460 SPANISH HISTORY Chinese, already twenty-five thousand in number, was resolved upon. The Chinese retired into the country, and made a slender defence. Twenty- three thousand were massacred, and the poor rem- nant made their escape to China. The Chinese government does not appear al- ways to have acted on the same principle of entire indifierence respecting those who emigrate from China, as it is alleged ta hajve done in the case of the Dutch massacre at Batavia ; for, after the pre- sent one, the emperor sent a mission to Manila to inquire into the cause of the slaughter of his countrymen. The Spanish writers assert, that the governor of the Philippines was able amply to justi- fy himself. He must, we may conclude from this, have made an ingenious defence, or his Majesty of China must have been content with slender satis- faction. By the year 163^, the Chinese had again in- creased to the astonishing number of thirty thou- sand, most of them engaged in the principal occu- pations of agriculture. They were again driven to revolt by oppression, and, after being hunted down for months, surrendered at discretion, re- duced to the number of seven thousand. Ma- nila was reduced to the greatest distress by the loss of so large a portion of its most industrious subjects. In the year 166^ the Philippines were alarmed
