Rebel Badges of Rank.
| Generalissimo, | K on the hat or cap. |
| Z. L. I. B. on the arm. | |
| |
| Lieutenant Generals, |
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| Marshals, |
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| Brigadiers, |
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| Colonels, |
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| Majors, | K K K |
| The Ministers, | K |
| The Secretary to the Generalissimo, | K K K |
The rebels occupied the whole of the province of Cavite, except the fortified town of that name containing the naval arsenal, and a small strip on the shores of the Laguna where the Spanish troops were posted.
Cornell’s brigade was at Calamba and Marina’s brigade at Biñan. They had outlying detachments amounting to 1500 men at Santa Cruz, Santo Domingo, Tayabas, and along the line from Tanáuan to Bañadero, leaving each brigade 4000 men for the advance into the rebel territory. The divisional troops numbered about 1300, making a total of 9300 combatants.
The brigade under Jaramillo had its headquarters in Taal, Batangas Province, with outlying detachments at Batangas, Calacá, Lián Balayan and Punta Santiago, and a force holding the line of the Pansipit River, altogether amounting to 1000 men, leaving 1600 free to operate.
Besides this a fourth brigade, not belonging to the division, having General Galbis as brigadier, was extended along the northern bank of the Zapote River, under the immediate orders of the governor-general. The Lakes of Bay and Bombon (Taal) were guarded by armed steam-launches and other small craft, whilst the gunboats of the squadron patrolled the sea coast. The rebel province was thus held in a grip of iron.
On the 12th February, 1897, General Lachambre reported himself ready to advance. General Polavieja ordered Jaramillo to attack the rebel trenches at Bayuyungan on the 14th, and to keep up the attack until Lachambre had seized Silang, when he was to attack Talisay on the Lake of Taal. The marines at Dalahican were ordered to attack Noveleta, whilst Lachambre was to advance on the 15th, the two brigades taking different routes, but converging on Silang.
The march was extremely difficult, and the nine-centimètre guns were only taken through, at the cost of most strenuous efforts. The enemy tenaciously defended every favourable position, and were only driven off at the cost of many lives.
On the 19th, Silang, one of the principal rebel towns, was taken by assault and at the point of the bayonet, after a preparatory bombardment in which the artillery fired 105 rounds of shell, whilst 25,000 rifle cartridges were used by the infantry.
The rebels lost 2000 men killed and wounded, whilst the Spanish losses were 12 killed and 70 wounded. The town was strongly entrenched and stoutly defended, and its capture with so small a loss may justly be called a creditable operation. Marina’s brigade attacked from the south and Cornell’s brigade from the east.
The action lasted from 7 to 11.30 A.M. The rebels were discouraged, but still, on the 22nd, they delivered an attack as if they would retake the town, and pressed on with great fury. They killed four of the Spaniards and wounded twenty-one, but in the end were driven off, leaving 400 dead on the ground. The houses in Silang were found fully furnished and provisioned. In the house of the so-called Viceroy of Silang, Victor Belarmino, the principal ornament of the sala was a chromo-lithograph portrait of the Queen Regent.
The church-doors were wide open and the altars profusely illuminated. On the sacristy table lay the priestly robes and ornaments, ready, doubtless, for the celebration of a Te Deum for the expected victory. But he who was to wear them, the celebrated Tagal Bishop, lay with a bullet through his heart across the parapet he had fiercely defended.
Lachambre preserved the best houses around the church and convent and utilised them as storehouses, hospital, and barracks, burning the rest of the town as a punishment to the rebels. He then garrisoned and fortified the post and connected it with the telegraph line.
On the 24th Lachambre marched from Silang, his main body advancing by the direct route to Perez Dasmariñas parallel to the River Casundit, a flanking force of three companies guarding the left of the column, whilst Lieutenant Colonel Villalon, with a battalion and a half having started an hour earlier than the main body, took the road to Palimparan, having the Rio Grande on his right, and by his advance protecting the right flank of the column. Villalon advanced rapidly, and, brushing aside all opposition, rushed Palimparan with a loss of one killed and one wounded, killing seven of the rebels in the attack. Here he bivouacked, and at sunset was joined by another force consisting of half a brigade under Colonel Arizon, detached from General Galbis’ force on the Zapote River.
