. These garrisons ought to be independent of the Governor of Manila, and ought to have a chief, who should reside there, directing his whole attention to the improvement of the settlement, by the extension in the country of the Spanish influence, by temperate measures.
As the matter is now ordered, these appointments are made with no other view than to enrich, by any means, the individuals sent there as Governors. Such, too, is the situation of the Governors of Zamboanga and Marianas; who appropriate to their own use all the revenue sent by his Majesty"s Governors for public purposes, and then return to Manila, leaving the colonies as poor and miserable as the first day they were established.
In October 1600, two Dutch pirates took their station at the entrance of Marivelez, waiting for the ship Saint Thomas, which was expected to return from New Spain about this time. The Governor sent against them the Oydor Morga with two galleons, an English patache which had come from Malacca, a galiot, and other small vessels. On the 12th of December an engagement took place, when Morga took one ship, and the other fled, very much disabled; but he was incapable of pursuing his advantage, for his ship had suffered so much that she foundered, and fifty of the crew were drowned, the rest being saved on the island of Fortune. The ship which he had taken from the Dutch had on board twenty-five men, whom the Governor ordered to be hanged, as a warning to other pirates. During this year, two ships sailed for Acapulco; one was lost on the island of Catanduanes, but all the people were saved; the other took shelter in one of the Marianas, where she was seized by the Indians, who murdered most of the Spaniards, reserving only a few, whom the ship Saint Thomas rescued on her return to New Spain; but the various disasters which had befallen Manila during this government, were far surpa.s.sed by a terrible earthquake, in which many houses, and the church of the Jesuits, were destroyed.
CHAPTER XIII.
ANNO DOM. 1602.
The Administration of Don Pedro de Acuna.
In May 1602, four ships from New Spain arrived at Cavite, in one of which came the new Governor, Don Pedro Brabo de Acuna, Knight of the order of San Juan, and who had been Governor of Carthagena. In pa.s.sing by the Marianas, he had the good fortune to rescue twenty-five Spaniards, who had been shipwrecked in the St. Margarita. Immediately on taking possession of his government, he gave audience to the amba.s.sadors of Dayfusama, Emperor of j.a.pan, who had succeeded to the kingdom, on the death of Taycosama, and requested that the commerce with his kingdom might be continued; and that shipwrights might be sent from Manila to build vessels for him. Without touching on this last subject, the Governor dismissed the j.a.panese with a magnificent present, which was all lost, as they were shipwrecked on the island of Formosa. With these amba.s.sadors, friars from all the orders in Manila entreated the Governor to be allowed to proceed to j.a.pan, in order to make converts, even at the risk of martyrdom. These good dispositions and intentions the Governor encouraged, and by his a.s.sistance, they were able to establish themselves in that kingdom, where in a short time they founded several convents. In 1603, the Augustine friars already possessed one, and the Captain of the ship Espiritu Santo, who put in there in distress, applied to the friars, requesting them to interest themselves with the Emperor, as the j.a.panese, conformable to their regulations, would not permit the ship to remain. Dayfusama received the application with courtesy, and punished those who had been the cause of it, sending the Spaniards who had accompanied the friars back to Manila, with great honours, giving at the same time strict orders, that all Spanish vessels arriving in future, in his ports, should be treated as friends; the ship, however, in the meantime had made her escape, fearing the same ill success, as had attended a similar application to Taycosama.
A short time after the arrival of Acuna, he made a voyage through the Bisayas (or Islas de Pintados), to inspect the garrisons, and to make preparations for an expedition, which he intended against the Moluccas; and whilst he was employed in building the fort of Yloylo, the Moors took the opportunity offered by his absence, of seizing all the ships they met with, burning the towns, and endeavouring to take possession of Balayan; but the Alcalde Mayor of the province opposed them; and upon receiving a.s.sistance from Manila, pursued them to a desert island, off which he fell in with the Governor on his return to the capital. Orders were issued to attack them; but the Moors making all the sail they could, he was able only to take two, and sink five others, out of seventy vessels, of which their force consisted. On his arrival at Manila, the Governor received the melancholy intelligence of the death of Senor Tello, his deputy, who had discharged his trust with great zeal and probity. He was buried in the church of St. Augustine, to which he had left considerable donations. Soon after this a great fire happened in Manila, which burnt two hundred and fifty houses, the convent of St. Domingo, and the hospital for the reception of the Spaniards.
In May 1603, three Chinese Mandarins arrived, on the extraordinary mission of discovering, whether the port of Cavite was composed of gold, as a Chinese, called Tiongon, had reported to his Emperor, by whom he was imprisoned, until the truth of his a.s.sertion should be ascertained, this man having promised to conquer it or lose his life. It was believed that this was a mere stratagem, to reconnoitre the country, as it was understood, that the Emperor intended to land an hundred thousand men, in the following December, with the view of becoming master, of the whole of the Spanish possessions. The Governor treated these Mandarins, with the most flattering distinction, shewed them the island of Cavite, and undeceived them in regard to the opinion propagated by their countryman, a.s.suring them that the island was termed the Golden Island, on account of its lucrative commerce only.
