The conflict between the European powers during the period of 17561763 spilled over to their colonies in

Asia. One of the outcomes was a two-year period of British control over the Philippine Islands.
This was after the Age of Discovery and the establishment of European colonies around the worldwhen the
power of the western nations was measured in terms of the colonies they possessed. In the 1700s, the battle for
dominance in the new world, or current-day North America, was being waged between France and the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1756, the two countries formally declared war upon each
other, which likewise drew into the conflict their allies: Prussia and Portugal, who were allied with Britain; and
the Spanish Empire and Austria, who were allied with France. Although several battles were fought in mainland
Europe, the battle for dominance reached the colonies, thus spreading the war across the globe.
When the war broke, both Britain and Spain had a presence in Asia. The British had already established the East
India Companythe trading outpost and colonizing authority of the United Kingdom in India. The British were
on their way to establishing their empire, which would eventually span the globe.
Two years into the war between the United Kingdom and the Spanish Empire, a British fleetunder the East
India Companywas dispatched from their colony in India toward Southeast Asia to conquer colonies under
the Spanish crown. The fleet was under the command of Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish and Brigadier General
William Draper, and its land forces were comprised of Regiments of British Soldiers, Royal Artillery, and
Indian Sepoys. The little army, as Brig. Gen. Draper described it in his journal, arrived in the Philippine
Archipelago on September 23, 1762.
News of a fleet on its way to the archipelago came to Manila the day before, September 22, 1762. This was
forwarded to the Archbishop of Manila, Miguel Rojo, who was then the acting Governor-General. [2] According
to Archbishop Rojos journal, the Spanish forces in the city were unaware of a declaration of war, but
nonetheless made necessary preparations against a hostile fleet. [3] Manila was put in a State of Defense and a
force was sent to Cavite to protect the port.
Upon the British fleets arrival in Manila Bay, an emissary from the Spanish forces was sent to deliver a letter to
the Commanding Officer, to ask about their nationality and reason for their arrival. The British replied by
sending two messengers of their own, which bore the orders of King George III: Capture the city of Manila and
order the Spanish in the city to surrender.[4] At this point, Archbishop Rojo had likewise been informed of the
ongoing war between France and the United Kingdom.
The British fleet originally planned to attack the port of Cavite that night in order to confuse the Spaniards, but
opted instead to attack Manila, recognizing the likelihood of a domino effect should they take down the capital
first.[5] (Cavite would eventually fall to the British on October 11, 1762.)[6]
On the morning of September 24, Brig. Gen. Draper sent scouts to survey the surroundings for the impending
attack on Manila. The British proceeded to deploy their troops on the shore, but met resistance. Archbishop
Rojo recounts that the Spanish opened fire at the British to little effect: the British had taken cover in a church
in Malate. Malate was taken within the day, but as the Spanish retreated they burned parts of the village in their
wake.
The next day, British forces advanced and captured the fort of Polverista, which had been abandoned by the
Spanish after the battle of the previous day. According to Brig. Gen. Drapers account, Polverista proved to be
good cover for the British repelling the Spanish forces, who had attacked throughout the night. The Spanish had
50 regular troops, some militiamen, and 800 native soldiers.