In the meantime the main body had advanced to within three miles of Perez Dasmariñas and bivouacked at the hamlet called Sampalcoc. On the following day Perez Dasmariñas was taken by assault, after a short bombardment by the mountain batteries. The rebels were strongly entrenched, and made a stout resistance. They had flooded the rice fields to the east of the town and rendered them impassable.
The town was attacked from the south and west, but it took hours of hard fighting for the Spaniards to break in, and even then the rebels fought hand to hand, and many preferred death to surrender. Those who fled were taken in flank by Arizon’s force, which approached the northern end of the town from the eastward. The loss of the Spaniards was 21 killed and 121 wounded, whilst the natives left 400 dead at the foot of their defences, and a great number were killed outside the town.
The early part of the defence was directed by Aguinaldo, but he fled when the Spanish forces closed up, leaving Estrella, an ex-sergeant of the Guardia Civil, in his place. Estrella fled later on when the Spaniards had entered the town. Unintimidated by this rude lesson, the rebels that same night fired into the town, and on the 27th they attacked a column which went out to make a reconnaissance towards Palimparan, and gave a mountain battery a chance, which they promptly took, of getting at a dense body of them with case. The artillery fired 22 rounds in this action, and the infantry used 63,000 cartridges. The Spanish loss was two killed and ten wounded, whilst the rebels lost at least 300.
The church, convent, and stone homes round the Plaza of Perez Dasmariñas were loopholed and prepared for defence, and occupied by a garrison of two companies of infantry. Owing, however, to the difficulty of bringing up supplies, the division could not resume its advance till the 7th March. Then the division took the eastern road to Imus, whilst the half brigade under Arizon marched by a parallel road on the right flank, which converged upon the Imus road at Salitran, a village with a large stone estate-house belonging to the Recollets, strongly entrenched and held by the rebels.
On arriving within range two guns of Cornell’s brigade opened fire on the estate-house from an eminence, but after the fifth round the Spanish flag was shown from the house, it having been occupied by Arizon’s force arriving from the east after a very slight resistance, for the rebels seemed to have no one in command. They had prepared for an attack from the east, but when they found the Spaniards arriving in great force upon their right flank, enfilading their strong entrenchments, they became demoralised and took to flight.
The scouts now reported that a formidable entrenchment a mile and a quarter long, was occupied by the rebels about a mile north of the village. This entrenchment, called Anabo II., covered both the roads to Imus, and each flank rested on a deep ravine—the eastern end had a redoubt, and the western end a flanking epaulement.
The ground in front was perfectly open, and there was difficulty in making a flanking attack, so General Zabala, with a half brigade, made a direct attack. The fighting line gradually advanced, taking such cover as the pilápiles of the rice-fields could give, until they arrived within 100 yards of the parapet, when Zabala, waving high his sword, gave the order for the assault, falling a moment after pierced through the breast by a shot from a lantaca. Two captains fell near him, but the lieutenants led their companies to the assault; the cazadores sprang across the ditch and clambered up the high parapet with the agility and fury of leopards, bayoneting those of the defenders who remained to fight it out, and sending volley after volley into those who had taken to flight.
The Spanish loss was 11 killed and 33 wounded, whilst 200 of the rebels were killed. This heavy loss did not however appear to intimidate them in the least, for on the 8th they made two desperate attempts to retake the position, in both of which they came within close range of the Spaniards, who poured repeated volleys into them by word of command, whilst the mountain-guns played upon them with ease. In this action the Spaniards lost 5 killed and 25 wounded, and they calculated the rebel killed at 300.
Chapter XI.
The Insurrection of 1896–97—continued.
The Division encamps at San Nicolas—Work of the native engineer soldiers—The division marches to Salitran—Second action at Anabo II.—Crispulo Aguinaldo killed—Storming the entrenchments of Anabo I.—Burning of Imus by the rebels—Proclamation by General Polavieja—Occupation of Bacoor—Difficult march of the division—San Antonio taken by assault—Division in action with all its artillery—Capture of Noveleta—San Francisco taken by assault—Heavy loss of the Tagals—Losses of the division—The division broken up—Monteverde’s book—Polavieja returns to Spain—Primo de Rivera arrives to take his place—General Monet’s butcheries—The pact of Biak-na-Bato—The 74th Regiment joins the insurgents—The massacre of the Calle Camba—Amnesty for torturers—Torture in other countries.
On the 10th (March) the division marched to Presa-Molino, which was occupied that same evening, and leaving three companies of infantry to guard the position, the division continued its march through a most difficult country, arriving in the afternoon on the Zapote River, in touch with the 4th Brigade, formerly commanded by Galbis and now by Barraquer.
