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 4thof 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 OnesHowever, 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 revolutionHowever, 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 HispanizedWith 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 ill-treatments of the natives by their oppressive Spaniard lords.

The GomBurZa issueOne 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.