Nevertheless, the lofty Spaniard who by favour of the King had arrived in Manila to occupy an official post without an escudo too much in his pocket, did not disdain to accept the hospitality of the Chinese. It was formerly their custom to secure the goodwill and personal protection of the Spanish officials by voluntarily keeping lodging-houses ready for their reception. It is chronicled that these gratuitous residences were well furnished and provided with all the requisites procurable on the spot. For a whole century the Spaniards were lulled with this easy-going and felicitous state of things, whilst the insidious Mongol, whose clear-sighted sagacity was sufficient to pierce the thin veil of friendship proffered by his guest, was ever prepared for another opportunity of rising against the dominion of Castile, of which he had had so many sorry experiences since 1603. The occasion at last arrived during the British occupation of Manila in 1763. The Chinese voluntarily joined the invaders, but were unable to sustain the struggle, and it is estimated that some 6,000 of them were murdered in the provinces by order of the notorious Simon de Anda (_vide_ p. 93). They menaced the town of Pasig--near Manila--and Fray Juan de Torres, the parish priest, put himself at the head of 300 natives, by order of his Prior, Fray Andres Fuentes, to oppose them, and the Chinese were forced to retire. On October 9, 1820, a general massacre of Chinese, British, and other foreigners took place in Manila and Cavite. Epidemic cholera had affected the capital and surrounding districts; great numbers of natives succumbed to its malignant effects, and they accused the foreigners of having poisoned the drinking-water in the streams. Foreign property was attacked and pillaged--even ships lying in the bay had to sail off and anchor out afar for safety. The outbreak attained such grave proportions that the clergy intervened to dissuade the populace from their hallucination. The High Host was carried through the streets, but the rioters were only pacified when they could find no more victims. Amongst other reforms concerning the Chinese which the Spanish colonists and Manila natives called for in 1886, through the public organs, was that they should be forced to comply with the law promulgated in 1867, which provided that the Chinese, like all other merchants, should keep their trade-books in the Spanish language. The demand had the appearance of being based on certain justifiable grounds, but in reality it was a mere ebullition of spite intended to augment the difficulties of the Chinese.