?

My brother, Antonio Gonzalez:

The letter which you wrote from Madrid arrived together with that of this place, but no other has arrived. By the same boat also came [news of] the peace, whereupon the English again delivered the place to our governor.1 It was almost bare of cannon, as the English had taken them. For eighteen months were we under the rule of the heretic, with sufferings greater than can be imagined there. They acted toward us worse than do the victorious Turks toward those whom they conquer. However, Manila well deserved it, not indeed, because of its total lack of all Christian procedure, but singularly because of its cursed neglect of politics, as if the whole world had to respect and fear us because of our boasting that we are Spaniards.

Manila is a place, which, by its fortification, by its swampy site, by its location surrounded by a river larger than the Tajo at Toledo, and by a low sea, and because the only time at which it can be attacked is at the time of the fierce winds and heavy and almost continuous rains—it is, I say—for all these reasons, almost invincible, with less than a medium defense of true militia. For no power can place here fifteen or twenty thousand well drilled men. All that would be necessary, in order to oppose a moderate defense by one thousand or one thousand five hundred well-drilled men, established in Manila, and aided by the inhabitants and volunteer Indians. But on the present occasion, when the sole sinews of the English were about one thousand five hundred Europeans, and the rest [of their men] about five thousand, whom they said were ragamuffins from Asia, with the carriages and horses of Manila driven along its beach, the English could not have effected a landing. But our archiepiscopal government, counseled by worthless hearts and by traitors, allowed the English to disembark without opposition. The fifteen ships cannonaded to no purpose; and because a cannon caused the greatest ship to retire, order was given not to fire from the fort without orders, and that it was to be used for the attack by land. Some commanded, others countermanded, because they asserted that they would anger the English more. A reËnforcement of drilled Indians came, but they were not allowed to make a sally, for the archbishop-governor said that it was better to seize the enemy without grievously vexing him. In a sally, the Indians reached quite to the artillery abandoned by the English. The enemy rallied, and the Indians not having any disciplined reËnforcement, fell back. Four days of heavy rains, and boisterous winds, which God sent, and by which one ship was driven ashore, and the others endeavored only to look out for themselves, gained nothing for the obstruction of the English, neither toward the sea, nor toward [land]. Their powder was used up, and they dead with hunger and with cold, could not resist. It was thus that the traitors arranged it with the worthy archbishop, who would listen to no one but to those who had the boldness to introduce English officers who had been invited to dine, into Manila. There it was agreed that the assault was to be made October 5, and that all would be defenseless and open. So it happened. At seven or eight o’clock, it was ordered that the garrison of the attacked bastion and of its lateral, should retire to breakfast. Some loyal men refused, as they were fearful of the outcome. Thereupon, the English attacked the bastion, which did not even have any breach, but some holes which [occur] in the soft stone of this region. And climbing from hole to hole, and those from below aiding those who were climbing, they mounted the bastion. The lateral, although it did not have more than three men, fired a cannon contrary to orders, and others also captured the highest officer of the attack. It was enough to make all the rest of the English retire; but encouraged by seeing their men in the attacked bastion, and that the lateral was now firing no more, for the three alone could not manage their cannons, the crowd mounted the bastion, and then a traitor guided them. There was no reserve in the fort for such a blow. They reached the square of the palace, where only the Indians resisted them. But they yielded to the instances of some Spaniards who saw that resistance was already dangerous. The archbishop-governor left the citadel where he could have defended himself very easily: and he could even have easily recovered the fort and chapter house; but neither one nor the others did that. The citadel was to be surrendered, as well as Cavite, but our ship which was coming was to be left alone, if they had not already captured it before the fifth of October. A few days after, all the islands were likewise to be delivered up, and four millions [of pesos].

