Historian and professor Ambeth Ocampo recently published a column about the cholera epidemic and subsequent massacre of foreigners in Manila in 1820. His intent was to draw parallels between the misguided and irrational fear of foreigners and diseases in the past with the fear of the Chinese and the coronavirus today. I think he fails miserably but the story he brings up is rather interesting. It is noteworthy that Ocampo wrote about this same incident from a different perspective in 2005. He quotes a few eyewitnesses but gives no sources which is terrible. However if you are studying the history of the Philippines there is no better place to look than The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898.
All 55 volumes can be found online at the University of Michigan. The 1820 Manila massacre is recorded in volume 51.
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| The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 |
First a general telling of the tale.
In October of the year 1820, Manila was ravaged by a terrible epidemic of smallpox, which was especially fatal in the villages along the Pasig River; the corregidor of Tondo therefore issued an edict prohibiting the use of the river water. A public relief committee was organized to give the sick medical treatment and to furnish food to the poor; and the friars and the private citizens vied with the authorities in ministering to the victims of the pest. The medical men belonging to the ships anchored in the bay came to the city, and did all in their power to aid these benevolent efforts; but all these things only confirmed in the ignorant natives the fatal idea, already spread among them, that the disease was caused by the foreigners having poisoned the waters and used to this end the specimens of insects and other creatures which they had collected for scientific purposes. A crowd of armed Indians therefore gathered in the square of Binondo on October 9, attacked the houses of the foreigners, and murdered twenty-seven persons—among whom was not one Spaniard; nor did they, in plundering the houses, rob any Spaniard. The governor sent out some troops, but they accomplished nothing in checking the riot, which ended only at nightfall; and he did nothing to prevent further crimes of this sort, so that the mob renewed their acts of violence the next day, plundering and killing many Chinese of the suburbs. This aroused Folgueras to activity, and he sent out a large force of soldiers to pursue the assassins; but the latter at once dispersed. A council of the authorities was called, but there were discordant opinions among them, and they seem to have taken no definite action. The municipal council of Manila called upon the governor for the proper legal proceedings in regard to this scandalous and lawless uprising; and for this purpose he appointed a commission.
Vol 51, pg 39-45
This account mentions smallpox but elsewhere we read only of a cholera epidemic. The above account also gives no inkling of where the notion originated that foreigners poisoned the waters. Note carefully that no Spaniards were harmed and the governor did nothing to stop the riot or prevent further killings. That is important because one eyewitness, who's testimony is appended as a footnote, declared it was the Spaniard's jealously of foreigners establishing economic enterprises in the country and becoming wealthy which caused them to spread the rumor of foreigners poisoning the water. This man's name is Peter Dobell. He was an Irish born American businessman and the first envoy from Russia to the Philippines.
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| https://web.archive.org/web/20100723134209/https://philippines.mid.ru/relations.html |
An interesting account of this event is furnished in a letter by Peter Dobell, then Russian consul in the Philippines, which is preserved in the New York Public Library; it is printed in the Bulletin of that institution for June, 1903, at pp. 198–200. Dobell went to Macao for medical treatment in July, 1820, and this letter was written from that city, on November 28 of that year.
He thus writes: “I arrived with my wife and daughter at Manilla last March, was received with great apparent attention, politeness & hospitality. After living there a couple of months, however, I perceived that there existed a vast deal of jealousy and envy, against all strangers, and particularly those who resided or intended to form establishments in the country. Those ignorant people could not divest themselves of this feeling, even toward those, whose capitals, talents and industry, were directed to the most laudable pursuits, and promised to produce great public as well as private advantages to the colony.
At this crisis several french ships were in the port, one or two Americans and a English ship from Bengal. In the French ships, had arrived a naturalist sent out by the government to make collections, and some persons, who intended to remain in the Philippines to cultivate sugar, cotton &c. &c. In the month of July last, I discovered that I had in my travels, contracted a disease, called by the Doctorr Hydrocele and becoming very troublesome to me, I determined as there are no good surgeons in Manilla to pay a short visit to Macao with my family & return to my post, as soon as circumstances would permit, after the operation. This I found, I could do the more conveniently, as my Nephew, a fine young Man of 23 years, had joined me at my arrival and I left him, in full charge of my office &c and departed.