From there Lachambre with his staff rode over to Parañaque, and reported himself to the Captain-General Polavieja.
The troops encamped on the downs of San Nicolas, one brigade on each side of the River Zapote. Notwithstanding the comparatively favourable emplacement of the camp, the troops and their officers suffered severely from the effect of the climate upon frames weakened by over-exertion, by indifferent nourishment and by sleeping on the ground. Malarial fevers, intestinal catarrh, dysentery, and rheumatism sapped their vitality, whilst nostalgia preyed upon the younger soldiers and depressed their spirits. Since the 15th February the division had lost in killed, wounded, and invalided, no less than 135 officers, and troops in greater proportion.
Yet still greater exertions were to be required from the soldiers. The 4th Brigade was incorporated in the division, and two additional battalions, one from the 3rd Brigade and the other from the Independent Brigade, brought the number of combatants nearly up to 12,000.
Having previously made a practicable road by Almansa to Presa Molino and Salitran, defended by redoubts at the most difficult fords, and having organised his transport with such means as the country afforded, Lachambre again set out, his objective being Imus, but the attack was to be from Salitran.
The work of the native engineer soldiers, and of the 74th Native Regiment in constructing this road and the redoubts, merits the highest praise, and it must be admitted that it is almost impossible for an army of white men to carry on a campaign in the Philippines or in similar territory, without the assistance of native pioneer or engineer troops.
The road being ready, and the convoys of provisions having gone forward, on the morning of the 22nd March the division started on its march to Salitran, where it arrived on the evening of the 23rd, having had some sharp skirmishes on the way.
Early on the 24th the division set out for Imus, and once more the formidable trenches and redoubts of Anabo II., restored, strengthened, and crowded with determined defenders, barred their path. These works had once already been taken by assault, and had cost the division the loss of the brave General Zabala and other officers and men.
Protected on each flank by a deep ravine with a river at the bottom, and with open ground in front, the attack had been rendered more difficult by flooding the arable land before the trenches, and the position of the rebels was an exceedingly strong one. Lachambre had to accept a direct attack, but he sent a body of troops forward on each flank to advance simultaneously and overlap the ends of the entrenchment.
The infantry deployed, the firing line advanced under fire without stopping to within three hundred yards of the parapet, when they halted, taking what cover they could and keeping up a steady fire. Then the mountain battery was brought up and fired common shell at close range, breaching the parapet. A rush forward soon brought the firing-line within 150 yards of the parapet. General Marina, watching the engagement well to the front, had one of his staff officers killed at his side; seeing the favourable moment arrive, he gave the order for the assault.
Once more the troops exhibited their conspicuous bravery. The long line, led by its officers, dashed forward with the bayonet, the bugles sounding the charge, and with impetuous speed, soon reached the parapet. However terrible the attack, the stout-hearted Tagals stood firm, disdaining to fly.
Bolo and bayonet clashed, European courage and Malay fury had full play, till in the end, as ever in equal numbers and in stand-up fight, the European prevailed. Many of the defenders fell, the rest sought safety in flight.
The engagement lasted two and a half hours without cessation, and over three hundred rebel dead were counted in or near the works, amongst them was Crispulo Aguinaldo, a brother of General Emilio Aguinaldo. The Spaniards lost 9 killed and 108 wounded.
After a short rest the division resumed the advance upon Imus, and bivouacked after marching about a couple of miles.
On the 25th the advance was continued on a broad front. Scarcely had the division marched for half-an-hour when the leading ranks came in sight of another line of entrenchments more than two miles long, six feet high, and five feet thick, well protected with cane fences in front, one of these being at a distance of 100 yards from the parapet.
Lachambre orders the centre to make a direct attack and the wings a flanking movement. The rebels retain their fire till the Spaniards arrive within two hundred yards, and then the parapet is crowned with flame both from small arms and lantacas. The scene of the day before was repeated, the parapet stormed, with a rebel loss of over six hundred. After a short halt the advance against Imus was resumed. The distance was short, and the appearance of the thousands of bayonets and the explosion of a few shells produced an indescribable panic amongst the inhabitants and the many who had come from other towns to assist in the defence.
