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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2009
24. Stevenson's description of Manila, 10 November 1762. I.O.R., H.M., 76, pp. 48–54.
Gentlemen:
Accompanying this are the plans of the city and Bay of Manila with the attack and a narrative of our transactions to explain it, as likewise a description of the fortifications of the place with what alterations are necessary to make it more respectable to a European force or secure it from the insults of the natives. I have not been able to get ready a plan of the town and harbour of Cavita to go home by this opportunity but will take care to get it ready by the next. I am, with respect, gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant, William Stevenson. Manila, 10 November 1762.
page 46 note 1 Manila was on the left bank of the Pasig River, surrounded by walls and with a triangular fort at the north-eastern extremity. The city walls had twelve bastions, and six gates, the two largest called Puerta Real and Parian. The Parian gate faced the north-east, between the bastions called San Lorenzo and San Gabriel. For a detailed description of the fortification and walls in 1739, see Díaz-Trechuelo, María Lourdes, Arquitectura española en Filipinas, 1565–1800 (Sevilla, 1959), pp. 99–102Google Scholar. Also see Document 25.
page 58 note 1 In the Spanish empire it was customary for the local bishop to assume the governorship on the demise of the incumbent until a new governor was appointed by Madrid. Rojo became governor in 1761 on the death of Miguel Espeleta, the Bishop of Cebu, who had served as interim governor from 1759.
page 59 note 1 The apparent discrepancy in dates is due to the loss of a day in crossing the Pacific from east to west, as the Spaniards did in coming to the Philippines from Mexico. The date of the arrival of the British was 23 September 1762, but for the Spaniards in the Philippines it was 22 September. The unrevised datings, as the MSS. record them, are here retained.
page 59 note 2 This letter abounds in grammatical errors, all of which are here retained. Perhaps at this time Draper and Cornish did not have the services of an interpreter.
page 60 note 1 Rojo's apparent naïveté and simplicity are not to be taken at face value. As soon as the British fleet was sighted preparations were begun for an engagement. Troops were mustered, auxiliaries summoned and the city gates were shut. Rojo simply played for time to prepare for battle.
page 61 note 1 By this time the British had made an unopposed landing near Ermita, a little over a mile from the city walls, and the Spanish garrison had been bolstered by the arrival of 500 Filipino soldiers from the provinces.
page 62 note 1 Rojo refers to the Santa Rosa when he should say Santa Gertrudis. This was a galliot sent from the Visayas to announce the arrival of the galleon Philipino from Mexico. The galliot was captured by the British as it entered Manila Bay and Rojo quickly writes to the captain of the galleon to warn him of the situation.
page 63 note 2 The fathers whose fidelity to the king is taken for granted were the Jesuits. Just five years later their fidelity would be called into question and they would be expelled from the Spanish domains.
page 63 note 3 Alcaldes were local provincial governors who together with the gobernadorcillos, elected native town heads, were responsible for organizing the local militia and work gangs.
page 63 note 1 The Spaniards were making numerous sallies from the city, often at night. Atrocities committed by Spanish and Filipino soldiers must have been reported to Rojo who issued this proclamation.
page 65 note 1 Rojo's nephew, Antonio de Sierra Tagle, was on the Santa Gertrudis when it was captured. See Documents 33 and 40.
page 70 note 1 By this time the British artillery from ship and shore was causing consternation in the city. Two mortar batteries of three mortars each showered the walls and bastions with six-inch shells. Ten twenty-four pounders were set up opposite Bastion San Diego and opened a large breech in the walls. An artillery battery of two twenty-four pounders put the Bastion San Andrés out of action. Both of these bastions were in the south-east corner of the walled city, apparently the weakest point of defence. Draper said that he decided to attack this point because the revelin was not well armed, the glacis too low and the ditch in front of the walls filled in. ‘Draper's Journal’, B.R., 49: 88.
