I hope that the provinces of Pangazinan and Cagayan will soon follow your worthy example and tear off the chains of Spanish slavery.
I am also sending your Grace the edict published by the two leaders of sea and land, when we conquered our enemy. For my part I assure you that I shall religiously observe it, and I invite you when time permits, to despatch your boats to this capital, where they will be welcomed for their trade. The bearer of this letter is a captain in his Britannic Majesty's service, and he will inform your Grace of particulars. Hence, I shall not go to great length to repeat, with my accustomed sincerity, that I shall employ all my strength in your defense, in order that your Grace may free yourself from the Spanish yoke. I shall not cease to beseech God, our Lord, to preserve your Grace for many years. Manila, May 6, 1763. [105]
[Addressed: "To Don Diego Silang, alcalde-mayor and war-captain for his Majesty in the province of Ylocos."]
[Under date of March (sic in original; May?) 15, the British commander of the forces in Manila, Roberto Eduardo Fell, writes Anda, asking him to see to it that acts of barbarism and cruelty such as have been practiced by Anda's troops against the British, on many occasions, be discontinued. He denies that the British soldiers have broken the laws of warfare, and during the sack, many officers tried to restrain them at the risk of their own lives, while the Spanish troops have on the contrary fired more than once at the white flag, thus not adhering to the honorable conduct of Spaniards in Europe. He does not ask for discontinuance of the war, but only observance of the common humanities of war.]
[Anda answers the preceding letter on the twenty-first of May, in which he deals at length with the charges of inhumanity and cruelty made against the Spaniards by Fell, and in sarcastic terms makes counter charges of cruelty and lack of good faith on the part of the English. "Manila," he says, "was lost, because it was poorly defended, the citadel because it was basely surrendered, as was also the port of Cavite; and not because there was a lack of brave Spaniards, but because they had the misfortune not to have a leader to manage them, with less ignominy, disorder, and confused foresight, than those displayed by the archbishop." After the English entered by assault, they committed many acts of cruelty, killing often without quarter. The English have not always respected the white flag, and have used it for unlawful purposes, such as sending an officer into the Spanish camp to offer amnesty and pardon to deserters if they would return to their companies. When Anda was as yet without troops or weapons, the English proscribed him as a traitor, and put a price on his capture, alive or dead. Since the English have acted thus inhumanely toward him, is Anda obliged to regard the laws of warfare? Anda refers to a British edict of May 17 which he says appears to be in the same hand as the letter received from Fell. Such a thing does not argue for the good faith of the English. [106] Anda denies in heated terms charges of personal cruelty and encouragement of inhumanity and cruelty. He has used his efforts to restrain his men, especially the natives who are barbarously inclined. He has even offered a reward of five hundred pesos for each English officer captured alive and brought in living.]