They took to flight, disregarding the protests of their leaders Emilio Aguinaldo and Andrés Bonifacio. In order to cover his retreat, the former ordered the magazine to be blown up and the town to be burned. This delayed the advance of the Spaniards in the centre, but the wings moved forward and the thousands of fugitives were exposed to a flanking fire, and more than eight hundred of them bit the dust. It was afternoon before Lachambre could enter what remained of Imus, when as a mark of honour for their splendid services, the colour of the 74th Regiment of Native Infantry was raised upon the tower of the church—all the troops presenting arms and afterwards giving enthusiastic cheers.
Thus was taken the citadel of the Katipunan with a loss to the Spaniards of 25 killed and 129 wounded.
The taking of Imus gave General Polavieja an opportunity of offering an amnesty to the rebels, which he did not neglect. On the 26th of March he issued a proclamation offering pardon to all who had borne arms against the Royal Authority, or who had assisted the rebels, provided they presented themselves before Palm Sunday the 11th of April. Leaders of the rebels were to present themselves with their forces and arms.
On the 26th March the division, leaving a garrison in Imus, started for Bacoor to take the defences in reverse, and such was the effect on the rebels of their defeat at Imus and of the advance in overwhelming force, that they fled, and the division occupied Bacoor almost without firing a shot.
It was otherwise with Binacayan, for Marina’s Brigade having made a reconnaissance in force on the 28th, were received with a heavy fire, and after an hour’s skirmish in which some were killed on each side, they returned to their camp at Bacoor; Lachambre considering that an attack in that direction would result in a useless waste of life, for the advance would be along narrow causeways across swamps. Having received provisions and ammunition by sea from Manila, he returned with his division to Imus, the garrison of which had not been molested by the rebels.
At daylight on the 31st March, the division left Imus and marched across country in a westerly and southerly direction, fording numerous streams running at the bottom of deep ravines, as well as many irrigating canals and ditches. Soon after the start the right flank was fired upon, the fire increasing as the column moved forward. The engineers had to improve the approaches to the fords of the Rivers Julian and Batong Dalig under fire.
The leading brigade carried several entrenchments on its front and flank without halting, but extending skirmishes on either flank to beat off the enemy. The rear brigade was attacked on both flanks and had to fight a rearguard action as well. The division bivouacked for the night at Bacao, a point from which it threatened the rebel towns of San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Rosario and Noveleta, all within easy reach.
The losses on the day’s march were 6 killed and 37 wounded, whilst 400 rebel killed were counted on open ground, and many must have fallen amongst the bushes and trees.
They, however, were not at all dismayed, and surrounded the bivouac at night, firing repeated volleys and engaging the outposts.
On the following day (1st April), the division with all its baggage crossed the River Ladron, and took up a position in the centre of a large tract of rice-fields, having Noveleta on the north, San Francisco on the south, Rosario and Santa Cruz to the west, and San Antonio on the east. San Antonio was first taken by assault after the parapet had been breached by the fire of two batteries of mountain guns. The fugitive Tagals who escaped with their lives took refuge in Noveleta.
The situation was now as follows: Arizon’s Brigade threatened Noveleta, Marina’s Brigade threatened Rosario and Sarralde’s Brigade attacked Santa Cruz—the baggage being in the centre and out of fire.
At this moment a dense mass of the enemy issuing from San Francisco, made a desperate attack upon the Spaniards nearest to them.
The whole of the division with its twelve guns, was now in action and surrounded by the enemy, Lachambre in the centre keenly watching the fight. When he judged the right moment had arrived, he ordered Arizon’s Brigade to storm Noveleta.
The Brigade greeted this order with thundering shouts of “Viva España,” and with the pluck that has always distinguished the Spanish soldier when well led, carried the entrenchments at a run, and fought a hand to hand combat with the defenders, who were either killed or driven out, notwithstanding that these were the very best of the rebel troops, amongst them being many of Aguinaldo’s Guards, wearing a special uniform, some of them having served in the native regiments. Here, again, the 74th Native Infantry distinguished themselves by their remarkable bravery, and once more their colour was displayed from the church tower as a recognition of their valuable and loyal services.
The capture of Noveleta placed the division in communication with the marines occupying the entrenchments of Dalahican.
This action cost the division 11 killed and 58 wounded, but many hundreds of the rebels were killed.
In consequence of this, the rebels abandoned Cavite, Viejo, and Binacayan, which were occupied the following day without resistance.
The rebels, however, on the 4th, and again on the 5th, attacked the troops in Noveleta and sustained the combat for some time, killing 10 and wounding 33 Spanish, but leaving 50 of their own dead on the ground.
