In Cottabato (Mindanao Is.), the attempt to establish a local native government ended in tragic failure. In January, 1899, a Spanish gunboat silently entered the port without the customary whistling and firing of salute. It brought a despatch to the Governor from the nominal acting-Gov.-General Rios, who, coming from Yloilo, called at Zamboanga before proceeding to Manila, to receive on board a number of Spanish refugees. One of the crew of the gunboat also brought a private communication from the Jesuit Superior in Zamboanga to the Jesuit missionary Father Suarez. The official despatch notified the Governor that the Treaty of Paris had been signed, and consequently he was to evacuate Cottabato immediately. The private communication told the same tale to the missionary, with an inquiry from the Jesuit Superior as to whether he could continue his mission after the withdrawal of the Spanish Governor, and whether it would be of any advantage to do so. The Governor informed the missionary of his intended departure, and the missionary replied negatively to his superior in Zamboanga. The Governor then called Roman Vilo, his confidential christian native assistant, and told him that he and all who had been loyal to the Spanish Government and faithful in their service could take passage to Zamboanga. Vilo, however, for himself and his family, declined the offer on the ground that all his interests were in and about Cottabato, where he possessed real estate. The Governor then had the Moro-Chinese half-caste Datto Piang called, and in the presence of Vilo the former was appointed chief of the Moro people and the latter governor of the christian population. After making a short speech, exhorting the two chiefs, in benevolent phrases, to live in peace and act mutually for the common good, the Governor, accompanied by the Jesuit missionaries and others who were desirous of leaving the place, went to Zamboanga on the gunboat.

When, after the lapse of some weeks, Datto Piang felt sure that the Spaniards would never be again in authority at Cottabato, he begged Vilo to let him have twenty rifles to defend himself against a rival. The christian governor agreed to this, and week by week Datto Piang's demands grew until, at length, all the rifles in the possession of the Christians passed to the Moros. But there still remained some cannons, and Datto Piang, having represented the necessity of making war on another chief up the Cottabato River, Vilo was persuaded to lend them to him. Piang had them placed in vintas (war-junks) and Vilo, with several friends, went down to the river-side to witness the departure of the supposed armed expedition. Suddenly Piang, his son-in-law Datto Ali and this man's brother, Datto Djimbangan, at the head of a large party of armed Moros, fell upon and slaughtered the Christians. Vilo's head was cut off and the savage Mahometans made a raid on the town, looting all but the shops of the Chinese who were in league, or accord, with their half-countryman Piang. The Christians who were unable to escape were either massacred or carried off as slaves into the interior, with the loot. Datto Djimbangan caused the Christian women to be stripped naked and marched through the streets, whilst he and his companions made their selections for themselves, leaving the remainder for their followers. Amongst the captives were a father and two sons. In October, 1899, the Americans sent a gunboat to Cottabato, and the wife of this captive, mother of his two boys, represented her plight to the commander, who forthwith sent for Piang and ordered him immediately to send a message to the individual holding the captives to release them and hand them over to the messenger, who would conduct them back to Cottabato. Piang, without a moment's hesitation, offered to comply, and sent a vinta up the river with the required order, but at the same time he secretly sent another emissary overland with contrary instructions. The land messenger, as was expected, arrived first, and when the vinta party reached the place of captivity, Piang's people expressed their regret that they could not oblige the party because they had just cut off the captives' heads. In 1904 a member of the victims' family was a teacher in the Jesuits' Catholic School in Zamboanga. Datto Piang, who owes his position and influence over the Moros to the protection of the late great Datto Utto (vide p. 143) is the father-in-law of the terrible Datto Ali whose continual depredations and defiance made Cottabato the centre of that unabated conflict for the Americans described in Chapter xxix.



In the belief that the Zamboanguenos were loyally disposed towards Spain, the Spaniards, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, chose Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.) as their point of concentration of all the Spanish troops and civil servants in the southern islands. At that time General Jaramillo was Gov.-General of Mindanao Island and commander of the forces in Zamboanga; but on the arrival there, December 27, 1898, of the ex-governor of Cebu, General Montero, with his co-refugees, General Jaramillo transferred his command to him and left for Manila with General Rios, who had come from Yloilo to Zamboanga to receive refugee passengers for the capital. Before his departure Jaramillo had led the Zamboangueno Christians to believe that the war with America was, at every turn, a triumphant success for Spanish arms; fictitious printed telegrams were circulated announcing Spanish victories everywhere, and one of the most extravagant reported that General Weyler had landed on American soil at Key West with an army of 80,000 Spanish troops. The motive of this harmless ruse was to bolster up Spanish prestige and thereby avoid bloodshed. During several months no trading or mail-steamer came, and the Zamboanguenos were practically cut off from the rest of the world. Military preparations were made for the feigned purpose of resisting a possible attack on the place by the Americans, who were described to the people as cannibals and ferocious monsters more terrible than the dreaded Moros. Naturally the real object of the military preparations was the Spaniards' justifiable endeavour to be ready to defend themselves against open rebellion when the true situation should ooze out. Nor was their misrepresentation of the Americans mere spiteful calumny; the Spaniards were in great jeopardy, and they instinctively wished to destroy any feeling of welcome which the natives might have for the new-comers for fear it might operate against themselves at the supreme moment of danger. Indeed, each party—native and Spanish—was seeking to outwit the other; hence, when the Zamboanguenos were promised a supply of arms for the ostensible purpose of resisting invasion, they pretended to co-operate heartily with the Spaniards' defensive measures, with the secret design of dispossessing the Spaniards of their arms in order to use them against them. The Zamboanguenos therefore became so persistent in their demand upon Montero to fulfil his predecessor's promise that at last he had frankly to confess that peace had been signed between Spain and America, whereby the Islands were surrendered to the United States, and that very shortly the Spaniards would evacuate the Archipelago. But the conflicting versions of the situation, published severally by Jaramillo and Montero, sorely puzzled the natives. The Spaniards were still in undisturbed possession of Zamboanga for over four months after Montero's arrival, notwithstanding the fact that the American warship Boston called at the port and left the same day and that an officer came ashore without the least objection or consternation on the part of the Spaniards. The orange-and-red flag still floated over the Fortress del Pilar, and, so far as the Zamboanguenos could ascertain, it looked as if the Spaniards were going to remain. They therefore clamoured more loudly than ever for the distribution of arms, which this time Montero positively refused, for the Spaniards had never for a moment been deceived as to the real intentions of the Zamboanguenos. On the other hand, by this time, their inoffensive delusion of the people had lost its virtue, and natives and Spaniards thenceforth became open enemies. After the visit of the Boston the fighting population, no longer able to conceal their disappointment, threw off the mask, quitted the town, cut off the water-supply which came from the mountains, in collusion with the mutinied crews seized the firearms on board the Spanish gunboats lying in the harbour, and prepared for war against their old masters. The Spaniards immediately compelled the non-combatant townspeople and the Chinese to throw up earthworks for mounting artillery and dig trenches for defence against the rebels. The gunboat Alava co-operated by firing shells into the rebel camp situated just outside the town. The rebels made two unsuccessful assaults, and in the second attack General Montero was mortally wounded by a rifle-shot. On May 23 the S.S. Leon XIII. arrived; the Spaniards silently embarked for Manila with their dying general, who succumbed during the voyage, and Zamboanga, one-fourth of which the defenders had destroyed by fire, was occupied by the rebels. During the siege the Filipinos, true to their instincts, had split up into two rival factions headed by Vicente Alvarez and Isidoro Midel respectively, and in the interval between the first and second assault on the town these party chiefs had fought out their own quarrel, Midel claiming to have been the victor. Nevertheless, the popular favourite was Vicente Alvarez, known as the Tamagun Datto (high chief), who became the chosen president of the Zamboanga revolutionary government established immediately after the Spanish evacuation. Party spirit ran high; life was held in little esteem; a lifeless body found on the highway startled no one; assassination was an occurrence of small moment; cattle-shooting was practised for amusement, and the five-and-a-half months' essay of christian Philippine autonomy was so signalized by jealous self-interest, bitter rivalry, rapacity, and bloodshed as to make one doubt whether the christian Zamboangueno is one whit superior to his Mahometan neighbour in moral character.