The fighting continued until the next day, and was marked by increasing violence. According to Brig. Gen.
Drapers account, straggling seamen were murdered by savages[7]among other atrocities committed during
the skirmishes. On the 26th, Draper sent a letter to Archbishop Rojo, ordering the surrender of the Spanish
forces, likewise informing the acting Governor-General that he might not be able to restrain his soldiers from
taking revenge for the barbaric acts committed by the Spanish forces to the invaders. [8] The next day, the
Spanish sent a flag of truce.
On September 27, 1762, the Spanish sent an emissary to the British commanding officer, to apologize for the
atrocities committed by the native soldiers and to negotiate the release of Antonio Tagle, a nephew of the
Archbishop who had been captured.
Tagle was released the next day, escorted by British Lieutenant Fryar. Upon their arrival, they were attacked by
the native troops, under the command of the Spanish authorities. In his journal, Brig. Gen. Draper mentions that
the two were murdered in a manner too shocking to mention. [9] Archbishop Rojo, however, details the death
of the two men in his logs that the natives cut off the head of the British soldier and stabbed Tagle seven times,
mortally wounding him.
Bombardment resumed the next day, the 29th. Shells from British ships were fired at the city of Intramuros, as
British soldiers continued their advance on the ground, even through the rough weather at the onset of October.
The British troops, on October 2, 1762, deployed a battery of twenty-four pounders to continue their siege of
the walled city. On October 3, 1762, natives under the command of the Spanish forces launched a counterattack
against the advancing British regiment. There were approximately 5,000 native soldiers, 2,000 of which came
from Pampanga.[10] This was Spains final push against the British in the city of Manila, but the British
successfully pushed them back. British bombardment continued until the 4th of October.
The final siege of the walled city of Intramuros began on October 5, 1762. Archbishop Rojo recounts that at
6:00 a.m., British troops began leaving the lines to head for the breach. The British seized the foundry and
attacked the Royal Gate, which they battered down with axes and iron levers. [11] On the night of the 5th, final
preparations were made for the final push into the walled city.[12]
Brig. Gen. Drapers account shows that at 4:00 a.m. of October 6, 1762, the British troops started their offensive
by firing mortar shells against the Spanish. At daybreak, a large body of Spanish troops formed in front of St.
Andrews Church.[13] However, the resistance proved futile; the Spaniards eventually surrendered the city to the
British.
The British occupation would extend toward the north, including Bulacan, Pampanga, and parts of Ilocos. It
would last for two years. Within those two years, the occupation would bring about supporters of British rule
manifested in rebellions by local leaders such as Diego and Gabriela Silang.
The Rise of the Filipino Ilustrados
In the 1750s, there were five principal social classes in the Philippines: the Peninsulares, Insulares, Clase Media
(middle class), Chinese, and the Indio.
On top of all the social classes were the Peninsulares or Spaniards born in Spain and mostly of Iberian descent.
These would be families who settled in the archipelago although it will include also most of the friars. They
were the wealthiest and most politically influential by virtue of their being the foremost encomienderos, thus,
owning vast tracts of lands and most of the inhabitants therein. They were referred to as Kastilas.

The Insulares were Philipine born Spaniards. Though still of pure Spanish blood, they were derisively called
Filipinos by the Peninsulares. Mostly children of Spanish administrators, they mostly controlled the middle
echelons of government by virtue of their owning also tracts of lands.
The middle class had three subclasses: Spanish mestizos or mestizos de Espanol, principalia, and the Chinese
mestizos or mestizos de Sangley. Mestizos are borne from mixed marriages of Spanish and any of the other
classes, mostly local natives; or half-breeds of a mixed Chinese-native marriage. They constitute the local
officials, owned some tracts of land and mostly controlled the retail trade.
The Chinese had been in the Philippines long before the Spaniards occupied the archipelago due to the trade
between Chinese and the natives. Chinese settlements had been in Manila and the Spaniards tolerated them for
their trading and manufacturing skills. Together with the Indios, however, the Chinese, occupied the lowest base
and majority of the social totem pole.
Although they constituted only a very small percentage of the population, the Peninsulares and the Insulares
controlled the vast wealth of the archipelago and lorded over everybody else below them in the social strata.
Upon the progress of world trade due to innovations in the sea voyages, i.e. the invention of the steamship and
the opening of the Suez Canal, trade competition, involving among others, the Galleon Trade, the Peninsulares
and the Insulares became more aggressive in enriching themselves. This called for pressing the natives to
produce more. The middle class also found themselves eventually being dispossessed of their meager acumens
(compared to the encomienderos or hacienderos). The situation of the natives became more oppressive.
Ilustrados the Enlightened Ones
However, there were those members of the principalia and mestizos who were able to rise above their situations.
As they became a little bit richer, they were able to send their children to school and eventually to college.
Initially, these middle class students were not acceptable to the friars who controlled the schools. Amado
Guerrero writes: In the second half of the 19th century, the entry of native students into the Royal and
Pontifical University of Santo Tomas and other colonial-clerical colleges became conspicuously large. Though
these natives could afford college education, they were still the object of racial discrimination by their Spanish
classmates and friar mentors. They had to suffer the epithet of monkey as their parents were refered to as
beasts loaded with gold. The creoles or mestizos were caught in the middle of a situation charged with the
racial antagonism between the indios and the Spaniards. This racial antagonism was nothing but a manifestation
of the colonial relationship. Even among the Spaniards (to reiterate), there was the foolish distinction made
between the Philippine-born Spaniards and the Spanish-born Spaniards, with the former being derisively called
Filipinos by the latter.
Together with higher education, liberal ideas also influenced the ilustrados thinking upon the entry of such
ideas into the archipelago with the opening of the Suez Canal and the use of steamships in voyages across
oceans between the archipelago and Europe. The French revolution event became among the progressive
mirrors that the ilustrados saw as reflection of the situation of the exploited natives. Ilustrados were then dubbed
as the enlightened ones.
Most of them were even able to study in European countries such as Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands,
and French which further enhanced their global perspectives.
The emerging enlightening philosophy at this time was French philosopher John Lockes and Jean Jacques
Rousseaus The Social Contract. Basically, the philosophy states that a government enters a contract with those
governed whereby a government is only legitimate if it carries out the will of the people. If the government does
not answer the needs of the people, the governed has the right to overthrow such government and to replace it
with another that will.
Reforms not revolution
However, it should be emphasized that the ilustrados at this juncture did not advocate outright revolution or
separation from Spain. Although they have successfully, through their writings during the propaganda
movement, voiced out the oppressive situation of the natives in the hands of the encomienderos and the friars,
they merely requested that the natives be equals to the Spaniards.

