Note 17 — ROJO’S NARRATIVE

15. The English made their trenches in a short time and mounted their artillery and began to bombard the city at the bastion of the foundry, as their fire was insufficient to reach the bastion of Carranza,17 and the active efforts which were able to be made in order to undo their labors and dislodge them [i.e., the British]. Of not a little importance (amid the inequality of forces and of practiced soldiers) was the form in a cordon of some people of this vicinity who were considered most fitting, and of some of the natives of the environs from the site of Pasay which is at the south near the powder factory to that of San Lazaro, which lies to the east. The archbishop took that precaution, as it was very necessary, in order to guard the Pasig River at the point where the provisions are traded, and to obtain some opposition against the enemy. The fire of the latter, by means of their land and ship artillery, and their bombarding, in which the bombs fired exceeded four thousand, and the number of balls of twenty-four, a trifle more, threw the city and all its inhabitants into great consternation. On that account, and because the breach [in the walls] was begun to be opened, in a general council on the night of the third of October, what ought to be done in such a conflict was discussed.18