On the 6th the division marched from Noveleta, which was occupied by a garrison of marines, and took the direction of San Francisco, the advanced guard in extended order across the same open ground upon which the engagement of April 1st was fought. The rebel positions on the right flank were marked by lines of skirmishers with their supports and reserves. The Tagals had, however, inundated the part of this plain immediately in front of the town, and the advance was made with great difficulty; the guns and ammunition boxes having to be carried by the gunners with the assistance of the infantry. With undaunted bravery the troops struggled on under a heavy fire, but Lachambre, realising the difficulty and the danger incurred, changed the direction of the advance. The right wing under Arizon inclined to the right, and the left, under Marina, bore away to the left. Half a brigade crossed the River Ladron, notwithstanding the opposition of the rebels, and attacked the town from the east. Firmer ground was soon reached, the guns that had cost so much labour taking up, were mounted, and a rain of shell soon fell amongst the rebels. The infantry poured in steady volleys, advancing in the intervals of firing. The whole combined attack being within a proper distance for the final rush, Lachambre gave the word, and like greyhounds released, the Spanish and native infantry leaped to the assault. The parapet was high and deep the ditch, for the defenders had not spared their labour on it, and as the Spanish line reached the edge, the rebels boldly mounted the parapet and discharged their arms at close quarters. In this critical moment the moral superiority of the white man once more was manifest. The Spanish troops reached the parapet and a hand-to-hand combat with the bolder rebels took place, the bayonet against the spear or bolo. The less-determined of the enemy fled, and in a few minutes 120 Tagals lay dead against the parapet, and five guns and eighty rifles remained as trophies to the victors. The companies re-formed for the pursuit, but the enemy fired the thatched huts to interpose a curtain of flame between them and their pursuers; a measure which was only partially successful, for some of the troops, nimbly darting through the lanes, shot down or bayoneted many of the fugitives, killing 400 in the pursuit, besides those who died at the entrenchments. The Spanish loss was 25 killed and 125 wounded, including several officers. The fighting had lasted four hours over very difficult ground, and the troops were exhausted. Lachambre therefore camped in the town, which has many fine edifices and a spacious, church and convent. The bells of the church, in a joyful peal, announced the Spanish triumph. The rebels were under the command of Andrés Bonifacio, the President of the formidable Katipunan. This terrible blow to the insurrection was followed by the occupation of the towns of Santa Cruz and Rosario, without firing a shot.
Many of the natives had joined the rebellion under compulsion, and had long desired to submit themselves. Now they came in by hundreds every day to claim the amnesty offered by General Polavieja.
Fifty-two days had the campaign lasted, fifty-seven combats had taken place, and the total loss of the division was 1 general, 14 officers, and 168 men killed, and 56 officers and 910 men wounded. Probably a far larger number died or were invalided from disease, induced by the fatigue, exposure and privations inseparable from such a campaign, especially as most of the men were mere youths, raw recruits, and with little possibility of taking care of themselves, even if they knew how. Notwithstanding the excessive fatigue and the depressing nature of the surroundings, the Spanish troops maintained a fine martial spirit, and ever showed themselves ready to respond to the calls made upon them. They were well led by their officers, who devoted themselves unsparingly in their country’s service, and they had confidence in their generals, who were untiring in their exertions to do their best for their men. Lachambre displayed the greatest solicitude for the well-being of the force under his command; whilst showing the utmost resolution, and pushing his attacks home in every case, yet he sacrificed his men as little as possible, and always had patience to wait till his flanking attacks could join in the assault. The distances the division had to traverse were very small, but the absence of roads and bridges made the provisioning of the army a matter of the utmost difficulty.
Those who know the poverty of the Spanish Army in animals, vehicles, and stores, will understand what Lachambre and his staff accomplished. On the 12th April, 1897, the division was broken up, and the brigades were stationed at various places in Cavite and the neighbouring provinces.
