of descriptions of the wretched
state of society then existing, which it is unnecessary to repeat here.

[English occupation.] The colony had scarcely been molested by
external enemies, with the exception of pirates. In the earliest time
the Dutch had engaged occasionally in attacks on the Bisayas. But
in 1762 (during the war of the Bourbon succession) an English fleet
suddenly appeared before Manila, and took the surprised town without
any difficulty. The Chinese allied themselves with the English. A
great insurrection broke out among the Filipinos, and the colony,
under the provisional government of a feeble archbishop, was for a
time in great danger. It was reserved for other dignitaries of the
Church and Anda, an energetic patriot, to inflame the natives against
the foreigners; and the opposition incited by the zealousness of the
priests grew to such an extent that the English, who were confined in
the town, were actually glad to be able to retreat. In the following
year the news arrived from Europe of the conclusion of peace; but
in the interval this insurrection, brought about by the invasion,
had rapidly and considerably extended; and it was not suppressed
until 1765, when the work was accomplished by creating enmity among
the different tribes. [264] But this was not done without a loss to
the province of Ilocos of two hundred sixty-nine thousand two hundred
and seventy persons--half of the population, as represented by Zuniga.

[Many minor uprisings from local grievances.] Severity and want of
tact on the part of the Government and their instruments, as well as
bigoted dissensions have caused many revolts of the natives; yet none,
it is true, of any great danger to the Spanish rule. The discontent
has always been confined to a single district, as the natives do
not form a united nation; neither the bond of a common speech nor
a general interest binding the different tribes together. The state
communications and laws among them scarcely reach beyond the borders
of the villages and their dependencies.

[Danger from mestizos and creoles.] A consideration of far more
importance to the distant metropolis than the condition of the
constantly excited natives, who are politically divided among
themselves, and really have no steady object in view, is the attitude
of the mestizos and creoles, whose discontent increases in proportion
to their numbers and prosperity. The military revolt which broke
out in 1823, the leade