Cavite

“ From Cavite he sent a summons to some inhabitants, so that Page 105the Spaniards in Cavite numbered more than six hundred. In this city, the citizens stood guard, and endured many hardships in it. All lived with great vigilance, born of a fear of the Sangleys—of whom rumors were circulating that they were restless and intended to revolt, because they imagined that the Spaniards, through lack of confidence in them, were about to kill them. ”

“ Our enemy the Dutch also came with seventy [sic] vessels to Playa Honda in Zambales, seeing that they were unable to attain their designs—namely, to capture the port of Cavite, and change the minds of the natives, turn them from the service and homage of our Catholic monarch, and render [97] them allies to themselves. But on Saturday, April 7, 1617, our fleet left Cavite under command of Master-of-camp Don Juan Ronquillo, who had the happiness and good luck to sink several of their vessels, burn another, and put the rest to flight amid the islands. ”

“ Draper and Cornish immediately go ashore to make arrangements with the governor. The surrender of Manila and Cavite, and the islands and forts dependent on the former, is agreed upon; and in addition the payment of 4,000,000 dollars or pesos as a ransom to the English for the preservation of the city. Cornish’s ship captain, [15] Kempenfelt, takes possession of Cavite on the tenth. In that place are gained abundance of naval stores, and fresh food is secured. The men have borne themselves well through the short fatiguing siege, and land and sea forces have maintained harmonious relations. ”

“ A new residence is established at Cavite, the priests in which accomplish much good, among both Spaniards and natives. A new mission is begun in the Babuyan Islands, north of Cagayán; it is very arduous and full of privations, but the religious gladly labor therein, and find the people excellent Christians, although they are most poor and needy. ”

“ Cavite is a city of about 5000 inhabitants, ten miles from Manila. The Spanish arsenal and the only shipyards in the colony are located here. It is the chief naval station of the islands, and has always been considered the key to Manila from the sea. It was seized by the insurgents in 1872, and again in 1896, and it was its forts that so harassed Dewey with their bombardment, and it was one of the first places occupied by the Americans after the fall of Manila.
It does not take one long to exhaust the sights of Manila, if the people, who are always interesting, are excepted. ”

“ The difficulties, of the Spaniards were increased by the fact that the defense of Manila and Cavite until reinforcements arrived, would be largely in the hands of native troops, among whom the Katipunan was known to have been at work. But the troops of the old native regiments—the men who for years had followed Spanish officers—were on the whole faithful, and it was largely due to them that Manila and Cavite were held.
The leaders in the insurrection were of that class who called themselves ilustrados, enlightened, a class whose blood is, in almost every case, partly Spanish or partly Chinese. ”

“ About three days after Juan de la Cruz was lodged in Cavite jail, the dead body of the San Roque damsel, gashed by savage blows of the fatal bolo, was left by the ebb on the sands of Parañaque, a village just across the little Bay of Bacoor opposite to San Roque. She had paid with her life for her frailty as many another woman has done in every clime. ”

“ When the bay begins to open out, Cavite is seen to the right, a town of respectable size, sought after by many in Manila on account of its comparative healthfulness, on a sort of peninsula, jetting into the Bay, and the seat of all naval activity of the Spanish East Indies, for it has an arsenal and a small dock, besides a marine railway. In a military point of view it is much more important than Manila itself. ”

“ Even the women of Cavite province, in a document numerously signed by them, gave me to understand that after all the men are killed off they are prepared to shed their patriotic blood for the liberty and independence of their country. ”

“ The inhabitants of Palapag were corrupted by those evil habits at the time when Governor Don Diego Fajardo—with the intention of relieving the near-by provinces of Tagalos and Pampanga from the burden of working, at the harbor of Cavite, in the building of galleons and vessels necessary for the conservation and defense of these islands—had ordered the alcaldes of Leite and other provinces to send men thence to [115] Cavite for that employment. ”

“ The Latin countries, the seat of the old Catholic power which was itself the shadow of the Roman Empire, provided the world with a series of massacres remarkable even in that murderous century. Yet it was a fact that in the year of Cave’s death, Italy was half-Cavite while France, England and Germany were nearly all Cavite while only Spain and parts of Latin America held out, imprisoning, executing, deporting Cavites against the inevitable day when our Communicators, undismayed, proud in their martyrdom, would succeed in their assaults upon these last citadels of paganism. ”

“ The artillery of that castle points seaward, in order to prevent the entrance of [hostile] vessels—which can, however, enter there, without the cannon doing them any great damage. The chief port of these islands is called Cavite, and there the ships from Nueva España are anchored. That port of Cavite serves as a refuge for our sailors; it is sheltered from the heavy winds, and very secure. Manila, on the contrary, is an open bay, beaten by the north winds. The anchorage there is very poor, and the entrance very difficult ”

“ Cavite is defended by an indifferent fort, the governor of which is nominated by the court of Madrid. It is likewise provided with a complete arsenal for the accommodation, as well of the Acapulco ships, and a few small vessels for the defence of the islands from the Moors, as for general use.
To the north from the nation Tagala, we found the nations Pampanga, Zambales, Pangasinan, Ylocos, and Cagayan. Each of these nations formed a distinct community, with a distinct language, or dialect of the same language, and was distributed in mud villages, having no king or supreme head to govern them ”

“ They have assured me that they have not had an alcalde-mayor for many years who has given more satisfaction in that province. Since La Laguna, whence are brought the timbers for the shipbuilding at Cavite, depends greatly on the religious, and without the latter the Indians would do nothing, and it is important to me to have there a person of great exactness, so that the cutting and sending of wood may not cease, and consequently, the building and repair of the ships; and since there are so few methodical men in this country, when there is one, I try to retain him in office all the time. ”