The general, brigadiers, officers, and troops, are fortunate in having as chronicler of their exploits, so painstaking and appreciative an officer as Lieut.-Colonel Don Federico de Monteverde y Sedano, who in his book, ‘La Division Lachambre,’ published in 1898, gives a detailed account of the campaign, with sketches illustrative of the various actions. Señor Monteverde does justice to every Spaniard, from the divisional-general downwards. I could wish he had said something more about the services of the 73rd and 74th Regiments of Native Infantry, who seem to have been always in the forefront of the battle and where the hardest work was being done, as in assisting the magnificent engineer corps, without whom I doubt if the campaign could have been successful. His book, however, is invaluable to those who may have to conduct operations in the Philippines, and the invariable success achieved by Lachambre, contrasts remarkably with the failures in the early part of the rebellion, and one cannot help seeing a parallel between this little war and the greater one in South Africa. Each was mismanaged at the beginning, but as soon as the invading forces were organised in one command, success was achieved.
A few days after the breaking up of the division, General Polavieja embarked for Spain, very much broken in health. In a letter written on the 9th March to the Minister of War, Polavieja declared himself too ill to ride and asked for his relief. He, however, still remained at Parañaque, directing the campaign till after the capture of San Francisco.
The Spanish press took sides for or against him, the papers advocating the interests of the friars praised him, whilst the Liberal press held him up to ridicule.
There is no doubt that he directed the military operations in an efficient manner, but under his government the arbitrary arrests, cruelties, and tortures, inflicted upon all who were suspected of being sympathisers with the rebels, or from whom money would be extorted, that had begun under Blanco, continued and increased. For Blanco, having been informed of the cruelties inflicted, issued an order forbidding the practice.
The next governor-general was General Primo de Rivera, who had held that office from 1880 to 1883, and had found it a very profitable one. He arrived on the 23rd April and went to the front on the 29th; on the 4th May, Naic was taken, also a small place called Quintana, and Indang. At Naic there was very heavy fighting, and some at Indang.
The troops then advanced to Maragondón, which was taken on the 10th after a most stubborn resistance, the Spaniards losing many men and the rebels still more heavily.
This place was the last where the rebels made a stand, in Cavite province. After this defeat they dispersed in roving bands and kept on the move.
The whole province was a scene of desolation, towns burnt, churches bombarded, stone houses blown up, property looted, putrefying bodies lying about in hundreds, the fields laid waste, the cattle driven off, the country depopulated, a remnant of the inhabitants hiding in the woods; a few of the bolder ones returned to the ruined houses. Such was the result of this unhappy rebellion.
I have this description from an eye-witness, and he assured me that he had been told by a colonel commanding one of the most distinguished regiments engaged in the campaign, that not less than 30,000 natives lost their lives in that province alone during the rebellion.
The rebels gave no quarter to Spaniards, and the Spaniards only occasionally took prisoners. However, once taken they were usually released after being exhorted to return to their homes.
Whilst the operations of Lachambre’s division were proceeding in Cavite, General Monet, with a force of 3000 men, was carrying on an indiscriminate butchery of men, women, and children, in Bulacan and Pampanga, but he displayed no military qualities, and ultimately escaped, leaving his forces to surrender.
The Spanish Volunteers in Manila continued their series of abominable outrages, although in August, Primo de Rivera issued a decree forbidding intimidation, plundering and ravishing. He was ultimately obliged to disband them.
Driven out of Cavite, the remnant of the rebels under Aguinaldo took refuge in the hills and held a strong position near Angat, in the province of Bulacan. As it would have taken a long time to reduce them, Primo de Rivera tried conciliation, and employed Don Pedro Paterno, a native gentleman of means, who had been educated in Spain, as mediator. By his instrumentality, an arrangement was arrived at which, after being approved by the Government in Madrid, was signed by the mediator as attorney for the rebels and the governor-general for Spain.
This, known as the pact of Biak-na-bato, was signed on December 14th, 1897.
In consequence, Aguinaldo and a number of the prominent rebels were escorted to Hong Kong by a relative of the governor-general, and there received a sum of $400,000, being the first instalment of the sum agreed upon.
They lived in a quiet and economical manner upon their own resources. They did not divide the indemnity nor convert it to their own use, but kept it as a war fund in case of need.
The event showed the wisdom of this course, for Primo de Rivera had led them to understand that an amnesty and reforms were to follow, but, apparently, had caused the Spanish Government to look upon the arrangement in a very different light, and he subsequently denied that any treaty existed. No reforms were ever granted, and things in Luzon went on in the same old way. The friars joined in raising a large subscription for Primo de Rivera, and this seemed to incline him more favourably towards them.
The amnesty was disregarded, and the priests continued their arbitrary courses against those who had been concerned in the rebellion. Bands of marauders infested the provinces and the country was in a very unsettled state, some insurgent bands approaching Cavite.