This envious disposition, on the part of the Spaniards, increased daily, against the Strangers, until an opportunity presented itself of gratifying their malignant hatred, in the most cruel & bloody manner & without themselves appearing to have any thing to do in the business. It is necessary first to tell you, that the new constitution, had been received during the prevalence of this feeling, giving extensive privileges & liberal encouragement to foreigners, who might think proper to settle in the Philippines & rendering the natives as free & equal, in rights, etc. as their former masters. This certainly made them a little unruly, but, if not secretly instigated, it would never have induced them to commit a crime, that makes humanity shudder.
The ship from Bengal, was the Merope Captain Nichols and it was supposed she had brought into the colony the epidemic, that has ravaged all India, this year, under the name of the ‘Cholera Morbus.’ It made its appearance, in the beginning of October last, carrying off great numbers of the Indians every day.
The humane French & other Strangers, who beheld these miserable wretches, dying around them without any medical aid, freely administered what medicines they had, and were actively & daily employed, in endeavoring to alleviate; the distress & cure the complaints of all those, who lived within the sphere of their exertions. This also became, a cause of jealousy and hatred and the villains, began immediately to exasperate the Indians by saying, ‘this poisonous disease, was introduced by the French & the other strangers, they have poisoned even the waters, and they administer poison to the sick, purposely to exterpate the whole race of Tagalians.’
The ferocious Indians wanted nothing farther to excite them to deeds of blood & plunder. On the 9th of October about 10 or 11 in the morning they collected, to the number of about 3,000 Men armed with pikes knives and bludgeons and proceeded coolly and deliberately to plunder and Massacre all the Strangers on whom they could lay their hands!
I have not time to give you the details of this shocking business, but you will certainly read them in the gazettes as I have sent both to England and Russia very full accounts for publication. Suffice it now to say that the Governor & the authorities were vainly implored for assistance. They came, it is true, with the troops, but it was only to behold with sang froid the horrid spectacle. Not a musket was fired to save the lives of those unfortunate and defenceless strangers, who to the number of 39 were plundered & cruelly massacred; some of them were so cut up & mangled it was impossible to recognize them.
As the most of them were Roman Catholics, they were all collected and thrown into a hole together without the shadow of a ceremony or a stone to mark their graves! What is worse, the last accountts from there down to the 9th of November mention that not a Spanish life was lost, nor has a single native as yet suffered punishment for this most atrocious & horrible deed. My house was attacked & pillaged, my Nephew & a Mr Prince of Boston, who lived with him, made prisoners, and, after being near two days in the hands of the Indians, suffering the most abominable treatment, they luckily escaped Death. Eighty five Chinese & 11 English seamen were also plundered & assassinated.
I have been obliged to represent this affair in its full suit of Black to my Government and have at the same time declared my intention of going back to Siberia, next April, where I shall await the orders of His Imperial Majesty …. I leave the place & those miscreants to themselves, from the conviction, that its commerce is ruined forever. In the first place they held their productions too high & paid too low for European commodities, so that, when the allowance of the half duties granted to the importers of sugars shall cease, no french ships will visit the Philippines to pay from 7 to 9 Dollars a pecul for Sugars. The Cadmus, you say will make money. If she does, she will I fancy be the only American ship that profits by its trade to Manilla. All those, who came out last year lost money on the sales of their cargoes, &, from what we hear of prices in America, and on the Continent, they must lose by the returns.
But what will give the death blow to the prosperity of the Philippines, is the late horrible massacre. All those french and other foreigners, who were anxious to have established themselves in commerce or on estates in the country, are now frightened off and certainly no one will find himself, confident enough to trust to a Government, which could permit such a massacre to take place, immediately under its eyes, when it had 5,000 men in arms, ready at a minutes notice to disperse the Mob.
Thus situated, Manilla offers no chance of profit or Speculation; and I confess, however my hopes and wishes may have been disappointed, I turn from them with disgust & horror, better pleased to be ordered to live, in some remote corner of Siberia, on black bread & salt, than roll in wealth, amidst such an inhuman, illiberal and unchristianlike race of Men …. I must close my letter by informing you that the Captain General has refused all the applications for indemnification, from those who have been plundered; so that as yet, neither the punishment due to the assassins has been inflicted, nor redress made to the unfortunate people who were robbed.”