“ At this port of Cavite the Chinese have remained peaceable, and with the Indians and Japanese they very willingly dragged out some pieces of artillery, with which Sargento-mayor Alonso Garcia Romero, who is in command of the port, armed two small forts, which are at the end of the village. With these and other precautions of an excellent soldier, we all consider ourselves very safe. The natives, although they have not forsaken their village, have sought shelter, as far as possible, with the religious orders. The Japanese, blacks, and Indians are full of courage, whatever be the outcome ”

“ For this the following [illegible in MS.] plans occur to me, if they seem suitable to your Lordship.
The new settlement of La Hermita and Malate may be all one administration. Paranaque and Cavite at least can be another; and, by establishing a house for religious at Cavite, Paranaque and the tingues [“hills”] may be administered by visit, and also the lowlands of Tuley and Limbo. In this way there will remain three clergymen who can minister elsewhere, because [illegible in MS.] which is a great burden. ”

“ A most disreputable-looking crew it is, the ragged trousers rolled up to the knee, the network shirts, or cotton blouses full of holes drawn down outside. Highly excitable, and yet good-natured as they work, they take possession and disgorge the ship, while Chinamen descend the hatchways after dirty clothes.
Off in the hazy distance lies Cavite, or “the port,” with its white mist of war ships lying at anchor where the stout Dutch galleons rode, in 1647, to attack the Spanish caravels, retiring only [11] after the Dutch admiral fell wounded mortally ”

“ Still General Blanco remained on the defensive in and around the city of Manila and the town of Cavite, and repulsed attacks made by the rebels on the magazines at Binancáyan and Las Piñas.
The rebels were now firmly established over the rest of the Province of Cavite. The natural features of this part of Luzon made the movements of regular troops extremely difficult. The country abounds in rivers which run from south to north parallel to each other at short distances. They run at the bottom of deep ravines, which present excellent positions for defence. ”

“ Admitted into the Society October 11, 1600, he went six years later to the Philippines, where he was rector of Carigara, Manila, and Cavite, associate of the provincial, commissary of the Inquisition, and missionary among the Indians; he also went to Rome as procurator of his province. He died at Manila, September 3, 1659. A probable error in name makes Francisco Lopez rector of Cavite in 1637, for Juan was rector of the residence there at that time. ”

“ Having completed matters at Bindanao, you shall return to the port of Cavite. [2] Thence, with what men you deem advisable and with interpreters from Taguima, you shall go to the island of Jolo, where Captain Esteban made an agreement with the king of that place to pay tribute to his Majesty. You shall tell that king that I left Borney for certain reasons, and that I send this other fleet there for the purpose of telling him that he should abide by his obedience, in order not to receive more harm. ”

“ The overwhelming majority of the people of said provinces have not taken part in said disturbances and have not aided and abetted the lawless acts of said bandits.
As a matter of fact, the report of the American Governor of Cavite—and conditions were conceded to be identical in the two provinces of Cavite and Batangas—shows that the reason it was so hard to suppress the Cavite-Batangas troubles of 1905 was that the people would not help the authorities to apprehend the outlaws. ”

“ The column returned the next day from Cavite and then set out for New Cavite, where we took rations for four days of biscuit and wine, setting out the same day for Noveleta, and on the sixth the division started to attack San Francisco de Malabon, last point of Cavite Province in which there was an insurrection. This point was well fortified, and this is what was the death of them.
“In an hour or seventy minutes, the enemy was dislodged, leaving more than fifteen hundred bodies behind the trenches. ”

“ Many responded to this appeal, for the crushing defeat of the rebels in Cavite Province, accompanied by the ruthless severity of the soldiery during the last Captain-Generalcy, had damped the ardour of thousands of would-be insurgents. The rebellion was then confined to the north of Manila, but, since Aguinaldo had evacuated Cavite and joined forces with Llaneras, the movement was carried far beyond the Provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga. Armed mobs had risen in Pangasinán, Zambales, Ilocos, Nueva Ecija, and Tárlac. Many villages were entirely reduced to ashes by them ”

“ Those who make the greatest propaganda are not, indeed, the masters. As many masters as there are in Cavite, there are in Bulacan, for example, or more, and in Cavite the people talk fairly good Castilian, while in Bulacan they scarcely talk any. Why? Because in Cavite there are many Spaniards who live there, while in Bulacan there are perhaps not fifty. For the rest another citation and the conclusion. The famous student of Filipinas, now the bishop of Jaca, Fray Francisco Valdés, says: ‘There are many Indians who come to know quite well the material of the Spanish word ”

“ Besides, they have the village and ministry of Mariquina, of mestizos, Sangleys, [171] and natives; and that of San Mateo, the village and capital of the residence of Silán and of Indang. In Cavite there is a residence of the Society of Jesus, and in its jurisdiction the village and ministry of Cavite el Viejo [i.e., “Old Cavite”] ; in that of Mariveles, the residence of Maragondón; in the province of Mindoro, the island of Marinduque, with the villages and ministries of Boac, Santa Cruz de Napo, and Gasan.
In the bishopric and jurisdiction of Cebú they have a residence in the city ”

“ Before the Spaniards arrived this district was occupied by the nation Tagala, inhabiting many towns and mud villages, governed by petty chiefs. It is now divided into various provinces, under the government of their respective Alcaldes Mayores, who collect the royal tribute, and administer justice among the Indians. At three leagues distance from Manila, to the south-west, lies the port of Cavite, so called from the word cauit, a fish-hook, to which the tongue of land on which it [3] stands bears a strong resemblance. ”