imprisonment at once of some 300 of the suspects. Some time before this, a petition, signed by 5000 of these natives, had been presented to the government of Japan, asking for annexation to that government, and this was at once forwarded by the Japanese government to that of Madrid. This action of Japan only added fuel to the fire. While the Spanish government was for the time lenient with these petitioners, it was compulsory lieniency, as there were then in the Philippines only about 1500 Spanish soldiers, and 6000 auxiliaries (natives). By the 1st of December following, this force had been increased to 10,000 Spanish regulars, with the addition of some small war-craft. Arrests followed, and discontent became rampant. On the 26th of August, 1896, Caloocan was raided by the insurgents, some Chinese killed and others captured. The Spanish cavalry started in pursuit, but all had vanished. On the morning of August 30th the first battle of the insurrection occurred at San Juan del Monte, just outside Manila, the rebels making the attack at four o'clock in the morning.

They had no military skill or leadership, Sancho Valenzuela being in command, and he, by occupation, a ropemaker. One Spaniard was killed and several wounded. There were eighty of the rebels killed. On September 4th four of the leaders of the San Juan fight were executed on the Luneta. This was followed by the execution of others. The rebellion now spread like an infection, reaching into the provinces, the populace being quite universally allied with the rebellion. Everywhere, however, the little conflicts were favorable to the Spanish.

AGUINALDO APPEARS.

The province of Cavite soon attracted most attention from its connection with Don Emilio Aguinaldo. He was there teaching school at Silan, a small place, but a hotbed and resort of rebels. He was born in this province on the 22d of March, 1868, at Cauit.

Aguinaldo at once sprang into prominence by issuing an address to the people, counseling resistance. There was not formulated in this proclamation a plan of government. At San Francisco de Malabon he organized the revolutionary move

ment, and at once marched to Imus, in the province of Cavite. Here there was a slight engagement, and several priests were captured and cruelly tortured to death. Aguinaldo fortified Imus. The insurgents also held Paranaque and Las Pinas, and built trenches one and one-half miles long, south of Cavite fort and arsenal; they were splendidly entrenched. Here the Spaniards, 2 with a large force, sought to dislodge them, but were defeated with the loss of nearly the half of a whole regiment of auxiliaries; sixty Spanish regulars were killed and fifty wounded. The Spaniards retired behind trenches. In the meantime executions were the order of the day; in Manila thirteen of the "promoters" were executed at one time.

There was an organized force of insurgents north of Manila, in the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga. Their estimated strength was 3000. Against these the Spaniards had a cavalry detachment of 500 men. Nothing effective, however, was done. With the augmentation of the Spanish forces an attempt was made to capture the insurgents, but everywhere the rebels seemed victorious. At Carmona, Silan, Imus, Binicayan-all were Spanish defeats, but still these defeats served the purpose of keeping the rebel forces out of Manila. It was a savage warfare and no mercy shown by either faction.

CHANGES IN THE GOVERNOR-GENERALSHIP.

Governor-General Blanco, not being in harmony with the archbishop, was recalled to Spain in December. At this time the insurgent force was practically in possession of the whole province of Cavite, except the fortifications of Cavite, and there were in the province about 7000 insurgent troops, mostly equipped with Mauser rifles. They were well entrenched, but with no sufficient artillery. Their total fighting force at this time was about 35,000 men.

General Camilo Polavieja succeeded General Blanco. His available force was increased to 28,000 men, and a vigorous campaign was at once inaugurated. General Lachambre was his deputy commanding in the field, and a large number of small engagements followed, the result of which, for the time, re-established Spanish rule in Cavite province. General Polavieja and his deputy resigned and left for Spain, April 15, 1897. He was succeeded in command by General Fernando Primo de Rivera, who arrived later in the spring in Manila.

At this time, Aguinaldo had united his forces with Llaneras, and they overran a number of the northern provinces, including Tarlac. General Monet conducted the Spanish campaign against these forces, but his barbarities were such that the rebellion only spread and strengthened. His native auxiliaries, and the native priests, almost in a body joined the rebellious army. The rebellion, from now until the making of that remarkable pact of peace which so long brought Aguinaldo and his

party into obloquy, took on the form of guerrilla warfare. There were no actions known as battles, between the forces, but a series of raids and assaults by small detachments.

THE PACT OF PEACE.

On August 6, 1897, General Rivera commissioned a Filipino to negotiate terms of peace with the insurgents; and an agreement or treaty, known as the Pacto de Biac-na-bato," was made, on the part of the Spanish government, by

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Pedro A. Paterno, the Filipino mentioned, and Aguinaldo and thirty-four of his leaders; in which among other stipulations, it was agreed, -that the rebels should be paid $1,000,000, and the families who had been damaged by the war $700,000; that Aguinaldo and his associates should leave the islands, and not return without the consent of the Spanish government; all arms and ammunition of the rebels were to be surrendered, and they were to evacuate all places and fortifications held by them by force of arms. An armistice for three years was provided for, in which certain promised reforms were to be made, and the rebels should not again engage in rebellious acts.

