Note 15 — DRAPER’S DEFENSE

The Destruction that we could have occasioned, would have trebled the Loss they suffer by the Payment of the Ransom. The rich Churches and Convents, the King of Spain’s own Palace, with its superb and costly Furniture, the magnificent Buildings of every Sort, the Fortifications, Docks, Magazines, Founderies, Cannon, and in short the Whole might have been entirely ruined, the Spanish Empire in Asia subverted, and the Fruits of their religious Mission lost for ever,15 together with the Lives of many Thousand Inhabitants, who were spared by our Humanity. As a suitable and grateful Return for this Lenity, the Spanish Memorial affirms, that after the Capitulation was signed, General Draper ordered or permitted, the City to be sacked and pillaged forty Hours together, by Four Thousand English, who plundered it of more than a Million of Dollars.