On March 24th, the 74th Regiment of Native Infantry in garrison at that town, the regiment that had distinguished itself so remarkably in Lachambre’s division, being always in the front, was ordered to march out against them. Whatever the reason, whether they felt that their splendid services had not been duly acknowledged, or, as is likely, their pay was months in arrears, they refused to march against their own countrymen. Eight corporals were called out of the ranks and shot then and there in the presence of the regiment, which was again ordered to advance, and a threat made that a refusal would mean death to all.
All did refuse and were sent to barracks to await sentence. The next morning the entire regiment with arms and equipment, marched out and deserted in a body to the insurgents, saying they were willing to fight the foreign enemies of Spain, but not against their own friends. The following day another regiment joined them, but I have no note of its number.
It was now that an event occurred in Manila that showed how little desire there was amongst the Spaniards to treat the natives with ordinary justice, much less to conciliate them.
This was the massacre of the Calle de Camba, quite a short distance from the American Consulate, and it was perpetrated on the 25th and 26th of March. On the first of those day a number of Visayan sailors from the vessels in the Pasig had assembled in a house in the above street, which was their usual resort.
Somehow the story got about that an illegal assembly was being held, and the police, without more ado, attacked the meeting and shot down a dozen, taking sixty-two prisoners. The next morning the whole of these prisoners were marched to the cemetery, and all shot, though many them were known to have been merely passing by at the time.
This is vouched for by Mr. Oscar F. Williams in an official letter to Mr. Cridler, dated 27th March, 1898. It could hardly have been a mere coincidence that a revolt of the Visayas broke out about ten days later, when they made a desperate attack upon the city of Cebú in which many lives were lost and much property damaged.
It seems hardly worth while to relate any more instances of Tagal revenge or Spanish brutality. The country that had been almost pacified was now again in revolt and amongst the insurgents were two battalions of well-trained and veteran troops.
But now events were impending of transcendent importance—the Spanish-American War had broken out.
Previously, however, Primo de Rivera left Manila to return to Spain, but before going he granted an amnesty to all who had tortured suspected persons to extort evidence from them.
Some of the victims had died under torture rather than bear witness against their friends, for the Tagal is a Stoic after the manner of the Red Indian. Others survive, mere wrecks, maimed for life, and living mementoes of Spanish cruelty.
Torture for extracting evidence from suspected persons is illegal in all Christian countries and their dependencies, and also in Japan, but has not yet been entirely routed out in British India nor in Egypt. In 1897, four cases of police torture in the North-West Provinces and Oudh, ended in convictions.
In Spain, some police officers are now on their trial for applying the thumb-screw to the fingers of anarchist prisoners in the Castle of Monjuich with such severity, that one of them, a railway porter, lost the use of his hands and arms. And Ysabelo de los Reyes, a native of Ilocos, declares that he was tortured in the same prison by thirst, having been fed upon salt food and deprived of water.
Last March (1900), a captain of police was tried at Sambor, in Austrian Galicia, for torturing prisoners with the thumb-screw and by deprivation of food, and was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. In Corea, China, and Siam, torture forms part of the legal procedure before sentence, to say nothing of the various and lingering deaths the judge may order after the prisoner has confessed. Let us hope that now there will be no more of it in the Philippines.
Chapter XII.
The Americans in the Philippines.
Manila Bay—The naval battle of Cavite—General Aguinaldo—Progress of the Tagals—The Tagal Republic—Who were the aggressors?—Requisites for a settlement—Scenes of drunkenness—The estates of the religious orders to be restored—Slow progress of the campaign—Colonel Funston’s gallant exploits—Colonel Stotsenburg’s heroic death—General Antonio Luna’s gallant rally of his troops at Macabebe—Reports manipulated—Imaginary hills and jungles—Want of co-operation between army and navy—Advice of Sir Andrew Clarke—Naval officers as administrators—Mr. Whitelaw Reid’s denunciations—Senator Hoar’s opinion—Mr. McKinley’s speech at Pittsburgh—The false prophets of the Philippines—Tagal opinion of American Rule—Señor Mabini’s manifesto—Don Macario Adriatico’s letter—Foreman’s prophecy—The administration misled—Racial antipathy—The curse of the Redskins—The recall of General Otis—McArthur calls for reinforcements—Sixty-five thousand men and forty ships of war—State of the islands—Aguinaldo on the Taft Commission.