The arrival of an American expedition in the waters of Zamboanga on November 15, 1899, produced a sanguinary crisis in these faction feuds. Vicente Alvarez at once took measures to oppose the invaders' landing, whilst his rival, Isidoro Midel, resolved to side with the Americans. Divide et impera. The want of unity amongst the natives themselves was a great help to the Americans' plans. By this time there appeared a third aspirant to local fame in the person of Melanio Sanson, a native marine engineer, until recently in the Spanish service, who pretended to co-operate with Alvarez, styling himself colonel of artillery in charge of the guns abandoned by his former masters. Each of these three individuals sought to rid himself of his two rivals. On the night of November 15 Isidoro Midel ended Melanio Sanson's rivalry for ever, and the Americans took peaceful possession of the town the next day. Subsequently Midel arranged a transfer to the Americans of the artillery which had, during the conflict, been under Sanson's control. Vicente Alvarez immediately fled to Mercedes, and thence to Basilan Island, where, aided by Datto Pedro Cuevas, he organized a brigand band, crossed over to Mindanao Island again, and made a raid on Oriquieta. Chased from place to place by American troops, he was finally captured and sent to Bilibid prison in Manila, but was subsequently pardoned on his taking the oath of allegiance, and sent back to Zamboanga, where he earns his living peacefully. Meanwhile, Isidoro Midel had been further rewarded for his services to the Americans with the office of municipal president, which he held for about 16 months in defiance of public opinion. The feeling which prompted public opposition to Midel's appointment was at least as much anti-American as it was dislike for the nominee. In March, 1901, municipal elections were held, and Mariano Arquiza succeeded, by popular vote, to the presidency, which he held for two years. Some weeks before Arquiza vacated office two American miners were murdered by the natives a few miles up the province. The murderers, when caught, sought to justify their deed by alleging that a municipal councillor named Eduardo Alvarez (no relation to the Vicente Alvarez already mentioned) had persuaded them that the miners were secretly engaged in poisoning the local wells. The whole municipal council was therefore cited to appear before the American Governor, who severely reprimanded Alvarez, whereupon this man withdrew from the audience-chamber, and his fellow-councillors volunteered such information against him that the Governor instantly issued a warrant for his apprehension. But the native police who went to his house to execute the warrant let him escape on horseback to the mountains, where he organized a band of outlaws and lived for about four months by robbery and violence. Under these circumstances the American Governor summarily dismissed Mariano Arquiza from the municipal presidency in the spring of 1903, and, much to the public chagrin, re-appointed Midel to the vacancy. The offer of $1,000 for the capture of Eduardo Alvarez spurred Midel into further activity, and under his direction the bandit was discovered hiding in a canoe in a swamp. On the approach of his pursuers the outlaw threw up his hands in sign of surrender, which was responded to by a volley of gunshots, for it was Alvarez's corpse which was wanted in Zamboanga. Isidoro Midel is an interesting character, apparently about forty-eight years of age. Brought up as a Roman Catholic, he assured me that he was a Protestant, with the strongest sympathy, however, for the Aglipayan movement (vide Chap. xxx.).

Another interesting man, closely associated with recent events in Zamboanga, is the Mahometan Spanish-Moro half-caste Datto Mandi, the Rajahmudah or heir-apparent to the Manguiguin or Sultan of Mindanao (vide p. 131). Born about the year 1860, he and his tribe of Samals lived on friendly terms with the Spaniards, who in 1887 sent him and a number of his people to the Philippine Exhibition held in Madrid in that year. His exploits in aid of the Spaniards in Cebu are recorded at page 406. He speaks Spanish fluently, and can just write his name. He is very affable and hospitable to visitors. The whole family professes the Mahometan religion. He has a beautiful daughter Gafas (which in Moro language signifies "cotton," and in Spanish "spectacles"), who attended the American School. His young son Facundo also goes to the American School, and his other son Pelayo went to the Catholic School in Zamboanga before he was sent to Manila. I was much struck with the intelligence of this handsome boy Pelayo. In the stirring events which immediately followed the Spanish evacuation, Datto Mandi remained neutral, his old antagonism to Alvarez being counterpoised by the conviction that a Zamboanga republic must end in a fiasco. He at once accepted the new situation under American dominion, and is headman of the Samal tribal ward of Magay, a suburb of Zamboanga. He told me in 1904 that he held under his control 9,600 persons, from 1,700 of whom he collected capitation tax for the American authorities. At the instance of the Americans, Datto Mandi issued a proclamation to his tribe, dated April 19, 1900, abolishing their traditional custom of slavery. His position is not at all an easy one, and it needs much tact to maintain an even balance of goodwill between his Samal subordinates and his American superiors. But Datto Mandi had a grievance which rankled in his breast. In the year 1868 the Spanish Government conceded to a christian native family named Fuentebella some 600 acres of land at Buluan, about 40 miles up the Zamboanga coast, which in time they converted into a prosperous plantation well stocked with cattle. During the anarchy which succeeded the Spanish evacuation, a band of about 600 Moros raided the property, murdered seven of the christian residents, and stole all they could possibly carry away from the plantation and well-furnished estate-house. When Datto Mandi heard of it he went there in person and rescued the women held in captivity and brought them to Zamboanga, where they lived in perfect security under his protection until the American advent. Then, in return for his kindness, these women accused the Datto of having been the instigator of the crime, or, at least, a participator in the proceeds thereof, in the hope that, through the Americans, they would be able to exact an indemnity. The Datto was mulcted in the sum of 5,000 pesos, although he declared to me that neither before nor after the crime was he in any way concerned in it; and this was the honest belief of many American officials in Zamboanga.

In January, 1905, Datto Mandi's daughter was married at a little town a few miles from Yligan (north Mindanao). Several American officers were present on the occasion, accompanied by a Spanish half-caste who acted as their interpreter. The assembled guests were having a merry time when suddenly the festivities were interrupted by the intrusion of a juramentado Moro fanatic, who sprang forward with his campilan and at one blow almost severed the interpreter's head from his body. Then he turned his attention to the other natives, mortally wounded two, and cut gashes in several others before he fell dead from the revolver-shots fired by the American officers. After the dead and wounded were carried away and the pools of blood were mopped up, the wedding ceremony was proceeded with and the hymeneal festival was resumed without further untoward incident.

Zamboanga is a clean, pleasant town, and what was left of it after the Spanish evacution is well built, with many substantial houses and public offices, a church administered by the Jesuits, one large and one small jetty, a pretty esplanade facing the sea, and other open spaces. A canal running through the town adds to its picturesqueness. At the eastern extremity is the old fortress, called the Fuerza del Pilar, a fine historical monument reminding one of the Spaniards' many vicissitudes in this region, alluded to in the preceding pages. Many of the natives concerned, or alleged to have been concerned, in the Cavite Rising of 1872 (vide p. 106) were confined in this fortress. They overcame their jailors and obtained possession of the guns and ammunition. The Spaniards were consequently in great straits, for possibly their existence depended on which side the townspeople took. The Zamboanguenos, however, helped the Spaniards against the revolted convicts, who were finally subdued; and as a reward for this proof of loyalty Zamboanga received the title of Muy leal y valiente Villa (very loyal and heroic town). Many years ago a Moro attack was made on Zamboanga, and the Christian natives joined with the Spaniards in repelling it. It would have gone rather badly with them if they had not done so, for a Philippine Christian was just as good fish for the Moro net as a Spaniard. However, their co-operation was gratefully acknowledged by declaring the Zamboanguenos to be Spaniards of the first class.

I have never been able to discern clearly what material advantage this brought them, although I have discussed the question on the spot. The disadvantage of this pompous distinction to the town arose from the ridiculous popular notion that whereas Spaniards in Spain are all cavaliers, they too, as Spaniards of the first water, ought to regard work as a degradation. Hence they are a remarkably indolent and effete community, and on landing from a ship there is seldom a porter to be seen to carry one's luggage. Their speech is a dialect called Chabucano—a mixture of very corrupt Spanish and native tongues.

The environment of Zamboanga is very beautiful, with islands to the south and mountain scenery on the land sides. The climate is healthy, and with the frequent delightful breezes wafted across the Celebes Sea is not at all oppressive for a tropical region, and is cooler than Manila, which is 425 miles north.



The people of Samar Island for a long time tenaciously opposed the American occupation, under several leaders, notably Vicente Lucban and his right-hand man, Guevara; but neither here, nor in Marinduque Island can it be said that native civil government was established. In the latter Island the insurgent chief was the titular Colonel Abad, who overran the villages with about 150 followers armed with rifles. In 1901 Abad surrendered, and hostilities, with real political aim, definitely ended in these Islands thirteen months after the capture of Aguinaldo in Luzon. Although in Samar Island the war was, as elsewhere, a succession of petty encounters, there were incidents in its prosecution which attracted much public attention from time to time. At the town of Balangiga, on September 28, 1901, the local headman and the native parish priest conspired with about 450 armed natives to attack the American camp. The garrison stationed there was Company "C," 9th Infantry. The headman had represented to the Americans that he was busy with an important capture of about 90 brigands, and on this pretext some 45 cut-throats were brought into the town and lodged in the church. Three officers of the garrison were quartered in the parish-house, and whilst the rank-and-file were at breakfast in a bamboo building, some distance away from their quarters where they had left their weapons, another 45 supposed brigands were led through the town to the church, but naturally the soldiers took little notice of this expected event. The town is surrounded on one side by the open valley and on three sides by almost perpendicular mountains, with defiles between them leading to the interior of the Island. As soon as the last batch of supposed brigands was brought in, the church bells were rung as a signal for a mob of natives, armed with bowie-knives, to creep silently through the defiles on two sides. The troopers were just then suddenly alarmed by the noise of a conflict in the parish-house. The 90 so-called brigands having been passed through from the church into this house, fired at the three officers and then killed them with their bowie-knives. Simultaneously the soldiers' quarters were attacked. Whilst the troops made a rush forward to secure their weapons they were intercepted by an armed crowd, through which a small party of Americans finally cut their way and beat off the howling mob, which had already slaughtered many soldiers, set fire to the quarters, and possessed themselves of over 50 rifles and several thousand rounds of ammunition. A large number of hostile natives, including the headman, were killed; 28 Americans effected their escape, but the loss amounted to three officers and about 70 men killed and several more men wounded. General Hughes, in command of the Visayas District, was operating in Cebu Island at the time of this disaster. Public excitement was intense when the news of this serious reverse was published. The general who was sent to Samar to pursue the insurgents, or bandits, is alleged to have issued, in a moment of uncontrollable wrath, an order to "slay all over ten years and make Samar a howling wilderness." Consequently a great cry of public protest was raised, and the general and his executive officer in the affair were cited before a court-martial in April, 1902; but the court having found that the general was justified in the measures he took, both officers were acquitted. Since the capture of Lucban (April 27, 1902), lawless agitation has been persistently rife all over the Island of Samar; but this is the work of brigands (vide p. 551) and has no political signification.