A SORE CROWD.

There has been much dispute as to the full terms of that compact, the insurgents claiming that many reforms were provided for, which the Spaniards deny. As the treaty or agreement has never been published or made known by any of those who were party to it, there is cause for suspicion, that in its scope, and afterwards in its execution, there was that which would compromise those connected with it. On the 15th of December, 1897, however, the General-in-Chief, and his mediator, Pedro A. Paterno, signed the following agreement which appears to be a part of the unpublished compact:

"In the peace proposals presented by the sole mediator, Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno, in the name and on behalf of the rebels in arms, and in the Peace Protocol which

was agreed to and submitted to His Majesty's Government, which approved of the same, there exists a principal clause relating to the sums of mon

ey which

BRIDGE AT BULACAN.

were handed over to the rebels and their families as indemnity for the loss of their goods consequent on the war, which sums amounted to a total of $1,700,000, which the mediator, Señor Paterno, was to distribute absolutely at his

discretion, but the payment of the said sum will have to be subject to the conditions proposed by the representative of the government, H. E. the General-in-Chief of this army.

These conditions were agreed to be as follows, viz:

1. For the rebels in arms a draft for the sum of $400,000 will be handed to Señor Paterno, payable in Hongkong, as well as two cheques for $200,000 each, payable only on the condition of the agreement being fulfilled on the other part.

2. For the families of those who were not rebels in arms, or engaged in rebellion, but who likewise suffered the evils of war, the balance of the sum offered shall be paid in three installments, the last to be paid six months after the date on which the Te Deum shall be sung, assuming the peace to become an accomplished fact. Peace shall be held to be effectively concluded if, during the interval of these installment periods, no party of armed rebels, with recognized leader, shall exist, and if no secret society shall have been discovered as existing here or abroad with the proved object of conspiracy by those who benefit by these payments. The

representative

of the rebels, Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno, and the representative

of the government, the Captain-General Don Fernando Primo de Rivera, agree to

the above con

ditions, in witness whereof each representative now signs four copies of the same tenor and effect, one being for the government, another for the archives of the Captain-Generalcy, and one copy each for the said representatives.

*Done in Manila on the 15th of December, 1897.

Fernando Primo de Rivera,

The General-in-Chief.

Pedro A. Paterno.

MONEY PAID BY THE SPANISH TO THE INSURGENTS.

Pursuant to this agreement certain sums were paid by the Spanish to the rebels. Aguinaldo and his party embarked for Hongkong on December 27, 1897, escorted by Spanish officers, and counseling submission to Spanish authority. The rebels delivered up their arms, the Spanish government sent home 7000 of its troops, and there was an interval of peace.

It is claimed on one hand, and has generally been believed in America, that in this transaction Aguinaldo and his leaders were bribed by the Spanish *The original of the above document was read in public session of Congress in Madrid, on the 16th of June, 1898, by the Deputy Señor Muro.

government to desert their cause, and that as matters turned out they were guilty of the double infamy of accepting a bribe and refusing to "stay bought."

On the other hand it is insisted by the friends of Aguinaldo that the money paid by the Spaniards was in no sense a personal matter, but constituted a trust fund, to be employed as circumstances might determine; if the pledges alleged to have been made by the Spanish in connection with the payment were kept, the money was to be distributed among those who had suffered loss by the rebellion; if otherwise it was to be used in a renewal of the revolutionary movement.

NATIVE THEATER.

What the real intent was cannot now be known. There can be little doubt that the Spanish authorities believed that whatever the ostensible purpose for which the money was paid, it would in the end. be retained by Auginaldo. and his leaders, who would thereby be discredited and incapable of further mischief. Whether this would have been the case can now never be known, as the advent of the Americans made a complete change in the situation, opening as it did to the imagination of Aguinaldo, possibilities of which he could not have dreamed.

It is interesting to note in this connection what General Francis V. Greene, of the United

States Army in the Philippines, thought of the bribery phase of the affair and of Aguinaldo. In his official report to the Secretary of War, dated August 30, 1898, he says:

"Aguinaldo and his associates went to Hongkong and Singapore. A portion of the money, $400,000, was deposited in banks at Hongkong, and a lawsuit soon arose between Aguinaldo and one of his subordinate chiefs named Artacho, which is interesting on account of the very honorable position taken by Aguinaldo. Artacho sued for a division of the money among the insurgents according to rank. Aguinaldo claimed that the money was a trust fund, and was to remain on deposit until it was seen whether the Spaniards would carry out their promised reforms,