British occupation of Manila

Manila and Cavite
Occupation by the British Empire
← 1762–1764 →
Flag Coat of arms
Map of the Spanish East Indies (19th century)
Capital	Manila, Bacolor, Pampanga (Spanish Philippine colonial government retains control outside of Manila and Cavite)
Language(s)	Spanish and native languages.
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Political structure	Occupation by the British Empire
Monarch
- 1760-1820	George III
Governor-General
- 1762-1764	Dawsonne Drake
Historical era	Spanish colonization
- Attempted British colonization	October 30, 1762
- Treaty of Paris	May 31, 1764
Currency	Spanish dollar

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The British Occupation of Manila between 1762 and 1764 was an episode in Philippine colonial history when the Kingdom of Great Britain occupied the Spanish colonial capital of Manila and the nearby principal port of Cavite.

The unexpectedly strong resistance from the provisional Spanish colonial government established by members of the Royal Audience of Manila and their Filipino allies prevented British forces from taking control of territory beyond of Manila and Cavite. After these failures, the occupation was ended as part of the wider peace settlement of the Seven Years' War.

Contents 1 Historical Background 2 Offensive actions 3 Occupation of Manila 4 Resistance 5 End of the occupation 6 Aftermath 7 Controversies 8 See also 9 References 10 Bibliography

Historical Background

At the time, Britain and France were belligerents in what was later called the Seven Years' War. As the war progressed, the neutral Spanish government became concerned that the string of major French losses at the hands of the British were becoming a threat to Spanish interests. Britain first declared war against Spain on 4 January 1762, and on 18 January 1762 Spain issued their own declaration of war against Britain.^[1] France successfully negotiated a treaty with Spain known as the Family Compact which was signed on 15 August 1761. By an ancillary secret convention, Spain became hurriedly committed to making preparations for war against Britain. ^[2]

On 6 January 1762, the British Cabinet led by the Prime Minister, the Earl of Bute, agreed to attack Havana in the West Indies, and approved Colonel William Draper's 'Scheme for taking Manila with some Troops, which are already in the East Indies' in the East.^[3] Draper was commanding officer of the 79th Regiment of Foot, which was currently stationed in Madras, India. On 21 January 1762 King George III signed the instructions to Draper to implement his Scheme, emphasizing that by taking advantage of the 'existing war with Spain', Britain might be able to assure her post-war mercantile expansion.

There was also the expectation that the commerce of Spain would suffer a 'crippling blow'. Upon arriving in India, Draper's brevet rank became brigadier general.^[4] A secret committee of the East India Company agreed to provide a civil governor for the administration of the Islands, and in July of 1762 appointed Dawsonne Drake for the post.^[5] Manila was one of the most important trading cities in Asia during this period and the Company wanted to extend its influence over the Archipelago.

Offensive actions

On 24 September 1762,^[6] a British fleet of eight ships of the line, three frigates, and four store ships with a force of 6,839 regulars, sailors and marines, sailed into Manila Bay from Madras.^[2] The expedition, led by Brigadier-General William Draper and Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish, captured Manila, "the greatest Spanish fortress in the western Pacific".^[7]

The Spanish defeat was not really surprising. Former Governor-General of the Philippines, Pedro Manuel de Arandia, had died in 1759 and his replacement, Brigadier Francisco de la Torre had not arrived because of the British attack on Havana in Cuba. The Spanish Crown appointed the Archbishop of Manila Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra as temporary Lieutenant Governor. In part, because the garrison was commanded by the Archbishop , instead of by a military expert, many mistakes were made by the Spanish forces.^[8]

On 5 October 1762 (4 October local calendar), the night before the fall of the walled city of Manila, the Spanish military persuaded Rojo to summon a council of war. Several times the archbishop wished to capitulate, but was prevented. By very heavy battery fire that day, the British had successfully breached the walls of the bastion San Diego, dried up the ditch, dismounted the cannons of that bastion and the two adjoining bastions, San Andes and San Eugeno, set fire to parts of the town, and drove the Spanish forces from the walls. At dawn of October 6, British forces attacked the breach and took the fortifications meeting with little resistance.