CHAPTER XXVI

The Spanish Prisoners

Extreme interest was naturally taken by all Europeans in the miserable fate of the thousands of Spanish soldiers and civilians who had fallen into the rebels hands up to the capitulation of Manila. [227] Held captive in groups at different places in the Island of Luzon, many of them passed a wretched existence, with bad food, scant clothing, and deprived of every pleasure in life beyond the hope of one day seeing their native land. Many of them died, either from natural causes or the effect of their privations (some of starvation in Tayabas), or as a result of brutal treatment. A minority of them received as good treatment as possible under the circumstances. The fate of the majority depended chiefly upon the temperament of the native commander of the district. There were semi-savage native chiefs, and there were others, like Aguinaldo himself, with humane instincts. Amongst the former, for instance, there was Major Francisco Braganza, who, on February 28, 1900, in Camarines Sur, ordered one hundred and three Spanish soldiers to be tied up to trees and cut and stabbed to death with bowie-knifes and their bodies stripped and left without burial. He was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged, September 26, 1901, and the sentence was carried out at Nueva Caceres (Camarines Sur) on November 15 following. Many prisoners managed to escape, no doubt with the aid or connivance of natives, until Aguinaldo issued a decree, dated Malolos, November 5, 1898, imposing a penalty of twenty years' imprisonment on whomsoever should give such aid. Aguinaldo told me he was personally inclined to liberate these prisoners, or, at least, those civilians accustomed to an easy office life who, if they went free, would have had no inclination whatever to fight, but would have done their best to embark for Spain. The few who might have broken their parole would have been easily caught again "for the last time in their lives," and the women and children were an obstacle to military operations. Indeed, from time to time, Aguinaldo did liberate small groups of civilians, amongst whom were some of my old friends whom I afterwards met in Spain. Aguinaldo's Prime Minister, Apolinario Mabini (vide p. 546), was, however, strongly in favour of retaining the Spaniards as hostages until the Spanish Government should officially recognize the Philippine Republic. It will be clearly seen from the negotiations entered into between the respective parties that this recognition was the condition which the rebels most pertinaciously insisted upon, whilst the Spaniards' offers of millions of dollars were always met by much larger demands, which practically implied a refusal to treat on a money basis. The facts in the negotiations certainly support Aguinaldo's statement to me that the rebels never sought money, but political advantage, by the retention of the prisoners.

The intense excitement in Spain over the prisoners' doom called into existence meetings, liberation societies, frequent discussions in and out of Parliament, and continual protests against the apparent Ministerial lethargy. In reality, the Spanish Government, fearful of a rupture with America, could take no official action in the matter, further than appeal, indirectly, to the generosity of the captors, and remind America of her undertaking under Article 6 of the treaty. In January, 1899, the Colonial Minister cabled to several people in Manila, begging them to use their influence—but they themselves were already in the rebel camp. No form of compensation in money or armament for the captives' liberty could be officially made without involving Spain in a casus belli with America. Recognition of a Philippine Republic would have been in direct opposition to the spirit of the treaty of peace. In September, 1898, the Superiors of the regular clergy in Manila appealed to Rome; the Vatican communicated with President McKinley, and the President sent an inquiry to Maj.-General E. S. Otis concerning the captive friars. General Otis, after investigation, reported that these prisoners were fairly well treated. In the following month, whilst the Treaty of Paris was under discussion, the Spanish Government appealed to the United States Government to aid them in the rescue of the prisoners, and orders to do so were transmitted to General Otis. The Filipinos and the Americans were ostensibly on good terms at that period, and General Otis suggested to Aguinaldo that the friars and civilian Spaniards should be set free. On the subject of this request, Aguinaldo replied to General Otis by letter dated Malolos, November 3, 1898, as follows, viz:—"The Philippine people wish to retain the Spanish civil functionaries in order to obtain the liberty of the Filipinos who are banished and under arrest, and the friars in order to obtain from the Vatican a recognition of the rights of the Philippine secular clergy.... It is not hatred or vengeance which inspires the Filipinos to retain the Spanish civil and religious functionaries, but political expediency, and the tranquillity of the Philippine people demands this measure."

At this date there were hundreds of Philippine prisoners held by the Spanish Government in different places, some of them under worse conditions than the Spanish prisoners. For instance, 218 were deported to the fever-stricken colony of Fernando Po, and only 94 of them came out alive. The treaty of peace was still being discussed, and on its conclusion, Article 6 stipulated a release of "all persons detained or imprisoned for political offences in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and the Philippines," and that the United States would "undertake to obtain the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands of the insurgents"; but there was no proviso that the release of the Philippine prisoners should depend on that of the Spanish prisoners, and after the treaty was signed, Spain showed no particular haste immediately to carry out her undertaking to return the Philippine prisoners to their islands.

When General Diego de los Rios evacuated the Visayas Islands and brought his Spanish troops to Manila, en route for Spain, January, 1899, he himself remained in Manila as a Spanish Government Agent to obtain the release of the prisoners. For the special purpose, by courtesy of the American authorities, he held a kind of semi-official position; but he did not care to risk his person within the rebel lines. A Spanish merchant, Don Antonio Fuset, president of the Spanish Club, undertook the negotiations, and succeeded in inducing Apolinario Mabini to issue a decree signed by Aguinaldo and himself, dated January 22, 1899, giving liberty to all invalid civilians and soldiers. Simultaneously the Spanish Press in Manila was abusing Aguinaldo and his officers, calling them monkeys and using epithets which brought down their vengeance on the captives themselves.

The outbreak of the War of Independence (February 4, 1899) precluded direct American intervention in favour of the Spanish prisoners. General Rios, whose importance was being overshadowed by Senor Fuset's productive activity, cabled to Madrid that he would attend to the matter himself. But the didactic tone of his letters to Aguinaldo was not conducive to a happy result, and having frankly confessed his failure, the general made an appeal to the consuls and foreign merchants to exercise conjointly their influence. A letter of appeal from them was therefore drawn up and confided for delivery in the insurgent camp to my late friend Baron Du Marais. [228] This chivalrous gentleman, well known as the personification of integrity and honour, had resided many years in the Islands and spoke Tagalog fluently. On reaching the insurgent camp he was imprisoned on the charge of being a spy, but was shortly afterwards released, and on his way back to the capital he was waylaid by the natives, who foully murdered him. Senor Fuset then resumed his labours, and, as a result of his appeal to the generosity of his countrymen, he was able to set out for Boac and Batangas in the little steamer Castellano to carry supplies to the prisoners detained in those localities. On his journey he distributed to them 500 cotton suits, 290 pairs of shoes, 100 pairs of alpargatas (a sort of hempen shoe or sandal made in Spain), 14,375 packets of cigarettes, and P1,287. Several subsequent expeditions carried supplies to the prisoners, the total amount of material aid furnished to them, in goods and money, being estimated at P60,000.

After five months of fruitless effort General Diego de los Rios left Manila for Spain on June 3, 1899, and was succeeded by General Nicolas Jaramillo as the negotiator representing Spain. Moreover, it was desirable to recall General Rios, whose cablegrams commenting on the Americans' military operations were making him a persona non grata in official circles.

With the requisite passes procured from Aguinaldo, two Spanish envoys, Senores Toral and Rio, and the Filipino Enrique Marcaida set out for the insurgent seat of government, which was then at Tarlac. On their arrival there (June 23) Aguinaldo appointed three commissioners to meet them. At the first meeting the Filipinos agreed to liberate all except the friars, because these might raise trouble. At the next meeting they offered liberty to all on the following terms, impossible of acceptance by the Spanish commissioners, viz.:—

(1) Spain is to recognize the Independence of the Philippines and repudiate the cession of the Islands to America.

(2) After the recognition and repudiation stipulated in Clause 1, the Philippine Republic will liberate all the prisoners, without exception, and will pay their expenses back to Spain. If Spain cannot possibly accede to the conditions of Clause 1, the Philippine Republic will accept, in lieu thereof, arms, munitions and provisions, or their money equivalent.

(3) The Spanish Government is to exchange the receipts given for money subscribed to the Philippine loan for the certificates of that loan. [229]

The Filipinos declined to say what sum they would consider an equivalent, as per Clause 2, and invited the Spaniards to make an offer. The Spaniards then proposed P1,000,000.

On June 29, at the third conference, the Filipinos refused to accept less than P6,000,000. This demand stupefied the Spaniards, who said they would return to consult General Jaramillo; but they were reluctant to leave the matter unsettled, and a last conference was held the next day, when the Spaniards raised their offer to P2,000,000. The Filipinos then reduced their demand to P3,000,000, which the Spaniards objected to; but they were successful in obtaining the liberty of the Baler garrison and 22 invalids, with all of whom they returned to Manila (vide Baler garrison, p. 494).