Auditor Anda departed one day before with authority from the governor and Audiencia, to maintain royal jurisdiction in the islands. He did so as by a miracle, having retired to Pampanga. The English wished to first conquer Pasig, which was guarded by Indians. They attained their end after a short bombardment, and opened a passage to the provisions of Laguna. They thought it best also to go to Pampanga to destroy SeÑor Anda, but having been attacked about one legua or so from Manila by SeÑor Anda’s men, they were completely routed, and left many slain. The survivors fled to Manila as best they could, notwithstanding that a third part of our men, deceived by the traitors of Manila, did not attack, contrary to the order of SeÑor Anda. The English and their allies, our traitors, seeing that it was difficult by force, devoted their energies to trickery. First, they tried to induce the Chinese to kill SeÑor Anda, as he was now cried by heralds as a traitor to the king and a reward of two or four thousand pesos promised to whomever should kill and deliver him up. The Chinese had agreed upon the fitting night to kill him and all the Spaniards of his faction. A few days before, having some suspicion, he seized a letter from a Chinese written in Chinese characters to another Chinese of Manila. He summoned a Chinese mestizo to interpret it. But either for malice or through ignorance, the latter said whatever came into his head. Thereupon, he made use of a Dominican Chinese, who declared the treason of the letter. Days before the arrival of this declaration, everything was already known, because a Chinese fired a blunderbuss at SeÑor Anda which only damaged his coat. Thereupon, he seized as many Chinese as he could with his small troop of Spaniards and Indians, and after taking their depositions had them hanged. There were more than two hundred [of them]. Many others who escaped informed the English and Chinese of Manila, and the latter petitioned the English to kill all the Spaniards of Manila, while they would do the same with those outside, without excepting the ecclesiastics. The English would not consent, but determined to attack Pampanga, encouraged more by the treason of the Indians of Laguna who treacherously killed their alcalde and other Spaniards, and set another ambush for those who escaped on the following day, though the latter also escaped that. The cause for this attempt was that the alcalde punished the captain of a village because he had invited all the province to welcome the English with a hundred maidens so that they might have their aid in killing all the Spaniards. The hardships that the Spaniards, who fled from the English, suffered in all the villages of Laguna, are unspeakable.

With these results the English were emboldened to besiege Bulacan, in order to open a road to Pampanga. Aided by the Sangleys, and much more by the Spanish traitors of Manila, who gave them the method of being able to attain it, and secretly perverted many chiefs of the village, the English set out on the roads shown them by the traitors. Although it cost them many people, they seized the church, for the Spaniards ran short of powder, as the Indians, induced by the Spaniards of Manila, had hidden it. But the loyal Spaniards of Bulacan, by means of stratagem and trickery, held the English besieged in the same church. Three times did the latter receive reËnforcements of supplies and men from Manila, but they were never able to pass. Finally, those who were left returned to Manila with great loss. And not even one would have returned had it not been that continually, because of the treachery of the Indians, they found the few Spaniards without powder.

The English tried, finally, to drive out the rest, so that they could seize the silver of our ship, and attacked our advance troop with great secrecy. They reached the troop at dawn. The fire was heavy, and caused the English to retire completely routed; and had we not lacked carriages to our cannons, not a single Englishman would have returned to Manila, where they arrived scattered, and with many of the chief officers wounded. Our killed did not reach the number of ten, while theirs, counting the Chinese, exceeded one thousand. Next night they endeavored to prevent our troops from taking the bells of Quiapo for cannons, and without succeeding against only fifteen Spaniards, they lost more than fifty English and more than two hundred Chinese. They attempted to enter Pampanga by sea with one ship and small boats, but they left many dead on the beach and some of their boats, while the ship and those who could get back to it fled to Cavite. In fine, we have found them cowardly; and had they not been aided by traitors and Chinese they would not have captured Manila, nor after capturing it could they have retained it two months. The losses which have been incurred because of them exceed four millions. Father Joaquin Mezquida and Father Patricio del Barrio are going [to Spain] as procurators, and they can tell much, although not all.

Father Mezquida is taking one hundred pesos so that my brother, your uncle, Manuel, may divide them equally among your mother, my sister Ana, my brother Lucas, and my sister Juana; the children also of my brother Joseph sharing equally—not each one a part, but one part among them all. I do not know whether this will reach the ship, and I am making the greatest efforts in writing, for I am secretary to the provincial Pazuengos whom you knew there.

My brother will tell my brother Manuel that I wrote him quite at length by the ship captured by the English, thanking him for the aid which he extended to Ana’s two children; and that in regard to the other matter between him and his wife, it is better for him to do it alone, and it will be better for his nephews, and that he should forget the wrongs that come to his mind. Tell him also to send me by Father Patricio two pairs of gray worsted stockings because my legs get cold, some pairs of scissors of good temper, and some boxwood combs. I tell you this in case I can not write it to him. And since my [brother] lives in Madrid, let him get from the fathers the Mercurios2 and interesting papers that are published and send them to me. Little by little, my brother can get many of them, for after some months, people do not care for them, and do not object to giving them.

Tell your mother, when you see her, to pray God for me often, and that I hope that my desires of seeing her in heaven soon will be answered, for now my health is not what it was before. Manila, July 24, 1764. My brother’s humble servant,

Baltasar Vela (rubric)

[Addressed: “To Brother Antonio Gonzalez, of the Society of Jesus, and if he be dead, to his superior. Madrid.”]