Most of the aspirations of the ilustrados were expressed in the La Solidaridad founded by the reformists in
February1889 with Graciano Lopez Jaena as its editor. In its founding editorial, one of the basic aims of the Sol
outlines:
With regard to the Philippines, since she needs the most help, not being represented in the Cortes, we shall pay
particular attention to the defense of her democratic rights, the accomplishment of which is our patriotic duty.
In less than a year, in December 1889, Marcelo H. Del Pilar took over the Sols editorship. He reiterated:
We are asking for assimilation; we demand that those Islands be Hispanized
With these, it is clear that the ilustrados, although they painted the abuses and injustices inflicted by the
colonialists on the indios, they entertained the illusion that their oppressors could welcome them as equals.
Requesting for equal representation to the Spanish Cortez which was the governing body of Spain in running all
the colonies under her tutelage would make the Philippines a province of Spain, thus, making the indios equal to
the Spaniards. While, if granted, it would only be their class the ilustrados -who could actually be
representatives to the Cortez or become governors for that matter and not anyone from the the masses of indios;
the ilustrados took a blind eye that conquerors never kowtow to the conquered.
The Spaniards, however, no matter how tame the reform requests of the ilustrados were not advocating
outright armed revolution - considered the demands as seditious. After all, the ilustrados brought out the illtreatments of the natives by their oppressive Spaniard lords.
The GomBurZa issue
One ilustrado issue raised by those who have become priests among the middle class was the secularization of
the clergy.
In 1768, Spain expelled the Jesuit missionaries from the islands leaving 130 parishes without parish priests in
the colony. The archbishop of Manila ordained more native priests to be assigned in the vacant parishes. This
incensed of the Spanish friars (although 142 of 569 parishes were already under native priests) contending that
natives did not have the proper postures to become priests. The ordination of more priests, however prevailed
especially after Augustinian and Dominican friars were also evicted from Pampanga and Bataan.
However, the expelled orders were able to return to their parishes by reversal of royal decrees from 1826 to
1849. This pushed out the native priests out of the parish they were already administering. A group of these
indio priests campaigned for secularization demanding that their parishes be returned to them stating that they
could better guide the parishioners as they were their fellow natives. They basically advocated for reforms in the
clergy by asking that they be equal with their Spanish counterparts. After all, was it not that everyone is equal in
the eyes of God?
The reforms were so seditious from the perspective of the colonialists that when a Cavite revolt arose, the
Cavite clergy reform leaders Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora were accused as the instigators.
The Cavite mutiny was undertaken by Filipino soldiers and workers in Fort San Felipe in Cavite who protested
the removal of their exemption from tribute payment and rendering forced labor. The mutiny had nothing to do
with secularization as raised by the priests.
The governor made the execution of the priests on February 16, 1872 a public display of what could happen to
seditious natives. The crowd that gathered in Bagumbayan (now Luneta Park) witnessed how Burgos cried like
a boy, how Zamora had a stare like he had gone crazy, and how Gomez blessed the natives who had knelt along
the road as the priests were led to their execution. Up to their dying moments when they were garroted, the
priests pleaded for their innocence.
The GomBurZa execution incensed the masses and ignited a higher sentiment among the ilustrados. However,
the ilustrados stood by their stand to request for mere equalization with their oppressors, though now with a
stronger vile threat that should their demands be not awarded them, a bloody revolution could ensue.
Jose Rizal, in his The Philippines, a Century Hence, ilustrado that he was, clearly gave the Crown of Spain two
choices. One, accept the indios as equals for Spain is a Christian nation which should pity her subjects; or two,
if the Crown will not accede, the indios would have no recourse but to rise in arms which is actually detestable
and should not happen.
Thus, we could say that the ilustrados, although they mirrored the sentiments of the indios, never really
represented the sentiments of the majority of the indios. The ilustrados basically used the sentiments of the
indios to haggle for equalization with their Spanish oppressors. While they initiated a potent propaganda

movement, the execution of Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora, considering that they are indio friars, displayed the
utter failure of mere requesting for reforms.