On July 5 a decree was issued from Tarlac, signed by Emilio Aguinaldo and countersigned by his minister, Pedro A. Paterno, to the effect that all invalid prisoners would be at liberty to embark at certain ports designated, if vessels were sent for them flying only the Spanish flag and a white one bearing the Red Cross. Difficulties, however, arose with the American authorities which impeded the execution of this plan. General Jaramillo was preparing to send his commissioners again to Tarlac when he received a cablegram from Madrid telling him to suspend further overtures to the insurgents because international complications were threatened. It appears that America objected to the proposal to pay to the insurgents a large sum of money.

On August 9 General Jaramillo wished to send the Spanish warship General Alava, or a Spanish merchant vessel with the Red Cross flag, to San Fernando de la Union with provisions for the prisoners, but General E. S. Otis objected to the proposed proceeding on the ground that it would compromise the dignity of America. But General Jaramillo still persisted in his project, and after a lapse of three days he again addressed a note on the subject to General E. S. Otis, from whom he received another negative reply. On September 5 General Jaramillo informed General Otis that the prisoners were concentrated in the ports named in the insurgents' decree, and solicited permission to send a vessel flying the Red Cross flag to receive them. Three days afterwards General Otis replied that a recognition of Aguinaldo's pretension to designate certain ports for the Spaniards' embarkation would be not only humiliating but ridiculous. Furthermore, he was expecting reinforcements shortly, with which peace would be assured and all the ports re-opened, and then America would co-operate for the liberty of the prisoners. General Jaramillo replied to this communication by addressing to General Otis a lengthy philosophical epistle on the principles involved in the question, but as General Otis did not care to continue the correspondence, General Jaramillo sought to bring pressure on him by notifying him that the s.s. P. de Satrustegui would be detained 48 hours in order to learn his decision as to whether that vessel could call for the prisoners. As General Otis did not reply within the prescribed period General Jaramillo went to see him personally and ineffectually opened his heart to him in very energetic terms, which General Otis complacently tolerated but persisted in his negative resolution, and the interview ended with the suggestion that General Jaramillo should obtain Aguinaldo's consent for a vessel carrying the American flag to enter the ports and bring away the prisoners.

About this time an incident occurred which, but for the graciousness of General Otis, might have operated very adversely to the interests of those concerned. In September, 1899, a Spanish lady arrived in Manila saying that she was the representative of a Society of Barcelona Ladies formed to negotiate the liberation of the prisoners. She brought with her a petition addressed to Aguinaldo, said to bear about 3,000 signatures. But unfortunately the document contained so many offensive allusions to the Americans that General Jaramillo declined to be associated with it in any way. No obstacle was placed in the way of the lady if she wished to present her petition privately to Aguinaldo; but, apparently out of spite, she had a large number of copies printed and published broadcast in Manila. General Jaramillo felt it his duty to apologize to General Otis and repudiate all connexion with this offensive proceeding, which General Otis very affably excused as an eccentricity not worthy of serious notice.

On September 29 the Spanish commissioners, Toral and Rio, again started for the insurgent capital, Tarlac. The proposal for vessels to enter the ports under the American flag was rejected by Aguinaldo's advisers, Pedro A. Paterno and Felipe Buencamino, and negotiations were resumed on the money indemnity basis. The Aguinaldo party had already had sore experience of the worth of an agreement made with Spanish officials, and during the discussion they raised the question of the validity of their powers and the guarantee for their proposed undertakings. The real difficulty was that America might object to Spain officially making any compact whatsoever which must necessarily involve a recognition of the Philippine Republic; and even as it was, the renewed suggestion of a payment of millions of dollars was a secret negotiation. The Spanish commissioners started by proposing that Aguinaldo should give up 80 per cent. of the prisoners on certain conditions to be agreed upon thereafter, and retain the 20 per cent. as guarantee for the fulfilment of these hypothetical terms; moreover, even the 20 per cent. were to be concentrated at a place to be mutually agreed upon, etc. The artfulness of the commissioners' scheme was too apparent for Paterno and Buencamino to accept it. The commissioners then presented the Insurgent Government with a voluminous philosophical dissertation on the subject, whilst the Filipinos sought brief facts and tangible conditions. The Filipinos then offered to address a note to the Spanish Consul in Manila to the effect that the prisoners who were infirm would be delivered at certain ports as already stated, and that he could send ships for them on certain terms. Still the commissioners lingered in Tarlac, and on October 23 the Filipinos made the following proposals, which were practically an intimation to close the debate.

1. Recognition of the Philippine Republic as soon as the difficulties with America should be overcome.

2. The payment of seven millions of pesos.

These conditions having been rejected by the commissioners, Aguinaldo's advisers drew up a document stating the reasons why the negotiations had fallen through, with special reference to the insufficiency of the commissioners' powers and the inadmissibility of their attitude in desiring to treat with Aguinaldo individually instead of with his Government, for which reasons the Philippine Republic formally declared its resolution definitely to cease all negotiations with the Spanish commissioners, preferring to deal directly with the Spanish Government. Not satisfied with this formal intimation the commissioners asked that the conditions of the liberation already granted since January to the invalid prisoners should be modified, and that they should be handed over to them—the very persons already declared to be insufficiently authorized. In response to this importunity the requisite passports were immediately sent to the commissioners to enable them to quit the Philippine Republic's seat of government and territory forthwith.

Apart from the moral aspect of the case, and regarded only in the light of a business transaction, it does not appear that the Filipinos were ever offered a solid guarantee for the fulfilment of any of the proposed conditions. But the insuperable difficulty was Spain's inability to comply with the Filipinos' essential condition of recognition of the Philippine Republic.

Finally, in the prosecution of the War of Independence, the American troops drove the insurgents so hard, capturing town after town, that they were constrained to abandon the custody of the Spanish survivors, who flocked in groups to the American posts, and eventually embarked for their native land. On May 20, 1900, the Spanish Commission received a letter from the insurgent General Trias stating that orders had been issued to liberate all the prisoners.

In due course the Spanish warships sunk at the Battle of Cavite were raised by the Americans, and the dead bodies of Spain's defenders on that memorable day were handed over to a Spanish Commission. The same organization also took charge of the bodies recovered from Baler (east coast of Luzon), and after a Requiem mass was said at the Cathedral these mortal remains were conducted with appropriate solemnity on board the s.s. Isla de Panay, which left Manila for Barcelona on February 14, 1904.



CHAPTER XXVII

End of the War of Independence and After

In the month of May, 1901, the prisons were overflowing with captured insurgents, and the military authorities found an ostensible reason for liberating a number of them. A General Order was issued that to "signalize the recent surrender of General Manuel Tinio [230] and other prominent leaders," one thousand prisoners of war would be released on taking the oath of allegiance. The flame of organized insurrection was almost extinguished, but there still remained some dangerous embers. Bands of armed natives wandered through the provinces under the name of insurgents, and on July 31, 1901, one of Aguinaldo's subordinate generals, named Miguel Malvar, a native of Santo Tomas (Batangas) issued a manifesto from the "Slopes of the Maquiling" (Laguna Province), announcing that he had assumed the position of Supreme Chief. Before the war he had little to lose, but fishing in troubled waters and gulling the people with anting-anting and the "signs in the clouds" proved to be a profitable occupation to many. An expedition was sent against him, and he was utterly routed in an engagement which took place near his native town. After Miguel Malvar surrendered (April 16, 1902) and Vicente Lucban was captured in Samar (April 27, 1902), the war (officially termed "insurrection") actually terminated, and was formally declared ended on the publication of President Roosevelt's Peace Proclamation and Amnesty grant, dated July 4, 1902. A sedition law was passed under which every disturber of the public peace would be thenceforth arraigned, and all acts of violence, pillage, etc., would come under the common laws affecting those crimes. In short, insurgency ceased to be a valid plea; if it existed in fact, officially it had become a dead letter. Those who still lingered in the penumbra between belligerence and brigandage were thenceforth treated as common outlaws whose acts bore no political significance whatever. The notorious "General" San Miguel, for a long time the terror of Rizal Province, was given no quarter, but shot on the field at Corral-na-bato in March, 1903. One of the famous bandits, claiming to be an insurgent, was Faustino Guillermo, who made laws, levied tribute, issued army commissions, divided the country up into military departments, and defied the Government until his stratagem to induce the constabulary to desert brought about his own capture in the Bosoboso Mountain (Morong) in June, 1903. A mass of papers seized revealed his pretension to be a patriotic saviour of his people, but it is difficult indeed to follow the reasoning of a man who starts on that line by sacking his own countrymen's villages. Another interesting individual was Artemio Ricarte, formerly a primary schoolmaster. In 1899 he led a column under Aguinaldo, and was subsequently his general specially commissioned to raise revolt inside the capital; but the attempt failed, and many arrests followed. During the war he was captured by the Americans, to whom he refused to take the oath of allegiance and was deported to Guam. In Washington it was decided to release the political prisoners on that island, and Ricarte and Mabini were brought back to Manila. As Ricarte still refused to take the oath, he was banished, and went to Hong-Kong in February, 1903. In the following December he returned to Manila disguised as a seaman, and stole ashore in the crowd of stevedore labourers. Assuming the ludicrous title of the "Viper," he established what he called the "triumvirate" government in the provinces, and declared war on the Americans. His operations in this direction were mostly limited to sending crackbrained letters to the Civil Governor in Manila from his "camp in the sky," but his perturbation of the rural districts had to be suppressed. At length, after a long search, he was taken prisoner at the cockpit in Mariveles in May, 1904. He and his confederates were brought to trial on the two counts of carrying arms without licence and sedition, the revelations of the "triumvirate," which were comical in the extreme, affording much amusement to the reading public. The judgement of the court on Ricarte was six years' imprisonment and a fine of $6,000.