Vol 51, pg 40-43
Russian ambassador Peter Dobell says with no compunction the Spanish spread a false rumor about foreigners and gleefully looked on as the natives, Indians he calls them, massacred and plundered them. A second footnote from this section tell us just how the natives substantiated this rumor.
By the kindness of James A. LeRoy, the Editors have in their hands a copy (furnished by Dr. Pardo de Tavera from the original in his possession) of a decree issued by Governor Folgueras (dated at Manila, October 20, 1820), addressed “to the natives of the Filipinas Islands, and especially to those of the district of Tondo,” in which he rebukes them severely for thus violating the law of nations, under the influence of “a general frenzy,” and “led astray and infuriated by certain malicious persons.” He characterizes their belief that the strangers had poisoned the waters as a foolish and absurd notion, which “the mountain Negritos or the Moros of Joló and Mindanao would be ashamed to entertain;” and reminds them that the strangers whom they have plundered and slain were not only friends and brethren, but the very persons on whom the prosperity of the islands must depend, since they supplied a market for the produce of the country.
He then presents the report which has been made by an official whom the governor had specially appointed (October 13) to investigate this idea of the foreigners’ crime, which is to the following effect: “As the evidence of guilt [cuerpo de delito, the same as the Latin corpus delicti] in the poisoning which is charged, the Indians have brought to us, among the spoils which they plundered from the houses of the Frenchmen, various animals of different forms, and among them a serpent, of quite the usual size, one of those which they call ‘house-snakes,’ in a dissected state; others, with some little shellfish, preserved in spirits of wine, in a crystal flask; in another, two granos of muriatic baryte; a quantity of Peruvian bark, which in my opinion would weigh about an arroba and a half; and a box of sheet-tin about a vara long, one-fourth as wide, and six dedos thick, in which also was found a mass of insects, but already decaying; and finally, in the house of a woman who had been accused of being an agent of the French for the alleged poisoning, a little package of some black powders in China paper [i.e., rice paper].” The official states that these animal specimens have evidently “no other object than to enrich cabinets of natural history,” and could not in any way have been used for injuring human beings. The muriatic baryte was for use in analyzing mineral waters, and was, moreover, useful in various diseases. The Peruvian bark was, as all might know, a useful medicine and had often been helpful in checking the cholera itself. The black powders, it was also decided, were also of medicinal value; and the entire story is characterized as a fiction and delusion. The official regrets that it was believed by so many persons who should have known better than to accept so gross an error; “but it is certain that they did, and, among them, many of the clergy; and with this the delusion attained such power that it has caused the very scandalous deeds which all good persons lament; for it is certain that there is no better way of propagating an error than for persons of authority to adopt it.
There is no doubt, it appears, that this foolish idea of poisoning had its origin in the ignorance of the Indians; but there is as little doubt that malicious persons, imposing upon this folly and lack of knowledge in the Indians, incited them to perpetrate the assassinations and robberies of the disastrous days, October 9 and 10.” He adds that one of the books brought to him by the Indians, which they had taken from the house of the French naturalist, was filled with sketches of fishes, mollusks, and birds peculiar to the country, which plainly showed that he was only making zoological observations. In view of all these things, Folgueras calls upon the natives to repent of their sin, to surrender to the authorities the instigators of the tumult, to restore to the plundered foreigners what had been stolen from them, and to denounce the authors of the murders, that justice might be done to these evil persons. These exhortations are especially addressed to the inhabitants of Binondo, “which has been the theatre of the most horrible tragedy, and has covered itself with blood and ignominy.” This decree is published by Dr. Pardo de Tavera, from the original printed edition, in his Biblioteca filipina, pp. 45–47.
Vol. 51, pg 43-45
Native Filipinos pointed to items they plundered from naturalists as evidence that the water had been poisoned. Likely these same kind of items, various flora and fauna, were used by them to cast spells against their enemies so they figured foreigners would use them likewise. Cholera, however, is not the result of magic spells or poisoning. It is the result of unsanitary living conditions. From the Facebook page "Ka Totoy Talastas Philippines & World History Tell" we read the following.
