When the Jesuits left Manila in 1768, the missions which they had founded were given to the Recoletos. In 1859 the Jesuits came back to the islands. These missions, for which the Society had worked so hard in years gone by, were returned to it, and other places were made for the Recoletos. This was done at the expense of the native priests, and the people resented it. The feeling was growing among them that the native clergy were not fairly treated, and the installing of friars in their places increased that feeling.

It would be unjust to the Spanish Orders to overlook the good they did in early years in this country. They helped the people in many ways. To them is due the credit of introducing chocolate, coffee, cotton, and tobacco into the islands. They taught the people to weave, and to make many things of use. But too great power fell into their hands, and they did not keep pace with the times. Besides this, the people had now come to believe that their spiritual leaders should be men of their own race.

Moreover, a feeling of national life, such as they had never before known, was awakening among the Filipinos. The many languages spoken among them, and the tribal differences which existed in the country, did more than anything else to keep the Filipino people in subjection. Not until they are a united people, with one language, and with a common desire for the welfare of their country, can they take the place which they should hold among the peoples of the world. This the more enlightened among them were coming to see, and were making a steady effort to unite the tribes in a demand for reform.

In this effort the secret societies, of which mention has been made, played a large part. These societies were in the beginning Masonic lodges. The first of them in the Philippines was founded at Cavite in 1860. Only Spaniards were members at the outset, but in time Filipinos and Mestizos were admitted. Later the members began to take an interest in politics, and little by little the Masonic lodges came to be the gathering places of thinkers and reformers. None of these societies had as yet any idea of revolt against the mother country; but the people were bent upon securing reforms in the government of the islands.

It was impossible to get justice in any court in the archipelago. Every public officer knew that good service and an honorable record would not serve to keep him in office if anyone who had more influence than he wished his position. Corruption, bribery, and dishonesty were the order in the government. All classes were taxed to the utmost limit, and the country was in a state of wretchedness through misrule. The Filipinos themselves had no rights which anyone seemed bound to respect.

The people remembered with bitterness those noble words of the Cortes which declared, in the Constitution of 1812: “The countries and provinces of America and Asia are and ought always to have been an integral part of the Spanish monarchy. Their natives and free inhabitants are equal in rights and privileges to those of the Peninsula.” What the reformers sought was not separation from the mother country. They desired only that Filipinos should be recognized as among her citizens, and entitled to the rights which this declaration of the Cortes said were theirs.

After the revolt at Cavite, a new secret society was formed, known as the Katipunan (kä tē pö´nän) or Association of the Sons of the Country. One of the passwords of this society was “Gom-bur-za.” This word is made up of a part of the name of each one of the native padres executed because of that trouble at Cavite—Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora. The Katipunan was composed of the common people. It numbered many thousands of members, who stood ready to give their lives for the good of the Philippines, and it was probably more responsible than any other one thing for the great uprising of 1896.

In 1895 trouble broke out among the Moros in the south, and in that year the Spanish began what is known as the Marauit (mär ä wēt´) campaign in Mindanao. This was an expedition against the Moros, under the command of Governor-General Blanco himself. This campaign proved a great surprise to the Moros, who were finally overpowered by a division of the Spanish troops commanded by Brigadier-General Gonzales Parrado (pä rä´dō). The campaign lasted for three months, and was a complete success.

After this, in order that the government might keep order there, it was decided to settle the country in the Marauit district with families from Luzon and the other northern islands. This decision hastened the downfall of the Spanish in the Philippines. At first the Filipino people were invited to go and live in this conquered territory, but no one accepted the invitation. It sounded smooth and fair; but it meant leaving friends and home and security for peril, hardship, and doubtful adventure. So, as the unwillingness of the people was seen, the invitation was made more urgent, and took the form of an order. This order, however, was only sent to provinces where the secret societies were supposed to be strongest. It caused great dissatisfaction among the Filipinos, who quickly understood its meaning. Many left their homes and went to live in the mountains to avoid trouble.

The government now made still greater effort, and in 1895 and 1896 there was a systematic persecution of the people to get them to go south. This persecution proved too much for even Filipino patience, and in the spring of 1896 the Katipunan sent a petition to Japan, asking the Mikado to annex the Philippine Islands to Japan. It is said that 5,000 Filipinos signed this petition. The emperor of Japan sent the petition to Spain, and in this way the names of all these petitioners became known to the government. The powers at Manila, however, did not dare to act at once, but waited their time; and the punishment, when it came, was all the more severe for the delay.