Apolinario Mabini, Ricarte's companion in exile, was one of the most conspicuous figures in the War of Independence. Of poor parentage, he was born at Tanauan (Batangas) in May, 1864, and having finished his studies in Manila he took up the law as a profession, living in obscurity until the Rebellion, during which he became the recognized leader of the Irreconcilables and Prime Minister in the Malolos Government. In the political sphere he was the soul of the insurgent movement, the ruling power behind the presidency of Aguinaldo. It was he who drafted the Constitution of the Philippine Republic, dated January 21, 1899 (vide p. 486). Taken prisoner by the Americans in December, 1899, he was imprisoned on his refusal to subscribe to the oath of allegiance. On August 1, 1900, he was granted leave to appear before the Philippine Commission, presided over by Mr. W. H. Taft. He desired to show that, according to his lights, he was not stubbornly holding out against reason. As Mabini was not permitted to discuss abstract matters, and Mr. Taft reiterated the intention to establish American sovereignty in the Islands, their views were at variance, and Mabini was deported to Guam, but allowed the privilege of taking his son there as his companion in exile. On his return to Manila in February, 1903, he reluctantly took the required oath and was permitted to remain in the capital. Suffering from paralysis for years previous, his mental energy, as a chronic invalid, was amazing. Three months after his return to the metropolis he was seized with cholera, to which he succumbed on May 13, 1903, at the early age of thirty-nine, to the great regret of his countrymen and of his many European admirers.

The Irreconcilables, even at the present day, persist in qualifying as legitimate warfare that condition of provincial perturbation which the Americans and the Federal Party hold to be outlawry and brigandage. Hence the most desperate leaders and their bands of cut-throats are, in the Irreconcilables' phraseology, merely insurgents still protesting against American dominion. As late as February, 1902, an attempt was made to revive the war in Leyte Island. At that date a certain Florentino Penaranda, styling himself the Insurrectionary Political-Military Chief, issued a proclamation in his island addressed "in particular to those who are serving under the Americans." This document, the preamble of which is indited in lofty language, carrying the reader mentally all round North and South America, Abyssinia and Europe, terminates with a concession of pardon to all who repent their delinquency in serving the Americans, and an invitation to Filipinos and foreigners to join his standard. It had little immediate effect, but it may have given an impulse to the brigandage which was subsequently carried on so ferociously under a notorious, wary ruffian named Tumayo. Thousands, too long accustomed to a lawless, emotional existence to settle down to prosaic civil life, went to swell the ranks of brigands, but it would exceed the limits of this work to refer to the over 15,000 expeditions made to suppress them. Brigandage (vide p. 235) has been rife in the Islands for a century and a half, and will probably continue to exist until a network of railways in each large island makes it almost impossible. But brigandage in Spanish times was very mild compared with what it is now. Such a thing as a common highwayman was almost unknown. The brigands of that period—the Tulisanes of the north and the Pulajanes of the south—went in parties who took days to concoct a plan for attacking a country residence, or a homestead, for robbery and murder. The assault was almost invariably made at night, and the marauders lived in the mountains, avoiding the highroads and the well-known tracks. The traveller might then go about the Islands for years without ever seeing a brigand; now that they have increased so enormously since the war, there is not business enough for them in the old way, and they infest the highways and villages. One effect of the revolution has been to diminish greatly the awe with which the native regarded the European before they had crossed swords in regular warfare. Again, since 1898, the fact that here and there a white man made common cause with outlaws has had a detrimental effect on the white man's prestige, and the new caste of bandits which has come into existence is far more audacious than its predecessor. Formerly the outlaws had only bowie-knives and a few fowling-pieces; now they have an ample supply of rifles. Hence, since the American advent, the single traveller and his servant journey at great risk in the so-called civilized provinces, especially if the traveller has Anglo-Saxon features. Parties of three or four, well armed, are fairly safe. Fierce fights with outlaws are of common occurrence; a full record of brigand depredations would fill a volume, and one can only here refer to a few remarkable cases.

Early in 1904 a Spanish planter of many years' standing, named Amechazurra, and his brother-in-law, Joaquin Guaso, were kidnapped and held for ransom. When the sum was carried to the brigands' haunt, Guaso was found with his wrists broken and severely tortured with bowie-knife cuts and lance-thrusts. Having no power to use his hands, his black beard was full of white maggots. In this state he was delivered to his rescuers and died the next day. Since the close of the war up to the present day the provinces of Batangas and Cavite, less than a day's journey from the capital, have not ceased to be in a deplorable condition of lawlessness. The principal leaders, Montalon and Felizardo, [231] were formerly officers under the command of the insurgent General Manuel Trias, who surrendered to the Americans and afterwards accepted office as Civil Governor of the Province of Cavite. In this capacity he made many unsuccessful attempts to capture his former colleagues, but owing to his failure to restore tranquillity to the province he resigned his governorship in 1903. The Montalon and Felizardo bands, well armed, constantly overran the two adjoining provinces to murder the people, pillage their homes, and set fire to the villages. They bore an inveterate hatred towards all who accepted American dominion, and specially detested their former chief Trias, who, since his return from the St. Louis Exhibition, has shown a very pro-American tendency. The history of their crimes covers a period of five years. Felizardo was remarkable for his audacity, his fine horsemanship, and his expert marksmanship. During an attack on Paranaque, mounted on a beautiful pony stolen from the race-track of Pasay, he rode swiftly past a constabulary sentinel, who shot at him and missed him, whilst Felizardo, from his seat in the saddle, shot the sentinel dead. The evening before the day Governor Taft intended to sail for the United States, on his retirement from the governorship, Montalon hanged two constabulary men at a place within sight of Manila. In December, 1904, all this district was so infested with cut-throats that Manuel Trias, although no longer an official, offered to organize and lead a party of 300 volunteers against them. On January 24, 1905, the same bandits, Felizardo and Montalon, at the head of about 300 of their class, including two American negroes, raided Trias's native town of San Francisco de Malabon, murdered an American surgeon and one constabulary private, and seriously wounded three more. They looted the municipal treasury of 2,000 pesos and 25 carbines, and carried off Trias's wife and two children, presumably to hold them for ransom. The chief object of the attack was to murder Trias, their arch-enemy, but he was away from home at the time. On his return he set out in pursuit of the band at the head of the native constabulary. The outlaws had about 160 small firearms, and during the chase several fierce fights took place. Being hunted from place to place incessantly, they eventually released Trias's wife and children so as to facilitate their own escape. Constabulary was insufficient to cope with the marauders, and regular troops had to be sent to these provinces. In February, 1905, a posse of 25 Moro fighting-men was brought up from Siassi (Tapul group) to hunt down the brigands. Launches patrolled the Bay of Manila with constabulary on board to intercept the passage of brigands from one province to another, for lawlessness was, more or less, constantly rife in several of the Luzon provinces and half a dozen other islands for years after the end of the war. From 1902 onwards, half the provinces of Albay, Bulacan, Bataan, Cavite, Ilocos Sur, and the islands of Camaguin, Samar, Leyte, Negros, Cebu, etc., have been infested, at different times, with brigands, or latter-day insurgents, as the different parties choose to call them. The regular troops, the constabulary, and other armed forces combined were unable to exterminate brigandage. The system of "concentration" circuits, which had given such adverse results during the Rebellion (vide p. 392), was revived in the provinces of Batangas and Cavite, obliging the waverers between submission and recalcitration to accept a defined legal or illegal status. Consequently many of the common people went to swell the roving bands of outlaws, whilst those who had a greater love for home, or property at stake, remained within the prescribed limits, in discontented, sullen compliance with the inevitable. The system interrupted the people's usual occupations, retarded agriculture, and produced general dissatisfaction. The Insular Government then had recourse to an extreme measure which practically implied the imposition of compulsory military service on every male American, foreign, or native inhabitant between the ages of eighteen to fifty years, with the exception of certain professions specified in the Philippine Commission Act No. 1309, dated March 22, 1905. Under this law the native mayor of a town can compel any able-bodied American (not exempted under the Act) to give five days a month service in hunting down brigands, under a maximum penalty of P100 fine and three months' imprisonment. And, subject to the same penalty for refusal, any proprietor or tenant (white, coloured, or native) residing in any municipality, or ward, must report, within 24 hours, to the municipal authority, the name, residence, and description of any person (not being a resident) to whom he gave assistance or lodging. In no colony where the value of the white man's prestige is appreciated would such a law have been promulgated.

The proceedings of the constabulary in the disturbed provinces having been publicly impugned in a long series of articles and reports published in the Manila newspaper El Renacimiento, the editors of that public organ were brought to trial on a charge of libel in July, 1905. The substance of the published allegations was that peaceable citizens were molested in their homes and were coerced into performing constabulary and military duties by becoming unwilling brigand-hunters. Among other witnesses who appeared at the trial was Emilio Aguinaldo, who testified that he had been forced to leave his home and present himself to a constabulary officer, who, he affirmed, bullied and insulted him because he refused to leave his daily occupations and risk his life in brigand-hunting. In view of the peculiar position of Aguinaldo as a fallen foe, perhaps it would have been better not to have disturbed him in his peaceful life as a law-abiding citizen, lest the world should misconstrue the intention.