The expected armament of the Emperor did not make its appearance; but an insurrection of the Chinese inhabitants of Manila followed, which had been in a state of preparation during the emba.s.sy, and now broke out. There was a Chinese in Manila of the name of Engcan, who had remained there since the time of Limahon, who had been baptized, was very rich, and was in intimacy with many Spaniards. He offered to his countrymen, to build a wall round their quarter of the town: the work was commenced; but the fidelity of the Chinese beginning to be suspected, the Governor endeavoured to ascertain their intentions, through the medium of their enemies, the j.a.panese, from which circ.u.mstance the Chinese entertained a belief, that the Governor proposed to ma.s.sacre them, with the a.s.sistance of these people; and they resolved, among themselves, to enter Manila on the eve of St. Francis, and murder every Spaniard in the place. Twenty-five thousand Chinese were concerned in this plot, which was discovered by an Indian having given notice of it to the curate of Quiapo, through whose means the information was instantly communicated to the Governor. There were two cla.s.ses of Chinese at that time in Manila. Those who came annually for the purposes of commerce, and those who had long been residents, in a quarter of the town called Parian, outside of the walls of the city, and whom the Dominican friars had endeavoured to convert.
The first step the Governor took, was to attempt to reconcile the annual Chinese merchants, who were very numerous; but he failed in the attempt, as they had collected in a large body in open rebellion, in a town within half a league of Manila, the others remaining in Parian. The Governor made a confidant of Engcan, and sent him, in company with some Spaniards, to endeavour to bring them back to a sense of their duty, but without effect, as the works they had raised in their defence would, in their opinion, protect them. In the night, some of them sallied out, burned the towns of Quiapo and Tondo, and killed many Indians. They were opposed by one hundred and thirty Spaniards, almost all of whom perished: among them were Don Luis Dasmarinas, Don Thomas Brabo, and Don Juan de Alcega, whose heads the Chinese sent to Parian, as an incitement for their countrymen to follow their example. Upon examination, it being discovered that Engcan was the princ.i.p.al abettor of these men, he was imprisoned, which had such an effect upon many of his countrymen, that they hanged themselves in despair.
The Spaniards, finding that they could do nothing by means of mild measures, commenced their operations, and fought with such determined resolution, that the slaughter was immense. So general was the spirit of loyalty, that even the friars took up arms, and, in particular, Antonio Flores, who had been a soldier in Flanders and Italy, and had, in the battle of Lepanto, been ensign under Bernardino de Meneses, but afterwards took the habit of St. Augustine. The position he took was on the river, close to which the rebels were obliged to pa.s.s to join the Chinese of Parian; from this he sallied out, and made great slaughter among them. They made good their retreat, however, to Parian and Dilao, where they threw up works, but Captain Gallinato burned Parian, and laid waste Dilao; and Captain Luis de Velasco pursued them to Tabuco, which we now call Cabuyao. The Chinese not being able to maintain themselves here, pa.s.sed on to the town of St. Pablo in the mountains, where Velasco, who had pursued them, fell, together with two Franciscan friars. Here the insurgents fortified themselves so strongly, that it was deemed necessary to send a greater force from Manila against them.
Major Christoval de Acuna was charged with the expedition. He cut off their supply of provisions, and reduced them to such distress, that their only alternative was, to abandon their position or starve.
They availed themselves of the cover of night, and made the best of their way to Batangas, where the Spaniards pursued them, and completed their destruction, having killed in different engagements, twenty-three thousand men, one hundred alone, who were rowers in the galleons, remaining of their whole number; and as a warning to their countrymen, to abstain from insurrection in future, Engcan was ordered to be hanged, and his head to be placed on the gaol. The Governor sent two Augustine friars to Spain, to inform his Majesty of the rebellion, and to enable them to arrive in a shorter time, he sent them by India; but they encountered so many difficulties in their pa.s.sage through Goa, Persia, Turkey, and Italy, that it was three years before they arrived at the court of Madrid. This has always been a dangerous journey, and was particularly so to Friar Nicholas Milo, an Augustine, who, a few years before, had been sent the same route with a lay brother, born in j.a.pan, and who, after having been exposed to great misery in many countries, fell a martyr in Muscovy with his companion. The Emperor of China sent amba.s.sadors to Manila respecting the rebellion, requesting to know the meaning of the slaughter, which had been made among his subjects. The Governor justified himself amply, and the commerce remained on the same footing as before.
