On Aguilar's death (August 8, 1806), the rule of the islands was assumed by the king's lieutenant at Manila, Mariano Fernández de Folgueras; and his first measures were for the defense of Manila, as there were rumors of another attack by the English. In the summer of 1807, there arose a rebellion in the mountains of Ilocos Norte, begun by certain Spanish deserters from Vigan in conjunction with some vagabond Indians; afterward it spread to many of the Ilocans, who resented the government monopoly of wine and prohibition of native manufacture of basi (a liquor produced by the fermentation of the juice of sugar cane). This revolt was put down without much difficulty, and the leaders were hanged at Manila; much was accomplished by the Augustinian fathers of Ilocos in restoring peace. In February, 1809, the news arrived at Manila of the French invasion of Spain, and the captivity of Fernando VII; the Manila authorities promptly declared their loyalty to that monarch. Somewhat later a French schooner of war was captured off the coast of Batangas, and the French authorities at Isle de France endeavored to persuade those at Manila that England, not France, was the enemy of Spain, and that the people of Filipinas ought to support the French interests. Folgueras answered, refusing to accept any such propositions, and would do no more than to return the French prisoners from the captured vessel. On March 4, 1810, the new proprietary governor Manuel González Aguilar, assumed his office. On February 14 preceding, a decree had been issued by the Spanish government granting to all the colonies in America and to Filipinas representation in the Spanish Cortes by deputies chosen by the various capital cities. The sessions of this Cortes began on September 24, 1810, and Filipinas was represented therein by acting deputies; afterward, one was duly chosen (Ventura de los Reyes) by the municipality of Manila, according to the forms required. [4] "In the jurisdiction of each village in the Philippine archipelago, there are extensive communal lands, in which the natives can keep, almost without cost and easily guarded, their herds of cattle and horses. In regard to these lands (which in that country are called estancias ["ranches"]), the new governor framed a useful ordinance, which remained in force, with good results, during a long period. (It has now fallen into disuse, and many of the communal lands have become the property, illegally acquired, of private persons.) Important service was rendered [to the country] by these ranches, on account of the increase of live-stock and its great cheapness; and a positive source of wealth for the provinces was initiated with the exportation of their cattle." In the sessions of Cortes in 1811, a decree was issued (January 26) that trade in quicksilver should be free in all the Spanish dominions of Indias and Filipinas. In the summer of 1811, a new rebellion broke out among the natives of Ilocos Norte, some of