Series A is said to have been sold in Spain and the proceeds to have been paid into the Colonial Office; but no part of them has ever reached the Philippines. Possibly a portion of it was used in sending out the 25,000 troops which came from Spain to the Philippines in the autumn of 1896.
Series B was offered for sale in Manila, but was not taken. An effort was then made to obtain subscribers in the Provinces, but with little or no success. The Government then notified the depositors in the Public Savings Bank (a branch of the Treasury Department similar to the postal savings bureaus in other countries) that their deposits would no longer be redeemed in cash, but only in Series B bonds. Some depositors were frightened and took bonds, others declined to do so. Then came the blockade of Manila and all business was practically suspended.
No printed report has been made concerning the debt, and I was unable to obtain any satisfactory statement of the matter from the treasury officials.
The exact in regard to the Series A bonds can be learned in Madrid; but it will be difficult to learn how many of Series B were issued and what consideration was received for them.
As already stated, both series of bonds rest for security on the receipts of the Manila custom house.
Spanish Troops.
The Spanish prisoners of war number about 13,000, including about 400 officers. The infantry arms are about 32,000, the greater part Mauser model 1895, caliber 28, and the others Remingtons, model 1889, caliber 43. The ammunition is about 22,000,000 rounds. The field artillery consists of about twelve breech-loading steel guns, caliber 3 5-10 inches, and ten breech-loading mountain guns, caliber 3 2-10 inches. There are six horses (ponies) for each gun, but the harness is in bad order. Ammunition, about sixty rounds per gun, with possibly more in the arsenals. There are about 500 cavalry ponies, larger than the average of native horses, with saddles and equipments complete. There is also a battalion of engineers. The fortifications of the walled city are a fine sample of the Vauban type, on which military engineers expended so much ingenuity 150 years ago, and of which Spain possessed so many in her Flemish dominions. The first walls of Manila were built about 1590, but the present fortifications date from a short time after the capture and occupation of the place by the English, in 1762-64. They consist of bastions and curtains, deep, wet ditch, covered way, lunettes, demilunes, hornworks, and all the scientific accessories of that day. They are in a good state of preservation, and mount several hundred bronze guns, but they are chiefly of interest to the antiquarian. On the glacis facing the bay, and also on the open space just south of the walls, are mounted 9-inch breech loaders, four in all, made at Hoatoria, Spain, in 1884. They are well mounted, between high traverses, in which are bomb-proof magazines. These guns are practically uninjured, and Admiral Dewey has the breech blocks. While not as powerful as the guns of the present day of the same caliber, they are capable of effective service. Their location, however, is very faulty, as they are on the shore of the bay, with all the churches, public buildings and most valuable property immediately behind them. On the day after the naval battle Admiral Dewey sent word to the Governor-General that if these guns fired a shot at any of his vessels he would immediately reply with his whole squadron. Owing to their location, this meant a bombardment of the city. This threat was effective; these guns were never afterward fired, not even during the attack of August 13th, and in return the navy did not fire on them, but directed all their shells at the forts and trenches occupied by the troops outside of the suburbs of the city.
Within the walled city are the cathedral and numerous churches, convents and monasteries, the public offices, civil and military, military workshops and arsenals, barracks for artillery, cavalry and engineers, storehouses and a few dwellings and shops.
The infantry barracks are outside of the walls, four in number; viz.: Neysing, Fortin, Calzada and Fruita. They are modern and well constructed, and will accommodate about 4,000 men. They are now occupied by the United States troops. Under the terms of the armistice the arms laid down by the Spanish troops on August 14th are to be returned to them whenever they evacuate the city, or the American army evacuates it. All other public property, including horses, artillery, public funds, munitions, etc., is surrendered to the United States unconditionally.
The question of sending back the troops to Spain is left absolutely to the decision of the authorities in Washington. They are all within the walled city, but as the public buildings are insufficient to accommodate them, they are quartered in the churches and convents. These buildings are not adapted for this purpose; they have no sinks, lavatories, kitchens or sleeping apartments, and there is great danger of an epidemic of sickness if the troops are not soon removed.