During the siege the Spanish military lost three officers, two sergeants, 50 troops of the line, and 30 civilians of the militia, besides many wounded. Among the natives there were 300 killed and 400 wounded. The besiegers suffered 147 killed and wounded ^[9][10], of whom 16 were officers. The fleet fired upon the city more than 5,000 bombs, and more than 20,000 balls.^[11]

Occupation of Manila

Once Manila fell to British troops, the churches and government offices were ransacked, valuables were taken and historical documents such as Augustinian records, government documents and even the copper plates for the grand 18th-century Murillo Velarde map of the Philippines were ransacked along with the naval stores at the Cavite Naval Yard, the paintings in the Governor General’s Palace, the contents of Intramuros churches and the possessions of most wealthy houses. Rape, homicide and vandalism also rampaged through the city in what is known as the first "Rape of Manila". The British demanded a ransom of four million dollars from the Spanish government to stop the plundering of the city, to which Archbishop Rojo agreed in order to avoid further destruction.^[12]

On 2 November 1762, Dawsonne Drake of the British East India Company assumed gubernatorial office as the British Governor of Manila. He was assisted by a council of four, consisting of John L. Smith, Claud Russel, Henry Brooke and Samuel Johnson. Villacorta managed to escape. When after several attempts Drake realised that he wasn't getting as many assets that he expected, he formed a War Council that he named Chottry Court, with absolute power to imprison anyone who he wished. Many Spanish, Mestizos, Chinese and Indians were brought into prisons for crimes, that as denounced by Captain Thomas Backhouse, were "only known to himself."^[13]

Resistance

In the meantime the Royal Audience of Manila had organised a war council and dispatched Oidor Don Simón de Anda y Salazar to the provincial town of Bulacan to organise continued resistance to the British.^[14] The Real Audencia also appointed Anda as Lieutenant Governor and Visitor-General.^[15][16] That night Anda took a substantial portion of the treasury and official records with him, departing Fort Santigo through the postern of Our Lady of Solitude, to a boat on the Pasig River, and then to Bulacan. He moved headquarters from Bulacan to Bacolor, Pampanga, which was more secure, and quickly obtained the powerful support of the Augustinians.

Anda eventually raised an army which amounted to over 10,000 combatants, most of them voluntary natives, and although they lacked enough modern weapons, they were successful in keeping the British forces confined to Manila. On 8 October 1762 Anda wrote to Rojo informing him that Anda had assumed the position of Governor and Capitan-General under statutes of the Council of the Indies which allowed for the devolution of authority from the Governor to the Audiencia in cases of riot or invasion by foreign forces, as such was the case. Anda, being the highest member of the Audiencia not captive by the British, assumed all powers and demanded the royal seal. Rojo declined to surrender it and refused to recognise Anda as Governor-General.^[16]

The surrender agreement between Archbishop Rojo and the British military guaranteed the Roman Catholic religion and its episcopal government, secured private property, and granted the citizens of the former Spanish colony the rights of peaceful travel and of trade 'as British subjects'. Under British control, the Philippines would continue to be governed by the Real Audencia, the expenses of which were to be paid by Spain.^[16] However, Anda refused to recognize any of the agreements signed by Rojo as valid, claiming that the Archbishop has been made to sign them by force, and therefore, according to the statutes of the Council of the Indies, they were invalid. He also refused to negotiate with the invaders until he was addressed as the legal Governor-General of the Philippines, returning to the British the letters that were not addressed to that effect. All of these initiatives were later approved by the King of Spain, who rewarded him and other members of the Audiencia, such as José Basco y Vargas, who had fought against the invaders.

