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.