At this time all the Spaniards in Manila knew that some great uprising was planned among the people. The government, however, realized the mistake that had been made in paying too much attention to the revolt at Cavite, and it now made the greater mistake of not paying enough attention to this trouble.

On July 5, 1896, an officer of the Guardia Civil reported that over 14,000 men in the valley of Pasig were pledged to revolt. Still nothing was done about this by the Spanish until a month later, when a large number of revolutionary flags and ammunition were found at Taal. Governor-General Blanco then ordered some arrests to be made.

By this time the Katipunan had its plans nearly completed. There was to have been an uprising on the 20th of August; but, on the night before, the plot was discovered by Father Mariano Gil (mä rē ä´nō zhēl), an Augustine friar, the parish priest at Tondo. The authorities then realized for the first time that the Katipunan was a political society, and Governor-General Blanco cabled the fact to Madrid.

The garrison at Manila numbered only 1,500 men, many of whom were natives and not to be depended upon for help; so that General Blanco did not dare to take the field against the rebels. Nevertheless, arrests were made daily, and the prisons were full to overflowing. Among the prisoners were some of the leading Filipinos of Luzon, many of whom were merely suspected of disloyalty to the government.

Much time was lost by the Spanish because General Blanco was unwilling to use force until every honorable means of bringing about peace had been exhausted. He felt, moreover, that his army was too small to justify an advance against the rebels, and so he cabled to Madrid for help. In return he got word that 2,000 men, two gunboats, and large stores of arms and ammunition were to be sent at once.

By August 30 the uprising was in full force. The rebels were gathered at San Juan del Monte, a suburb of Manila, where the first battle was fought. This took place between the Filipinos under command of Sancho Valenzuela (sän´kō väl ān thu ā´lä) and three others, and some native cavalry and members of the Guardia Civil. The Filipinos were driven back, and on that day martial law was proclaimed in Manila and in the provinces about the bay. Later the rebel leaders at San Juan were shot on the Luneta. This was the first of many executions which took place from week to week afterwards, until the green lawn of the Luneta was saturated with patriot blood.

Now there was war in earnest between the Spanish and the Filipinos. The rebellion was growing daily, and the cream of Manila society was in the jails. Governor-General Blanco was still inclined to look upon the uprising as merely local, and not to regard it seriously; but he was constantly urged to severe measures by certain of his advisers. They desired that all rebels caught should be put to death at once, and there seemed no length to which their vindictive spirit was not willing to go. The newspapers of Manila were forbidden to speak of the uprising, or to use the words “rebellion” or “rebel.” The matter was treated as of slight importance, and the natives engaged in the insurrection were spoken of as bandits. This was also the tone which Governor-General Blanco adopted in all the despatches which he sent to the home government.

Province after province declared with the rebels, until all southern Luzon was in revolt. Cavite Province had become the center of the uprising, and Emilio Aguinaldo (ä mēl´ē ō äg wē näl´dō), formerly a schoolmaster at Cavite, came to the front as a leader. He was a native of the city of Cavite, born March 22, 1869, and at this time was about twenty-seven years old.

By the middle of September, troops to the number of 6,000 had been sent up from Zamboanga and southern stations to aid the government at Manila. Nearly two-thirds of these were natives, however, and the Spaniards felt that they had good reason to distrust their loyalty. The rebels were in great force about Silang, Imus (ē´ mus), and Novaleta (nō vä lā´tä), and there were uprisings in Tarlac (tär´läk), Pangasinan, Laguna, Morong, and Tayabas.

On October 1 a steamer arrived from Spain with a battalion of marines, which was warmly welcomed by the Spaniards. The next day came another steamer with more troops, and after that a large number of men came, until, before the trouble was over, there were 28,000 Spanish soldiers in the islands. These, however, were raw drafts. The trouble in Cuba had taken all of Spain’s fighting men, and she had nothing to send to the Philippines but boys. These young soldiers were undrilled, without uniforms, and but poorly armed.

The Filipinos were no better off than the Spanish troops. They were hardier, but they were even more poorly armed. They had some rifles, but most of their guns were made of gas or water pipe wrapped with telegraph wire. They had cannon made from boiler tubes and from old bells and other metal. But they were determined and courageous, and were fighting for what was dearer to them than life—the decent treatment to which every free man is entitled at the hands of his government.

The Spanish treated all Filipinos captured with great cruelty. From time to time suspects were sent in from the provinces, bound hand and foot; they were hauled up from the holds of vessels with chain and hook, and discharged as cargo, like bales of hemp.

The rainy season set in, and General Blanco had not the force at his command which his successor had afterwards. The native troops were not to be depended upon, and it was almost impossible for the few Spanish soldiers to get about the country. He contented himself, therefore, with keeping the rebels out of Manila.