page 87 note 1 The captured Spanish standards were presented by Draper to King's College Chapel, Cambridge. On 3 May 1763 nine colours taken at Manila were carried in procession and placed on each side of the chapel's altar rails. Afterwards they were stored away. Towards the end of the nineteenth century they were discovered and the remaining fragments were placed on display under glass. These fragments were thrown away in a general cleaning some fifteen years ago.
page 88 note 1 This diary is a nineteenth-century copy found in the Jesuit Archives at San Cugat. From the contents it appears that the author lived in Manila, had access to official documents and was familiar with the internal proceedings of the government during the British occupation. The copy bears the seal of the Jesuit archives, but no indication of its author is given. The complete diary is ninety-three folio pages and it ends after the departure of the British forces. Only folios 1–20 are reproduced here.
page 89 note 2 The reference is probably to Dalrymple who sailed through the Philippines in 1760–1, charting and gathering information. Complete sets of these nautical charts and sketches of ports and harbours are in I.O.R., the Brit. Mus. Map Room and the New York Public Library Map Room. Cf. page 18, note 2.
page 90 note 3 Marques de Ayerbe, Sitio y conquista de Manila, pp. 5–6Google Scholar, mentions that a foreign vessel appeared in the bay on 14 September. Montero y Vidal, Historia General de Filipinas, II, 12Google Scholar, states that it was an English vessel which had come to reconnoitre. As usual he does not state his source. However, neither Draper nor Cornish's correspondence mention sending an advance vessel.
page 91 note 4 The Sultan of Jolo had become a Christian and at the time was being held in Manila. For the intrigues and policies surrounding this fascinating figure see de la Costa, H., ‘Muhammad Alimuddin I, Sultan of Sulu, 1735–1773’, in Asia and the Philippines (Manila, 1967), pp. 81–114.Google Scholar
page 91 note 5 Cesar Faillet, a Swiss resident of Manila, led a number of sallies against the British.
page 93 note 6 Possibly the diarist refers to Commodore Richard Tiddiman of the Elizabeth, who drowned with five men as they attempted to enter the Pasig on the ship's boat. See Beatson, R., Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain, from the Year 1727 to the Present Time (London, 1790), III, 145.Google Scholar
page 104 note 7 For Drake, Smith, Brooke, Russell and Johnson.
page 113 note 8 For Dawsonne Drake, John Smith, Henry Brooke, Claude Russell and Samuel Johnson.
page 114 note 9 For Bombay.
page 114 note 10 See Document 118 for Cornish's version.
page 120 note 1 When Rojo realized that the British attack on the breach opened near the Bastion San Diego had been successful, he retired with a few advisors to Fort Santiago, showed the white flag of surrender and began drafting terms for capitulation, which he personally gave to Draper when he entered the fort. See ‘Rojo's Narrative’, B.R., 49: 213.
page 123 note 1 In an initial period of pillage lasting six hours, much of the city was plundered, including churches and private houses. Both Chinese and Filipinos joined the troops in the pillage. Another thirty-hour period of pillage followed which Draper was powerless to prevent. Ibid., 214–15. See Documents 52–6 for sworn testimony on looting.
page 125 note 1 Draper's act was not an isolated incident. The jails had been opened by the Spanish to provide more soldiers for defence and many of the criminals took to looting. Some were apprehended and executed without trial by the British. Agustín de Santa María said that the criminals were hung from window gratings like bananas. B.R., 49: 215, note 137.
page 127 note 1 The large Augustinian convento and church of San Pablo were pillaged as well. A portion of the looted library was put up for sale at Sothebys, London, in June 1966. The London Times report of 29 June said, ‘Yesterday a voluminous collection of papers relating to missions to China and Japan, and to the history of the Philippines, from the Convent of San Pablo in Manila, was sold in 17 lots for £13, 065. This collection was looted from Manila in 1762 and later was acquired by Alexander Dairymple, hydrographer to the Navy… It is believed to be one of the most important collections of source material for Philippine history outside the Archives of the Indies in Seville.’ Most of the material dealing with the Philippines was acquired by the University of Indiana, Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A., and is now on deposit there.