CHAPTER XIV.

ANNO DOM. 1609.

Of the Administration of Don Juan de Silva.

When the account of the death of Acuña 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 Japanese vessel, in which were embarked those Spaniards, who had been wrecked on the coast of that island in the ship St. Francis.

The Archbishop of Manila, Benavides, having died on the 26th of July, 1605, his Majesty named as his successor, Don Diego Vasques Mercado of Arevalo, in Old Castile. This year, 1610, he arrived at the Philippines, and discharged his functions with great approbation, until the year 1616, when he died, and the Bishop of Zebu succeeded him in the Archbishopric.

The Dutch being settled in the island of Java, and possessing fortifications in Malacca and other parts of India, our Governor had little relish for such a neighbourhood, and as they had at times infested our seas, and attacked our islands, he determined, in person, to destroy the forts they had in Malacca, which being so close in his vicinity, he was the more jealous of. He fitted out a squadron of six ships and two galleys, and sailed for Ternate, where he intended to take on board some linguists, and to arrange all his other operations. He understood, in Ternate, that the Dutch hearing of this expedition, had fortified themselves in such a manner in Malacca, that it was impossible to make an impression upon them, and that he might not entirely lose the benefit of the armament he had prepared, he attempted to reduce the forts in Gilolo and Bataquina, but was obliged to retreat to Manila, with the loss of three hundred men, when he immediately began to make preparations of men and ships for another expedition of the same nature. These islands, at this time, received considerable aid in the arrival from Spain, by the way of India, of five caravelas out of seven, which in April, 1613, had sailed from Cadiz, commanded by Ruy Gonzalez de Segueira, having on board three hundred and fifty soldiers, two hundred and forty seamen, and a hundred Portuguese landsmen.

Upon the arrival of this relief, the Governor determined to proceed to Malacca against the Dutch, whose position he ordered to be reconnoitred, but he found them so powerful in ships, which had arrived by the Straits both of Magellan and Sunda, that he deemed it necessary to use his utmost exertions, to enable him to cope with such powerful enemies. With this view he sent a despatch to the Viceroy of India, requesting he would unite the forces of the two kingdoms; but while he was preparing his armament at Cavite, ten Dutch vessels arrived at Panay. They landed a number of men, and marched for the city of Arivalo, burning the churches and the convents of the Augustine friars, in the towns of Ogtong and Xaro. The Indians, aware of the inadequate force the Spaniards possessed, fled to the mountains, and although the Dutch retired immediately, it cost the friars a great deal of labour, to bring them back to their towns, where they could not persuade themselves they were secure.

By the end of the year 1616, Don Juan de Silva had collected the greatest armament, that had been seen in the Philippines; it consisted of ten galleons, four galleys, a patache, and many smaller vessels, with all necessary supplies, and five thousand men, two thousand being Spaniards and Portuguese. He sailed with this formidable armament, on the last day of this year, to attack the forts of Malacca; but as the galleons had not arrived which were expected from India, and which he imagined had wintered in the Straits of Malacca, and it was known that the Dutch kept some vessels in these Straits, in expectation of the ships from China which passed by here, the Governor thought it most adviseable, to attack these ships in the first instance, and after he had destroyed them, he should be able to join the galleons from India, and proceed to the Dutch forts in Malacca. The reasoning was good, but it failed in the execution, the galleons of India having been burnt, in an engagement they had with the Dutch, and the latter having quitted the Straits eight days before the Spaniards arrived, flying with all their effects, as they had received secret intelligence of their route. At the same time that the Spanish galleons entered the Straits, two Malay merchantmen from China arrived very richly laden; by saving which, the inhabitants of Malacca called Don de Silva their preserver, received him on shore under a canopy, and expected from his valour, and the powerful fleet he brought, that India would be freed from those freebooters, the Dutch; but he was seized with a fever, and died in eleven days, on the 19th of April, 1616. He had ordered his body to be embalmed, and directed it should be carried to Xerez de los Cavalleros, to a convent of bare-footed carmelites, and buried there. Before he died, he gave the command of the armament to Don Alonzo Henriquez, who brought it back to Manila, without effecting any thing else.

By the death of the Governor, the command devolved on Don Andres Alcaraz, the oldest Oidor, who had been left in charge of the government by Don Juan de Silva, when he sailed with the armament for Malacca. About the same time our squadron sailed from the bay, another Dutch squadron, which had lately arrived by the Straits of Magellan, entered the mouth of the harbour, and lay a month close to Marivelez. There were only four ships and two pataches laying before Manila, and it was without artillery, ammunition, or soldiers. The Governor ad interim was not dismayed at this; he armed those few ships he possessed, fortified certain positions, and was encouraged in the undertaking by the people, who took up arms, not only the laity, but even the ecclesiastics also. The Dutch commander wrote two letters to the Royal Audience, and one to General Pablo Blancardo, whom the Spaniards had carried prisoner to Manila; but as soon as he learned that Blancardo had died in prison, he made sail to the Moluccas.

Upon the death of Silva, the Dutch came with ten ships against Oton, where they were gallantly repulsed by the commandant of the Pintados, Don Diego de Quiñones, who, in a wooden fort, sustained a siege of ten days, during which time the Dutch made four assaults, in which many were killed, but at last they were compelled to re-embark, and they retired to Malacca. The following year the same armament of ten ships came against Playa Honda. The Governor despatched against them, the Colonel Don Juan Ronquillo, with six galleons and two galleys; they came to an action on the 14th of April, 1617, and the two commodores being engaged, Don Juan Ronquillo sunk his adversary's ship, called the Sun of Holland; two other ships were burnt, and the rest fled with precipitation. The Spaniards, however, were not able to pursue them, as they had suffered much in the engagement, and had lost the galleon St. Mark. After this action, Don Geronimo de Silva returned from Molucca, and the Oidor Alcarez resigned to him his office, the duties of which he had discharged with great applause. In October, Don Geronimo ordered the seven galleons that had been so severely handled in the last engagement, to be laid up in Marinduque. The two ships for Acapulco were despatched in the worst season of the year, during the hurricane months, and they were both lost, one on the coast of Lobo, and the other on that of Galban. This reflected no great credit on the wisdom and prudence of the Governor.