In December, 1896, the governor-general went back to Spain. At that time the total European force in the islands was 10,000 men. They held the arsenals at Cavite, and the city of Manila; but the rebels were strongly entrenched throughout the peninsula of Cavite and in Laguna Province. “At that time,” says Forman, the historian, “I was informed by the secretary of the military court that there were 4,700 individuals awaiting trial by court-martial.”

General Camilo Polavieja was sent out to the Philippines as governor-general in Blanco’s stead. He arrived in June, 1896, and at once set to work to put down the rebellion. He was an energetic military leader, a man who had himself risen from the ranks. He had been in Cuba, and his experience there enabled him to see at once how serious was the state of things in the Philippines. On the ship with him came 500 troops, under command of General Lachambre (lä chäm´brā), and on another ship 1,500 more. Others quickly followed, so that in a short time, as we have stated before, there were 28,000 fighting Europeans in the islands.

It was now the dry season, and General Lachambre at once took the field against the rebels in Cavite Province. The Filipinos at this time expressly declared that they were fighting, not Spain, but the dominion of the Spanish friars. Their battle cry was, “Long live Spain! Down with the priests!” The campaign was conducted very well on the part of the Spanish. Their troops were better armed than the Filipinos, and were well commanded, while the rebels had no trained military officers to plan their battles. The Filipinos were driven from Imus, and later from Silang; and although the Spanish met with great losses, in time the rebels, unable to hold any one place, were driven up to Laguna Province. By the middle of March every rebel band of importance had been scattered.

Polavieja cabled for more troops to be sent from Spain. He wanted these to garrison the districts which he had taken from the rebels, as his army corps was needed in the northern provinces, to which the Filipinos had been driven back. But there were already 200,000 Spanish soldiers in Cuba, and more were needed there. The Spanish government, therefore, refused to send any more troops to the Philippines.

The newspapers at Madrid made light of the trouble in the islands, and criticised the governor-general’s rule. Polavieja then cabled that he was broken down in health and should be obliged to resign. Through much of the campaign he was so ill that he could not sit his horse, and was obliged to direct the campaign from Parañaque (pä rän yä´kē), where he remained until after the capture of San Francisco and the driving back of the rebels into the mountains.

In April, 1897, he went back to Spain. General Lachambre followed, to receive great praise for the good work he had done in the Philippines. Polavieja himself arrived in Spain blind, physically disabled, and really ill; but he had accomplished a great deal in the islands, and had gotten the rebellion well in hand.

The next governor-general was Primo de Rivera, who had held that office before, from the years 1880 to 1883. He reached Manila on the 23d of April, and went to the front on the 29th day of that month.

Summary.—The growth of secret societies in the islands, and the rebellious attitude of many of the people, led Spain to adopt a new measure. It was decided to settle the Marauit district, in Mindanao, with Filipinos from Luzon. Invitations, amounting really to orders, to go and live in this district were sent out among the people living in provinces where the secret societies were supposed to be strongest. Because of these invitations many Filipinos left their homes and went to live in the mountains, to avoid trouble. The government then began trying to force people to go south to live. In 1896 the Katipunan sent a petition to the emperor of Japan, asking him to annex the islands to Japan. The emperor sent this petition to Spain. The government now awoke to a knowledge of how serious was the revolt in the islands. Many arrests were made, and soon the jails in Manila were filled with prisoners.

By August 30 the uprising was in full force, and the first battle was fought at San Juan del Monte, on that day. Troops were now sent from Spain, while from all over the islands fighting men gathered to the aid of the Filipino leaders. By December, 1896, there were 10,000 European troops in the islands. They held the arsenal at Cavite, and the city of Manila; but the Filipinos held strong positions in the Cavite peninsula and in Laguna Province. Governor-General Blanco went back to Spain, and General Camilo Polavieja was sent out in his stead. The new governor-general carried on the war with great vigor. He sent for more troops, until there were 28,000 Spanish soldiers in the country. The Spanish succeeded in driving the Filipinos back from their strong places, but were too few to do more than hold them in check. The home government refused to send more troops to the Philippines, as all Spain’s armed force was needed in Cuba. Governor-General Polavieja was taken very ill, and went back to Spain. General Lachambre followed, soon after. The next governor-general was Primo de Rivera, who reached Manila April 23, 1897.

Questions.—What were the secret societies that now grew up in the islands? What plan did the government make for settling the Marauit district? Give an account of the petition sent by the Katipunan to Japan. When was the first battle fought in the uprising of 1896? Outline the progress of this uprising.