upwards of sixty junks, and several thousand
men, sailed to Manila, induced, perhaps, to this
enterprise by the accounts he had received of the
riches of the Spaniards, which he did not doubt,
considering their weakness, would easily fall into
his hands. After a spirited attempt upon the new
colony, in which he met a gallant, but not very
skilful resistance, he was beat off; but permitted
to make his escape, after ravaging the coasts of the
island for many months.
The neighbourhood of the Philippines to China
afforded, at all times, so convenient and natural an
outlet to the overflowing population of the latter
country, that the Chinese, in spite of all oppression,
constantly poured over. At an early period,
from the causes already enumerated, and the monopolizing
spirit of the resident European colonists,
to whom the fair competition, occasioned by
the industry of the Chinese, was odious ; the resident
Chinese became objects of jealousy and hatred.
These, finding themselves persecuted and
distrusted, became dissatisfied in their turn, and naturally
not the most loyal subjects. In the year
1598, the Spaniards from the Philippines fitted
out an expedition against the Moluccas ; and the
governor, Dasmarinas, accompanied it. A hundred
and fifty Chinese had been pressed as rowers into
the governor’s galley, and were urged to their labour
by stripes. The governor’s ship was separated
from the rest of the fleet, and had not got clear
of the islands, when the Chinese rose on the crew
and murdered the whole, the governor included.
In the same year a great number of Chinese resorted
to Manila, and among others some men of
rank, who excited the suspicion of the Spaniards.
In the year 1603 took place the first massacre
of the Chinese, In that year the Emperor of
China sent three Mandarines on a mission to Manila,
to ascertain the truth respecting a report
which had reached him, that the fort of Cavito
was constructed of gold. The Spaniards concluded
them to be spies, and declared them to be the
forerunners of an army of 100,000 men for the conquest
of the Spanish possessions, No such army
ever arrived, or probably was ever intended, but
the apprehensions of the Spaniards connected this
circumstance, with the insurrection of the Chinese,
which soon after followed, but which was, in fact,
brought on by their own jealous and oppressive measures.
A rich Chinese of Manila, who had embraced
the religion of the Spaniards, and lived on terms of
great intimacy with them, undertook, as a work of
munificence to gratify his countrymen, to build a
stone wall round their quarter of the suburbs. The
work was openly and unsuspectingly commenced
upon, but the jealousy of the Spaniards was roused
by it. They conjured the story of a conspiracy to
murder the Christians, and the massacre of the