Confined to Pangasinan and La Union provinces, there is an organization known as the "Guards of Honour." Its recruits are very numerous, their chief vocation being cattle-stealing and filching other people's goods without unnecessary violence. It is feared they may extend their operations to other branches of perversity. The society is said to be a continuation of the Guardia de Honor created by the Spaniards and stimulated by the friars in Pangasinan as a check on the rebels during the events of 1896-98. At the American advent they continued to operate independently against the insurgents, whom they harassed very considerably during the flight northwards from Tarlac. It was to escape the vengeance of this party that Aguinaldo's Secretary of State (according to his verbal statement to me) allowed himself to fall prisoner to the Americans.

The Pulajanes of Samar seem to be as much in possession of that Island as the Americans themselves, and its history, from the revolution up to date, is a lugubrious repetition of bloodshed, pillage, and incendiarism. The deeds of the notorious Vicente Lucban were condoned under the Amnesty of 1902, but the marauding organization is maintained and revived by brigands of the first water. Every move of the government troops is known to the pulajanes. The spy, stationed at a pass, after shouting the news of the enemy's approach to the next spy, darts into the jungle, and so on all along the line, in most orderly fashion, until the main column is advised. In July, 1904, they slaughtered half the inhabitants of the little coast village of Taviran, mutilated their corpses, and then set out for the town of Santa Elena, which was burnt to the ground. In December of that year over a thousand pulajanes besieged the town of Taft (formerly Tubig), held by a detachment of native scouts, whilst another party, hidden in the mountains, fell like an avalanche upon a squad of 43 scouts, led by an American lieutenant, on their way to the town of Dolores, and in ten minutes killed the officer and 37 of his men. After this mournful victory the brigands went to reinforce their comrades at Taft, swelling their forces en route, so that the besiegers of Taft amounted to a total of about 2,000 men. About the same time some 400 pulajanes were met by a few hundred so-called native volunteers, who, instead of fighting, joined forces and attacked a scout detachment whilst crossing a river. Twenty of the scouts were cut to pieces and mutilated, whilst thirteen more died of their wounds.

Communication in the Island is extremely difficult; the maintenance of telegraph-lines is impossible through a hostile country, and messages sent by natives are often intercepted, or, as sometimes happens, the messengers, to save their lives, naturally make common cause with the bandits whom they meet on the way. The hemp-growers and coast-trading population, who have no sympathy with the brigands, are indeed obliged, for their own security, to give them passive support. Hundreds in the coast villages who are too poor to give, have to flee into hiding and live like animals in dread of constabulary and pulajanes alike. Between "insurgency" and "brigandage," in this Island, there was never a very wide difference, and when General Allen, the Chief of the Constabulary, took the field in person in December, 1904, he had reason to believe that the notorious ex-insurgent Colonel Guevara was the moving spirit in the lawlessness. Guevara, who had been disappointed at not securing the civil governorship of the Island, was suddenly seized and confined at Catbalogan jail to await his trial. The Samar pulajanes are organized like regular troops, with their generals and officers, but they are deluded by a sort of mystic religious teaching under the guidance of a native pope. In January, 1905, the town of Balangiga (vide p. 536), so sadly famous in the history of Samar on account of the massacre of American troops during the war, became a pulajan recruiting station. A raid upon the place resulted in the capture of twenty chiefs, gorgeously uniformed, with gaudy anting-anting amulets on their breasts to protect them from American bullets. At this time the regimental Camp Connell, at Calbayoc, was so depleted of troops that less than a hundred men were left to defend it. Situated on a pretty site, the camp consists of two lines of wooden buildings running along the shore for about a mile. At one extremity is the hospital and at the other the quartermaster's depot. It has no defences whatever, and as I rode along the central avenue of beautiful palms, after meeting the ladies at a ball, I pictured to myself the chapter of horror which a determined attack might one day add to the doleful annals of dark Samar.

Matters became so serious that in March, 1905, the divisional commander, General Corbin, joined General Allen in the operations in this Island. Full of tragedy is the record of this region, and amongst its numerous heroes was a Captain Hendryx. In 1902, whilst out with a detachment of constabulary, he was attacked, defeated, and reported killed. He was seen to drop and roll into a gully. But four days later there wandered back to the camp a man half dead with hunger and covered with festering wounds, some so infected that, but for the application of tobacco, gangrene would have set in. It was Captain Hendryx. Delirious for a while, he finally recovered and resumed his duties. A couple of years afterwards he was shipwrecked going round the coast on the Masbate. For days he and the ship-master alone battled with the stormy waves, a howling wind ahead, and a murderous rabble on the coast waiting for their blood. On the verge of death they reached a desolate spot whence the poor captain saved his body from destruction, but with prostrate nerves, rendering him quite unfit for further service. And the carnage in the Samar jungles, which has caused many a sorrow in the homeland, continues to the present day with unabated ferocity. By nature a lovely island, picturesque in the extreme, there is a gloom in its loveliness. The friendly native has fled for his life; the patches of lowland once planted with sweet potatoes or rows of hemp-trees, are merging into jungle for want of the tiller's hand. The voice of an unseen man gives one a shudder, lest it be that of a fanatic lurking in the cogon grass to seek his fellow's blood. Near the coast, half-burnt bamboos show where villages once stood; bleached human bones mark the sites of human conflict, whilst decay and mournful silence impress one with the desolation of this fertile land. The narrow navigable channel separating Samar from Leyte Island is one of the most delightful bits of tropical scenery.

The Constabulary Service Reports for 1903 and 1904 show that in the former period there were 357 engagements between brigand bands and the constabulary (exclusive of the army operations), and in the latter period 235 similar engagements. More than 5,000 expeditions were undertaken against the outlaws in each year; 1,185 outlaws were killed in 1903, and 431 in 1904, 2,722 were wounded or captured in 1903, and 1,503 in 1904; 3,446 arms of all sorts were seized in 1903, and 994 in 1904. The constabulary losses in killed, wounded, died of wounds and disease, and deserted were 223 in 1904. In Cavite Province alone, with a population of 134,779, there were, in 1903, over 400 expeditions, resulting in 20 brigands killed, 23 wounded, and 253 captured. At this date brigandage is one of the greatest deterrents to the prosperous development of the Islands.

The Adjutant-General's Report issued in Washington in December, 1901, gives some interesting figures relating to the Army, for the War of Independence period, i.e., from February 4, 1899, to June 30, 1901. The total number of troops sent to the Islands was as follows, viz.:—

Officers. Men.

Regular Army 1,342 60,933 Volunteers 2,135 47,867 3,477 108,800

Some were returning from, whilst others were going to the Islands; the largest number in the Islands at any one time (year 1900) was about 70,000 men.

The total casualties in the above period were as follows, viz.:—

Officers. Men. Total.

Dead (all causes) 115 3,384 3,499 Wounded 170 2,609 2,779 285 5,993 6,278

In the same period the following arms were taken from the insurgents (captured and surrendered):—

Revolvers 868 Rifles 15,693 Cannon 122 Bowie-knives 3,516

The Insurgent Navy, consisting of four small steamers purchased in Singapore and a few steam-launches, dwindled away to nothing. The "Admiral," who lived on shore at Gagalangin (near Manila), escaped to Hong-Kong, but returned to Manila, surrendered, and took the oath of allegiance on March 3, 1905.



Sedition, in its more virulent and active forms, having been frustrated by the authorities since the conclusion of the war, the Irreconcilables conceived the idea of inflaming the passions of the people through the medium of the native drama. How the seditious dramatists could have ever hoped to succeed in the capital itself, in public theatres, before the eyes of the Americans, is one of those mysteries which the closest student of native philosophy must fail to solve.

The most notable of these plays were Hindi aco patay ("I am not dead"), Ualang sugat ("There is no wound"), Dabas ng pilac ("Power of Silver"), and Cahapon, Ngayon at Bucas ("Yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow"). In each case there was an extra last scene not on the programme. Secret police and American spectators besieged the stage, and after a free fight, a cracking of heads, and a riotous scuffle the curtain dropped (if there were anything left of it) on a general panic of the innocent and the arrest of the guilty. The latter were brought to trial, and their careers cut short by process of law.

The simple plot of Hindi aco patay is as follows, viz.:—Maimbot (personifying America) is establishing dominion over the Islands, assisted by his son Macamcam (American Government), and Katuiran (Reason, Right, and Justice) is called upon to condemn the conduct of a renegade Filipino who has accepted America's dominion, and thereby become an outcast among his own people and even his own family. There is to be a wedding, but, before it takes place, a funeral cortege passes the house of Karangalan (the bride) with the body of Tangulan (the fighting patriot). Maimbot (America) exclaims, "Go, bury that man, that Karangalan and her mother may see him no more." Tangulan, however, rising from his coffin, tells them, "They must not be married, for I am not dead." And as he cries Hindi aco patay, "I am not dead," a radiant sun appears, rising above the mountain peaks, simultaneously with the red flag of Philippine liberty. Then Katuiran (Reason, Right, and Justice) declares that "Independence has returned," and goes on to explain that the new insurrection having discouraged America in her attempt to enslave the people, she will await a better opportunity. The flag of Philippine Independence is then waved to salute the sun which has shone upon the Filipinos to regenerate them and cast away their bondage.