The isolated British force proved insufficient. Severe disagreements then broke out between Dawsonne Drake and the military commanders who replaced Draper and Cornish, preventing either effective military action or fruitful negotiations with Anda.

End of the occupation

The Seven Years' War was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) on 10 February 1763. At the time of signing, the signatories were not aware that Manila had been taken by the British and consequently it fell under the general provision that all other lands not otherwise provided for be returned to the Spanish Crown.^[17] After Archbishop Rojo died in January 1764, the British military finally recognised Simón de Anda y Salazar as the legitimate Governor of the Philippines, sending him a letter addressed to the “Real Audiencia Gobernadora y Capitanía General”, after which Anda agreed to an armistice on the condition that the British forces withdraw from Manila by March.

The British ended the occupation by embarking from Manila and Cavite in the first week of April 1764, and sailing out of Manila Bay for Batavia, India, and England.

Aftermath

Diego Silang, who was emboldened by Spanish vulnerability, was promised military assistance if he began a revolt against the Spanish government in the Ilocos Region, but such aid never materialised. Silang was later assassinated by his own friends, and the revolt aborted after his wife, who had taken over the leadership, was captured and executed together with the remaining rebel forces.^[18]

Sultan Alimuddin I, who had signed a treaty of alliance with the British forces after they had freed him from the fortress of Santiago in Manila, where he had been imprisoned accused of treason, was also taken with the evacuating forces, in the hope that he could be of help to the aspirations of the East India Company in the Sultanate of Sulu.^[19]

A number of Indian soldiers, known as Sepoys, deserted the British forces and settled down in Cainta, Rizal.^[20]

Many valuable oil paintings by Spanish artists from the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, rare maps, charts, historical manuscripts and official documents, precious books, letters and papers of religious orders, together with bundles of primary source materials about the Philippines during the 17th century, were taken away by Dawsonne Drake and his successor, Alexander Dalrymple, and eventually ended up at the British Museum in London or auctioned by Sotheby's.

The conflict over payment by Spain of the outstanding part of the ransom promised by Rojo in the terms of surrender, and compensation by Britain for excesses committed by Governor Drake against residents of Manila, continued in Europe for years afterward.^[21]

Controversies

Some writers refer to the occupation of Manila as the "British occupation of the Philippines", but the fact was that the British were only able to control Manila and nearby Cavite and were unsuccessful in extending their control beyond these settlements. Although the British accepted the written surrender of the Spanish Governor in the Philippines from Archbishop Rojo on 30 October 1762^[16], the Royal Audience of Manila had already appointed Simón de Anda y Salazar as the new Governor-General, a decision that was provided by the Council of the Indies and later ratified by the King of Spain, who later appointed both Anda and Basco as Governors-General of the Philippines. It was not the first time that the Audiencia had assumed responsibility for the defense of the Philippines in the absence of a higher authority; in 1646, during the Battles of La Naval de Manila, it temporarily assumed the government and maintained the defense of the Philippines against the Dutch.

Captain Thomas Backhouse reported to the Secretary of War in London that "the enemy was in full possession of the country". ^[13]

As Francisco Leandro Viana, who was in Manila during the 20-month occupation, explained to the Spanish King in 1765, "the English conquest of the Philippines was just an imagined one, as the English did never own any land beyond the range of the cannons in Manila".^[22]

See also

• Battle of Manila (1762)
• Great Britain in the Seven Years War

References

Bibliography

• Tracy, Nicholas (1995), Manila Ransomed: The British Assault on Manila in the Seven Years War, University of Exeter Press, ISBN 9780859894265, http://books.google.com/?id=AoNxAAAAMAAJ  ISBN 0859894266, ISBN 9780859894265
• Fish, Shirley (2003), When Britain ruled the Philippines, 1762-1764: the story of the 18th century British invasion of the Philippines during the Seven Years War, 1stBooks Library, ISBN 9781410710697, http://books.google.com/?id=ROGYubVVtVIC , ISBN 1410710696, ISBN 9781410710697.

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