It was accordingly stipulated with the King and the Ambassador, that the Moors of Jolo should deliver up all the Christian captives who might be found in the island. That they should return all the arms they had taken from the Spaniards, and the ornaments of which they had pillaged the churches; and in order to have the treaty ratified, liberty was granted to one of the chief officers, who was confined with the King, to go to Jolo in company with the ambassador whom Bantilan had sent over. The Governor put very little confidence either in the promises or the treaty of the Moors, for they have never observed them, but have broken them with the same facility with which they made them. He therefore fitted out a strong squadron to compel them by force to a due observation of their engagements, as it was not otherwise to be expected. His precautions were not in vain, for in the very same year of 1754, the greatest irruption took place which these islanders ever made into the Philippines. They entered with fire and sword in all directions, murdering the religious orders, Indians and Spaniards, burning and robbing towns, and making prisoners of thousands of Christians, not only in the islands near to Jolo, but in all our dominions, even the provinces in the immediate neighbourhood of Manila. The fleet sailed which had been prepared to oppose them; but before any thing could be done, the four years of Obando's government expired. His successor arrived, and the Marquis left these islands in the most deplorable situation in which they were ever known. The causes of these evils were either his own ill management, the incapacity of those he employed, or, perhaps, misfortune. What we are certain of is, that the period of his residence here was most calamitous. Yet, we must say, he had many great difficulties to encounter. The following year he embarked in the galleon Santissima Trinidad for Acapulco, and died on his passage, without ever reaching New Spain. CHAPTER XII. ANNO DOM. 1754. The Administration of Don Pedro Manuel de Arandia. Don Pedro Manuel de Arandia, a native of Ceuta, and a Biscayan by descent, took possession of his government in July, 1754, and as soon as he arrived at Manila, he lost no time in adopting the regulations observed in Spain for putting the military on a more respectable footing. The royal regiment, which consisted of two battalions, he formed into a corps of artillery, putting it into the state in which we now find it, and granted to the soldiers, as well as the officers, a pay sufficient to maintain themselves with decency, and perform their duty without the necessity of having recourse to any other employment for their support. He took great pains, likewise, in improving the arsenal of Cavite, and the situation and consequence of the officers of that establishment; in doing which he incurred the disapprobation and ill-will of many, to whom such reform and zeal was highly injurious.