The theme of Cahapon, ngayon at Bucas is somewhat similar—a protest against American rule, a threat to rise and expel it, a call to arms, and a final triumph of the Revolution. About the same time (May, 1903) a seditious play entitled Cadena de Oro ("The golden chain") was produced in Batangas, and its author was prosecuted. It must, however, be pointed out that there are also many excellent plays written in Tagalog, with liberty to produce them, one of the best native dramatists being Don Pedro A. Paterno.

There will probably be for a long time to come a certain amount of disaffection and a class of wire-pullers, men of property, chiefly half-castes, constantly in the background, urging the masses forward to their own destruction. Lucrative employments have satisfied the ambition of so many educated Filipinos who must find a living, that the same principle—a creation of material interest—might perhaps be advantageously extended to the uneducated classes. All the malcontents cannot become State dependents, but they might easily be helped to acquire an interest in the soil. The native who has his patch of settled land with unassailable title would be loth to risk his all for the chimerical advantages of insurrection. The native boor who has worked land for years on sufferance, without title, exposed to eviction by a more cunning individual clever enough to follow the tortuous path which leads to land settlement with absolute title, falls an easy prey to the instigator of rebellion. These illiterate people need more than a liberal land law—they need to be taken in hand like children and placed upon the parcelled-out State lands with indisputable titles thereto. And if American enterprise were fostered and encouraged in the neighbourhood of their holdings, good example might root them to the soil and convert the boloman into the industrious husbandman.

The poorest native who cannot sow for himself must necessarily feed on what his neighbour reaps, and hunger compels him to become a wandering criminal. It is not difficult partially to account for the greater number in this condition to-day as compared with Spanish times. In those days there was what the natives termed cayinin. It was a temporary clearance of a patch of State land on which the native would raise a crop one, two, or more seasons. Having no legal right to the soil he tilled, and consequently no attachment to it, he would move on to other virgin land and repeat the operation. In making the clearance the squatter had no respect for State property, and the damage which he did in indiscriminate destruction of valuable timber by fire was not inconsiderable. The law did not countenance the cayinin, but serious measures were seldom taken to prevent it. The local or municipal headmen refrained from interference because, having no interest whatever in public lands, they did not care, as landowners, to go out of their way to create a bad feeling against themselves which might one day have fatal consequences. Although no one would for a moment suggest a revival of the system, there is the undeniable fact that in Spanish times thousands of natives lived for years in this way, and if they had been summarily evicted, or prosecuted by a forest bureau, necessity would have driven them into brigandage. High wages, government service, and public works are no remedy; on the contrary, if the people are thereby attracted to the towns, what will become of the true source of Philippine wealth, which is agriculture? Even in industrial England the cry of "Back to the soil" has been lately raised by an eminent Englishman known by name to every educated American.



CHAPTER XXVIII

Modern Manila

Commanding the entrance to Manila Bay there is the Island of Corregidor, situated 27 miles south-west of the city, towards which the traveller glances in vain, expecting to descry something of a modern fortress, bristling with artillery of the latest type which, if there, might hold the only channels leading to the capital against a hostile fleet. The anchorage for steamers is still half a mile to a mile and a half away from the Pasig River, but the new artificial port, commenced by the Spaniards, is being actively brought to completion by the Americans, so that the day may come when the ocean traveller will be able to walk from the steamer down a gangway to a quay and land on the south, or Walled City, side of the capital.

In the city and beautiful suburbs of Manila many changes and some improvements have been effected since 1898. After cleansing the city to a certain extent, embellishment was commenced, and lastly, works of general public utility were undertaken. Public spaces were laid out as lawns with walks around them; the old botanical-gardens enclosure was removed and the site converted into a delightful promenade; the Luneta Esplanade,—the joy of the Manila elite who seek the sea-breezes on foot or driving—was reformed, the field of Bagumbayan, which recalls so many sad historical reminiscences since 1872, was drained; breaches were made in the city walls to facilitate the entry of American vehicles; new thoroughfares were opened; an iron bridge, commenced by the Spaniards, was completed; a new Town Hall, a splendidly-equipped Government Laboratory, a Government Civil Hospital, and a Government Printing Office were built; an immense ice-factory was erected on the south side of the river to meet the American demand for that luxury [232]; also a large refrigerated-meat store, chiefly for army supply, was constructed, meat, poultry, vegetables, and other foodstuffs having to be imported on account of the dearth of beef and tilth cattle due to rinderpest. Fresh meat for private consumption (i.e., exclusive of army and navy) is imported into Manila to the value of about $700,000 gold per annum. Reforms of more urgent public necessity were then introduced. Existing market-places were improved, new ones were opened in Tondo and the Walled City; an excellent slaughter-house was established; the Bridge of Spain was widened; a splendidly-equipped fire-engine and brigade service, with 150 fire-alarm boxes about the city and suburbs, was organized and is doing admirable work; roads in the distant suburbs were put in good condition, and the reform which all Manila was looking forward to, namely, the repair of the roads and pavements in the Escolta, the Rosario, and other principal thoroughfares in the heart of the business quarter of Binondo, was postponed for six years. Up to the middle of 1904 they were in a deplorable condition. The sensation, whilst in a gig, of rattling over the uneven stone blocks was as if the whole vehicle might at any moment be shattered into a hundred fragments. The improvement has come at last, and these streets are now almost of a billiard-table smoothness. The General Post Office has been removed from the congested thoroughfare of the Escolta to a more commodious site. Electric tramcars, in supersession of horse-traction, run through the city and suburbs since April 10, 1905. Electric lighting, initiated in Spanish times, is now in general use, and electric fans—a poor substitute for the punkah—work horizontally from the ceilings of many shops, offices, hotels, and private houses. In the residential environs of the city many acres of ground have been covered with new houses; the once respectable quarter of Sampaloc [233] has lost its good name since it became the favourite haunt of Asiatic and white prostitutes who were not tolerated in Spanish times. On the other hand, the suburbs of Ermita and Malate, which are practically a continuation of Manila along the seashore from the Luneta Esplanade, are becoming more and more the fashionable residential centre. About Sampaloc there is a little colony of Japanese shopkeepers, and another group of Japanese fishermen inhabits Tondo. The Japanese have their Consulate in Manila since the American advent, their suburban Buddhist temple was inaugurated in San Roque on April 22, 1905, and in the same year there was a small Japanese banking-house in the suburb of Santa Cruz.

The Bilibid Jail has been reformed almost beyond recognition as the old Spanish prison. A great wall runs through the centre, dividing the long-term from the short-term prisoners. In the centre is the sentry-box, and from this and all along the top of the wall every movement of the prisoners can be watched by the soldier on guard. Nevertheless, a batch of convicts occasionally breaks jail, and those who are not shot down escape. Gangs of them are drafted off for road-making in the provinces, where, on rare occasions, a few have been able to escape and rejoin the brigands. In March, 1905, a squad of 42 convicts working in Albay Province made a dash for freedom, and 40 of them got away.

With the liberty accorded them under the new dominion the Filipinos have their freemason lodges and numerous casinos. [234] There are American clubs for all classes of society—the "Army and Navy," the "University," the "United States," a dozen other smaller social meeting-houses, and societies with quaint denominations such as "Knights of Pythias," "Haymakers," "Red Cloud Tribe," "Knights of the Golden Eagle," etc. Other nationalities have their clubs too; the Cercle Francais is now located in Calle Alcala; the English Club, which was formerly at Nagtajan on the river-bank, has been removed to Ermita on the seashore, and under the new regime the Chinese have their club-house, opened in 1904, in Calle Dasmarinas, where a reception was given to the Gov.-General and the elite of Manila society. The entertainment was very sumptuous, the chief attractions being the fantastic decorations, the gorgeous "joss house" to a dead hero, and the chapel in honour of the Virgin del Pilar.

Several new theatres have been opened, the leading one being the National, now called the "Grand Opera House"; comedy is played at the Paz; the Zorrilla (of former times) is fairly well-built, but its acoustic properties are extremely defective, and the other playhouses are, more properly speaking, large booths, such as the Libertad, the Taft, the Variedades, and the Rizal. In the last two very amusing Tagalog plays are performed in dialect. There is one large music-hall, and a number of cinematograph shows combined with variety entertainments.

There are numerous second- and third-rate hotels in the city and suburbs. The old "Fonda Lala," which existed for many years in the Plaza del Conde, Binondo, as the leading hotel in Spanish days, is now converted into a large bazaar, called the "Siglo XX.," and its successor, the "Hotel de Oriente," was purchased by the Insular Government for use as public offices. The old days of comfortable hackney-carriages in hundreds about the Manila streets, at 50 cents Mex. an hour, are gone for ever. One may now search hours for one, and, if found, have to pay four or five times the old tariff. Besides the fact that everything costs more, the scarcity is due to Surra (vide p. 336), which has enormously reduced the pony stock. There are occasionally sales of American horses, and it is now one of the novelties to see them driven in carriages, and American ladies riding straddle-legged on tall hacks. In Spanish days no European gentleman or lady could be seen in a carromata [235] (gig) about Manila; now this vehicle is in general use for both sexes of all classes. Bicycles were known in the Islands ten years ago, but soon fell into disuse on account of the bad roads; however, this means of locomotion is fast reviving.