It would seem that cholera also be attributed to the unsanitary conditions in Manila and the communities that surrounds it. The Pasig River which is the source of potable water and is used in the daily activities of the suburbs is also the place where garbages, human waste and other trash are dumped. In addition, Manila and its suburbs during this time do not have any systematic collection of garbages. It would therefore safe to argue that these unsanitary conditions existing in Manila aggravated or worsened the cholera.
https://www.facebook.com/katotoytalastas/photos/philippinescholera-epidemic-and-the-massacre-of-foreignersthe-cholera-epidemic-o/2207307312639761/
Still water is also a major breeding ground for Cholera and we read this description of the streets of Manila from an Englishman.
The streets of the city are narrow and dirty; and the middle being a hollow, in rainy weather forms a continued puddle. They are paved at the sides with granite from China, the stone in the immediate neighbourhood of Manila being too soft. The pavement is not in good repair, and in some streets only occupies one side; the other, which is generally occupied by a large house, or the wall of a convent, being heaped up with dirt, rendered solid by long accumulation, and forming a hill against the wall, the receptacle of …. This is not confined to bye-lanes, but is most common in the great square (Plaza Constitucional) in front of the cathedral!
Vol. 51, pg 167-168
Muddy streets with pools of still water as well as garbage all over the place do not make for disease-free conditions. This same Englishman laments that the authorities allowed the natives to massacre foreigners freely and opined that it will one day be the undoing of the Spanish.
The 9th of October, 1820, has given a fatal blow to the power of Spain in this country; for much as has been written and said on the subject, it is questionable whether there exists any country of black men, where the white is not looked upon as an intruder; and “the country belongs to the Indians,” “La tierra es de los Yndios,” is a common remark, even amongst the lower orders. Moral or political injustice seldom fails to recoil on the head of the oppressor; and when the government of Manila allowed an indiscriminate massacre and pillage of European foreigners by the mob, and by their shameful lenity gave a tacit sanction to it, they taught the Indian, that he might with equal impunity attack them. The plunder then obtained is a premium to future violence; and perhaps the day is not far distant, when they may bitterly repent the hour in which they allowed the Indian to feel his physical superiority.
Vol. 51, pg 179-180
Was the massacre of Manila a precursor to the revolutionary movement of the later 19th century?
Let's distill this long story into a few major points and we can see that there are parallels though not the ones Professor Ocampo makes. Honestly the Philippines has a lot to fear from the Chinese from encroaching on territory in the WPS to importing criminality of all kinds via POGOs. How can Professor Ocampo not understand that?
1. Foreigners were being allowed to establish economic enterprises in the Philippines.
2. These foreigners were becoming wealthy.
3. The Spaniards became jealous. One has to wonder why they did not develop the country after 300 years. From the same Englishman we read the following analysis.
Their position, whether in a political or commercial point of view, is strikingly advantageous. With India and the Malay Archipelago on the west and south, the islands of the fertile Pacific and the rising empires of the new world on the east, the vast market of China at their doors, their insular position and numerous rivers affording a facility of communication and defence to every part of them, an active and industrious population, climates of almost all varieties, a soil so fertile in vegetable and mineral productions as almost to exceed credibility; the Phillippine Islands alone, in the hands of an industrious and commercial nation, and with a free and enlightened government, would have become a mighty empire:—they are—a waste!
Vol. 51, pg 74-75
That this colony, the most favoured perhaps under heaven by nature, should have remained till the present day almost a forest, is a circumstance which has generally excited surprise in those who are acquainted with it, and has as generally been accounted for by attributing it to the laziness of the Spaniards and Indians.
Vol 51, pg 91
The Englishman then goes on to demonstrate that it is not the laziness of the Spaniards and Indians that kept prosperity at bay but that is for another time. However if you take the whole of the Spanish empire in the Americas and Philippines and contrast that with the United States which is a nation carved out of the wilderness you can see the difference. It's as if the Spanish did not take the time to develop those lands. No wonder they were jealous of successful foreigners!
4. The ruling Spaniards utilized the ignorance of the natives for their own purpose.
5. The authorities looked on and did nothing while people were massacred.
We see a lot of the same things happening today. A need for foreign capital, jealousy on the part of the natives who make it almost impossible for foreigners to do business in the Philippines (think red tape and the 40/60 law which prevents foreigners from owning businesses), a mass of ignorant people manipulated by those in power to achieve their ends, and authorities who cannot or will not do their jobs.
The more things change the more they stay the same!
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