In March 1604, eight hundred troops arrived from New Spain, with which relief Don Pedro de Acuna was enabled to fit out a fleet of thirty sail, in the port of Yloylo, for the conquest of the Moluccas. He sailed at the head of this armament on the 15th of January, 1606; and upon his arrival at Ternate, he sat down before the place, to which the King of the island had retired, and took it on the 1st of April, with the loss of fifteen Spaniards. The King of Ternate, who had fled with some of his subjects, intimated a desire to enter into amicable terms with the Spaniards, proposing to deliver up all his fortresses, the towns in Batoquina, which were anciently peopled by Christians (either Dutch captives, or Spanish deserters), all his Christian prisoners, the islands of Marotay and Herrao, with all his artillery and ammunition; and which terms were acceded to. He was not, however, left in possession of his kingdom, but accompanied the Governor to Manila, with some of his chiefs, who were not allowed to remain, from an apprehension of their fomenting disturbances.
The Colonel, Don Martin Esquival, was appointed Governor of Ternate, with six hundred men; and in Tidore, the King of the island requested, that Captain Alarcon might remain with one hundred troops, which was acceded to. During these transactions, and while this armament was at Ternate, and few troops remained at Manila, the j.a.panese who lived behind the city, availed themselves of these circ.u.mstances, and took up arms against the Spaniards. This rebellion was soon put a stop to, through the mediation of the friars, who persuaded the insurgents to lay down their arms, and submit quietly. By this species of management, time was gained for the arrival of the Governor, to whom information had been sent. He arrived at Manila, banished the ringleaders to their own island, and obliged the rest to live in the town of Dilao, where they would be always under our guns; and by this means, kept in obedience. The Governor reaped little benefit from these successes, as he was immediately afterwards, seized with a complaint in the intestines, which carried him off on St. John the Baptist"s day. On the death of the Governor, Don Christoval Telles de Almanza, as chief Oidor, became Military Governor ad interim. The rebellion, which lay smothered in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the j.a.panese, on this occasion, broke out afresh. They engaged the Spaniards, and many fell on both sides, as the j.a.panese were very brave, and were called the Spaniards of Asia. In the end, however, they were conquered, and were not permitted to live together in any considerable number till the year 1621, when Pelayo Hernandez built shops on their old quarter, which were hired out for the benefit of the Franciscan friars.
Some of the Spaniards of the Moluccas took prisoner Pablo Blancardo, the Dutch commander at Malacca, and brought him in his galley to Ternate. The Governor there, in consideration of fifty thousand dollars, set him and all his people at liberty, which, when it was known in Manila, was stigmatized as an act of great baseness; and this public censure affected the Governor"s mind to that degree, that he died of grief soon afterwards. The second in command succeeded; and to give satisfaction to the Royal Audience, despatched two ships in search of General Blancardo, who, it was supposed, had gone towards Maquien, in a patache; they took him prisoner a second time, and sent him with all his people, to Manila, where he was some time afterwards repaid from the Royal coffers, the amount of his ransom. Pablo Blancardo died of grief in prison at Manila, where he had been confined until the arrival of twenty-two Spaniards, who had been taken at Amboyna by the Dutch, and for whom it was intended he should be exchanged.
The Royal Audience conducted themselves with great approbation in the civil administration, until the year 1608, when Don Rodrigo Vivero of Laredo, who was named by the Viceroy as Governor ad interim, arrived at Manila, and having had great experience in the management of the Indians in New Spain, he availed himself of it on this occasion, giving instructions to that effect to the chief judges, and other ministers of justice. He governed with much satisfaction for one year, when he delivered up the insignia of his office, and returned to Mexico.
CHAPTER XIV.
ANNO DOM. 1609.
Of the Administration of Don Juan de Silva.
When the account of the death of Acuna reached Madrid from New Spain, the government was bestowed on Don Juan de Silva of Truxillo, Knight of the order of Santiago, who, at that time, was serving in Flanders. He arrived at Cavite in Easter, and took possession of his government, bringing with him six companies of soldiers, which addition to our force was of great importance at this period, as, in the month of October, the Dutch squadron which has been mentioned, appeared off the port of Yloylo. It was composed of six ships and a considerable military force, which it was intended to disembark in this province, but they were repulsed by the Alcalde Mayor. It then appeared off Marivelez, with the view of preventing ships from going to Manila, and of seizing all merchantmen. Don Juan de Silva fitted out an armament, with which, in the month of April, he attacked and defeated them on the day of St. Mark. He took two ships, the Captains of which had been killed, with many of the crews; a third fled, and the other two which had been separated the day before from the fleet, and were returning with great booty, retired with such despatch, that the Spanish squadron was unable to come up with them. He, however, seized those ships which they had taken. Among others was a j.a.panese vessel, in which were embarked those Spaniards, who had been wrecked on the coast of that island in the ship St. Francis.