The Press is represented by a large number of American, Spanish and dialect newspapers. These last were not permitted in Spanish times.

Innumerable laundries, barbers' shops, Indian and Japanese bazaars, shoe-black stalls, tailors' shops, book-shops, restaurants, small hotels, sweetmeat stalls, newspaper kiosks, American drinking-bars, etc., have much altered the appearance of the city. The Filipino, who formerly drank nothing but water, now quaffs his iced keg-beer or cocktail with great gusto, but civilization has not yet made him a drunkard. American drinking-shops, or "saloons," as they call them, are all over the place, except in certain streets in Binondo, where they have been prohibited, as a public nuisance, since April 1, 1901. It was ascertained at the time of the American occupation that there were 2,206 native shops in Manila where drinks were sold, yet no native was ever seen drunk. This number was compulsorily reduced to 400 for a native population of about 190,000, whilst the number of "saloons" on February 1, 1900, was 224 for about 5,000 Americans (exclusive of soldiers, who presumably would not be about the drinking-bars whilst the war was on). But "saloon" licences are a large source of revenue to the municipality, the cost being from $1,200 gold downwards per annum. A "saloon," however, cannot now be established in defiance of the general wishes of the neighbours. There is a law (similar in spirit to the proposed Option Law in England) compelling the intending "saloon" keeper to advertise in several papers for several days his intention to open such a place, so that the public may have an opportunity of opposing that intention if they desire to do so.

The American advent has abolished the peaceful solitude of the Walled City where, in Spanish days, dwelt the friar in secluded sanctity—where dignitaries and officials were separated by a river from the bubbling world of money-makers. An avalanche of drinking-bars, toilet-saloons, restaurants, livery stables, and other catering concerns has invaded the ancient abodes of men who made Philippine history. The very names of the city streets remind one of so many episodes in the Islands' progress towards civilization that to-day one is led to pause in pensive silence before the escutcheon above the door of what was once a noble residence, to read below a wall-placard, "Horses and buggies for hire. The best turn-out in the city. Telephone No. ——." This levelling spirit is gradually converting the historic Walled City into a busy retail trading-centre. For a long time the question of demolishing the city walls has been debated. Surely those who advocate the destruction of this fine historical monument cannot be of that class of Americans whose delight is to travel thousands of miles, at great expense, only to glance at antiquities not more interesting, in the possession of others, and who would fain transport Shakespeare's house bodily to American soil. The moat surrounding the Walled City is already being filled up, but posterity will be grateful for the preservation of those ancient bulwarks—landmarks of a decadent but once glorious civilization. Most of the Spanish feast-days have been abolished, including the St. Andrew's day (vide Li-ma-hong, p. 50), and the following have been officially substituted, viz.:—

New Year's Day January 1 Washington's birthday February 22 Holy Thursday — — Good Friday — — Decoration Day May 31 Independence Day July 4 Occupation Day August 13 Thanksgiving Day November 24 Christmas Day December 25 Rizal Day December 30

Manila was formerly the capital of the province of that name, as well as the Philippine metropolis. Since the American occupation the city and suburbs form a kind of federal zone; what was once Manila Province is now known as Rizal Province, and with it is incorporated that territory formerly designated Morong District, the capital town of this newly-created province being Pasig.

The Municipal Board of Manila is composed of five persons, namely a Philippine mayor and one Philippine and three American members, who are practically all nominees of the Insular Government. The emolument of the mayor and of each member is $4,500. The Board, assisted by a staff of 20 persons, native and American, has the control of the ten following departments, viz.:—Police, Fire, Law, Police Courts, Justice of the Peace Courts, Public Works, Assessments and Collections, Deeds Register, City Schools, and Sheriff's Office connected with the government of the federal zone of Manila.

Manila is the seat of the Insular Government, which comprises (1) the Philippine Commission (Legislative), composed of eight members, of whom five (including the president) are Americans and three are Filipinos; (2) the Civil Commission (Executive), the president of which holds the dual office of President of the Philippine Commission and Gov.-General, whilst the four secretaries of Interior, Finance and Justice, Public Instruction, and Commerce and Police are those same Americans who hold office as members of the Philippine Commission. The Philippine Commission is empowered to pass statutes, subject to ratification by Congress, the enacting clause being, By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission. The Insular Government communicates with the Washington Government through the Department of the Secretary of State for War.

Up to the end of 1904 the chief authority in these Islands was styled the "Civil Governor." Thenceforth, by special Act of Congress, the title was changed to that of "Governor-General."

The Emoluments of the Members of the Insular Government, the Chiefs of Departments, and the principal officers are as follows, viz. [236]:—

$ gold President of the Philippine and Civil Commissions 20,000 Four American Members of the Philippine Commission, ex-officio Members of the Civil Commission each 15,500 Three Philippine Members of the Philippine Commission each 5,000

Departments

Architecture Bureau Chief 4,000 Archives, Patents, Copyright and Trade Marks Chief 3,000 Agriculture Bureau Chief 4,000 Audit Office Auditor 7,000 Bilibid Prison Warden 3,000 [237] Civil Service Board Chief Examiner 4,000 Court of First Instance, Manila each Judge 5,500 Court of First Instance, provincial Judge $4,500 to 5,000 Court of Land Registration Judge 5,000 Court of Customs Appeal Judge 4,500 Civil Hospital Chief Physician 3,000 Civil Sanatorium (Benguet) Chief Physician 2,400 Constabulary Executive Officer 5,500 Coast Guard and Transport Office Chief (Navy pay) — Cold Storage and Ice-Plant Superintendent 3,600 Customs and Immigration Collector of Customs 7,000 Engineering Department Consulting Engineer 5,000 Ethnological Survey Chief 3,500 Education Department Gen. Superintendent 6,000 Forestry Bureau Chief 3,000 Laboratories (Gov.) Superintendent 6,000 Manila Port Works Chief (Army pay) — Mining Bureau Chief 3,000 Non-Christian Tribes Bureau — — Official Gazette, The Editor 1,800 Purchasing Agent — 4,500 Public Lands Office Chief 3,200 Public Health Commissioner 3,500 Public Printing Office Public Printer 4,000 Post Office Director 6,000 Public Lands Chief 3,200 Supreme Court Chief Justice [238] 7,500 Supreme Court each associate Judge 7,000 Treasury Office Treasurer 7,000 Weather Bureau Director 2,500

The total cost of the Civil Service for the year 1903 amounted to 8,014,098.77 pesos (vide "Official Gazette," Vol. II., No. 8, dated February 4, 1904), equal to $4,007,049.38 gold.

At the time of the American occupation (1898) the Government was necessarily military, the first governor being Maj.-General Elwell S. Otis up to May 5, 1900, when he returned to America and was immediately succeeded by Maj.-General Arthur McArthur. On January 20, 1899, during General Otis's governorship, a Commission of Inquest was appointed under the presidency of Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman known as the Schurman Commission, which arrived in Manila on May 2 to investigate the state of affairs in the Islands. The Commission was instructed to "endeavour, without interference with the military authorities of the United States now in control in the Philippines, to ascertain what amelioration in the condition of the inhabitants and what improvements in public order may be practicable." The other members of the Commission were Rear-Admiral George Dewey, Charles Denby, Maj.-General Elwell S. Otis, and Dean C. Worcester. Admiral Dewey, however, was soon relieved of his obligation to remain on the Commission, and sailed from Manila on May 19 on the Olympia for New York, via Europe. The commissioners' inquiries into everything concerning the Islands, during their few months' sojourn, are embodied in a published report, dated December 20, 1900. [239] The War of Independence was being waged during the whole time, and military government, with full administrative powers, continued, as heretofore, until September 1, 1900. In the meantime the Washington Government resolved that military rule in the Islands should be superseded by civil government. The pacified provinces, and those in conditions considered fit for civil administration, were to be so established, and pending the conclusion of the war and the subsidence of brigandage, the remainder of the Archipelago was to be administered as military districts. With this end in view, on March 16, 1900, Judge William H. Taft [240] was commissioned to the Islands and sailed from San Francisco (Cal.) with his four colleagues, on April 15, for Manila, where he arrived on June 3. In the three months' interval, pending the assumption of legislative power, the Taft Commission was solely occupied in investigating conditions. To each commissioner certain subjects were assigned; for example, Mr. Taft took up the Civil Service, Public Lands, and the Friar questions. Each commissioner held a kind of Court of Inquiry, before which voluntary evidence was taken. This testimony, later on, appeared in print, and its perusal shows how difficult indeed it must have been for the Commission to have distinguished the true from the false, the valuable from the trivial. It was the beginning of the end of military rule in the Islands. "The days of the Empire," as the military still designate that period, were numbered, and yet not without regret by several native communities, as evidenced by the fact that they sent petitions to the authorities in Manila against the change to civil government. Many law-abiding natives explained to me that the feature in military rule which particularly pleased them was its prompt action—such a contrast to the only civil government of which they had had any experience. About two years later, in 1903, Lieut.-Gen. Miles, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, made a tour in the Islands and drew up a report on the conduct of military operations, charging military officers with the grossest cruelty to the natives. A Senate Commission of Inquest was appointed, but it was quite impossible to prove anything conclusively on unimpeachable evidence; the general retired from his command without the blessing of his comrades, and the matter was abated.